Mission Primal (Men of the Pack Book 1)

by Parker Skye

  Adam felt he might be close to passing out. It was getting near impossible to breathe. Surprisingly, he wasn’t scared. He was actually kind of grateful. ‘So this is how I end,’ he thought to himself.

  No longer pretending to be waiting for an answer, Charles used his other fist to pummel into Adam’s defenseless stomach. When Charles decided he needed both hands to continue his assault, he threw Adam to the floor, causing Adam to instinctively curl onto his side, both arms over his head in a meager attempt at protection. Adam could smell blood now, his own blood. He had never been beaten this bad before. He somehow knew Charles’ wasn’t going to stop this time, no matter what.

  ‘At least I’ll get to see Mom again,’ he thought as his vision blurred with tears. Adam knew deep inside his mom hadn’t really left as Charles insisted all those years ago. He was positive she was as dead as he was about to be, and by the same hands. He struggled to smile as he realized now the futility of all his efforts at self-protection. He was going to die anyway.

  Adam no longer paid attention to the pain as every new blow followed the last. He was safe in his own mind. He watched as if from above as his body took the abuse he could no longer feel. Charles could no longer hurt him. He was already gone. Adam closed his eyes and all he could see were Ben’s golden eyes staring back into his.

  Adam was close to unconsciousness when a booming crash reverberated through the room, followed by growling and heavy clicking footfalls. The noise startled Charles enough that he momentarily froze in mid-punch, fist still held in the air, Adam’s blood dripping from his knuckles. A loud snuffling noise came from under the doorway as something very large and definitely not human rammed against the door.

  The commotion kept Adam alert enough to realize the beating had stopped for some reason, but he wasn’t alert enough to understand why. He was simultaneously glad Charles had stopped before he actually killed him and sad because he had been almost relieved his life of pain and suffering was finally going to end. For the moment he only felt regret in what he would never have. He’d hoped it would be something with Ben, but remembering the betrayal he felt earlier, he knew there was no hope in finding happiness and sanctuary there.

  Charles looked down on Adam as if expecting he held all the answers. Fear was palpable on the air as Charles practically spat out, “What the hell is that, Adam? What have you done?”

  Adam couldn’t respond. His grasp on consciousness was too tenuous. His lips, split and bleeding, were too painful to try to talk. The beating may have stopped, but the reprieve was making his injuries finally noticeable. Adam could only groan and hold onto his stomach as he fought to stay awake.

  As if hearing Adam’s distress, the beast on the other side of the door howled and redoubled its efforts to push through the door. The sound ripped through Adam’s very soul. He could feel the pain and anger pulsing through the sound. Thudding booms shook the room so hard that several books fell from his bookcase and rained down just inches above his head. Charles backed towards the bed, his face twisted in rigors of terror.

  The battering stopped once the door split from the frame, opening an inch. Adam groaned in pain as the door pushed hard against his bruised kidneys. Unfortunately, Adam’s body lay helpless in front of the door, blocking his would-be rescuer from entering without further causing Adam injury. The snuffling resumed as the beast paced back and forth in front of the door, looking for a way in.

  Charles ran to the closet and returned with an old metal baseball bat from Adam’s little league days. He held it like a batter going for a home run and screamed, “Come and get me, fucker! I’m not scared of you!”

  Adam may never have thought of Charles as smart, but he admitted to himself in that moment, that Charles was an absolute idiot. He did his best to pull himself away from the door to let whatever was on the other side through. He knew for sure he was more afraid of Charles than whatever could be on the other side. Charles, seeing Adam’s struggles to clear the doorway, raised the baseball bat again, this time aimed in Adam’s direction.

  “You little fucker! What are you doing?” Charles shouted. Adam continued to glare at his father as he inched along the floor. The effort required to move was almost too much for the meager success he was achieving, but he was trying damn it.

  “Fine! You want to help it kill us both?! You have that much of a death wish, I’ll just end you now!”

