Crystal Lake Pack: The Complete Series: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance

by Candace Wondrak

  Some humans might be into polyamory, but I wasn’t. Heck, I wasn’t even into dating before this, so the thought of multiple boyfriends at once had never crossed my mind.

  My brashness took over, and after sitting in my room for a few minutes—a room that was scant of any decorating, simple and plain in every way—I decided I could sit no more. I had to get up and move, had to find Maze and tell him I’d made a mistake, that I wanted to go home, back to my mom.

  I…I didn’t belong here.

  I left the bedroom, rushing down the stairs and exiting through the front door. The sun was warm on my back, through my jean jacket, and I felt the urge to scream. How could I have been so stupid?

  Maze was nowhere to be seen. The sidewalks were empty, the road bare. What the heck did these wolves do during the day? Where did they get their money from? I had so many questions, but I would face the fact I’d never get answers, because as soon as I found Maze, I would hightail it out of here faster than a cheetah on a chase.

  All of that driving…for nothing.

  The wind caressed my skin, and I turned my head in the opposite direction from which we came. I should at least see the darned lake, after this colossal waste of time.

  Okay. See the lake first, find Maze second, go home third. Good plan.

  My feet picked up the pace. Instinct told me it was further in, past the park sitting at the end of the dead-end street Maze’s house sat on. I passed only a few strangers as I went, some children playing on the playground as their mothers looked on.

  Well, I thought, at least I wasn’t the only girl around. There were others.

  I ignored the strange looks the women gave me, pretended not to hear the children ask them, “Who’s that?”

  I kept going, drawing myself through the park until the grass below gave way to pebbles, which soon dwindled into coarse, rocky sand. The lake was large. Maybe a mile or more across, even wider in circumference. A few wooden docks were built on this side of the lake, and on its other side, I saw a tall rocky outcropping that stood at least twenty feet above the water. A good view, one I wanted to have before leaving.

  Was Crystal Lake crystal clear? I’d find out, and then I’d leave.

  I circled the lake, walking along its edge. The side with the tall rocks sat in the forest, their shifter town not fully around the entire thing. More trees sprouted up on its wilder side, standing tall, small animals scurrying along. Squirrels, rabbits, mice, all digging along and running from me as I went. The sand stopped the moment big rocks took its place, and with one quick look, I knew I wouldn’t be able to climb it. I had to go deeper into the forest and hope there was a better walkway from another angle.

  It took me a few extra minutes, but I was able to find a less steep, less rocky way up to the lake’s overlook. I moved confidently, mostly curious about the view and still very much irate about the whole thing with Maze.

  Just because he was an attractive guy didn’t mean I wanted to—yuck—mate with him, and it definitely didn’t mean I would want to do anything like that with his brothers, or whoever the heck they were if they weren’t biologically related.

  Human society might suck sometimes, but at least it wasn’t this bad. This restricting and controlling. At least, I amended, not in the twenty-first century in America. Not for me. Even without a degree, I’d be better out there than in here. This was a terrible mistake and a complete waste of time.

  My feet stopped. I was about thirty feet from the top of the overlook when I spotted someone sitting on a fallen log, hunched over. A mess of black hair, sticking every which way. Stubble coating a strong chin and gaunt cheeks.

  A man, clearly, sitting by himself with his knees apart, arms resting on them, hands hanging toward the ground, where his gaze was fixated. A strong man, given the muscles on his arms, the veins sticking out, not to mention the fact his chest was probably bigger than mine, except all muscle.

  Whoa. Talk about attractive…

  A pair of blue eyes flicked up at me—no, I amended, they’d watched my approach the entire time. He was a shifter; he’d probably heard me coming from across the darn lake, with his super special hearing.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, doing my best not to be affected by his rugged, ridiculously handsome looks. Were all wolves so…well, manly? If I wasn’t so upset, I would’ve made a joke about how having three boyfriends suddenly didn’t sound too bad, but I was mad. Oh, I was furious.

  Caught off-guard by the handsome blue-eyed stranger, but furious.

