novelraw Chapter 179: The Hunt
Chapter 179: The Hunt
The bear’s head swung toward them, jaws opening wide, steam curling from its teeth as the ice cracked beneath its weight.
Sera hit first.
She slammed into its shoulder with both feet, claws raking deep.
Muscle tore in thick strips beneath her, hot blood spraying in an arc. The beast reared, bellowing a roar that rolled like thunder across the flats. The vibration shook frost loose from the ridges.
Alexei dove low, claws digging into the ice, then surged up under its ribs.
His weight slammed into flesh, teeth closing around a fold of skin thick as leather. He tore free with a savage jerk, ripping away a mouthful of meat.
Hot blood gushed, coating his face. The taste hit his tongue like iron lightning, sharp and wild.
The paw the size of two dinner plates came down.
Claws long as knives smashed the ground, gouging ice a foot deep. Shards blasted into Alexei’s chest, slicing skin. He rolled aside just as the paw slammed again, the impact splitting the ice wide.
Cracks raced outward like black lightning.
Psycho howled inside his skull. Don’t dodge. Break it. Tear it. We cannot be hurt.
Alexei laughed, wild and feral.
He launched forward, claws hooking into the beast’s hind leg. He climbed the beast, his muscles pulling like iron ropes. His teeth found the tendon behind its knee, and he bit down. The tendon snapped with a wet pop, blood spurting hot against his tongue.
The bear screamed, staggering, its weight slamming into the ice.
The shockwave knocked Alexei free, his body tumbling hard. He struck ice with a crack of bone, pain burning through his ribs.
For a moment he saw stars. Then the pain folded inward and his ribs knit themselves back together.
He pushed up, laughing, blood bubbling in his throat.
Sera had vaulted from its shoulder to its neck, her white hair flying.
Her claws drove into its eye, gouging deep. The orb burst under her hand with a sick pop.
She ripped downward, strings of ruined tissue clinging to her arm. The beast roared, blinded on one side, shaking its skull so hard the sound made Alexei’s teeth ring.
The paw lashed again. This time it caught him.
Claws raked across his shoulder and chest, tearing through shirt and skin, opening him from collarbone to ribs.
Flesh peeled, blood pouring down his torso. He staggered back, grin sharp and red. The wound burned, then bubbled, muscle stitching itself even as he snarled.
"You’ll have to do better than that," he spat, voice ragged with blood.
The bear roared, fetid breath rushing hot.
It dropped its head, jaws snapping wide enough to bite him in half. Alexei braced.
The teeth closed around him the pressure of them crushing the bone, hot slime coating his arms.
He roared back, forcing his claws upward into its palate. Flesh split, blood raining down. With a brutal wrench he tore sideways, ripping half its cheek open.
It let go, shrieking, half its jaw hanging by tendons.
Sera didn’t hesitate. She sprinted up its foreleg like a ladder and drove her claws into the other eye.
Her hands sank to the knuckle, then ripped free in a spray of vitreous fluid. The beast, blind now, screamed high and wild.
It thrashed, weight smashing the ice, paws gouging trenches meters deep.
Blood sheeted down its face, steaming in the night. The dire wolf barked sharp from the ridge, his tail stiff, tiny body trembling with fury at the sight of it.
The bear dropped forward, smashing its bulk down, trying to crush Sera.
She darted off its shoulder just in time, landing in a crouch. The impact shattered the ice beneath where she had stood, opening a jagged hole. Freezing water fountained up.
Alexei used the chaos. He surged onto its flank, claws tearing into its ribs. He drove his hands deep, forcing between bone, ripping until he felt the cage crack. His claws hooked into something slick and heavy. With a snarl, he yanked.
The bear howled as a strip of lung tore free, steaming in the cold.
Blood drenched him. It poured down his arms in sheets, scalding hot. He dropped the ruin onto the ice with a wet slap and lunged back in.
Sera’s strikes were surgical.
She went for tendons, joints, all the places that broke beasts down.
Her claws hamstrung its left leg, slicing tendon so it buckled under its own weight. She slashed across its throat, not once but twice, widening Alexei’s earlier tear until the windpipe was exposed, blood spraying like a fountain.
The bear staggered, bellowing, paw smashing the ground in blind fury.
One strike clipped Alexei’s side, spinning him across the ice. His spine cracked, his skull hit hard, blood filling his mouth.
He rolled, vision black for a moment. Then the bones knit again, his eyes cleared, and he was laughing even as he pushed back up.
Yes! Psycho exulted. Break and heal. Break and heal. That is freedom.
He charged again, claws raking across its throat. This time he went deeper, ripping until cartilage snapped under his fingers.
He shoved both hands inside, grabbed the artery pulsing there, and tore it free. Blood sprayed high, painting the night red.
Sera dropped onto its back, claws sinking into the base of its skull. She ripped backward, peeling muscle in thick sheets. The bear bucked, but she still clung to it, her hair wild and her eyes nothing but black pits.
Together they dragged it down.
Alexei yanked its head back, claws hooked into jaw and throat. Sera shredded the neck from above, widening the tear until vertebrae gleamed white under the gore.
The bear collapsed, hitting the ice with an impact that shook the flats. Steam poured from its body. Blood puddled, hot against the freezing ground.
Still it thrashed. Massive paws gouged the ice, claws screeching. Alexei clung to its throat, biting down, teeth cracking through windpipe. He tore loose a chunk and swallowed, his mouth filled with steaming meat.
Sera drove her claws deep into the base of its skull. She ripped once, sharp and merciless. Bone cracked, splintering under her strength.
The beast roared once more, a sound of rage and death. Alexei answered with a roar of his own, claws raking deeper, dragging himself further inside its throat until blood and heat covered him.
The sound gurgled, broke, and died.
The massive body slumped, weight shaking the earth. Blood steamed in rivers across the fractured ice. Silence slammed down, heavy and absolute.
Alexei staggered upright, his chest heaving, his face a mask of gore. His wounds burned, knitting. His grin showed every tooth. Across the carcass, Sera stood, black-eyed, dripping red, hair plastered to her face.
Their gazes locked.
No words. No need.
Psycho purred deep inside him.
Ours. This kill is ours.