Raber Wolf Pack Box Set

by Ryan Michele

  “Did you tell her I shifted?” I sit up, pulling the sheet over my body. I don’t know why I do it, I just do.

  “No. Xavier talked to Duke and told him what we know so far. Get up and get dressed.” I move off the bed, grabbing my jeans, blue t-shirt, and flip flops, then throwing it all on my body. “Xavier is going to have Mal and Gary go over later and get their security in line.” Relief consumes me. I’ve been so preoccupied with meeting my mate, the new information, and shifting that I hadn’t thought to call them. And in all honesty, I miss them terribly.

  “Great. Ready,” I say, slipping on my flip flop. Thor takes my hand in his and leads me to Xavier’s office. When we enter, Xavier sits behind the desk with Zara by his side, and Max and Kenly are sitting in the chairs next to the desk.

  Xavier lifts his head. “Let’s leave them for a moment,” he states, surprising the shit out of me, but making me respect him even more for giving me some space to talk with my mother. Zara and Kenly give me soft smiles as they all leave the room.

  “It’s on hold, just push the blinking button and lift up the receiver,” Thor says, moving toward the desk. The high-tech office phone sits among piles of paperwork. There are so many damn buttons, I should just tell Thor that I’ll call from my cell, but I suck it up.

  “Hello?” I ask.

  “Sweetheart. How are you?”

  It would take the jaws of life to stop the wide smile stretching across my face. Hearing her voice makes me miss her a hundred times more.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “How are you?” Her tone comes through serious.

  “I’m really good Mom. Well, if you don’t include all the bad stuff going on.” No sense in dwelling on all that. “Thor is wonderful.” I look up at my mate, catching his eye and feeling the heat from it. “I can shift!” I exclaim, barely pulling out of Thor’s pull on me.

  “You can?” she says in a whisper, not quite believing my words either.

  “I can. And I can do it with no effort at all. It’s fantastic, Mom.” I beam, so proud.

  “I’m so happy for you.” She sounds like she’s holding back the tears that want to escape her lips.

  I go on to tell Mom about my power to move things and what happened when the girls and I touched. Thor pushes Xavier’s seat to me halfway between. I shake my head no to him several times because getting comfy in Xavier’s chair doesn’t sit right with me. It feels disrespectful and I want to be anything but that.

  Still, when he leans in and whispers, “If you don’t sit your ass in the chair, I’ll spank it then put you in it,” I shiver. “And Xavier would be pissed that you didn’t sit. He’s not an ass, Sabrea.”

  With that I sit, and continue talking with my mother for quite some time.

  I learn that my sisters are still bitches. Go figure. My mother doesn’t come flat out and say it, but it’s in the way she words her sentences. My sisters can’t believe that I have Thor for a mate. Wait until she tells them about my powers and turning into a wolf. That should knock them on their asses for a while. I shouldn’t feel so superior since everything seems to be imploding on me, but I take just a moment to relish in the thought.

  A knock on the door gets both Thor and my attention, and then Max steps in. “Camp is here.” My stomach twists and falls.

  “Mom, I have to go. I’ll call soon.”

  “I love you.”

  “Love you too, bye.”

  “Meet in the basement,” Max says, giving a nod to Thor.

  We quickly leave the office and Thor leads me downstairs and to a far, back room, opening the door so we can step inside. Camp sits on a steel-legged black chair in the middle of the room. His arms are tied behind his back and his legs tied to the legs of the chair. Zara is at Xavier’s side and Kenly is next to Max. Mal and Gary hover nearby, like armed guards. A smirk plays on his lips as we move to stand beside the others.

  “So the powerful six are here,” Camp taunts, and Thor’s body goes taught.

  I reach up and rub his arm, trying to soothe him, and I see the other females are doing the same thing with their mates. Too bad Mal and Gary have no one for them. Their heads look like they may just explode.

  “Why would you go to the Lobos when they are the ones who killed your family?” Xavier asks, wasting no time at all. The question hangs in the air like a thick cloud. All of us waiting on what will come out of his mouth.

