Pack Rescue
Gwen Campbell
First book of the Western Wolves.
Fina has a life, a family, a future—until a pack of rogue werewolves kills everyone she loves and tries to tie her to their pack permanently.
Fina ends up in Wyoming, in the middle of a huge pack led by a sheriff whose streak of badass goes bone-deep. She needs the safety of a pack to figure her next moves but one whiff tells Cutler that Little Miss Hellfire from back east is his mate, and she’s going to be staying with his pack for good. Unfortunately, there’s the tiny complication of his brother Nath, who recognizes immediately that Fina is his mate as well.
Fina has to navigate pack politics, her own fears and the haunting specter of the rogues who are still after her. Luckily, she has two yummy brothers focused on keeping her safe and fulfilling her every need.
A Romantica® ménage paranormal erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
Pack Rescue
Gwen Campbell
Chapter One
“Yes I heard you, Helen.” Fina juggled her cell phone, keys and shoulder bag. She shut the car door with a quick punch of her backside. “I did ask and no we can’t get the keys early. Why? Because the previous tenants haven’t moved out yet for crying out loud.”
Technically it was still spring but the hot weather had hit with a vengeance a few days ago. Tennessee was like that. Her sleeveless blouse was already sticking to her back and she’d left the air-conditioned comfort of her vehicle only seconds ago. Fina walked faster, hurrying for the gloriously climate-controlled interior of the house she’d lived in for all of her twenty years.
“The good news is the lease is signed and they got my dad’s check for the first month’s rent.” She freed up a finger, punched the lock button on her keyfob and didn’t even pay attention to the ping and quick headlight flash from her compact hybrid SUV. It had been her high school graduation present from her parents. “Honestly, you’d think you’d never had an apartment of your own before.” Fina laughed with delight and anticipation. The girl on the other end of the phone—Helen, her best friend forever—laughed with her.
“We can pick up the keys on the first of the month…yes, I got measurements. Jeez, you and your mother are crazy-insane fixated on curtains.” Fina’s bag slipped off her arm, jarring the phone in her hand. She held on to everything, barely, hoisted the strap of her bag onto her shoulder and hurried across the darkened drive toward the front door of her home.
“I gotta go, Helen,” Fina blurted out. She trotted up the steps and her soft sandals made no noise on the porch. “I just got home and I’m dying here…yes, you’ve told me a zillion times to just get used to the heat and embrace it. I swear if you start spouting that Zen garbage when we move in together to go to college in the fall, I’ll start smacking you around.” The doorknob didn’t turn in Fina’s hand and the porch light hadn’t been turned on, although she was perfectly capable of seeing in the dark. She frowned and fumbled some more with her key ring. Her parents never locked the door, not before ten anyway. They’d gotten sick and tired of having to open it for one of their four adult children every time one of them forgot their key.
“No jury in the land would convict me for smacking you,” Fina added warmly. “I gotta go, Helen,” she repeated. “It’s gonna be great,” she added with an excitement that made her shoulders come up and the back of her neck vibrate.
Fina snapped her cell shut, jammed it into her purse, shoved her key into the lock and turned the doorknob.
“I’m home,” she called out to no one in particular, dropped her keys in her bag, dropped her bag inside the door then pulled the door shut behind her as she toed off her sandals. “You won’t—”
Fina’s head snapped up. The instant she smelled the blood, her canines extended, making her gums stretch and burn. The wolf inside her leaped forward with the surge of adrenaline. Her fangs slipped over her lower lip and that was before she saw a man’s shadow at the far end of the polished hallway. He didn’t move like her father or older brother. She sensed the wolf in him but he didn’t smell like a member of their pack.
The smell of blood freshened as the air-conditioning cycled on, kicking the fan up to a higher speed. The air rushed up at her from a grate in the floor. Fina gagged on the smell. That was her pack’s smell. Her family’s smell. They were the source of the blood. The man stepped out of the living room with the shadows of two others behind him. He was tall, with ragged, pale hair and he was wearing a pair of her father’s pants and nothing else.
