A Ravenous Pack: Wolf's Hunger 5 Books

by A. K. Michaels

  “Will you just spit it out?” Rafe ground out, the hunger inside him taking hold again.

  “You have to go and find someone,” his mom whispered.

  “What are you talking about? Find who?” Rafe blurted out, annoyance at his mother’s cryptic words.

  “She’ll be somewhere near, Son, but you need to go and seek her out. She . . .”

  “She who?” Rafe shook his head. “Mom, you’re rambling.”

  Ellie looked at Jacy then back at her son, her face defiant as she dropped the bombshell. “Your mate. The hunger is a sign your mate is near and she needs you.”

  Jacy looked dumbstruck as Rafe jumped up, his chair toppling over as he glowered down at his mom. “Don’t be so stupid. I don’t want a mate. I don’t need a mate.”

  His mother looked up at him, determination in her eyes. “Son, you may not want one but you do need one and if you don’t find her soon, you’ll be lost to the hunger for goodness knows how long. I’ve heard that it can actually drive a man insane. So please, listen to me and go and find her.”

  Rafe shook his head, denial running through him like hot lava. “You’re wrong.”

  Jacy stood and looked about to say something so Rafe about turned and left, heading back to the forest to unleash his Wolf.

  Jacy stared open-mouthed as Rafe disappeared. “Ellie, are you sure about this?”

  “Yes,” Ellie rose, wringing her hands with worry. “Jacy Runningwolf, you are Beta of this Pack and it’s your duty to make that hard-headed son of mine see sense. If you don’t, I fear for him, and the Pack.”

  “How can you be so sure though?” Jacy prodded.

  “I just am,” Ellie scowled at the Beta. “I mean it. It’s your responsibility to get him to go and find his mate. If he doesn’t then he’ll be no use to anyone and we might lose him forever to his beast.”

  “That serious, huh?” Jacy asked quietly.

  “Yes,” Ellie replied, her face white with worry. “Please, go and try to talk some sense into him.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Jacy headed out, pausing at the door to look at his Alpha’s tense mother. “I’ll have to make a quick stop to get Levi to take over for me and I’ll let Ali know too. She’s always wanted more responsibility and this is as good a time as any.”

  “Thank you,” Ellie said with relief.

  “I’ll make him see sense if it’s the last thing I do.” Jacy stopped, running a hand through his hair. “And with the mood he’s in it very well might be the last thing I do.”

  “He has to see sense,” Ellie said firmly. “He is Alpha and the Pack needs him. I’m sure that he’ll know that when the time comes.”

  “I just hope that he realizes it before ripping my head off.” Jacy said, shrugging. “I’ve got a feeling this isn’t going to be easy.”

  “Nothing that’s worth a damn is ever easy,” Ellie said firmly. “Wait, how’s your father? I know you went to see him last week but I’ve not had the chance to ask you.”

  Jacy shook his head sadly. “Still mad at Mom for not marrying him and he hasn’t got passed the fact I’m Wolf.”

  Ellie’s eyes softened. “Your mother did the right thing, honey. Your father wasn’t her mate and things would’ve ended badly. She could never have lived with him and, well, if he doesn’t accept you for what you are . . .”

  “You mean not a full-blood Native American,” Jacy answered angrily.

  “There’s that plus the fact you’re Wolf,” Ellie replied fondly. “But look how far you’ve come within the Pack. You’re Beta and that’s something to be proud of.”

  “I am proud of being Rafe’s Beta but my father doesn’t seem to understand.”

  “I’m sorry, honey.” Ellie walked over, patting Jacy’s shoulder. “You belong here, with the Pack, and your mom loves you, no matter what.”

  “I know.” Jacy nodded, his eyes still sad.

  “You’ve got an important mission to do right now.” Ellie raised an eyebrow. “Now scoot.”

  “I’m going,” Jacy retorted, his feet moving slowly out of the cabin. “Damn, I hope he’s calmed down by the time I reach him.”

  “What? Who?” Alinka, or Ali as they all called her, asked as Jacy came around the side of the cabin. “What’s up? You look worried, Jacy.”

