He pulled himself up, getting to his knees over me, his hands still tickling. "Not until you admit I'm right!"
I tried to roll away, but he straddled my legs, pinning them in place. After a minute of struggling, he managed to pull my arms over my head, holding my wrists together in one of his massive hands. Which left a whole hand free to attack me.
I yelled and twisted, trying to get him off, laughing the entire time.
He paused, brows raised. "Ready to admit defeat."
"I surrender," I laughed, wishing I could wake up this happy every day.
Grinning at me, Remy let my wrists go and sat back on my thighs. Sitting up, I braced my hands behind me on the bed. Awareness prickled across my body.
Still smiling, Remy leaned forward, bracketing my face with his hands as he kissed me.
"Toothbrush," I murmured against his lips.
He laughed. "I don't care. You taste amazing."
He teased my mouth open with his, nipping lightly at my lower lip. His mouth moved across my jaw and down the column of my neck. He moved off of me to sit on the bed, then reaching out to pull me over to straddle his lap.
The new position put me above him, my chest pressed to his while his fingers stroked across my bare thighs.
"Hi," he murmured, his voice rough and gravelly and his eyes dark as he drank me in.
My heart flipped in my chest. "Hi." I started to raise my mouth to his when a sharp knock at the door startled us both.
Lifting me off of him, Remy got off the bed with a glare. "What?"
Rhodes coughed on the other side of the door. "I take it you two haven't looked outside?"
I had totally forgotten it had snowed.
I scrambled off the bed, coming to a stop by the window. My breath caught.
Everything was white.
I knew, theoretically, where everything was in the yard, but everything was covered in a thick white blanket. The trees glittered in the sunlight, the sun winking off the ice and snow-capped tips of the mountains.
"Oh, my God," I whispered, pressing my hands and nose against the cold glass.
The door opened behind me and turning, I saw Remy blocking Rhodes from entering.
Rhodes grinned at us. "You two are very loud, by the way."
Remy growled and shoved his friend back a step.
Holding up his hands innocently, Rhodes still smirked at us. "We need to hurry up and eat. The packs are all going out to run."
Run in the snow. My wolf was waking up, my excitement feeding hers.
After quickly getting dressed back into my clothes from yesterday in the guest room, I shot Larkin a text asking her to bring me new clothes when she came over. I hurried downstairs, eating my bowl of cereal so fast Remy and Rhodes both told me to slow down.
"But I don't want the snow to go away," I whined, taking the time to chew.
Remy laughed. "Babe, it's winter in Montana. This isn't going away until March."
"If we're lucky," Rhodes grumbled. "Sometimes the snow is here until May."
"Really?"
Rhodes shook his head. "It's seriously wrong how excited she is by this."
Remy didn't seem annoyed. He seemed content to watch me with a permanently amused smile on his lips. He took me outside after we ate where I lifted handfuls of powdery snow and tossed it in the air, trying to catch it on my tongue.
Rolling the snow in his hands, Remy lobbed the ball gently at me. It exploded on impact.
With a gasp of mock outrage, I spun around.
Before I could react, a snowball sailed through the air, hitting the side of Remy's face.
"Direct hit!" Katy crowed, throwing her hands up in the air in victory. Larkin was laughing beside her, the three younger females a few steps from them. I could make out the rest of the pack heading towards us.
Rhodes came out the front door, closing it behind him. His boots clomped down the stairs. "Are we ready to go out?"
I nodded quickly. "Yes, please!"
Larkin held up a bag. "Got your clothes here."
Katy gave me a smug look. "I trust you two behaved yourselves last night?"
"Last night, yes," Rhodes replied. "But this morning - Ooof!"
Remy tackled him into the snow, holding his beta down with a grin. "You were saying?"
Rhodes got up, brushing the snow off his body. "So touchy."
The rest of the pack joined us and we went to our side of the cabin to change, shedding our clothes and shifting quickly in the frigid air.
