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Instead, I swung hard and fast, using gravity to pull my sword down toward Carl’s collarbone. Our blades rang together as he blocked me...barely.
He staggered, and now I was thrusting at his unprotected belly. My sword slit through the fabric of his perfectly fitted sweater. From the excited yips behind me, I had to guess I’d drawn a trickle of blood.
If my sword dug in a little deeper, Carl would have been incapacitated, perhaps fatally. But that wasn’t my intention. The cocksure kid was betrothed to Carly for a reason. Our pack needed allies. I’d best keep Carl alive so he could fill that position until we came up with more like-minded friends.
So I twisted my blade sideways, cutting a ragged line through Carl’s clothing rather than his intestines. The sweater frayed further and Carl snarled.
“You bitch.”
He shed sophistication while rebounding faster than anticipated. His sword was lighter than mine, and faster. I was barely able to turn aside the resultant flurry of blows.
Falling back, something hard and sharp cut into the arch of my bare foot, but I ignored the pain. I’d gambled on starting this battle, which meant I needed to pull out all the stops and win it. I parried then mimicked the exact same jolt I’d fallen prey to a moment earlier, only this time I let the pseudo-surprise drop me down onto one knee with a gasp.
The leaves were muddy beneath me. No, that wasn’t just mud. There was blood also. From my cut foot and from the gnawed-upon elk carcass.
Maybe also from Easton. I swallowed. Life among the skinless was brutal and fleeting.
Meanwhile, Carl advanced one slow step after the other. “You should have waited for your alpha,” he told me. “Protecting the pack isn’t women’s work.”
Behind me, four-legged skinless remained silent. Was Luke holding them in check the same way he’d spoken in my mind? Not likely. Instead, it seemed they simply weren’t invested in my survival.
Well, one pack mate cared whether I woke up tomorrow. “Carl, don’t!” Carly skittered into my peripheral vision, one hand outstretched while the other cradled the rifle. Carl’s eyes flicked sideways to take in her presence...and I struck.
Not with my sword. Instead, I let my body fall back onto one arm, leg lashing out to sweep ankles from under him. A second kick knocked his sword sideways so he wouldn’t skewer himself—or me—on its blade.
My own weapon rose to slide across his jugular. Not cutting, just warning.
“Now,” I told him, “would be a good time to give up.”
***
CARL WAS GOING TO CAVE. I could see it in his eyes.
If I’d been a skinless, my teeth would have sharpened. Even as a woelfin, I still smiled. I opened my mouth to lay out Carl’s options...then snapped my teeth shut as Ruth intervened.
“If I may speak with you for a moment, sword maiden?”
The last thing we needed was to give Carl time to regroup. But was it worse to appear to be at odds with each other?
I gritted my teeth but nodded. “Of course.” Then, glancing down at Carl: “If you’ll excuse me....”
I turned my back on him even though his sword was within arm’s reach. Turned my back and followed Ruth until we were far enough from the pack so we could be seen but, presumably, not heard.
There, Ruth started speaking...although not to me. Instead, she directed her words at her absent brother, vocalizing even though I got the distinct impression he heard her through the pack bond.
“I was willing to let your mate have her head, Luke. But if Carl can find us, other packs can find us. No more heel dragging. It’s time to sacrifice Carly for the sake of the pack.”
“No.” Luke and I barked out our refusal at the exact same instant, his silent but mine louder than I’d meant to be.
Carl, I knew, would have heard. Yet I couldn’t seem to care. Not when Luke’s willingness to stand up for his niece proved something important for the two of us.
That burst of unity faded, however, in the face of Ruth’s discontent. “Then we’ll move the pack to Wolf Camp.” She spoke slowly as if barely restraining her temper. “It’s close enough to run to. More defensible in the event of an attack.”
I could feel Luke’s head shaking. “It’s not time for a last stand. Wolf Camp is identifiably mine. Once we settle there, we’re starting the clock for having to deal with rival clans.”
Ruth disagreed. “The clock started the moment the first lone wolf sighted us. A controlled retreat is better than a forced one. Without allies, we have to think defensively.”
But were we really without allies? Carl had come to us, after all. “What if,” I interjected, “Carl sides with our pack not because of Carly but because he thinks we’re so strong he can’t afford not to?”
I had both siblings’ attention. Now to see if the idea drifting through the edges of my mind sounded like crap when I spat it out.
“If we present ourselves as powerful, Carl will see power. Rather than running away, we invite all of his henchmen to join us. Throw them a party.”
Basically, my plan was a larger version of the sword fight I’d just won.
“That could work.” Ruth started pacing, words flowing surer as her feet moved faster. “We can do both. The strongest of us can race Carl and his men to Wolf Camp while the weaker take the slow way around without losing face. We know the terrain. We can trounce Carl so badly he’ll be afraid to push for a premature mating. It will look like generosity when we leave the betrothal on the table to be consummated in the distant future.”
“It will take time to change Carl’s mind,” Luke observed. “Time during which he’ll do his darnedest to pin us down to a promise about Carly.”
“I no longer have standing in this pack, in case you hadn’t noticed.” Ruth’s eyes slid over me. “So the question is whether you and your sword maiden are up to that challenge.”
“I am,” I said aloud. “And Luke won’t even be there. He’ll be laying a curvy, difficult trail to Wolf Camp. One that gives our pack the advantage while seeming to tilt the odds in the opposite direction.”
Something primal flowed from Luke to me then. Disappointment that I’d sided with his sister. Knowledge that I was pushing him away, not just for the sake of the pack and Carly but to give myself breathing room.
His only verbal answer, though, was aimed at me and Ruth alike. “Done,” he told us. “Sister, please watch my sword maiden’s back.”