To my horror, it was the goddess that was giving off the magical energy that I had sensed from afar. She stood with her back to me, but in front of them, anger burning in her eyes. “You dare to step foot on my territory,” she hissed. “To threaten my people?”
Trevor shook his head in denial, but before he had even uttered a word in his defense, she struck. Her hand had formed claws on the tips of her fingers, and she struck at Trevor, slashing his chest.
I didn’t pause or hesitate. As soon I was within a meter of her, I leapt. I dug my claws into her flesh and her body reverberated with shock. I was just as surprised, because I hadn’t thought that my cloaking trick would work against the goddess, but she was genuinely caught off guard by my attack. That was probably the only reason why I managed to get a strike in at all.
She flung me off her back with a wave of painful magic that bit into my flesh. I soared three meters away and still rolled as I hit the ground from the force of her attack. Her scream of rage bit into my eardrums in a frequency that would be impossible for a human throat to make.
I winced from pain as I stood, but I gathered my limbs beneath me and managed to remain on my feet. Trevor was on the ground, and his shirt was tattered and bloody. The only thing that could have taken him down was a life-threatening wound, and rage burned through me.
Trevor was mine. How dare she lay a single claw on him?
Mike and Davis had raised their weapons to attack, but the goddess held up a hand, and a wall of magic stopped the bullets before they could touch her. I ran on shaky legs to get back to them, and a growl vibrated through me.
This time I went for the back of her leg to try and take her down, but she must have anticipated my attack. A bubble of magic formed around her, and she snarled in anger. I could see blood on her white dress where I had attacked previously and felt a surge of confidence. She might be a goddess, but she could be hurt. Perhaps her time asleep had weakened her.
The bullets that had been hovering in mid-air in front of her vibrated in a way that had me worried. I circled around the goddess to search for a point of vulnerability in her shield. Mike and Davis shouted in alarm and I looked up to see the bullets heading back towards them. The goddess’s shield flickered, and I launched myself at her, but before I made contact, she disappeared. I sailed through the empty air, and the hard ground slammed into my already sore limbs.
I turned back to my guys and rapidly shifted back to human at the terrifying sight before me. Trevor was on the ground, his shirt soaked in blood, and one of his ribs showing through the deep slashes on his chest. Davis hadn’t moved quite fast enough and had been hit in the arm and shoulder by the ricocheting bullets. But Mike had both hands pressed to his stomach as he sank to the ground.
“No!” I shouted. A primal scream bubbled up inside of me as I ran to their side.
“Help him,” Davis ground out of his clenched teeth as he gestured towards Trevor.
“Shit!” I fell to my knees and reached for Trevor with shaking hands. I had received the same battlefield medical training as every other marine, but this was way beyond my simple skills. Muscle and bone were exposed, and blood was everywhere.
I ripped away his shirt in a futile attempt to use it to stem the bleeding. Trevor’s eyes met mine, and I could see pain, but also love shining through. He’d never said the words to me, but I could feel his emotion bleeding into me.
“This can’t end this way,” I said in despair. There had to be something we could do. But we were far away from emergency medical services and hospitals. We’d never get in there in time. I looked up at Mike to see his face pale and sweating. Would I be able to save any of them? Davis had stumbled to the side and was leaning on a tree in an attempt to keep standing.
“I can do this,” I told myself. I’d get all three of them to the car, and we’d find a hospital.
They were some of the strongest shifters I’d ever met, and we could heal from a lot of damage.
But the second that I stood to grab Trevor by the shoulders and drag him to the car if I
had to, he spoke. “Leave me.”
I shook my head in denial. “You’re going to be fine.”
He coughed, and blood trickled out of his mouth. “I’m a lost cause, but you can save the others.” His magic had faded to barely perceptible levels, and I could barely sense him.
Deep down, I knew he was right, but I refused to accept it. “I’m not letting you go,” I said angrily. “You weaseled your way into my heart, you fucker. Like it or not, you’re mine now.”
He somehow managed to smile through the pain. “We’ll meet again.” His voice faded on his last words, and his eyes closed as his head fell to the side.
“No!” I screamed, visceral pain whipping through me.
Magic shimmered into existence only a few meters away, and I launched myself in that direction as I shifted to my panther form in a fit of rage. If the goddess had come back for round two, then she had better be prepared to be ripped to shreds by my claws.
But what stepped out of the magic portal wasn’t the goddess, it was a blond wolf. I skidded to a stop in front of Anna and shifted again. My energy was quickly draining from shifting multiple times in quick succession, and I would now be stuck in my human form for hours. My panic and adrenaline were the only things giving me the strength to remain standing right now.
“You constantly amaze me,” Cody said to her as he stepped out of the portal.
“What happened here?” James asked as he moved in front of Anna and scanned the area for the threat.
“Anna! It’s Trevor,” I babbled. “He needs to be healed. They all do, but he’s the worst.”
