A Place to Call Home (Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 3)

by C. C. Masters

  Grayson sighed. “We wanted to keep you safe.”

  “But we’re members of the pack, just like you!” I exclaimed. “We’re not pups!”

  “No, you’re not,” Grayson admitted quietly.

  “We were always honest about what we were doing,” Wyatt said into the awkward silence. “And you knew where we were.”

  “You’re right,” I said with a frustrated breath. Kannon and I hadn’t done the same. I’d led him astray from the pack multiple times.

  “No more secrets,” Grayson announced. “From now on, everything is discussed in the open.”

  “No more secrets,” I agreed.

  The rest of the guys mumbled their agreements. “There’s a road up here we can turn off on,” Kannon interrupted.

  Grayson slowed, and we turned onto a smaller road. There weren’t any streetlights, so Grayson turned on the brights and kept his speed low.

  “For the record,” Wyatt said. “The humans mentioned that the news broke in California. It had nothing to do with the Hollow Crest students.”

  I let out a breath of relief that I wasn’t responsible for the end of the world as we knew it. Regardless of how the news got out, we still had to deal with the consequences.

  “Why don’t you try to get some rest?” Grayson suggested.

  I leaned my head back, but there was no way I’d be able to sleep. My body was still dealing with the after-effects of my change, and we were on the road to the unknown. We had escaped our last encounter without violence, but there was no telling what we’d find out here.

  Chapter 34

  Lori

  We drove through the darkness for one hour, then two. Every moment we got further away from Hollow Crest, I relaxed a little more. A smile stretched over my face. We were going to make it.

  I hadn’t even finished my thought when Grayson slammed on the brakes. Tires squealed as our vehicle skidded across the road. We violently jerked to a stop, and I looked out of the window with wide eyes.

  Grayson had barely stopped in front of a barrier set up in the middle of the road. Spikes protruded from the road aimed to puncture car tires and water barrels blocked anyone from careening through to the other side of the barricade. Men came out from behind the barrier and surrounded our vehicle on all sides.

  “Shit,” Corey cursed.

  “Relax,” Grayson ordered. He put the SUV in reverse, but he didn’t have time to accelerate before several of the men had shotguns pointed at us through the windows. My stomach dropped. The vehicle couldn’t move fast enough to avoid a shotgun blast at this close proximity. At least one of us would be seriously hurt or even killed.

  “Get out of the vehicle!” a man with a dark beard shouted. He motioned with his shotgun to demonstrate he was serious.

  Grayson’s jaw clenched. “Do as they ask - for now. We’ll wait for our chance.”

  Wyatt and Grayson exited first with the hands up in the air to show they were unarmed. Corey was next, and then Kannon and I followed. Three of the men stared at me, and one of them licked his lips. Kannon put his arm around me and pulled me close.

  The leader of the group laughed. “Keep an eye on your girl, the pretty ones go fast.” The rest of the men chuckled.

  “We’re just passing through,” Grayson said with a friendly smile. “Heading home from Virginia Tech to be with our families during this difficult time.”

  One of the guys spat and tapped on the glass of our back window. “College kids always have a car full of shit when they pass through. Yours is empty.”

  Grayson shrugged. “We were stopped earlier and had to make an involuntary donation.”

  The leader laughed. “I’m surprised they let you drive away with the vehicle.” He eyed us suspiciously. “You can either walk away, or we can shoot you and then take it.” He shrugged. “Your choice, but I’d rather not have to deal with your corpses.”

  Corey’s jaw ticked, and I understood his anger. Rage burned through me, and my hunger came to life. I clenched my jaw shut in an attempt to keep my new teeth from extending. Revealing ourselves as anything but human right now would be a death sentence.

  My breath came heavy, and I hid my face against Kannon. I heard the laughter of the men all around me, and I tried to tune it out. I tried to slow my breathing and keep calm. I wouldn’t be able to get control if I couldn’t lock down my emotions.

