Chapter 83


    Crack.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    The bottom of the bow snapped from the pressure. What kind of weakly made –?


    The boar jerked its head toward me, alerted now of my presence.


    I was behind the tree but Silver was mostly exposed.


    The boar kicked out the ground. It was going to charge!


    “Silver, run!” I rushed from my cover to push the wolf into action. I wouldn’t see her get hurt, not if there


    was something I could do about it.


    The boar rushed forward, tusks first. With a horrible squealing noise, it tore through the underbrush,


    twigs and leaves snapping underfoot.


    Silver darted to the side, but I was too slow. The boar wasing right for me.


    The boar was fast, but Silver was faster. She lunged at the boar, colliding with its side. It veered off


    course, missing me by a few mere inches as I rolled out of the way.


    Silver rushed back to me. She nosed at my side and helped me up onto my feet. As I put weight on my


    ankle, I winced. I must have twisted it. I wouldn’t be able to run like this.


    “You have to go, Silver. I’ll climb a tree or something. I’ll be okay,”


    The stubborn wolf absolutely refused to move from my side. Instead, it leaned its head back and


    howled.


    Calling for help? I wasn’t sure.


    The boar faced us again. It huffed and dug both feet into the dirt. It was going to charge again.


    With her howling done, Silver lowered her ears. A growl erupted from her throat.


    The boar, monstrous and angry, didn’t seem to care.


    It shot forward like a bat out of hell.


    I tried to move, but my ankle shot blinding hot pain through my leg. I stumbled. The boar redirected its


    course, continuing right for me.


    Silver darted forward.


    Suddenly, an arrow flew through the tree line and plunged into the side of the boar. It staggered.


    A second arrow immediately followed the first. Alm true, it felled the creature. The boar copsed,


    dead.


    Silver stopped. Her head turned toward the way the arrows hade from. I followed her gaze, butt-


    didn’t see anything yet. I heard them though, two figures rushing through the foliage.


    “Piper,” Nichs said when he breeched the tree line. Julian was close behind him. Their wolf


    companions bounded forward, stopping to meet Silver. They pressed their muzzles together.


    I was so relieved, to see all of them and know I was safe, that I copsed down into the dirt.


    “Piper!” Nichs said again, rmed. He pushed toward me even faster than before. He dropped to


    his knees beside me. Holding his hands over me but never quite touching, he seemed to be searching


    me for


    damage.


    “I’m okay,” I said, grimacing. “It’s just my ankle.”


    We both looked down. It had already begun to swell, pressing out against my leather boot.


    “Piper, you alive?” Julian asked from behind us. He’d walked to where I’d dropped my bow.


    “I’m alive,” I said.


    “Twisted ankle.” Nichs frowned at it like it had done him personal harm.


    “d you aren’t dead,” Julian said as he picked up my bow.


    “Me, too,” I agreed. “You both have excellent timing. Another minute, Silver and I would be in much


    worse shape.”


    “What happened?” Nichs shouldered off his backpack and began searching through it. He pulled out


    an stic bandage.


    “Silver and I had the element of surprise. I had a clear shot. But then my bow…


    At that same moment, Julian brought the bow closer to us. The wood had split clean through along the


    bottom.


    It was far too clean of a break to have been natural.


    Nichs stilled Fury burned in his eyes.


    Julian spoke with his usual lighthearted tone of voice, yet his tight grip on the broken bow revealed his


    own anger.


    “Seems like someone wants you dead, Piper”