Her Shifter Kingdom (House of Wolves and Magic Book 5)

by Helen Scott

  As I stepped out of the trees, I felt more like a rabbit than a wolf. Under his dark gaze, I was small. I was a little girl again, and this time Sam wasn't around. My parents weren't around. It was just me and Jax. And suddenly, that little boy that I had been searching for inside of him seemed further away than ever. I almost turned away at that point. Almost said, “Fuck it” and just grabbed my mates and ran.

  But we had come here for a reason. And just because I was scared now didn't mean that I could just ignore it and walk away if we wanted to live peacefully. If we wanted to have our own lives, we needed to try and make this truce with Jax. So I stepped out of the tree line carefully, waiting for one of his wolves to attack—to try to grab me and drag me away.

  We were prepared for that. We knew what to expect when it came to Jax, which was for us to be double crossed. But he stood there in the center of the clearing with his hands stretched wide, his arms flared like angel wings. And he watched me with what was almost innocence on his face, but he couldn't quite pull it off.

  "Antonia," Jax called from where he stood in the clearing. He sounded pleased, like the cat that got the cream, to see me there.

  I stepped further into the light, hoping that it would shield me from the darkness that lay within him. "Jaxon."

  "I assume you've come to surrender," he said, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets like he was trying to look casual. As though this meeting was just another mundane thing in his life when we both knew it wasn't. Part of me wondered if he had a weapon stashed in there, but I wasn't sure if he would use a weapon against me or just hold onto it so he could use it against my mates.

  "Not so much. I was hoping we could come to an agreement," I said tentatively.

  "Is the agreement one where you return to the pack with me as my mate?" he asked, knowing damn well it wasn't.

  I shook my head. "I have my five mates. The bonds are formed and solid. There's nothing you can do now. Can't you just accept that this is the way it's going to turn out?"

  "Would you just accept that if one of your mates turned away from you? You are my mate, Nina. I'm not just going to let you walk away from that." Jax's tone was enough to make my skin crawl. He was so damn presumptuous.

  I had to suppress a sigh. Why was he so stubborn?

  As though he could sense my thoughts he said, "If you think you're going to walk away from this, you're wrong. You're my mate; you will be leaving here with me. There's no two ways about that. You may as well get over this faux mate bond that you have with those five men in the woods."

  My anger was starting to flare within me. "I'm not going anywhere with you, Jax. The last thing I want is to be your mate, especially when I already have five amazing, loving men who are more than I could ever even hope for in a mate."

  "Even if you leave here today without me somehow, I'll track you down no matter where you go. I will find you and bring you home because you are mine, Antonia. There's no way for you to get out of this. Your men are being surrounded as we speak. The only reason I came out here to get you myself was because I knew it was the only way you'd actually let yourself be exposed without your mates by your side. I knew that, without them, I would capture you and take you home."

  "If you think me and my men aren't aware that this was a trap, that you would try and take me and kill them, then you're sorely mistaken." Snarls echo out from the woods around me, ringing in my ears like gunshots. I knew at that moment that, even if Jax did have a weapon in his pocket, I wouldn't let him take me. I'd never planned for him to take me, but sometimes our plans went to shit. This one wouldn't though. We would get away—I had to believe that.

  The last thing I wanted was for this to come to bloodshed, but if he forced my hand, that was another story. As the snarls from the woods reached a fever pitch, Jax lunged for me, his hands grabbing in the air where I had been a split second before. If I hadn‘t had fast enough reflexes, he would have already caught me and would most likely be in the process of tying me up or something similar. Fortunately, my years of training—of practicing my physical response to stressful situations—meant that I did have fast reflexes. One might almost say cat-like reflexes. Why weren't wolf-like reflexes a thing?

  A glint of silver in the bright sunlight drew my attention to Jax once more as I tried my best to ignore the snarls and sounds of wolves fighting in the woods. He did have a weapon. I was right. The blade slashed through the air toward me. I knew he wouldn't do any permanent damage, but I also knew that he wasn't opposed to hurting me to get what he wanted.

  Sometimes, I thought that the men of this world just were not able to accept rejection. I'd noticed it first among humans, but it was proving true among wolves as well. The more a woman said no, the more they wanted her—whether she wanted them or not—and they expected her to comply.

  But I would not comply.

  I would not obey.

  I was my own person, with my own feelings, wants, and desires. Just because Jax wanted me to be his didn't mean that was going to change. He lunged for me again, swiping the blade through the air, slashing and stabbing at the place I had just been standing. Without hesitating, I reached for my wolf, and this time she came hurtling through me faster than a freight train. There was no stopping her.

  Once she decided to come forth, my body rippled and twitched. My muscles stretched and contracted. My bones broke. Her fur sprouted all over my skin until the magic finished washing over me. A split second later I stood there as my wolf.

  Jax's eyes went wide. He hadn't expected me to shift. He hadn't seen me shift since I was a kid. And I do mean a child, not just a teenager.

