Cole (A Wolf Shifter Romance Novel) (The Steelman Shifters Book 1)

by Ruby Brooks

  “Touch me again and I will kill you. I’m only giving you a second chance because I want to go outside. I better be on the second mission. I’ll skip Friday, but if I am not there next time? Don’t bother turning up for the training session.”

  His jaw was clenched in anger and I tugged his hair harder until he agreed. I let him go, watching as he fell to the floor with a satisfactory thud. I marched out of the room without a backwards glance, and as soon as I turned into the hallway, I stopped, leaning against the wall to catch my breath.

  I was shaking all over. How many other women did Carl sexually harass, or worse? My first instinct was to report it, but I knew no one here would listen. It was clear to me that shifters were seen as second-class citizens in the hunters’ eyes, and they wouldn’t give a shit about this.

  Carl was coming out of the training room, and I pressed myself against the wall. Tears had slipped out and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing them. When he walked the other way, I released my breath when his footsteps had indicated he was far enough away.

  I rubbed at my face and began walking back to my room until I bumped into something. My jaw dropped when I noticed a trophy cabinet, which I missed this morning in my rush to make the training on time.

  Peering through the glass, I recognised my surname. Glancing down the hallways, to check it was clear, I opened the cabinet door and picked up the shield in the centre. The crest of the hunter organisation was in the middle, and the plates around it featured many Morton’s.

  Spotting my parents, bile rose to my throat. How was this possible? My parents were both wolves, and they served here.

  This is why you never joined a pack.

  The penny had finally dropped. I put it back on the shelf, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off it. I couldn’t make out what they won exactly, but I had my suspicions. It was probably who had the highest number of kills in a year.

  Tearing my gaze away from the shield, I could see there were other trophies for various sporting events, notably fighting events. Boxing, mixed martial arts, karate… it was all here. I then noticed a thick, leather-bound journal. It had aged, but it was still intact.

  It had multiple entries in it with dates going back to early nineteen hundred. I flipped to the back and my skin grew cold as the understanding dawned. The latest entries had a few lines underneath, explaining who the person was.

  Aiden Anderson. Reason for entry: Murdered Rose and David Morton.

  My parents. Was this the man who died at my grandmother’s dinner party? The name underneath it made me want to be sick.

  Cause of death: Murdered by Cole Anderson. Reason: Unknown to hunters at time of writing. Currently until Steelman protection and impossible for the hunters to penetrate at this time.

  I tried to work the dates out in my head. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was around the same night he first slept at my house. Was this the reason he was late? I vaguely recalled falling to my knees on the floor, my chin catching the ledge of the trophy cabinet. The pain barely registered past the ringing in my ears.

  I had a horrible suspicion that Cole had killed someone before, but I wasn’t expecting something like this. I thought it would have had something to do with the pack. Some noble bullshit Tristan set him up for.

  Unless… this was the noble bullshit? The only other alternative was the alpha curse, but he hadn’t deteriorated since then. He was far too young, too.

  There were loud voices coming down the hallway and I threw the book in the cabinet, slamming the door shut, and I didn’t stop running until I made it to my room. I immediately rushed to the toilet and emptied the contents of my stomach.

  I desperately wished my wolf connection was intact. I wanted to talk to someone. Sobs racked my body as I went under the shower.

  I needed to be a warrior here. My parents had a reputation, my family, and I couldn’t let them down. I wasn’t going to follow in their footsteps, but I wanted to be remembered as strong. Powerful. Unbreakable.

  I’d give myself this one night to pull myself together but, if I ever saw Cole again, I would tear him a new one for keeping this from me.

  Chapter 14

  Cole

  There is something quite liberating about being packless. If I take away the fact I’ve left behind anyone I’ve ever cared about, and am still no closer to locating my girlfriend, it’s alright. I had no one to answer to except my wolf, who was loving the fact he was in fact in charge.

