Prey (Blackwater Pack Book 2)

by Hannah McBride

  “How are you doing, sweetheart?” he asked, his gaze sweeping over us.

  “Okay,” I said. Feeling Remy tense under me, I added, “Better now.”

  Gabe dropped himself into the chair across from us, kicking his feet out. “We have time before dinner if you two want to get in a run. Burn off some of that energy.” He rubbed his chest. “Hell, I could use it.”

  I sat up. “We can do that?”

  Remy’s chest rumbled as he chuckled under me. “Sure. As long as we’re going as a group.”

  “Luke and a few others agreed,” Gabe confirmed with a nod at us.

  “Then it’s safe enough for you,” Remy finished.

  “We’ll order something for dinner when we’re done,” Gabe added. He gave me a small smile. “But I think we could all use some time outside.”

  It had been weeks since I was able to run with Remy. Too much had been going on, and my wolf definitely missed his.

  She was practically clawing at my skin to get out.

  Remy’s hand tightened around my hip for a second. “Let’s go.”

  I was off his lap and heading for the back door that led towards the woods. Once I was outside, I stepped around the corner to a secluded area against the house and didn’t waste any time stripping my clothes off, letting them pool around my feet.

  It only took a second for my bones to shift and reform, the warm sensation of my human body giving way to wolf form zipped through my veins.

  Inhaling deeply, I let the aromatic scents of springtime, woods, and fresh air fill my lungs.

  Remy was just coming outside as I walked around to the back door, my paws sinking into the soft earth. He chuckled at seeing me, pausing to stroke the star on my forehead.

  “Feel better?” he asked.

  I would feel better once I was running, my legs eating up the ground until my limbs were ready to give out. It would be better still with him at my side.

  Gabe came out behind him, and I turned when they both stripped off their shirts.

  Three wolves approached from around the side of the house. I immediately recognized the deep russet color wolf as Dante and the smaller white and gray wolf as Tate. Luke was the third, easily as big as Dante with a slate gray coat that looked like a winter storm on the horizon.

  When two additional white and tan wolves approached, my ears flattened against my skull.

  Nero and his wife.

  My eyes closed, the familiar sound of Remy’s voice in my head soothing.

  His large body bumped mine, his tongue coming out to lick at my muzzle a moment before Gabe approached us, his eyes brilliantly bright and blue against his ebony coat. He and Remy could have been twins except for the eye color and the shock of white on Remy’s forehead that perfectly counterbalanced my own dark mark.

  I leaned my weight against Remy as Nero and his wife approached. I sniffed the air, committing their scents to memory. They were friends, allies. But there was something curious about the female’s scent that caught my attention.

  Is she pregnant?

  Remy’s head swung to look at me, surprise in his eyes. I don’t know. Nero never said anything if she is.

  With a low bark, Gabe took off for the trees leaving all of us to follow.

  We spent the better part of two hours running through the woods, letting our wolves play and run until, exhausted, we all collapsed in an open meadow.

  With a deep sigh, I closed my eyes, resting my head on my paws, the sun-warmed grass my new bed.

  You seem better, Remy noted, his body pressed to mine. We had laid down away from the rest of the group, and I would have been perfectly content for them to head back and us to stay out here for the rest of the night.

  Today sucked, I admitted, opening my eyes to look at him.

  I think a lot of days are going to suck this week, he answered, his dark eyes studying me.

  I huffed out a breath. But we’re together.

  He nudged me with his nose. Always.

  I started to doze off when Remy stood up. I glared up at him, mildly annoyed at the disruption.

  Time to go. He inclined his head to where his dad and the others were gathered, waiting for us.

  With a low grumble, I pushed myself up onto my feet, stretching and taking another slow, deep breath.

  An oddly familiar scent clung to the breeze that whispered past my nose. It was a small tickle, a long lost memory that was slowly being dragged up to the surface.

  And then suddenly, brutally, I placed the scent. A low whine scraped up my throat before I could stop it.

