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

by Candace Wondrak

  “It’s a secret.”

  Maze could actually keep secrets. It came as a shock to me, because with his big mouth and his way of talking everyone’s ears off, he didn’t seem like the type of person who could.

  “I mean, it’s not a huge secret, so don’t go getting lost in that pretty head,” Maze added, tossing me a dimpled smile. My insides twisted, and I had sudden thoughts of pushing him against the nearest tree and kissing him.

  Did guys like it when women took charge? Would I even be any good at it? I had never kissed anyone before, let alone thought about getting down and dirty. If I’d grown up with the pack, surrounded by shifters, I knew I wouldn’t be able to say the same. Humans were just…not my thing.

  Shifters, on the other hand, were totally my thing. Specifically, Maze, Dylan and Landon were my three things.

  Three. Just three. There would be no more. I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle three as it was. Whatever Caitlin and Landon were talking about…I wouldn’t think about it. Three mates already seemed impossible to juggle.

  Maze led me to a spot in the woods where the trees were arranged in an almost perfect circle. Six giant oaks, towering over a flat, circular area. Not a single leaf sat on the floor in the area, almost as if they were pushed aside. A lone, sawed-off log sat in its center with a hollowed-out space for someone to sit on, a curve for the ass.

  As I took in my surroundings, I asked, “What is this?”

  He sat me on the log, moving to sit beside me. “This is my little getaway. I found it, after my mom died. Cleaned it up a bit. I used to come here all the time.” He pointed skywards. “A few times a year, the moon and sun fit perfectly up there.”

  I turned my head up. The tall trees were arranged so the person standing—or sitting—in its center could see the sky without a single branch blocking their view. The sky was now a dark orange, dimming with each passing minute. Cloudless, stars already appearing to blanket the sky in a world of night.

  “I’m sorry to hear about your mom,” I said, slowly lowering my gaze. “How long ago did she pass?” Should I be asking these things? Was it too early to get to know his life’s story? He knew all about mine already.

  “She died when Dylan and I were nine, almost ten years ago.”

  I found myself leaning toward him, resting my cheek on his forearm, my arm snaking through his, bringing his hand to my lap. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “What about your dad?” I hadn’t heard either Dylan or Maze talk about him, though it seemed like shifters acted differently when it came to parents.

  “That’s the thing, you’re not supposed to know who your father is. When multiple mates come into the picture, each male is the father. Dylan and I always suspected we knew, though. He was…” Maze trailed off, fingers weaving through mine. “He went missing last year. You found him when you found the others.”

  God. I had no idea. The twins hid it well. They’d acted like nothing was wrong. Granted, I didn’t know my father at all, but I could imagine if I did, I wouldn’t act so cavalier about his death.

  “I’m sorry” was all I could think of to say.

  “It’s okay. I didn’t bring you here to tell you my sob story. Every shifter in the pack has one of their own, you’ll learn. As much as it sucks, it’s part of being a shifter these days. In the past, I’m sure it was easier. Maybe.”

  Sensing he didn’t want to linger on his sad tale, I said, “I feel like I missed out on so much, growing up around humans.”

  “Don’t think like that. Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you. Same with Dylan,” he said. A smile broke out, and he playfully nudged my side. “Landon, well…he might act all grumpy around you, but I’m sure if you bat those eyes at him he’ll give in.”

  I sighed. “Landon is hot and cold.”

  “It just means he likes you.”

  Now was not the time I wanted to talk about Landon, so I changed the subject. He said he’d tell me all about shifters? I had at least a dozen questions ready, and I fired them away.

  Was there a school here? How did the pack get their money? How did they stock the small grocery store at the edge of town? Keeping the humans away, what they did with their spare time when there wasn’t a maniac running around kidnapping shifters. There was more on my mind, more I didn’t understand, but I figured I’d start small.

  Maze traced my knuckles as he told me what he could. A few shifters had gone into the human world, gotten jobs. It was their money that fueled the town. Another few knew all about the internet and taught the children all they needed to know—these were mostly the human female mates of the few shifters that had human mates.