  “I just wanted to see the lake,” I added. “I didn’t mean to disturb you or anything.” When he said nothing more, I crept past him, making sure to keep at least ten feet between us.

  He was a stranger. A handsome, muscular man who made my skin a little hot, but a stranger. I wasn’t going to take any more chances than I had to. When I passed him, I didn’t hear him get up, which was good.

  Humans apparently just didn’t do it for me. Wolves, though? My hormones went crazy for them. How annoying. How totally, infuriatingly, one-hundred percent annoying.

  I crossed my arms as I moved to the end of the overlook, nothing but smooth stone beneath my feet. The view of the entire lake cut off my thoughts, and for a moment, I was lost in its beauty.

  The water, which was indeed crystal clear, sparkled in the sun. I could see all the fish swimming under its surface. Bass, bluegill, minnows. Even turtles, hurriedly flapping their legs around as they swam. Its depth, I couldn’t say. The absolute clarity of the water made it hard to tell. It looked to be shallow everywhere, but I knew it wasn’t; I knew it was just a trick of the mind since the water was so clear.

  It was one of the most beautiful places I’d ever seen. Maybe even the most beautiful.

  I wondered what it looked like at night, with the stars shining overhead and the moonlight dancing across its surface. This lake put my tiny, murky pond at home to shame. I nearly forgot my anger, my annoyance, nearly forgot where the heck I was.

  But the sudden presence beside me was a stark reminder.

  The man had followed me, standing a few feet to my left. Taller than Maze, standing straighter and wider. The shirt he wore was tight on his chest, leaving nothing to the imagination underneath. And his jeans, well, his jeans fit every part of him perfectly.

  Not that I looked…much.

  “You’re angry,” he said quietly, a tone so intense I had to turn and look at him.

  He was older than Maze, more mature-looking. If I had to guess, I’d say he was in his early thirties, but it was hard to say for certain, since wolves were like models, body-builders, and superstars. Even Henry, the old, crazy man, had looked darn good for his age.

  The man didn’t ask who I was. He probably knew. Every member of this pack probably knew. I guessed I was the talk of the pack, the prime subject of gossip, even before I stepped foot here. The runaway Sarah’s daughter, coming to check it out. Well, they didn’t have to worry. I’d be leaving soon enough.

  Forcing myself to move my gaze back to the crystal-clear lake, I said, “Yes. I’m very angry.” Funny, because I didn’t sound particularly upset, but the serenity of the scene before me calmed me. “How’d you know?” I asked, mostly because I was curious, because I didn’t think my anger showed much, especially as I gazed out at the lake.

  “If you choose to shift, you’ll be better at seeing the cues,” he said, his blue eyes fixated on the water. “Some things you will just know.”

  So every wolf in the pack knew I had the choice? Nothing was kept private around here, was it? I bristled. I was never a fan of everyone knowing my business. Some things were best kept private.

  “I’m not going to shift,” I said, meaning each and every word more than I’d ever meant anything before. “I’m not staying.”

  “You’ve made up your mind already?” he asked. “I’m sorry to hear that. We would’ve done well with your addition.” There was a sadness in his voice, a moroseness that made me feel guilty, as if I’d made hi
m sad.

  Stupid, because he didn’t know me.

  “Yes, well, what can I say? I guess I’m a fan of the way humans do certain things.”

  “You are not human,” he said, to which I glared at him.

  “I am half human, technically, and it’s my right to decide what I want to do,” I let my anger show in my words. “Unless this pack plans on keeping me here against my will? In which case, let me warn you, my mother will stop at nothing to get me back.”

  Oops. I was supposed to call her, wasn’t I? I would do that later. Tell her the good news—I was coming back right away.

  “This isn’t that kind of pack,” he said, no longer looking at the lake but staring at me. I did not like being under those eyes. A deep blue, a color I could drown in. “If you want to go, go. None of us will stop you.”

  I laughed, though it was more like a chortle. An ugly sound, but it came out of me anyway. “I don’t think Henry is going to like my decision.”

