Wolf Bound (The White Wolf Prophecy Book 1)

by Kayleigh King

  “So quick to violence,” he observes as he runs a finger down her cheek. “It’s okay. We’ll be sure to condition that out of you as well.” He doesn’t let go of her as he addresses the group. “I’ve known Avery for quite some time now. Her pack was—allies with mine. They provided me with strong specimens. And I believe you found her when she was trying to deliver one to me. Isn’t that correct?” He looks at Avery for confirmation.

  “They thought the rogue was attacking me, but we were actually just fucking.” Avery shrugs. “I had to think fast on my feet so you wouldn’t kill me, too, so I ripped his throat out. It actually worked out great for me. You guys would do all the heavy lifting of finding the rogues, and I would cover up the scent and make you believe you lost them before passing them over to Nicolai.”

  “That’s how the red wolf got away from us so many times,” Sawyer gasps. “You let him go.”

  “Just as I suspected,” Dad snarls.

  “You made me a little nervous there for a second Elias when we were in the shed. I thought you had figured it out, but you trusted your son’s judgment.” Avery grins at my dad before looking at Sawyer. “And Clay, that was his name, by the way, wasn’t just a rogue wolf, he was my coworker. He was on a job for Nicolai when you caught his scent. He should’ve just left when I gave him the chance, but he was having too much fun toying with you. By the way, I forgive you for killing him.” She winks at me.

  I wish I could move right now because I would really like to sink my claws into her neck.

  “I didn’t realize the Grey you lost was the same Grey Nico was always going on and on about. But when you brought me to your home, and she was miraculously there...” Avery gestures at Pru with an annoyed look on her face. “I put two and two together and gave Nicolai here a call.”

  “I waited a while before coming back to Montana because I wanted you to be able to shift before I came and collected you.” Nicolai runs a finger down Pru’s face, and she tries to move her head out of the way, but her hair is too tightly wound around his hand for her to move. “But like I’ve said, I’ve become pretty impatient with age, and now that we have this all settled, we should be leaving now.”

  Still holding Pru by her hair, Nicolai begins to walk them back toward the waiting helicopter. When Avery makes a move to join them, Nicolai laughs at her. “Now, where exactly do you think you’re going?”

  “Back with you. I figure Ryker could use some time to calm down before he’s ready to be with me,” she says.

  “You’re stupider than I thought,” Nicolai huffs. “You aren’t going anywhere with me. Your services are no longer needed.”

  “But...”

  “Best of luck, Avery.” Nicolai gestures at all of us. “Based on those angry faces, you’re going to need it.”

  Ransom and Ranger lunge forward in unison and seize her. They drag her back to our group and force her to her knees, similar to how I’m being held up by my father and Sawyer.

  Prue keeps her eyes on me as long as she can. I hear her faint voice whisper, “It’s okay,” before she’s forced to turn around and walk forward. As Nicolai pushes her to move faster and she spins around to growl something at him, his fist rears back, and he punches her as hard as he can. Pru falls to the ground, and Nicolai reaches down and hoists her over his shoulder. She hangs limply down his back.

  “Pru!” I yell as loud as I can through the link, but she doesn’t answer.

  I watch, unable to move or fight as Nicolai loads her into the cabin of the helicopter. He salutes us before sliding the door closed behind him, and I feel my soul and heart shatter into a thousand pieces as the helicopter begins to rise off the ground, taking my mate with it.

  This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. If anything it should be me leaving her this time, but instead, it’s her who leaves me again, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to survive it this time because the darkness I’ve been fighting off for months is creeping back inside and with it, an anger I’ve never known.

  “What do we do now?” Ranger asks as we watch the helicopter rise higher and higher. Even though I could answer him though the pack link, I don’t. I don’t have anything to say to anyone right now. I feel betrayed and incredibly pissed, but most of all, I feel the loss of my mate. That empty, hollow feeling in my chest has returned. “Do we follow them?”

