The scent of pine returned once again willing Cara to wake from her pain-induced slumber. She couldn’t focus. Without a clue as to where she was or who’d brought her there, she began to panic.
She moved around, slowly assessing to see if she was restrained or free to go. There was nothing binding her to the bed she was lying in, but as soon as she sat up the walls and floor started spinning. Pain radiated from every part of her body and she collapsed back onto the bed.
“You don’t listen,” the familiar voice said to her, “You’re going to be sorry if Kristin has to come back in here. Just calm down. When you can sit up without that look of excruciating pain on your face, we’ll talk. But for now, get some rest.”
Cara wanted to fuss with the voice but she was delirious. Nothing around her would come into focus and simply breathing caused her pain. So she did as she was told and went back to sleep.
Midas’ voice found her in her dreams, “You’re so naive! Why would you ever think I could love someone like you. I need a woman by my side, not some lovesick puppy.” She watched him mark another in front of her very eyes. The entire ordeal was devastating and sent Cara running off into the woods. Cairo wasn’t far behind. Leaving the pack that took her in after the slaying of her parents was a decision Cara didn't want to make lightly, but there was no other choice. The looks, she suddenly realized, were being directed at her immaturity and inexperience and it was too much to bear….
By the time Cara was able to open her eyes without the extreme pounding of pain behind them, she hadn’t any idea how many days she’d been out of it. She simply wanted to keep quiet and observe what was going on around her.
“Well look who’s finally awake,” the voice chuckled. It was only then that Cara got to take in the face, and body, that went with that constantly chastising voice.
With light brown hair flowing down to his shoulders, a pair of piercing green eyes stared at her. She caught a glimpse of his chiseled torso just before he slipped a T-shirt on. The muscles bulged under the soft fabric as Cara watched the man who looked like a God carved out of her fantasies.
“Where am I?” she finally mustered up enough strength to ask.
“Hunter Oak, Finnigan territory. My father and mother, Kristin, will come to see you later. Just rest for now,” he told her.
“Who are you? What?” Cara struggled to clear her mind so she could get the answers she wanted and desperately needed, “Do I have to stay here?”
“Of course not,” the hulking man told her. “You’re free to leave whenever you wish but with the extent of your injuries, I think you should stay put for now.”
Cara was growing tired again and as much as she wanted to hammer the man with every quandary her mind could drum up, she decided to listen. Relaxing into the moment, she just laid there staring up at the ceiling.
Chapter Two
“CAIRO!” Cara called out writhing in her sleep. “NO! WAIT!”
Tears streamed down her cheeks but she wouldn’t open her eyes. Tossing and turning, Cara’s pulse raced as fur filled into her pale cheeks. Fangs protruded from her gums as she shook away her shift.
“Please! Don’t leave me!” she whimpered continuously stirring. Her shift was uncontrollable in her dreams as her legs began to elongate, but shrunk back just as quick. The pain of that jarred Cara awake … violently.
Snapping her jaws, the lumberjack built stranger held her down, talking to her softly, “You need to wake up. If you don’t control yourself, you’re going to do permanent damage. These bones won’t heal right if you re-break them right now.”
Cara heard the sound of his deep voice, but the fear and adrenaline took a while to dissipate. Panting and sweating, she finally calmed herself down. The strength of this man’s grasp around her made her feel safe. She also noticed he was shirtless … again. Swallowing hard drinking in his scent, gazing over his flawless looks, she ogled the tattoo traveling down his rib cage.
It drew her in unsuspectingly. There were tattooed shreds running parallel to his ribs, with hints of a wolf’s profile staring out in between. His chiseled physique stirred something inside of her. His arms were strong, strong enough to pin her down. It made her wonder about the strength of his entire body moving around her … or perhaps inside of her. But she shook the fantasies of being with a stranger from her head.
“That’s a bit literal don’t you think?” Cara stammered adjusting her body under the weight of his massive hands.
He cocked his head to the side, gazing at her, and shook his head, “You’re unbelievable. I’m Titan Finnegan, nice to meet you?”
“Cara Danish,” she let out an exhausted sigh. “Where am I?”
“Hunter Oak Forest, the Finnegan territory,” he told her again slowly releasing his grip.
“This is your territory? Your pack?” she asked eyeing him.
Titan ran his fingers through his hair, moving it behind him, “No. My father is the alpha here.”
“How long have I been here? What happened? Why did you take me? How long do I have to be here? I need to find my brother,” Cara said trying to get up. Pain shot through her ribs, wrapped around her back, and stopped just above her hip. A growl rumbled under her breath as she suppressed the pain.
Titan inhaled and exhaled deeply, “Stop moving like that. You won’t be fully mobile for another week or two. That bear did a number on you. Although why you would fight a naturally born bear boggles me. I can only imagine what would have happened if it were a bear shifter you’d decided to tango with. So you’re here in my cabin now.”
“Why yours?” she asked faintly.
“Well, all the others are full. I prefer to live alone. You needed peace and quiet to recover as well. And as the eldest son, it fell upon me to accommodate an injured member of our brethren.”
“Ahem,” an even stronger voice came from behind them.
