Page 49 of The Wolf King's Demand

She took the bar in both hands and shook it as hard as she could. She put all her pent-up aggression into the act. She was rewarded with landing on her ass as the bar came free from its socket and rolled into the hall beyond.

“Yes!” she said aloud. Then she cursed herself for making such a racket. She didn’t want to draw attention to her escape.

She inched her way through the widened gap in the cell bars. It was still pretty tight, even with a bar missing. But with a sigh of relief, she found herself on the other side.

Now, where the hell was Cassia?

Her instincts took her left down the dank corridor, which seemed to move in the correct direction based on where she thought the window in her cell had been located. Water dripped from the ceiling, and the tunnel smelled musty and disused. She may not be able to shift, but her senses were still sharp, and the moldy stench was getting up her nose. However, underlying the smell of disuse, there was a scent that gave her hope … Cassia’s.

The tunnel opened into a wider room with cells lining the walls. Her scent was strong here. “Cassia?” Addison hissed into the semi-darkness.

She heard a movement in one of the cells, and Cassia’s terrified face appeared at the bars. “Addison?” she called with a catch in her voice. “Is that you, Addison?”

Addison ran to the bars and did the best she could to give the brave little girl a hug.

“Oh, what a touching family reunion,” said a voice behind her.

Addison spun. She would recognize that voice anywhere. It was the woman she’d promised to kill.

She faced the evil nanny, a growl rising spontaneously in her throat. She wished with all her heart she could shift. It was at times like this that she could swear there was a wolf within her trying to break free. It was so frustrating that she couldn’t use tooth and claw to defend her pup as she would have liked.

The two women circled each other, both looking for a weak spot, a glitch in the defenses of the other. “You are going to die tonight,” Addison told her calmly, stating it as a fact.

“You think a pathetic human bitch like you could kill me?” Letitia replied. “Well, bring it on,” she said and shifted so quickly that Addison didn’t have time to react. Before she knew it, she had a massive wolf launching itself at her throat.

Somehow, she managed to twist out of the direct line of attack, but the wolf caught her across the shoulder, and her arm went numb with pain. “Fuck,” she swore as she picked herself up and faced the snarling creature.

How was she going to fight her when she didn’t even have a weapon?

Suddenly, she remembered the iron bar discarded down the tunnel. It was her only hope. She turned and ran as fast as she could back the way she came. It was an impractical weapon, but she could think of nothing else.

She could hear Letitia hot on her heels. It lent wings to her legs. There it was, exactly where she had discarded it in the middle of the aisle.

The sound of the wolf’s running gate changed behind her, and she knew Letitia was ready to spring. Addison skidded feet first across the floor, flattening her body to the ground and grabbing at the makeshift weapon as she went down.

The wolf managed to rake Addison’s head as she leapt, sending her vision reeling and blood coursing down her face.

Despite her injury, Addison wasted no time jumping to her feet, the bar held before her. Letitia scrambled to a halt and then spun to face her, eyeing the iron bar warily.

“Not so sure now, huh?” Addison asked, spitting blood.

The corridor was narrow and not conducive to such a long weapon, so Addison started to back carefully down to the open space where Cassia was being held. She didn’t want to fight in front of the child, but it was the only hope she had to defeat Letitia.

Letitia must have understood where she was going and the advantage she would have if she made it out into the open space. She pulled her teeth back into a snarl and sprang.

Addison brought up the bar and used it like a lance, knocking the wolf out of the air with the tip. She smiled in satisfaction as Letitia yelped and dropped her left shoulder. “Yeah,” she said. “How do you like that?”

Letitia growled and lunged again, forcing Addison to run backward while trying to keep the ferocious wolf at bay with the end of the cumbersome iron bar. Letitia pushed the advantage and darted in to grab Addison by the ankle. The pain was excruciating.

Addison brought the bar down as hard as she could on the wolf's back and was relieved when the pressure on her leg was released. It occurred to her for the first time that she could actually die here. The fear coursed up her spine, sending a spike of adrenaline to her heart. Her mind cleared, and everything suddenly came into sharp focus.

“I refuse to die here,” she said to the snarling wolf. “If you think I’m going to back down, you are sadly mistaken.”

Her next step back took her into the open space. Great, now the odds were a bit more even. She raised the bar in trembling hands, her eyes never leaving that of the wolf’s.

For a while, Letitia circled her. Addison’s leg was in agony, and the wolf kept feinting on her weak side, causing her to put weight on it. I get what you’re doing, and you’re not going to get away with it, Addison thought.

She made a swipe with the bar, but Letitia had been waiting for just such a move. With lightning speed, she leapt over it and suddenly had Addison pinned to the ground. It was only the iron bar between them that stopped Letitia’s jaws from closing on Addison’s throat.

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