Moon Rise (Twilight Shifters Book 2) by Kate Danley Page B

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    "Go ahead!" said Lars to Aein.  "Maybe it'll follow if it sees everyone else is going in."
    Aein rode her horse towards the entrance, leading the pack horse behind.  It didn't seem to help.  Lars's horse was still bucking, but then suddenly, it bolted.
    Blinded by panic, the horse must have thought the bog around them was firm soil.  It ran off the road and the mud swallowed the animal up to its belly.  Lars leaped off to try and remove some of the weight, sinking in to his thighs.  He grabbed the horse's reins and tugged its head back towards the road.  Even though death was at their door, the horse bucked and struggled, preferring to disappear beneath the surface of the bog rather than face whatever was in the swamp.
    Aein's heart was in her throat watching Lars fight this struggling animal.  She spurred her horse towards them, hoping she would get there in time.  She leaped off of the back of her steed and ripped through her saddlebags looking for the rope to throw to them. Her hands shook as she opened the ties.  She told herself that Lars did not survive everything he had endured just to die because of some terrified horse.  She told herself that she would get him out.  But the animal would not be calmed. 
    Time morphed - to stretch into forever while seeming like it sped up.  She was sure years had passed and there was no way they could still be alive.  It had only been moments, though.  She grabbed the rope, tied it around her saddle, and threw the end to Lars.  He grabbed it and looped it around his horse's head.  If they could just get the animal going in the right direction, it would be all right, she kept telling herself.
    It was then Finn took matters into his own hands.  He ran out on the boardwalk and then, with a mighty leap, he jumped into the bog.  Aein stifled back a cry as she saw the wolf's body sink, but he struggled on, coming up behind the horse to herd the animal towards safety.  Horses and werewolves usually were neutral with one another.  The wild werewolves only hunted human flesh and the horses seemed to have figured it out.  But not this time.
    Step by fearful step, Finn drove Lars’s horse back towards the road, nipping at his hindquarters.  Aein drove her own horse forward, keeping the rope taut so Lars's mount knew which direction to go.  The sound of the wolf snarling and barking, the screams and pants of the horse, the sound of Lars shouting at the animal to keep it fighting - Aein knew they would color her nightmares.  Finally, half dragging the animal out of the bog, the horse was on the road.  Its ears were pressed against the back of its head and its eyes were white with terror. 
    "Shhhh!  Shhhh!  Shhhh!" Aein whispered, trying to calm it. 
    Though its breath was heaving in its sides and exhaustion should have quieted it, it snapped and bit and kicked whenever she tried to get near it.  She needed the rope and it was not cooperating.
    Lars was sinking fast into the mud.  Every step was making it worse.  The weight of his armor was dragging him down.  Finn leapt and paddled to his side, but they were both in terrible danger.  Aein ran back to her saddle, throwing everything on the ground and rooting through the mess for something which might work.  She grabbed her bow, laid down on the road, and reached it out to Lars, using it as an extension of her arm.  He struggled and fought, half walking, half swimming, until the tips of his fingers reached the tip of the wood.  The mud was up to his chest.  Aein pulled with all her might.  Lars wrapped his arm around Finn's torso and hauled him along.  Aein cried out from the exertion, trying to keep focused on getting her friends to safety and not getting trampled by Lars's fool horse.  Finally, Lars's fingertips touched the road.
    Aein leaned out and wrapped her hands around Lars's wrists, ready to haul him out, but instead, he shouted at Finn. "Climb up my back!"
    She could almost see the wheels in