Or what?
Or she’d leave?
No, she wasn’t an obstinate kid. She wouldn’t make this situation all about her. Still, though, didn’t she deserve to know what she was walking into?
“How big is our time frame?”
His rebuttal question stunned her, and she nearly tripped on her own feet—something a wolf shouldn’t do. But, unlike most of these people, she wasn’t a wolf. She had one, locked up in her mind, but she was at a woeful disadvantage when it came to physical attributes. That barbeque probably smelled like heaven with a better olfactory sense.
Addie didn’t know how to answer that question, so she simply said, “Uh, I don’t know. Since the beginning?”
“Two dozen, at least,” Maze said after a while.
“Two dozen?” She was shocked. That was twenty-four people, at least. Why wasn’t this mentioned before? Maybe she should’ve signed a waiver or something, some kind of legal document saying she wasn’t in danger while she was visiting the pack. If twenty-four people had gone missing, she couldn’t imagine how big the pack was before the disappearances started.
Maze brought them before a three-story house. Painted brick, all very modern and HGTV-like. Quaint, but pretty. This was where the alpha lived? It was nowhere near the best-looking house she’d seen around Crystal Lake, and she’d assumed the alpha would have nothing but the best.
“Landon will make twenty-five,” Maze added, quiet, almost absent-mindedly, as if his mind was miles away.
Addie expected him to knock, ring the doorbell, or something to let Forest know he had a visitor, but Maze barged right in, shooting her a look she didn’t understand. Did he want her to remain outside? As if. Not while wolves were going missing left and right. She went in after him, refusing to sit on the sidelines.
The inside of the house was neatly decorated. No pictures on the walls. Nothing to say hey, I have a personality, I swear. It was all very bland, very staged. Even with her crappy human sense of smell, Addie could tell it smelled too clean. Like the home was hardly lived in.
“I’ll be right back,” Maze said, jogging up the stairs.
Again, like he thought she’d wait downstairs like a good little girl? He had to learn sooner or later.
Addie trailed after him, though her feet slowed when she neared the top few steps. Her ears might not have had any wolfish help, but she was able to hear the telltale sign of water running. Forest must’ve been in the shower.
Hmm. Maybe she should’ve waited downstairs after all. Addie didn’t need to see any of that. Knowing her mother was supposed to have been his mate, well, she knew genetics didn’t quite work like this, but the shifter could’ve been her father. Although, if he was a few years younger than her mother, she doubted the pack would’ve let them get down and dirty before he was legal in human society. Staying under the radar here was top priority.
Addie didn’t want to seem too pushy, so she debated on turning and heading back down. She also didn’t want to see the alpha naked in any capacity. She’d seen Maze naked during their first encounter, and she’d somehow quickly developed some strange feelings for him. Feelings she best forget since she wanted to leave the pack.
Yeah, it was better for everyone when the clothes stayed on.
Addie nodded to herself, having decided to venture downstairs and act nonchalant in the living room. Lounge on the couch as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Okay, maybe not like that. To act without a care in the world would be mean and rude, considering how worried Maze and Dylan were about Landon.
She went into the living room, not sure what she should do. Addie needn’t have worried much, for within a minute she heard voices coming down the stairs, the shuffling of padded feet that nearly made no sound.
“I will not cancel tonight.” Forest’s voice, too deep and serious to belong to Maze. “The pack needs this. The pup can stay with Henry. You, Dylan, and I will search for him. If the trail is there, we’ll find him.”
There was a lot wrong with what he said. First, staying with Henry? Heck to the no. No thanks wasn’t a strong enough response to that suggestion. Secondly, a pup? She wasn’t a pup, not a child or even a wolf yet. And even if she let out her inner wolf, she wouldn’t be a pup. Being nearly two decades old, Addie thought she was above being called a freaking pup.
“There was no trail, Forest. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Maze said.
“There’s always a trail.”
