Chapter 15: Dinah's Choice

I had no time to move.

The grey wolf cleared the lantern stones in one leap, and the pack broke apart in front of it.

Crispin was right behind it with his side open, still half out of his shift.

Pat shoved at my arm and I felt her go.

Then a cream cardigan filled my whole sight.

Dinah had stepped between us and spread her arms.

She did not shift and she did not run.

"No, Timothy," she said.

The wolf struck her at the shoulder and carried her to the ground.

I heard cloth tear and I heard her scream, once, high and short.

Crispin hit the wolf from the side at full speed.

They rolled away through the lantern stones, and one lamp went over and set the grass alight.

I dropped on my knees in the dirt beside Dinah.

Four deep claw marks ran from her collarbone to her ribs.

Blood came out of them fast, and it was bright.

"Don't," Dinah said, and tried to sit. "Don't look at me. Look at him."

"Be still."

"Lena. Is he all right?"

"Which one?" I said, and my voice cracked on it.

She laughed and it turned into a cough.

"Both," she said.

Pat was there, tearing her apron into pads.

"Pressure," she said, shoving my hands onto the wound. "Hard as you can. I need her not to bleed out in front of two hundred people."

Behind us the fight was a roar and a tangle of grey and black fur.

The three council Alphas went over the stones as wolves, two big ones and the old white-braided one, and closed around the pair.

Timothy broke from under Crispin's weight with his flank laid open, and for one moment he stood swaying with his teeth bared at the whole pack.

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