“Pack mate.” Hunter rolled the word around in his mouth, tasting it as if he’d never considered the notion before. “Is that why you followed a weak halfie woman into outpack territory? Not because you’re looking forward to wresting away her position and becoming an alpha in your own right? Not because you want to claim three beautiful women as your own?”
Glen’s strangled growl was the uber-alpha’s only reply, and I thought for a moment that we were going to have to stop the car so I could place my body between the two males in an effort to prevent bloodshed.
But, instead, I saw Hunter pat the other shifter on the shoulder in an almost-apologetic expression of cordiality. “No, I guess not,” my stalker continued. “Well, then I’ll answer your question since you’re Fen’s pack mate.” The subtle emphasis on the word “pack” wasn’t lost on any of us.
Then Hunter’s warm, deep voice embraced me out of the darkness. “I never have seen the point of a pack,” he mused, his voice becoming quieter but not so much so that I couldn’t catch every word. “But,” he finished, “Fen is my mate.”
Chapter 5
GINGER GROWLED LOUDLY enough for Hunter to hear her at the other end of the car, and then my inner wolf awoke with a vengeance. Usually, I had no trouble squashing my lax lupine half, but I was so exhausted from the preceding drama—and from the fact that it was close to three in the morning—that my control over the animal must have slipped.
She, on the other hand, seemed to be rejuvenated after swimming through the murky sea of my subconscious mind for the past few hours. Plus, the wolf was apparently a big fan of the uber-alpha in the car’s far-back. I barely prevented her from pushing fur out of our skin then leaping over the intervening seats to reach him. And when I pushed my animal half back down inside me, I was pretty sure she didn’t entirely fall back asleep this time around. Time to get off the road.
“Take this exit,” I ground out between clenched teeth just as the skies erupted into a sudden downpour. I’d been planning to push on for at least another hour, but traffic signs were barely visible now between frantic windshield-wiper strokes, so it looked like now was the time to stop after all.
I flipped on the dome light for a split second to peer at a shifter-specific paper map—you won’t find information like that on google. I was pretty sure we were just barely encroaching on the territory of the mild-mannered Franklin clan, which meant we’d likely be safe for one evening at least. The werewolves in question probably wouldn’t even notice our trespass, or if they did would forgive us once Ginger batted her long dark eyelashes and jutted out her well-endowed chest.
We’d cross that bridge when we came to it, though. Because my eyeballs were so scratchy I thought they might start to bleed and I couldn’t afford to let my wolf take over while there were two strangers in the car.
Speaking of my lupine half, she’d drifted back up to join me behind our human eyes, and I did my best to nudge her into sedation. But she sidled away from each of my advances, and I honestly didn’t have the willpower to chase her down while simultaneously trying to ensure the car didn’t end up in the ditch.
So I closed my eyes for a split second to gather my composure then shouted into Ginger’s ear to guide her toward the campground I’d circled as a potential stopover point. It was cheap, run-down, and had a terrible rating on trip advisor—just the kind of place for a bedraggled, broke band of werewolves to hole up for the night.
The rain was still pounding down just as hard ten minutes later when the car pulled up to the accommodation’s pay station. We rolled to a stop beneath the small canopy and the abrupt cessation of staccato raindrops on the roof woke Lia from her nap. “Are we there yet?” our youngest member asked sleepily, rubbing one brilliantly blue eye with a slender fist.
Instantly, Hunter and Quill’s attention latched onto the girl’s face as if she’d offered them a five-course dinner. The trouble was that, even though Lia was a halfie, her golden tresses and gentle nature tended to attract male werewolves like flies to honey. This wasn’t the first time the rest of us had been forced to step up and defend the girl, but it was the first time danger had been pointed in her direction from within our own ranks.
In unison, Ginger, Glen, Cinnamon, and I all growled. In response, Quill looked away with shame on his face. “Sorry,” he murmured. The uber-alpha, in contrast, made no move to release Lia from his hungry stare.
“Hunter, Quill, let me introduce you to Lia,” I said, just in case our point hadn’t yet been suitably elaborated upon. “She’s a half-blood like me. And she’s sixteen. Hands off.”