  Is Hayley still my girlfriend? I’m not sure if being kidnapped and not being rescued yet is grounds for a breakup. I had failed her, but I was determined to set it right.

  I hadn’t managed to shift back into my human form yet, and I could feel another packless wolf following me. He had been doing it for a few days now and I was lying in wait, ready to ambush him for information.

  At least I wasn’t going to be reprimanded by my alpha for causing a fight. A pang of sadness hit me in the chest, but I shoved it away. I didn’t have time to deal with it and needed to find a pack I could take over as soon as possible.

  A low growl behind me alerted me to the other wolf’s presence. I turned to face him, looking him directly in the eye as a challenge. He dropped his gaze immediately but didn’t lower from his defensive stance. His coat was grey but matted in some areas where he hadn’t groomed himself.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  I didn’t get a response. I couldn’t decipher if it was because the shifter was so far gone he couldn’t understand human words, or if he was being rude. I was leaning towards the former. I prayed to whichever deity that would listen that I didn’t end up the same as him.

  He circled me and I continued watching, unflinching. My wolf had wanted a fight for days now, and now I finally had my chance to please him. When he eventually lunged for me, I rolled aside with ease and clamped my teeth around his leg.

  He fell to the ground, snarling, his shackles rising.

  “Try me,” I crooned.

  I couldn’t care less if he could understand me, I was enjoying this.

  He came for me again, his jaws thrashing wildly. I growled back at him and knocked him to the ground. I pounced on top, pinning him below me. I snarled low, and vicious, into his ear. When he whimpered, I felt a glimmer of awe at his fear, and sunk my teeth into his neck.

  It was a different feeling to the last time I had done this, years back to my father. This was about survival. I embraced my monster and ignored the guilt that was trying to settle.

  “Too quick,” my wolf grumbled, when my victim’s heart stopped beating.

  It was over too quickly, I had to agree there. I could smell other shifters coming into the forest. They could smell the blood, the violence.

  I let them come and embraced the kill of each of them.

  ✽✽✽

  My head was pounding from a knock back from one of the bear shifters that found me, and I struggled to find some land to occupy for the meantime. I had managed to make it up north, and the places around me were eerily similar to how Hayley had once described.

  “Home,” my wolf breathed.

  This could be home, yeah. As I stepped over the boundary, I felt the pack’s trepidation. It was a wolf pack, but there was no one patrolling the borders. The alpha’s influence was weak here and I briefly considered a challenge.

  I followed the beaten down trail and felt dozens of eyes watching me in the forest. Again, no one stepped out to challenge me.

  I thought back at how things operated at the Steelmans’. Sure, Tristan was in charge, but whenever there was a newcomer, they were immediately questioned by whoever came across them first. It was standard protocol and not doing it usually got you punished.

  A faint cry sounded in the distance and I trotted towards it, keeping my nose to the ground. I smelt blood, but more than that, there was fear. True, cold-blooded fear.

  “Please, don’t do this. I promise I won’t do it again,” a young boy, perhaps ten, was crying. He had blood
smeared on his cheek from his broken nose. That would have healed by now due to the rapid healing of our shifter side, and someone was going to have to break it again in order to reset it properly.

  “You promise? Like you promise to follow my orders?” A louder voice, belonging to an older man, said. “Where’s my fucking loyalty, eh?”

  I felt my hackles rise in anger. I fucking hated bullies, especially when it was only a kid with an adult. Flashbacks of my childhood ran through my mind and I was furious. The man who was speaking whirled around to face me, sensing my presence at last.

  He appeared much older than he sounded. His face was hollow and he looked like he hadn’t had a decent meal in months. Crooked teeth glistened in the sun as he grinned at me. The arrogance was coming off him in waves.

  “Well, what do we have here?”

  “Get inside,” I ordered the young boy. “Get someone to reset your nose.” His jaw dropped open, but he did as he was told, and he ran for the building behind him. I could only assume it was the pack house and I didn’t want to picture what must go on in there.