  “Henry will listen to his alpha.”

  I wished I could be so sure. The old man seemed like the type to do anything to further the pack, even if it involved keeping me here against my will and giving me to a set of three guys.

  Three. I still couldn’t believe it.

  Turning away from the lake, I mumbled, “Tell your alpha I’m sorry to disappoint him. I’m sorry to get anyone’s hopes up. I…shouldn’t have come. I should’ve known better than to hope…” I trailed off.

  What did I hope? To find a family? To find a new side to these people, these shifters, that my mom didn’t see? To find out if they’d changed?

  How stupid I was.

  With a shrug, I said nothing more. I walked away, and the man did not stop me, didn’t say anything else. If this pack let me go, maybe I’d have a bit of respect for them, not that it meant anything. If they tried to keep me here, I’d be the opposite of a model prisoner. I’d raise as much hell as I could before getting out.

  Hopefully it would not come down to that.

  I hurried around the lake, walking back through the park and to the house where my suitcase was. Luckily I’d made my decision to go back home before I had the chance to unpack, so there was nothing else to do except call Sarah to let her know and tell Maze the bad news.

  I burst through the yellow front door, not expecting to see anyone, because Maze had gone off to find his brothers, but someone stood in the kitchen. A blonde someone. Maze. He was busy microwaving something, a book opened on the counter before him.

  Well, at least this made it a little easier.

  I was about to call out to him, to say his name and explain how I’d changed my mind and wanted to go home this instant, but I was too slow. He spun around, having heard me, and it was at that moment when I realized he was not Maze.

  But he looked so much like him.

  Same height, same hair color, same eyes—though he wore glasses and baggier clothes. When his eyes locked on me, he stumbled back, dropping his book to the floor, its spine snapping shut. Behind him, the microwave beeped, signaling it was done cooking whatever he’d put inside. The food’s smell was not pleasant.

  “You’re not Maze,” I managed to say, feeling my heart…do something. Skip a beat? Beat faster? Grow ten times heavier in my chest? It definitely acted up, and I swallowed hard.

  It had to be because he looked just like Maze. I wasn’t sure if I could handle it being due to any other reason.

  All he could do was shake his head. It seemed my presence rendered him speechless. It was kind of adorable.

  “His brother?” I offered, watching as he nodded once.

  Not just his brother.

  His freaking twin.

  Chapter Nine – Addie

  I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe how shocked I was, and I also couldn’t believe how my body had reacted when I’d thought he was Maze—and even now, knowing he was a different guy, I still felt flushed.

  “He didn’t tell me he had a twin,” I said, as if it excused my insanely awkward behavior. I still stood on the edge of the kitchen, the front door hanging wide open behind me. I was definitely not the smoothest around, was I?

  “Figures,” the Maze look-alike said.

  “What’s your name?” I wasn’t sure why I asked, why I cared, but I did. Oddly, I found I cared a whole lot more than I should, considering I wanted to leave this place and never look back.

  It was a long moment before he said, “Dylan.”

  Dylan. A cute name. As I studied him, I noticed his blonde hair was a bit longer, but beyond that, they were the same in looks. Identical twins, save for the hair and the glasses. Did Maze wear contacts?

  No. I didn’t care one way or another.

  “I’m Addie,” I said, again not sure why I told him. He didn’t need to know my name, because I wasn’t sticking around. This encounter was pointless. Why wouldn’t my heart stop its rapid beating? “Maze is looking for you.”

  “I’m sure,” he said, still not moving from his startled position near the counter.

  There was only fifteen feet between them, but it felt like miles. The distance was uncomfortable. I wanted…I wanted to be closer to him.

  “I can’t believe they brought you back. Did your mother come, too?”

  I shook my head.

  “Um,” Dylan spoke, not as eloquent as his twin. He moved to the microwave, taking out the plate. Atop the ceramic laid a single corn dog. “I didn’t know we had company. Do you…” He started to lift the plate toward me. “Do you want it?”