The daughter of an Alpha, Fina’s first instinct was to fight, defend her pack. But it was three against one and her common sense won out over her wolf’s instincts and she spun around. The doorknob was turning under her fingers when strong hands grabbed her from behind. He was big and she was small…it was no contest.
He looped an arm around her waist, hoisted her off her feet and carried her across the wooden floor her mother kept polished as if keeping a clean house were a religion. Fina smelled more than saw the random, dry drops of blood on it. She started to change into her wolf form. In her human form she was small and delicately made. As a wolf she was large and powerful—especially for a female. The first thing she consciously changed were her hands. Her claws extended and she raked the man’s naked abdomen, aiming to disembowel. He smashed his free hand into her wrist, deflecting her aim. Fina broke his skin but penetrated no deeper.
Fina grunted and curled into a defensive ball when he stopped long enough to slam her skull into the wall. Pain and colors exploded in her head, obliterating all thought, and her hands returned to human form.
“Submit or die, bitch,” the man carrying her growled. He cradled his wound with one arm and tightened the other until Fina couldn’t breathe. “Time to meet your new Alpha.”
He spun into the living room, slammed her hip into the doorframe as he took the corner then tossed her onto the hardwood floor. Fina yelped as pain rocketed through her back but scrambled to her feet.
The smell of blood was thicker here. A part of her brain shut down, screaming when she recognized her father’s smell and her older brother’s…and saw bits of gore clinging to the white plastered ceiling. The rest of her brain jerked into alertness, despite the pain still rattling it. Werewolves were sitting around her family’s living room, lounging on the furniture and drinking out of glasses from her father’s bar. Seven men, some of them naked, some of them wearing her father’s or her brother’s clothes, ranging from twenty to thirty years of age. If they’d shifted while clothed the change in mass would have shredded whatever clothing they’d been wearing. They grinned at her savagely.
“Well, well…aren’t you a pretty little thing. I could just eat you up.” A tall man stood and walked toward her. The one who’d been carrying her shoved her forward. She turned to him, snarled and drew her arm back. Her claws were extending again and this time she didn’t plan on missing her mark.
“Now, now…” The tall man grabbed Fina’s long auburn hair and yanked her head back. “Mind your manners, little bitch.” He was much stronger than he looked. Rough power pulsed from him and Fina recognized him for what he was—a rogue Alpha. His hand still buried in her hair, he turned her to face him. Fina shuddered when she saw splashes of dried blood on his forehead and chest. “My pack was a little, shall we say, overzealous when we carried out our assault on your pack. Turns out we haven’t found a single breeding female…alive, that is.”
His head shot up and he glared at the other werewolves in the room.
“Still, we have to start somewhere.” He sniffed her and his lips curled back into a smile that terrified Fina. “You’ll do just fine.”
Claws appeared from every direction, shredding Fina’s cotton blouse and jeans. The
rogue Alpha shoved her to the floor and as she fell she changed into her wolf form, biting and clawing. She clamped down on the thigh of one of the rogues, growling with savage delight when her teeth pierced fabric and flesh. She’d missed the artery and she unclamped her jaw, aiming her next bite. Fina never got a chance to sink her teeth in again. The rogue Alpha changed as well. Fina’s legs splayed as the weight of the larger wolf slammed down onto her. Instinct held her still when his jaws fastened onto the back of her neck, over her spine.
The first werewolf, the one who’d grabbed her at the door, stepped in front of her slowly, his movements almost casual. Two thin rivulets of blood had spilled out of the tears to his abdomen but they’d already clotted. Werewolves healed fast. He kneeled down in front of her and dipped his head to one side so she could see his eyes. “Submit or die, bitch,” he repeated conversationally then cuffed the top of her snout. His Alpha growled at him and Fina felt hot, moist breath a second before the Alpha’s vibrating jaw clamped down even harder, driving the points of his canines into her skin.
