by Rae Foxx
I jumped at the motion; my eyes wide as I looked all over Luke’s wolf. Damn. These guys didn’t mess around.
“Luke struck first. That’s a good thing. He’s going to be fine.” Emma said, patting my arm, guess my worry was too noticeable. I nodded in understanding, but my worry wasn’t going anywhere, they only grew as Grant swiped at Luke’s side. Luke moved away, although not fast enough. Three lines of red marred his fur, I wasn’t sure if it was Luke’s blood or Grant’s, but it didn’t matter, I reacted the same.
“Holy fuck! This is ridiculous! Why is this even necessary?”
“It’s the way of our kind,” Michelle yelled from the other side of the ring, having heard me. “Yet another reason you shouldn't be here. Why Luke has forsaken us by bringing you here. You will never understand us. Never be one of us.”
Each word she spoke riled up the crowd more, even those who had stood with Luke suddenly looking a little bit confused, and a whole lot of frustrated at me. I didn’t need Emma and Trevor’s stare downs to know that me questioning everything in a shout was not going to help anything.
It didn’t.
The altercation had distracted Luke, giving Grant an opening. He lunged for Luke’s neck. The crowd erupted in gasps and cheers, Luke barely able to dodge fast enough and Grant’s jaws clamped onto the side of Luke’s head.
Screams and Cheers surrounded me as Grant shook, his teeth tight in Luke’s fur and flesh. Luke dove, pulled, and jumped away, blood rushing down the side of his wolf face in scarlet ribbons and I swore I could scent the tangy metal smell of it in the air.
I swayed forward by instinct, only to be stopped by Emmet and Trevor.
“Get the fuck off me,” I screamed at them, flailing and swerving to try and break free, but these brutes were strong as hell.
“You have got to calm down, Cami,” Trevor hissed in my ear as he held me back. “If you don’t, I will take you back to your cabin.”
“You can try,” I spat back still watching the fight, although I didn’t miss Emma’s eye-roll at my response.
“Don’t worry, Cami,” Emma wrapped her arm around me in a move that was half comfort, half restraint. “Just because Luke got bitten doesn’t mean anything is over. He’s a good fighter--always has been.”
I could see that. The two wolves were watching each other like predator and prey but I wasn’t sure which was which. Yes, it seemed to me that Luke was strong, but Grant was desperate.
Sometimes desperation trumps strength.
“This is going to go on forever if someone doesn’t make another move,” Emma said as, after a minute, the two were still posturing and growling.
“Oh, Grant will make his move, don’t you worry,” We all jumped as Michelle appeared beside us, still smiling like a smug cat. “As you can tell, my mate is strong and willing to do what it takes for this pack, no matter the cost.” Her magenta nails tapped on her bicep as she spoke, and she smelled like K-mart perfume had a baby with a skunk.
“Mate?” Even Emma laughed at that. “You don’t give up, do you?”
Ignoring the bitch, I focused on the fight. Grant kept posturing, but Luke wasn’t falling for it. Luke swiped at Grant’s back leg, but missed. My heartbeat stopped as I realized what was about to happen. Grant took full advantage of Luke’s blunder and made a push toward Luke, angling himself to swipe at my mate’s chest.
Yells and gasps rang out from the pack members as Grant’s claws tore through fur and flesh, ripping three gaping lines into Luke’s chest.
“It wasn’t that bad. Barely scraped him,” Emma said a little too quickly, but something was off about her voice.
“Scrape, my ass. That was to the bone. Look at the blood. Fuck.” Trevor responded, but all I could see through my hazy vision was the pools of blood gathering beneath Luke’s form.
“Shifters are great healers. That won’t take more than a few hours to heal. It’s going to be…” Emma’s voice trailed off as I screamed.
Luke had faltered from the loss of blood and Grant had taken full advantage, biting into Luke’s side. The sounds of teeth against bone reverberated and hit me like a tidal wave of sound.