Forest and Maze emerged from the stairwell, and Addie started to move toward them, her mouth open to refute the suggestion she would stay with Henry—because she’d rather be stuck in a car listening to the theme song of SpongeBob for twenty hours straight—but her comment died in her throat before she could say it.
Maze took a step toward her. “Addie, this is—”
But she needed no introduction to Forest, because Forest was the lonely, pensive shifter she’d met on the other side of the lake. Just as tall, just as wide and strong, and just as handsome as she remembered.
No wonder he seemed mature. No wonder he seemed…different.
Forest’s blue eyes were on her, their gaze heavy, serious. Almost too intense. “We’ve met,” he said, saying nothing else. He wore the same pants, the same shirt, but being damp, everything fit him differently, hugged his body in ways Addie probably shouldn’t notice, considering.
What else was there to say? This was Crystal Lake’s alpha. This man was supposed to be her mother’s mate. Addie had pretty much dissed the entire pack in front of him, told him she wanted to leave, basically that she hated it here. Why the heck didn’t he say anything? She would’ve kept it all to herself.
She was instantly embarrassed, muttering an awkward, “I’m sorry.” Forest probably hated her, or at least didn’t like her, because he knew she was just going to leave. Her words caused Maze to cock his head, the shifter confused.
Forest’s deep blue eyes did not break from hers as he said, “Don’t be. I would rather have the truth than lies.”
“What are you talking about?” Maze asked.
Running a hand through his black hair, still dripping wet from his recent shower, Forest shook his head. “We need to move, if we have any hope of finding Landon. We’ll swing by the park, pick up Dylan and drop the pup off—”
“Stop calling me a pup,” Addie cut in, practically hissing out the words. “If you have to call me something, call me Addie. Addie, not pup.” Hmm. Maybe taking on an irate tone and telling an alpha what to do—the alpha who might already hate her for what she’d said and what her mother had done years ago—wasn’t the best idea.
This alpha could break her with his pinky, and wasn’t it always the cool and collected ones you had to worry about most? When they snapped, no one saw it coming.
Well, since she’d already talked back to the alpha, why not add a little more? She set her hands on her hips, taking on an aggressive stance. Or at least she thought it was an aggressive one. To Forest, she probably just looked silly. “And I am not staying with Henry. I’m coming with you.”
Okay, that last part? Totally unplanned.
Why would she want to go with them? Hello, danger. What if someone had taken Landon, and they took her, too? Seemed a bit far-fetched that anyone could take a shifter, because they seemed a lot tougher than humans, but with twenty-four of their pack missing, what else could be causing it?
As Maze shook his head and muttered something about how it was too dangerous for her, Forest sized her up. “We’ll see how fast you are then, on those short legs.”
Addie had conflicting thoughts then. Why didn’t he argue with her? Shouldn’t he have said something along the lines of I’m alpha, what I say goes? But drowning those thoughts out were others, ones that wondered what the heck he was talking about. Her short legs? She was five inches over five feet, kind of tall for a girl, and she’d seen Maze as a wolf, and his legs were even shorter.
Although, with body-to-leg ratio in per
spective, Maze’s wolf form had her.
Still. Her legs were not short.
Forest was the first to walk to the door, and Addie was about to argue with him, because again, not short, but Maze beat her to it. Though he didn’t argue about the length of her legs. “You’re letting her come?” He was aghast. “She’ll slow us down, and—”
“I will be there. If I cannot protect one obstinate pup, I don’t deserve my title.”
“I am not a pup,” Addie said, almost whining. She glared at Maze as he checked her out, the doom and gloom of his demeanor giving way to a small grin.
“You’re right there. You are not a pup.”
Rolling her eyes, she held back the urge to sock him on the side of the head. They reached the sidewalk, turning to walk through the residential streets and heading to the park, where a larger crowd had gathered.
Forest spoke without looking at either of them, “You will remain a pup until your wolf proves otherwise.”