  Charles raised the baseball bat overhead. Adam closed his eyes as he saw the bat swinging down, waiting for the crunching of metal meeting bone. The sound of glass shattering caused Charles to turn in mid-swing. Losing his grip, the bat flew from Charles’ hand and embedded itself in the drywall by Adam’s closet door. Adam blinked blearily, no longer able to track what was happening. He looked up to find a large golden wolf standing on Charles’ chest, huge fangs dripping a mixture of blood and drool. Charles was screaming and pleading, begging for his life. The wolf only growled loudly and clamped his jaws around Charles’ neck, instantly silencing him.

  Adam watched fascinated as his father beat his huge fists against the beast’s head and neck, attempting to knock him loose. The wolf never budged. Adam gasped aloud as the wolf made eye contact with him, the golden hue startlingly familiar. Understanding dawned and Adam gritted his teeth together and nodded once. In answer, the wolf shook Charles like a ragdoll. A loud snap sounded and Charles lay still. The wolf released the shell that had been Adam’s father, simultaneously releasing Adam from his lifelong tormentor.

  Adam lay prone on the floor, staring into the dead eyes looking back at him. He watched fascinated as the life faded out of his father’s gaze and the pupils fully dilated. A faint smile bloomed across Adam’s face. Darkness finally rose up and took Adam with it. Adam sighed in relief as he too faded away.

  Chapter 22

  Ben

  “No, no, no! Don’t you fucking die on me, Adam! I just found you!” Ben berated himself for the time it took to calm himself enough to shift back to his human form. Ben compressed Adam’s chest and blew air into his lungs, but nothing changed. He’d been working to revive Adam for what seemed like hours but Ben could still feel Adam’s life force fading further and further away. He could see from Adam’s injuries that he likely had internal bleeding from the beating. His belly protruded in a wholly unnatural way. There was bruising all along the lower part of his abdomen, like blood had pooled in that area just under the skin.

  Ben knew he was running out of time. He hoped Adam could forgive him for what he was about to do. His claws burst from fingertips and pierced the fabric of the sweatshirt Adam still wore. He dragged the claw on his right index finger down the front, shredding it from his body. Fangs punched through Ben’s jaw, aching with need. Before he could think better of it, Ben placed his fangs over the spot where Adam’s neck met his shoulder and bit…hard. Blood rushed into his mouth and he felt Adam’s anguished scream in his mind. It was done and there was no going back now. He just prayed it worked.

  Hours felt like days as Ben waited for Adam to show signs of life again. He hoped he hadn’t doomed Adam to some awful undead state, trapped in between the here and the after. He just couldn’t imagine letting him die when they had so much life left to live, hopefully together. He’d had to try to save his mate. Without Adam, Ben didn’t know if his own wolf would have the will to carry on.

  Ben carried Adam to his house in a fireman’s carry, not wanting to risk more injury by taking the bike. If this kept up, he was really going to need to get a car of his own, not just the rusted out Beetle he’d already returned to its place on 5th Street. After all, he was a family man now, right? The laugh he felt inside at his poor excuse for a joke felt bitter and tinged with darkness.

  Thankfully, small towns still functioned as they always seemed to. The residents on this side of Lakeland all seemed to be asleep already even though it was barely eleven. Ben saw only darkened windows and an occasional wandering cat on their journey home. Ben was fairly certain they made it back to
his house unseen. The lack of sirens in the distance was a soothing confirmation.

  Once he had gotten Adam home again, Ben had spent time cleaning as much blood off his mate as he could. He now owned several towels that would never be truly white again. Finally satisfied that Adam was as clean as he was going to get without dunking him in the shower, Ben tucked him back into his bed where he belonged.

