Her wolf sat across from her, her eyes even greener than they were before, her tail wagging slowly. Thump, thump. Addie could see, hear and feel the movement of her wolf’s tail. Everything was intensified, amplified.
“Thank you,” Addie whispered. Even her voice sounded different. Softer but firmer, more confident and smooth. “I’ll be back for you soon.” It was a promise, a promise she would not break.
Addie let her hand slide from her wolf’s chest as she closed her eyes. Once again, she focused on her breathing, on getting back to the real world. It was only a few seconds until she no longer smelled the forest’s scent of earthy nature, no longer heard her wolf’s slow and steady humming of breath through her snout. When she opened her eyes, she was back in the horror cabin, though she’d admit it looked a lot less scary now the blood was all gone.
Beside her, Landon’s head sprung up fast. A lot faster than she thought him capable of, given his grievous wounds. His metallic stare was wide open, and his thoughts raced. Addie knew exactly what he thought too, because…
Because she was as one with her wolf as she could be without actually shifting. Because she felt everything her wolf felt and thought everything her wolf thought. Every instinct, each and every impulse, Addie now had.
Landon couldn’t really sense her inner wolf before. The others could, only slightly. Now, it was glaringly obvious what she was—a female shifter. A female shifter with no mates. Deep down, Addie knew the word: unclaimed. This would change things, she knew. Speed certain things up.
Right now, though, she had to focus on getting out.
Addie slowly turned her gaze away from Landon, meeting the stare of the other wolf on the outside of the cages. Rufus, as he was so un-aptly named, had gotten up and crept toward the cage, his head low, hiding his scar. His green eyes were vibrant, hungry, and his mouth was parted, revealing sharp teeth.
Could she use the wolf’s instincts to override Clay’s command over him?
As she thought about this, she was stunned as Landon leapt to his feet, hackles raising. A deep growl left his chest, rumbling like the animal he was trapped as. He acted a lot quicker than she thought he was capable of, given his injuries. Landon moved between Addie and the other wolf, snarling viciously.
He was strangely protective of the girl he’d said wasn’t that pretty. But of course now wasn’t the time for Addie to ruminate about it. She had to get them both out of here, as soon as she could.
“He’s going to kill us all,” Addie said, trying to talk around the snarling and growling fest that was currently happening. “You, me, Landon. It doesn’t matter. Once he has what he wants, he’ll get rid of you. You’ll be lucky to have a grave like the ones outside.”
The other wolf flicked his green eyes at her, his tail swishing back and forth, claws extended into the wooden floor, each nail digging a tiny hole. He knew she spoke the truth, but he could not go against Clay’s orders…even if he was suddenly so very curious and desiring of Addie.
The wolf snapped his jaws. His anger was palpable. Whatever had happened to him, he no longer thought like a man. He thought like a wolf. And right now, his wolf wanted her, wanted to claim her.
It was something, Addie knew, that was going to tick her off. If the men started acting all dominant and alpha around her? She wasn’t afraid to tell them off. She’d tell them off while tucking away the part of her, the part of her wolf, that wanted the same.
Because, as weird as it was—and it was hella weird—Addie was drawn to both wolves before her. She wouldn’t go so far as to say she was attracted to them, hello bestiality, but the line was near. It was just her wolf being frisky, or trying to.
Again, now was not the time.
Addie crawled around Landon, which did not make the wolf happy, but she didn’t care. She had to reach the stranger, had to talk to the person locked somewhere inside of the blonde beast. “What’s your name?” she whispered, watching as the scarred wolf slowly lowered his hackles, clamping his jaw shut. “Oh, don’t be like that. I know your name isn’t Rufus. You’re more of a…Jordan. Or a Jack.”
At that, the wolf froze.
She held onto the bars, holding herself as close to the metal as she could without actually being outside of it. “Jack? Is your name Jack?” Had she really gotten it right in two guesses? Darn, she was good. She was so freaking good she was smoking. “Jack, let us get out of here. Let us go. I can see you in there, I know you can hear me.” Addie whispered, “I know you’re not just your wolf.”
