Free Owned By The Alphas: Part Four by Faleena Hopkins Page B

she-wolf kicked at her with a persistent paw. Fighting back a huge lump in her throat, and wet to the bone, Ali pushed her shivering body up off the rock and climbed on. She buried her nearly frozen, bare feet in the wolf’s warm fur and bit back a sob.
    With careful calculations, Bloo jumped from rock to rock until they hit shore. Blinking against the wind and snow, Ali leaned down, her heart clamping tightly as she feared the worst. They tore past riverbank bushes and when they passed a bend in the mountain, a chilling sight came into view.
    A grizzly bear, nine feet tall, reared up on hind legs with long fangs lethally glinting as it roared. It had the young wolves backed into a corner against a high, granite wall, nowhere to run. Lorn was sitting naked in the snow, holding a baby grizzly in her arms, as it reached for its momma. Like Ali, tears streamed down her face, but she stared off at nothing, in shock. Next to her was Lucin, his wolf gashed up badly, crumpled and unconscious.
    Was he alive?
    Ali rose up, but she couldn’t tell. She let go of Bloo and rolled off, her wet body collecting everything it touched.
    Her pack-mate rushed to aid Red and Tawny, her lips drawn back over bared fangs as she snarled. The three circled the grizzly from all sides as Ali watched. Her friends were in trouble. Lucin looked like he might be dead. Lorn was near comatose and no help to anyone, not even herself. And here was Ali, unable to do anything about it. She couldn’t even get to the young wolves. The grizzly barred the way. So helpless, she started to get angry.
    Seeing her for the first time, Lorn screamed through pained sobs, “Ali! We have to save Lucin!”
    A feverish heat exploded inside of Ali. Her pulse raced as she flashed a frantic look around the scene. She locked eyes with her friend and blinked hard, grasping her body, wrenching the coat off. Too heavy. Have to take it off! Can’t breathe! An unknown pain rushed through her veins, a pain she mistook for the effects of the icy water that still clung to her matted hair and pelt. Grasping for focus, she screamed to Lorn, “Let the baby go! She wants her baby! LORN! Let the baby go!”
    But Lorn was holding it like a child would a teddy bear, rocking and staring at the love of her life, calling to Ali, “Help him!” like she hadn’t heard her.
    A vicious snarl arrested Ali’s attention as she began to shake. Red was shepherding the grizzly, pushing it back by pacing and snarling. Courageously, he lunged and bit at the great beast’s legs, but that only made it retaliate by knocking him away with a potent blow. Bloo and Tawny were closing in on the young ones when the momma grizzly turned and started for them. Red jumped onto the bear’s back, biting its neck and holding on by his fangs. The bear screamed and Ali heard the sound as if it had been one inch away. Her ears began to bleed.
    It was then that time slowed down.
    Her heartbeat thudded in her ears.
    The bear roared. In slow motion, it flailed powerful arms, every movement exaggerated. It knocked Red off. He rolled away, got up, and snarled. Ran at it. The bear reared up. Deadly sharp claws flashed as she swiped. Broke skin. The sound of cutting flesh ripped through Ali’s senses. Red cried out, falling back in agony. Blood glistened in his fur. He lay on the ground and with eyes locked on him Ali screamed a scream that echoed off the world.
    Her bones compacted and cracked. She ripped the pelt off, literally tore it off as she twisted and turned. Fur sprang out from every pore. Her ears extended painfully upward as her hands and feet crushed into paws. Her lungs changed shape, the air she breathed tasted different, fresher. Her face narrowed, her nose and jaw lengthening as fangs replaced her teeth, shooting out of her gums to become longer sharper points. The sounds of the forest, everyone’s heartbeats, Lorn’s sobs, the grizzly’s arm whizzing through the snowflake-filled air–she heard it