The second my paws touched the snow, I felt my wolf's giddiness. I jumped in the snow, testing its depth with a few strides. Seconds later, the other girls, minus a missing Ainsley, were with me. We nipped and yipped at each other, tumbling into the backyard where Remy and the rest of the pack were waiting.
Are you done yet?
He stood there patiently, his tail swishing in the snow as he waited.
I barked back in response, still having fun. One of the younger wolves, Lea, I think, nipped at my ear and danced away, her gray coat shining in the sunlight.
Go, I told Remy, turning to pounce on my pack mate. We'll catch up.
With a chuff, he led the guys off into the woods, their playful snarls and snaps echoing in the woods as they went.
Larkin was chasing Katy and Bethany around the yard, all three of them having a great time. I let Lea go and turned on Megan when she tried sneaking up behind me.
After several more minutes of playing, I rounded up the girls and started into the woods to meet up with the rest of our pack. Ahead, I could hear Remy's howl a second before the others joined in.
We paused at the top of a hill, letting our voices join the pack.
The sense of contentment was a balm to my soul. This was my home. This was my family.
With an excited bark, Katy took the lead, starting to head down the hill to the valley we would cut across to get to the field we played in the night before.
A dark blur out of the corner of my eye, coming from the trees, was all the warning we got.
A massive wolf, dark brown with black markings, came barreling towards us at full speed. His paws had no traction on the snow and he never slowed, his body colliding with a sickening crunch into Katy.
I watched, horrified, as her russet body sailed through the air, landing hard on the ground a few feet away. Her back leg was bent under her body at an unnatural angle and she didn't get up.
32
Katy!
My mind screamed her name as I scrambled across the slippery earth to get to her side. I could feel Remy's insistent pushing in my head, wondering what was happening.
I could only focus on Katy as I stopped over her. Her chest was moving, her eyes open. A whimper escaped her mouth as she tried to move.
I nudged her with my nose to stay down. She needed to stay still. Larkin laid down at her back, supporting her body.
The three younger wolves came closer, all but crawling on their bellies to us. With a sharp bark I stopped them, swinging my head in the direction of the cabin.
We needed help. Katy couldn't move. She needed medical attention.
With a yelp, Lea leapt up and took off in the direction of the school, Bethany and Megan right behind her.
I turned on the new wolf, not sure if he was hurt.
He stood where he had hit Katy, his head cocked to the side.
I sniffed the air, his scent familiar.
I felt my eyes go wide as I dropped into a defensive stance in front of Katy, a deep growl ripping up my throat.
Trace.
As if summoned by him, more than a dozen wolves emerged from the trees behind him. The rest of his pack had followed.
There was no way this was a stupid accident.
Skye!
Remy's sharp voice in my head cut through the cloud of rage I was currently in. I blinked, trying to find that tether that linked us together. His confusion and worry was so potent it made me nauseous.
Trace ran into Katy
. Her leg is broken. We're on the hill near the meadow.
My attention went back to Trace as he stood, slowly approaching us. I gave him a warning snarl, which he didn't bother to heed. He continued to advance on us, his pack following a few steps behind.
Larkin came up beside me, adding her warning growl to mine.
Trace dropped his head, baring his teeth at us.
I tried nudging Larkin to the side. If Trace came at us, I needed someone between us and Katy. Katy was still whimpering behind us, her plaintive cries drowned out by the rumbling growls coming from us.
I had heard her bone snap. I knew she couldn't walk away from this, let alone run.
Stepping forward, I snapped my teeth at Trace with a snarl.
His chest seemed to swell as he widened his stance.
My wolf braced for him to attack.
He didn't disappoint.
Moving faster than I anticipated, Trace launched himself at me, swiping at me with a large paw, his teeth snapping with a vicious growl.
I jumped back, his paw and claws missing my face. I spun quickly, managing to grab him with my teeth by his back flank.
He yelped and whirled, this time catching me full in the muzzle with his paw.
