Wolf Bound (The White Wolf Prophecy Book 1)

by Kayleigh King

  “Addison has been trying to call me. I had my phone on silent for the party, I didn’t hear her calls.”

  “Who’s Addison?” Avery asks as she stands from her spot on the floor.

  “Pru’s aunt,” Remington tells Avery as she places the phone to her ear and waits for an answer. “Addison! What’s going on? My phone was on silent, and I didn’t hear—” Remi pauses, listening to something the woman is saying. “What do you mean she ran after a wolf? What the hell does that mean?”

  All the heads in the room snap up at the mention of a wolf. I feel a bead of sweat roll down my back as bad thoughts fill my mind, many involving the rogue wolf I’ve been tracking. I knew that fucker was close to the territory; I don’t know how close.

  “Wait, I’m putting you on speaker,” Remington tells the woman whose voice is now so shrill we can all hear it. “Addison, you’re on speaker. My parents are here, and so are my brothers.”

  “Pru has been obsessing over this wolf since we moved here,” the woman begins, speaking quickly. “She’s told me she’s had the same dream every night about it since we moved here. Over the last couple of months, every time she hears or God forbid sees something resembling the wolf in her dreams, she goes after it. Just last week, she ran after a poor coyote one night when we were on a walk. And on her way home from your place tonight, we were talking on the phone, and she almost ran over a red wolf, or what she thinks is a wolf. But she ran into the woods after a wild animal, alone, and I can’t reach her.”

  Listening to the woman’s words, the blood drains from my body and I break into a cold sweat.

  A red wolf.

  I run my hand roughly over my face, a hundred scenarios going through my head. I turn and look at my father. “I haven’t had time to tell you why I’m here,” I begin, the room falling silent as everyone listens to what I have to say. “Sawyer, Avery, and I have been tracking a rogue wolf the past couple of weeks who’s been growing more and more violent every day. I strongly believe he’s in our territory.”

  I can’t help but look out the window and at the setting sun. “The wolf we’ve been tracking is a red wolf, and if there’s even a slight chance she’s in the woods alone with that fucker, we need to go now!”

  “Ryker, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” my father demands, jumping to his feet. “Don’t you think that information could have been a vital thing for me to know? I could have had pack enforcers out patrolling the territory?” My father is visibly upset with me, and reaching into his pocket, he begins sending texts to the enforcers who are on duty. Pack enforcers are the protectors of the pack, and in the pack hierarchy, they fall below the beta.

  “Wait! Ryker?” The woman’s voice coming from the phone goes up another octave. “Ryker Weylyn?”

  “Yes, my brother Ryker is here. Why?” Remi questions the aunt.

  “Crap!” the voice curses, and there’s a slight pause before I hear her speak again. “I thought I had more time to explain everything to Pru. She isn’t ready,” the woman whispers, her voice full of concern.

  Having enough of being in the dark, my father snatches the phone from Remi’s hand and speaks to the woman. “What are you talking about? I want real answers, Addison. I’m growing tired of not having all the facts.”

  The woman doesn’t speak for a second, but when she does, it leaves all our mouths gaping and my heart feeling like it’s going to burst. “I’ll explain everything to you soon, Alpha,” she says calmly like she had used the term before. Dad’s eyebrows shoot up in shock while everyone in the room gives each other questioning looks.

  “But first,” Addison adds, “I need you to go find Grey. Yes, Grey Thorne is alive, but if what Ryker says is true, and she’s out there with a rogue wolf, she might not be for long.”

  With that, my wolf bursts through my skin so fast, I barely have time to prepare myself for the shift.

  5

  Pruitt

  I will be the first one to admit running after a wild animal when the sun is setting, was not a good idea. I’ll also admit leaving my phone and flashlight in the car was a bad idea. I’ll even admit not marking a path to remind myself what direction I came from was an epically bad idea. Because I am so lost.

