The Struggle: Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 2

by C. C. Masters

  A second lamia stayed in the arena with them to act as a referee and the fight started with a blow of his whistle. The red-head attempted a front kick but Grayson caught his ankle. The lamia managed to break free but caught a couple of jabs and a body shot from Grayson while he was trying to recover his balance. The lamia aimed an outside leg kick at Grayson, who countered with a low kick and they traded blows. I winced when Grayson caught a vicious jab from the lamia that re-opened the cut on his face. The wound only seemed to energize Gray, though, because he used the lamia’s next attempt at a head kick to take him off balance and brought him down to the mat. They grappled back and forth and it was difficult to see who had the upper hand from my angle.

  I flicked my eyes back as I heard Mary greet someone new coming onto the balcony with us, but Dr. Green urged me to stay lying down. I tried to roll my eyes back and see who the newcomer was, but all I heard was a feminine voice. I huffed out an irritated sigh and turned my attention back to Gray’s fight. It looked like he had gotten the upper hand but the red-head was still wrestling for dominance. The female behind me started chanting and I felt a strange draw on my energy. It was a good thing I was already lying down.

  Grayson shook his head as if he were trying to break free of something and the lamia used his distraction to twist Gray around and get him in a chokehold. I reached out for Grayson with our bond, but my energy was sucked away just as quickly as I could pull it forward. My head drooped down even further and I heard the ref down below call the fight as a victory for the lamia.

  “Interesting,” I heard Dr. Green murmur as the female’s chanting behind me stopped. “I think this was enough for today, Lori,” he told me brightly. “Mary, you can set her free.”

  Mary helped me to sit up and started to pull all the electrodes off me. I looked back to the mysterious female now that I could turn my head enough to see her. She was a pretty dark-haired girl a few years older than me, holding a green stone that’s glowing slightly. “Thanks for the top-up,” she said with a grin as she held up her rock.

  “Thank you, Jade,” Dr. Green said pointedly. “We’ll discuss the results of our experiment later.

  Jade pouted. “Wysteria told us that we were supposed to have access to the wolves at least once a month.”

  Dr. Green shrugged. “What I’m doing is more important. If you have a problem, you can take it up with the others.”

  Jade scowled but didn’t argue. I wasn’t sad to see her leave the balcony and disappear down the hallway. It took a lot less time for Mary to pull all the electrodes off me than it had for her to put them all on. “Can I go down and take care of Grayson?” I asked as she pulled the last one off.

  Dr. Green looked up with a frown. “Let’s call Grayson up here instead. I’d rather not have you exposed to the general population just yet.”

  Grayson looked up at me as if he could feel the weight of our gazes. I could see the exhaustion in his eyes and I knew it was from more than just the fights. Jade had done something to us with the crystal. Had her spell tapped into our pack bond somehow? Had she drawn Grayson’s energy out through me?

  I narrowed my eyes at Dr. Green as he left me on the balcony with a friendly wave. Not for the first time, I contemplated what he was really doing with us. He had given us a song and dance about the lamia, witches, and wolves not getting along because we didn’t understand each other. He had promised us that our work here would foster good relations between our races and make us more cohesive as a group of supernaturals. But I had the feeling that he was using us for a completely different purpose.

  “Wait there,” Grayson told me with the bond. “I’ll be up in a minute and then we can go.”

  Grayson fist bumped a bunch of the lamia down below and some looked disappointed that he was leaving so early. About a third of the group wasn’t openly hostile, but they lacked the friendliness of the others. I was betting those were the lamia who weren’t fond of wolves. I wonder how long it had taken Gray to win over the lamia that he had so far. He had lived here before the guys got the firehouse and had been working with Dr. Green and the others for months.

  Had all of the lamia been hostile before? Maybe we were doing a little bit of good here. Either way, I was more than ready to be done with the lamia for today. I just wished that the rest of the day involved curling up on the couch, not going to a high school pep rally.

