The first one crept toward me, and I felt Luke shift behind me.
“Focus on your side,” I said as I moved like water once again, but for the first time in this life. Wide stance...lean to the side and sweep the arm out as you move, I thought. The blade slid through flesh and bumped bone. I pulled the blade back and shifted my weight to the other side to kick out, knocking the shocked beast to the side.
I grinned. I got this! Using my muscles in ways they had never been used in this life time, I continued sweeping and slashing my blade. The sharp edge bit into the fur covered flesh of three of them before they partially shifted. They didn’t want to kill me so their fangs and claws had less use than opposable thumbs. Still, I had an advantage for a while. Then, I noticed some of the cuts I’d made starting to knit together. I needed to do more than wound. My mind knew the moves, but my untrained body often fell short on delivery.
Soon their anger over my continued slices had them striking harder. Aches formed where they’d managed to sneak through my guard and hit me. Those punishing blows were meant to wear me down. It worked. An attacker caught my arm and pulled me forward, off balancing me so I fell toward his chest.
Something bumped into me from behind. Face planted into the disgustingly wet furred chest of the man holding my arm, I felt a blow vibrate through his body. He jerked oddly. His grip loosened. I pulled back and looked up at his face as he let go. Bile rose to my throat at the sight of the bloody stump of his neck. He fell to the side. I swallowed heavily and looked for the next attacker. Fewer stood before me than there’d been a moment ago. And those still around me had shifted their attention from me to Luke. Risking a quick glance, I saw why.
Several jumped on him at once, weighing him down as they grappled with his swinging arms. The remaining men joined in, knowing as I did, that if they brought Luke down, they would have me. None of them paid me any attention, now.
Luke’s tendons stood out with strain as he continued to struggle. An attacker bit into Luke’s neck and held on. Luke didn’t have time to shake the man before another attacker flew at him. No one noticed that I had shifted my focus to the wolf still attached to him. I flipped the blade in my hand and threw it. It sank into the biter’s side. The man grunted but didn’t loosen his hold. Luke gripped another man’s head, twisted the man’s neck savagely, then turned to the next attacker before the body fell. But Luke’s movements were slow and sluggish because of the man whose teeth still pierced him.
I stepped forward and pulled the handle of my knife, now stuck in the man’s middle, up until the blade resisted. The man, screaming in pain, let go. Luke continued to fight. I stepped back, flowing into my ready stance, waiting. The sounds of Luke’s struggles faded to the background as I maintained my focus. Rage and retribution filled the man’s gaze. His claws elongated, his fingers receding to make room for their full length. With a snarl, he reached for me. But he didn’t move far. Luke sent his last attacker flying, then twisted to address the man I faced. He raked the man, gutting him in a spray of blood, from groin to throat.
Looking away, I scanned the area around us, the trees, the undergrowth, searching for more. The thud of the man’s body falling to the ground heralded a harsh kind of silence.
Luke’s ragged breaths blended with mine, the only noise filling the air. Nothing moved. The animals around us remained silent. Then, a single bird chirped. My eyes flew to Luke’s. He too remained partially crouched. But nothing happened.
We’d done it.
I slowly straightened, wincing at the various little pains that tingled into my awareness. My wounds didn’t concern me as much as Luke did. Blood painted his clothes and dotted his half-transformed face. I bent and grabbed a shirt from the bag. With each breath, his features settled back into the man I knew. Except his eyes. They stayed dilated, overly large and completely focused on me. I started shaking from too much adrenaline and nothing to use it on. Or maybe shock. Who knew?
He took two steps forward, plucked the knife from my hand, and dropped it to the ground. Anger remained in his eyes. His jaw muscles twitched rhythmically. His neck bled from the bite, but he didn’t seem to notice.
I shrugged out of his jacket and stripped out of the hoodie so I could use it to press against the wound. He jerked slightly at my touch and placed a hand on my waist.