Pack of Lies

by Sara Dailey

  “Finding a true mate is a very, very rare event these days. I remember hearing stories about members of our pack finding their mates, but the last mated pair that I know of is your great grandparents. They were the perfect pair, so loving, and caring, and considerate of each other. I remember that they were always smiling and finding ways to touch each other, even if it was just a little tap on the arm.”

  “Mom, that sounds really sweet, but Cade and I are not that. He doesn’t want me remember,” I reminded her.

  “I really don’t think that is the case. If Cade is your true mate, there is no way for him not to want you. We will figure this out Alli,” Mom said as she stood and started to walk out of my room.

  “Just try and get some rest, baby. We will talk more later.”

  Chapter 39

  Cade

  My phone rang, waking me from a much-needed evening nap. I would have let it ring, but when Allison’s home number popped up on the screen, I had to answer it. “Hello?”

  “Cade, this is Lillian, Allison’s mother. Can we talk for a bit?”

  Oh shit. I cleared my voice, trying to make myself sound as if I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out at any moment.

  “Hi, Mrs. Wright. Is everything okay with Allison?”

  “Actually no. Cade, if you don’t mind me asking, how are you feeling?”

  “Um… Okay I guess.”

  “You haven’t been feeling ill?” she questioned.

  Okay this was weird.

  “Well, yeah, I guess I have been feeling a little off lately. Why?”

  She paused for a few seconds before she continued. “Cade, I really need you to be honest with me here.”

  “Okay… I’ve had a killer headache and been dizzy and nauseous. And…”

  “No, no, no. I mean honest about what’s been going on with my daughter,” she said, sounding like a no-nonsense mom.

  “Mrs. Wright, I’m not sure what to say. What’s really going on here?”

  “Well Cade, she’s sick. Really sick, and as far as I can tell there is only one logical reason why she looks like she has the swine flu.”

  I had no idea what the hell she was talking about, but this conversation couldn’t get any more bizarre. I didn’t even notice that Alli was sick. What did it mean that Alli and I were both sick at the same time?

  When I didn’t reply, Mrs. Wright said, “I believe that you are my daughter’s true mate.”

  WTF! I didn’t even think that happened anymore. She couldn’t be my mate, could she?

  “Are you sure, I mean we never… you know? I mean, I never even considered that,” I admitted, a little scared and a little excited at the possibility.

  “I’m not sure of anything yet, Cade, but there is a way to find out for sure. Can you come over to the house? I think that you and Allison need to talk.”

  “I’m on my way. Mrs. Wright, can we not tell my father about this yet?”

  “I think that would be for the best for now, but if you are mates, he will have to know eventually.”

  ***

  I was in such a hurry to get to Allison that I threw on the first pair of jeans, t-shirt, and boots that I saw, grabbed a coat that I wasn’t even sure was mine, and ran out the door without bothering to tell anyone that I was leaving.

  As I walked up to her door, my hands were shaking, probably from the cold, and surely because I felt like crap, but mostly because of the uncertainty of what was to come.

  Chapter 40

  Allison

  I was startled out of an almost-asleep state when our doorbell rang. I heard Mom call for the visitor to come on in and that’s when I heard the last voice I ever expected to hear. Without hesitation, I jumped off my bed and ran into the bathroom. One look in the mirror told me that Elizabeth Arden herself could not help me look less like the walking dead. So I just washed my face and quickly brushed my teeth and hair.

  Nervously, I opened my door afraid that Cade would be in my room, and at the same time, afraid that he wouldn’t be. Hearing his voice made my skin start to tingle and my heart race. I didn’t know why Cade had this effect on me, but he did. I should have been furious with him for refusing to see the truth; that we belonged together, but as much as I would have loved to march downstairs and tell him to go to hell, the part of me that just wanted to wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his neck was much, much stronger.

  “Allison, honey, can you come down?” my mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

  “Just a sec,” I called back hoping that my voice wouldn’t catch and reveal just how anxious I was.