Titan jumped to his feet imagining what him hovering over her must have looked like, “Father.”
Cara turned toward the open doorway where a man just as tall as Titan but not as muscular walked in. His white hair was long, falling past his shoulders. He and Titan bore the same face, the same soul gazing green eyes, but the alpha’s demeanor was just that … domineering, intimidating, and confident.
The alpha’s mate was beautiful to say the least, with shimmering brown hair and the palest blue eyes Cara ever saw. She was tall, regal, full of grace as she moved toward her.
“I am Shaw, this is Kristin, and you’ve met my eldest, Titan,” the alpha spoke calmly.
“Thank you so much for taking me in,” Cara said through gritted teeth and pain.
“Well, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time,” he said with an exhausted sigh.
“Shaw,” Kristin spoke to him softly, touching his arm to hold back whatever he was going to say. Instead, she moved closer to Cara, sitting on the edge of the bed, “My dear, you have been through a lot and you need your strength. I trust that you will not take our kindness for weakness.”
“Not at all,” Cara said shaking her head. “I don’t want any trouble. Honestly, I had no idea anyone would find me at all. And coming into your pack to start trouble? It’s kind of crazy that I’d let myself get mauled by a bear just to do that.”
Kristin nodded and eyed her mate, “Exactly as I said.”
“Fine,” Shaw huffed, “You will recover here. Titan will care for you.”
Titan growled under his breath which stopped immediately when he caught the glare of his father.
Shaw continued, “You are certainly resilient and we will get to the bottom of why you allowed yourself to get mauled once you’re healed.”
The alpha didn’t say anything else as he turned and left the cabin. Kristin turned to Cara with a warm smile, “Take your time and don’t worry about him until you’re healed. I’m going to check your wounds and then I’ll leave to let you rest.”
Cara nodded as she angled her body more toward the ceiling. The thinnes
s of Kristin’s fingers moving over her body felt weird to say the least. It had been a long time since she’d felt a mother’s touch. It was foreign to her, and she resisted.
Kristin placed her palm over Cara’s heart, whispering to her, “Be still child. I will not hurt you.”
“Okay,” Cara practically whimpered. There were emotions rippling through her body that she had no control over. The kindness of the woman reminded her of her own mother. The emotional pain hurt almost as much as the physical. Once Kristin was done, she’d tightened a few of the wraps around her legs and torso. But for the most part, she left everything as is. Standing up, Kristin spoke to them both, “When was the last time you tried to shift?”
“I had a nightmare this morning,” Cara admitted, “I didn’t mean to.”
“I held her down and helped her stop it,” Titan added, “That’s when you and Father walked in.”
Kristin nodded, “Okay, please be careful. You’ve added another two to three days to your recovery time when you did that. Those lower three ribs were misaligned and that fractured femur has a bulge from where you aggravated it. It should go down, but if it doesn’t we’ll have to re-break it and let it heal correctly.”
“What happens if we leave the bulge,” Cara wondered.
“Then you won’t be able to run with efficiency. You won’t be able to walk without a limp. You’re going to be severely disabled and a wolf has no business in the wilderness with an injury like that. You might as well commit to your human form and find a nice town to live in.”
Cara twisted her face in disgust. There was no way she wanted to spend the rest of her days as her human. So she committed herself to let the injuries heal correctly the first time.
“Take it easy,” Kristin insisted. “When you’re healed, you can go and do as you wish.”
“Thank you,” Cara said to her.
Kristin nodded and made her way out of the cabin. As soon as she left another person was at the door. She was tall, skinny, with dark brown eyes. Dark, brown eyes that narrowed directly toward Cara. With a snide look on her face, flipping her short black hair, she walked in with a box of food and other things. She was gorgeous to Cara until she opened her mouth and she sensed the hostility behind it.
Cara could hear the snarling in her voice when she spoke to Titan, “Here’s some extra food for your guest. Clothes and other things Shaw demanded we give her. Don’t forget that we’re supposed to go out tonight.”
“No we’re not,” Titan told her with certainty. “I told you what my focus is on, Shelly. I’m in no mood for extracurricular activities.”
Shelly, noticeably embarrassed, sucked her teeth and turned her back to Cara, “Don’t act like this. You can’t tell me that you don’t feel what I feel. We had that thing, remember?”
“That’s in your head, Shelly,” Titan told her with an irritated tone. “I helped build your cabin and move furniture around. I did that for everybody.”
“Fine,” she told him through clenched teeth. She raised the box high before letting it go and allowing the contents to spill out all over the floor. “Take care of your little pet. But I guarantee you she’ll be out of here soon and once the pretty little thing is gone, you’ll be all over me again.”
Titan merely grunted as he bent down to pick up the stuff off the floor. He tossed it all into the box, refusing to say anything else to the woman. She stomped her feet, before throwing her hands on her hips and storming out of the cabin.
Cara watched it all in confusion, but she felt sorry for the girl, “That’s a rotten way to treat your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” he refuted immediately, “She’s just too into me. I think she thinks I’m going to be the next alpha of this pack but I don’t even think she likes me. She just wants the clout.”