Anna’s smile immediately dropped, and she looked around to take in the situation before striding purposefully towards Trevor. Her confidence buoyed my spirits, and I followed after her, my entire body shaking from exertion and fear.
Anna knelt by Trevor and held her hands over him. His chest moved as he took in shallow breaths, and the terrible wounds on his chest started to knit together. “Please,” I prayed. “Just let him be okay.” I had no idea who I was praying to or what good that would do, but I was otherwise helpless in this situation. I grabbed ahold of his hand and refused to let go. This had to work.
Trevor’s skin closed over the wounds, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Is he going to make it?” I asked in a trembling voice.
Anna smiled at me, but it was strained. “I healed him enough to move him, but we need to get to a secure location so that I can focus on his internal damage.”
While Anna had been working and I had been focused on my dying mate, Cody had helped Mike up. He was half-carrying Mike towards the portal that was still flickering with magic.
James had his arm around Davis, and they weren’t far behind. “Is it safe to move Trevor?”
Anna nodded. “We just need to be gentle.”
I crouched down, unsure of how I was going to lift him without hurting him even more.
“I have him,” Anna said softly.
Trevor’s body rose slowly from the ground, and my eyebrows raised as he floated towards the portal. “When did you learn all of this?” I asked Anna in confusion.
When I had left Seaside, Anna had been learning to use her magic as fast as she could, but she hadn’t been able to make portals. I also hadn’t seen her use her magic like this before.
Anna gave me a grim smile. “You’ve been gone for a while, so we have a lot to catch you up on.”
“Likewise,” I mumbled as I followed her through the portal. The pack wasn’t going to be happy once they heard we now had two goddesses wandering the world, and there may soon be even more gods waking up. The world as we knew it was definitely gone, and there was no going back.
Epilogue
I stroked a stray strand of Trevor’s hair away from his face. He had woken up a few times after Anna had completed the multiple healing sessions that he had needed, but he had been completely out of it. She had also worked on Mike and
Davis, so her magic had been stretched to her limits. Anna had split her focus between the three of them, making sure that they were all out of the danger zone. All three of them had constantly been sleeping over the past few days, and Anna said it was because of how her healing magic worked with their own. Being healed was a draining process on both the healer and the patient.
Quinn and Rich had also returned safely to Seaside, and our whole team had relocated to the pack mansion. Austin had increased our patrols, and there had been a constant stream of visitors. Austin had been busy making allies among all the supernatural races.
Trevor’s eyes fluttered open, and I gave him a bright smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” he groaned in response. “I need to get out of this fucking bed.”
“Not until Anna gives the okay,” I said cheerfully. Trevor tried to sit up anyway, and I smiled at how easy it was for me to push him back down. “See? You still need rest.”
He glared at me, but that just made my grin wider. “Anna said you can have bone broth and water until your tummy is completely healed.” I patted his stomach to punctuate my words.
“I thought I heard voices,” Rich said as he came into the room. “Glad to see you up, boss.”
Rich’s words were light, but we all knew how severe Trevor’s wounds had been. If Anna hadn’t shown up at exactly the right moment, we would be having his memorial service right now. Pain gripped my heart at the thought, and tears burned my eyes.
Trevor’s eyes softened as he saw the emotion on my face, and he sighed in resignation.
“Fine, I’ll eat the fucking broth.”
“First, try some water,” I urged him. Anna had hooked up an IV for him to receive enough fluids while he was unconscious, and during the brief times he had awoken I hadn’t been able to get him to drink more than a sip at a time. Trevor sat up and eyed the cup with a pink straw I had prepared for him. But after another sigh, he allowed me to hold the cup for him as he drank from the straw.
Rich averted his eyes as Trevor sank back on the bed. It was making them both uncomfortable to see Trevor, their leader, in a weakened condition.
“Mike and Davis?” Trevor asked
“Safe,” I said with a sigh of relief. “They were both shot, and Anna had to split her time between healing all of you, so it took a little longer than usual. They’ve both been sleeping most of the day, but they’re doing okay.”
“How did we get back to Seaside?” Trevor grumbled.
“Anna,” I answered. “Her powers have grown exponentially. She was practicing making portals to different destinations and wanted to see if she could make one to a specific person.
Luckily, she chose me as her guinea pig and showed up at exactly the right time.”
Trevor grunted and closed his eyes again. When his hand went limp in mine, I knew he had fallen back asleep. I wasn’t too surprised, because this was the longest he had stayed awake and the most coherent I’d seen him since he was injured. But after seeing his familiar scowl back on his face, I knew everything was going to be okay.