  Chapter 12

  Grayson

  I stayed downstairs while Lori showered away all the gunk that Mary had put in her hair. She had shot me a dirty look when I told her she looked adorable with her dark curls barely contained with her hairband. I was gentleman enough to let her have the first shower and most of the hot water, but not so much that I wasn’t picturing what she looked like right now. Naked. In the shower. Water flowing down her soft curves.

  I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t noticed how her curves were starting to fill out more since she’d been with us. Kannon made an effort to cook the foods she liked on a regular basis and Lori wasn’t shy about eating a full meal in front of us. But she was a wolf, so she needed the calories.

  I tried to distract myself with Kannon’s laptop, but that was failing. Kannon, Corey, and Wyatt had already gone to the damn pep rally so it was just Lori and me alone here. The water shut off upstairs and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to picture her toweling off. It didn’t work.

  By the time she came downstairs in fresh clothes and damp hair, I was more than ready for my turn in the shower. Lori gave me a shy smile and walked over to where I was sitting. “Hey, your face looks like it’s healing already.”

  I grinned up at her. “Good thing I had you to bandage me up earlier.” Lori had carefully and tenderly cleaned up the cuts and scrapes I had received in the fights and insisted on covering the wounds with bandaids. I looked ridiculous, but it was nice to have her fussing over me. The softness in her eyes and the affection in her touch had only made me crave more from her.

  It wasn’t just that she was a beautiful female wolf that had fallen into our laps. Lori was kind, smart, and brave. She had the heart of a fighter but let her self-doubt cloud her mind too often. I was hoping to be able to get her past that with time. I wanted her to be able to look in the mirror and see the same thing that I did. And I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want to see her standing next to me.

  Lori slid into a chair opposite me. “Hey, are we going to talk about what the witches were doing?”

  I shrugged uncomfortably. “What they always do, siphoning magic from us to use for their spells.” When we made this deal with the lamia, we hadn’t expected the witches to be a part of it. I didn’t like the shit that they pulled, but I was willing to suffer through whatever it took to keep my pack safe. As hard as it might seem to believe, there was a better chance of all of us staying alive under the lamia’s thumb than there was if we were wandering the country as a group of lone wolves. Other packs would view us as a threat and be tempted to hunt us down. And now that we had Lori? I wasn’t about to risk her future just to save myself.

  “What kind of spells, though?” she questioned me with a worried look on her face. “And doesn’t it bother you that they did it without permission?”

  I gave her a wry look. “You forget that we had to live there for several months. They did a lot of things to us without permission.”

  Lori looked horrified so I leaned forward to comfort her. I hated seeing that look on her face. “Hey,” I said softly. “I would never let them hurt you. If you don’t want to go back, then you don’t have to.” I didn’t care what part of myself I had to bargain away to keep her safe and happy.

  Lori lifted her chin. “I’m not worried about me. I don’t like that you could have gotten hurt. If the witch had taken too much of your energy or distracted you at the wrong time…that was dangerous.”

  I sighed. “They still need us for whatever reasons, they won’t risk really harming us.” I hoped.

  “Don’t you worry?” Lori
asked quietly. “What their reasons are?”

  I lowered my head to hide the turmoil on my face. “I can’t afford to just yet.” There would come a point when the lamia would push us too hard or cross a line that I couldn’t ignore, but I wasn’t sure we would win that fight. Our best bet was to delay it and put it off for as long as we could. At least until we could come up with a better escape plan than simply driving away and trying our luck.

  “Then when? We can’t wait until it’s too late.” I looked up and saw more worry than fear in Lori’s eyes.

  “You’re right,” I told her. “When we first came here, we had already lost everything and didn’t really care. We weren’t thinking about ten years down the line, because we didn’t think we’d make it this far. But now that we have you-” I swallowed. “Now that we have you, we do need to think about the long term. You deserve a real home, not some shitty firehouse.”