  Ben knew he needed to call his alpha. The mess back at Adam’s house was too much to go unnoticed. If the police got involved, both Adam and Ben’s pack would be put at risk. Ben looked at the time and sighed. It was two in the morning in Texas. He knew his alpha was a night owl, but there was no guarantee he would still be up even even with the time difference in Florida. The conversation he was about to have was going to bad enough without waking a sleeping alpha. The phone rang at least three times before Alpha Leikos picked up.

  “Leikos here,” a slightly slurred voice said, thick with sleep. Adam flinched, placing his palm on his forehead. Nope, can’t catch a break today.

  “Sir, it’s Ben. I’ve had a problem with the mission.”

  “I’ve been expecting your call. What’s happened? You better not be calling to tell me Adam Harris is dead.”

  “No, sir, but it was a close thing. His father attacked him tonight. I was almost too late. I had to intervene to protect him…in wolf form.” The pause before his alpha spoke again said volumes for how well this news was taken.

  “Well shit. Were you seen by anyone else?” his alpha asked, all traces of sleep gone from his voice now.

  “No, sir. Only Adam and his father were there. We were in Adam’s house at the time. His father is dead. I had to kill him to protect Adam,” Ben replied, taking a deep breath before continuing. “There’s more sir. Adam was close to death and I was losing him. I didn’t know what else to do. I had to bite him to keep him alive.”

  “Where is Adam now?” his alpha asked.

  “In my house, recovering. He’s sleeping and healing, so I guess that means the bite was successful,” Adam replied.

  “I guess it does. This may not be a bad thing. Let me think on it some more and I’ll get back with you on next steps. Don’t worry about the mess. I’ve got contacts out that way that can send a cleanup team for the house and the remains. You just stay with Adam and keep him safe, got it?”

  “Yes, sir. I won’t let anything else happen to him. You have my word.”

  “You did a good job tonight, Ben. I’m proud of you,” Alpha Leikos praised.

  “Thank you, sir. But, I just did what I had to do. If I had been faster or more observant Adam wouldn’t have been so badly hurt,” Ben said, shoulders dropping with his admission.

  “Nonsense, son. Adam Harris is still alive and you are still going to complete your mission. So he’s a little roughed up. He’s one of us now and he’ll be fine. Don’t beat yourself up about it. I’ll call you later once things are in motion.”

  As usual, the line went dead as his alpha disconnected. Ben tried to accept his alpha’s praise and look at this night as overall successful. Returning to his bedroom to see the state of his mate, however, made him feel like a complete failure. Ben began an unending vigil by Adam’s side. As the night went on, Ben saw the worst of Adam’s injuries slowly receding, but Adam still looked like he’d been run over by a freight train when he finally started to wake.

  Chapter 23

  Adam

  An unknown time later, Adam struggled up from the darkness that surrounded him. He opened his eyes and found himself again in Ben’s room. Just turning his head to look around the room caused unimaginable pain to flare through his sore body. While he’d hurt before from a beating, he couldn’t remember it ever being this bad. Adam desperately wanted to slip back into unconsciousness again. At least that had been mostly free pain-free.

  The room was pitch black except for the sliver of moonlight shining through the lone window. He wondered how long he’d been unconscious. He had no memory of how he came to be back in Ben’s house. He would think it had all been a dream if he didn’t hurt so badly.

  A noise to the right caught his attention. He painfully turned his head to see an outline of a person sitting on a straight-back chair by the head of the bed. It was too dark to see many features, but he didn’t need to see with his eyes to know it was Ben. Adam instinctively knew he should feel fear at the sight of him, but all he felt was protected. It was like his soul had been incomplete and he was finally whole again.

  “Ben?” Adam’s voice was raspy and weak. It hurt to even speak. He swallowed what saliva was in his mouth reflexively and tasted the faint traces of iron. Instantly Ben was by his side, holding Adam’s hand in both his. Now that he was closer, Adam could see his face more clearly. The anguish there made Adam want to cry.

  “What’s wrong?” Adam stupidly asked, voice still croaking. There was no way the entirety of the emotion on Ben’s face could be solely for him.

