Undying: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Crystal Lake Pack Book 2)

by Candace Wondrak

  As she shouted, she batted a hand through the air, sending his looming figure off her mother. Much like what had happened to her, he landed with his back on the opposite wall. His draining of her mother stopped the instant he was separated from her, and it was then Addie got a better look at him.

  It was like someone carefully peeled his skin off, leaving everything underneath. His nose had started to reform, eyelids only half there. He still had no lips, so she could see and count every single tooth. He was the ugliest son of a bitch she’d ever seen.

  An eerie laugh left him, and a dark red hole appeared on the wall behind him, swallowing him up. Or, rather, he fell back into it, disappearing from Addie’s sight, leaving her alone in the living room with her mother.

  God, she prayed she was not too late, and she wasn’t a praying sort.

  Addie darted to her mother’s side, falling to her knees as she reached the couch. “Mom,” she whispered, frantic, moving to grab her mother’s shoulders. She wasn’t moving, not at all. And with all that hair in her face…Addie couldn’t tell if she was even still alive.

  No. If the bastard got her mother…

  “Mom,” Addie said again, tears pricking her vision. These tears were real, genuine. Her heart ached at the thought she’d been too late to save her mother. Sarah was the only family she had; her absentee dad didn’t count for anything, and Henry? Henry was an ass. No one could replace her mother.

  Her mother’s head was turned inward, facing the couch cushions. Addie went to turn her head, to wipe the hair from her face so she could see the damage Clay had done, but a sudden, swift movement from her mother’s neck stopped her. The sound of cracking bone echoed through the air, a haunting noise that reverberated again and again in her ears. Sarah sat up as Addie fell back to the floor, watching in horror.

  With sickening, hard sounds, her mother’s head turned…but it went the long way. Instead of turning to face her, instead of simply moving her head from the left to the right, she spun it backwards, stopping every inch or so as another series of cracks came out. A human-shaped owl; Addie had never witnessed something so disjointed, something so disgusting and awful.

  “Mom?” Addie whimpered, unable to say more. Every word she spoke hurt like a bitch, coming up like razor blades. Her hand, the one missing a bone, suddenly started to ache, the pain traveling up her arm, blurring her vision. She went to grip her wrist, and when she broke eye contact with her mother’s head, the pain became tenfold. She felt like passing out, but the adrenaline rushing through her would not let that happen.

  Her mother’s head had fully spun to look at her, but the cracking of bones was not over yet, because her mother’s body started to float, twisting and re-shaping itself, growing bulkier, her clothes shifting and changing. Within ten seconds, it was no longer her mother staring down at her with a half-eaten face.

  It was Clay, wearing a crisp, black suit, his face painted black, save for the single white line traveling down his forehead, over his nose and lips, to his chin, even down his neck. Clay had somehow taken over her mother; he was completely whole, no part of him a skeleton.

  “Hello, Addie,” Clay spoke, his feet flat on the floor. Dress shoes, as ridiculous as they were. His voice seemed to seep through her ears, tingling each and every bone—and not in a good way. More of a so-royally-screwed way. He tilted his head in a dramatic fashion, his brown, nearly black eyes boring into her hard. His dark hair was slicked back as it always was, her mother’s blonde locks nowhere in sight. “Did you think I forgot about you?”

  Addie didn’t know what to say other than, “What did you do to my mother?”

  “How sweet,” Clay mused, kneeling over her, pushing her down to the ground with a single rough hand. “You think this is real. Perhaps your mind is not what I was hoping it was.” He swiftly grabbed her injured hand, digging his thumb through it.

  She screamed as pain shot through her, fast and undeniable.

  “You are delightfully obtuse, girl. My master will love you,” Clay went on, keeping his thumb in her open wound.

  “I won’t let you take me,” Addie whispered through tears, breathing erratically and hard. It grew tougher with each inhale to keep breathing. How badly she wanted to pass out, but she couldn’t. It was almost like she was being forced to stay here, to witness this, to be at Clay’s mercy. Mercy of which he had none. “I won’t…let you…” Even her words grew harder to speak—and they were already next to impossible to say, thanks to her torn esophagus.

