Wolf Rebel

by Paige Tyler

  Rachel let out another chuff, hoping they understood. Her first time turning into a wolf had been awesome—except for the whole demented clown trying to take over her mind—but now she was starting to discover what a huge pain in the butt it was not being able to speak.

  “Needing new clothes is sort of an occupational hazard for us,” Zane said, glancing at Knox. “We brought you some spare uniforms from the operations truck. The size probably won’t be perfect, but it’s better than walking around naked.”

  Rachel eyed the duffel bags. Crap, she hadn’t thought about the fact that she was going to be naked under all this fur when she changed back. Shifting in front of Knox would be okay, but she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of doing it in front of Diego and Zane. She felt her face heat—even under the fur.

  “Not to rush you or anything, but could you guys go ahead and shift back now?” Diego glanced over his shoulder at all the people moving around outside what was left of the house. “I have no doubt a few people saw Zane and me walk into these woods. If we don’t come out soon, they’re going to start getting curious.”

  Rachel made another series of chuffing sounds at that, then shook her head back and forth as best she could, hoping her pack mates understood what she was trying to say. For a moment, they both stared at her in confusion, but then comprehension dawned on Zane’s face.

  “You don’t how to change back, do you?” he asked, looking back and forth between her and Knox. “Either of you.”

  Rachel would have shrugged, if she could have figured out how to make her wolf shoulders perform a movement like that. So, she had to be satisfied with shaking her head again, even if the movement felt strange. She had a ginormous head.

  “Don’t worry,” Zane said. “I can talk you through it.”

  Rachel hoped so. But before they tried it, she needed Diego and Zane to turn their backs. She motioned with her head, moving it in a circle the best she could.

  Zane frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”

  She repeated the gesture, but when her pack mates only continued to stare at her in confusion, she turned around, then back again, giving them a pointed look.

  “Dude, I think she wants us to turn around,” Diego said.

  “Oh.” Zane gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

  Both her pack mates turned their backs to them, then Zane began to talk them through the shift from wolf to human.

  “It’s actually easier to go from wolf to human than the other direction,” he murmured, his voice taking on that same calm tone she’d used with Knox the other night. “It’s your natural form, so you won’t have to work very hard to convince your body to go with it. Normally, I’d talk each of you through it individually, but since you’re mated, I think I can have you shift back together.”

  She frowned, absently wondering what that expression looked like on a wolf as she tried to figure out what Zane meant. But then her pack mate spoke again, asking her and Knox to imagine they were touching each other, running hands and lips over bare skin.

  Picturing doing something so sensual with Knox was a little difficult with Diego and Zane standing there, but as her pack mate continued to talk them through it, her imagination took over, and before she knew it, she was replaying the morning she and Knox had made love. And, oh man, did she focus on the details!

  Rachel was so into it she swore she could feel Knox’s warm skin under her fingers as she breathed in that perfect combination of leather and gun oil. She moaned a little, giving into the sensation as arousal throbbed through her core.

  “I’d tell you to get a room, but first you’d need to get dressed,” Diego said dryly, interrupting her extremely pleasant sensory immersion session. “Unless you want us to leave you alone here for a bit?”

  Rachel opened her eyes to discover she and Knox were back in their human forms. She was lying in his arms, one hand on his chest, a leg draped possessively over him. Saying he was as turned on as she was at the moment was an understatement. Getting a pair of pants on was definitely going to be a struggle with that bad boy. Maybe hanging around in the woods for a while might be a good idea.

  “Gage is going to want a full report of what the hell happened in the house, so you should probably hurry up,” Zane said as he and Diego walked away, leaving her and Knox alone with their naked, warm bodies touching each other.

  Knox lifted her chin with a finger and pressed a kiss to her lips. “You know, nothing says we can’t spend an extra minute—or ten—getting dressed.”

  Rachel groaned. As much as she’d love that, they didn’t have time. Giving him another kiss, she pushed herself upright, then reached over and grabbed one of the duffel bags, shoving it into Knox’s hands.

  “Get dressed, lover boy,” she said. “I’m going to need your help explaining what the hell happened tonight since I missed some of it.”

  * * *

  Gage and a good portion of her other pack mates were standing in a group about a hundred feet from the front porch of the house—or at least where the front porch of the house would have been if it hadn’t burned to a pile of cinders. Rachel and Knox had to pause as they made their way over there to let the people from the medical examiner’s office pass with no less than eight gurneys. Some of the bad guys must have made it outside and fought with Zane and Diego. Hopefully, none of those bodies had been clawed up like the ones inside. That would be difficult to explain.

  Rachel was still thinking about the bodies that would likely never be recovered from the mansion when she and Knox finally joined her pack mates. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn’t notice Brooks had drawn his weapon and was pointing it at Knox.

  Crap.

  Rachel immediately stepped forward to put herself between Knox and her big African American pack mate even as Knox tried to pull her back to safety.

  “What the hell are you doing, Brooks?” Gage growled, moving closer and pulling the big man’s arm down as he turned to look around them. “Put your frigging weapon away before the rest of the cops see.”