  Ben didn’t respond, just put both hands gently on the sides of Adam’s face and shushed him. He brushed a gentle kiss across Adam’s bruised lips, too faint to bring more pain. Ben pulled back and picked up a water glass from the bedside table. Helping Adam sit more upright, he held the cool glass to his lips and coaxed him to drink. The water felt like heaven and hell combined. It relieved some of the dry, parched feeling, but rushed into his torn cheeks like acid. He couldn’t stop from reflexively drinking, though, as his body fought with his mind for what it truly needed. When the glass was almost empty, Adam was finally able to pull his head away. Ben placed the glass back on the table and slowly eased Adam back onto his pillows.

  “What happened? How did I get here?” Adam’s voice was a little smoother but still not normal. Ben flinched in response, but still wouldn’t answer.

  “Sshhh. It’s okay. You’re okay, Adam. It’s over, all over. You are safe. You need to sleep. You need to heal. I’ll stay with you and make sure you are okay. Just go back to sleep. I promise I’ll explain everything later,” Ben said as he continued to soothe Ben’s sore body, gently running one hand down the side of Adam’s face, avoiding the worst of the bruising. Adam wanted to protest. He needed answers and he wanted them now. But his body took over and sleep overtook him again.

  The next time he awoke, sunlight was filtering through the lightweight curtains causing a dappled pattern to float back and forth across the foot of the bed. He looked over to find Ben sleeping again, his head leaning back on the wall behind the horribly uncomfortable looking chair. Dark circles underneath his closed eyes marred Ben’s typically perfect face. Adam didn’t want to wake him, but his bladder was having other ideas. It needed to get up and it needed to get up yesterday.

  Adam tried to extricate himself from the sheets and comforter without disturbing Ben, but quickly realized he was still too sore to move much without significant pain. He did his best to stifle the groans but must have been louder than he thought. Ben’s eyes flew open and he was once again there helping Adam to sit up.

  Adam groaned out, “Sorry. I tried not to wake you. I really need to pee.”

  “No problem, I’ve got you. Here let’s get you up,” Ben said, pulling off the covers that had been trapping Adam’s legs. Ben helped him to swing both legs over the side of the bed, offering both arms for support as Adam slowly stood upright. Unfortunately, Adam’s legs were still too weak to support his body weight and his knees buckled. Ben, sensing Adam’s impending fall, quickly bent down and put an arm behind his knees and lifted. Adam found himself being carried through the doorway and down the hall like a bride on her wedding night. He would have been embarrassed but the screaming from his bladder was the only thing he could focus on at the moment.

  Ben carefully placed Adam back on his feet in front of the toilet and lifted the lid. Adam froze, not sure what to do. He didn’t think he could pee with Ben in the room, but he didn’t think he could hold himself up on his own. Ben took the decision out of his hands, though, as he dragged Adam’s sweats down to m
id-thigh and turned him to sit down on the toilet. Ben kept his gaze on Adam’s face, obviously avoiding looking down.

  “I’ll be right outside when you’re done, okay? Just call and I’ll help you back to bed,” Ben said, walking backward out of the room. He shut the door behind him and Adam sighed in relief.

  Adam’s bladder burned as he finally allowed himself to let go, but the awful sensation finally stopped once the pressure lessened. The stream just went on and on and on, until Adam had to laugh. It reminded him of a comedy skit he had seen in a Mel Brooks movie once. He heard Ben trying to stifle a laugh, as well, out in the hall. This only made Adam laugh harder, which he soon regretted due to the soreness in his ribs.

  Finally he was done, but was unable to get up on his own as much as he tried. He called softly for Ben and was not surprised at the speed Ben had him upright and fully dressed again. Ben eased him to the sink and held him upright while he cleaned up. Adam made the mistake of looking into the mirror and gasped in horror at the face that looked back at him.