  “No,” Jacy said far too quickly, Ali’s eyebrows raising as she stared hard at him. “I’ve just got a lot to do and I was just coming to find you. Can you take over scheduling our Sentries? I might be out of camp for a while and want to ensure that’s taken care of.”

  Ali broke into a huge smile, her short hair framing her face making her look far younger than she truly was. “Are you serious? Of course I will.”

  “Yes, I’m serious, now go and get things organized.” Jacy watched as she spun away excited. “Wait, have you seen Levi?”

  “Yeah,” Ali flung over her shoulder, not slowing down as she sped away. “He’s over at the Healer’s, she wants him to go find some plants for her to use. You know he’s the best at that.”

  “Thanks.” Jacy headed toward the other side of camp, moments later finding Levi as he left their Healer’s cabin.

  “Morning,” Levi greeted Jacy, his blonde curly hair a mess, as usual, his hand tucking some stray locks behind his ear. “You need me for something? I’ve got a list here from . . .”

  Jacy didn’t have time so cut him off. “I need you to take over for a bit. Rafe and I have something we need to attend to.”

  “Sure.” Levi’s face grew serious. “Can I help?”

  “No, we’ve got it covered, but if you can take care of things here I’d appreciate it.”

  “All right.” Levi frowned, his blue eyes piercing as he sized Jacy up. “Anything I need to be worried about?”

  “No,” Jacy lied easily. “Everything’s all right.”

  “Okay,” Levi replied, his stare following Jacy as he walked toward the forest.

  He didn’t like lying to his friend but there was no point in worrying anyone and if Levi was thinking about Rafe then his mind wouldn’t be on the job at hand. Taking care of the Pack came first so Jacy didn’t enlighten him. He knew Levi was aware of the lie. The scent of it had hung between them, but Levi knew better than to press him. If Jacy was holding something back then that was his right as Beta and Levi knew the rule: obey.

  As soon as he entered the trees, Jacy undressed, wrapping his clothes in a bundle and hanging them from a branch. His transformation was quick, not as quick as Rafe’s, but then again, nobody could transform like the Alpha. He heard his bones break, moving within his body to take the form of his dark brown Wolf.

  Once complete he shook his body, the fur rippling as he raised his head and sniffed. Catching the scent of his Alpha, Jacy took off at a fast pace, hoping against hope that he could talk some sense into Rafe.

  He was under no illusions that it would be easy. Rafe could be hard-headed and stubborn, but if Ellie was telling the truth, Jacy had no option but to force his Alpha to go in search of the mate that his mother was certain was near.

  “Good luck with that,” he told himself as his beast loped through the forest silently.

  Tasha jogged deeper into the woods, her pursuers not as far behind her as she’d thought, chastising herself softly. “Lazy bones, you shouldn’t have slept so long.”

  She was exhausted, the “long” sleep had lasted all of four hours and she’d been on the run for weeks. Her heart ached as her mind filled with visions of her parents being slaughtered. They were so weak when the rogues attacked that they didn’t stand a chance. The mysterious illness that ravaged her Pack was something none of them had witnessed before and nobody knew how to combat it.

  As the illness struck their Alpha had done everything he could, working with their Healers to help those struck down. Only a few weren’t affected and Tasha was one of those. Her mother said she was “blessed” and “lucky” not to have fallen to the illness but Tasha felt anything but.

  She nursed
her parents as best she could, for five whole days, as they grew weaker and weaker. Then the rogues arrived.

  A group of only twenty or so but it was enough to decimate her beloved Pack.

  With even the Alpha lying sick in his bed the rogues had swarmed through the camp, picking off her friends as they went. She’d grabbed her father’s shotgun, standing guard at their bedroom door, waiting for the end to come.

  She wasn’t stupid. Tasha knew she’d die but she’d have the pleasure of taking at least a couple with her. Then her mom had to go and spoil her plans for a big exit, making her grab some clothes and sneak out the back and into the forest.

  Damn! She’d fought her mother until her mom did something Tasha had never witnessed before: she cried.

