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

by Candace Wondrak

  Maze kept walking as he replied, “He shouldn’t have said that. You shouldn’t worry about our problems until—I mean if—you decide you’re staying. This is a pack matter.” He led us to the sidewalk, heading swiftly through the rows of homes.

  “You don’t get to hide things from me just because I’m not part of the pack,” I said, angry. “How many others are missing?” I tried to sound as harsh, as stern and adult-like as I could. He would tell me, or…

  Or what?

  Or I’d leave?

  No, I wasn’t an obstinate kid. I wouldn’t make this situation all about me. Still, though, didn’t I deserve to know what I was walking into?

  “How big is our time frame?”

  His rebuttal question stunned me, and I nearly tripped on my own feet—something a wolf wouldn’t do. But, unlike most of these people, I wasn’t a wolf. I had one, locked up in my mind, but I was at a woeful disadvantage when it came to physical attributes. That barbeque probably smelled like heaven with a better olfactory sense.

  I didn’t know how to answer that question, so I simply said, “Uh, I don’t know. Since the beginning?”

  “Two dozen, at least,” Maze said after a while.

  “Two dozen?” I was shocked. That was twenty-four people, at least. Why wasn’t this mentioned before? Maybe I should’ve signed a waiver or something, some kind of legal document saying I wasn’t in danger while I was visiting the pack. If twenty-four people had gone missing, I couldn’t imagine how big the pack was before the disappearances started.

  Maze brought us before a three-story house. Painted brick, all very modern and HGTV-like. Quaint, but pretty. This was where the alpha lived? It was nowhere near the best-looking house I’d seen around Crystal Lake, and I’d assumed the alpha would have nothing but the best.

  “Landon will make twenty-five,” Maze added, quiet, almost absent-mindedly, as if his mind was miles away.

  I expected him to knock, ring the doorbell, or something to let Forest know he had a visitor, but Maze barged right in, shooting me a look I didn’t understand. Did he want me to remain outside? As if. Not while wolves were going missing left and right.

  I went in after him, refusing to sit on the sidelines.

  The inside of the house was neatly decorated. No pictures on the walls. Nothing to say hey, I have a personality, I swear. It was all very bland, very staged. Even with my crappy human sense of smell, I could tell it smelled too clean. Like the home was hardly lived in.

  “I’ll be right back,” Maze said, jogging up the stairs.

  Again, like he thought I’d wait downstairs like a good little girl? He had to learn sooner or later.

  I trailed after him, though my feet slowed when I neared the top few steps. My ears might not have had any wolfish help, but I was able to hear the telltale sign of water running.

  Forest must’ve been in the shower.

  Hmm.

  Maybe I should’ve waited downstairs after all. I didn’t need to see any of that. Knowing my mom was supposed to have been his mate, well, I knew genetics didn’t quite work like this, but the shifter could’ve been my father.

  Although, if he was a few years younger than Sarah, I doubted the pack would’ve let them get down and dirty before he was legal in human society. Staying under the radar here was top priority.

  I didn’t want to seem too pushy, so I debated on turning and heading back down. I also didn’t want to see the alpha naked in any capacity. I’d seen Maze naked during our first encounter, and I’d somehow quickly developed some strange feelings for him. Feelings I best forget since I wanted to leave the pack.

  Yeah, it was better for everyone when the clothes stayed on.

  I nodded to myself, having decided to venture downstairs and act nonchalant in the living room. Lounge on the couch as if I didn’t have a care in the world.

  Okay, maybe not like that. To act without a care in the world would be mean and rude, considering how worried Maze and Dylan were about Landon.

  I went into the living room, not sure what I should do. I needn’t have worried much, for within a minute I heard voices coming down the stairs, the shuffling of padded feet that nearly made no sound.

  “I will not cancel tonight.” Forest’s voice, too deep and serious to belong to Maze. “The pack needs this. The pup can stay with Henry. You, Dylan, and I will search for him. If the trail is there, we’ll find him.”