  A snarl comes from his lips. “Bullshit. They told me that you’d try to pull that lie on me. Lobos didn’t kill my family, your father did, Xavier. I saw the pictures of your father tearing my family to shreds. I found them while I was digging. Don’t lie to me,” he yells. “I want you and all of the wolves destroyed.” The anger pulsates off of him in waves. Camp fully believes every word he is saying. He’s coming after the wolves to avenge his family’s death. “I know more about you than you know about yourself,” he quips, struggling against the binds that hold him in place.

  “You have got to be shitting me!” Max snaps, and I jump in Thor’s arms. Why do I keep doing that?

  “You have your facts sadly mistaken. Where did you get your information?” Xavier asks diplomatically like any strong alpha would, but the tic in his jaw and the thump of the vein in his neck tell me he’s holding it together by a thin thread.

  “Everywhere. Police reports, the dusty old books in your library that you hide from humans, the internet, old newspapers,” Camp replies.

  “What else did you find out in your research?” Max asks, studying Camp with an iron eye, not letting his anger get to him.

  Camp laughs. “I know all about your legend and the crystal.” He turns smugly to Xavier. “I also know that the crystal is everything. You must have it, if you don’t, you’ll lose everything exactly like I did.”

  “What?” Zara asks. “We have to have it or we all die?” There was hope there that if we didn’t find the crystal we could still defeat the Lobos.

  “Yep.”

  “How do you know this?” Xavier questions.

  “I’m done talking,” he states, his face tight.

  “You are talking,” Xavier says. “Kenly,” he calls and she steps forward.

  “What’s she gonna do?” Camp growls.

  “What, didn’t get that in your research?” Kenly taunts then catches Camp’s gaze. They stay locked for several seconds. Camp’s eyes glaze over as if he’s in some kind of trance.

  And just like that, he starts to speak, voice monotone. “Lobos knew who the thirteenth generation of the Barren pack were. Donte knew how power-hungry Ty was and roped him in, promising him great power. Ty did a lot of Donte’s dirty work. Lobos watched that pack for any female with special power. As soon as Zara showed it, the Lobo’s beta had a chance to wipe her out but wasn’t able to finish the job because too many people were around. Lobos continued to use Ty, keeping track of Zara, but she was heavily guarded. When Zara found her mate, they went hunting for the other mates to wipe them out.”

  “What about the crystal?” Xavier prods.

  “The crystal will be the only thing that will save you. If you don’t have it, you are all gone. There is no hope,” he replies and despair fills me. The stench of it actually permeates the room.

  “You said you read our books? Were they missing any pages?” Max asks.

  “I tore them out. They said that if I tore the pages out of the originals it would make all the copies disappear as well. Some magic thing,” he responds, eyes still glazed over.

  “Fucking hell!” Max bursts out.

  “What pages did you tear out?” Xavier asks, more calmly than he looks.

  “Seth said they were the ones about the females’ powers, but I didn’t read all of them,” he answers, catatonically.

  Zara sucks in a deep breath.

  “What about the rest, the end?” Xavier asks.

  “There was no ending.”

  “Shit. So we still don’t know what the hell is going to happen.” Xavier runs his fingers throug
h his hair in frustration.

  Zara, trembling, finally speaks up. “Camp, who is Seth?” She reeks of fear and panic, but she holds herself together.

  “Seth is one of my contacts from Lobo.”

  “Shit.” The small tremor in her voice is the only thing that gives away her apprehension of that answer. Why are these names familiar to me? Where have I heard them before?

  I think back to all the discussions about the six and how we came together, but focus on Zara. Then it hits me like a seventeen-ton boulder. Seth was the name of the guy that Zara was with the night her powers kicked in. Oh shit. Zara shakes her head back and forth.

  Zara turns to Xavier. “It’s him, Xavier, from the night when—”

  “Let’s confirm it first,” Xavier cuts in, anger heavy in his voice. “Kenly, can you pull him out of it so we can get him to look at a picture of my father?”

  Kenly steps forward. “I can try.” She stares at Camp until his eyes slowly turn from entranced to clear, and then she steps back. Camp shakes his head, trying to clear it.