The last sentence seemed to get to him. He looked at her through the bars, no longer growling or wearing an aggressive stance. He shook his head ever so gently, a gesture Addie barely noticed. He was telling her no.
No, he couldn’t help them escape, or no, he was just his wolf?
Addie had to keep going, had to keep on this. If she gave up…she couldn’t. One of her hands slipped through the bars, and she inched it closer to the scarred wolf outside. Beside her, Landon shook his head, not thinking it was a good idea.
Well, she was out of ideas, and pleading with their captor was as good of one as any. If she got reassurance Jack wouldn’t follow or chase them, she could use her newfound shifter muscles to break out of the cage.
Her wolf’s power, her wolf’s instincts. All of it was hers, except the form.
Reaching out to touch the wolf who seemed a bit unstable was not the best idea, but she had no other options. If Jack bit her, if he hurt her…in the long run it might not matter, if she and Landon didn’t get out of here.
“Jack,” she whispered, her voice smooth and calming. “Jack, it’s okay.” Soothing a wolf was not something she’d ever done before, but there was a first time for everything. The scarred wolf stood a few feet from the cage, his head down. “Come here.” Egging him closer was the last thing she wanted to do, but when he wasn’t puffed up and growling, flashing his fangs, he didn’t seem too frightening.
Clay had the reigns on that.
The wolf was tentative in meeting her hand, but he did. Addie spread her fingers out in his fur, its lengths much coarser and rougher than Landon’s, probably because, until he was brought here, Landon was healthy. Who knew what Clay was feeding Jack, or if it was just the result of the spell controlling him.
“That’s it,” Addie reassured the wolf, watching as his eyelids lowered. He pushed against her hand, and she ran her nails through his blonde fur. “That’s it,” she said again, a strange humming moving through her body. A pulsating of energy, invisible to the naked eye. It thrummed up her arm and down her spine.
The spell. Addie had to feel the spell, whatever link was between Clay and Jack. Just like when she felt the barrier—she knew it was there.
And if she could feel it, she could break it.
Addie couldn’t say how or why, but she knew she could. With her wolf as much a part of her as she could be, Addie felt stronger, more confident. Something she would have gawked at before now seemed within reach. Or, more apropos, already in reach.
Finding a way out of the barrier would be her next priority. For now, she had to get her and Landon out of this cage.
“I feel it,” she said, causing Landon’s wolfish head to cock quizzically and Jack to whimper under her hand. “I think I can do it, but I don’t know how long it’ll last. Jack, you have to help me. You have to fight him off as much as you can.” Addie didn’t know if fighting off Clay’s spells was possible, given how easily Landon had succumbed. Then again, Landon was injured and probably half-delirious, so there was that.
Jack let out a low whine under her hand, as if telling her he couldn’t.
“You have to try,” Addie said, eyes squeezed shut. The energy swirling through her were waves of undeniable power, almost strong enough to make her nervous. What if she couldn’t do it? What if Clay was alerted the instant she severed the spell? It didn’t matter. This was her only chance.
Addie let out a steady breath, focusing on the sound of her exhale and th
e thrumming of energy around her, inside her. Though she never withdrew her hand from Jack’s head, never reached for the energy physically, the only way she could describe it was like plucking a harp. One thread out of dozens spun. One spell had Jack under Clay’s control. Different from the one he’d used on Landon—that one was temporary.
The one attached to Jack? Permanent, or meant to last until the wolf no longer drew breath. The only way to fully sever this particular spell would be to kill either Jack or Clay, and both were not possible and not probable.
Addie could only do her best.
Her eyebrows furrowed, and with her mind’s eye, she plucked the string that connected Clay to Jack. Yanked on it as hard and as fast as she could. The spell loosened, but it did not break. Addie didn’t think she was strong enough to fully sever the spell. Untrained, a blind girl stumbling around in a world full of magic.