  “Let me?” Clay echoed, grinning. His teeth were pearly white, seeming to glow in the darkness of the living room. The moon’s light had gone away, sometime during her mother’s transformation. His eyes flashed a glowing red as a maroon mist started to seep into the house beneath the front door. “Dear girl, you can’t stop me from doing anything. I am a death priest, and you, while somewhat unique, are a witch and a shifter. Both of which are more common than your human upbringing would lead you to believe.”

  “How—” She could not get another word out, for the red mist had gotten to her, curled around her throat, choking her.

  Clay continued to smile, the hand not pressing into her wound reaching to her face, cupping a cheek, stroking her a bit too tenderly for her liking. Any touch by him was not wanted. “I know more about you than you think. Come to the clearing before nightfall tomorrow, and I will tell you everything. Fail to show, and I will have no choice but to remind you who has all the power here.” His eyes, still that deathly, luminescent red, grew brighter, his hand falling from her cheek.

  The mist that had choked her curled upwards, flowing into her nose and mouth. She couldn’t even scream, couldn’t cry out. This was going to be her end. She was going to die here, Addie knew. There was nothing worse than not being able to lift a finger to stop it.

  Her eyes closed, and she released herself to oblivion.

  Addie woke with a jerk, eyelids flying open to stare at the ceiling. The normal, non-mist-coated ceiling. She inhaled deeply, her throat feeling normal, and as she sat up, she glanced at her hand. Wound-free. And from the look of it, she was not covered in any blood.

  And her mother?

  Though she knew it had to have been a dream, a nightmare of epic proportions and horror movie material, Addie had to make sure her mother was all right, had to see if she was safe from Clay’s wrath. If she lost her mother…she couldn’t even think it. It was so horrible, so awful. Sarah was all she had; at least all she had a week ago. Now, she might have the pack, but nothing and no one could replace her mother.

  Addie whipped off the sheets and ran to the stairs, breathing hard, as if still trying to regain herself after that stupid, frightening nightmare sequence. As she passed the guys’ rooms, she heard them crack open their doors and ask her something along the lines of what’s wrong, but she didn’t, couldn’t stop to answer them. Not until she knew her mother was okay.

  She nearly tripped herself going down the stairs by taking them too fast, and as she rounded the corner into the living room and spotted her mother yawning and getting up, Addie didn’t hesitate before she threw her arms around her mother’s shoulders, hugging her close and hard. Water started to grow at the corners of her eyes, but Addie held the tears back. She would not cry because of a nightmare Clay induced.

  She would not let him win.

  Sarah was too tired at first, but within a minute, she hugged Addie back. “What is it, honey? What’s wrong?” She didn’t know Clay could enter her dreams or what he’d done to her.

  And how scarily real it had felt to Addie.

  Clay wanted her to come to the clearing before nightfall tomorrow, and if she didn’t, he’d show her who had all the power, whatever the hell that meant. Addie knew she wasn’t strong enough to fight him yet, and she had no idea what he meant by his threat. If only the bad guys would learn to be more specific in their threats, the good guys could better prepare themselves.

  Then again, it wasn’t like the bad guys wanted to
make it any easier for those who dared to stand against them.

  Addie waited until she was sure she’d be able to talk without bursting into tears—no one here needed an emotional Addie. “I’m fine. Sorry, I just…had a nightmare,” she said, pulling out of the hug.

  A nightmare. The truth, but it sounded oh so lame coming out of her mouth. So freaking lame. And she felt even worse when she glanced to the stairwell, noting each of the three guys standing there, confused, tired, and curious. And, of course, concerned.

  “Oh, honey, it’s all right. We all have them sometimes,” Sarah spoke, smoothing out Addie’s hair. Her bedhead. It was—Addie noticed—midnight, and she already had a severe case of bedhead and a nightmare involving Clay.