Luke’s eyes widened, but he didn’t cry out in pain. He tumbled to the side, trying to hold steady and failing. Dirt formed a cloud as he plopped almost lifelessly to the ground.
“No!” I screamed, the sound causing a fire in my throat as though it were clawing my skin on the way out. Grant had positioned himself above Luke, his blood-drenched teeth only inches from Luke’s throat. He heaved out breaths and pressed his claws into Luke’s body, stopping him from trying to break free no matter how hard he tried.
No, I wouldn’t let it end like this! Stupid shifters with their stupid rules!
Trevor and Emma didn’t have any chance of keeping me back. I ripped away from them and ran into the circle where Luke was. Except as I crouched by Luke’s form, determined to shove Grant off, my skin crawled.
Tiny ants skittered under the surface at first but soon after the ants became moles, digging in, and piercing its claws through any pore it could find. I heard the sound as my jaw cracked open, the muscles in my neck stretching to the point where I was sure they would snap at any second. Bones in my legs snapped and my hip joints flexed. My eyes burned and soon my fingers dug into the dirt, but when I looked down at my fingers, they were claws.
Holy Fuck!
16
Luke
No fucking way.
My mate wasn’t human after all. She was a wolf. And a fucking gorgeous wolf at that. Lean and terrifying, her amber fur waved in the breeze as she stood over me on all fours, ready to make good on her human promise to rip Grant’s throat out.
Any time I would gladly see that, but not this time.
Grant would rip her to shreds.
I shifted back to my human form, ignoring the pain and the ripping sounds as beast became man again. The sound of the crowd hit me first, shock, awe, and anger reverberating over dirt and trees as they all stared at the terrified wolf in front of me.
I had never seen a wolf look so scared before, and no wonder. Even the teens at puberty knew what was going to happen. Cami had no clue.
“Cami, listen to my voice, mate. Listen to me.” I crouched beside her hulking wolf, my hand on my chest, and the cuts there. They weren’t deep at all, and I had been purposefully feigning to get Grant closer… but none of that mattered now.
I had to calm her down, get her back to human form. Grant’s challenge didn’t matter now, not that she knew that. She was freaked out, but still ready to attack him with how she was lasered in on him, the two of them growling and staring.
“Mate of mine, look at me.”
Whispers and gossip filled the air around me as I coaxed my mate, my hand slipping through her rich fur from nape to tail in strokes that I hoped would soothe her. Her fur was so smooth and thick, just like her hair.
The implications of this made my wolf absolutely preen with happiness inside me. It was enough for him that I had found a mate, but now we had a shifter mate. One we could share everything with. Run with. Play with. Have a family with.
Share our complete life with.
Grant had the good sense to back up and Cami growled loud and hard at him, fighting the urge to kill him and pay attention to me all at once. The bond was stronger now, like a rubber band that had been pulled too tight. It had snapped with her shift and no longer felt like she was tugging against the bond, but had given in completely.
“Look at me, Cami.” She finally tore her gaze from Grant and turned to me with a whine. Trepidation and fear dripped from our tether like the blood from my chest. She was scared and had every reason to be. She hadn’t known she was a wolf and now probably thought she was stuck that way; in a form she didn’t realize she owned.
“Cami, it’s okay. I know that probably hurt you and you’re scared to turn back, but you can.” I kept my hand on her neck, feeling her heart rate accelerate in confirmation. “Just re
ach in, close your eyes and picture yourself back on two legs in your human form. You can do this.”
Cami’s eyes were focused on mine the entire time, the fur on the back of her neck was standing on end while her body was tense, her muscles stiff.
“You can do this…” I hadn’t even finished talking before she closed her eyes, and her body shuddered underneath mine, her body shifting back to her human form.
“Well fuck me sideways and call me Nancy. I’m a... I mean like you...I mean…” She looked down at her body, almost questioning it. Her dark brown hair was matted to her face with sweat as her cheeks reddened.
“You’re a wolf.”