Feeling the pulsing around her, Addie gave it one last yank, as sharp and as strong as her mind could. She put everything she was behind it, everything she could be, everything she wanted to be. She put her all behind it, and she was rewarded with a telltale implosion of invisible energy.
The spell broke.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Addie felt a headache immediately start raging in her skull, but she pushed the pain away the moment she felt the spell snap in two. Her eyes flew open, and she stared at the wide-eyed wolf outside the bars. Jack was free, no longer under Clay’s control.
Whether or not he could turn into a man again, well, that was another matter, one Addie didn’t think she could help.
“It’s done,” she hurriedly told Landon, who stood, still baring his teeth at Jack, albeit silently. She crawled around Landon, feeling the cage door, gripping the bars and shaking them once. They didn’t have much time; they had to get out now. The bars actually rattled when she shook them. Muscles sat on her arms, harder and stronger than they were before.
Addie, new and improved. Addie, 2.0.
If her arms were stronger, so were her legs.
She leaned back after removing her arms from the bars, pulling back her right leg and sending her foot upon the gate. Again and again. Each time it rattled more. Addie could’ve opened it, maybe, if she’d concentrated like she had with Jack, but she could hardly think. Breaking that spell had nearly broken her.
Something warm and thick oozed from her nose, and Addie knew what it was without touching it. She didn’t need to. She just hoped the blood wouldn’t get on her jean jacket. Any other clothing was fine, but not her jacket. Anything but her precious jacket.
She gave the door one more kick, one more violent push with her foot, and the door opened, the lock breaking. “Come on,” Addie said, the first to crawl out. “We need to get out of here before…” She stood on her feet, swaying. “Before…”
Okay, it seemed she was unable to say anything after that particular word.
She lurched toward the door of the cabin, pushing it open, feeling the instant breeze of fresh, unspoiled air. It almost was enough to make Addie not feel like falling over and passing out, but the feeling of utter exhaustion sank into her bones. Her legs and feet weighed ten tons each as she tripped herself, stumbling onto the grass outside of the murder cabin.
“We have to…” A drop of blood seeped from her upper lip, falling to the green grass. Addie stared at it for the longest time, unable to move. Her fingers froze, tensing. Her heart constricted in her chest, trembling, fighting to work. “…go.” Beside her, Landon stood on all fours, but she couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t move her eyes from the bright red stain on the grass.
On her other side, a second wolf stood—Jack. The two wolves growled at each other, and Addie wanted to yell at them both, because they didn’t have time for this, not to mention she didn’t have the energy, but her voice did not come.
A strong, undeniable wave of energy pushed out from behind her, nearly knocking her over, though it hardly seemed to affect either of the wolves beside her. It took every ounce of strength still in her body to turn her neck and glance over her shoulder.
The cabin was gone. In its place sat a green, flat field, as if the cabin had never been there in the first place. However, the cut stumps and the hand-made crosses remained, signaling it had been a reality.
Was Clay gone? Did he leave—and if so, why? His work was not done, whatever messed-up, twisted goals he had. Addie knew something wasn’t right here, but she was too sick to think about it more. She retched into the grass, heaving up mostly stomach bile, yellow and disgusting.
Both wolves ceased their growling fest, moving their heads beneath her arms, trying to get her to move, to go. If this was some kind of trick, it was only a matter of time before Clay showed himself. Maybe the bastard just wanted to see what Addie was capable of.
Addie got to her feet, mostly with the help from Landon and Jack, and she made it past her puke. A sharp pounding practically brought her to her knees right after. Her vision went black, and she hardly felt the ground as she collapsed, unconsciousness taking her before either of the wolves could nudge her.
Blackness.
A cold, barren wasteland of emptiness.
The absolute void, numb and freezing, endless in its expanse.
Addie felt so very cold, so sorrowful. How did she get here? Why was she here? Did she deserve this end? With whatever consciousness she had, she knew it wasn’t right. This wasn’t the end. But it was nothing.
How could nothing feel so cold?
Did she die? Was this what death was like? An ever-expansive blackness, nothing and nothing for miles. It was depressing.