  Great.

  It also meant that today was the day Clay wanted her to go to the clearing, to meet with him and be taken God knew where.

  No secondary locations for her.

  Sarah then asked the token parental question, “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No, it’s okay,” Addie said, her arms dropping to her sides. Her breathing was back to normal, and she would go back to sleep, somehow. “I’m sorry I woke you all up,” she apologized to everyone in the room.

  Addie avoided looking at anyone as she hurried up the stairs. Now she didn’t feel freaked out, she just felt embarrassed. It was a feeling she often had here, and a feeling she knew she would have again.

  Acting like a childish fool in front of her future mates? On her list of things to do since she was ten.

  She headed into the bathroom, turning on the faucet and watching the water come out clear. That dream totally ruined showers for her, at least for a while. Her skin grew goosebumps, and she pretended not to hear the guys’ footsteps following her.

  Maze stood at the doorway of the bathroom, asking quietly, “You sure you’re okay?”

  Addie gave him a smile and a nod, watching him go back to bed, scratching the backside of his head. Landon paused to only meet her eyes. The wolf said nothing, and neither did she. The third one, Dylan, looked a little weird without his glasses. She expected him to file away like Landon, but the other twin came in the bathroom with her, pausing only to yawn before he spoke.

  “I might be blind without my glasses, but my ears work, if you want me to listen.”

  Before she knew what she was doing, she hugged him. Pressed her face to his neck and breathed him in like the wolf she sort-of was. Dylan radiated a kind, soft comfort, and she was kind of glad he couldn’t see, because she may or may not have been tearing up as she remembered her nightmare and Clay’s ominous words.

  Dylan was slow to wrap his arms around her, returning the hug without a word. He moved his head, pressing his lips to her forehead, giving her the gentlest kiss Addie imagined a wolf could give. “Everything will be okay, Addie. Whatever happens, we’ll face it together,” he murmured after the kiss, his lips brushing against her skin with every word.

  If she could erase the worry, the fright that had settled deep within her, Addie would, and then she would let this moment continue forever. Feeling his arms around her, strong and comforting, made her nearly forget all her worries.

  Nearly, but not quite. It would take a strong kind of spell, or one of the glowing sticks from Men in Black, to make her totally forget about Clay and his warning. Clay would make good on his threat, she knew, but she also knew she couldn’t go waltzing into the clearing and expect to beat him. Not yet. It was too soon. Way too soon. She’d been naive enough to believe she’d have more time to learn, to practice.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, pulling herself from him, quickly turning her face away. “Night, Dylan.” Though she wasn’t looking at him, she could feel the lazy, tired smile he gave her. His dimples were not as deep as Maze’s, even though they were twins. With his blonde hair messed-up, his eyes drowsy, and the blonde stubble on his face—he was a devastating kind of cute.

  “Goodnight,” he whispered, smiling as he left the bathroom and headed to his room, padding quietly. They all walked in synch with their wolves, near soundless. Addie knew she could only hear them because she was now connected to her inner wolf. Before? They were like ghosts, popping in and out of rooms. Ghosts, or the Flash.

  Once she was alone again, Addie met her eyes in the mirror. Their green hue looked exhausted, tired. The sink faucet was still on, water pouring from its tap. She reached her hands under it, bringing a handful of water to her face and splashing her skin.

  It was cold water, and it jarred her awake, but she didn’t care. It would be a long while before she would be able to calm her heart and go back to sleep. Addie had to tell someone about it, and she debated whether or not they’d believe her. When magic was involved, who was to say what was possible and what was impossible?

  It was more than clear Clay was a strong warlock, a powerful death priest. What was he capable of? What more could he do? Surely, the destruction he promised would be worse than the murder cabin and the rows of handmade crosses.