  "I don't care if you're in your wolf form or not. I will still get you to come with me," he growled as he reassessed me. "I won't stop until you're mine. Once you are, we'll be the most powerful pack in the country, and everybody will bow to us. They will celebrate us for the strong, healthy pack that we are, and it will all be because I got you to bend to my will."

  His words sent a chill down my spine, and I looked at him for a second longer before I turned and sprinted away.

  "Get her," he roared.

  All of a sudden, the wolves came, melting out from the tree line as though they had been hidden in the shadow this whole time. I wasn't sure who my mates had been fighting, because there were so many more just waiting for us. Now wasn't the time to stop and debate where they had been hiding this whole time, though. Now was the time to run, so run I did. My legs pumped under me faster than ever before, and I felt the wind rushing over me, pulling at my whiskers as I speared through the air blowing in my direction. A roar echoed through the clearing. Without turning, I knew that Jax had shifted, and I put on a burst of speed, hoping that my mates were running just like I was.

  My heart ached with the fact that I couldn't afford to check on them, but I knew I couldn't give away their positions or, if they had gotten away from their attackers, lead Jax straight to them. So, I just ran and ran and ran until my legs were jelly underneath me and my lungs were heaving with the effort of taking a single breath. My heart thundered in my chest as I tried to orient myself. We had a meeting place designated. All I had to do was make it there and hope that my mates had made it out all right.

  I prayed to the gods that they had. It didn't feel like any of them were dead, since I hadn’t felt any of the bonds snap, but that didn't mean that they weren't injured and in the process of dying. Just the thought made my heart ache, and I reached through the bonds and tried to push power and love to each of them. I got love and power back, but it was weak, as if they were far away, and that made me nervous.

  Get to the meeting place, I reminded myself. That was all I could do to keep myself safe. I just had to keep myself away from Jax and get to the meeting place. We could figure everything out after that. I now knew with more certainty than I ever had that, if we wanted a peaceful life and to be able to not live in fear every second of every day, we had to kill Jax. His death was the only thing that would guaran
tee our safety, and I had given him every chance I could have—more chances than he deserved. He had chosen this path. We were on it now, and there was no getting off.

  Once my mates found me, we would have to come up with a plan for taking Jax out. It wouldn't be easy. We could get hurt, but it had to be done. I just hoped that they were in good enough shape to help me.

  7

  Nina

  The relief that went through me when my mates appeared at our meeting spot was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. It wasn't that I expected them to be hurt, but it seemed like the Fates were testing us in so many ways recently that them getting hurt was almost something I’d expected. I didn't want it to happen, but it just seemed like it was the most likely thing.

  They each wrapped me in a hug, their arms strong steel bands around me, squeezing me tightly. Their relief was as palpable as my own. It was only as Roman pulled away that one of them spoke.

  "I've never seen a wolf run as fast as you, Nina," Blake said, awe tinting his voice. "It was like you were made of the air itself. I could barely see your feet hitting the ground. You were just a blur of white."

  I shrugged. "I had a lot of motivation to get away. Are any of you hurt?" I asked, changing the subject as I thought back to the sounds of the fight that I’d heard. They all shook their heads.

  "Nothing more than a few scrapes," Blake said.

  "Nothing that we can't handle," Denver added.

  As I looked them over, I realized that they were right. There really weren't much more than a few scrapes and bruises on each of them. It was as I examined them that I realized we were all standing around naked in a forest. My guess was that they had shifted to run to the meeting place, just like I had, which meant our clothes were toast. Fortunately, we had stashed a bag at the meeting place ahead of time, just in case this happened—abag that Tate had already retrieved and was handing out the items from.

  I got a t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts, which was fine by me, plus a pair of those cheap, flip flops that were always around right at the beginning of summer. Once we were all clothed and hydrated again, thanks to the bottles of water that had also been in the pack, we sat down. I told them what Jax said, since I wasn't sure that they had heard, seeing as how they were fighting other wolves at the time.

  "He won't stop until he claims me," I ended.

  "Well, we’d already figured that," Micah said.

  I resisted grumbling at him. Instead, I said, "We need to take him out, but I don't know how. It's not like I've ever planned a murder before."

  "I think we should run," Blake said. "We should run as far and as fast as possible. We can take all of our money out of our bank accounts and get as many resources as we can. Then, we can leave the city. Or the state. Hell, we can go to Mexico or Spain for all I care! It doesn't matter. We should just get as far away from here as possible."

  "I like that, in theory," I said. "But Jax made it clear that he will never stop looking for me. Even if we take out all of the money that we have and do our best not to leave a paper trail, I feel like he would find us somehow. That's just what he's done every time we’ve tried to hide from them."

  "Nina's right. We need to kill him," Roman said quietly.

  "I agree. But we cannot take on his entire pack. There are only six of us. Those wolves that were here today were trained fighters, not to mention the ones that would stand by Jax back on pack lands, which is no doubt where he's returned."

  "Okay, so we fight. But how do we fight if we're outnumbered ten to one?" Tate asked.

  "You're right, Roman. We can't take on the whole pack, and I don't think we can lure him out again. He'll know what we're trying to do. So how do we do this? Can we turn other people from his pack? Get allies on the inside that will help us fight him and take control once more? Well, not that we ever had it, but you know what I mean." I looked to my older mate for answers, needing to rely on any experience he had to help formulate this plan.

