A Pack Divided (Cascade Storms Book 1)

by Claire Ryann

  "Shifters mate with humans all the time." There he went sounding like he was really saying duh again.

  "No, not just fooling around, I mean like," Haley pointed at herself and then out to the general world, "like me and Day? Like the whole fated thing."

  Ruelle's eyes were watching her, the silver light was less intense but still visible, "Still does. What's your point?"

  "Because no one in the pack remembers it happening," Haley explained, "I thought it didn't happen anymore. That's why you and the others were going to kill me, right?"

  Ruelle sighed and thought about it for a minute, "A few of us have had some really bad run ins with humans. No one in the pack has a human mate, no one can even remember the last time that happened. Daelan's young for an alpha of a pack this size. He's got crazy ideas about modernizing things and 'bringing humanity back to the pack' as he calls it. Some of the old timers aren't big fans but they know they won't win if they challenge him for alpha.

  Then he disappears and shows up smelling mated and everyone's happy for him cuz that opens up the pack to new matings but..."

  "But I'm human," Haley finished for him.

  "Yup," Ruelle's head leaned back against the wall again, "it's a pretty big deal."

  28

  "So you're going to help me?" Haley wasn't sure if this was good news or not.

  By mid-morning, Ruelle's shoulder had improved dramatically. The torn edges of his skin had come together and were little more than an angry red line. It still looked pretty gruesome but he had regained a lot of mobility.

  "Help might be stretching it," Ruelle warned as he stretched his injured arm and tested it for movement, "but I'll try to get you to the road."

  The snow had stopped falling before dawn. They had continued talking for a long time while Ruelle's wound continued to heal at an incredible rate.

  He had shared a lot of the pack's history, gone deeper into their mythology-- even though he was still holding out for a scientific explanation-- and told her something Daelan hadn't.

  She could Turn.

  It seemed ridiculous that her mating with Daelan was causing such a rift in the pack when all he had to do was Turn her. Then she'd be one of them. It had sounded like such an easy solution when Ruelle first mentioned it was possible.

  Then he'd gone on to tell her how the change could kill her if her body rejected the wolf. Or even vice versa, the new wolf could refuse to live in peace with the human. The two beings warring for control of one body. How the last person they'd "invited" to the pack had ended up running over the edge of a cliff in her wolf.

  "I didn't know wolves committed suicide," Haley had said.

  "They don't," was all Ruelle had answered.

  As his strength returned, Ruelle came up with a plan to get her to safety.

  Haley had crossed the border of the pack's territory at her last river crossing. She was in some sort of neutral zone that filled in the gaps between another pack's area and also housed several other shifters. Not all of them tolerant of wolves in their area.

  That's why Ruelle was alone. Sandalius and his minions were uneasy about crossing into enemy territory and they had turned back shortly before they reached her cave. That was the argument she'd overheard.

  Ruelle was confident that the hunting party wouldn't venture far from the border but they were likely to patrol it for several days before they gave up on him.

  If he and Haley headed north, they would hit a road within a few miles. Problem was, that was a few miles as the crow flies. Cross country, on rough terrain, in the snow, without proper gear for a human in this weather.

  With an injured werewolf that wouldn't be able to walk on four feet. Ruelle would have to make the journey with her as a man. Which apparently had both pros and cons that Haley didn't fully grasp. Through areas inhabited by competing wolves and unfriendly cats.

  Ruelle rubbed the new scar that ran over his collar bone as he explained it.

  "So was that mountain lion a shifter too?" Haley asked.

  Ruelle stood in the fresh snow outside the cave and stretched his back, "Nah, regular cougar, or I'd still be unconscious."

  Apparently shifter on shifter damage took longer to heal.

  "Do mountain lions normally attack wolves?" Haley wanted to know.

  "No. Sometimes wolves and cats go toe to toe when they're one to one like that, but a cougar against a pack is suicide. Not sure why she went after me, unless she's had a bad brush with a shifter before. Who knows?" He grinned as he held his good hand out to help Haley out of the little cave, "Wouldn't be the first time I got a pussy all worked up though."

  Haley almost laughed. She was beginning to think she'd been better off before Ruelle was her friend.

  ***

  "How are you doing?" Ruelle asked.

  Haley grunted and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

  They'd been hiking for hours now. The morning sun had crossed the sky to midafternoon. Haley's legs burned and she was keenly aware that she hadn't had anything to eat in 3 days.

  "I could catch you a rabbit," Ruelle offered, "pretty sure you won't like it the way I prepare it though."

  Haley rolled her eyes, "Tell me more about Turning," she huffed as she pulled herself up the steep hillside they were heading over.

  Ruelle waited for her at the top of the saddle, "Haven't you ever seen a werewolf movie?" he chided. "American Werewolf in London? That was a classic. Silver Bullet? The Howling?"

  Haley wished she wasn't fighting to keep her lungs from bursting with each breath. She had several sarcastic answers for her guide. Instead she shook her head as she trudged over the top of the hill.

  Off in the distance she could see the thin gray ribbon snaking between the mountains. Not much traffic, but every so often a car appeared.