  Did I want the corn dog? Not once in my life did I ever want to eat one of those things. I slowly shook my head, watching as he bent to pick up his book, taking both the book and the plate to the nearby table.

  “I could cook you something else?” The way he spoke it, like a question, made me want to smile. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t, because I could not forget the anger I felt about all of this. The indignation. The righteous annoyance that had fueled me for the last half hour.

  Still. It was difficult to stay mad while in the same room as Dylan, apparently.

  Instead of hurrying up the stairs to grab my suitcase, instead of whipping out my phone and calling my mom, I moved to the chair opposite his, unhurriedly sitting down across from him. I saw how he pretended not to watch my every move, but he was not as sly as he thought he was. It was more than obvious he stared at me while trying hard to seem like he didn’t care where I was in the room.

  “So,” I said, “there’s supposed to be three of you. Don’t tell me you’re triplets instead of twins?” I meant it mostly as a joke, because Maze had said something about not really being brothers with one of them, but Dylan was not as good at detecting sarcasm as Maze was.

  He was the quieter, more serious brother. Definitely the more awkward one, the one who did not do too well in new social situations.

  “No,” Dylan said, twirling his corn dog on his plate. Just as muscular as Maze, even somewhat dorky with those glasses, he was cuter than any guy I’d ever met, except maybe that one by the lake. Shifters were on a whole different playing field when it came to looks. “Landon isn’t related to us, but he is still our brother.”

  “Landon,” I repeated, wondering if he looked like a ripped weightlifter, too. My body was acting up around these guys; I did not need to meet any others. I’d stay in this darned house until Maze got back and took me home. “What’s he like?”

  Dylan’s dark eyes shifted to the table. He hadn’t taken a single bite from his corn dog. At this rate, his meager meal would get cold, although I would never say at any point in time a corn dog would taste good. I had standards.

  Now, if he had some pizza rolls, it would be a different story.

  “Landon is…” Dylan started, pausing, “He’s rough.”

  Rough? That word could mean a lot of things, so I had to ask. Why? I didn’t know. I was still furious the alpha expected me to be with a trio of wolves, but it was a morbid kind of curiosity that had me in its
grips.

  I questioned, “What do you mean?” It shouldn’t matter what Landon was like. It didn’t matter what any of them were like, because it wouldn’t change my choice. It was already made. “He doesn’t have black hair, does he?” I didn’t know why, but the thought of him being the one near the lake made me feel…confused.

  Both excited and confused.

  “No, brown. Kind of an outsider. He was a lone wolf, no pack until we took him in a few years ago. He’s always off doing his own thing.” Dylan’s voice grew softer, “And he’s kind of an ass sometimes, but I think it’s because he gets nervous around people who are nice to him. Us wolves aren’t meant to be alone.” With that, he looked pointedly at me beneath his glasses, as if he’d meant that statement for both Landon and me.

  He was wrong, though. About me. I wasn’t a lone wolf; I had my mom.

  I turned my face away, muttering, “I’m not staying.” Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel the mood in the kitchen plummet, could see with my peripherals the way his expression fell. Instead of only being awkward, he was now sad and awkward, and it was all my fault.

  “Can I ask why?” Dylan spoke hesitantly, “Didn’t you just get here?” He tried to find the reason behind my choice. “Did something happen when you were out there?”

  “No, nothing happened. I just wasn’t told the entire truth before coming here.”

  “And what truth is that?”

  I had to look at him on that one, to see his reaction. Was he really so clueless? Did he not know I knew I was supposed to be with him, Maze, and Landon? How in the world was I supposed to be okay with that? It wasn’t how things were done in human society, and in most of the world, a woman only had one man.

  It was a hard thing to wrap my mind around, okay?

  “Maze and Henry conveniently kept it to themselves I’m supposed to be a part of this household in more ways than one.” How else could I say it without saying it outright? I was supposed to be their mate. Yuck. “They didn’t tell me, and Maze only let it slip when we got here. If I would’ve known, I…” The look on Dylan’s face made me stop.