Pride to Pack (The Mount Roxby Series)

by Aimie Jennison

  I feel the need to explain. “Theo said that too. I think with his words fresh in my mind and my wolf close to the surface with all these changes I have been doing, my animal instincts took over.”

  “How did you become so dominant and then just let it disappear again, you only feel mid pack dominant now, but you were a hell of a lot more a minute ago?” He asks.

  “To be honest I’m not sure how I do it or what I do. The best way to describe it is that I bury my dominance deep inside me and only leave a mid level amount on show. When I was younger I had it all on show and had so much trouble with Jared’s pride feeling threatened. I was always being challenged. That was probably just as much to do with the fact that I was a wolf and didn’t belong with the lions as it was to do with my high dominance. One day it just happened. I could hide it, not that that helped with the lions. They already knew my full strength. I don’t ever want to be treated like that again, so I keep it under wraps now.”

  “I never realised it would be hard being a lone wolf. Does Theo know about your strength?”

  “I’ve never let it out since I originally hid it a couple of years ago. So I don’t think he knows, unless he has a way of feeling it without me showing it.” I say with a shrug.

  The others come back with three big plates full of sandwiches and mugs of fresh coffee.

  “I can’t believe you two thought me and Bel were, you know… this morning,” Ruby says between bites of her sandwich.

  “Come on. You were in bed together.” Wesley says, grabbing a sandwich.

  “And only in your underwear.” Billy adds.

  “What were we meant to think?” Wesley finishes.

  “Chloe, what would you think if you saw me and Ruby just waking up in Theo’s bed together?” I ask just to prove a point.

  “That you both needed to feel close to him,” she answers proving my point perfectly. Men!

  “What? You wouldn’t think they’d been together? Not even if they got out in just their bras and undies?” Billy seems astonished that she hadn’t jumped to the same conclusion he and Wesley had.

  “No. I guess it’s a girl thing. My best friend and I used to sit and talk to each other while we had baths when we were growing up. Hell, we still do if we are getting ready for a night out together.” She informs him, rendering Billy speechless.

  “Besides, Rosabel is mated to Theo, and you both know I’ve had a crush on Paddy and Eddie, like forever,” Ruby says blushing as she realises me and Chloe, had no idea until she just told us.

  “Aw, Paddy is a sweetheart. Eddie is a player, I’m not sure he’s suitable for you Ruby,” I say, getting nothing but an eye roll from her.

  “Yes, stay away from Ed. He’ll end up breaking your heart,” Wes warns Ruby. “I bet you weren’t calling Paddy sweet when he was trying to make you his meal not so long ago,” he says to me with a smirk.

  Ruby glances from Wes to me with a worried look on her face, probably concerned that her crush might have a habit of eating people. “WHAT?”

  “It wasn’t really his fault. I was bleeding my delicious blood all over the place, right in front of him two days before the full moon. What did I expect?” I say making everyone laugh at the thought.

  26. UNEXPECTED GUEST

  Rosabel

  “Hubby, I’m home,” says a stranger’s voice from the front of the house, followed by a really irritating cackle of a laugh.

  “Oh, god help us. The bitch is back! That’s the last thing we need right now,” Billy announces, obviously recognising the voice or more likely the cackle. That cackle isn’t one you will forget in a hurry.

  A brunette walks through the door looking like she’s raided Chloe’s wardrobe. She’s wearing a baby pink tank top and a denim mini skirt, or belt whatever you prefer to call it, she’s matched it with black knee high boots to finish off the look. Her mannerisms are just like Chloe’s. She’s like a dark hair, dark eyed version of her.

  “Oh great,” Ruby whispers as gets up leaving for the kitchen.

  “Wesley, what are you lot doing in my house? Where’s Theodore?” She sounds just like Chloe too.

  I bloody hate women with an attitude.

  “Ruby is living here now. Theo asked us to stay and look after her while he’s away with business.” That was quick thinking Wes, well done.

  “What all of you? There are four of you looking after a seventeen year old?” she asks sounding slightly perplexed.