  "It's almost like Hollywood says," Ruelle explained, "If you get killed by a were, you're dead. If you get bit but survive, you become one."

  "Almost?" Haley asked between gasps.

  They were taking a break on the saddle. It was a wide stretch that connected 2 taller peaks and it offered a great view of the mountains around them. Haley could see the rocky cliff where they little cave was on the mountain behind them, out to the north she could see the road, the mountains they had to cross before they got to it, and the river that ran at an angle along the base of them.

  "It's different for everyone, but you don't shift till the first full moon after you're bitten." Ruelle had started hiking again. He was still moving steadily but he was looking a little worse for wear.

  He ought to have been resting so that his body could use the energy to finish healing but he was trying to get her out of danger.

  Haley watched him exercise his injured arm as they walked. Stretching it out, swinging it back and forth, throwing a punch into the air in front of him every so often as he constantly scanned their surroundings.

  She was beginning to suspect he was taking a bigger risk than he let on. Or leading her into a trap.

  She watched the winding river below as they descended the slope. It was the boundary of the pack's territory and they were heading toward it.

  29

  Daelan's wolf stopped suddenly and 5 wolves lined up behind him did the same. Heads cocked, ears rotated.

  Daelan turned and gave the wolf just to his right a meaningful stare and then nodded toward something in the distance.

  The black wolf nodded and the group began moving again, this time with more care to remain silent.

  The trails had been obliterated, but sounds still carried. Daelan pricked up his ears and stalked the distant voices carried on the wind.

  He couldn't make out what they were saying yet, or how many there were but they spoke in English and rose above the sound of the river making its way through the canyon.

  The voices rose and fell in normal conversation even though Daelan couldn't make out the words. He recognized them as Sandalius and his hunters. They were on the move, staying ahead
of Daelan's party but not by much.

  The hunters were following the winding path of the river, not straying far from the border of the pack's territory. They weren't heading home, that meant they were still looking for Haley. Daelan's heart lifted slightly. There was still hope that she was alive.

  Suddenly the voices in the distance turned to agitated barks. Something had caught the hunting party's attention. They had shifted and taken off, leaving the boundary and charging up the side of the neighboring slope.

  Daelan's group burst into a run, sprinting over the land at full speed. The chase was on.

  Daelan rounded the base of the mountain, he could see the team ahead of him. He counted 4 wolves before they disappeared from site. He heard the fevered yips of the hunters communicating their positions as his paws frantically propelled him across the snow.

  The blood-curdling scream just ahead was human.

  And female.

  And all too familiar.

  The world froze around Daelan as his flew through the air between steps. One more sprint and the scene was in view.

  He barely noticed the wolves rushing past him without hesitation as they lunged at the others. The canyon walls echoed with the sounds of war as Rek and the others engaged in battle around him.

  Cries of injured wolves faded into the background as Daelan's eyes focused on the blood soaked snow under the torn body of his mate.

  The black wolf with the tan markings stood over her, ferociously guarding its kill from the others.

  Fury exploded in Daelan. Men and wolves fought around him but all he saw was Haley's lifeless form on the cold ground behind Ruelle's wolf.

  Ruelle curled his lip and growled, making it clear that his kill was his alone but he had no challengers.

  A lifetime of memories flooded Daelan. He knew his old friend had no love for humans. He had expected resistance from Ruelle, not outright treason, and never this. Never had he thought it was possible that one of his most trusted friends would willfully take the life of his mate.

  Ruelle's wolf stared at his Alpha. His eyes glowing with the silver light that betrayed the supernatural nature of their kind.

  As Daelan's haunches recoiled, gathering energy for the powerful spring that would launch him toward his former friend, locking his jaws around Ruelle's throat and ending his life and his betrayal for good, Daelan saw something unexpected in the other wolf's eyes. Something that made him hesitate just for a fraction of a second.

  Just long enough for the black and tan wolf to escape. Turning east and running down the jagged north face of the mountainside.

  The battlefield behind him had quieted. Only a few whimpers rose from the bloodied snow. Rek was saying something. Ken's voice answered. A wolf whined.

  Daelan knelt over Haley.

  She was on her back in the snow, her arms stretched wide at her sides. Her head was turned and her hair was a wild tangle that hid her face.

  She should have been beautiful, spread out under his hands. Her body was still warm, her full breasts spilling from the low cut neckline of a white t-shirt that she wore under a quilted flannel shirt. The contours of her hips curving into the rounded lines of her thighs where they fell wide.

  He ran his hand over her, choking on a sob that he didn't care if his friends saw.

  She would have looked as if she were sleeping, waiting for him to wake her with tender hands and a hot mouth against her open thighs-- if it weren't for the raw, bloody flesh hanging open at her shoulder.

  Daelan fought the urge to vomit as he watched the color draining from her skin. Her heart slowed till it was so faint under his hand that he knew he only still felt it because he wished it was still beating.

  He collapsed onto her body as the tears broke free and finally moved his wolf protectively over her while his howls filled the air.

  ***

  A chorus of howls joined his as they mourned the loss of their Alpha's mate and their broken pack.