  “We don’t want any trouble,” Grayson said smoothly. “You can have the vehicle, but could you give us a ride first?”

  A few of the men around us snickered. “You should consider yourselves lucky we don’t take the girl too.”

  I heard the barest hint of a growl start to emanate from Corey, and Grayson shot him a death look. Growling would be another indication that we were something other than human.

  “We’ll be on our way, then,” Grayson told them.

  The leader motioned for us to go, but none of us were comfortable putting our backs to the armed men who might still have plans to shoot us. We backed away slowly, keeping them in view the entire time. Once we were far enough back that the darkness would hide us, Grayson directed us to cut off the road and into the forest to the side. We ducked down so we wouldn’t be immediately visible to the men if they chose to follow after us.

  “I don’t trust them to leave us alone,” Grayson told us with the bond.

  “I didn’t like the way they looked at Lori,” Corey added with a scowl.

  “We need to shift and make a run for it,” Wyatt said solemnly.

  At the same time, all the guys turned to look at me. I hadn’t shifted since Dr. Green had changed me. The thought of losing that part of myself was devastating, but I had been too afraid to explore the possibility. I felt terrified that I would reach for that spark of magic that allowed me to shift, and it wouldn’t be there. I’d been putting off this moment and avoiding facing the truth.

  I took a deep breath. “I can try, but-” my voice broke, and I wiped angrily at the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes.

  “You can do this,” Kannon said in encouragement.

  Grayson nodded. “You can still use the pack bond, so there’s no reason to think you lost your other abilities.”

  My heart lifted. Grayson was right. If my wolf half was destroyed, I wouldn’t be a part of the pack bond anymore.

  I could do this.

  My hands shook as I undressed, and the guys politely avoided their eyes as they did the same. I was too consumed by worry to be concerned with nudity – mine or theirs.

  I closed my eyes and reached down into myself. I went past the hunger that always buzzed on the surface of my thoughts now, past the anxiety for our future, and deeper than our pack bond. Joy surged inside of me when I felt it. The tiny spark I’d always used to shift was still there, and it was stronger than ever. I felt stupid for avoiding this moment for so long.

  I threw my hands up in the air and laughed before I shifted. Once in my wolf form, I proudly pranced in front of the guys and shook out my coat. One by one, they shifted and exchanged an affectionate nuzzle with me. I felt whole and complete now that I was on all four paws, and my hunger had slipped into the background.

  My ears perked when I heard male voices and then the roar of an engine. Those men had decided to come for us, after all. I darted through the brush and led the way further into the forest. We needed to get away from the road. The men wouldn’t leave the safety of their vehicles and bright lights to chase after us.

  I stretched out my legs and ran with my pack mates beside me. Every stride brought us further from death and destruction and closer to freedom.

  Chapter 35

  Lori

  I rested my chin on Corey as the sun rose, casting bright light through the bare trees. I was thankful for my thick coat as my breath misted in the air. Grayson watched over us as I snuggled with Kannon and the twins. He, Corey, and Wyatt had taken turns keeping watch last night, leaving myself and Kannon out of the rotation. I had wanted to object to bein
g given special treatment, but my common sense had kicked in. If I had stayed up last night, then I would be too tired to keep up with the others. I didn’t want to slow them down any more than I had to.

  “How do you feel?” Grayson asked through the bond. “Are you hungry?”

  I squirmed free from the others and stretched out my back as I thought about his question. I wouldn’t mind hunting for a rabbit, but I didn’t feel the burning urge for blood that I’d been struggling with. Was being in my wolf form helping to keep the hunger at bay?

  “I’m hungry, but for food, not blood,” I answered Grayson.

  He brushed up against me, and I gave his muzzle a small lick. “We’ll try to hunt on our way,” he told me. “I don’t want us getting distracted and falling off course.”

  I stretched out my legs as he woke the others. Kannon knew the basic route we needed to follow. We tried to stay out of sight from humans but close to the roads that would lead us to our destination. It wasn’t easy, and we had a long way to go.