  Outside humans often stumbled into town, trying to see the lake, because somehow pictures of its clear water had gotten around, but they were easily sniffed out and threatened by the usual human threat get off my property or I’ll call the cops! Worked every time, apparently, because vacationing humans didn’t want to risk it.

  The rest of them worked around town, doing house repairs, car repairs, cooking, cleaning, raising the kids. Sometimes they went on runs, but Forest had forbidden most runs since the kidnappings had started to grow more frequent.

  No other packs were in the area, so the shifters at Crystal Lake were relatively safe from an invading pack. Because, I was shocked to learn, things like that still happened, even in the twenty-first century. Packs invaded like other countries encroaching on borders, claiming the land as their own and often fighting and destroying each other when one would not submit. Female shifters, being as rare as they were, were fought over and stolen. Seemed a barbaric, horrible thing.

  Sometimes the females weren’t treated like people at all. Some packs kept them and bred them like rabbits, forcing them to pop out babies continuously to bolster the declining shifter population. A terrible, horrible fate I could barely comprehend.

  It seemed to me some of their animalistic instincts were too strong. Maybe shifter numbers were in such decline because they hadn’t evolved with the times, they refused to change. No cell phones? Cell phones were like air to humans. Even kids had them nowadays—which was a ridiculous, annoying point in and of itself, because ten-year-old Johnny boy did not need the newest iPhone and all the latest apps.

  Maybe shifters were meant to die out. Survival of the fittest. Humans proved capable of advancing and changing, but shifters did not, therefore it was only a matter of time before they were gone entirely. It was the logical part of me that thought this, though I would never say it aloud, knowing it would anger and hurt any shifter who heard it.

  “Anything else you want to know?” Maze broke through my thoughts.

  I shook my head. “Nothing right now. Anything you want to know about me?” Since we were bonding here, I figured I’d offer.

  “Actually, yes,” Maze jumped on it. “There are a few things I’ve been wondering, and until I know the truth, I will continue to lose sleep.” A smile grew on his face, and it was one I did my best not to stare at.

  We already sat too close. Staring at his smile, losing myself in those dimples and the twinkle of his eyes, it would only lead to one thing at this point.

  “Are there any human males I need to worry about? Any ex-boyfriends you have that might come looking for you?”

  I stifled a laugh. Of course. I should’ve known where his head would be and what type of questions he’d ask. All about me. “None that I know of,” I spoke with a grin.

  “Really? Not one?”

  “Not one,” I reaffirmed. “I never dated. I just…I don’t know, didn’t feel it. I guess I wasn’t attracted to them, not like I am to you guys.” I meant the you guys as a reference to Maze, Dylan, and Landon, but I supposed he could also take it as a shifters in general thing. “I’ve never even kissed someone before.”

  Okay, that slipped out before I could stop it, and once it was out, floating in the air around us, I wanted to take it back. Grab it and stuff it in my pocket, pretend it didn’t exist. How embarrassing.
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br />   Maze’s eyebrows practically reached the sky. “So, you’re saying,” he whispered, his hand releasing mine as he snaked it around my lower back, “if I kiss you right now, it’ll be your first?” The thought must’ve been a pleasing one, for he would not stop smiling. He gave a new definition to the phrase grinning like an idiot.

  “Putting two and two together does equal four,” I said, wanting to be funny, wanting to forget the shift in the small space between us, the sizzling and crackling in the air. Or maybe it was all in my head. The hand wrapped around my back made certain muscles in my body tighten, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to have his hands everywhere, touching parts of me no one had touched before.

  Such tempting, dirty thoughts.

  His other hand went to my neck, and my head nearly lost all will to stay up on its own. I wanted to lean into him, touch him, get to know him in a way that would make me blush hours later when I remembered this moment.

  “Do you want me to kiss you?” Maze whispered, his breath already ragged. As if the wolf could stop himself now.

