I pressed my lips together. My wolf was at odds with me. My human side loved being so cradled to him. But my wolf, so soon after first scenting our fated mate close by, was fiercely opposed to another male touching us.
I tried to reason with myself.
He was our pack-mate. We had a bond rare in its depth, forged in time of mutual suffering. I ignored my wolf as I leaned closer. His black eyes pulled me in. The scream of the motorcycles was now silent.
A fierce roar tore through the silence from behind us.
My heart went into overdrive. My head swung towards the noise.
Griffin moved faster. In one fluid motion Griffin had me nestled between his shoulder blades. I pressed closer to him. I was breathing hard and couldn’t focus on anything. His back tensed and his muscles started to roll in a way that meant he was holding back a shift.
“Griff…”
Under his breath he told me to be quiet. His head turned to me but he kept his eyes on whoever let out the roar.
“I need you to run home,” Griffin said. He backed us both away. He had an instinct to attack. And I knew it was killing him not to act on it. I kept hold of his shirt, my knuckles brushed against his back.
“Griff,” I said. It was more of a whimper. A new scent wafted towards me. My stomach lurched.
Pine and sandalwood.
Mate.
I started to move from behind Griffin who grabbed my arm. That is when all hell broke loose. One of the bikers stood in front of us. I was drawn to his dangerous yellow eyes. Someone pulled me by my waist from Griffin. Burning, painful sensations ruled my body. I called out to Griffin. His hand reached out to grab me and when he only caught air he turned and started forward. His eyes reflected my pain but he didn’t make it far when Yellow Eyes knocked him over.
My legs kicked out wildly trying to hit my captor. The pain of being ripped away from Griffin was starting to set in my muscles. They cramped painfully. I clawed at the arms banding my waist, but it seemed useless.
In front of me Yellow Eyes and Griff were locked together throwing out punches and getting in any attack they could. The scent of sandalwood and pine faded the further I was pulled. At that point I wasn’t sure who I was fighting to get back to. The farther I got from Griff the more painful the tear in our bond became.
“Shh, it’s alright doll.”
The one holding me pet my hair. A familiar gesture between pack members. I struggled more.
“Calm yourself, doll, your mate will be here soon.”
“Griffin.” I screamed.
Pain wracked through my body. Griffin and I hadn’t been ripped apart in years. The pain wasn’t something one easily forgot. Now it was back. And it hurt more than I even more than I remembered.
We were around a bend, and there was only one other person with the motorcycles. I balled my fists and slammed them against his wrist, hoping the force would loosen his grip. I pushed my weight forward trying to knock him off balance. Griffin couldn’t fight off two wolves while he was being tortured from our torn bond. The more energy I used the weaker I became. The broken pack bond between Griff and I was draining me of any energy I might have fought them with.
My body became too heavy for me to carry. I was slipping into unconsciousness.
“Griff.”
It was my final plea before everything went black.
****
“What the hell is happening to her?”
The voice asked low and coarse. He sounded close and he smelled good. I wanted to move closer. But I hurt everywhere.
“I don’t know.”
Dull pain flared. My body burned worse than fever. I was caught in an electric wind.
“Griff, Keith,” I said.
“Did she say Keith?” a new voice asked.
“Yeah,” Growly voice answered.
“Fuck! That’s the Beta of the Lupen Pack.”
They got quiet.
“Hey,” growly voice was next to my ear, “Is your pack Lupen?”
I just whined in pain. Something touched my cheek dulling the pain slightly. I leaned towards it.
“Hmm.”
Was that my voice? So thin and brittle? And what was that touch? Why did it feel so good?
“Hey, talk to me.”
My head hurt. A stabbing in my temples. I shook my head trying to shake off the pain. Nothing helped. It became so strong that my stomach seized in agony.
“There is something seriously wrong with her, we need to find the Lupen pack,” another voice said. A new voice?
That same bellow from before exploded into the air.