  Kannon estimated that we still had around eighty miles to travel. Just thinking about that made my muscles ache. Grayson wanted us to stay at a pace that was comfortable for all of us – meaning me - so our goal was thirty miles a day. Wolves were made for traveling long distances like this, and a steady trot would be about five miles an hour, so I knew we could do it. The tricky part was getting past all the humans that stood between Seaside and us.

  I swallowed nervously when I thought about what we might face in Seaside. We were banking on it being a safe place based on Pierce’s word, but what was waiting for us there? Would the wolves welcome us with open arms?

  I yawned as Wyatt led us in the direction of a river we’d found last night. A fresh drink of water would help us get through the day, especially if we couldn’t find enough prey to feed all of us.

  We ran during the day and huddled together at night. We had to venture off our route several times to avoid clusters of human homes and added quite a few miles to our expected journey.

  Three days later, hunger was gnawing at my belly, and exhaustion made every step a struggle. As a pack, we’d slowed from a consistent trot with spurts of running to just a walk. I kept putting one paw in front of the other because I knew we were getting close.

  I wasn’t sure if my desperation or hope was stronger, but we needed Seaside to be a safe haven. We couldn’t survive long like this. We had no phones, no clothes, and no money. All we had was one another. If Seaside didn’t accept us, then we were screwed.

  “Get close!” Grayson called to all of us as he let out a low growl.

  The other guys got in formation around me, but I pushed past to stand beside them with irritation. We should be beyond that by now – they should know I’d never want to hide behind them. The scent of wolves hit my nostrils only a moment before a group melted out of the forest around us.

  We had circled the border of Seaside to avoid humans, but also to look for signs of other wolves. Seaside was huge – more like a county than a city. Right now, we were on the grounds of a state park that ran along the border of Seaside. After all, a state park was the perfect place to find a pack of wolves, right?

  The other wolves surrounded us, and I counted eight of them. I kept my head up and my ears back, ready to react at any sign they meant to attack. My eyes widened when I saw who was leading their group. The largest wolf I’d ever seen stepped out of the forest. He towered over the rest of us and had the bulk to match his height. His Caribbean blue eyes were sharp as he looked over our small pack.

  I held my breath as he identified Grayson as our pack leader and trotted towards us. Grayson tensed but kept his body language as friendly. We weren’t here to fight. We couldn’t fight and hope to win.

  The giant wolf shifted into a tall, muscular man, and I let out a sigh of relief. If he were hostile, he wouldn’t have shifted. That meant he was willing to talk to us. The rest of his pack stayed in their wolf forms, so Grayson was the only one of us that shifted into his human form.

  Once Grayson had shifted, the big man got a smile on his face. “I recognize you from your picture. We’d thought you weren’t coming. I’m Cody.” He reached forward to shake Grayson’s hand.

  “Grayson,” Gray said in reply as they clasped hands. “You were expecting us?”

  “Arminius contacted Austin and said he was sending us some reinforcements.” Cody eyed our group. “We were expecting you a few days ago.”

  “We were delayed,” Grayson said in explanation.

  My tummy took that moment to growl loudly enough for everyone in the clearing to hear it, and I swished my tail in embarrassment.

  Cody smiled in my direction. “Follow me back to the house, and we’ll get you some food as we talk. You can meet Austin and Anna.”

  Cody and Grayson shifted back to their wolf forms, and the other wolves surrounded us as we followed Cody. He had spoken about his pack mates as if we should already know who they were. What exactly had Arminius told them about us? Had he done us a favor or set us up for failure?

  I glanced around at the wolves who were flanking us on all sides. They weren’t treating us as enemies, but it was clear that we didn’t have a choice about going with them. These wolves were being very polite about finding a strange pack on their territory. It was a good thing Arminius had told them we were coming.