  “Of course, we do.” Ransom nods, still holding onto Avery. “We’ll be faster in wolf form.”

  “Pru made us promise we wouldn’t go after her,” Sawyer interjects. “Nicolai will kill anyone if they try.”

  “I don’t give a fuck,” Remington snaps at him. “I saw what Nicolai does to the women he takes, and we need to get Pru the hell away from him.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend the Nicolai day spa to anyone,” Avery says with a chuckle, “it’s more torture than massage.”

  “I’m so sick of your goddamn mouth.” Remington charges toward her. “You’re the reason we’re all in this mess to begin with!”

  “She took what was mine!” Avery screams back. A crazy look flashes in her amber eyes.

  “He was never yours,” Remi snarls before her hand swipes out, and a splatter of hot, sticky blood sprays across my face.

  I hear Avery gurgle a couple of times before she falls to the ground on her chest. Ranger and Ransom both stare down as the grass below her starts to turn red. If I could smile, I would. If Remington hadn’t done it now, I would have the second I could move.

  “Remington Everett Weylyn!” I hear Mom screech. I can’t see Mom, but I know she has her hands over her mouth in shock. It’s what she always does. “What did you do?”

  “I eliminated a threat to the pack.” Her eyes are cold as she looks down at Avery’s still form. “I’m going after that helicopter. At least to see what direction it’s headed in.” She announces as she tears off her clothes.

  “I’ll go with you,” Ransom tells her as he removes his own shirt.

  “Me too.” Ranger steps over Avery’s body and stands next to Remington.

  As I watch my siblings shift, a chorus of cracking bones comes from behind me. The enforcers and other pack members have decided to go with them. I don’t know how long this paralytic will last, but the second I’m able, I’m going to try to find my mate.

  And I will kill anyone who tries to stop me.

  34

  Pruitt

  I remember regaining consciousness on the helicopter, but the second Nicolai saw my eyes open, he stuck me with a needle and injected me with something that made the world go dark again.

  This time, when I wake up, I’m lying on a metal table, staring up at bright fluorescent lights. The room is cold and sterile. The walls are white with nothing on them, not even a window. I wish there was a window I could look out so could tell what time it is.

  I blink rapidity to fight the leftover fogginess of the sedative Nicolai gave me. I pull my hands up so I can touch the sore spot on my face where his fist made contact, but I find my hands are chained to the table, and when I shift my feet, I discover they’re also chained down. With all my strength, I fight against the restraints. I kick and pull against the chains, but it’s no use, they won’t budge.

  I throw my head back and shout in frustration. I knew whatever Nicolai had planned for me wasn’t going to be fun, but I chose to go to him anyway. I take a breath, close my eyes, and remind myself that as long as I’m suffering, the pack and Ryker aren’t.

  “That was a good effort,” a voice I don’t recognize comes from behind me. I jerk my head to look at the man who has suddenly appeared. The smell of smoke fills the room. Not the scent of a cigarette or bonfire, no, this odor is different, not easily identifiable, just the smell of something burning that disappears as quickly as it appeared. “However, those chains are charmed with magic,” he says. “And there’s no getting out of them.”

  The tall, lanky man walks to the side of the table where I’m able to see him better. He has a dark olive complexion that i
s shockingly perfect. His hair is black, not just a really dark brown, but black, and it shorn short on the sides. The style reminds me of Ryker’s, but this man’s hair is much longer on top and pushed back. Some longer tendrils fall forward onto his forehead and around his face. He’s actually very striking. His face is all sharp angles, with chiseled cheekbones and a defined jawline, although it’s not his face that captures my attention. It’s his eyes. They’re violet.

  “Who are you?” I ask, then, “What are you?”

  The man smiles down at me with perfectly straight and white teeth. “Are we allowed to go around asking people what they are? Seems a bit… intrusive, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, well, I’m tied to a table. All my manners went out the window the second Nicolai punched me in the face.” I sneer.

  “Well, you can hardly tell where he punched you.” The man examines my face. “You’re a fast healer. Which is good. You’re going to need that little skill with what his plans are for you.”