“The same respect your mother gets, I assume. I get it. I was like that. Still am to an extent. There’s just something secure about being the mate of an alpha.”
“No,” Titan said firmly, “The security should come from you choosing the right mate for your life. Alpha or not, if you’re not bonded by heart then there is no safety in that union. And don’t dare mark someone you don’t want to be bonded to. That relationship will be doomed to failure.”
“Well aren’t you just a ball of positivity,” Cara joked.
“Just prefer to be honest when it comes to matters of the heart. It’s not just about looks and position with me. I want what my parents have,” he said. The vulnerability in his eyes sent a chill down Cara’s spine. The alpha, in her mind, would want the same thing.
“That’s so, so,” she struggled to find the words, “Mature.”
He laughed, “Thanks, but if you listen to my brothers, they’d say it’s sappy and lacks the amount of masculine I need.”
“I think you’re more than masculine enough,” she said eyeing him from head to toe.
The subtle spark between them was something that Cara wanted to ignore but she couldn’t. But remembering Shaw’s words made her keep her mouth shut on that subject. She needed to focus on getting better.
Changing the subject, she opted to get him talking more, “So how many other pack members are there trying to get into your pants?”
“You’re not shy at all, are you?” he asked with a smirk.
“I try not to be,” she said clenching her teeth as pain passed through her again.
“Let me think about that,” he pulled up a chair and tipped it back onto its back legs with the edge of it leaning against the wall, he raked his fingers through a barely grown in goatee, “The Finnegan pack is an interesting bunch. You’ve met my parents. My brothers, Drew and Chase, mostly handle combat training and whatever my parents order them to do. They work with Nathan, Perry, and Taylor, the black wolves of our group here. They’re on security detail, watching the territory borders and the occasional human that wanders out here. Tryx, Anna, Shelly, and Laura, tend to food detail and pup duty.”
“How modern,” Cara laughed, “Leaving the women things to the women.”
“Somehow, hunting to feed a pack as large as ours doesn’t seem as feminine and demeaning as you just made it out to be. And raising the younger ones aren’t left to them alone. We all play a part when necessary. Why don’t you get to know everyone before you pass judgment on us? I’m sure they’d love to get to know you before they call you crazy for fighting a bear… a bear that won by the way.”
“Ouch,” Cara sighed turning onto her side, “Yeah a fine way for me to get rewarded after saving its cub from drowning in the river.”
“You know sometimes you have to stand back and let life happen. Maybe you should have let that bear learn to swim.”
“But if it drowned, that would have been horrible,” Cara defended herself.
“No if you weren’t there you would have never known whether that bear swam, drowned, or even existed,” he corrected her.
“But then I wouldn’t be here with you, oh gracious one,” she smirked. “Thank you. Seriously. I appreciate what you and your family are doing for me. It’s a lot more than I would’ve done and even more than what my other alpha would have.”
“Speaking of which, why were you out there alone? You were deep in Finnegan territory. I’m surprised Taylor or Perry didn’t spot you when you crossed in. Where were you coming from?”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now,” she told him with her mood immediately sinking. “What I do want to talk about is how much did you guys see and how was it that you guys actually found me?”
“My duties to the pack range. Father has me rotating shifts with different positions so when I’m ready to build my own pack, I understand every role and how to decipher who does what,” he said.
Cara perked up, pushing herself to sit up, “That’s actually brilliant. My last alpha kind of just picked what we did and that was it. I don’t think he did what you’re doing.”
“Who was your last alpha?”
“Paxton
Christian.”
“So the son of one of the highest ranking members of the Council was your last alpha and you believe he just picked you? He just picked whatever position to throw you in without any consideration? So did you leave on your own or did he kick you out?”
“I left.”
“I can take a hint,” he put his hands up. “I’ll bring you some food.”
“Thank you,” she smiled. The exhaustion in her voice was coming through, but Cara didn’t want to go back to sleep. Her body disagreed. Her heart and the center between her thighs watching Titan walk out of the cabin told her to stay awake.
Chapter Three
The first time Titan saw Cara, he was walking across the edge of a cliff, surveying the land around him. Her scent wafting through the Finnegan territory automatically drew him to her. It was new, nothing like any other member of the pack. The whisper of her hair floating on the breeze as she ran through the trees called to him.
Taylor wasn’t too far away from him, and Perry was coming from the rear as they continued their security tour around the territory for the morning. His pack members didn’t seem to notice the new scent in their land, so he called out to them, “I’m going to head down the ridge. I think I smell something, someone.”
Taylor turned around, “Perry go with him! You know this is bear country. Shifters and natural are roaming around.”
Titan scolded him, “You don’t give the orders here and continue your rounds, the both of you. There hasn’t been a bear shifter in these parts for months. Whoever’s out there, ain’t bear, but I’m going to find out. I can take care of myself, you two go on.”
Titan wanted to explore the aroma, the scent that sent his heart fluttering. It was as if he loved her before he’d even saw her. Tingles erupted all over his body as if her wolf was calling out to him. And when he saw her, it was worth the hike to find her. But she was drenched. Perhaps that’s why the others couldn’t pick up her scent.
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