Fallon groaned as he was pinned to the ground. He slashed at the werewolf on top of him, cutting his cheek. The werewolf slashed back, Fallon caught his claw and struggled to hold it away from his face.

  The other werewolf was younger than him, and more experienced. The last time Fallon had fought someone like this was against Hyde. And before then, he rarely fought.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dione being tackled to the ground. Adrenaline surged through his body as he saw his wife in danger. He slashed his claw against the others throat, startling him, giving Fallon the opportunity to push him off. He began to push himself up to help her, but the younger werewolf jumped on him again, on his back.

  He watched Dione struggling against the werewolf pinning her down. He blindly slashed backwards, hoping to hit him, but only cutting air. The werewolf grabbed his wrist and pinned it down. Fallon took the opportunity to bite his arm. The other werewolf roared out in pain, Fallon pushed him off again. He wasn’t usually a biter, but he had to admit, it was effective.

  He looked to Dione to see her attacker slam her head against a rock.

  Her hands fell down from his throat.

  Her attacker got off her.

  Fallon stared at her in disbelief, laying there, not moving. His heart sank as tears stung. No, no it couldn’t be. Her head just hurt, she’d get up soon enough. Right?

  Please?

  A rush of fear and anger went through him. The one he’d been fighting tried to push him to the ground. Fallon slashed at his face with no hesitation, blinding him, making him scream. Fallon got to his feet and ran to Dione.

  He fell on his knees beside her. A pool of blood had formed around her head, her eyes were open but lifeless. He lifted her into his arms. No, no, no, no. She couldn’t be gone. She couldn’t! She—

  She was gone.

  He caressed her cheek, then carefully closed her eyes. He pushed his forehead against the top of her head and held her tightly against him as he sobbed.

  He lost her. He shouldn’t have agreed to let her fight. For thirty-three years, she’d always been by his side. Now he was alone. He’d never feel her comforting, relaxing presence again. She’d never make another beautiful drawing. No one would understand him as well as she did.

  His sobs turned into growls, his body began to shake, all his body hair stood upright. He loudly roared as he felt himself losing control in grief and anger. Blurry due to the tears, he saw the man who killed her tending to the man who Fallon had blinded. His eyes glowed a hazel brown in the darkness of the night. With one last, low, dangerous growl, he gave in and let his wolf take over.

  At the house, Severn and Rune tried to fight off several more werewolves. Severn cut one’s arm, stabbed another through their hand, and gave another a knee in their groin, followed by a stab in the shoulder.

  Beside him, Rune struggled fighting one while another came up behind him. He didn’t seem to notice. Without a second thought, Severn threw his knife into the thigh of the werewolf behind Rune, exactly when another werewolf slashed at Severn. Time slowed down in the split second he saw the razor-sharp claw coming for his hand.

  He screamed.

  Rune stabbed the one that sliced something off his hand (Severn wasn’t sure what exactly), having chased off the last one.

  Severn fell on his knees and clutched his hand between his thighs and stomach as he clenched his jaw and held in another scream. Through his tears, he saw two pieces of severed fingers on the ground in front of him.

  He removed his shaking hand from his folded body to look at what exactly he lost. He breathed heavily through his teeth. Blood ran down his right hand and wrist, coming from two of his fingers. Half his pinky and two-thirds of his ring finger had been sliced off.

  Rune sat on his knees in front of him, seeming panicked. He stared at Severn’s bleeding hand, then down at the severed fingers.

  “Could we—” Rune’s voice shook. “Could we hold the cut pieces against your fingers so they’ll heal back together?”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Severn shook his head. “It’s healed too much already,” he managed to get out of his throat.

  Rune held up his knife. “What if we cut it again?”

  Severn considered it. It didn’t sound that crazy. “We could try.” He picked up his severed pinky, it crumbled to dust at his touch. He tried the other finger, dust.

  “Or not.”

  The pain had faded, it was nearly done healing. But the adrenaline and shock hadn’t left yet, won’t in a while. He still shook as he said, “I’ll just have to live with this from now on.”

  Rune sadly frowned at him.

  Footsteps ran up to them, making both tense up, ready for battle again. But it was only Hyde. Rune stood up. Severn stayed on his knees, not having the strength in his legs yet. Rune grabbed Hyde’s upper arms. “You’re okay!”

  Hyde was covered in blood; on his arms, his face, his chest, his neck. But no wounds. He smiled at Rune. “So are you. What was the screaming about?”

  Rune looked behind him at Severn on the ground. Severn showed Hyde his shaking hand with two fingers less.

  “Oh… shit,” is all Hyde had to say to that.

  The front door opened. Barry peaked outside. “What’s going on?”

  Severn huffed and showed him his hand too, gesturing at it with his other hand like he was showing it off with an annoyed, fake smile.

  “Oh, Thomas won’t be happy about that.”