I blinked against the stars in the vision. I smelled and tasted my own blood as it slid hot and bitter down my throat.
Shaking my head, I missed seeing him round on me, his jaws latching onto my front shoulder.
Yelping, I snarled at him, my teeth snapping near his face until they found purchase. The taste of his blood mixed with mine, and my wolf smiled knowing we had drawn blood.
With a sharp howl, Trace twisted away from me, my teeth ripping through the soft cartilage of his ear.
Panting, I tried to collect myself, unable to put a lot of weight on my front leg.
Trace shook his head, blood splattering the snow nearby.
His pack was in a line behind him, several feet away. They wouldn't insult their alpha by jumping into his fight. But if I beat Trace, there was no way I could hold off an entire pack.
And if Trace won, I didn't know if Larkin could hold him off before Remy and the others arrived.
Remy.
I could feel him gain ground, closing in on us. His thoughts were a wild mess of fear and fury. But through our bond, I could also feel his strength. Alpha strength. Strength I needed.
I didn't wait for Trace to make another move. I threw myself at him, managing to catch him by surprise and knock him to the ground. His jaws closed around the paw of my injured leg, but I managed to close mine around a hunk of skin and fur near his neck, sinking my fangs in.
With a roar of pain, he managed to work his legs between us, pushing me off of him violently.
I slid away on my bad shoulder, the powdery pillow of snow taking some of the brunt of my weight.
Larkin yelped behind me, wanting to help, urging me to get up, but she wouldn't leave Katy unprotected.
With a fierce snarl, Trace got to his feet, looming over me.
I struggled to find my footing, my feet sliding on the ice, unable to gain traction on my injured leg. Trace jumped on me, pressing me into the frozen ground.
I had lost.
Panting hard, I looked up into his golden eyes, cold and cruel. I could practically see the smile in them.
And then the pressure was gone.
I got up, seeing Trace and another wolf tumbled across the white hill, snapping teeth and loud growls echoing through the hillside.
I nearly sagged with relief, seeing Remy nearly on top of Trace.
He was slightly larger than Trace, and he had Trace flipped onto his back, teeth around his neck in what seemed like seconds.
Trace was snarling and snapping uselessly at Remy’s legs. He was completely pinned, and my mate wasn’t letting him up.
Rhodes came over to me, his dark eyes somber. He nuzzled my side, checking to see if I was okay before going to Katy. As soon as he reached Katy's side, Larkin ran to me, pressing her body against me.
As my adrenaline faded, I sank onto the snow, my shoulder and paw throbbing. My nose still stung from the blow Trace had gotten in when we first went at each other. I let out a soft whimper, keeping my eyes firmly trained on Remy.
The rest of the pack had lined up across from the Norwood wolves, snarling and growling at them, but everyone stayed on their own sides.
I heard a motor in the woods and a second later, several snowmobiles came into view, the girls who had ran for help leading the way to us.
One of the teachers jumped off their vehicle and ran to Katy with a medical kit.
"Leg's broken," he called over. "We need to load her onto one of the stretchers and get her back to the infirmary now."
"Let him go, Remy," another teacher ordered, not trying to get between the alphas.
With a growl and one last shake, he released Trace.
Someone dropped down next to me and I looked up to see Amanda, our English teacher. "Jesus, what the hell happened?"
She touched my paw, and I yelped in pain, pulling away and tucking it under my body.
Remy gave a low growl coming over to push Amanda away.
Eyes wide, Amanda backed off, her gaze swinging from me to Remy and back. Fascinated wonder spread across her face as she gasped. After a second, she stood up and went back to her snowmobile.
Remy licked my muzzle, a low whine in his throat
What the hell happened?
He was furious, barely containing his rage.
I tried to look around him to see Katy.
Amanda came back, holding sets of clothes in her arms. She looked at Remy. "We need to know what happened. Change back so we can talk."
She held up a set of clothes and moved around behind a tree, dropping them there before she went to the other teacher who was with Trace, giving him similar instructions.