  There was a lot wrong with what he said. First, staying with Henry? Heck to the no. No thanks wasn’t a strong enough response to that suggestion.

  Secondly, a pup? I wasn’t a pup, not a child or even a wolf yet. And even if I let out my inner wolf, I wouldn’t be a pup. Being nearly two decades old, I thought I was above being called a freaking pup.

  “There was no trail, Forest. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Maze said.

  “There’s always a trail.”

  Forest and Maze emerged from the stairwell, and I started to move toward them, my mouth open to refute the suggestion I would stay with Henry—because I’d rather be stuck in a car listening to that Baby Shark song for twenty hours straight—but my comment died in my throat before I could speak.

  Maze took a step toward me. “Addie, this is—”

  But I needed no introduction to Forest, because Forest was the lonely, pensive shifter I’d met on the other side of the lake. Just as tall, just as wide and strong, and just as handsome as I remembered.

  No wonder he seemed mature. No wonder he seemed…different.

  Forest’s blue eyes were on me, his gaze heavy, serious. Almost too intense. “We’ve met,” he said, saying nothing else. He wore the same pants, the same shirt, but being damp, everything fit him differently, hugged his body in ways I probably shouldn’t notice, considering.

  What else was there to say? This was Crystal Lake’s alpha. This man was supposed to be my mom’s mate. I had pretty much dissed the entire pack in front of him, told him I wanted to leave, and basically that I hated it here.

  Why the heck didn’t he say anything? I would’ve kept it all to myself.

  I was instantly embarrassed, muttering an awkward, “I’m sorry.” Forest probably hated me, or at least didn’t like me, because he knew I was just going to leave. My words caused Maze to cock his head, the shifter confused.

  Forest’s deep blue eyes did not break from mine as he said, “Don’t be. I would rather have the truth than lies.”

  “What are you talking about?” Maze asked.

  Running a hand through his black hair, still dripping wet from his recent shower, Forest shook his head. “We need to move, if we have any hope of finding Landon. We’ll swing by the park, pick up Dylan and drop the pup off—”

  “Stop calling me a pup,” I cut in, practically hissing out the words. “If you have to call me something, call me Addie. Addie, not pup.” Hmm. Maybe taking on an irate tone and telling an alpha what to do—the alpha who might already hate me for what I’d said and what my mom had done years ago—wasn’t the best idea.

  This alpha could break me with his pinky, and wasn’t it always the cool and collected ones you had to worry about most? When they snapped, no one saw it coming.

  Well, since I’d already talked back to the alpha, why not add a little more? I set my hands on my hips, taking on an aggressive stance—or at least I thought it was an aggressive one. To Forest, I probably just looked silly. “And I am not staying with Henry. I’m coming with you.”

  Okay, that last part? Totally unplanned.

  Why would I want to go with them? Hello, danger. What if someone had taken Landon, and they took me, too? Seemed a bit far-fetched that anyone could take a shifter, because they seemed a lot tougher than humans, but with twenty-four of their pack missing, what else could be causing it?

  As Maze shook his head and muttered something about how it was too dangerous for me, Forest sized me up. “We’ll see how fast you are then, on those short legs.”

  I had conflicting thought
s then. Why didn’t he argue with me? Shouldn’t he have said something along the lines of I’m alpha, what I say goes?

  But drowning those thoughts out were others, ones that wondered what the heck he was talking about. My short legs? I was five inches over five feet, kind of tall for a girl, and I’d seen Maze as a wolf, and his wolf legs were even shorter.

  Although, with body-to-leg ratio in perspective, Maze’s wolf form had me.

  Still. My legs were not short.

  Forest was the first to walk to the door, and I was about to argue with him, because again, not short, but Maze beat me to it, though he didn’t argue about the length of my legs. “You’re letting her come?” He was aghast. “She’ll slow us down, and—”

  “I will be there. If I cannot protect one obstinate pup, I don’t deserve my title.”

  “I am not a pup,” I said, almost whining. I glared at Maze as he checked me out, the doom and gloom of his demeanor giving way to a small grin.