“Chill out, man. They can’t take her from you, she’s yours after all.”
“Someone call Damien and get the Lupen Alpha’s number,” Growly voice demanded.
“Hmm, home,” I mumbled before fading out again.
****
I woke up to stabbing pain in my head. Earlier, I hadn’t meant to cry, but the pain had been a blade in my heart. It was like every muscle was spasming and all my joints were being strained. Ready to burst.
“Don’t cry,”
His voice was less aggressive now, but I knew it was him. His scent wrapped around me like a favorite blanket. “Fuck, I don’t know how I messed this up so much. Help is on its way, I promise you won’t be in pain much longer.”
His lips brushed against my forehead, and a shiver of relief flooded over me. There was a knock. I sensed movement.
“They’re here.”
“Lettie.”
Griffin’s voice soothed my pain a little.
My vision blurred, making everything hazy. It had me wondering who was who. My head swam when I turned toward his voice. I could make several pairs of legs. I could smell them, though. Isaac, Keith, Griff…Home. I untangled my legs and tried to stand. Griffin’s arms went around and instantly I felt my body calm. The broken connection between our souls twisted and melded together. I let out an easy breath as I felt Griff’s hand on my back. We went lax, our bodies refusing to hold us up any longer.
There was a piercing howl that filled the room.
Arms wrapped around my waist. It wasn’t uncomfortable; instead there was a different sort of comfort that came with them. Only it was foreign to me, unlike the bond I knew and understood with Griffin. My moment of hesitation caused me to slip backwards and caused Griff to hold me closer. People started to yell, other arms stopped pulling. Griffin picked me up and started heading out of the room.
“She is mine!” Growly voice roared.
“She needs him right now because of you. You can come to my house, but we are not letting you keep her here,” Isaac said.
I swallowed hard, hiding my face into Griffin enjoying the feeling of pain wash from my body.
“Griffin…” I said. I snuggled closer to him and felt relief. I fell asleep in his arms.
****
“She is my mate. I should be allowed to see her.” Growly voice was back.
At least now I wasn’t in pain, actually I was quite content. I snuggled closer to the pleasant feeling.
“If you go in there you will want to rip them apart and you will only cause Colette and Griffin more pain,” Keith said.
“I can handle it.”
I felt Griffin now. He tightened his arms around me. He buried his nose in my hair and my body relaxed even more. I hadn’t realized that I had tensed when I heard growly voice. If growly voice went away, I might be able to get some more sleep. Then I could forget that he was my fated mate.
I needed time. I wanted some time.
“Keith just let him in,” Griffin said.
My head was resting on Griffin’s pecks, and I felt the rumble of his voice. I turned my head and looked up at Griffin.
“You’re being cruel,” I whispered.
“He started it.”
Griffin didn’t take his eyes off the door and his arms tightened around me.
“Griffin.”
I tried to wiggle out of his grasp. T
he door opened, and I was half on top of Griffin, almost snarling his name. A low rumble came from behind us. My cheeks heated up with my ever going embarrassment. I didn’t mean for my mate to see me like this. I pushed off Griffin but sat close. Our bond was still repairing itself.
Yellow eyes was very handsome, though in the nontraditional sense. He wasn’t a pretty boy by any means. He had hard, unrefined features. A little too big of a nose, but killer lips. He had a day’s worth of scruff on his jaw, and his black hair was roguishly disheveled. His eyes were still a wolf yellow, and my she-wolf perked up at them immediately. She recognized who was staring at her, just outside of our reach. I think his wolf recognized the desire in mine, because something like a promise flashed in his eyes. I swallowed hard, scared of what that promise would come to mean.
“Griffin, please,” I pleaded letting my hand slip from his back. I watched as his entire back slumped as if he knew he had already lost. Of course there was no winning me back in this case. I wasn’t his, and he wasn’t mine. I think this is when it became real for the both of us. Any hope we had of keeping each other died when Yellow Eyes caught my scent and I caught his. He already belonged to my wolf, even if I didn’t know his name.