Quill seemed suitably chastened, going so far as to flinch away from the enticing teenager as if he’d been burned. But Hunter only smirked as I challenged him with my gaze. “Perhaps you didn’t hear the part about you being my mate,” the uber-alpha murmured almost too quietly for my human ears to pick up on.
“You may be on a diet but that doesn’t mean you can’t read the menu, eh?” I countered, rolling my eyes. “Whatever. But, take it from me, Hunter, you have no reason to be on a diet.” Then, realizing that my words made it sound like I was giving the uber-alpha permission to court Lia after all, I hurried to add: “And Lia’s still off limits.”
Ginger saved me from sticking the rest of my leg into my mouth when she pulled the lever at her feet to pop the hatchback, releasing Glen from his cramped prison. It couldn’t have been pleasant to ride in such a small space shoulder to shoulder with a scary uber-alpha, but my comrade gave no sign of tension as he jogged over to the pay box. “Ten bucks,” he called back toward us, “for five humans.”
“And two dogs,” Ginger agreed, already stripping out of her clothes in preparation for a shift. “Got it.”
It was handy to be able to lower our numbers by dint of a quick transformation. But the ten dollars, it turned out, were harder to come by. My wallet was entirely bare since I hadn’t budgeted for spending money on two different campsites in one night. Ginger had, predictably, used up every last penny she owned to get her little group into the shifter club. And Glen’s pockets were equally empty since he’d been the one to pay for gas most recently. There was no point on cadging off Hunter since the uber-alpha had shown up in lupine form and couldn’t even claim the clothes on his back, and I didn’t really feel comfortable asking non-pack members for funds anyway.
“Leave a note that we’ll pay with a credit card in the morning,” I said at last, defeated by the knowledge that I’d once again been forced to utilize Wolfie’s get-out-of-jail free card. It wasn’t that my previous alpha couldn’t afford to fund our subsistence-level existence, nor would he gripe over the expenditures of cash. But it just wasn’t done to have one clan’s essentials paid for by another clan’s alpha. Instead, the credit-card usage was one more sign of my total ineptitude as a pack leader. It chaffed like a wet pair of skinny jeans.
“I’ve got it,” Quill said quietly before Glen could obey my command. The cowboy shifter’s large hand briefly touched my shoulder before he pulled out a leather wallet that appeared to be bulging with cash. For a split second, I thought my lupine-assisted nostrils caught a hint of rotten bananas, but then I realized it was just my over-tired brain playing tricks on me.
“Thanks.” I hadn’t meant my gratitude to sound so grudging, but it was hard to put myself into yet another outpack male’s debt. Still, we needed to set up camp and bed down if we planned to hit the road again bright and early the next morning. It wouldn’t do to trespass on the Franklins’ good nature any longer than was absolutely necessary.
So I forced the monetary issue out of my mind and let my gaze scan the rest of the crew. “Who else wants to be a pet dog tonight?”
“We’ve already got that covered,” Lia answered quickly. Her words were muffled since she’d turned away from me to pet the huge gray wolf that nearly filled the far-back area of the car and I almost leapt across the seats to still her hand. Knowing I couldn’t get there in time, though, I instead opened my mouth
to warn the kid off. You don’t pet werewolves, and nothing about the uber-alpha’s body language suggested he was willing to take the dog pretense beyond the bare minimum.
But Lia tended to get away with murder in a very different fashion than Ginger did. The latter batted her eyelashes and froze the male brain quite effectively. In contrast, nobody wanted to bark the trouble twins’ timid teenage cousin down, least of all me. It was too much like kicking an already whimpering puppy.
And, apparently, Hunter felt the same way. Because he accepted Lia’s caress and didn’t even glance up when Ginger’s furry body jumped up onto the carpeted floor beside him.
“Where to now?” Glen asked as he slid into the driver’s seat to replace the trouble twin.
“There’s a site around back that’s almost hidden in the woods,” I answered, checking my cell phone one more time to make sure I’d chosen the optimal location. “The bathroom is a long way off, so I doubt any humans would have parked there. Take the first right-hand turn, then drive to the very end.”