Addie wanted to say more, to argue further, but she figured she’d already pushed her luck where he was concerned. Telling him she was going to leave was bad enough while not knowing who he was. Arguing with him now was plain disrespectful.
But he wasn’t her alpha; she wasn’t a part of his pack. She didn’t owe him anything, just like she didn’t owe Henry anything. She’d come here for herself, not them, and she would leave for herself as well. Her mother would help her with her wolf.
She would not leave, though, until they found Landon. For some reason, Addie felt awful for Dylan and Maze. She didn’t want to get their hopes up, only to dash them and crush them into the dirt with her heel. With Landon gone, they were already on edge and anxious. Adding to it would be cruel, and she wasn’t that kind of a person.
Some would argue she wasn’t a person at all. A shifter. A wolf.
Was someone hunting them because they were different?
Maze and Addie stood off to the side of the park, its green space full of people all talking and laughing, too busy with their own lives and stories to pay attention to the sidelines. With twenty-four wolves missing—twenty-five including Landon—surely it had to be on their minds constantly. Even one disappearance set human communities on edge.
Maybe, Addie realized, they were using her arrival as an excuse to have fun, to let go. Maybe they weren’t like this normally. Either way, she wouldn’t stick around and find out.
Forest came back with Dylan in tow, Henry moving swiftly behind them. Though there were two ridiculously cute guys around her, three if she counted Forest, which she really didn’t want to, Addie found herself unable to break away from the domineering expression the old man wore.
“You,” Henry said, pointing at her, “are coming with me. You will not be going on a goose chase, pup.”
Addie was so tired of everyone calling her a pup.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” she said, stepping backward, going along with Maze and Dylan when Forest moved away. Addie forced out a smile. “Enjoy your party.” It was a party for her, but she didn’t care.
The only wolves she cared about were the twins—not that she cared about them cared about them.
God. Was she in fifth grade or something? Her thoughts sounded immature and stupid, and she put all the blame on her inner wolf. The poor, sad-looking creature. It was all her fault Addie felt like this. Completely her fault.
Maze took the lead, bringing them through the forest surrounding the lake’s opposite side, near where Addie had first run into Forest unknowingly. His blond head bent toward the ground near a bushel of big-leafed plants she had no idea what they were. The leaves were practically as large as her head, flat and green. Some of the stalks were broken, but beyond that, Addie didn’t see anything else wrong.
“This is where I lost him,” Maze said.
“Did you turn?” Forest asked, watching as Maze shook his head once. “Maybe the wolves will sniff him out.” Something unspoken passed between them, and then Addie felt both uncomfortable and strangely in heaven.
They all started to undress, slipping off their shoes as they reached down and pulled off their shirts. So many abs. So much tan skin. All those muscles and veins. It was enough to make Addie lose all thought, forget why she was here, what they were doing. The masculinity, the testosterone, was thick in the air, so palpable it made her sweat.
What in the world was she doing here, in the woods, with three insanely attractive guys?
Just as Addie felt herself blushing, right when her cheeks started to burn, they went for the buttons on their pants. None of them looked at her, all too focused on undressing. None of the guys even turned away. She’d get an eyeful of each if she didn’t do the turning.
She should…she should probably turn around, right?
Yeah, yeah, she should.
Addie bit her lower lip as she spun on her heels, giving the undressing shifters her back. Seeing Maze naked was what had gotten her feelings so mixed up in the first place. She didn’t need to see anyone else without their clothes on. Not another dick and not another set of junk. No more butts. Especially not any of those parts belonging to Forest.
It was a line she would not cross, because it was weird. Weirder than her feelings for Maze and Dylan. Forest was…well, just because he was attractive didn’t mean anything. All the shifters were attractive. The men, the women. Everyone in the community looked like models, even the kids. Addie felt plain near them.
And she didn’t want to mention the whole hormone situation.
