by Kimber White
Claimed by the Pack
The Complete Series
By
Kimber White
Copyright © 2015 by Kimber White
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author or publisher, except where permitted by law or for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Book One - The Alpha’s Mark
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Book Two - Sweet Submission
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Book Three- Rising Heat
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Book Four- Pack Wars
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Book Five -Choosing an Alpha
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Epilogue
A Note from Kimber White
Books by Kimber White
Book One
The Alpha’s Mark
Chapter One
In just over ten miles of freeway, it seemed I’d gone from civilization to vast wilderness. This stretch of I-94 East took me through hilly terrain and forest on both sides. The towering pines and thick maples should have put me at ease. I should have enjoyed the sharp, musky scent of the woods and the open sky as dusk settled in. But, this was a foreign land to me, and I was hundreds of miles from the only home I’d ever known, with no plans to ever go back. This wasn’t my place. I was just passing through. Part of me resented the cool, crisp wilderness air traced with a hint of ozone. A storm brewed from the North.
The first dusting of sprinkling rain hit the windshield of my Ford Escape. I fiddled with the instruments to set the wipers. A breeze picked up, and the tops of the tallest trees on either side of the road started to sway. A crack of thunder made me jump in my seat. A jagged streak of lightning speared into the woods far to the east, and a faint puff of smoke curled up above the tree line.
I worked the radio dial, trying to find something local for news of a tornado. I tried to remember, is it safer to stay with your car or find a ditch if you’re caught in one? Rain pelted down in earnest. The storm had come up so fast. A leaf plastered to my windshield and got stuck under the wiper blades. Each swipe left a thick smear across my field of vision, and I adjusted the blade speed, trying to loosen it.
I ducked down, trying to find a spare patch of clear windshield. The rain angled right toward me in thick, heavy drops. If it got much worse, I was going to have to pull over. I did not want to be stuck out here. This wasn’t me. This wasn’t my place. I had no place anymore.
I didn’t know how much further I had to go until I reached Ann Arbor. Four hours? Maybe less, if this storm didn’t hold me up. I just wanted to get there, except I didn’t really want to be there. Two years ago, it would have been my dream. I earned a music scholarship in voice to the University of Michigan. My Dad had been so proud of me. It would make me the first person in our family to graduate from college. I was all set to leave, and Dad got sick.
Though he’d never smoked a day in his life, he contracted an aggressive form of lung cancer. They said it was probably caused by his years as a fireman. He fought hard, and lasted longer than most with his same diagnosis. He hung on for over a year. But then just after Christmas, he finally let go. I’d forgone college to take care of him. It was just the two of us. He had no one else. College could wait. But now, seven months later, I’d lost him, and it was time for me to start my own life. Everyone said so.
Another crack of thunder, and a flash of lightning came even closer. I jumped in my seat again as I struggled to see out of my hopelessly smeared window. A tree limb slammed down in front of me. I swerved to the left to get around it, and almost ended up in a ditch. My heart tripped and my fingers trembled as I gripped the steering wheel. That was a close one.
The leaf dislodged from my windshield, and I could finally see again. I straightened the wheel, and veered the Escape back across the median. I crested the top of a large hill and started to coast back down, letting my foot up off the accelerator.
Two golden eyes seemed to appear out of thin air at the bottom of the hill. I blinked hard, trying to let my brain catch up. A wolf stood in the middle of the road directly in my path. It stood still and calm, with its great brown head slightly cocked to the side and its ears perked straight up, as if it were deciding what to make of me.
Why didn’t it move? I punched the horn, but the wolf didn’t so much as blink its shining, golden eyes. I slammed on the breaks. There was no way I wouldn’t hit the thing. The back of the car fishtailed, and I lost control of it. I tried to wrench the steering wheel hard right.
The wolf stood there. Just before the moment of impact, I swore I saw it dip its head, almost as if it were acknowledging its fate. The world became a sickening crunch of metal on bone and flesh. Blood, mixed with rain, sprayed my windshield as the car careened into the ditch just past the shoulder of the road.
My world was a cloud of white and
the taste of metal as my airbag deployed and blood filled my mouth. I might have blacked out. What had been noise, chaos, and panic became calm and quiet, except for the steady rhythm of the pelting rain.