  That was all they needed. Half the DPD bearing down on them with guns drawn.

  Brooks didn’t put his department-issued Sig away, regardless of what their alpha wanted. Instead, he held it down at his side, finger away from the trigger. His gaze locked on Knox as he ignored everything else around him, including Gage.

  “He’s a hunter,” Brooks said softly, his eyes glowing gold.

  The silence that followed his announcement was deafening as every single one of her pack mates regarded Knox with expressions ranging from dubious to curious to menacing. Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel saw Diego move to stand beside Knox. Zane took up a position behind them to cover their backs.

  “Are you sure about this, Brooks?” Gage asked, his face unreadable. “Because from where I’m standing, Jennifer and her daughter wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for his help.”

  Brooks didn’t blink or look away from Knox for even a second. “I’m sure. He was at Max and Lana’s wedding reception. I remember him because he was limping from a gunshot wound to the leg. He only got away because Rachel didn’t put a bullet in him when she had the chance.”

  Every eye turned to her. These were her pack mates, her friends, her family. The hurt and condemnation on their faces was almost enough to crush her soul.

  “Is this true, Rachel?” Gage demanded. “Is Knox a hunter, and did you let him get away that night?”

  While her alpha was clearly pissed, there was also disappointment in his voice. If she was being honest, that cut deeper than his anger.

  “Yes, it’s true,” she said softly. “Knox was at the reception that night, and yes, I could have shot him, but I didn’t. I didn’t know why at the time and it wasn’t until recently that I figured it out. Knox is The One for me. I couldn’t have shot him that night no matter what. Fate wouldn’t let somethin
g like that happen.”

  Gage stared at her, shock in his dark eyes. “He can’t be The One for you. He’s a hunter.”

  If any of this mess was funny, Rachel might have laughed at the sight of her big bad boss so baffled. He wasn’t the only one who looked stunned. Her pack mates looked like they’d been hit in the face with a baseball bat.

  “Used to be a hunter,” Rachel corrected. “He had no idea what he was getting into. He never harmed a werewolf and the first time he had a chance to do the right thing, he did, by taking a bullet meant for me at the SWAT compound.” She looked at Brooks. “Knox stepped into the line of fire of one of the other hunters who was about to shoot me. That’s what turned him into one of us.”

  Before anyone could interrupt, she hurried on, telling them how Knox had shown up at her apartment looking for help and how she’d agreed. One thing had led to another, and before she knew it, she’d fallen for him. She thought she’d done a good job of explaining everything, but unfortunately, Gage didn’t care about any of that.

  “I’ve heard enough,” he growled. “Dallas is still home for a lot of werewolves who lost people they cared about to the hunters. There’s no way I’m letting a member of the Pack that’s supposed to be protecting them associate with a hunter, even if you claim he’s reformed—or whatever the hell you think he is. I can’t put him in jail because I don’t have any evidence, but he’s not staying in this town. Not while I’m alpha of this pack.”

  Rachel swallowed hard. Talking wasn’t going to fix this. She could tell Gage what Knox had done to save her life—and her sanity—but he and probably the rest of her pack mates were never going to see past the hunter label Knox carried, no matter what good he’d done.

  “Fine,” she said, reaching out blindly to take Knox’s hand and hold on tight as she fought tears. “You don’t want Knox to stay in Dallas, that’s okay. We’ll leave.”

  Gage looked at her like she’d slapped him. Clearly, he hadn’t expected that. But before she could say anything else, Knox tugged her hand, pulling her around to face him.

  “I appreciate what you’re doing, but I can’t ask you to leave your pack for me,” he said gently. “You told me what they mean to you, what it felt like for you to find them after being on your own for so long. I’d never ask you to give that up.”

  She gazed up at him, realizing now that they probably should have had this conversation that morning they’d made love. But better now than never. Because she sure as hell wasn’t letting him get away. The thought of leaving the Pack—her family—might hurt, but not nearly as much as leaving Knox. The idea was enough to make her feel like she couldn’t breathe.

  “I’m not doing it because you’re asking.” She reached up to caress his hair-roughened jaw, not caring that they had an audience. “I’m doing it because you’re The One for me and I’m The One for you. That means we’re supposed to be together regardless of who or what gets in our way. I love you, so stop talking. We’re leaving. Just the two of us.”

  Knox looked stunned as hell but finally bent his head and kissed her. “As decisions go, this one might be certifiably insane, and while I’ll be the first to admit to having a history of making hair-trigger decisions, I can definitely say that loving you isn’t one of them. In fact, it’s probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

  Tears filling her eyes, she squeezed his hand with a laugh and, without looking at Gage, turned to lead the way past her pack and out of their lives forever when someone stepped in front of them.

  “It won’t be just the two of you,” Diego said. “I mean, what kind of friend would I be if I let you guys walk away because you were dumb enough to fall in love? If you’re moving out of Dallas to start a new pack, I’m going with you. Knox promised to help me find my soul mate, even if it does turn out she’s serving a ten-year prison sentence and is married with a kid who hates my guts.”