  “Yes, safety in numbers and all, as you’ll have seen the front door isn’t quite intact,” Chloe throws out there.

  “Ok. I’m going to get changed. If Theodore isn’t here, his room will be free. I’ll go in there,” she says before heading for the stairs.

  This strange woman is not sleeping in Theo’s room. I don’t care who she is. “No! That room is taken. Any of the downstairs rooms are free,” I clarify. I hear Billy chuckle and start to wonder what he’s laughing at, that is until I catch a whiff of my bonding scent. Jealousy will do that to a girl.

  “And who might you be?” she snaps at me with that attitude that could give Chloe’s a run for her money.

  I look at Billy, who looks at Wesley, who looks back at me with a shrug.

  Ruby comes back from the kitchen and perches next to me on the sofa. “That’s Rosabel. She’s Theo’s girlfriend and that’s why his room is taken.”

  “His girlfriend? Oh well, I’ll go in the baby pink room down the hall near the front door, My case is through that way. It saves me carrying it far,” she says sounding put out as she walks off. I don’t feel one bit of guilt.

  “Who is that?” I ask no one in particular.

  “She’s Theo’s wife, Selena. They’ve been separated a year. She cheated on him,” Wesley answers, clearly not wanting to.

  I’m floored by his answer. No one has mentioned a wife to me. “His wife,” I whisper to myself.

  “Aw, didn’t he tell you he was married?” Chloe asks smugly. So much for thinking she was starting to like me.

  “We’ve not really had the chance to have the getting to know you conversation yet.” That wiped the smug smile off her face; I don’t need to tell her what we have done. She already knows. I quickly dismiss Chloe and look at Wesley. “You said she cheated on him. Is she insane? He’d kill the guy.”

  Wes glances nervously in the direction Selena had disappeared. “She doesn’t know about any of us.”

  “What? He married her without telling her what he is? Where did she think he went every full moon?” I whisper so she doesn’t hear me if she decides to come back - not that I could feel or hear her coming. Sometimes when you know something is a secret you can’t help but whisper when talking about it.

  “Exactly. She isn’t really bright. She just believed he was away on business,” he explains.

  “Well fuck,” is all I can say. I can’t imagine Theo deceiving someone like that.

  Selena comes back in to the room, halting the conversation. She sits down and starts chatting to the others as if she has never been away.

  I manage to sneak off unnoticed and go back up to Theo’s room just to get away from her. I need some time alone with my thoughts. I’ve got more than enough things to think about right now.

  27. EXECUTIONER

  Rosabel

  I am only alone for about half an hour before Wesley knocks on the door to tell me we should think about going to find the best places to hide in the alley behind Misty’s. He’s right of course. I tell him I’ll meet him there after teleporting to the apartment, so I can change into more suitable clothes.

  When I open my eyes and find myself in my bedroom at Misty’s. I can’t help but notice how strange it feels being here. I don’t belong here anymore. I go through the few clothes that I have, hunting for the black hoodie and matching pants that I know are there. I quickly pull them on with the black Nikes I have from my uniform at ‘The Chief’, glad I had thought to bring them, considering I never wear them. It looks like they’ll be my missio
n sneakers now.

  Walking through the house looking for Misty I come up empty. She must have gone to the bar early knowing that we will be heading that way early too.

  I take a slow stroll to the alley to meet Wesley and Billy. I take the fifteen minutes it takes to psych myself up. I’m nervous about giving orders to all these guys. They all seemed compliant on the phone but they could always change their minds when they are face to face. We all need to do everything we can to get Theo and the others back. I feel down our mate bond hoping for an insight into his well being. He's still there but I can't get much else from him. Maybe he’s blocking me from feeling him again.

  It doesn't take us long to scout out some good hiding places so we decide to head in and grab a drink while waiting for the other guys.

  We have chosen five of the of the most dominant pack members, thinking or more like hoping, that the controller will have more trouble taking over the more dominant members. The only problem with that way of thinking is he’s controlling Jared and he’s alpha material. Wesley is adamant Theo’s pack has some of the strongest wolves in Australia.