IT WAS PITCH BLACK as we set up camp, and the rain still hadn’t let up. Regardless, the original members of my pack weren’t slowed down by excess water. Lia and I unpacked the contents of the top carrier, spreading bundles and bags out across the empty seats of the car so our belongings didn’t become saturated with rainwater as we handed off each item in the proper order to Glen and Ginger. They in turn fed items to Cinnamon, our tent-savant, who soon had a canvas abode erected in a spot that was as dry as our current storm allowed. At that point, everyone began lugging mats and sleeping bags into our temporary den, relieved that another long day was nearly at a close.
As for the outpack males, Quill tried to help but mostly got in the way while Hunter disappeared into the damp darkness as soon as the car rolled to a stop. I wasn’t entirely surprised in either case. It would take a while for Quill to learn the ways of our group and Hunter probably didn’t even see the point of trying to blend in.
The question was—did either male want to join us permanently? In most cases, it would go without saying that a male drifter would be thrilled to hook up with a pack that was sixty percent female. But a halfie alpha and the lack of a defined territory made our clan less than enticing. Plus, I wasn’t entirely sure whether we wanted to expand our numbers in the first place, so the question might have been moot.
“I appreciated the ride.”
The words came out of nowhere, and I jumped, hitting my head on the roof of the car and making my inner wolf whimper. Lia had joined the hauling crew, leaving me entirely alone in the dark confines of the pack vehicle. And when I whirled around, I found myself mere inches away from a dark shape that blocked off the open door and my path to freedom.
For a split second, I was terrified. Then I noticed the broad hat shielding the cowboy shifter from the weather. It was only Quill.
I sighed in what should have been relief but what was actually disappointment. I’d seen neither hide nor hair of Hunter in twenty long minutes, and it would have been nice if I could have believed that the uber-alpha was the male currently seeking me out for a one-on-one conversation.
In your dreams.
My wolf wanted to pursue that line of thinking, suggesting that she really had been dreaming about the scarily strong shifter. But I shushed her at the same time I reassured the man who was standing in front of us in the flesh.
“No problem,” I told Quill. “We appreciated your help in the bar.” I paused, then decided to get the issue over with. “Were you wanting to travel along with us for a while?”
“If you’ll have me.” The cowboy shifter’s words were a soft drawl that charmed me as much as his willingness to pay for our campsite had hit the spot half an hour earlier. Still, adding a new pack member wasn’t a choice I planned to make on my own.
I opened my mouth to tell him so when a flashlight flickered to life a hundred yards away through the trees. Someone was walking around the bend our car had taken not long ago, and my weak wolf offered no clues as to whether that someone was human or shifter.
It could easily be the first wave of barflies come to tear us apart, or a Franklin outguard demanding our immediate decampment. Or perhaps the light represented a new danger I was too exhausted to dream up at the present moment.
Speaking of new dangers, a growl emerged from the darkness directly behind me. I tensed, then realized this third intruder was only Hunter lurking in the shadows in lupine form. He padded over to stand beside the car door even as Quill clued me in about the other newcomer’s identity.
“Human,” he offered. “Smells like an older female, smoker, overweight.”
Probably the campsite host. “Go tell the others,” I ordered, wanting at least one unknown out of my hair while I dealt with another. I eyed Hunter, considering sending him away as well. But the inevitable power struggle seemed like too much effort, so I instead unfolded myself from the back seat and stood with the uber-alpha by my side as the older woman paced toward us through the rain.
“Terrible weather,” she called as she came within human hearing range. The umbrella over her head sported cartoon suns and storm clouds barely visible through the real rain, making a mockery of her words. Then, as she stepped a little closer and her flashlight played over Hunter’s and my wet forms, the human emitted a little “Oh!” of surprise.
I’d like to think the older woman was turned off by my companion’s massive lupine form, but I had a feeling she was instead responding to the tattoos lining my forearms, to the gashes in the thighs of my jeans, and to my unruly hair. Looking tough was helpful for a weak halfie trying to hold her own amid werewolves, but the persona wasn’t so handy when dealing with the general public.