Grant had already shifted and stood back with his dissenters, their faces a wash between confusion and surprise. Except for Grant and Michelle, those two looked pissed.
Grant’s focus was only on me, the guy chuckling like there was something funny about all of this. “Too late! She interfered. You know the rules and your little half-breed mate has broken them!”
Half breed? Gods, there was always something with him.
With my arm around Cami, I turned to face him ready to end this feud once and for all.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Grant! Her instinct took over and she shifted for the first time. Tell me how much control you had over your wolf the first time you shifted, Grant. If I remember correctly, it wasn’t much. You practically mauled your father.”
The pack muffled their laughter, but barely.
“New wolf or not, the rules of this pack will not be bent just because the bitch is your mate.” Grant had meant to hurt, to barb, and he did. I growled and lunged for him, Cami right beside me. If it wasn’t for Trevor and Emma, we probably would have.
Grant continued to laugh, the sound loud as it carried over everyone, the tone pricking at the back of my neck. Everyone shivered, they had felt it too.
He was claiming alpha.
“I am the Alpha of this pack now,” Grant said, a wry grin on his face and a glint in his eye.
“Only by forfeit,” I said and made another attempt to lunge but Grant stepped back, more than fifteen of my wolves stepping between us as he commanded them.
As he took my place.
“Oh, Luke, looks like you need to go off with your human and lick those wounds. They are deep,” Grant taunted as Michelle came to his side, cackling along with him. “I am Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack!”
Cami stood next to me, but I couldn’t look her in the eye. I’d failed her. I’d failed my mate; I’d failed my pack. The knowledge of that dishonor burned in my chest like a hot ember.
“Luke, you and your mate are banished from this pack. You are no longer welcome here. Grab your shit and get out of my fucking house.”
Cami gasped and Emma turned and took off at a sprint, probably to tell my mother what had happened. She hadn’t even shown up to the challenge, probably because she had faith in me. Faith I hadn’t deserved.
17
Cami
When Grant said get out, he meant it.
We were given ten minutes to gather up what we could. Before I could even put on some clothes, seeing as the wolf shift had shredded my other ones, we were thrown into the bed of a clunker truck. An hour of weaving through mountain roads and over rough terrain and we watched that same truck speed away, having done its job of dumping us in the middle of nowhere.
Luke didn’t say anything through all of that, shushing me every time I tried to ask a question. So, we packed our bags and bumped along in silence, Luke keeping me close enough I could hear him mumble about how this wasn’t how he would have handled the situation, but he wasn’t the Alpha anymore, we didn’t have another choice.
The second the truck was out of range he began to laugh. He threw his head back, long hair swaying as the waves of his laughter rolled over me.
“Ummm… I really don’t see what’s funny in this situation.”
“It’s only funny because Grant thinks he is done with us,” he chuckled again and turned. Throwing his bag against a tree and fishing out a shirt.
“Isn’t he done with us?” I asked fishing out my own clothes, although I was more focused on the fact that I could ask questions and pulled out some weird dress thing that Emma had bought for me.
I had it halfway on when I realized that the polka dot rockabilly dress was really not my style… but somehow, in my shock, had been the only thing I had packed. Okay, dress it was. I would have to give Emma a rundown on my style later… later.
Ouch. There wasn’t a later.
“I mean, I know I don’t know much about pack stuff, but normally when you are banished you are, I don’t know, removed permanently.”
Luke rushed over to me, hands on my waist as he pulled me closer and fisting the skirt until it lifted and exposed my ass. Oh yes, panties. I sure hoped I packed those.
“That was until you shifted.” His eyes gleamed with pride, a smile spreading his beautiful features in a way that at any other time would have sent my stomach swooping.
Instead, I turned to ice. All of my muscles stiffened and rattled as though something inside of me was trying to break free again.
I shuttered and attempted to pull out of his grip, but he held me against him.