Just as she started to let the depression swallow her whole, Addie was thrown back into her body, jerking awake, staring at the sunny sky as her eyes adjusted. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her blood pumping so fast it practically sprinted through her veins.
They’d moved her to her back, and a man’s face appeared, blocking her view of the blue sky. A man’s beaten, bruised face. Scruffy brown hair, falling over a pair of sapphire eyes, a deeper blue than the sky. Landon.
Landon had shifted back. Whatever magic Clay had used to keep him in his wolf form was long gone. Addie tried to smile, but it might’ve been a grimace. Finally, things around here could go back to normal—not that she knew what normal was for this pack—and she could tell everyone her decision.
Her mother was going to kill her if she found out how badly Addie had been injured and she still wanted to stay. But now Addie had accepted a part of her wolf—most of her wolf, save the form—how was she supposed to leave? She felt more connected to them all, even if they weren’t near her.
Heck. Addie even kind of liked Landon better.
Or maybe it was just because they’d escaped from near death together.
Landon leaned over her, his naked body covered in cuts and wounds. And not only injuries from Clay’s hand, Addie realized, but also bite marks. Claw marks. If she had anything to guess, which she currently had nothing to her name, Addie would say Clay had set Jack on him, maybe to will him into submission.
Not will.
Fight.
“Don’t worry,” Landon spoke, his voice raw, “you’ll be okay. The pack is coming.” He glanced up, away from her, giving her a good view of his neck and chin, of his jawline. God, he had a nice jaw…or maybe it was her deliriousness talking.
“The pack?” she asked. The two tiny words were more difficult to speak than anything she’d ever spoken in her entire life. She sounded as bad as Landon, as weak and as tired. “No,” she started, grimacing as she spoke, “the barrier will—”
Landon shushed her, turning his gaze back to her. “They got through.” Still leaning over her, he wiped her hair out of her face.
They got through? The only way they’d get through was if Clay let them or if there was no barrier at all. She was too tired, too weary, too frigging exhausted to ask how. Addie laid on her back on the grass, and she fought to keep her eyes open.
&n
bsp; It would be better, she thought, to let sleep take her. True, dreamless sleep. No visions, no nightmares, no black worlds of endless expanses. Just sleep. Sadly, sleep did not take her. Addie felt like crap, and still sleep would not have her in its embrace just yet.
Landon’s gaze on her lifted, and he shouted, “Forest! Over here.”
Addie could smell the arrival of the other wolves, could hear their footsteps—which before, they’d been nearly silent. Her wolf’s senses were much stronger than her human ones. Then again, her human senses weren’t so human after all, were they? Her mother had some explaining to do when it came to her father.
“Oh, my God,” Maze spoke, strained. “What is this place?” No doubt he was staring at the rows of crosses stuck in the ground, graves for his fellow shifters. “What happened? And who the hell is that?”
“That,” Landon answered, “is a long story. One I can tell you after we get out of here.”
Addie struggled to sit up, but her arms shook, and she could barely hold herself up. She watched as the rest of the wolves scoured the area, looking for any clues as to what had happened here. They would find none. Maze and Forest were at her side in an instant, and she could tell it took everything the wolves had to not focus on the dozens of crosses.
Jack, the scarred lone wolf, stood nearby, his green eyes heavy on Addie. He barely even glanced at the others. If he’d been helping Clay all along, if it was his bite marks on Landon’s body…the pack would not treat him nicely. Addie wasn’t sure what the pack would do with him, though she knew she would have to stand in his defense, since he could not do it himself. After she’d broken the spell, he’d helped them. He deserved another chance, didn’t he?
Addie felt something stir within her as Maze and Forest knelt around her. A good feeling, a warmth that spread throughout every limb and muscle, a strong yearning, an animalistic desire she didn’t have before. Or, maybe she did, and she just didn’t realize it. Whatever it was, it was new and almost impossible to resist.
Limitless: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Crystal Lake Pack Book 1) Page 17