  Preston.

  I knew the scent of his wolf. It was burned into my senses.

  Judging by the faint trace of his scent, he was easily half a mile or more away, but it didn't stop the full body shudder that rippled down my spine. Or the crushing memory of the last time I encountered his wolf.

  It had always taken me longer to shift than the rest of my pack In Long Mesa. The broken bond that linked me to my wolf had been smothered by years of fear and self-preservation.

  My grandfather had always had the pack shift together before a run. It led to a lot of fights and humiliation, but that was the Markham legacy.

  The last run I had been part of, I had been the last to shift. My body trembled and fought the change every step of the way until I thought I would pass out. My mother had been chased and herded away from me by the pack until I was left alone, naked and shaking in the dust, begging my wolf to just cooperate for once.

  The whole pack moved on.

  Except Preston.

  He stayed by my side, his cold eyes watching me with morbid fascination, nostrils flared as he inhaled the stench of my fear.

  When I tried to twist away, pathetically attempting to hide my nakedness from him, he circled me, not giving an inch. I had closed my eyes, trying to ignore him and focus on the shift, crouched in the dirt to hide as much of my body from his calculating gaze as I could.

  Then I felt his tongue, rough and wet, lick the side of my face. I jerked back, my hand blindly slapping his muzzle away.

  And he bit me.

  His jaws latched onto my calf, his stronger body pulling me down to the ground with a sharp jerk of his head. Snarling, he loomed over me, his empty eyes suddenly sparking to life as he tasted blood.

  My blood.

  The pain that ripped through me was enough to trigger my shift. Seconds later, I had shifted and ran as fast as I could from him to catch up with the pack.

  It took me a second to shake the memory from my brain, but I could still hear the deep throated snarls and growls.

  But not from Preston, from the wolf that was beside me.

  I blinked slowly, my breath catching as I realized Remy was snarling beside me, his entire body vibrating with fury.

  Rem—

  He was gone.

  One second he was in front of me, the next he was lunging into the trees at an impossibly fast speed.

  I scrambled to catch him, my adrenaline spiking as I fed off the rage driving him.

  Remy! I shouted his name, desperately trying to get him to turn around as Gabe and the others caught up.

  Gabe barely glanced at me as he ran past me, Dante, Nero, and Luke hot on his tail. We broke through another clearing, and I could see Remy racing ahead of us.

  With an impressive burst of speed, Nero closed the distance between them. My heart lodged in my chest to see him hurtle through the air and slam into Remy.

  They tumbled several feet, giving the others enough time to catch up in time for Remy to snap his jaws at Nero.

  I slid to a stop, Nero’s wife and Tate bumping into me. I pressed against the bond, trying to reach Remy, but all I could feel was rage and hate.

  Remy was still snarling even as the others surrounded him. When Gabe approached him, he bared his teeth at the Alpha.

  With a warning bark, Gabe leveled Remy with a glare that had me shaking from several feet away.

  Remy didn’t flinch, matching h
is Alpha’s stare.

  He was all but openly challenging his father now.

  Shit. This was bad. Beyond bad.

  I slowly approached, dropping to my belly and crawling the last few feet with a low whimper.

  Look at me, I begged, stopping just short of Gabe. Remy, look at me.

  His dark gaze turned to me, the slight flick of his ears the only indication he was paying attention.

  I edged forward a few more inches. What the hell is going on?

  The growl in his chest loosed into a low whine of distress. His gaze sharpened, focused on me.

  Skye.

  Relief surged through me. Yeah, hey.

  His posture drooped, his head finally lowering in deference to his father.

  We need to get back. Now. His clipped tone stung and only made me more confused.

  Frustration filled the hollow void the relief exposed. What is going on?

  His only answer was a sharp bark. His gaze met and held mine.

  Okay, I agreed, relenting for now. Let’s go.

  All the playfulness was gone on the way back. We made the journey back to the cabin in silence. Once the cabins came into view, Nero and his wife peeled away from the group to head for their place.