  “Can’t say that I am.”

  They all heard a loud, angry roar coming from the right near the forest.

  “Was that Dad?” Hyde and Barry glanced at each other, worried. Hyde ran towards it, Barry followed.

  Barry saw Dione in the distance. Hyde stopped in his tracks, Barry halted too. Hyde stared at his mother lying still on the ground in the distance. He teared up and screamed, “Mom!” He ran to her, Barry went after him again. Hyde dropped to his knees beside her and shook her. “Mom! Mom, wake up! Please!” His tears fell on her shirt, leaving little dark spots.

  Barry kneeled beside him, he reached out to touch his shoulder, unsure of how to comfort him. “Hyde, she—”

  Hyde sat straight before he could touch him, his face covered in tears and angry. He looked around. “Where’s Dad?” he asked through the lump in his throat. Without waiting for an answer, he stood up and ran to the forest.

  “Hyde!” Barry yelled after him. He ignored him, leaving Barry alone with the body of his daughter-in-law. He stared at her, dreading the moments to come.

  Barry went to the house. Rune still stood next to Severn sitting on his knees on the ground. When he was close enough, Rune asked, “What happened? Where’s Hyde?”

  Barry took a deep breath and said, “Dione’s dead. Hyde’s looking for Fallon.”

  Rune inhaled sharply in shock. He ran past Barry.

  “Rune, wait!” Severn yelled and was ignored. He groaned. He tried to stand up, but fell through his legs. He mumbled a swear and tried again. He got to his feet, but Barry saw how wobbly his legs were. He fell again, Barry caught him. Severn grunted.

  He placed his feet firmly on the ground and let his legs gain their strength back for a moment before stepping out of Barry’s grip. He looked at him before glancing away and mumbling, “Thank you.” He went after Rune.

  Barry went inside where Tayen and Warlon sat on the couch. Tayen stood up and went up to him. “What’s going on out there?”

  Barry wasn’t sure what to say. “I—I’m really sorry, but, your mom—”

  “What?” Tayen breathed, scared.

  “She’s dead.”

  Tears welled in her eyes.

  Barry wasn’t sure what to do. “Do you… want a hug?” he offered.

  Tayen hugged him, beginning to sob. Barry hugged her back. He wondered how Fallon was handling this. Not well, he guessed. He must know, they were together the whole time.

  “Where’s Dad?” Tayen whispered through her tears.

  “I don’t know, Hyde’s looking for him.”

  Hyde searched the forest. He heard a struggle going on nearby. He ran towards it. He found Fallon brutally fighting another werewolf, both covered in blood and wounds. Hyde wanted to help him. But before he could, the other werewolf pushed Fallon against a tree, impaling him on a thick branch.

  Hyde’s stomach dropped. “Dad!” he screamed through his tears, scaring the other werewolf. He ran to them. The werewolf fled. The branch broke, Fallon fell to the ground. Hyde sat beside him, staring at the branch in his stomach.

  “No! No, no, no, you can’t die, too,” Hyde pleaded while he cried. He pinched his eyes closed and sobbed as he clenched his hands into the forest floor. He opened them and saw Fallon looking at him, he struggled to breathe. He had tears welling, too.

  “I’m sorry,” Fallon weakly whispered.

  Hyde shook his head and grabbed his hand. “I’m here,” he whispered back.

  “Hyde!” Hyde heard after a few minutes. Fallon had lost consciousness. He turned around to see Rune running up to him with Severn closely behind. His eyes widened, remembering his own near death. He looked at Fallon, he was still breathing. He yanked his head around to Rune and Severn staring at Fallon. “Turn him!” he shouted. “I don’t care who, someone save him! Please!” he cried.

  Rune and Severn looked at each other. Severn put his hands on Rune’s shoulders and pushed him to the side as he said, “I’ll do it.” Hyde moved away to make space for him, Severn sat beside Fallon. Hyde stood up and watched him bite Fallon’s neck.

  Hyde flinched at a hand on the small of his back. Rune smiled sadly at him. “Hey.” Tears fell down Hyde’s face again, Rune hugged him. “It’ll be okay, you’re not alone. He’ll be okay.” Hyde leaned his cheek on his shoulder and sobbed.

  “My mom—”

  “I know,” Rune softly interrupted. He rubbed the nape of Hyde’s neck. “I know. I’m so sorry. I hate that you have to go through this, too. I’m here for you, whatever you need.”

  “Give me your knife,” Severn told Rune. Rune handed him something, a knife that Hyde hadn’t noticed he was holding. Severn cut his wrist with a painful twitch, then pushed his wrist against Fallon’s mouth.

  Rune grabbed Hyde’s face and made him look at him. He wiped Hyde’s tears away, then kissed his cheek. “I love you,” he whispered. “I’ll be right here.” Hyde closed his eyes, squeezing more tears out, and leaned into Rune’s hand.