  I opened my mouth to respond, though I truly had no idea what I was going to say, but I needn’t have worried, for before I could say a single word, Maze’s mouth collided with mine. His lips melded with mine, the hand on my neck tangling in my hair, and I basically turned to jelly.

  Warm, gooey, weak-at-the-knees jelly.

  This was what kissing was like? This tingly feeling spreading along my body, the instant desire to throw myself at him, to wrap both my arms and legs around him? This was what I was missing?

  Hot damn.

  I would’ve made the comment about not missing out again, I was too lost in Maze, especially when I felt him nip at my lower lip. The instant his teeth grazed my lip, my back arched, a jolt of electricity zapping up my spine.

  It seemed I liked that. In fact, I liked it quite a lot.

  Just as I regained my mind, as I began to kiss him back, wanting him to drown in the same heated passion I felt—basically, when I started to act like a willing and eager participant in the kiss and not a stunned frozen statue—Maze broke our lip lock, already smiling ear to ear.

  “As much as I would like to continue, eager beaver, I think it’s time we head back,” he said, the smile lingering on his lips.

  Those blasted lips left mine much too soon.

  I knew my face was flushed. Could the shifter not even give me a moment to regain myself? How in the hell did he expect me to walk after such an earth-shattering, mind-numbing kiss? He must have no idea what he did to me, how easily my body reacted to his.

  I wanted to argue with him. Oh, how badly I wanted to tell him no, I was fine staying here and kissing him longer, but my words would not form, and before I knew it, Maze grabbed my hand and tugged me to my feet.

  As we walked along back to the group, Maze said, “I told you I’d be the first, yeah? Who knew I’d be the first in general to touch those lips.” He leaned toward me, fingers tightening around mine. “They’re very soft, by the way.”

  Finally, I found my voice, “Uh, thank you?” I wasn’t sure what I should say to that, having never before been complimented on the softness of my lips. I did use those fruity Lip Smackers when I remembered to.

  And of course, now I was thinking about my lips, they felt rather dry. That, or they missed having Maze’s mouth connected to them.

  I was on cloud nine as we walked back, my mind replaying the kiss over and over again. It was a memory I would not mind having on an endless loop, an infinite repeat. Were all kisses so good, or was it because I knew he was one of my future mates? Maybe I was inclined to like them; it wasn’t the first time I’d thought it.

  Or, hell, maybe it was fate.

  Maybe it was meant to be.

  Chapter Seventeen – Addie

  I never thought myself a ruminator. I didn’t like those books where the main characters wallowed and overthought things, but wasn’t that precisely what I was doing? Sure, I might not be wallowing, but I could not stop thinking about the kiss, no matter how hard I tried to.

  It was that good.

  Or was I just that desperate for some physical affection from another shifter?

  I sat at a picnic table beside Dylan, who’d brought a book—which really should not have surprised me. Maze and Landon were off talking to other shifters. Fine by me, because if I was around Maze right now, I might jump his bones, and no one needed to see that, especially not the whole freaking pack.

  “Still reading Gone with the Wind?” I teased Dylan, knocking my leg against his, jerking him out of his focus. Though we were at least a hundred feet from the pyre, I could still feel its heat. I glanced over my shoulder.

  Past the throngs of shifters gathered closer to the pyre, the flames continued to eat away at the wooden structure, the bodies lying on top extra crispy. I assumed the fire would devour all it could, and when it was over, the remainder would be left in the trench and buried with sand and rocks once again.

  “Yes,” Dylan answered, flicking his brown gaze to me. Even with the glasses and the longer hair, he looked much like Maze. Reasonably so, since they were identical twins. They were both injured by the barrier, but his arm and shoulder had mostly healed. Maze’s was a little more tender, but he certainly hadn’t made any fuss when we were kissing.

  Then again, it wasn’t like I dragged my hands all over him. I pretty much only touched him with my lips, being so shocked and all.

  I was a loser, and probably a bad kisser. What if he didn’t want to be my mate anymore because I didn’t kiss him back good enough?