  “You’re right there. You are not a pup.”

  Rolling my eyes, I held back the urge to sock him on the side of the head. We reached the sidewalk, turning to walk through the residential streets and heading to the park, where a larger crowd had gathered.

  Forest spoke without looking at either of us, “You will remain a pup until your wolf proves otherwise.”

  I wanted to say more, to argue further, but I figured I’d already pushed my luck where he was concerned. Telling him I was going to leave was bad enough while not knowing who he was. Arguing with him now was plain disrespectful.

  But he wasn’t my alpha; I wasn’t a part of his pack. I didn’t owe him anything, just like I didn’t owe Henry anything. I’d come here for myself, not them, and I would leave for myself as well. Sarah would help me with my wolf.

  I would not leave, though, until we found Landon. For some reason, I felt awful for Dylan and Maze. I didn’t want to get their hopes up, only to dash them and crush them into the dirt with my heel. With Landon gone, they were already on edge and anxious. Adding to it would be cruel, and I wasn’t that kind of a person.

  Some would argue I wasn’t a person at all. A shifter. A wolf.

  Was someone hunting them because they were different?

  Maze and I stood off to the side of the park, its green space full of people all talking and laughing, too busy with their own lives and stories to pay attention to the sidelines. With twenty-four wolves missing—twenty-five including Landon—surely it had to be on their minds constantly. Even one disappearance set human communities on edge.

  Maybe, I realized, they were using my arrival as an excuse to have fun, to let go. Maybe they weren’t like this normally. Either way, I wouldn’t stick around and find out.

  Forest came back with Dylan in tow, Henry moving swiftly behind them. Though there were two ridiculously cute guys around me, three if I counted Forest—which I really didn’t want to—I found myself unable to break away from the domineering expression the old man wore.

  “You,” Henry said, pointing at me, “are coming with me. You will not be going on a goose chase, pup.”

  I was so tired of everyone calling me a pup.

  “You don’t tell me what to do,” I said, stepping backward, going along with Maze and Dylan when Forest moved away. I forced out a smile. “Enjoy your party.” It was a party for me, but I didn’t care.

  The only wolves I cared about were the twins—not that I cared about them cared about them.

  God. Was I in fifth grade or something? My thoughts sounded immature and stupid, and I put all the blame on my inner wolf. The poor, sad-looking creature. It was all her fault I felt like this. Completely the fault of my wolf’s.

  Maze took the lead, bringing us through the forest surrounding the lake’s opposite side, near where I had first run into Forest unknowingly. His blond head bent toward the ground near a bushel of big-leafed plants; I had no idea what they were. The leaves were practically as large as my head, flat and green. Some of the stalks were broken, but beyond that, I didn’t see anything else wrong.

  “This is where I lost him,” Maze said.

  “Did you turn?” Forest asked, watching as Maze shook his head once. “Maybe the wolves will sniff him out.” Something unspoken passed between them, and then I felt both uncomfortable and strangely in heaven all at once.

  They started to undress, slipping off their shoes as they reached down and pulled off their shirts. So many abs. So much tan skin. All those muscles and veins. It was enough to make me lose all thought, forget why I was here, what we were doing. The masculinity, the testosterone, was thick in the air, so palpable it made me warm instantly.

  What in the world was I doing here, in the woods, with three insanely attractive guys who were currently getting naked?

  Just as I felt myself blushing, right when my cheeks started to burn, they went for the buttons on their pants. None of them looked at me, all too focused on undressing. None of the guys even turned away. I’d get an eyeful of each if I didn’t do the turning.

  I should…I should probably turn around, right?

  Yeah, yeah, I should.

  I bit my lower lip as I spun on me heels, giving the undressing shifters my back. Seeing Maze naked was what had gotten my feelings so mixed up in the first place. I didn’t need to see anyone else without their clothes on. Not another dick and not another set of junk. No more butts. Especially not any of the parts belonging to Forest.

