Page 27 of Ember and Eclipse
It came a heartbeat later when the injured one leapt at him.
Devdan lunged out of the way, dodging its attack. As the mal turned back to him, though, he was on it in an instant, tearing out its throat with the sound of snapping sinew and shattering bone.
“Watch out!” Rel warned, just as the second one rose on its hind legs.
It loomed over him, long arms reaching. It sank its sharp nails deep into the hunter’s back, crushing him down as it did.
Devdan twisted and snapped, but the malwolf merely dug its claws deeper. He released a growl she recognized that turned into a whimpering yap. The sound sent her back into full-body tremors. She was useless. The fact of the matter was, if the hunter died, she most likely would too.
Searching the side of the road, she found a decent-sized rock and hefted it in her hand. It was the best she could do. If it landed, it might buy him time. Buythemtime. Taking several steps closer to the pair, she launched it at the mal. Throwing a stone was nothing like throwing a knife. But it hit the back of its head with an unimpressive thud.
The beast whipped around with a snarl. Scarlet eyes homed in on her. It pushed Devdan away, who stumbled and landed on his side.
Taking steps backward as quickly as she could in the sloshing water, she tested the knife in her palm. Her stomach plummeted instantly—it couldn’t be thrown. The balance was way off, and it was too dull to penetrate the mal’s fur and flesh anyway.
Damnation.
Devdan struggled to get back on his feet, but it was too late as the creature bounded toward her.
With the useless dinner knife in hand, she sunk into a fighting stance. She had just gotten herself killed.
The malwolf was five paces away from her when it was knocked to the ground. It thrashed, landing on its back with Devdan on top of it in human form. The mal opened its jaws, twisting to lunge at Devdan’s throat, but the hunter stabbed its torso and pulled the dagger down, opening its midsection. Steam, blood, and tangled insides poured from the open wound.
Devdan was on his feet a moment later, stepping unsteadily toward her and away from the writhing and dying mal.
“You’re hurt,” she managed to say after prying her clenched jaw apart and looking away from the beast. He shook his head but grabbed his shoulder, probing at some injury there.
Before he could reply, though, a movement behind him caught her attention. The creature struggled to all fours, its hate-filled gaze set on her.
The hunter must have seen the terror on her face as it lunged for her again, entrails hanging from its torso.
Devdan stabbed it through the side of its neck a moment before it reached her. The mal skidded and landed at her feet, dead.
She stared at its body for a long moment, shaking from the cold and her multiple near-death experiences.
“We need to go,” Devdan said.
She forced herself to look at him. Drenched in blood from the chin down, she couldn’t tell how bad his wounds were. But half of his tunic was torn away, and the wild look remained in his eyes.
When he picked her up this time, she didn’t even protest.
Chapter XVI
“Youneedtogetout of your wet clothes.”
Rel stood shivering, the soaked layers of clothing not aiding her coldness.
“Change,” he said more sternly, tossing a pack at her.
She attempted to catch it, but her belated response and numb fingers sent it crashing to the ground instead.
He followed the movement with an arched brow. “I can always rip your clothes off and dress you myself?”
She bared her teeth at him in a silent snarl, but he responded in kind, an actual snarl tearing from his throat.
They glared at each other until a particularly powerful shiver ran through her.
He finally turned around, crossing his arms over his chest.