  As soon as I began to make my way down the stairs, the intoxicating scent of Cade filled my head, my body, and unfortunately for me, my heart. Maybe Mom and Dad will let me move back to Houston, just until I graduate. Then I can go to some small college where no one knows me, and I won’t have to suffer from seeing Cade and not being able to be with him.

  My wishful thoughts fled the moment I saw his face. He looked… well, he looked unhappy and tired. I had never seen Cade so disheveled. His clothes were wrinkled, his hair was a mess, and the dark circles under his eyes almost matched mine.

  “Hey Alli, why don’t you two come have a seat,” Mom suggested.

  Timidly, I walked to the edge of the sofa and sat down without saying a word to anyone. I tried not to look at Cade. I knew that if I did, I would completely lose it and probably start sobbing like a psychotic fool.

  “Cade, I don’t know how much you know about true mates. It’s very rare these days, so no one really talks about it anymore, but it does still happen,” my mom explained.

  “Can one of you fill me in on the whole mate thing? Since I only just heard of the term like five minutes ago.”

  Mom turned to me and gave me a little head-tilt-smile combo like I was a five-year-old who just asked how babies are born.

  “Come on Mom, I just found out that werewolves were real a few months ago. I know you are not very good at it, but can you just be straight with me.”

  To my surprise, it was Cade who spoke up first.

  “True mates are like…” Apparently, he was having trouble finding the right words as well, which made me even more nervous.

  After a few seconds, my mom cut in. “Alli, it’s just kind of hard to explain. I guess the closest thing to it would be what you would think of as soul mates. Two people that are meant to be together. Except with weres it’s a little more complicated. True mates are not just meant to be together. They have to be together. They are mated for life, and one of the signs of being mated is that you become ill if you are kept apart for too long. It’s a chemical thing. Actually, I hate to admit that I haven’t noticed until now, but your scent has changed a little, Alli.”

  Mom was quiet for a while, probably letting it all sink in.

  “So, what does this mean for me and Alli?” Cade asked seeming genuinely concerned.

  “I just mean that my father… he just would never allow this. He has forbid me from spending time with Alli,” Cade said.

  “What! You didn’t tell me that,” I practically yelled at Cade.

  Cade moved closer to me and took both of my hands in his, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was scared that… I don’t know what I was scared of. He made me promise to stay away from you. He told me that it was my duty to the pack to work things out with Kendall. He’s my alpha and my father. I didn’t know what else to do, Alli. I should have been honest with you.”

  “I think you two need to take a walk, get some air. I bet you will start to feel better soon,” Mom suggested. “But don’t go too far, it looks like a storm is coming.”

  With Cade sitting so close and his warm hands in mine, I almost didn’t hear what my mom said over the sound of my own heart racing. It wasn’t until Cade stood that I snapped back into reality, grabbed my coat, and walked out into the evening.

  Chapter 41

  Kendall

  On my way over to Shari’s, I
saw Cade headed in the direction to Allison’s house. He’d been acting strange all day. Pretending he didn’t feel well.

  I kept my distance, but followed him to his destination, and my suspicions were right. He went straight up to Allison’s front door.

  I waited, needing to see how long he would be there, and if he and Allison would leave together. It wasn’t too long before her door opened again, and I watched as Cade and Allison walked out together. They headed toward the lake, so I did what any self-respecting girl would do. I followed them.

  ***

  Through the trees, I could see the no good, two-timing bastard and his little mistress heading toward their favorite make-out spot, the pier. Forced to keep my distance so that Cade wouldn’t sense my presence, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, even in my wolf form. But from the looks of things, Cade was going to have some serious explaining to do.

  Hand-in-hand, they walked along the water’s edge, and I prowled along behind them, unable to believe what I was seeing.

  What the hell was he thinking? I had half a mind to head over to the alpha and tell him myself, but not until I knew for sure what I was up against. Obviously, that little mutt was up to something. There was no way Cade would openly defy his father like this without someone whispering in his ear. He knew what his father was capable of. There was no way that prick had the balls to disobey the alpha, not without good reason.