I don’t know how long I sat there. It was at least a moment or two. Maybe more. I finally reached over and unlatched my seat belt. My right shoulder blossomed in pain. I wiggled my fingers and toes. I pushed the airbag down and pulled down the visor mirror. A small line of blood trickled out of my nose and my lip was split, but I seemed to be more or less whole.
The car door protested with a creak when I pushed it open. The Escape had landed on an angle, resting mostly on the passenger side, so I had to crawl up and out. I had the presence of mind to grab my backpack. I made it two steps up toward the shoulder of the road when my phone buzzed to life.
“911. What is your emergency?” said a female voice.
My fingers shook as I slid the screen open. The car was equipped with 911 Assist. My father had insisted on it. The minute the airbag deployed, the car’s computer sent the call through.
“I’ve crashed,” I said. I wiped the blood and rain out of my face as I pressed the phone to my ear.
“Are you injured, ma’am?” the dispatcher said.
“I don’t think so. I’m a little banged up but I’ve gotten out of the car. I’m not sure where I am, though.”
“We’ll be able to find you,” she said. “But it will go a lot faster if you can help me out.”
I looked around. When the rain started, I hadn’t thought to pay attention to any mile markers.
“I just crossed over into Michigan from South Bend. I think Kalamazoo is the next biggest city. I haven’t seen another car in miles, though. It’s really wooded here.”
“Okay, I think I’ve got you, more or less. We’re sending someone to you,” the dispatcher said. “Can you stay with your vehicle?”
“Yeah,” I said. My head started to throb and I felt a little woozy. Maybe I had hit it harder than I thought. “Yeah. Can you tell them to hurry, though? It’s getting dark out here, and I think there are wolves in the area. I hit one.”
“Wolves? Did you say wolves? Probably not, ma’am. You probably saw a coyote.”
The call started to break up. I climbed out of the ditch and stood on the gravel shoulder. I looked to my left and right. I was completely alone out here, with the woods all around me. Icy fingers of panic started to snake their way through my belly, and I concentrated on breathing.
My phone gave one last dying beep, and the 911 operator was gone for good. It was okay, though. Help was on the way. I’d given them plenty of information to find me.
Mercifully, the rain let up as I stepped up to the road. There had to be a town no more than ten or fifteen miles to the east. Had to be. They ought to be able to get someone out here in fifteen minutes or less.
I became aware of a keening cry to my left. It was the sound of an animal in pain, and probably dying. I don’t know what compelled me to walk toward it, but I did.
She lay on her left side, her shoulders heaving with the effort of breathing. It was a she. Somehow, I knew this even before I got to her. This was ludicrous. Insanity. Never mind it was growing dark as I stood in the middle of an Interstate highway. Never mind this was a wild animal fighting to live. But, I went to her. Something in me pulled me to her, and I crouched in front of her.
She panted from the strain of her last breaths, and she craned her neck backward to get a look at me. I meant to keep a few feet of distance between us, but when her haunting golden eyes met mine, I reached out and laid my hand on the top of her head. Her thick, brown fur was coarse and lush under my fingertips. I smoothed it back, rubbing behind her ears. She laid them flat, her gaze flicking over me, taking me in.
“I’m so sorry,” I heard myself say. “It’s almost over.”
And it was. With each gasping breath this magnificent creature took, life slowly drained away. I could feel it. Her eyes dimmed though she kept them locked on mine. She seemed to need me. My presence calmed her as I smoothed my hand over her head with a slow, soothing rhythm.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You can let go now. No one can hurt you anymore.”
She whined and let out a chuff through her moist, black nose, then curled her lips back, panting. She nuzzled her head against my hand as her eyelids fluttered. She had thick, black lashes. There was something so intelligent about her eyes. She knew who I was. It was like she could understand what I was saying.
“I’ll stay with you,” I said. “It won’t be long now.” Tears welled behind my own eyes and a lump knotted in my throat. “You can rest. It’s all right. You can be finished.” My voice quivered. God, I’d said those same words. I’d held his hand until he took his last breath and his clear eyes went dark.
This great, beautiful wolf’s chest rose and fell for the last time as I held her head in my hands. “Goodbye, great lady,” I said.
She opened her eyes one last time. They narrowed, with what I could swear was understanding. And there was something else as well. As her pulse slowed under my touch and finally ceased, she seemed at peace. She lifted her chin one last time and closed her eyes. Then she died in my arms.