  After having my episode back at the Weylyns’ house, I decided it was best I leave in case the week-old leftover Chinese food I ate last night wasn’t the reason I puked my brains out. After leaving the Weylyns’, I took the long way home. Instead of taking the better lit main roads, I decided I’d take the less traveled back roads. Again, I’ll admit I am not making the best decisions tonight. But riding with the windows down and feeling the summer breeze on my face had a calming effect, and I wanted it to last. Which is why I chose a route I wasn’t quite as familiar with.

  I had called Addison to tell her how weird it was I got sick. I don’t get sick often, and I never throw up. I was about to tell her about Ryker being there when out of the dark shadows of the treeline, a red wolf sprinted across the road. I had to swerve to miss him. And using my wonderful and smart decision-making skills, I decided to abandon my Jeep and run after the wolf. Fully aware the red wolf isn’t even close to looking like my wolf. But I’m desperate to find him—I didn’t care.

  I lost track of the red wolf almost immediately and have now spent the last twenty minutes running aimlessly through the woods. The farther I go, the darker it gets, the moonlight above barely cutting through the thick greenery. And unlike in the dream in which I know where I’m going and don’t fear the dark, I have no idea where I am, and I am most definitely feeling afraid.

  “You’re a fucking idiot Pruitt Bailey,” I mumble to myself as I duck under another long hanging tree branch. I’m lucky I saw this one because I ran into the last one and I’m absolutely sure I have a cut on my cheek now. “Who’s going to be able to find your ass out here? Well, knowing Addison, she probably already called the cops, but how long do I have to be missing for them to even consider looking for me? Twenty-four hours? Forty-eight? Well shit. By then, I’m going to be squirrel food.”

  The horrible image of my face being eaten by the bushy tail rodents pops into my head, and I shudder. “Yikes, that is not the way you want to go out, Pru.”

  I kick at the brush under my feet in frustration. I don’t know what it is about the black wolf from my dream that has me so caught up. I spend all my free time in my little art studio Addison built for me in the barn recreating the wolf’s face. The entire hayloft-turned-art-studio is littered with portraits of him. Golden eyes stare at me from every surface. Remi always asks why she can’t go up there, and I always lie and say it’s where Addison keeps her new top-secret clothing designs. But truthfully, I don’t want to explain to someone I’m not crazy and this wolf appeared to me for a reason.

  But I am going crazy. I followed a wild predator into the woods and chased after it. No sane person would ever do something so stupid.

  I think back to when I saw the golden glow around Ryker Weylyn. It was the same shimmering aura that surrounds the wolf in my dream. I’m hoping it was just a trick of the setting sun that made the effect. Otherwise, my crazy dreams are actually starting to come true, and that scares the crap out of me. Chasing after wolves in unfamiliar woods is one thing, but a golden aura surrounding my best friend’s brother is another. I will absolutely need therapy if I see it again around Ryker.

  That is, if I ever get out of these godforsaken woods.

  I pass a tree that looks familiar, and then I laugh at myself for thinking a tree would look familiar. “They all look the exact same,” I grumble to myself.

  I yelp when the tip of my boot gets stuck under a rock and causes me to fall to my hands and knees. I hang my head and let out a long breath. “You get lost in parking lots, and you thought you were going to be able to find your way out of these woods?” I question aloud.

  I’m just about to pull myself up when the hairs on my neck rise, and I realize I’m not alone. In the dream, I’m never afraid because I kn
ow the wolf I’m there with will never hurt me, but something twists in my gut, telling me the thing that is out here with me now is malicious and hateful. I can’t see it, but I know it is somewhere in front of me.

  I slowly rise back to my feet, carefully brushing my hands off on my jeans. The stinging on my palms most likely means I broke the skin there, but it’s so dark where I’m standing right now I can’t even see my hand in front of my face. Great, hopefully, this thing isn’t like a shark and drawn to blood, because I feel a slight wetness building on my right palm.

  All the shows about animals I watched growing up fill my head as I’m trying to remember if I should make myself seem large or if I should make myself seem small. But my fight or flight response is kicking in and screaming at me to run.

