3
My daughter raced back with the therapist at her side.
They had just reached the main entrance of the pack house when they encountered Willow blocking their path.
When Willow spotted my daughter carrying pain–relieving herbs, her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Without warning, she shifted into her wolf form–a sleek, tawny beast with gleaming yellow eyes. She lunged forward, knocking my small daughter violently to the ground.
Her razor–sharp claws dug into my daughter’s tender skin, tearing four deep gashes across her shoulder and chest. Blood immediately soaked through her thin shirt.
“You worthless little runt,” Willow snarled, partially shifting her face back to human form to speak while keeping her claws extended. “Know your place.”
My daughter cried out in pain but refused to let go of the herbs in her small hands.
Willow turned her attention to the trembling therapist.
“Didn’t Alpha Kieran order all healers to help treat me after I was kidnapped? Why are you wasting time with this brat instead of protecting the pack from rogues?”
The therapist’s face turned ashen. He stammered, “M–Miss Willow, all the senior warriors are patrolling the borders. The pack is safe. I’m just a therapist, I wouldn’t be much help in a fight-”
Willow’s claws extended further, threatening. “Are you saying I’m not worth protecting? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No! Of course not!” The therapist took a step back, but my daughter still clutched the herbs tightly.
Willow’s attention snapped back to my daughter. With a savage growl, she raked her claws across my daughter’s back, shredding her clothing and leaving bloody furrows in her skin.
My daughter screamed in agony but held on tighter to the herbs.