  “What did you do to me?” Then he thinks and his eyes widen. “I should have known.”

  Zara turns to Camp. “You have your facts terribly wrong,” Zara says, her voice soft. “There is much you need to know.” It’s probably taking every bit of strength for her to relive her past.

  “Don’t bother trying to trick me. I won’t buy it. Anything that comes out of your mouth is a lie. The sooner you are all taken out then everyone can get back to their lives.”

  I can’t help but the intense sorrow I feel for him. He has everything ass backward. It’s such a pity. I can only imagine the hurt that eats at him from losing his family.

  “Zara,” Xavier says and she snaps out of her inner thoughts, stepping forward as the two males move back. Xavier never moves from just behind her though.

  “Right now, I’m going through your head.”

  His eyes widen. “You shouldn’t be able to do that. They had some witch put a spell on me so that you couldn’t read my mind.”

  “That’s why up until now I couldn’t get a read on you.” Zara nods. “You know those ladies you met when you first arrived? Well, they are witches. We had them erase anything that was on you so we could get answers.”

  Camp scoffs. “Figures.”

  “He was just a puppet to get to Kenly. He wants us all dead.” She turns to Xavier. “Get the picture of your father.” He orders Mal to get it from his office. Zara turns back to Camp, taking a step away from Xavier. “You saw the wolves that killed your family. I can feel your fear from that moment in time. I’m sorry you had to feel that. I know how that is and I wish it on no one.”

  “What in the hell are you babbling about?” Camp sits straighter in the chair, almost like he’s steeling his spine.

  Xavier steps closer and Zara’s hand shoots out to stop him. Their eyes meet, and they’re no doubt talking to one another. Xavier stays tense, but doesn’t move forward. Mal steps in, handing Xavier a framed picture, who gives it to Zara.

  “Think back to that night.” Camp’s brow furrows and before he can make a retort, she shows him the picture. “Was this the male that took the lives of your family?” The picture is in a side-by-side frame. One picture is a very handsome man who looks like Xavier to a T, and the other is a silver wolf with black around his feet, muzzle, and a small patch on his stomach.

  Camp resists for a few moments before looking at the picture, and his eyes contort. “You’re lying. I saw the pictures!” He moves to rise from his chair, still attached to it, but I instantly snap to, mentally picking up his chair and flinging it across the room. He hits the wall with a thud, and somehow, the chair lands on all fours, just now up against the wall.

  “Holy shit,” Xavier says, looking at me with pride in his eyes. Thor moves to me, putting his arm around my shoulder.

  “Guess I got the kinks out,” I joke, even though this is not the time for it, but it’s the first thing that comes to mind. Kenly chuckles and Zara smirks. The males, on the other hand, go on the defensive.

  A slight breeze trails behind me as I rush forward, getting in front of Camp. “We are not the ones lying.” Thor steps up behind me and pulls me back, the males again ascending.

  “Wait!” Kenly interrupts. “Xavier, your father died over seventy-five years ago, right?” Xavier nods. “Then, it couldn’t have happened.” She turns to Camp and he stills. “He died before you were even born. Since you saw the wolf, it’s not possible that Xavier’s father was the one that killed your family.”

  “It can’t be,” Camp groans.

  That’s a damn good catch from Kenly. Aging-wise, a wolf year is the equivalent of about ten human ones. It’s something only the ex-human would notice, since we wolves aren’t very good at judging their ages from the way they look.

  “What else, Zara?” Xavier asks, not looking at her.

  “They’ve only told him what he’s spoken of.” She pauses, and his shoulders visibly deflate. “He knows nothing of the bomb or an attack coming by them on us.” Camp stiffens at the word bomb, but says nothing. He sits there stunned like we just shattered his world, shattered his train of thought. Grief and pain come off of him in waves, and I feel for the man.

  “What do you want to do with him, Xavier?” Max asks, wanting to kick his ass, the vein in his forehead pulsing,

  “Nothing else?” Xavier asks Zara again and she shakes her head. “Fuck,” he grumbles, walking away from Camp and turning his back to him. “We can’t let him go. Marissa said they are going to kill him.” Camp sucks in a deep breath at Xavier’s words. “Get Nana O and Grams down here. We’ll need to bind him to the room for the time being.”