  I cocked my head at the alpha, assessing him. He narrowed his grey eyes at me when I didn’t respond, nor make any move to challenge him. He was hot-headed, I could tell that from a first impression, and I wanted to make him angry so he would make mistakes.

  “A packless pup,” he spat. “You’re no older than sixteen. What are you doing here?”

  His words had no effect on me, and I yawned.

  “You son of a bitch,” he seethed. “Am I boring you? I bet that is why your previous alpha got rid of you. It’s your stinking attitude. I can teach you some discipline.” He took slow, measured steps towards me. Our eyes locked.

  “If only that was the reason,” I said to him.

  I yawned again, resting my head on my paws and maintained eye contact. My head really was sore, but I couldn’t let the alpha know that. Once I had claimed his pack, I was going to rest for a few hours and draw up a plan to get Hayley back.

  When the alpha stepped close enough to me, he crouched down, and tried to lift my muzzle. Alcohol wafted through my nostrils and I curled my lips back in disgust. A bully and a drunk, nice one. When his fingers made contact with my fur, I snapped, and bit him.

  “You bastard!” He roared and shifted immediately, glowering at me. His coat was pitch black, the only colour coming from his eyes, amber like all shifters.

  I cocked my head again, enjoying the rise of tension in the air.

  “Yes. I have been waiting for this.” My wolf could barely hide his excitement from me.

  Let’s do this, I replied to my wolf.

  The alpha and I charged at the same time, but I was quicker. I crashed on top of him, our jaws snapping. His anger was fuelling mine, and I felt the pack’s eyes on us. They didn’t step in to help, to take me down, too.

  “They don’t give a shit about you,” I said, as I tried to reach for his neck.

  He let out a short howl in response. It was an order, but still, no one came. He came for me again and I ducked in the last moment so he wouldn’t land on me. As he crashed onto the floor, he scrambled back onto his paws, but I was already there. I clamped my jaw around his hind leg, causing him to cry out in pain.

  I thought about that little boy. I thought about how I was that little boy and that no one came to save me.

  I bit down harder, making it impossible for the alpha to fight back until I let go. He tried wrestling his leg out of my grip, but he could only do that by shifting. The alpha curse had gotten to him though, and I could tell he had as little control as I did.

  “Submit to me,” I growled.

  “No,” he hissed in response. It sounded like a snarl to me and I tossed my head, shaking him like a rag doll in my mouth. He groaned at the motion, but couldn’t escape my clutches.

  I wanted him to submit to me so I could make him suffer until my control.

  What the fuck are you doing, Cole? End this, I tried to tell myself. My wolf wanted him to hurt.

  A crowd was beginning to form, slowly making their way around us. They wanted him dead as much as my human side did, and I tried reasoning with my wolf.

  They are going to be our pack. We need them to trust us.

  My wolf relented, but not before throwing the alpha into the trees. The crowd parted immediately for me, not taking their eyes off me. The alpha landed with a hard thud, his head bouncing off a rock. Blood began soaking the ground, and I licked my muzzle as I stalked towards him.

  “Last chance,” I muttered.

  “No.”

  I kept coming slowly, making him watch me as I slowly began gaining control of his pack. My pack.

  When I sank my teeth into the sensitive part of his neck, power flowed through me.

  “Go inside,” I ordered to the pack. “I would like to patrol the borders before I meet you.”

  As soon as the pack heard me, they rushed to go inside. They were almost too eager to please and I knew I’d need to change that. Yes, they needed to follow my orders, but I wanted it out of respect, not fear.

  I left the alpha’s body for someone else to deal with. Maybe someone in there actually liked him – their loss. I didn’t feel a mating bond coming from him and, regardless of how strong I was, the mate would have come and saved him.

  Hayley certainly would have done it for me.

  I shook my head at the thought, the headache growing larger. The main reason I wanted them to go inside was so they couldn’t see the fact I can’t shift back. I noticed a small bag of clothes behind a tree and took it with me in my muzzle.