  Dante and Tate headed for their cabin next door to ours, but Luke hesitated as Gabe nudged Remy towards the backdoor.

  I headed towards my clothes, confused as hell, as I shifted and started pulling on my clothes.

  I came out from the little alcove of trees and slammed into Remy. He was only wearing his jeans and hadn’t bothered with his shirt. His dark eyes were wild as he dropped to his knees and grabbed my leg.

  “Remy, what the hell?” I grabbed his shoulders for balance as he lifted my leg, shoving my jeans up to expose my calf.

  His fingers ghosted across the flesh, his mouth flattening when he found the small little scar just above my ankle.

  His eyes flashed dangerously as he looked up at me. “Preston did this?”

  “What …” My mind struggled to catch up.

  Yes, that tiny little scar was from where Preston had bitten me. The bite mark had healed almost completely except for where one of his canines had dug in. The scar that was left was barely the size of the point of a pen.

  “How did you know that?” I asked, my voice shaking.

  “I fucking saw it,” he hissed, standing up to his full height.

  I blinked. “Babe, it was a memory. I didn’t mean to tell you—”

  With a growl, he stepped closer, his hands landing firmly on my hips. “No, Skye, I fucking saw it.”

  Off balance, I grabbed his forearms to keep from stumbling back. “I don’t get it. How could you see that?”

  “I don’t know,” he ground out. “But it was like your memory was my memory. I saw what he did, felt how scared you were.” His fingers flexed against me, his grip almost bruising as Gabe came around the corner, fully dressed and holding Remy’s shirt in his hand.

  “What the hell was that?” Gabe demanded. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  I sucked in a sharp breath. I had never heard Gabe so angry.

  Remy didn’t even bother turning to look at his dad. “Can mates see each others’ thoughts?”

  Gabe met my gaze over Remy’s shoulder.

  “Yes. They know what each other is thinking. You know this,” Gabe snapped.

  “Not thoughts,” Remy replied, finally turning. “If Mom pictures something, a memory or something, can you see what she sees?”

  Gabe’s frown turned into confusion. “No. The mental link is auditory, not visual.”

  Remy looked back at me, a fine tremor rippling across his body. “Then how the hell did I see that?”

  “See what?” Gabe asked slowly.

  “Remy saw my memory. From when I was in Long Mesa,” I whispered, realizing what had happened.

  Remy saw my memory and connected it to Preston’s scent. He was going after Preston because he had hurt me years ago.

  “That’s not possible,” Gabe said, shaking his head in bewilderment.

  I took a deep breath. “I think we need to call Elias.”

  30

  “So, you actually saw what was happening?” Elias’ voice was hushed with fascinated awe as he leaned forward to speak to Remy. He had literally been on the edge of his seat since Gabe ushered him into the cabin and Remy explained what had happened.

  Thankfully he kept it on the vague side. The last thing I could handle right now was everyone knowing the details of that memory.

  Remy’s hand was curled around mine in a deathgrip. He hadn’t let me go since we sat on the couch together. Like holding onto me was the only thing keeping him from getting up and hunting Preston down.

  His gaze flickered to me for a moment before looking back at Elias. He gave a slow nod.

  “It was like it was my own memory,” Remy admitted.

  Elias turned to look at me. “And have you been able to see Remy’s thoughts?”

  I frowned, shaking my head. “No, but we haven’t shifted around each other in a few weeks.”

  “Have you ever heard of this happening before?” Gabe asked. He had been leaning against the wall since Elias came in, hovering in the background to give us space.

  Elias sighed and leaned back. “No, but then again, Remy and Skye are much younger than most bonded mates. The progression of their bond doesn’t seem to conform to what we’ve identified as normal behaviors.”

  I barely contained a snort. I was more than a little over being told how not normal our bonding was.

  But there was something a little more pressing I needed an answer to.

  “Do you think this will keep happening?” I asked quietly, unable to look at Remy. “Remy will be able to relive my memories?”