  Lori shook her head. “I don’t need stuff. I just need you guys to stay safe and healthy.”

  I smiled at her when I saw the honesty shining from her eyes. I could feel my heart thump in my chest as my gaze flicked down to her lips, wondering what she’d taste like. Probably fresh and sweet.

  I used the back of my knuckles to brush her damp curls away from her face and felt her soft skin against my hand. She sighed and leaned into my touch. I hesitated for only a moment until I saw the heat simmering in her eyes before I went in for a kiss. She was just as sweet as I thought she would be. I was overwhelmed by all of my senses as I felt her soft skin, her warm body, inhaled her fresh scent, and tasted her lips. I was still on edge after the fights had ended early, so my unsatisfied aggression transformed into sexual energy.

  I let out a low growl and stood so that I could press my body up against hers. I rubbed my face against her neck to immerse myself in her alluring scent and she wound her hands in my hair. She gave my head a yank and forced my mouth back to hers. The aggression in her movements brought out my dominant instincts and I lifted her so that I could press her up against the wall. She didn’t break our kiss - if anything it made her devour my mouth with even more passion than she had before.

  I groaned as I ran my hands over her body and she wrapped her legs around my waist, holding herself steady as I pressed up against her. I slid my hands down to her ass so that I could lift her up a little higher but she stiffened when I gave it a squeeze. I instantly backed off and let her feet drop back down to the floor. I had never hated myself more than when I saw a flash of fear in her eyes before she hid it from me. “Shit, Lori,” I grumbled as I pulled away. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.” I thought I might have seen a flicker of disappointment across her face, but it was gone before I could be sure.

  “It’s fine,” she said abruptly as she avoided my eyes.

  I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. For as long as I’ve known Lori, I’ve known she was innocent in a lot of ways. She’d also been terrified of the males in her former pack and when she first came here she had been adamant that we not touch her sexually. And now I just slammed her against the wall and shoved my tongue in her throat? I was such an asshole.

  “Do you regret it?” she asked softly.

  I hesitated because I wasn’t sure what she was asking. Should I apologize for making a move on her? Or should I tell her that I really liked her, but knew I needed to take it more slowly? I wanted to be more than just her pack mate, but would she think I was pressuring her because I was the unofficial pack master? How could I be sure that this was wanted she really wanted?

  Her face closed off at my lack of response and I realized that I had just fucked up again. “Lori…” I reached out for her but she brushed past me.

  “The guys are probably wondering where we are,” she said stiffly.

  I knew I should say something to make this right, but I was still clueless which direction she wanted me to go. I searched her eyes for a hint of what she was thinking, but she had her poker face on. “Yeah,” I said awkwardly.

  Lori broke my gaze and shifted uncomfortably. “Mrs. Walker said she’d call you?”

  I sat down, reality washing over me like a bucket of ice water. “Your teacher, yeah. I’m supposed to have a word with her before the game starts.” Her teachers were apparently going to treat me as if I were her parent. What would they think if they knew that I wanted to be anything but that? I wanted to be the man that she curled up with at night. I wanted to be the wolf that she trusted to protect her back. More than anything, I just wanted to be able to tell her how I really felt.

  Lori chewed on her lower lip, so I knew she was worried about something else. “So, Grayson?”

  I raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed.

  “Ahhh, I kind of told Mrs. Walker that Kannon is my boyfriend and you’re like his dad.”

  I let out my breath. That’s what I was afraid of. I cocked my head at Lori. Was that how she saw me? As a figure of authority? Was I the only one who felt the pull between us? Was it all in my head? I mentally took a step back from her and hardened my heart. “That’s fine, Lori. I suspected that was the case when I spoke with her over the phone.”

  Lori watched my eyes carefully and gave me a small nod. “So, that’s okay?”