  Her mother actually cried. Shoot. How could she argue with her when she did that? She couldn’t.

  Tasha had grabbed some clothes, water, and a few precious items, stuffing them into a backpack and handing over the shotgun to her mom. The twisted smile her mother gave her tore at her heart and she swore she could hear it break inside her.

  “Mom!” she’d implored. “Please don’t make me do this.”

  “Tasha Montgomery! You’ll do as you’re told, missy.” Her mom’s voice was strong again, holding that air of command she used whenever Tasha didn’t want to do something. “Not only do I need to know you’re alive. You, my darling, have to warn other Packs. There’s something not right about any of this and I’m scared to think that this is just the beginning. Others could be in danger, baby, it’s your duty to alert them to what happened here.”

  Tasha’s eyes blurred with tears as her mom reached for her, giving her one last kiss before ordering her to run. “Run as fast as you can and get the hell away from here. Live for me, baby, please.”

  She kissed her mom’s cheek, then her unconscious father’s, and slipped out as quietly as she could. The rogues were near, in the very next cabin, as Tasha slipped into the dense trees. She’d barely ran a hundred yards when she heard the first loud boom of the shotgun, quickly followed by another, then nothing.

  Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle the scream that almost erupted from her throat. Fury and fear fighting for pole position inside her. Her Wolf urged her on and she doubted she would’ve escaped if not for her beast. It pressed her onward when all she wanted to do was curl up and die.

  Tasha was stubborn, and full of rage, so she pressed on, running away from her home and those she loved. She didn’t stop for two days and it was when she woke on the third that she heard them behind her. They must’ve found her tracks and they’d been on her tail ever since.

  She wasn’t sure how many were trailing her but it was more than a couple. Sometimes their voices reached her enhanced ears and she could make out at least four or five distinct tones. Tasha knew she wouldn’t have a chance against that many and cursed herself for not thinking to bring her handgun with her.

  A Wolf with a gun? Yeah, Tasha was a crack-shot and sometimes competed in competitions, that was until her dad found out. He’d given her hell for entering human matches, telling her she was cheating because of her enhanced abilities.

  Tasha knew that was right, but she hadn’t done it to win the prizes. She just liked the thrill of seeing how well she could do.

  With everything that had been going on she’d forgot the dang thing. If she hadn’t she might’ve been tempted to stalk her pursuers and see if she could take a few out. One bullet to the brain would do it. Nothing less would kill a Wolf but she was the best in the Pack with a handgun and she was sure she could’ve pulled it off.

  “Stupid, stupid,” she berated herself as she thought of it lying around doing nothing as she fought to survive.

  At least she wasn’t starving. The area she was in now was prolific with wildlife and she hunted every chance she got. In her Wolf form she’d just gobble her kill down, no need for cooking. That was one way of keeping one step ahead of the rogues on her tail. No fire, no smoke, so they couldn’t quite hone in on where she was.

  They were doing it the old-fashioned way, tracking, and Tasha was managing to stay ahead of them. Until now. Now they were right behind her and she had to get her ass in gear or they’d catch her.

  She shivered as she jogged, the thought of their hands on her almost causing her to throw up. Tasha didn’t want to think about what a group of rogues would do to her if they caught her.

  Her long auburn hair flew around her head as she picked up speed but she didn’t slow to tie it up. She didn’t even have time to pee and she desperately needed to.

  “Don’t think about it,” she whispered to herself, wishing she could stop and cross her legs.

  “Come on, Tash, move!”

  Tasha jerked. Those last words weren’t hers. She hadn’t said those and the urgency and tone were just as if her mother was right next to her, urging her on. “Mom?” she muttered, tears suddenly filling her eyes.

  Silence. No more words of encouragement and the only thing she could hear were the rogues in the distance. Tasha drew a deep breath in, forcing her legs to move faster as she ran through an area she didn’t know, scared she’d lose track of where she was going and end up running smack bang into those that chased her.

  “Stop it,” she rebuked herself again. “One foot in front of the other and keep going.”