  They all turn up one after another, not one of them a second late. The first to walk in is Darren from Billy’s patrol the night before. We told everyone to wear black so it would be easier to hide in the shadows. He’s wearing a black skin tight tank top and black slacks with his steel toe cap boots. I still can’t believe how huge he is. He had to open both doors to get in the bar.

  Phil is next to come in, the other guy from Billy’s patrol. He’s wearing a black shirt, slacks and shoes, not his sandals and socks like he had on the other day. Although he looks like he’s dressed for a party rather than an ambush. When I asked Billy earlier why he picked him, his answer was that he’s reliable, fast and loyal. ‘He’s the one person I’d want at my back in a fight’ he told me. I’m still not sure what good he’ll be if all hell breaks loose, he doesn't look like the fighting type. I suppose if the plan works, we won’t need any of the guy’s. The only reason they are here is for plan b! I suppose if all hell breaks loose he’ll be able to run away, FAST!

  Greg is the next. He’s one of the older pack members. He looks like he's in his mid forties, although looks aren't much to go by with weres. We age slower than humans so we could be a lot older than we look. That being said, a human could look ten years older than he is and be bitten at forty. He'd still only look forty. Were DNA could cure a disease you carry but it won't make you look younger. He’s five-foot-six or thereabouts with dark greying hair and hazel eyes. His camouflage consists of black jeans and black t-shirt with white sneakers.

  Our fourth man to enter is Eddie - again in an all black ensemble. He’s only twenty two; I say only, but he’s only two years younger than me. I think I feel older then I am because I had to grow up quick without my parents. He’s got ginger hair and freckles with bright sky blue eyes. He’s a similar build to Theo, not big but not small. He’s cute too. I can see why Ruby has a crush on him.

  Our fifth and final man to turn up is called Dave. I recognise him as the cowboy guy at the meeting who spoke up about my plan. Only today he’s minus the cowboy gear. I don’t think I would have noticed it was him if he hadn’t given me a really mean look as he walked in, it’s funny how you can remember who doesn’t like you more then you can the friendly or silent ones. Without his cowboy hat, I can see this blonde pony tail and brown eyes. He is easily six-foot tall.

  They all greet us with a nod and wait for instructions, all except Eddie, who decides to barge past everyone, grab me by the waist and give me a wet open mouthed kiss on the cheek. I push at his chest to get him out of my personal space. “Hi beautiful, where do you want me?” he says with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Yep, I was right he’s too much of a player for Ruby.

  “Stop flirting, Ed, or Theo will kill you.” Wes admonishes.

  “Theo isn’t here.” he says as he follows my step back.

  “He’ll hear about it, whether he is here or not. Now stop messing around, we need to focus on getting our pack members back,” I order, having had enough of him wasting time. I quickly follow up with everyone’s instructions on where they need to be and what they need to do.

  It doesn’t take us long to assemble into our designated positions, leaving us to wait for full dark to arrive along with the vampires. I’m hiding in a shadow at the entrance of the alley. I can smell Dominick so he must be nearby.

  “Are you all here?” his voice says in my head, just before he walks around the corner.

  How the hell did he do that? I think to myself.

  He tells me, with two words. “The tie.”

  Brilliant, what other tricks does he have up his sleeve, thanks to that bloody tie?

  “I’m not too sure myself, yet, Bel,” he replies in a serious tone.

  I wasn’t talking to you. I think it managed to come over as a yell in my thoughts - I hope it did anyway.

  “Sorry.” I even hear the chuckle in his voice. It doesn’t take Dominick long to reach Wesley.

  I have a great view of them. I picked this position for that reason, plus the fact that the werewolves will have to pass me before they reach Dominick. That’s when I need to turn my attention on our surroundings for the controller. I have a pretty good view of most of the buildings thanks to the alley being nice and wide.

  I hear a thud behind me so I turn quickly hoping we didn’t get all this wrong and I’m the one under ambush in the shadows were no one can see me. But I don’t find an ambush.