  It was a line I would not cross, because it was weird. Weirder than my feelings for Maze and Dylan. Forest was…well, just because he was attractive didn’t mean anything. All the shifters were attractive. The men, the women. Everyone in the community looked like models, even the kids. I felt plain near them.

  And I didn’t want to mention the whole hormone situation, not here. Not near so many soon-to-be-hanging dicks.

  “Oh, you’re no fun.” It was Maze’s voice, all sarcastic and witty, trying to be funny.

  There was nothing funny about this. Naked guys? Absolutely nothing hilarious about it. One hundred percent serious. He said nothing else, and I waited a moment, tapping my fingers on my arms.

  “Are you guys done?” I asked. When I received no reply, I was slow to flick my eyes over my shoulder.

  Maze had shifted, and judging from the blonde wolf standing near a pile of clothes with glasses on top, so had Dylan. The final wolf, the alpha, had not, and I got an eyeful before I turned away, feeling my stomach tighten and heat up.

  Oops. So much for no more nakedness, huh?

  He was…let me just say he was a fine specimen of a man, all around.

  “A shy pup,” Forest spoke, staring hard at the back of my head. For a moment, when I looked, our eyes had met, which only made me more embarrassed. “Once your wolf comes out, we’ll see if you stay that way. Most don’t.”

  I opened my mouth, ready to tell him off again, tell him I wasn’t staying, but no words came. Why was denying the pack becoming harder and harder with each passing hour? I didn’t like these wolves. Sure, they were handsome, but good looks weren’t everything. Just because they were all drop-dead gorgeous didn’t mean I’d lose my sense and pledge myself to the pack.

  The pack could screw themselves. Each of its members could screw themselves. I would have no part in the screwing, even if I felt my pulse race every time one of the twins was near me. Even if I felt my stomach flipping and fluttering at what Forest had said.

  I’d be insane if I wanted to stay here in this mess, multiple mates aside.

  Still…I couldn’t help but wonder why I wasn’t already gone. How many times did I say I was out of here? How often did I tell myself I was leaving? I egged on fate the longer I stayed, doubly so the more time I spent with the guys.

  I had a feeling I was in some deep trouble when it came to them.

  Chapter Thirteen – Addie

  Maze and Dylan were so similar, even as wolves. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, because all animals kind of looked the s
ame to me, but that was beside the point.

  Their fur, their gait, the length of their tails—it was the exact same. A beautiful golden hue, just like their hair color, and their eyes remained dark, save for the metallic sheen that seemed to grace each wolf’s gaze. Strong, nimble creatures, with paw pads the size of my palms.

  Maybe it was due to my wolf, but somehow I could tell them apart. I knew which one was Maze and which was Dylan, and it wasn’t because of the way Dylan’s feet often tripped on things when he misjudged distances. His bad eyesight transposed into this form too, clearly.

  No, it wasn’t because of that I knew. I just…knew. Deep down, I knew. If I was asked how I knew, I’d be clueless on how to explain it, because I had no idea. I just did.

  Ahead of us, Forest led. His wolf was the largest, its muscles the thickest. His snout was longer than Dylan’s and Maze’s, his teeth appearing to be bigger, too. Thick fur a few inches long, soft and black with a sheen, signaling its smoothness. Blue eyes with a reflective metallic hue, shiny and bright, intelligent and serious. His wolf was the picture of majestic.

  Compared to Dylan and Maze, I could see why he was alpha. Even as a wolf, he easily commanded everything and everyone around him.

  I kind of wanted to pet him.

  But I wouldn’t. I held back, knowing it was probably best not to pet the pack’s alpha.

  Forest led us through the, well, through the forest. The wolves weren’t quite running, nor were they walking. More like jogging, or fast walking. Power walking? Whatever it was called, I was able to keep up with the three wolves in front of me easily.

  Now, if they broke out into a run, then I’d lose them.

  Although, I reminded myself, I did make the distance between my house and the pond in record time, so maybe I could keep up with them—at least for a while, before I lost my breath and had to stop. I’d rather not have it come to that.