I started to move around Griffin. He put his hand out for me. His eyes betrayed the stony look on his face. They told of a deeper pain that I knew we were both feeling. He was pleading with me one last time. He wanted me to pick him over this stranger. And I wanted to, so badly. I wanted to reach my hand out and hold his then face this new adversary together. But Yellow Eyes wasn’t an adversary, he was my mate. I bit my lip and shook my head looking away from Griffin.
I didn’t move next to Yellow Eyes because his glare was burning holes into Griffin, but I stood between them. Yellow Eyes reached out and grabbed my arm. Lightening went up my arm. My entire body relaxed. I leaned towards him.
So this was the attraction everyone talked about. I pulled my arm out of his grasp with great effort.
“Hold off, Yellow Eyes.” I said and glared at him.
He finally turned to me but his stance never changed.
“That isn’t my name.”
He rumbled through clenched teeth.
“Don’t care, Growly voice. Just back the hell up.”
Yellow Eyes lifted his lips showing off his shiny canines. I tried not to show the fear that I felt deep down. I knew he would never hurt me, it was against his nature to do so, but to hurt Griffin was not.
Both men stepped back a little. I breathed just a little easier. I ran my hands over my face and into my hair to calm myself.
“Well, we all got off on the wrong foot didn’t we?” I tried to crack a smile, but my face was more likely to crack in half then show a smile.
Realizing that the wolf I was fated to spend the rest of my life with, and the one wolf I trusted more than anyone else in the world were in the same room, I felt dread slip into my veins. And they wanted to kill each other, if looks were any indication. I so wasn’t ready for this.
“Lettie, I think we need to get you some food before we talk about anything else.”
It took me a moment to turn and look at Griffin who was looking at me with his eyebrows furrowed. I wanted to come back with some witty remark, but damn I felt so weak. I shut my eyes for a second, trying to regain some semblance of balance.
“Yeah, we should get food,” I muttered. Any courage I gathered was slipping. The unknown amount of time I spent away from Griff was catching up to me. My head felt light. I patted someone’s chest with my hand. I didn’t have the energy to look up to see who it was. I didn’t even feel like I would make it to the kitchen at this point.
I felt arms go around my back and under my legs and lift me bridal style. I was so afraid my dizziness and nausea would get worse, I kept my eyes tightly squeezed closed. I recognized the scent better than any other though.
I couldn’t stop myself from pressing my nose closer to it, feeling comforted by his proximity. Which honestly made me uncomfortable. I was too familiar with him already. I swallowed and willed myself to look once we started to move. Yellow Eyes stared down at me.
“I’m going to start calling you wolf boy if your eyes never shift back,” I said.
“They never will,” He answered in a very low tone. His words felt heavy, as if there was more to tell. I swayed gently in his caring arms as he walked.
I opened my mouth to question him. The silent command was there, don’t ask. I shut my mouth.
“You can let me down,” I said and tried to pull away from him. He grumbled at my attempts and pulled me closer. I didn’t like that he was forcing me to be unnecessarily close to him.
We arrived at the kitchen, and I grew even more uncomfortable. The others sitting around the table were not my pack, but they had a lingering scent of pine about them. They were of his pack, then. I definitely didn’t want to be in his arms in the presence of wolves I didn’t know. I squirmed until he grunted and set me on my feet.
The wolves around the table stood to help me soon as I was on my feet. I swayed slightly. I didn’t like that at all. That was pack mentality, to help your females without question. Out of reflex. It made me giddy and it make me sick. I already had a place with my mate’s pack, but I wasn’t ready. Griffin and I had been so close for long. I felt sick. I used the counter to steady myself, and avoided looking at the men in the leather jackets.
My stomach felt like it was going to eat itself. I headed into the pantry to get food. I grabbed crackers and started to eat those. I kept inside of the pantry, chewing, and hoped if I stayed inside long enough the wolves outside would go away.