“Okay, scratch that,” the man corrected himself nervously. “Take it furry or smooth—whatever. Oh and welcome to your new pack.”
He stepped back, chuckling darkly. Fina struggled wildly, her back end jerking up and sideways. She fought for a long time but the rogue Alpha’s grip on her neck didn’t slacken. Her skin tore and her fur hung from her in thin strips. She felt trails of her own blood snake through her coat. Fina fought and fought until she had to stop to breathe. In that instant, his weight shifted and he covered her.
Fina howled in pain and anger as he started humping her fast. The man standing in front of her watched with barbaric intensity, adjusting his erection before pulling off the pants he was wearing. He changed into wolf form and circled them like a shaggy gray specter. One by one the other rogue werewolves changed too and joined him in his predatory, patient march.
Fina woke with a start. The sun hadn’t risen but the room was slightly brighter than nighttime. Two large, naked bodies crowded hers on the hard floor and she grimaced at the cramps in her side and thigh. After she’d fallen asleep her body had returned to human form, which would explain why she hurt so much. She moved and fresh pain shot through her. Her head, arms, neck and between her legs ached so bad she thought she was going to throw up. She laid her head back down, waiting for the nausea to pass. When it did she took two deep, deliberate breaths and forced herself to stand. She stepped over the wiry, sleeping body of the man who’d been sprawled out in front of her and her shaky knees almost brought her crashing down on top of him. Fina held back a yelp of pain, stayed on her feet and made her way toward the front door.
She changed direction, heading for the kitchen instead when a tall, thin body, lying on the rug in front of the sofa, stirred. He was younger than most of the werewolves in the room—maybe twenty-two years old—and he looked up at her sleepily, got up slowly, stretched, scratched his groin and followed her.
Inside the kitchen, Fina turned on the lights and stood in front of the coffee maker, breathing and considering her options. He ambled in behind her and switched off the light with a growl of disapproval.
“Leave it on,” Fina ordered quietly.
“Bossy,” he groused but flicked the switch back up. He walked up behind her, reached around her and squeezed her breast.
“Would he be happy to see you doing that without his permission?” Fina jerked her head in the direction of the living room. It was a long shot. She didn’t know what kind of control the rogue Alpha had over his pack or what liberties he’d let them take with their females. But since she was the only living female within screaming distance, it made sense he’d use mating rights as a form of control over the others.
The werewolf behind her snarled but lifted his hand from her breast. She wanted to shudder and scream. Yanking open a cupboard instead, Fina got down a canister of coffee grounds. It gave her a plausible reason for being in the kitchen at this hour and the smell would confound the others…for a while at least.
When the coffee started to brew, Fina took stock of her physical condition. She was pale and shaky—whether from shock or loss of blood she wasn’t sure. Werewolf healing powers were extraordinary and even now she could feel the massive bruising on her hips, thighs and neck fade in tiny increments. The pain between her legs was pervasive though and she felt torn, raw and caked with spent semen. She watched the male werewolf warily as he ripped a handful of paper towels off her mother’s holder, wet them under the tap then lifted her heavy, tangled hair and pressed the toweling to the back of her neck.
“You won’t get tore up as much if you don’t fight,” he mumbled then yawned lustily as he sponged the dried blood off her skin.
Fina bit back the urge to swing around and tear out his throat. She fought down her wolf, who wanted to kill this interloper—just as he’d likely killed members of her pack—but he’d provided the insight she needed to plan her escape. Mated female werewolves stayed put. They didn’t leave the security of their pack and this man, although he was young, clearly believed she was now part of his pack. They’d probably watched her father’s land, planned their attack and struck before dusk when the eight families that comprised Fina’s pack were sitting down to dinner in their homes. The cooking smells would have helped mask the rogue werewolves. Every house would have had the air-conditioning running, keeping their smell outside. She held herself still and tried not to wince when he wiped her still-jagged wounds too hard. He gentled his touch, moved closer and started rubbing his flaccid penis over the crevice in her rear end. Fina stepped away and got out a coffee mug.
