Alexa nearly lost her balance when Veronika stopped so suddenly. Turning around, Alexa looked at her questioningly, wondering what was wrong with the girl as she looked back with... disdain? Huh... Maybe this girl really IS bipolar. Whatever either of them about to say was stopped cold however at the growling sound.

The lunging black wolf took them both by surprise and nearly pounced Veronika, and she guessed it was only pure luck that Veronika escaped the attack unscathed. The scream though... oh boy, did that girl could scream... If the situation was not so dire, Alexa might have made a complaint on her own about Veronika's voice or joked that they could use it as a secret weapon to stun the enemy. Unfortunately, the wolf slammed hard to the shield she was holding, and caused the shield to get thrown from her hand. 
"Shit..." Alexa swore with pale face and fumbled awkwardly to unsheathe her sword with nerveless fingers as she stepped backwards to get some distance. 

However, the wolf wasn't about to give her time to get ready it seem and lunged again, this time aiming at Alexa's throat. Alexa only had about a split second decision to either keep trying to unsheathe her sword and risked her throat, or forget the sword and try to hold off the wolf. Reflex won over and Alexa lifted her left arm to shield herself, which resulted in the wolf's fangs tore through her jean jacket easily and sank into the flesh of her arm. 

Alexa screamed in pain even as she used her other arm to grab the wolf's throat and wrestled the beast to the ground while trying to keep it from damaging her arm further. In her current position, it would be quite difficult to reach for her sword. Instead, Alexa grabbed her right side where she strapped the dagger from the corpse. Unsheathing the dagger quickly, she stabbed the wolf repeatedly, even after the wolf stopped moving. She didn't stop for quite a while until she realized that the wolf was no longer moving, nor breathing. Shaking badly from the combination of fear, pain and adrenaline, Alexa stabbed the dagger into the wolf's body one last time and left it there while she tried to release her arm from the beast's jaw that still gripped her like a vice. She barely realized that she was crying, whether it was from the shock or the pain, she wasn't sure, and she doesn't really care either way as she tried to steel herself. She'd break down later, after she freed her arm, and preferably after she ensured that she won't bleed to death from it. 

"Shit... oh shit...." She groaned when she finally freed her arm and saw the extent of the damage. Her jacket left sleeve already turning dark red from the blood that's still bleeding out of her bitten arm. She's going to need it stitched. Hopefully the settlement that they saw the smoke coming from was nearby. Speaking of that... "V-Vero...? Veronika..? Y-you.. okay?" She queried shakily, looking around for her companion.