Between ragged gasps for air and the thundering of her panicked heartbeat, a glimmer of hope began to surface. If Anu had really come to save her, if they had been walking in the direction she absentmindedly recalled, then they must be nearing Crimson Dreams. If the females could cross the border, they would have asylum and the pursuit would end.
There had always been a method to Haku's madness, hadn't there? Dancing through the loopholes in the rules, flaunting his power to escape punishment - there was no way he would kill the leader of a pack on her own territory. That would be sheer madness, an instant death sentence from every pack. Even peace-loving Cercelee wouldn't be able to ignore that infraction.
So if they could just keep fleeing forward, get close enough to her new home -- oh, what a queasy feeling that caused, what a coward she had grown up to be -- wouldn't they at least be safe from his wicked talons and fangs? How horrible of her, to have dragged her lover into this mess of a family. If Anu got hurt, how would she ever forgive Coli? The brown werewolf had her head bowed in shame, tears squeezing past her shut eyelids as she blindly stumbled after the woman who pulled her along. She couldn't bear to look at anyone, let alone behind her. She never saw it coming.
PAIN
Coli choked, white exploding before her eyes. A wrenching, searing fire had somehow consumed her hindquarters - on one suspended moment, she swore she could hear the popping of individual vertebrae separating, and a terrible ripping as the muscle tissue shredded in two. Just as suddenly, there was release; an agonizing throbbing taking its place, blood leaking from the severed stump. The shock paralyzed her voice, froze her lungs in her chest, left her clawing midair for something to steady herself against. Her numb arms found Anu, of course, wrapping around the Dreamer's shoulders in a desperate embrace, anything to keep her from passing out then and there. The color had drained from her face, her slender body racked with reflexive shudders. Then her wild blue eyes rolled back, gazing in horror at her father, the limp remains of her tail caught between his cruel jaws. He had found a new way to torture her; he had only destroyed her spirit before. Now he had deformed her body, leaving her looking just as incomplete as she had always felt.
Her stumbling gait had slowed to a shamble, shock threatening to take her over. It was not a fatal wound, though, her mind managed to recognize. Stop the bleeding, and you'll live. You promised... to live. She managed to voice a strangled whine, knees trembling as she moved to run. It had never been more crystal-clear that her father didn't want her to exist, and if she stayed, she would only be letting Anu down. Getting her killed, too. If she could escape now... No, there wouldn't be a next time. This was goodbye. She should have said it years ago.