I was a fucking wolf. I didn’t know how or the logistics of it other than what happened back on the pack lands, but the truth was there. I had shifted into a wolf. That brought about more questions than answers, of course. My parents were shifters? I mean, my mom told me the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but never once did she mention that we might be the wolves instead of the girl in the story.
All of the questions built up, clogging the flood gate. Only one thing made it past the muddle in my mind.
“I’m a wolf.” Luke was back to grinning. I felt as though I had swallowed a bowling ball that had come alive and was laughing at me.
“You are! I’m so amazed by you. I can’t believe you did that.” Luke chuckled and lifted me off my feet, pressing me against him as he splattered kisses over my neck.
“What? Shifted? Or was a total fool and jumped between you and Grant.” I pressed my lips together and lifted his shirt, revealing the three shallow cuts that were stretched over his rib cage. “You were feigning.”
He sighed roughly and dragged his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I was. That’s partially why you were supposed to stay back with Emma and Trevor. I knew they would protect you while I…”
“While you were bleeding?” I cut him off, puffing out my chest like I would be able to face him. “While fucking Grant shredded the man that I... while he tore you to pieces? You can’t have really expected me to stay back through that. I mean, I’ve already punched one wolf.”
“I know… well, I should have known.” The awe that had been flaring from his eyes faded somewhat as he looked at me. “Because clearly, they did…”
Damn, he was pissed, thank God it wasn’t at me.
“They knew what?” I stepped back, trying to figure out both who they were and what they knew.
“You punched Michelle. They knew you weren’t scared to stand up to a wolf, and they knew that you would go so far as to punch a wolf to defend your mate. They knew that one step into that ring and I would have to forfeit because they also knew that Grant couldn’t beat me on his own.”
Damn. Every word he spoke sent my bones and muscles prickling the same as they had before I had shifted for the first time.
“So they played us,” I said, my voice much more growly than I had anticipated. “I bet they knew I could turn into a wolf, too.” I scoffed and kicked at the dirt road.
“No, they didn’t.” And he was back to grinning. “While we need to rip apart the how's and why’s of that… right now we need to train you.”
“Train me?” Okay, that was not the way I expected that to go.
“Yes,” Luke grinned and rushed over to his duffle, upturning the thing and sending rubber balls and stuffed animals all over the forest floor.
“Normally, when a wolf loses Alpha they are allowed to stay in the pack, most leave because living that shame is an added punishment to their defeat. But Grant kicked us out. Fast.”
“Because I’m human.” I lifted an eyebrow, even though I had gotten that far.
“But you aren’t.” Luke leaned in, his lips pressing against mine. “You are a beautiful wolf. I saw your wolf, and you are gorgeous. And I am sure the beast inside of you scares you, maybe that’s why you’ve been pushing it down. Maybe that’s why it’s been hiding. But I don’t care. You are beautiful inside and out.”
My stomach gave an almighty flop and he kissed me again, the movement of his lips matching mine before he nipped my bottom lip and pulled away.
“And here I thought you were going to be pissed that I messed up your fight.”
“Oh, I am. But more at Grant. But don’t worry, we will get him back.” Luke was playing with the stuffed animals now, scooping them all up in his arms as though he was going to take them off to have a tea party.
Weird, considering we were in the middle of the forest. Why did we even grab those things?
“I don’t see how,” I said, looking around at the high trees, the smell of pine and dirt almost assaulting. “Unless we go back there and rip that motherfucker to shreds.”
Luke stood; his arms full of glass eyed stuffies. “Exactly.”
“Huh? I mean, I will, I’ll gladly go back and kick his ass and anyone else’s ass who gets in our way.”
“That’s exactly what I want you to do,” Luke took two steps toward me, his eyes as wide as the glass-eyed animals as they all stared me down. “That’s why Grant kicked us out so fast. I can’t challenge him again. But you can.”
“I can kick that bastard's ass?” I knew he meant as a wolf, in the same fight that I had interrupted, and a big part of that (okay, the wolf part of that) terrified me. But it also sent a thrill up my spine, something inside of me eager to get going.