“Oh, you’re no fun.” It was Maze’s voice, all sarcastic and witty, trying to be funny. There was nothing funny about this. Naked guys? Absolutely nothing funny about it. One hundred percent serious. He said nothing else, and Addie waited a moment, tapping her fingers on her arms.
“Are you guys done?” she asked. When she received no reply, she was slow to flick her eyes over her shoulder. Maze had shifted, and judging from the blonde wolf standing near a pile of clothes with glasses on stop, so had Dylan. The final wolf, the alpha, had not, and she got an eyeful before she turned away, feeling her stomach tighten and heat up.
Oops. So much for no more nakedness, huh?
“A shy pup,” Forest spoke, staring hard at the back of her head. For a moment there, their eyes had met, which only made Addie more embarrassed. “Once your wolf comes out, we’ll see if you stay shy. Most don’t.”
Addie opened her mouth, ready to tell him off again, tell him she wasn’t staying, but no words came. Why was denying the pack becoming harder and harder with each passing hour? She didn’t like these wolves. Sure, they were handsome, but good looks weren’t everything. Just because they were all drop-dead gorgeous didn’t mean she’d lose all her sense and pledge herself to the pack.
The pack could screw themselves. Each of its members could screw themselves. Addie would have no part in the screwing, even if she felt her pulse racing every time one of the twins was near her. Even if she felt her stomach flipping and fluttering at what Forest had said.
She’d be insane if she wanted to stay here in this mess, multiple mates aside.
Still…Addie couldn’t help but wonder why she wasn’t already gone. How many times did she say she was out of here? How often did she tell herself she was leaving? She egged on fate the longer she stayed, doubly so the more time she spent with the guys.
Addie had a feeling she was in some deep trouble when it came to them.
Chapter Thirteen
Maze and Dylan were so similar, even as wolves. Honestly, Addie didn’t know what to expect, because all animals kind of looked the same to her. Their fur, their gait, the length of their tails—it was the exact same. A beautiful golden hue, just like their hair color, and their eyes remained dark, save for the metallic sheen that seemed to grace each wolf’s gaze. Strong, nimble creatures, with paw pads the size of her palms.
Maybe it was due to her wolf, but somehow Addie could tell them apart. She knew which one was Maze and which was Dylan, and
it wasn’t because of the way Dylan’s feet often tripped on things when he misjudged distances. His bad eyesight transposed into this form too, clearly.
No, it wasn’t because of that she knew. She just knew. Deep down, she knew. If she was asked how she knew, she’d be clueless about how to explain it, because she had no idea how she knew. She just did.
Ahead of them, Forest led. His wolf was the largest, its muscles the thickest. His snout was longer than Dylan’s and Maze’s, his teeth looking to be longer, too. Thick fur a few inches long, soft and black with a sheen, signaling its softness. Blue eyes with a reflective metallic hue, shiny and bright, intelligent and serious. His wolf was the picture of majestic. Compared to Dylan and Maze, she could see why he was alpha. Even as a wolf, he easily commanded everything and everyone around him.
She kind of wanted to pet him.
But Addie wouldn’t. She held back, knowing it was probably best not to pet the pack’s alpha.
Forest led them through the, well, through the forest. They weren’t quite running, nor were they walking. More like jogging, or fast walking. Power walking? Whatever it was called, Addie was able to keep up with the three wolves in front of her easily. Now, if they broke out into a run, then she’d lose them.
Although, she reminded herself, she did make the distance between her house and the pond in record time, so maybe she could keep up with them, at least for a while, before she lost her breath and had to stop. She’d rather not have it come to that.
They were a few miles or so past the point where the lake’s overlook was. The woods were denser here, thicker and heavier, their bark-covered trunks and branches nearly blotting out the entire sky. The smell of earth, of mud and dried leaves, filled the air. It wasn’t Addie’s favorite smell, but she liked it better than a few things.
Like a wet dog. There was nothing worse than the smell of wet dogs.
Hah. Because she was surrounded by wolves.
Limitless: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Crystal Lake Pack Book 1) Page 10