  I had barely been able to look at him since I realized he had seen inside my head.

  He had seen and felt what I experienced.

  It was one thing for me to tell him about something that happened, but the idea of him experiencing my humiliation and fear in first person, high definition? That was fucking terrifying.

  Elias frowned. “Maybe? It’s likely a new manifestation of your bond, which has defied most of what we knew to be true of bonded mates.”

  I couldn’t swallow around the sudden lump in my throat, my mouth went desert dry.

  “You could both try shifting again and see if you can project something the other can see,” he suggested. His dark eyes sparked to life as he leaned forward. “I would be fascinated to observe the two of you. Maybe we could all learn something.”

  Anxiety clawed at my insides. Remy squeezed my hands, but they were practically numb and filled with ice.

  “I don’t think now is a good time,” Gabe said diplomatically for the both of us, pushing off the wall. His eyes were on me as he spoke to Elias.

  “Of course,” Elias said quickly, flashing us a smile. “I should probably get going.”

  He got to his feet, and I moved to stand as well, but Remy’s iron-clad grip wasn’t letting up.

  “Skye, Remy,” Elias said, dipping his head. “Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can be of any further assistance.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” Gabe said, his gaze solemn as he opened the door for Elias and stepped outside with him.

  I stared at the door after it had closed, my insides a tumultuous mess of nerves and fear.

  “You’re shaking,” Remy murmured beside me.

  Was I?

  I scrambled for an excuse. “It’s kind of cold, and I’m tired-”

  “So, when you get cold and tired you can’t look at me, too?” he asked quietly.

  With a dry swallow, I turned my head, barely meeting his gaze.

  His eyes narrowed as he sighed. “Are you mad?”

  “No,” I answered quickly, forcing myself not to let my gaze skitter away.

  It wasn’t a lie; I wasn’t angry. More like humiliated, frustrated, and slightly annoyed.

  “But
you’re upset,” he guessed.

  I exhaled hard. “It’s just—”

  I stopped myself when Gabe opened the door and came back in. He paused by the door, looking at us.

  “Are we okay here?” he asked softly, but I had a feeling he was talking to me.

  “Yeah.”

  Gabe nodded, his gaze sliding to Remy. “Skye, can you give us a minute? I need to talk to Remy.”

  “Sure,” I said, starting to stand.

  Remy’s hand tightened around mine, anchoring me to his side once more. “Skye can stay. Anything you need to say to me, she can hear.”

  “Fine,” Gabe said tersely, sitting down across from us. “We need to talk about today.”

  “I know,” Remy replied. “Dad, I’m sorry—”

  Gabe held up a hand. “Am I missing the part where you want to be Alpha of the pack now?”

  Remy stayed quiet.

  Gabe leaned forward, his forearms resting on his knees. “You pull a stunt like you did today again, and son or not, I’ll consider it a formal challenge.”

  “Okay,” Remy replied with a sharp nod, his dark eyes full of an unnamed emotion.

  Gabe grimaced. “I mean it, Rem. I know that you were reacting to the situation, but you need to get your wolf in check. You all but openly challenged me in front of the others.”

  “He didn’t mean it like that.” I jumped in when Remy didn’t speak for himself and the need to diffuse the situation got too intense. “He was upset because of my memory and ... what he saw.”

  Gabe’s eyes cut to me. “I get that, Skye, and I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing if someone hurt Mallory. But I’m the Alpha of Blackwater, and I won’t be disobeyed, no matter what the reason or who the person.”

  He leveled a hard look at Remy. “You were lucky it was only our friends with us today. Something like that happens in front of the Council or our enemies? You damn well better be ready to fight me for the pack.”

  The gravity of the situation crashed around me, leaving me more shaken than before.

  “He wasn’t …” I trailed off, looking helplessly at Remy. “Tell him you didn’t mean it.”

  “I understand,” Remy replied instead, his expression unreadable as he kept his eyes locked steadily on Gabe’s.