Fireborn Champion Read Online Free Page B

knee protested at the pressure of his jump. He spun and slashed in a long arc, his blade flattened. Steel met flesh and raked a deep gash that spat warm droplets against Iron’s cheek. The first wolf yelped and recoiled. Iron opened his eyes to a white snow stained red and a feral beast taught a painful lesson.
    He took another deep breath. Long days and hard nights training with his master roared through his mind as he bent his knees in preparation, knuckles whitening on his sword grip. A flash of movement disturbed Iron’s periphery. He twisted his blade back and danced to the side, ramming the steel behind him. The tip of his sword caught the wolf’s shoulder, but the scratch hardly phased it.  
    Iron turned. It lunged, wild eyes round and glistening wet like fresh sap from a bleeding tree. He feinted a high attack as it snarled and lunged low, aiming for his belly.  
    Instinct guided him more than thought now as the rage of battle and adrenaline overpowered his inhibitions. He brought his elbow down, slamming its point right between the wolf’s eyes. Bone crunched, and the wolf fell limp onto the snow.
    Three more to go , he thought. Where are you, Sander? Is this another lesson?
    Iron grunted as he jumped to the side. The third wolf’s jaw chomped air. Iron kicked, landing a solid blow against its torso. His toe cracked against the beast’s muscular ribs, and Iron screamed.  
    He grimaced and barely caught his balance. The pain faded as quickly as it came. Maybe his feet freezing in the thundersnow had been more a blessing than he thought.
    Another set of jaws came at him. The fourth, largest wolf? No, that one hung back. Iron shook his head. Concentrate .  
    He shoved his sword at the wolf he’d kicked, but the monster thrashed up snow, blinding him. Panic shocked Iron’s system. He swung, wildly, sloppily, hoping his blade hit flesh. His feet slipped from Shade Stride.
    His weapon passed through a void. Iron cursed, blinking snow from his eyes. He pivoted in time to see a black form lunging. A white maw full of fangs appeared within the black. The wolf angled its jaw around his sloppy swing and clamped its teeth over his wrist.  
    Iron shrieked. Hot fire raced through his veins. His sword plunged into the snow, leaving a sword-shaped hole behind and taking his hopes of survival with it. The quiet calm he had felt before evaporated as the wolf tossed him onto his back, swinging him left and right so hard his brain knocked against his skull.  
    The beast threw him into the snowdrift, and the white encased him. Iron tasted the cold flakes. He blinked, trying desperately to still a world spinning chaotically.  
    Somehow, he made it to his feet. His wounded knee buckled, and his arm hung limp. Blood dripped from his fingertips and formed little crimson craters in the drift.
    Iron clutched his forearm instinctively. His pulse throbbed against his grip, but even then, it did not lessen the fiery burn in his wound.  
    “Kill me then,” he spat, the memory of the white doe’s slaughter flashing through his mind. Except it will be me this time and not her . Maybe if I’d screamed sooner, she would have lived. I’m sorry, little doe, I would have done it if I’d known.
    One wolf still lay in the snow. At least he’d killed one of their pack and wounded another. The other two sat on their haunches, growls slipping the curtains of their lips from between long fangs. They waited. For some odd reason, they did not attack their wounded prey.
    The alpha wolf slowly stalked between its two companions. It stood a head taller than the rest, its chest wide and rippling with muscles beneath the oily black coat. It glared at Iron down its long snout with eyes that saw far more than just a man’s bleeding flesh.
    “I…have…found…you…” it growled, struggling with human words through a wolf’s lips.
    Iron swallowed. The snow coating his cheeks began to melt and dripped from his jaw onto his shirt. “What in