Rich held the door open for me as we left Trevor to rest. Once we had all the guys back to normal and our allies in place, we’d be able to start planning for the war that was coming our way. We had the Morrigan, the Jaguar Goddess, and a whole host of enemies to deal with. Our world was going to see even more chaos and destruction, but I hoped we’d be able to form something new and better after the smoke had cleared.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
This book is fiction, but PTSD is real for Veterans as well as other survivors of trauma and abuse. At times the darkness may seem overwhelming and situation hopeless. Reaching out might seem like
an impossible task when you are the deepest in it, but please remember that you’re not alone. There are others who will stand by your side and battle the darkness and despair alongside of you.
Everyone has dark moments in their life that we sometimes wish we could erase or forget. But sometimes it’s the pain and struggle that we have gone through that gave us our inner strength.
For me, writing started as a way to confront some of the demons of my past so that I could put them behind me forever. Most of my characters have a dark or troubled past and my books follow their progress as they emerge from the darkness that has held them down for so long.
As the darkness fades, hope for a better future starts to emerge (like the sun after a storm). A piece of my soul goes into each one of my books, and my hope and faith in a brighter tomorrow is reflected in each one of my characters.
Books have always been a source of escape and enjoyment for me, so I hope that my work can help others in the same way
-C.C. Masters
Have you read the Hollow Crest Wolf Pack books yet? I put a sample in the back so you can check out the beginning of Lori’s story
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C.C. Masters lives near Virginia Beach with her two furbabies, the inspirations for Tigger and Eeyore. She enjoys long walks on the beach and loves to run through the forest under the light of the full moon
SeasideWolfPack.com
Books by C.C. Masters
Seaside Wolf Pack Series
Book 1: Finding Somewhere to Belong
Book 1.5: Finding Anna
Book 2: Finding the Fire Within
Book 3: Finding the Power Within
Book 4: Finding Truth Beneath the Lies
Book 5: Finding My Breaking Point
Book 6: Finding Hope (Coming Soon)
Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Trilogy
Book 1: New Beginnings
Book 2: The Struggle
Book 3: A Place to Call Home (Coming Soon)
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Sneak Peek of Hollow Crest Wolf Pack
Chapter 1
Lori
I huddled deeper into my bed, pulling my threadbare blanket up over my head as if I could hide from the horror that awaited me. It was still dark outside, but I could feel dawn creeping slowly towards me, bringing my fate along with it. Once the sun came up, it was my eighteenth birthday. For all the humans at my school, it was one of the happiest days of their lives; a day to celebrate.
For me, it was a day to dread.
My pack master, Baracus, carefully followed the rules that the council had laid out for him to help us blend in with the humans. Forty years ago, my pack had received a lot of attention when the small town of humans next to our lands had decided we were some kind of religious cult. There were investigations conducted and extra scrutiny placed on our pack. Our kind couldn’t have that for obvious reasons. The council smoothed things over, but now we pretended to be human slightly better. Kids went to school, adults worked out in the community, and most of the humans just thought we were a close-knit little neighborhood up the hill. Only a few realized we weren’t quite normal.
If only they knew the truth.
So far, my life hadn’t been so bad. I went to school, I helped my mom with all of her pack responsibilities, and I was sent to my room anytime non-PG rated activities were going on. But that didn’t mean that I was oblivious to it; I knew what went on after dark. I also hadn’t been oblivious to all the smirks and shoulder bumps that had been going on between the males every time someone mentioned my upcoming birthday.
Not all the males in my pack were terrible, but that didn’t mean that any of them would stand up for me. When I first hit puberty, my two cousins had tried to shield me from the leers of the males who thought they we
re entitled to mock a twelve-year-old girl’s developing curves. Baracus and his second in command, Robert, had beaten the crap out of them to teach them a lesson. Females were only in the pack as playthings or maids; we weren’t equal, and we definitely didn’t deserve respect. Ever since then, my two former playmates turned into my jailers.
I knew exactly what was going to happen to me once I turned eighteen. That was why the closer my birthday got, the bigger the pit of dread in my stomach grew. I tried to act tough in front of everyone, smacking away hands that had attempted to touch me without my consent, and using my smart mouth to respond to their suggestive comments. But when I was alone, I couldn’t keep my shield up, and I had broken down more than once. I knew there was nothing that I could do and I hated that helpless feeling.
I had thought about running. But where would I go? I didn’t have any money, I didn’t even have any identification. My pack master was very careful about keeping all the females in line. He liked to say that he made sure all of us were ‘well taken care of,’ but that meant that there were always males around to ‘help’ by handling the money at the store, driving us where we needed to go, and never letting any of us out of their sight. I was always watched, even while at school. My two cousins took care of that.
I angrily flopped over onto my back and pulled the blanket down so I could stare out the window. There were so many times that I wished females were equal and this was definitely one of them. I wouldn’t be cowering in fear right now. I would be looking forward to turning eighteen and becoming a full member of the pack. Instead, I was terrified, frustrated, angry, and helpless at the thought of being passed around and used by them. Becky had turned eighteen last year and it took her months to stop crying every day.
Finding Buried Secrets: A Seaside Wolf Pack Novel Page 24