I pressed my paws against the stone and leapt diagonally toward the red wolf’s flank.
The impact sent a lightning bolt of pain down my spine. It wasn’t a normal body—it was compressed density, as if Serena’s flesh carried something heavier than flesh itself. Still, I bit down. My jaws clamped onto the tendon at her neck, seeking the point that paralyzes, the instant where muscle gives way by reflex; I felt her skin yield a millimeter… and hit a resistance that wasn’t skin, nor cartilage, nor anything a wolf had ever encountered before. The she-wolf twisted her neck like a tourniquet, and the whip-like motion hurled me to the ground. The blow emptied my lungs.
Caleb seized the moment to lunge at the cross of her back, trying to pin her against the stone. The maneuver almost worked—our com