  Rachel had absolutely no idea what that last part meant, but right then, she didn’t care. Still holding on to Knox’s hand, she wrapped her free arm around Diego and hugged him, amazed she was so lucky to have him as a friend.

  She headed for the front gate again, this time with Diego in tow, only to pull up when Trey and Zane hurried around to step in front of them. She opened her mouth to tell them to get out of the way when they both announced they were going with them, too.

  “Alyssa won’t care where we live as long as we’re together,” Zane said of his mate as they walked.

  They made it halfway down the driveway when someone else stopped them. This time it was Gage. Something told her he wasn’t going to announce he was joining them, and she braced herself for another argument.

  “If I told you that was all a test to see if you were really serious about Knox, would you believe me?” he asked.

  She didn’t buy that for a second but nodded anyway.

  His mouth edged up. “Good. Then you passed the test. Now, what do you say we go back to the SWAT compound and figure out how we’re going to make this all work?”

  Rachel knew that was as close as she’d ever get to an apology from her alpha, but after giving Knox a questioning look and getting a nod in return, she decided to take what she could get.

  She gave her alpha a smile. “That sounds good.”

  Chapter 18

  “Man, I haven’t played volleyball since high school. I forgot how much fun it is.” Knox flashed her a grin. “I’m guessing this is a regular thing at these cookouts?”

  Rachel nodded with a laugh as she and Knox left the sandy volleyball pit hand in hand to grab something to eat. It had taken a little over a month, but her entire pack had finally come to accept Knox—even Brooks. Acceptance had come a lot faster after Diego had explained about the nachtmahr and she’d told everyone how Knox had figured out how to kill it in the fire. Gage casually asking her to bring him to the monthly cookout was a formal acknowledgment of that fact.

  Their six-person volleyball team, which included Zane, Trey, Khaki, and Xander, had won three straight matches and would have still been playing if it wasn’t for the mouthwatering aroma of food coming from the line of grills near the main building. Diego was in charge of food today and whatever he was cooking smelled heavenly. From all the spices she was picking up, it was probably Mexican, which Rachel loved.

  As they approached the grills, Rachel couldn’t contain the laughter when she realized they were going to have to wait a little bit. Diego was busy serving Tuffie the pit-bull mix and Kat the cat, as well as Leo and Biscuit, two dogs who belonged to other members of the Pack. From the smell, it seemed Diego had given them all unseasoned meat he’d grilled for them. Like always, Kat refused to eat anything off the ground and would only eat her morsels of food off a plate. Rachel had never met a cat so finicky.

  Rachel grabbed two oversized, disposable, plastic plates from the stack on the table beside the grill, handing one to Knox as she looked around for Addy, hoping the girl was eating something. She found Addy sitting with Ben at one of the picnic tables at the very end of the line, the two of them eating burgers by themselves. Rachel didn’t like the way the girl was still isolating herself from everyone else, but at least she had Ben—and she was eating. It wasn’t surprising that Addy was still having problems. She and her mom had almost died that night, but that was only the beginning. A few hours after the fire had finally been put out, her father had been captured at the Laredo border crossing, trying to slip into Mexico. He’d been sitting in jail ever since, awaiting trial for attempted murder, collusion, and money laundering. The endless stories in the local papers had reported that Conrad Lloyd had been in bed with the Marshall crime organization for years…literally. Apparently, his payment for helping to launder Marshall’s money was a steady supply of prostitutes. The headlines had been lurid and impossible to miss. There was no doubt Addy had seen them.

  If there was any bright spot in this mess, it was that
Addy and her mom were closer than ever. With the Marshall trial wrapping up and the man heading to a lifelong stay in prison where he belonged, Jennifer had dropped most of her cases. She and Addy were even taking a two-week vacation to Italy in the summer.

  Diego gave her and Knox a grin when they got to the front of the line and finally reached the grills.

  “What’ll it be?” he asked. “We have carne asada, Mexican barbecue chicken, and pork-and-chorizo burgers. Oh, and shrimp tacos that I made for our resident pescatarian werewolf.”

  If Rachel’s mouth had been watering before, that was nothing compared to now. “Everything sounds so good and smells and looks even better. I’ll take two of everything.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Knox said.

  Plates piled high, she and Knox grabbed a couple bottles of water and joined Trey, Connor, and Ethan. While most of the admin and logistics personnel from DAPS had been cleared of any involvement with Theo and his deal with Conrad, Ethan was the only field operative to make the cut. He and Knox had become good friends over the past month as Knox worked through the process of taking over the nearly bankrupt and heavily discredited company. Rachel wasn’t so sure it was a good idea, but Knox and Ethan seemed to think they could make it work. Knox was currently working through résumés, knowing he needed people with sterling reputations if he was going to rebuild the company. The most interesting part of his proposed hiring strategy was the recruitment of some werewolves to round out the organization. Rachel thought that was a great idea.

  “So, what do you guys make of Mike and Chief Leclair?” Trey asked.

  “I am not even going there,” Connor said firmly as he fed a few pieces of meat to Kat, who’d recently joined them at the table. She seemed to hang around him nearly 24/7. It was like the dang animal was in love with him. “That’s just too weird to think about.”