  She tried to figure things out, again, wondering about the illness that had decimated her Pack, and just how did the rogues know when to attack? There was more to this than she knew but in order to get to the bottom of things there was one thing she had to do: survive.

  Tasha knew there was a Pack in the area, she’d heard about it from the Beta when he’d been sent to do some business for her Alpha. She wasn’t exactly sure where they were but it was in this general direction. She hoped she’d come across them soon so she could alert them to the threat and they could also take care of the asswipes behind her.

  That was the plan anyway.

  If she survived long enough and didn’t get caught. “Not happening,” she told herself firmly as she continued on.

  Tasha pushed all thoughts of her parents, and her Pack, from her mind, focusing on her escape and allowing herself to dream of seeing the rogues behind her getting ripped apart. Now that would be justice.

  Rafe ran swiftly through the trees, the scent of prey invading every pore of his Wolf body. His massive paws eating up the distance between him and his quarry. One thought alone spinning around in his head: hunger.

  Jacy was behind him, not near enough for him to care, his beast leaving his Beta to trail after him as it raced after more food. More, more, more!

  Rafe knew things were getting out of hand, subconsciously, but he didn’t seem able to stop. His Wolf craved prey and he couldn’t get it back under control. He pounced high into the air, landing on the back of a coyote, making quick work of ripping its throat out.

  As soon as it lay dead beneath him his beast tore into it, ravenous as bloodlust flew through him.

  When he’d devoured his kill he raised his head, Jacy standing in human form watching him closely.

  “Alpha!” Jacy held up his hands in front of him. “We need to talk.”

  Rafe shook his head, black fur rippling over his beast but his Beta wasn’t giving up.

  “Alpha, change so we can talk.”

  Reluctantly Rafe transformed, scowling at his friend. “What?”

  Jacy stepped closer, his eyes full of concern as Rafe paced back and forth. “Do you know how many that is? Or how long we’ve been out here, away from the Pack?”

  Rafe stopped, shaking his head. “No.”

  “That,”—Jacy nodded to the bloody remains on the forest floor—“is your tenth kill in the past two days.”

  “Can’t be,” Rafe denied.

  “It is,” Jacy confirmed. “We’ve been away from camp for more than forty-eight hours, Rafe. This has to stop and you need to do what your mother told you. It’s either that or you’ll no longer be Alpha. A Pa
ck needs their Alpha there, present, dealing with stuff, not running around like a wild animal for days on end.”

  Jacy stepped back, his body tensing as if he expected Rafe to attack.

  Rafe admitted he felt like punching his friend, his hands clenching into fists at his side. It was at that precise moment everything his Beta had said made it through the fog in his mind.

  “Shit,” Rafe spat out. “You’re right. I’ve no idea what’s going on.”

  “Yes, you do.” Jacy stepped forward again, his friend’s voice full of worry. “Your mom is certain about what’s happening to you and after watching you these past two days, I agree with her. So, I guess you need to take heed, my friend. Either that or lose your Pack.”

  Rafe stopped, facing his best friend and Beta, emotions rolling through him that he’d never experienced before. His Wolf howled in his head, so loud his hands flew to his ears. “Shut up!” he scolded it. “I need to think.”

  “I’ll stay quiet so long as you agree to think about this,” Jacy said quietly.

  “Not you,” Rafe tried to explain. “My beast is acting nuts.”

  “Ya don’t think?” Jacy said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

  Rafe started pacing again. His Pack meant everything to him, nothing could stand in the way of his being a good Alpha, but he had to admit he’d been anything but for the past week. He could count on his fingers the hours he’d spent in camp and that wasn’t how an Alpha should act. He knew that, deep down, but this damn hunger had taken over and now he had to regain control.

  “How do I do it?” he asked his friend slowly.

  “Not sure about that part. But I’d start with accepting what your mom said and get your beast on board.”

  “I’m not ready for a mate,” Rafe admitted his innermost fear. “I wouldn’t know how to treat one and what if she doesn’t want me?”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Jacy replied curtly. “A soul-mate is the one person made for us, the only person we can be happy with. If you find her then she’ll want you as much as you want her. Simple.”