Guns made me nervous—especially being pregnant. But I retrieved my gun from its holster and covered any direction Reno wasn’t looking. The only distraction was the trickling water from a nearby creek drowning out other sounds.
An arrow whistled through the air. When Reno fired his gun, I almost dropped my own from the shocking sound.
“Motherfucker!” he growled, using his scope and firing off more shots.
I couldn’t see anyone, but Reno’s rifle allowed him to see long distance.
“One down and three shifted!” Melody cried out.
I frantically searched for a tree I could climb.
Reno charged forward and left me alone. Melody came into view and shot more arrows in the direction he was running. Reno shouted, drawing attention to himself and away from me. I looked behind me to my right and saw Melody dropping to a lower branch and straddling it, pulling back her bowstring and shooting another arrow. A wolf yelped, and a series of gunshots went off.
“Reno shifted!” she cried out, relaying information to me.
I spun around and saw a brown wolf moving like lightning toward Melody. Her arrow missed, puncturing the soft dirt behind him. Her eyes widened when he was almost upon her.
The wolf sprang up and got ahold of her shoe. Melody wrapped her arms around the branch, panic written on her face, fighting him with everything she had as he tugged and pulled, trying to bring her down.
She screamed, twisting around the limb until the wolf released his hold.
I aimed my gun and fired, clipping the wolf in the leg. He continued jumping at Melody, and her hat fell off, blue hair softly waving as she swung to get back up. Her backpack caught on a jagged branch. I fired again but missed. Her arms were within reach of his sharp canines, and he got ahold of her sleeve, tugging hard until she hit the ground.
If I shot the gun, I’d risk hitting her because of the distance. I stepped forward without thought, waving my arms.
“Hey!” I shouted at the wolf. “Heyyy!”
He drew in my scent, briefly distracted. Melody had landed flat on her back, and when she pushed up on her elbows, the crackle of leaves seized his attention.
“Oh, God,” I whispered. “He’s got blood in his mouth.”
The brown wolf snapped his gaze at her, lips peeled back in a savage snarl.
My foot sank into a hole, and I fell to my knees, wrapping my right arm around my stomach in a protective gesture.
Melody slowly reached over her shoulder for an arrow.
“Hey!” I screamed again. “Look at me!”
I didn’t exist to that wolf anymore. His focus was on her hand, as if the two were engaged in a standoff. Melody’s jugular was exposed, and I’d never been more terrified. He was almost on top of her, and it made it impossible to fire my gun without hitting her. I didn’t want to fire in the air either, because it might startle him into attacking.
I frantically searched for Reno or some kind of miracle. A galloping sound made me clutch my racing heart, only… it wasn’t my heart that was making the thunderous sound.
The heavy tread of hooves approached from the left and, with breathtaking speed, Lakota leapt off his horse and onto the back of the wolf. They rolled in the dirt as he pulled the vicious creature away from Melody.
She scrambled to her feet and grabbed her bow, stumbling as she limped toward me.
“Aunt Lexi!”
I stood up and pulled her into a tight hug. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t reply, but her tear-stained eyes and trembling said it all.
Lakota was a warrior of exceptional prowess, and our attacker stood no chance. The wolf yelped when Lakota drove a dagger into his heart and gave it a final twist. Meanwhile, wolves battling in the distance raged on as Reno fought his attackers.
Lakota stood up, blood staining his bare chest. He had dressed just as I imagined Lorenzo might have—like a warrior. There were patterns painted on his face and chest, and a feather in his hair. Even his horse had war paint—handprints on his chest and a circle around his eye.
He stood up and jogged toward us. “Are you hurt?”
“I think we’re okay,” I said. “Just shaken up.”
Lakota made a clicking sound with his tongue and called the blue roan over.
“That’s your mother’s horse,” I said. “Trouble.”
He patted the horse on the side of the neck and smiled up at him. “No worries. He’s a good horse for battle. Isn’t that right, Trouble?”
The horse nodded and released a breathy snort in agreement.
Lakota leapt onto his back, and Trouble pranced in a circle. “Mother sent me to bring back the children or anyone who’s injured. They have control of their land, so we’re offering to join with you. Are you able to hold them off?”
A terrible yelp sounded, and Reno’s wolf ran over, sniffing us and then circling the area.
“Oh, we’re not doing too shabby,” I said with a laugh. “We have allies on the northern end of the property, so Austin thinks the breach is happening east and west. They’re coming in small groups, but so far we’ve managed to fight them off.”
“The little one should come with me,” he said, his eyes on Melody and his arm outstretched.