Chapter Two
I don’t know how long I crouched there—a few minutes maybe. I couldn’t leave her. After the wolf died, I tried to pull her toward the side of the road. My own sense of self-preservation had finally started to return. A car could come barreling down on us at any moment. I couldn’t bear to watch her poor body crushed a second time.
I couldn’t move her even an inch, though. She was far too heavy. I gave one last effort, pain exploding in my shoulder as I tried to pull her by her front paws. Two things made me stop short.
First, a plaintive wail seemed to come from all sides. I jerked my head up and looked into the woods. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw a flash of yellow eyes. They were gone almost as soon as they appeared.
Then, headlights flooded the ground in front of me and I rose to my feet. I waved my stiff arms in the air as the siren drowned out any noises from the forest. I wanted to warn the driver off from striking the dead wolf, and to help me. The patrol car crested the hill and came to a stop by the side of the road, just behind my wrecked vehicle.
I hated to leave the wolf lying there in the middle of the road. She was dead, I knew, but I still didn’t want to leave her side. The officer stepped out of his vehicle. It was a white sedan with gold lettering, its red and blue lights nearly blinding me as they flashed, though he’d turned off the wailing siren.
“You okay, ma’am?” The deputy tipped his brown hat, as he looked cautiously across the road. The rain had let up, and now it was nothing more than a slow drizzle.
“I’m okay,” I said. “I’m afraid she’s dead, though. I tried to stop, but I couldn’t.”
The deputy nodded. His face was kind and handsome. I saw a tuft of white-blond hair peeking out under his hat, and even from this distance noted his clear, blue eyes. He was young, maybe in his mid-twenties, just a few years older than me. “I’m going to need you to step over here, though, ma’am. Come back toward the vehicles, if you don’t mind.”
There was something odd about his tone, like he was handling me. I supposed I probably did look a little crazy, just then, as I tried to pull the wolf out of the middle of the road.
“Will you help me?” I asked. I still had a grip on the wolf’s front paws. “We can’t just leave her here.”
“Ma’am.” His voice took a hard edge. “You do need to leave her, okay? Just come on over here, and let’s see about getting you taken care of. We’re gonna have to let the DNR tend to her, all right? I’ll call them just as soon as possible.”
There was something about his voice and posture. He kept one hand on the butt of his service weapon, and his eyes scanned the tree line behind me. Cold fear crept through my spine, and I gently rested the wolf’s paws back on the road and straightened my back. A low rumble filled the rel
ative quiet. It reached my skin and my nerve endings before my ears. A chorus of menacing growls seemed to come from all directions.
My breath seemed to leave my lungs as I stepped away from the wolf and toward the deputy. He’d dropped into a half crouch and unhooked his service weapon from its holster. He motioned toward me with the flick of his hand as he watched the trees. Something had him spooked, and my skin prickled.
“We need to get you out of here,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, but filled with urgency.
“Okay,” I said. I turned back toward the fallen wolf and wished I hadn’t. Golden eyes seemed to float in the darkness behind the trees. One pair, two. Half a dozen.
“Just go ahead and get in the back seat.”
It was a good idea. I didn’t want to step around the patrol car toward the woods for anything. I slipped into the back seat as he got into the front. He didn’t say a word as he slammed the car into gear and turned the wheel hard until we were facing east again, and his tires squealed as he slammed on the accelerator.
“What was that?” I said, afraid to look back.
The deputy straightened in his seat.
“Oh, don’t worry. A storm like that can scare up all kinds of wildlife.” he deflected. Gone was the alarm he’d shown just a few moments before. “You sure you’re not hurt?”
“No,” I said. “I’ve just got a little bit of a split lip where the airbag hit me. And I think I bit my tongue. My shoulder’s sore, but I got off easy.”
I let the rest of my thought kind of hang there. I got off easy. The wolf didn’t. I resisted the urge to look back at her one last time. She was so beautiful. There had been intelligence behind her eyes. Why in the world hadn’t she moved out of the way?
“Well,” the deputy said cheerfully, “let’s go ahead and get you checked out, in any case. My station’s just a few miles out. We can see about calling your insurance company and get you on your way.”
I leaned back in my seat. Now that the excitement seemed to be past, I started to feel drowsy, and that raised alarm bells in my head. Maybe I had hit my head harder than I thought. The deputy took the next exit, and soon we were headed down wooded dirt roads. I was soaked to the bone and started to shiver.