  What was she looking for? “It’s fine,” I reassured her. “I’m going up for a shower and then we’ll head out.” She still looked worried so I squeezed her shoulder as I passed by. “I promise to be the best fake parent you could ever want.” I winced when I said that, but what other choice did I have? Lori’s life was already difficult enough. She had lost everything and was just starting to recover from the death of her mother. The least I could do was make her high school life a little easier and stop perving on her.

  I gritted my teeth as I made my way up the damn stairs. A part of me hated that it was Kannon that she had chosen as her boyfriend and I ached to be the one with the title. But I had to admit that Kannon was the most reasonable choice. He was the youngest among us and would raise the least eyebrows. Plus, if I were honest with myself, he would make a much better boyfriend than I ever could.

  I kicked off my shoes and resigned myself to the way things had to be. As I stripped off my sweaty clothes I kept telling myself that this was for the best. Lori didn’t need an asshole like me trying to fuck up her life. I turned the water on as cold as it would go. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to forget that Lori had stood here minutes before, completely naked. I banished the visual from my mind and tried to get into a parental mindset. Fuck, this was going to be hard.

  Chapter 13

  Lori

  I bumped Kannon with my shoulder before leaning in to speak into his ear. “I gotta go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back.”

  He smiled and nodded over the sudden roar of the crowd. The guys in the row in front of us were standing and high-fiving each other, so it must have been something good that our team did. I made my way down the aisle past my teammates and into the stairwell so I could jog down the stairs and back into the school. They had left one of the doors open so that spectators would be able to use the restrooms.

  The heavy door closed with a crash behind me and I made my way through the semi-dark hallway. It looked like they had only left half of the lights on, maybe in an attempt to save money? It seemed odd.

  I turned left down the main hallway to go to the girl’s locker room and my stomach dropped. Mr. Reaven was coming out of the boy’s locker room. There was nowhere for me to hide in the open hallway, so I just squared my shoulders back and kept walking. I had nothing to be ashamed of. He was the pervert trying to take advantage of a girl half his age.

  I attempted to walk past him without acknowledging his presence, but he stepped out in front of me. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. The only reason he should be speaking to me at all would be to apologize.

  Mr. Reaven smiled at me, but I could see a glimmer of menace in his eyes. “One of your boyfriends told me about the lies you made up about me. Just how many do you ha
ve now?”

  “Boyfriends? None of your business,” I told him angrily. “You know exactly what happened.”

  “I do know exactly what happened,” he said with a grin. “And I know exactly what’s going to happen next. If you don’t want to see Four Guys Auto go out of business and your four boyfriends lose everything, then you’re going to give me exactly what I want.”

  Mr. Reaven took a step closer in an attempt to intimidate me but I held my ground. I wasn’t willing to give him as much as an inch.

  “I’m not giving you anything,” I hissed.

  “We’ll see about that.” Mr. Reaven grabbed ahold of my shoulders and slammed me against the wall. I kicked at him, but only managed to get his shins. The scent of his cologne was so overwhelming that I didn’t scent Corey until a moment before he slammed into Mr. Reaven and knocked him to the floor. The momentum made me trip, but I caught myself before falling with them.

  Corey snarled at Mr. Reaven as they wrestled on the floor. His rage and physical fitness meant Corey had the upper hand in this fight. He raised his fist back and I heard the wet thunk as it slammed into Mr. Reaven’s face and caused his head to bounce against the hard floor.

  “Stop!” I grabbed a hold of Corey’s bloody fist as it rose again to strike. “Corey! I need you to get off him.” My voice was breathy and high-pitched with panic, so I tried to calm down. “Corey,” I said more calmly. “He isn’t worth it. You could get arrested for this.”

  Corey gave a wordless snarl and broke free of my hold, slamming his fist into Mr. Reaven’s stomach.

  I heard a shout behind me and my stomach sank. It must have been half-time because there was a crowd heading our way. There was no way we could talk our way out of this.

  Three men in the crowd rushed Corey. I tried to stand in between them, but two of them easily evaded me to pull Corey off Mr. Reaven.