  You need to let me shift back, I begged my wolf. Please.

  “There is danger. Hunters.”

  Hunters? Here?

  This is exactly the sort of danger I needed tonight. My wolf wanted to protest, but I held him back. Hayley needed us, and it was the only plan I had, if Anthony was telling us the truth. Besides, I’d have respect of packs and clans all around the world if I managed to take down a facility like that.

  “We shift back. The hunters won’t find us.” My wolf demanded, forcing me back into my human form.

  I fell to my knees on the floor, gasping in pain. I stared down at my hands in awe and struggled to stand. It felt weird being on two legs after spending so long on four, but I dressed as quickly as I could.

  There was a group of hunters ahead and I kept my steps light as I began tracking them. They smelt like shifters, but there was something off about them. Some metallic smell was following them, and it wasn’t the various knives strapped to their bodies.

  The pair ahead of me were dressed exactly the same as the ones who had attacked us at the funeral. Anthony was right, the hunters must have Hayley. For their sake, she better be alive.

  My wolf snarled his agreement and I bit my tongue to stop the sound escaping me. I tailed them at a distance, amazed they couldn’t smell me. They were following the perimeter of the pack’s land, my pack’s land, and I wanted to try and overhear what they were discussing.

  As I got closer, a twig snapped under my foot and two heads turned around to face me. Fuck it, may as well get this shit-show on the road.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” My voice wasn’t unkind, but I could tell they felt the faint influence there. The girl visibly flinched while a guy smiled.

  “Hoping we would come across someone like you.” The guy stepped towards me, his right hand reaching for the knife strapped on his thigh.

  “Andrew, don’t,” the girl said, catching his arm. “We don’t have permission.”

  I smirked at that. “Andrew…” I inhaled deeply. “Wolf?”

  “Fuck off, Ella.” He turned to me, “Yeah, I’m a wolf. I can take you, I’ve taken an alpha before.”

  “I’m sure you have,” I held my arms out, inviting him to attack me.

  He pulled the knife out of the hold and charged towards me. My hand shot out at the last minute and I gripped his wrist. Squeezing tightly, he dropped the kni
fe, the gentle thud audible over his breathing.

  “What now?” I mocked.

  He tried to kick me, but I stepped closer to him. I swear to fucking God I could smell Hayley on him, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I wanted him to take me, not kill me.

  “Andrew, let’s go,” Ella piped up. “I’m so sorry, alpha. We didn’t mean to. We’re going.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” I clipped. She stiffened and kept her gaze on the ground. “In fact, I’ve changed my mind. Take me with you.”

  “T— take you with us?” Andrew asked. I let go of his wrist and he cradled it against his chest. Fucking pussy – why try to stand up to someone twice your size if you are weak? Idiot. If I wanted him dead, he would have been the moment I caught his scent.

  “Did I fucking stutter?” I smiled to myself when he swallowed, his nerves flooding my senses.

  “N— no. Right. Come with us, I guess?”

  “You guess,” I clicked my tongue. “How many alphas did you say you have taken?”

  Ella bit back her smile as Andrew grumbled to her.

  “Don’t touch her,” I ordered, my voice an icy calm. He wanted to reach out and hit her to make her be quiet, but I wasn’t going to put up with that sort of behaviour. His hands curled into fists, but he didn’t say a word as he marched me further away from the pack house.

  “What are you doing?” My wolf roared, and I cringed. I was glad I was at the back so they couldn’t tell.

  Saving our Hayley.

  “Hunters.”

  I am well aware. Trust me, wolf. We will survive this.

  I’m not sure I quite believed it and neither did he. He began clawing at my insides, begging me to kill this pair. I could have, but after the recent bloodshed I was tired of it. Besides, my headache was in full force and I didn’t have the energy.

  As we walked, I took in my surroundings. I could faintly hear water running in the distance and you couldn’t see very far due to the rolling hills and mountains. My legs were aching from the exertion of the uphill climb, my human legs still unfamiliar to me.