  “What are his plans for me?” I narrow my eyes at the man.

  “For starters, he needs to force the shift onto you.”

  “Well, jokes on him. I can’t shift. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

  The man’s eyes flash with an emotion I can only pinpoint as pity before he sighs. “He’s going to torture you, and he will keep torturing you until your wolf makes her grand entrance.”

  I figured it would be something like that. Since my wolf has a tendency to break through in highly stressful or highly emotional moments, what better way to force her out then by hurting or torturing me?

  “You never answered my question.” I stare up at him. “Who are you? What are you? And I also want to know why you’re here?”

  “My name is Jax. I’m a demon, and I’ve been asked to help torture you.”

  35

  Ryker

  They ended up losing the helicopter almost immediately, which wasn’t surprising. But they did see it headed east. It’s a start, but not enough to know where Nicolai is holding Pruitt.

  It’s been ten hours since I watched Nicolai drag her away from me, and every hour that she’s gone, my anger and the darkness surrounding my heart grows.

  I took that anger out on my room. I tore everything off the walls and threw it all either back at the walls or sent it smashing into the floor. I even shattered my bedroom window, and the curtains that are partially ripped off the walls wave in the breeze coming in from outside.

  I stand in the ruins, leaning against my dresser, staring at myself in the cracked mirror that hangs crookedly above it. The person who I thought died when I found Pruitt, stares back at me. He looks a lot like me, but his blue eyes are empty. There’s no light or happiness there anymore. My hair is standing up on my head in every direction from where I kept reaching up and grabbing it in frustration, and Pru’s words float into my mind.

  “I love your hair.”

  I hear it over and over again as I storm into my bathroom and pull the clippers out of the drawer. I hear it still as I bring the clippers up to my head and run them through my hair. Flashes of that night we spent together at the house come to my mind. Images of her reaching up and tangling her fingers in my hair appear as the locks fall into the sink below.

  “Don’t ever cut it.”

  I had promised her I wouldn’t cut it, but she’s not here to stop me. She’s not here to make sure I hold up my promise. She’s not here to keep the darkness at bay. She’s not here to make me smile or laugh. She’s just not here.

  “Fuck!” I slam my fist into the bathroom mirror, and it shatters into pieces. My head drops, and I breathe heavily, standing in the mess of glass and cut hair.

  There’s a soft knock at the door, and I find Remington standing there. If she’s shocked at the state of my room and what I’ve done to myself, she doesn’t say. Instead, she holds up a flash drive in her hand.

  “She gave this to me,” Remi explains. “I promised her I would make you watch it.”

  “Watch what?” I growl.

  “I don’t know. Let’s go find out.”

  Remington drags me downstairs and forces me to sit down in the living room with the rest of the family. I refuse to look at my father or at Sawyer, who has also joined us as Remi plugs the flash drive into the television so we can all watch what Pru has left us.

  “Hey, guys.” Her beautiful face appears on the screen, and my stomach sinks. “I know you are all really confused and upset with us—with me, but I want you to know I didn’t make this decision lightly or easily. I want nothing more than to be sitting there with you all right now, but I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to Remington or to the pack.”

  I remove my eyes from the screen for a second and look at my sister. I wonder how she feels about all of this. I haven’t been able to get a good read on her emotions since she killed Avery in the clearing.

  Pru’s voice draws my attention back to the television. “Fourteen years ago, my parents left to protect you guys from Nicolai, and now I’m doing the same. Please don’t be upset with Sawyer and Elias, they only did what I asked of them. They helped me because they love you, Ryker.”

  I slide my eyes over to Sawyer and find him sitting with his head down, staring at his folded hands. What Pru says makes sense, but it doesn’t soothe the pain of betrayal.

  “I knew Nicolai would never leave us alone,” she says, “and would only bring death and destruction to the pack, and I couldn’t allow that to happen. Please try not to worry about me too much—I’ll be okay. I’ll find a way to be okay.

