Not into the eye. Into the ear.
She felt the impact-hard metal against sensitive flesh. The wolf gave a yelping squeal and staggered sideways, shaking its head and hitting at its face with a forepaw. Its weight was off her for an instant, and an instant was all Hannah needed.
Her body moved without her conscious direction, sliding out from under the wolf, twisting and jumping to her feet.
She kept her grasp on the picture frame.
Now. Look around! The bookcase-no, you can't move it. The window! Go for the window.
But the wolf had stopped shaking its head. Even as Hannah started across the room, it turned and saw her. In one flowing, bushy leap it put itself between her and the window. Then it stood looking at her, every hair on its body bristling. Its teeth were bared, its ears upright, and its eyes glared with pure hatred and menace.
It's going to spring, Hannah realized.
I am not a killer. I can't kill.
You don't have any choice-
The wolf sprang.
But it never reached her. Something else came soaring through the window and knocked it off course.
This time, Hannah's eyes and brain identified the creature at once. Another wolf. My God, what is going on?
The new animal was gray-brown, smaller than the black wolf and not as striking. Its legs were amazingly delicate, twined with veins and sinews like a racehorse's.
A female, something faraway in Hannah's mind said with dreamlike certainty.
Both wolves had recovered their balance now. They were on their feet, bristling. The room smelled like a zoo.
And now I'm really going to die, Hannah thought. I'm going to be torn to pieces by two wolves. She was still clutching the picture frame, but she knew there was no chance of fighting them both off at once. They were going to rip her to bits, quarreling over who got more of her.
Her heart was pounding so hard that it shook her body, and her ears were ringing. The female wolf was staring at her with eyes more amber than yellow, and Hannah stared back, mesmerized, waiting for it to make its move.
The wolf held the gaze for another moment, as if studying Hannah's face-in particular the left side of her face. Her cheek. Then she turned her back to Hannah and faced the black wolf.
And snarled.
Protecting me, Hannah thought, stunned. It was unbelievable-but she was beyond disbelief at this point.
She had stepped out of her ordinary life and into a fairy tale full of almost-human wolves. The entire world had gone crazy and all she could do was try to deal with each moment as it came.
They're going to fight, the cool wind voice in her mind told her. As soon as they're into it, run for the window.
At that moment everything erupted into bedlam. The gray wolf had launched herself at the black. The room echoed with the sound of snarling-and of teeth clicking together as both wolves snapped again and again.
Hannah couldn't make out what was going on in the fight. It was just a blurred chaos as the wolves circled and darted and leaped and ducked. But it was by far the most terrifying thing she had ever witnessed. Like the worst dog fight imaginable, like the feeding frenzy of sharks. Both animals seemed to have gone berserk.
Suddenly there was a yelp of pain. Blood welled up on the gray female's flank.
She's too small, Hannah thought. Too light. She doesn't have a chance.
Help her, the crystal voice whispered.
It was an insane suggestion. Hannah couldn't even imagine trying to get in the middle of that snarling whirlwind. But somehow she found herself moving anyway. Placing herself behind the gray wolf. It didn't matter that she didn't believe she was doing it, or that she had no idea how to team up with a wolf in fighting another wolf. She was there and she was holding her silver picture frame high.
The black wolf pulled away from the fight to stare at her.
And there they stood, all three of them panting, Hannah with fear and the wolves with exertion. They were frozen like a tableau in the middle of the wrecked office, all looking at each other tensely. The black wolf on one side, his eyes shining with single-minded menace. The gray wolf on the other, blood matting her coat, bits of fur floating away from her. And Hannah right behind her, holding up the picture frame in a shaking hand.
Hannah's ears were filled with the deep reverberating sound of growling.
And then a deafening report that cut through the room like a knife.
A gunshot.
The black wolf yelped and staggered.
Hannah's senses had been focused on what was going on inside the room for so long that it was a shock to realize there was anything, outside it. She was dimly aware that Paul's yells had stopped some time ago, but she hadn't stopped to consider what that meant.
Now, with adrenaline washing over her, she heard his voice.
"Hannah! Get out of the way!"
The shout was tense, edged with fear and anger- and determination. It came from the opposite side of the room, from the darkness outside the window.
Paul was there at the broken window with a gun. His face was pale and his hand was shaking. He was aiming in the general direction of the wolves. If he fired again he might hit either of them.
"Get into a corner!" The gun bobbed nervously.
Hannah heard herself say, "Don't shoot!"
Her voice came out hoarse and unused-sounding. She moved to get in between the gun and the wolves.
"Don't shoot," she said again. "Don't hit the gray one."
"Hit the gray one?" Paul's voice rose in something like hysterical laughter. "I don't even know if I can hit the wall! This is the first time I've ever shot a gun. So just-just try to get out of the way!"
"No!" Hannah moved toward him, holding out her hand. "I can shoot. Just give it to me-"
"Just move out of the way-"