  We broke out of the forest to see a massive mansion across an impressively expansive lawn. I could smell salt in the air and hear the distant crash of waves, so the ocean had to be close as well. I felt a second of excitement at the thought of seeing the beach but pushed that aside. Cody had seemed nice enough, but he hadn’t guaranteed anything.

  Cody must have used his pack bond to let the rest of his pack mates know he was bringing us back because several people were waiting for us on the stone patio at the back of the house.

  The man who stood at the top of the stairway who exuded power had to be their pack master. He was tall with dark blond hair and dressed in a suit as if we had interrupted a business meeting. A second man stood behind him with cold, dark eyes that would rival Pierce’s. He radiated danger, and there was no doubt that he was a predator.

  But the person that stood out the most was the statuesque blond that stood between them. She was stunning but was dressed casually in jeans and a hoodie. I could feel raw magic contained within her in a way I’d never seen before. Her scent told me she was a wolf, but it seemed like she was something more as well. While I expected someone beautiful and powerful to be arrogant, her eyes were kind, and she wore a soft smile.

  Cody shifted back into a human and slapped Austin on the shoulder as he strode past him. Some of the other wolves that had escorted us here also shifted into their human forms. I blinked when I realized that two of them were identical twins. Corey and Wyatt were so different that it was impossible to confuse one for the other. But these twins were exact carbon copies of each other.

  “Welcome,” Austin said with a smile. “I’m glad you could make it here.”

  “We have plenty of food,” Anna said cheerfully. “If you’ll come with us into the house?”

  I swayed at the thought of food and licked my lips eagerly. Traveling on foot hadn’t been easy. I was physically and mentally exhausted.

  Grayson shifted first, and Wyatt was quick to follow. “Thanks,” Grayson said with a bow of his head. “We appreciate your hospitality.”

  Corey and Kannon had shifted while Grayson was speaking, leaving only me in my wolf form. Anna’s eyes softened as they fell on me. “If you want to follow me, I usually change in the pool house for privacy. I have some extra clothes there you can borrow,” she said kindly.

  “Check them first,” James growled at her.

  My eyes widened at his tone, but she just rolled her eyes. “I already did. I’m getting better at doing it at a distance.”

  I shifted my weight nervously and looked at Grayson. I didn’t understand their conversation, and while Anna seemed nice, I
wasn’t ready to be separated from my pack. I was nervous about shifting back into my human form. Staying as a wolf had kept my hunger for blood at bay, but what would happen when I shifted back?

  “Kannon, stay with Lori,” Grayson ordered.

  James looked irritated, but Anna just smiled at him. “You know you would do the same for me,” she laughed.

  Anna bounced down the stairs toward us as Grayson and the others made their introductions. I held back because I’d rather be fully dressed before I officially met any strangers.

  “It’s this way,” Anna called out to Kannon and me.

  I trotted after her, grateful to have Kannon close to my side. Anna opened the door to the pool house and dug through a chest to pull out some clothes. She handed sweats and a shirt to Kannon first and then set some things aside for me.

  Anna waited expectantly for me to change, but I was still nervous. My hunger had disappeared when I shifted into a wolf. Would it come roaring back when I shifted into my human form? Nausea hit the pit of my stomach when I realized I no longer had a human form. I was either a wolf or a lamia.

  “She’s nervous about shifting in front of a stranger,” Kannon told Anna.

  Anna shrugged. “I get it - I’m the same way.” Anna turned her back, and I looked at Kannon in surprise. She was too trusting to expose her back to two strange wolves like that. She was powerful but too confident in herself.

  I closed my eyes, deciding I couldn’t put this off any longer. I reached down for the spark within me that would allow me to shift forms.

  A year ago, I would have been too weak to be able to shift back to human until I was well fed and rested. Today, my body made the switch easily. It seemed like Dr. Green’s procedure had strengthened me in some unexpected ways. I shifted and waited for a moment, praying that the hunger would stay at bay. When it stayed at manageable levels, I relaxed and smiled at Kannon.

  “I’m okay,” I told him with the bond.