  "I don't think anybody will turn against him. The threat of violence from him is too high. We have nothing to offer them other than theoretical safety once we defeat Jax, which isn't something that we can guarantee. If we were to lose and he found out that these people were helping us, they would be signing their own death warrants. I don't think we'll get anybody to agree to that outright.” Roman rattled the statements off, and I could tell that his mind was already somewhere else, trying to figure out this puzzle.

  "Maybe not from within the pack," Blake said carefully. "But what about from outside? Jax's pack isn't the only one in the area. I think we should try to ask for help. If they think we can work as one to defeat Jax, then they might align with us somehow."

  "I don't think the packs that kicked us out and called us abominations are going to be eager to help us face Jax," Micah grumbled.

  "No, but we don't know what they've experienced at Jax's hand since you left. Maybe he's tormenting them as much as he's tormenting us. If that's the case, we could talk to them and see if they'd be willing to help us. The more people we can get on our side, the better. Even if it's only a few, it will at least increase our odds against him and the rest of the pack."

  "How many packs are in the area?" I asked. I wish I'd have known that there were other packs in the area. I had known there were some when I ran, but I thought they would all be the same as where I came from. If I'd known there were different kinds of packs with people in charge who weren't the same as my old alpha? I might have been more tempted to investigate.

  "Well, there's the Shadow pack. There's the pack that you came from," Denver said, gesturing to Micah and Roman. "And there is Jax's pack. Then, as far as I'm aware, there is a fourth pack. But none of us here were members of that."

  "Do you know how to get to the fourth pack?" I asked.

  "I think so. I might be able to contact someone from my pack who is still open to the idea of helping us. They might know more." Denver seemed to hesitate on the offer but made it nonetheless.

  "So, three packs that we could potentially get allies from if we don't talk to anybody else from Jax's pack. That could give us pretty good odds. I think we should try that," I said carefully.

  Roman nodded; Micah looked skeptical; Blake was obviously on board, since it was his idea; Denver seemed open to it, but not committed either way; and Tate looked like we were asking him to fly a kite in a thunderstorm.

  "I don't think running is a real option. We can try it if you all disagree with me, but I think looking for allies first is a better way to go. If we can take Jax out and install a new alpha for that pack, then we can live our lives in peace. We wouldn’t have to leave the area if we didnt want to. You wouldn’t have to leave your friends and families if you didn’t want to. If they don't think we're abominations." I added the last part under my breath, hating that I was the cause of rifts between family members and friends and packs. It seemed so unfair to put it all on one person. But that was what the Fates had chosen. So that's what we would do. It would all be on my shoulders, and I could handle that as long as we got to live our lives peacefully once we took Jax out. I wasn't sure I could handle more turmoil and stress.

  "Do we need to vote on it?" Blake asked.

  There was an awkward pause while they all seemed to debate whether to force a vote, although we all knew what would win based on their initial reactions to the idea.

  "I don't think that's necessary," Roman said. "From what I can tell, most of us are on board with the idea of finding allies."

  There were nods around the circle we were sitting in; the only one who was hesitant was Tate. Which was funny, since he was the only one that I knew for sure had family in the area.

  8

  Blake

  "So, there's the Shadow pack, which you were part of, Denver." The new addition to our family nodded. "Then, there's the pack that Roman and Micah were part of, right?" I paused, and they nodded as well. "And then there's this fourth pack. And all three of those would fall under Jax's rei
gn, along with his own pack obviously, if we fail."

  "Yeah, that about sums it up," Nina said, sounding slightly dejected.

  "I think you were right earlier, when we were talking about Jax's pack and how his people might not be willing to cross him, but I think it might also extend to the other packs. The conclusion you drew about people signing their own death warrants would apply to the other packs, too. If we lost—if he was able to take you, Nina, and force you to bow to him—then those that had allied with us would be executed as traitors. I'm not sure anyone is going to be willing to take that risk. I know it was my idea, but I'd be surprised if the other packs would be willing to do that. It's a big thing to ask of them. We'll need to be cautious and careful of our wording and who we talk to," I said.

  "That's true," Nina replied. "But I don't think it warrants us just walking away. I don't think we should go on the run for the rest of our lives just because we're scared to ask them. There's nothing wrong with asking a question; the worst they can do is say no. In which case, we'll walk away from them and leave them in peace. Or run, if need be."

  "That's not what I'm concerned about," Tate said from the side. We all turned to face him, waiting to see what he had to say, since he had been quiet through most of this. "I'm worried that there is a reward out for Nina. For her capture and, quite possibly, our deaths."

  "What do you mean there might be a reward for Nina?" Roman demanded.

  "Well, I mean…exactly that. Jax might have put word out that if somebody can capture Nina for him, they'll get a reward. Maybe the reward would be better treatment for their, or maybe their women would be excluded from being sold off—it could be any number of things. All I'm saying is that we should be on our guard, because we never know who might be trying to use us to get a better set up in life for themselves."