157. Shadow of the Past – Part 3

~ CASIMIR ~

No one tells you how long it takes to kill an animal that way.

Blood loss takes minutes.

Suffocation takes at least two.

I had to stand there, braced, jaw locked, eye to eye with my horse who was terrified and in pain and shocked and confused.

And when he finally fell, sinking to the ground, his heart was still beating, though it was far too fast, far too thin, as his blood and air starved body tried desperately to find what it was missing, and only succeeded in killing him faster.

I knew I couldn’t let him go until his heart had stopped. My father wouldn’t accept it until we were certain he was dead.

So I stood there as my horse tumbled to his side, and I didn’t let go.

But I found my father, still in his wolf, standing under the trees a few feet away on the other side of Prince, panting happily.

His eyes locked with mine.

And when Prince’s pulse finally slowed to nothing, and I could spit his flesh out of my mouth, my father’s wolf was grinning.

‘Well done, Casimir. I di