“Want one?” she asked with deliberate, bored annoyance, jiggling the mug in the air.
He growled quietly then threw the paper towels onto the counter. “Nah. I’m going back to sleep. Let me know when you decide to take that pickle out of your ass. Maybe we can do it in our skin instead of our fur,” he added nastily. He slapped her backside then ambled back toward the living room.
Fina exhaled shakily. When the smell of brewing coffee had filled the first floor, she padded down the hall and headed upstairs, stepping over the fifth and eighth steps, which squeaked. She peeked into her bedroom. The smell of blood was thinner up here and she stopped cringing every time she turned a corner. Fina dressed quickly, not bothering to clean herself even though she desperately needed to scrub herself raw in a scalding shower. If she was going to escape, she had to make her move while the rogue werewolves were still asleep. They assumed she’d accepted their claiming, and why shouldn’t they? After their Alpha had mounted her, Fina had been too in shock to fight. She’d either blocked out the memory or simply stopped paying attention after the third wolf. A trumpet of hysterical laughter tore at her throat and Fina clamped her hands over her mouth, stopping it from forming. Wearing lightweight clothes, she headed back downstairs, moving slowly but deliberately. If any of them woke up and saw her, they’d assume she was moving around the house normally.
She kept moving and didn’t freeze or bolt when a shaggy head lifted off the back of a chair and pale eyes watched her as she walked past the living room. They glowed in the near darkness before shutting tiredly. The werewolf’s head drifted back down. Silently, Fina continued down the hallway, picked up her sandals and handbag and opened the front door. She closed it behind her but not enough for the latch to make that unmistakable snick as it caught. Moving deliberately and expecting to be tackled from behind any second, Fina walked to her little SUV, opened the driver’s door, got in and drove away.
Fina didn’t know where she was heading until after she turned in at the sign marking the entrance to Whitesage Nursery. The sun was starting to come up as she pulled into the parking spot marked Reg Whitesage, Owner. For an insane minute, Fina reminded herself her father would give her hell if she stole his spot. Keys in hand, she headed for the side door of the nursery complex…the door marked Office. She scratched her cheeks, annoyed by a sudden itchiness, and realized
there were tears on her face. Fina stopped letting them bother her and simply let them fall as she unlocked the door to her pack’s primary business, turned off the security system and headed for her father’s office.
Her hand was trembling and she shook it, making it obey, before turning the tumbler on his wall safe. The tumbler clicked one last time and the bolts pulled back. Fina turned the handle and her hand went straight for the papers bundled in the back. She checked them with numb deliberation…her father’s will, deeds to the pack’s land, investment statements. There was a tidy stack of twenty and hundred dollar bills and Fina took those too, closed up the safe and left the office. Her next stop was one building over—the refrigeration drawers. The secure drawers holding the company’s trademark stock of rare, exotic and antique fruit and decorative plant seeds were small and unassuming and unless you knew what they were, you’d overlook them completely. She opened up one of the computer terminals nearby, keyed in new access codes and wiped the old ones out. Fina made sure the refrigeration units were locked into a hibernation setting and headed for the exit. She moved to one of the few windows that opened, cranked it and breathed in the outside air. She didn’t scent the rogue wolves. She closed it up again and returned to the main office, rearmed the security system, locked the door and stepped outside.
She breathed in again, as fully as she could this time, letting the humid air pass over her tongue and into her nose. There was blood in the air, lingering traces of it. With the dawn, the wind had died down and Fina detected traces of the slaughter of her pack, overlaid with the scents of other werewolves. She knew who they were because each one of them had left his stench on her body.
Back in her little SUV, Fina bundled up the papers and money, shoved them under the seat and drove away. It was going to be another scorcher and when the wind picked up in a few minutes, it would come out of the southeast. At the next intersection she turned north, heading downwind. The windows were shut and the air-conditioning was on…much of her scent would be contained in the vehicle but she wasn’t going to take any chances.
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