  “I spent fourteen years feeling like I was missing something, something really important. I always figured it was my parents, but it turns out I had another family out there that was missing me—and a mate who was mourning me. These last months with you guys have been some of the best in my life. Thank you just doesn’t quite seem like enough, but thank you anyway.”

  Even though she’s smiling, I can see the pain in her eyes as she talks to the camera. “Thank you, Remi, for being the sister I never had and for being the friend I always wanted. Don’t blame yourself for this either. I don’t blame you, and I know you’d do the same for me.

  “Ransom and Ranger, thank you for making me laugh harder than I ever have before. Take care of each other, okay? And Sawyer, thank you for helping me today, even though it meant betraying your best friend. I know one day he will forgive you, forgive us. Give him some time and take care of him for me.

  “Elias and Margot, thank you for welcoming me into your family with such open arms, even though it was only for a short time. Your love and acceptance mean the world to me. Thank you for taking care of my parents’ pack since they no longer could. I’m sure my father is proud of the alphas you’ve become. But most of all, thank you for raising the man I love.”

  I don’t have to look around the room to know everyone is looking at me now. I can feel their gazes on me. I hear my mom sniffling, and I’m sure she’s wiping away tears, and I should probably do the same, but I let my strong façade crack, allowing the tears building in my eyes to fall.

  “Ryker, I know you’re angry and making plans on how to get me back. I know you would burn down the world to find me, but I need you to promise you won’t.

  “I made a deal with Nicolai that if I turned myself over, he would leave you and your family alone. He won’t hesitate to retaliate if you go after him or his people. If you do that, then what I’ve done today will be for nothing.

  “Please don’t let this heartache be for nothing. It will be hard, but I need you to stay away, promise me, Ryker. I know you feel like you’ve lost everything because the idea of leaving you is killing me too. But remember you’re not alone, even though you feel like it right now, you’re not. Your amazing family is right there next to you. Lean on them now, don’t run away like you did before. We aren’t meant to be alone, Ryker. You’re always telling me we’re pack animals, and we need each other. Remember that, baby.

 
“Okay, I can hear you coming up the stairs. I love you all and wish the best for you guys.”

  The screen goes black, but I continue to stare at it. I know she thought leaving me this video would make me feel better, but it doesn’t. If anything, it’s only fueled my need and drive to get her back.

  “She loves you so much,” Mom sniffs. “I wish she were here with us too, Ryker, but what she did was so brave.”

  “She would still be here if they hadn’t helped her,” I snarl as I get to my feet. I finally look at my father who looks exhausted, and Sawyer whose eyes are bloodshot.

  “Ryker…” Sawyer takes hold of my shoulder when I leave. “Can we please talk about this. We didn’t—”

  He doesn’t get to finish what he’s saying because my fist slams into his jaw. The force behind my blow sends him flying back. He falls to the ground and skids across the wood floors. I stalk toward him, fully indenting to continue my assault, but two sets of arms wrap around me, pulling me away.

  “Get off of me!” I howl at my brothers who are struggling to keep me in place.

  “He was trying to save your life!” Ranger growls.

  “This isn’t going to bring her back!” Ransom adds.

  “She shouldn’t be gone!” I roar and lunge once more at Sawyer. His dark green eyes are wide with fear as he stares up at me. “And as long as she is and not safe in my arms, you’re both dead to me!” I look between Sawyer and my father as I speak. When I stop struggling against my brothers’ grasps, they loosen their hold some, and I’m able to shove their hands away.

  “Ryker!” Mom gasps, appalled I would say something like that, but I mean every word of it. I give them all one last look before turning my back on them.

  I stalk out of the room, ignoring my mother’s calls as she yells after me. I storm out the back door and down the patio steps, not knowing where I’m going, but I don’t stop. I move across the yard and disappear into the woods surrounding the house. I need a minute to collect myself, and I can’t do that when I’m in that house, so I walk toward another one—toward the one I bought for us.