  I find Patsy stood facing me with a satisfied smile. “I scared you!”

  I look her up and down, stunned at the fact that she’s not wearing her usual attire. She’s got her hair tied back and she’s wearing sweatpants with a hoodie identical to mine.

  “Patsy I wasn’t expecting you.” There is no way I’ll tell a vampire that they scared me, true or false. “Dominick said he didn’t want any of you here being put in danger.”

  “I’m not good with rules and orders. Especially in this case. I can’t sit back and wait around while he’s in danger. I’m not letting him be killed.” I can feel her anger creep over my skin.

  “I won’t let him get killed either Patsy. Dominick knows that. I’ll put my own life in danger before allowing his death.”

  “Yes, Dominick trusts you. But I don’t. You have druid in you and they are not all to be trusted.”

  Alyssa, Paddy and Jared come into view, thankfully they are all still in human form. I suppose that’s a good thing.

  I wonder how that thing works between me and Dominick. Maybe I can warn him. I was only thinking before. “Domini—”

  His voice in my head cuts me off before I can say anymore. “I heard, thanks.”

  I turn my thoughts to looking for the controller by focusing on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. I can’t see anyone on any of them. Actually, why did I assume he’d be on one of the roofs? He could be in the buildings looking out of a window. If he’s in the dark we have no hope of seeing him.

  Shit!

  Panic flows through my body. If that’s the case all hell’s going to break loose and we won’t all make it out alive, especially if he manages to take over the others I brought when they come out of the shadows!

  “Rosabel. Feel for his emotions, vengeance or anger.” Dominick’s voice brings me out of the panic.

  Yes, okay calm down Bel. Use your senses!

  I reach out to see what emotions I can pick out. Everyone’s emotions have an individual feel to them. People I’ve met once or twice like the guys, I can start to recognise their individual feel. So I can ignore those emotions coming from our guys like, Wesley’s sadness and concern, most probably over the sight of Alyssa. I can feel strong anger bordering on rage, but that’s coming from Patsy next to me. I’m not going to be able to feel anyone else’s anger while she’s so close to me.

  “Patsy you need to either get rid of the anger or move away from me. I need to sense his anger. Yours is blocking me
from it.” I practically yell at her. If I was thinking straight I would have maybe asked her a little calmer.

  Understanding what I meant and not taking offence to my tone, she does as I ask. Her anger eases almost immediately and is replaced with pure happiness.

  I wonder what she was thinking to get that happy so quick, from such a dark angry place.

  Aha, now we are getting somewhere! I can feel some anger and a lot of resentment coming from the building I’m standing next to. He must be directly above me. That’s probably why I couldn’t see him. I’m surprised Dave couldn’t, he would have a good view from his hiding place.

  Found him, Dominick. I think to alert him as I run around the corner to the fire escape we checked out earlier. We had made sure we knew each fire escape and where it led, since we had no idea which building he’d choose. Luckily it’s only a four story building.

  I can feel Dominick and Wesley getting tense. The controlled weres must be ready to engage.

  “Hurry, we won’t be able to hold them off long without someone getting hurt.” Dominick confirms my thoughts. A bit of pressure is always helpful to give you the power to get up four flights of stairs in seconds.

  I pull myself onto the roof and can’t believe what’s in front of my eyes. I take a deep breath to catch his scent because I just can’t trust what I’m seeing.

  “Emmanuel, Why?” is all I can managed to say.

  I must have startled him - he hasn’t got senses like me. He spins around and looks at me with a shocked look upon his face.

  I’m hoping that means the action down below has stopped.

  “They need showing that they’re not better than us just because they are stronger and faster.” He starts.

  “Who?”

  He nods his head in the direction of the alleyway. “The werewolves and vampires. I took Stephen and Mary at first, thinking kidnapping the vampires would make a war break out between them, but for some reason Dominick never thought Theodore was behind it. Instead he asked for his help. I couldn’t control them, and I couldn’t let them go because then Dominick would kill me. I had to kill them!”