So I emulated Quill and layered on the charm in order to mitigate my unfortunate first impression. “I’m so sorry we woke you up, ma’am. We’ll be unpacked in a couple more minutes and then you won’t hear another peep out of us.” As if she possibly could have noticed our quiet voices above the pounding rain, but apologies often set humans at ease.
Predictably, the campsite host’s tense shoulders visibly melted. “Now that’s okay, dear,” she said, and for a moment I thought she might pat my hand. But then she caught another glimpse of my ink and thought better of the gesture.
Or maybe she was responding to the way Hunter stepped subtly between us so she’d have to reach over his sodden head to get to me. Bad doggy, I thought but was a bit too chicken to actually say the words aloud.
“Um, well,” the woman backpedaled, “I was just checking to make sure there’s nothing you need. Oh, and here.” She held out a soggy paper sack, and even my human nose could catch the distinct scent of warm chocolate-chip cookies inside.
Hungry, my wolf whispered, and I only realized we’d reached out to grab the food too quickly when the campsite host jerked her arm away as if she’d been stung. Dratted wolf.
Still, the woman recovered quickly in the face of my copious thanks. “Some trolls have been leaving bad reviews of our campground online,” she continued, wrapping her mouth around the word “troll” with an effort as if she was repeating a phrase recently introduced into her lexicon by a hip grandchild. “There’s a flier in the bag with a list of common review sites,” she added. “If you enjoy your stay, I hope you’ll consider logging on and putting in your two cents’ worth.”
The request seemed so ludicrous. Here we were fleeing from dozens of angry werewolves, shaken up by the idea that a serial killer might be targeting halfies, and trying to decide whether Hunter and Quill were more likely to protect our backs or eat us while we slept. Meanwhile, my own wolf was as out of control as a mild-mannered beast like her could be. Plus, who knew whether Hunter was one of those alphas who used the term “meat” about humans, killing them for sport or simply to relieve boredom.
And in this mess of danger and confusion, our campsite host was concerned because her business probably averaged a three-star review rating?
Still, the cookies
smelled good, if damp. So I shot the older woman an honest smile. “I’ll be sure to do that,” I offered. And I didn’t even wait until she’d turned her back before I dug into the bag of warm treats.
Chapter 6
I OPENED MY EYES THE next morning to a horrendous sight. A young woman, naked, chest ripped open and blood splattered in every direction. She appeared to have been caught midshift, with lupine ears starting to burst out of a human head and with her hands already replaced by paws. There was no question that the victim had once been a vibrant shifter with a long life ahead of her. And now she was dead.
It isn’t real, I told my queasy stomach, pushing the cell phone and the appalling image it contained away from me. “What the heck?” I demanded aloud.
I was too upset to soften my voice, and all around me both furry and furless heads popped up out of our heap of werewolf slumber. The grisly wakeup call had my heart beating way too fast, so I allowed myself a second to calm down by making sure everyone was present and accounted for. Yep, Lia and Cinnamon and Glen and Ginger were all within arm’s reach, enclosed by the tent’s curved walls. And as long as Hunter and Quill hadn’t stolen our old clunker while we slept, then our pack could chalk up one more successful survival of a night in outpack territory.
“What’s with the horror show?” I asked more quietly now that I’d gotten my breathing back under control. My eyes locked with Ginger’s, unsurprised that the female trouble twin had been the one to stuff her cell phone in front of my nose at dawn. (Dawn! Didn’t she realize we’d probably only fallen into bed three hours earlier?) In response, the teenager reclaimed the device, flicking through a few screens before showing me what might have been the same girl...had all of her body parts been intact.
“Couldn’t sleep.” The trouble twin shrugged as if it went without saying that if she suffered from insomnia then the whole pack should as well. “So I decided to poke around online and see if Hunter was telling us the truth. And he was. This girl, Daisy, went missing from the Rambler pack two weeks ago. She showed back up yesterday morning with her heart ripped out of her chest. They think it was eaten.”
Alpha Underground Trilogy Page 4