  Twenty-four wolves, dead. One enslaved, and another about to join their number. If Addie hadn’t found Landon, found the cabin, that number would’ve been twenty-five. What else could he do, short of annihilating the whole pack? Did he have that much power at his disposal? The mere thought sent a shiver down her spine, dread creeping up on her like an unwelcomed, old friend.

  She could not let Clay win this.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sleep was not her friend that night. When she finally decided to roll her tired self out of bed, she wished she had some concealer to hide the bags beneath her eyes. At least then she would give off the impression of being awake.

  Addie went straight to practicing with her mother. This time she tried her best not to send anything flying; there were a lot of holes in the drywall thanks to her, and one book stuck so deeply in a two by four that neither she nor her mother could get it out. They’d enlisted the guys’ help, and even with their strength, the book would not budge. It was now officially part of the structural integrity of the house, apparently.

  If she couldn’t get levitation right, how the hell was she supposed to stand against Clay and last more than a minute? Less than that, probably, if he took out his soul-sucking face again, like in her dreams.

  That was something Addie did not need to see in real life.

  Time passed in a blur, and Addie made a bit of progress, but nowhere near the amount of progress she wanted, hoped to make. It was a foolish, impossible hope, wanting to learn all she could and to be able to face Clay on somewhat equal terms. She wasn’t sure how old the death priest was, but he was definitely older than her, and no doubt he’d been practicing his death magic for nearly his entire life.

  Yeah, he was a bit ahead of her on that, wasn’t he?

  It was after one successful levitation—this time a pillow, because they’d learned their lesson after using books—that Addie suddenly grew restless. She did not want to spend all day practicing. She had to get out, off the floor of the living room and stretch her legs. She had to think. She needed time, and time was something that ran short, unfortunately.

  She had until tonight to figure out what the heck she was going to do.

  After telling her mother she needed a little break, her mother made the comment she wasn’t going to be around forever. And she didn’t mean she was going to die—Sarah meant she was going to go home, because unlike Addie, she’d chosen another life, not the pack. She wouldn’t change her mind just because her daughter wanted to stay in Crystal Lake.

  As Sarah wandered to the kitchen to make some lunch, Addie said, “You know, you can go, if you want. I think I got the hang of it.” At least if her mother was out of here, it was one less thing she would have to worry about when it came to Clay and his machinations.

  Her mother gave her a withering look. “Don’t be stupid, Addie. I’ll stay for another few days. You are improving, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say you’ve got it down pat.”

  Well, t
hat was that. There was no arguing with her mother when her mother had already made up her mind. Addie only nodded along, turning to head out of the house. It was a new day, the guys were off doing God knew what, and she had to learn to calm her nerves down.

  If she had any sort of luck, her absentee, high warlock of a father would swoop in and save the day at the last minute.

  But she wasn’t lucky. If recent events had anything to show, it was that she was caught in a rather bad bout of unfortunateness as of the moment. Learning everything in her life was a lie, learning everything her mother had kept from her—it was something that still kind of bugged her, even though she knew it shouldn’t. It wasn’t something someone could forget and forgive at the drop of a hat.

  She drew herself through the side streets of Crystal Lake, finding herself standing before Forest’s house. She wasn’t sure whether or not Forest was actually in his home, but then again, it wasn’t Forest whom she came to visit. Addie needed to put some distance between her and the alpha anyway. Things were getting way too complicated between them, and it was a complication she did not need to add to her list of problems.

  Addie went inside the house—the no knocking thing would take some getting used to, because even when she’d gone to visit friends’ houses, she’d always knocked. It was just a human thing, apparently. Here, everyone was welcomed anywhere at all times.

  No wonder so many of them were kidnapped by Clay. The shifters made it easy for him. Plus, Clay did have some help. Jack’s help, though it was forced with a controlling spell.

  As she shut the yellow front door behind her, she spotted an unfamiliar wolf guarding the door to the basement in the hallway. Landon stood in the kitchen, making himself toast. Just like the no-knock thing, everyone ate everyone else’s food. They’d learn soon enough Addie did not share her food. It was one thing that would not change.