Remy snarled softly, looking at the tree several yards away from me.
Go. I'm okay.
He dropped his head, his breath fanning across my face and he gently nuzzled against me, then he headed for the tree. It took less than a minute for him to shift and get his clothes on, not bothering to lace his boots and put on a jacket.
Trace came from behind his own tree, his ear bleeding and a deep gouge on his neck. I smiled to myself knowing I had caused some damage to him.
"What the fuck?" Remy roared, charging at Trace, his eyes murderous. Amanda stepped in front of him, and he was barely able to keep from running her over. His hands were rock hard fists at his sides.
Trace glared at him from several feet away, the other teacher still near his side to hold him back if needed. "It was an accident. It's fucking slippery, and I didn't see Katy until it was too late, and then your bitch attacked me!"
"You're a fucking liar," Remy hissed, chest heaving. "You intentionally ran into Katy, and then you attacked Skye!"
"You weren't even here," Trace spat. "You didn't see a damn thing."
Thanks to our bond, Remy knew exactly what had happened because he got a front row mental play-by-play as I lived it.
But that wasn't something we needed to get into right this second.
"Everyone needs to calm down," Amanda said sternly. "We need to get Katy back to the school, and then we can get everyone's statements to figure out what happened."
The teacher near the Norwood pack looked at Trace. "Shift back and get your pack back to your cabin. I'll be there as soon as Katy gets settled to talk to all of you."
"Remy," Amanda said softly, touching his arm gently, "can you help us get Katy on the stretcher?"
He gave a curt nod, waiting until Trace had shifted back into his wolf and took off with his pack in the opposite direction.
"Skye's hurt, too," he said coldly, jerking his head in my direction.
Amanda frowned. "We only have one stretcher with us, and Katy needs that leg looked at immediately. Let's get Katy back and we can come back for Skye." She looked at me. "Unless you think you can ta
ke it easy and make it down?"
I pushed myself to my feet slowly, testing my bad leg. It ached, but I could put weight on it. We were barely a mile out from the cabin. I could make it there.
Remy looked pissed, his jaw tight as he looked at me and then at Katy. She was quiet now, the teacher likely giving her a sedative to help move her.
"Rhodes," he barked, looking at his beta. "Get everyone back to the cabin. Do not let Skye out of your sight. Send one of the others to get me if she needs help getting back."
Rhodes barked in reply.
"All of you follow Rhodes. Get changed and wait for me at the cabin," he ordered the pack. Looking at me, he came over and crouched in front of me. His hand came up, stroking my head.
"Do not play the hero, Skye," he said firmly. "If you're in too much pain, stop and we'll send another stretcher. I swear I will lose my damn mind if something else happens to you, too."
I dipped my head in acknowledgment, bumping his chin with my nose.
Letting out a frustrated breath, he pressed a kiss to the star on my forehead and stood up. He went over to Katy, his expression fierce as he gently lifted her into his arms without any help and carried her to the stretcher, helping Amanda and the other teacher strap her down.
They all got onto the snowmobiles, Remy sitting on the stretcher with Katy to watch her. His eyes stayed on me until they turned a corner out of sight.
33
The walk back was slow, not only because of my leg, but because more snow started to fall at a rapid pace. Rhodes and Larkin stayed pressed to my sides, checking every few feet to make sure I was still OK.
Mostly I was just tired. I wanted to get back to the cabin and snuggle up in front of the fireplace with Remy.
I could have cried in relief when we finally made it to the cabin. The pack separated, but Rhodes hesitated, clearly taking Remy's order not to let me out of his site literally.
Larkin was the one who nudged him away.
Shifting back was the most painful shift of my life, worse even than the first.
My human skin was split open, the wounds pulling as my bones reformed. I was panting and shaking by the time I was done shifting. Thankfully Larkin and the younger girls immediately rallied around me, pulling my clothes as gently over my body as possible before ushering me around the side of the house.
Sanctum (Blackwater Pack Book 1) Page 28