  What direction do I go?

  Go right, the voice in my head suggests. I don’t know what’s in that direction, but it has to be better than the beast in the shadows that has starting snarling at me.

  With one more look toward the dark shape in front of me, I take off as fast as I can to the right, my feet pound into the soft forest floor, but I know there’s no way I can outrun the thing behind me.

  My leg muscles are on fire, and my lungs burn, but I push myself to run faster and to not look back. I try not to pay attention to the heavy breathing and snarling right behind me, and instead, try to listen to my gut telling me I have to make it a little bit farther, and I’ll be okay.

  I recall Esme’s tarot card did tell me to listen to my inner voice, so that’s what I’m doing. There has to be a reason I was told to run this way, but I can only hope whatever it is I’m racing toward is close because I’m quickly losing steam.

  I hear the animal gaining on me, and I abruptly take a sharp turn at a large pine tree, hoping it will buy me some time to gain ground between us. It only helps for a second because I feel the hot breath from the animal on my neck again.

  “Shit!” I shout as I come to a halting stop, narrowly missing running straight into a large rock formation. I spin to my right and then my left and let out a sob when I suddenly realize I have no way out.

  I slowly turn and face the large animal that has stopped at the entrance of the large boulders. I’m not completely shocked to find the red wolf from the road staring back at me. I am, however, shocked at its size, it’s large head comes up to my chest, and its paws are larger than my own human feet.

  It doesn’t make any move toward me, it stands there staring with his mouth foaming at the corners. I notice the animal’s coat is patchy and sparse in some areas. Its legs are thin, and I can see ribs sticking out at the sides.

  Great, I’m going to be dinner.

  I can’t help but feel bad for the animal. It’s probably starving. That, of course, does not mean I want to be its meal, but I’ve read about how wolves are being forced out of their territory due to humans expanding into their woods and lands.

  When I thought about coming face to face with a wolf, this is not what I had in mind. I wasn’t supposed to be as afraid as I am right now. I wish I were looking into glowing golden eyes instead of the pitch-black ones I see now.

  I quickly look around for another way out, even though I know there isn’t one. But as I scan the small boulder-filled space, I see a large broken tree branch. Moving as fast as I can, I dart for the piece of wood, and my fingers barely brush against the hard material before the wolf lets out a deep snarl, and I’m being flung against the rock wall.

  The pain is immediate, it feels like I was hit by a freight train at full speed. My spine is the first to make impact, and the back of my skull quickly follows. The horrific sound my head makes when it connects with the rock echoes against the surrounding boulders and trees.

  I know immediately this isn’t good. My vision is starting to blur, and I start to feel like I’m underwater. I already know I’m not going to be able to stay conscious for much longer. Reaching behind my head, I touch the tender spot on my scalp and brush against the open gash. With shaking hands, I pull my fingers back to look and see dark blood covering them. My stomach lurches at the sight, but I hold it together.

  Groaning, I slowly roll from my side to my back. I can still see the wolf pacing beside me, his dark gaze never leaving my bloodied body for long. Keeping him in my peripheral vision, and thankful he isn’t attacking again—just yet, at least—I stare up at the sky. I can’t see any stars tonight, which is something I have enjoyed seeing since I’ve moved here. In San Francisco, the city lights always hid the stars. I blink away hot tears as they stream down my face. I don’t want to die here, but I can’t move. My head is fuzzy and disoriented I can’t get my legs or arms to cooperate.

  As if this couldn’t have gotten any worse, I feel a large raindrop bounce against my forehead and a steady stream of rain begins to come down, and lightning shoots across the sky. I almost smile when I remember Addison said there was a storm headed in our direction. She always has to be right.

  The wolf shakes out his coat as the rain quickly soaks through it. I hear him huff in irritation as if a wild animal like himself could be put out because of some rain.

  I blink slowly, trying to get my eyes to focus, but the inky blackness at the sides of my vision continues to grow.