  This was exactly the type of wallowing and self-doubt that annoyed me. I had to cut the crap and move on, try not to think about the kiss again and again.

  “How do you read with all this noise?” I asked, trying to focus on Dylan and not the kiss.

  Dylan, as much as he looked like Maze, couldn’t have been more different. While Maze’s eyes glinted with sarcasm and mischievousness, Dylan’s were kind and gentle. They made me feel at ease, comfortable. I felt calm when I was near him, soothed, almost.

  “It’s easy to tune things out,” he answered, folding the corner of the page before closing it. “It’s not as easy to tune you out, though.”

  With the way he spoke it, so serious and quiet, I wasn’t sure if I should apologize for distracting him or not. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I can go find someone else to bother.” I swung a leg out from under the picnic table, about to bring my other leg out so I could get up, but a hand appeared on the leg that straddled the bench seat.

  It might not have so much appeared as Dylan put it there, but either way, I froze.

  His hand was on my knee. Dylan’s hand was on my knee. This was…this was weird, wasn’t it? I’d just been kissed by his brother; I shouldn’t push my luck where Dylan was concerned. I shouldn’t bother him.

  “No,” Dylan said, “it’s okay. I like being bothered by you.” He slowly withdrew his hand from my leg, and after mentally debating it, I lifted it over the seat and slid it back under the table. “Did Maze show you his special place?”

  I so did not want to talk about Maze, because doing so would only make me remember the kiss, but it seemed like the powers that be wanted me to think about it. I was measured in answering, “Yes. I heard about your parents. I’m sorry.”

  Yes, that was a normal thing to say, wasn’t it? No I kissed your brother here.

  “Thank you.” Dylan adjusted his glasses, dark gaze falling to the table. “He must’ve been trying to court you hard, Addie, taking you there and telling you all that. Did my brother get what he wanted? Was he the first to kiss you?”

  Talk about a bizarre conversation. And it wasn’t like I was caught between them—they were all my future mates, all equal—so I couldn’t use it as an excuse. I had to face the music that I had strong feelings for more than one person at once.

  It was…so against my upbringing, not how Sarah raised me, but it felt right. Ther
e were no other words for it. It. Was. Right. There was no point trying to hide from it, and definitely no point to lie.

  I eventually nodded once, figuring my words would only get caught and twisted in my throat.

  Dylan broke out in a smile, a soft one, tiny dimples in his cheeks that were both reminiscent of his brother’s, but also unique to him. “I figured as much, but that’s okay. I’m not too jealous.”

  In spite of myself, I was slightly insulted. Did that mean he didn’t want to kiss me as badly as Maze did? I squinted. It wasn’t like I wanted him to be jealous, but…well, maybe a little. “Why not?”

  Dylan studied me. “I know what you’re thinking, and that’s not it.”

  “It’s not, is it?” I hated how I sounded. Like a stubborn, ignorant child who didn’t know what was up and what was down.

  “Not at all. Now that Maze got his way, I won’t feel bad about doing this.” Without a warning, Dylan leaned toward me, pressing his lips against mine, hungrily devouring everything I surrendered to him. His kiss was unlike Maze’s in that it was tender, soft, almost questioning, but the doubt faded fast.

  And, just like before, just like with Maze, I was too shocked, too stunned to do much of anything besides receive the kiss. Probably not what these guys had in mind. They were men. They wanted a lot more than a frozen participant.

  His lips parted enough to let his tongue enter the equation, running over my bottom lip, making me tremble with pleasure. It was at that inopportune time when I had a horrible thought.

  Maze was a nipper, Dylan was a licker. What would Landon be?

  Okay, so it wasn’t a horrible thought by any means, just a really inappropriate one I should not have while Dylan was kissing me.

  The moment when I regained control of my limbs, the instant I was about to wrap my arms around his neck and hold myself against him—because surely this kiss could last longer than the one I’d had with Maze—Dylan pulled back, ending it much too soon.

  If blue balls was a thing for girls, I’d so have it right now.