  “I’ll get them.” Kenly takes off, shutting the door behind her.

  “Feed him. Make sure he’s got a bed and stuff to drink. And I don’t know…magazines or something for him to do while he’s here.” Xavier waves his hand and walks out of the room, Zara following. Thor and Max look at each other.

  “Let’s get him bound then go from there,” Thor says.

  “IT’S HIM,” ZARA WHISPERS as we enter Xavier’s office, Thor closing the door. Xavier pulls her into his arms. The heaviness in the room is a kick to the gut. “Seth, he’s back.” She backs out of Xavier’s hold, looking up at him. “He said—or thought—that he was going to kill my old pack.” Guilt floods her face and my heart breaks for her.

  “It appears he’s part of the Lobos. We should have suspected he had a part in this,” Xavier replies, his hand brushing up and down Zara’s back. I snuggle into Thor deeper, needing his closeness.

  “I guess so,” she says, softly.

  “Can you read him, Zara?” Xavier asks and she shakes her head. “Thor, any pictures come up to confirm this?”

  Thor straightens a bit. “Yes. Can I use your computer, Alpha?”

  “By all means,” he says, rising and moving away from his desk. Thor gives me a squeeze then sits at the desk, typing away. As much as I don’t want it to be the same wolves, I do want it to be so we know who exactly we are dealing with.

  “Here,” Thor says, pointing to the screen. All of us step around it and Zara gasps. The wolf on the screen is pretty handsome, his brown eyes specked with gold, and dusty blond hair. He’s smiling in the picture, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. I’m actually surprised that Zara even went for him.

  “Me too,” Zara says, hugging herself, and I instantly feel like a heel. She heard me. Shit.

  “Sorry, I—” She waves her hand, cutting of my words.

  “I’m thinking the same thing myself. No worries,” Zara says. “That’s him. When I found you, it all started.” She looks so sheepish and Xavier pulls her close.

  Then it hits me. “Let’s break this down. Camp was the catalyst that started everything. He went to Donte who knew who the Barren pack was. Donte brought in Zara’s father, Ty, to kill off the wolves while he was really keeping an eye out for the first female to get her powers.”<
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  “And that night with Seth, I got them. I bet by my reactions to him, he knew then, but there were too many people around for him to kill me without being known. Just like Camp said. I went right home and that’s when my father locked me up. There would have been no opportunity for me to get out, or for them to get to me,” Zara adds.

  “And I bet Donte was counting on your father keeping you locked up therefore you wouldn’t meet your mate. Ty would kill off most of the wolves, then when Donte was done with him, he’d take Ty and you out. Then the Lobos would rule. After you met your mate, they had to change their plan,” Kenly finishes.

  “Holy shit, but how did he know I was there at that specific party?” Zara asks as we try to put this puzzle together. “I’d never been to that place before.”

  “If the Lobos had been watching the females in your pack, they could have possibly followed you that night,” Kenly states.

  “True.” She shakes her head in despair. “I can’t believe my father was so low. It does explain why he never looked that hard for Seth when I told him about that night. My father knew all along who he was.”

  “Sorry, babe.” Xavier wraps her up in his arms. “But now we prepare. We know who and we know why. We just need to be ready when it all comes to a head,” Xavier says and I want to crawl in a hole. Shit.

  “What about the crystal?” I ask, begrudgingly. “If we have to have it, is there any hope for us?” My stomach drops, like concrete settling inside of it, hard and heavy.

  “We are going to fight with everything we have. Crystal or no crystal, each one of us will give it our all. We will fight as if we have that gem in our hands, and are feeding of its power, whatever that might be.” Xavier pauses, confidence coming off of him in waves. “Rabers will come out on top.”

  Heavens, I hope he’s right.

  “I’M BEAT.” I COLLAPSE onto the bed, not having the energy to take off my clothes, my flip flops falling from my feet on their own. Thor closes the door and begins to shed his clothes. I make sure to keep my eyes open for that show.