  Using the last bit of fight I have left, I lift my head in desperation, trying to get myself to move. But a heavy paw appears on my chest, and the weight crushes me. I can’t get a full breath now, and I feel the pull of unconsciousness starting to win.

  At least I won’t be awake as the wolf rips me to shreds.

  I hear a low growl coming from behind the red wolf, and I glance over his shoulder in time to see a smaller light-silver wolf jump down into the small rocky area. The red wolf immediately takes a few steps back, removing its large paw from my chest.

  The silver wolf positions its self over me and lowers its head, snapping it’s sharp teeth when the red wolf comes to close. The red wolf is about to lunge at us when another wolf, larger than the two already facing off, jumps in between them. The hair is raised on its back, and I only see a flash of teeth before this new wolf strikes at the red one.

  It’s difficult to keep my eyes open, and everything seems to be happening in flashes of time, almost as if I’m watching a slide show. One minute I see the two wolves fighting each other, and a second later, they’re gone.

  I feel a cold nose pressing on my cheek and neck, and I whimper in pain when a paw steps on my injured hand. Unlike the red wolf, I don’t fear this smaller silver wolf. Nor was I afraid of the dark gray one that protected us. Something tells me these are good wolves.

  I hear growling and other guttural noises coming from outside the rock structure, but I can’t get my eyes to open right now. They’re heavy, and my head is pounding with pain.

  No longer able to keep my head straight, it flops to the side on its own, my cheek hitting soft dirt. I feel the wolf above me yip and bark at something, moving from its position above me. I hadn’t realized how much of the rain the wolf had been blocking, and my body breaks out in chills when the raindrops hit my bare arms and face.

  One second I’m lying in the dirt freezing, and the next, I’m being scooped up and held against a warm body. I want to snuggle into the heat and safety, but my body has finally had enough, and I allow the darkness to take over.

  A strong tattooed chest is the last thing I see before I close my eyes.

  6

  Ryker

  I don’t have time to rejoice in the fact my mate is alive because every fiber in my being is screaming at me she’s in danger right now. I know my dad is upset with me for not telling him about the threat sooner, but there’s no way he’s madder at me than I am at myself.

  I throw my head back in a howl of frustration as I continue to sprint through the woods. Remi had told me the direction to head in before I left. Our group had split into two teams. My siblings took my truck and are taking the shorter way to Grey’s house while Avery and Sawyer shifted with me, and we’re takin
g the longer route. We figured someone would come across her car, and then we would know where to look for her.

  Avery and Sawyer howl in response to mine as they struggle to keep pace with me. I don’t have time to slow down for them. My mate is in trouble, and I have to get to her. The scenes in which we had found the red wolf’s last victims flash in my head, and I try to not think about finding Grey in that beaten and violated position.

  The last girl we found almost had her throat ripped out. The local pack doctors were able to save her life, although not her voice. Not only is the girl’s body forever scarred, but she will never be able to speak again.

  I feel someone nipping at me from my left flank, and I turn to look at the sandy-colored wolf running along my side. Sawyer.

  “I see the Jeep. She couldn’t have gotten far from here,” he tells me through the pack link. Every pack is able to speak to each other through an internal link, and it only works if you’re part of the pack. Therefore we can’t communicate with Avery this way.

  I look forward and see a black Jeep pulled off to the side of the road, the driver’s side door still flung open. I want to growl in irritation that Grey would be so reckless, but now is not the time.

  I breathe in the air, and the red wolf’s scent assaults my senses. Mixed with the vile scent of the rogue is the light scent of vanilla—she’s close.

  I nudge Avery with my head and direct her toward the right. We take off in that direction, the only sound I hear our paws pounding into the earth and our three heartbeats. The small animals that live in these woods sense predators are near and have quieted.

  We run for a few hundred yards before Avery skids to a stop at a large tree with a low hanging branch. She leans up and sniffs. She motions to the right with her chocolate-colored head and takes off in that direction. My stomach tightens when I smell a slight hint of blood on the branch as we pass.