River gave Wolfram a blazing glower, it was evident on her face that she was obviously annoyed that he had turned down the vest she had brought him, but for once she didn't argue; knowing he wouldn't listen to her protests.
She nodded numbly to Bleddyn's words, slipping her vest over her head, and bitterly wishing she had a hairband so she could put up her sweaty, dirt covered mop of brown and black ombre hair. "Yeah, we'd become quite the target. And the people with the strongest powers are pretty much out. Taylor's pretty drained from that fire wall; plus she needs to stay with Ash, Toby's shadows pretty much sucked the energy outta him and he's helping wounded, and Brisa's completely out from a blow to the head. I saw Toby patch her up, then help her into Jenna's van." She paused, assessing her surroundings and checking who was still fighting. "That leaves Camilla, Peter, Lachlan, Finlay, Indigo, Jenna, and Jessi; and all of them are pretty caught up in the fight, anyway." She murmured, reloading her pistol.
River's ears caught the sound of the footsteps of a small creature the very moment Wolfram pelted into the woods in desperate pursuit of Mapleshade, and she lepted forward after him, her tail twisting in nervous energy.
Bleddyn went to shove her hands into her pockets and quickly found that she no longer had pockets, which was highly irritating.
So, not risking a glance back into the battle, she scurried after the two shifters with the gun held close to her chest.
Adrenaline coursed through Wolfram's vein like it hadn't ever done before. It blinded him completely, more so then the stabbing pain in his ribs as they screeched in protest against the impact as he pelt through the trees.
Brambles and leaves and branches whipped at his legs, snagging around his ankles and slicing open his face. But he didn't slow for them. There was a volcano of fury rising inside him, and it didn't allow him to stop or slow, even though he knew he was damaging his body even more so by heeding to the volcano's encouragement.
Has that ever stopped me before, though?
He skidded to a halt suddenly, his gaze trained on the fur that was snagged on a bramble. His head shot up, listening. A normal human would hear the swish of leaves and trees as River and Bleddyn ran to keep up with him, but only someone with feline or canine hearing could hear the soft fall of footsteps as another being paced in the clearing past the thicket of thorns.
Without waiting for River and Bleddyn, he swerved around the brambles, and broke into a small clearing where Mapleshade stood. She whirled on her feet, staring at him.
"
Coward!" Wolfram didn't slow to meet her gaze, instead only slammed her against the tree, the sharp snapping and grinding sound of breaking bones filling his ears.
Mapleshade writhed under his grip, releasing a shriek of agony as bones cracked under the force that slammed her against the tree.
He then realized he still had the knife in his hand, and it surged up, but stopped short, only a hair away from piercing her throat.
Within him he felt so much hatred and fury toward the woman writhing and hissing in front of him. Hatred he couldn't describe, because it was so much more powerful then almost anything he had ever felt before.
But, somehow, he couldn't bring himself to drive the knife, clutched in his torn and shaking hand, into her throat. She met his gaze with malevolent intent glittering wildly in her eye.
"What? To much of a coward to kill me? You're more like you're mother then I thought."