“What the hell are you doing?” Yellow Eyes was blocking the doorway.
I hated how much I appreciated his silhouette against the harsh kitchen light. He was broad shouldered, like most wolves. Muscular. Tall. I tilted my head thinking not so innocent thoughts.
“Disappearing into Narnia, but I have seem to lost my way,” I replied as I ate more crackers.
“Yes, well, you would. Narnia was in a wardrobe.” Griffin called from outside of the room.
I started to push past growly voice.
“Well maybe Alice left some of her cakes in there. And I would become very small, escape unnoticed.”
“Much better choices than the last.” Griffin replied.
“Yes, but can’t give away spoilers, and it looks like this one has never read them.” I said. I moved over to Griffin’s side, not touching him, but standing close enough that I felt more comfortable in a room full of strange wolves.
The three sitting at the table were still standing and were restraining themselves. Yellow Eyes, however, was fixated. He kept his attention on the distance between Griffin and I, jealously.
“Yeah, they don’t look much like readers.”
“Or the understanding of allegories,” I said.
Griffin shifted his gaze between the crew at the table and my mate.
“Get away from my mate.” Yellow Eyes warned.
I didn’t realize that Griffin had moved closer. It was instinct. I sighed and pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. This was going to get old and fast. Apparently I wasn’t so blessed as to have an Omega as a mate. Like all males, they were possessive, but they weren’t nearly as bad as Betas or Alphas. I eyed my mate wondering what he was exactly. He had the dominance of an Alpha or Beta. I could feel his power from where I was sitting. It rivaled Griffin’s.
My eyes shifted to the little gang he had with him. There was one other dark haired wolf, he looked the oldest out of them all. He had brown eyes that looked tired. He looked in his mid-thirties which, I didn’t even want to guess how old he was in wolf years. He watched me closely, as I watched him. He stood up and stuck out his hand for me to shake. I moved forward, taking it in mine. He brought my hand up to his nose and smelled. It wasn’t uncommon for a wolf to do this. In fact I would have been more shocked if he didn’t. When meeting another pack member for the first time they a
lways try to scent the other.
I swallowed hard realizing exactly what this meant. I tried to tamp down my fear not wanting him to catch that offense stink.
“Hello, I’m Jude. These two are Jameson and Billy.” He nodded to the others.
The other two looked almost like twins. They might be. They both had sun-kissed light blonde hair, one had hair cut close to his scalp, and the other’s hair was grown out past his ears. The one with short hair had blue eyes and the one with longer hair had light brown eyes that almost looked golden. Both had strong features, much like growly voice.
“Back off,” Griffin snapped.
I elbowed him discreetly. This was our home, and he had every right to be dominant. It still didn’t help my stress level thinking a fight might break out at any moment.
“Colette.”
I turned to see Nick coming in from the back door. My lips twitched, but exhaustion was wearing me down. When I had woken up it was like adrenaline rushing through me, giving me an extra burst of energy for only a bit. I was glad to see him entering the scene. His presence as an Omega might calm the rising tensions. Though he and Liam usually were always together. And while the thought of more of my pack being in a room overwhelmed by unknown wolves was comforting, Liam had the dominance of a Beta. He would only add to the tension.
But just thinking about him apparently made him appear. I considered moving to give them both hugs. Instead I couldn’t forget that I had my mate in the room. One who was definitely not from our pack. Nick took in the room as well and nodded as if he understood.
Nick moved to the fridge, and was rummaging through there. I was jealous. I wanted to escape this testosterone storm. Liam went to stand with Griffin. Nick squeezed between Griffin and I, handing me water.
Yellow Eyes let out another vicious snarl. Nick put up his hands and took a step back.
“Just trying to help our girl.”
“Not yours,” Growly voice took a deeper, more gravelly tone.
I looked back at him and his eyes were slightly aglow. I realized we were dealing with nearly a full wolf now. I squirmed, trying to get out of his firm hold.
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