Crime and Punishment: Great Falls Academy, Episode 2 by Alex Lidell

Author:Alex Lidell [Lidell, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Danger Bearing Press
Published: 2019-05-17T05:00:00+00:00

COAL

A wolf’s howl raked across Coal’s soul, a sound that should have had Coal reaching for a weapon but spurred him into a run instead. He was at the bottom of the hill Lera had slid down, the slope so long and steep that Coal had to switchback down it to avoid cracking his head. To his left, the forest continued in a shivering cluster of aspen and pine. To his right, a rock formation held up the base of another rolling hill.

“Leralynn,” Coal hollered, his throat raw. “Where are you?”

The wolf howled again, as if in clear answer. The sound came from the base of that rock formation on Coal’s right, where a dark entrance to a cave that a smart animal might claim could be seen. This time, Coal did draw his boot knife as he closed the distance, his breath misting in the cold air.

A scraping echoed from the cave’s mouth.

Then something that sounded like a shush.

An indignant feminine yelp.

Before Coal could fully process the significance of the sound, a gray wolf streaked out from under the rocks, its teeth bare and ears laid flat as it headed right for Coal. A ripple of something Coal couldn’t explain raced through him, a perverse instinct that had him throwing away the knife instead of holding it toward the predator. Predictably, the idiotic move was a mistake. In the next heartbeat, the wolf hit Coal’s chest, knocking him flat into the earth.

Coal fell hard, a stone digging into his shoulders. His heart pounded, his mind unable to focus as a deadly maw hovered above his face. The wolf’s saliva dripped down, landing with the rain on Coal’s cheeks, the predator’s yellow eyes burning into him.

Darkness flashed before Coal’s eyes, the great weight atop his chest an echo of the islanders’ shackles. Coal’s heart tripped, hesitating for a moment before sprinting so quickly that Coal could feel it against his neck. The stench of rot and blood filled Coal’s nose, his mouth thick with a pain that was not yet here, but would come.

GHHHHHHHRRRRRRR

The wolf’s low growl came again, rising from deep in its chest while hackles rose in a thick gray ridge along its back. The animal’s breath was so close now that Coal felt it along his skin.

Coal’s hand closed around a stone, but just as he readied to smash the animal’s skull, the significance of the feminine voice finally penetrated. Lera. It was Lera. Alive. And here. Somehow—though stars only knew what made Coal certain of it—the wolf was protecting, not harming, the girl.

Muscles shaking with effort, Coal opened his hand and let the stone roll free.

Unimpressed, the wolf pulled his lips back from glistening canines and snapped them inches from Coal’s face.

Coal lifted his chin, exposing his neck to the predator as he met the animal’s bright golden eyes. Daring him to finish it. Asking him to.

A heartbeat passed, marked with the wolf’s panting breath, the great lupine muscles as taut and trembling as Coal’s own. A second beat.

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