  "Mingan is injured, Lowell is missing." Rek's deep voice was calm as usual as his fingers brushed the white fur along Daelan's back. "The Kid went after Ruelle, I couldn't stop him."

  There was no indication that the white wolf heard him.

  "Day," Rek's voice filled with sympathy, "We'll bring her home, but we need to get moving."

  Daelan knew Rek was right. Even though he willed his own heart to stop beating, it refused to obey. His mate had been taken from him. His pack was divided, its future uncertain. He was still Alpha and there was a lot of damage to repair and questions to answer.

  3 of the pack's elders and one younger woman lay dead in the snow, their throats ripped out in battle by packmates that had proved loyal to him as both their Alpha and their friend.

  One of those friends was wounded, one was missing, and that damn kid had abandoned his mates to go running off into enemy territory in pursuit of his mate's killer.

  The kid had a good heart, but he sucked at taking orders. The Alpha would have to deal with him when he returned to the den.

  There was a lot to do.

  Daelan picked Haley up and held her against his chest, her body falling against him limply like a rag doll. Her lingering warmth knotted his gut. It was so hard to accept that he had lost her.

  Ken and Rek took turns bracing their strong bodies under Mingan's arm for support and the remnants of their group began the trek home, leaving the bodies of their former pack mates for the crows.

  30

  "Haley?" Ruelle stopped suddenly in her path, causing her to run into his broad back. He made a small noise as she bumped against his injured shoulder but he didn't give her a chance to apologize.

  "Do you love Day?" His voice carried the slightest note of urgency.

  "Absolutely, of course I do," she answered.

  "You believe in that mate stuff? You're prepared to spend your entire life with him?" Ruelle took a few long steps ahead of her, looking off into the distance as he walked.

  Haley thought about it for just a second, "Yeah. Yeah I really do."

  "OK, I gotta know," he turned and level his eyes on her, "Are you going to be the new Alpha den mother and lead the pack with Daelan?"

  His question caught her off guard and his eyes were bright with what she understood now to be the wolf when it was dangerously close to the surface. She swallowed hard, suddenly feeling a change in the energy around them.

  "Haley," his voice deepened into a feral growl that terrified her, "Do you intend to join this pack?"

  Haley's mouth dropped open, words failing her.

  She saw the wolves running up the slope toward them. The rest of the hunting party that Ruelle had set out with. They had spotted her with Ruelle and they were approaching with impossible speed.

  "Are you planning on joining the pack?"

  His voice was dark and growing louder. Haley took a step back, her eyes darting from Ruelle to the approaching wolves and back again. Her head nodding silently as tears filled her eyes.

  What did it matter now, she wondered.

  Ruelle's shape changed suddenly, blurring into his black and tan wolf through her tears. She saw it lunge, throwing its weight at her with its jaws opened wide.

  She felt the ground reach up behind her, the snow giving way under her body as the wolf landed on top of her. Its teeth sank into her right shoulder, just shy of her throat. She felt the invasion of her flesh as muscle and tendon was torn from the bone.

  Then the wolf was standing over her, its eyes filled with apology even as darkness started to close in on her.

  Her last thought was that she would never see her mate again.

  Haley died with his name on her lips.

  ***

  Haley's lungs filled with air. Suddenly and unexpectedly, forcing her awake while she choked on the dryness in her mouth. Her fingers wrapped tightly around whatever she was holding and she squeezed with all her grip as her veins burned with the newly oxygenated blood.

  She coughed uncontrollably and gulped the
cool water from the glass that someone was holding against her lips.

  Taking breaths became gradually easier and she let herself fall back against the pillows, exhausted from the mere effort of being alive.

  A familiar voice spoke to her, it was deep and rugged and filled with careful excitement but she couldn't answer him because she was being dragged back into the warmth.

  The dream was good. She was wild and naked and it didn't matter. She ran through the snow with nothing on and she could feel the wind lifting and tossing her hair as she ran. She was so warm. It felt like heaven.

  There was a stream here. Moonlight bounced off the little ripples in the water and she delighted in splashing, pouncing on each shimmying band of light.

  The wolf that looked back at her from the water's surface was black, so dark that the tips of her fur showed indigo in the moonlight. It felt so strange to look at herself and only see the wolf, but the wolf was beautiful and she loved the way it felt when it moved around her.

  There was so much to explore in the wolf, new colors, new sounds, new scents. She could run forever but something was missing out here in the wild.

  The dream was lonely, her mate should be here. She could sense him nearby, but she couldn't find him in the woods around her.

  She followed his scent. It was earthy and sweet and masculine in a way that she couldn't ignore. Where ever he was, she had to find him. The wolf breathed in the delicious smell and began searching for its source. The stronger it got, the more it affected her.

  She would need him when she found him. She would need him to take her and bind her wolf to his but first the woman would need to feel him against her.

  Haley woke up again. This time her pain took a distant second to the throbbing need that had settled in her core. Her eyes flew open, searching her surroundings for her mate.

  The light hit her pupils with an intensity she hadn't anticipated and she squinted against it. The room she was in was alive with colors she'd never noticed before, vibrant hues danced around her as her eyes adjusted to the light.