  Out of nowhere, Cade stopped walking and pulled the skank toward him. I almost vomited in my mouth. Even from where I was standing, I could see the longing in her eyes. She was so pathetic. I was still too far away to hear what Cade was saying, so I circled around to try to get a closer look without being seen. That was when I saw the strange wolf again. What was he doing? Was he following me or Cade? Either way, it needed to stop.

  I decided that I had seen enough of the love-sick pups. It was time to find out who the creepy wolf was and what he was up to. I turned and walked toward him. Surprisingly, he didn’t run. He stood there and waited for me to approach him. I came within a few feet of him; he didn’t smell like a threat, so I motioned him to follow me. And he did.

  Chapter 42

  Allison

  Walking around the lake, hand-in-hand with Cade, felt like forever since we had been together. It’s funny how fast your life can change. This morning, I was completely miserable and felt like I had been in the octagon with a world-champion cage fighter, this afternoon I passed clean out in the cafeteria, and now… now I was starting to think that this could just be the best day of my life. I needed to remember to give my mom a huge hug when I got home, since she was the reason Cade came over tonight. The farther we walked, the better I began to feel. I guess being near Cade was just what the doctor ordered, and I guess now I knew why.

  Cade and I may have been wandering in a comfortable silence through the estate, but my mind was on over-drive. True mates… what did that really mean? Together forever? Would he really always be mine? Obviously we couldn’t stay apart, but did that mean we would have to spend the next eighty years attached at the hip or risk looking like victims of Aiden’s werewolf virus.

  Out of the blue, I felt the warmth of Cade’s breath in my ear as he whispered, “What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”

  The way the mere sound of his voice sent tingles down my spine, the way his warmth seeped its way inside me, made it difficult to walk and talk at the same time. My feet stopped on their own accord as I look up into his eyes, “I don’t know, Cade. I just can’t believe this is all happening.”

  He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. “Me neither, Alli… me neither.”

  “Where does this leave us? There’s Kendall… and your dad. What is everyone going to say?” I asked.

  “At this point, there is nothing anyone can say. Not even the elders of our pack would interfere with a mated pair. True mates are rare and their bond is sacred… our bond is sacred,” he added just before he pressed his lips to my forehead.

  We continued walking farther and farther from my house, both seemingly lost in our own thoughts and feelings, when the first drop of icy rain fell. It took only seconds for the heavens to completely open up and we were drenched. Cade grabbed my arm and began to run, “Hurry! We aren’t too far from the old hunting cabin.”

  By the time we made it inside the cabin, I was literally shaking, not to mention dripping rain water all over the tiled floor. But all I could do was stand there and shiver. My brain and frozen body didn’t seem to be cooperating. Thankfully, Cade could think and move, or we would have surely frozen to death right there.

  Cade went straight to the linen closet and grabbed a few towels, and to my surprise two fluffy, pink robes. He handed me one of each and pointed toward the bathroom. I smiled, thinking how weird it was to have girlie, pink robes in a very manly hunting lodge. Cade saw my smirk and said, “My mom makes us keep these here for the women in the pack.”

  No matter how frosty I was I couldn’t help but jest, “Uh huh, likely story.”

  With a gentle shove toward the restroom, Cade said, “Shut up and go get warm before you get frostbite!”

  ***

  I walked out of the bathroom in my big comfy robe, feeling a little less like a Popsicle, only to find Cade bent over the fireplace with his pink, fluffy butt in the air. A very girlish giggle escaped before I could stop it. Not missing a beat, Cade turned toward me and began to model his new look.

  “Uh-huh, you think this is quite comical, don’t you, Alli? Never thought I could pull off pink? Well, I guess I will have to prove it to you.” My hand flew up to my mouth, and I couldn’t stop giggling if I tried as he danced around the room in what could only be described as part Demi Moore from Striptease, and part 1985 Miss America jazz routine. It was kind of funny and kind of hot at the same time.

  Imagine my surprise as Mr. Serious himself began parading around like an old-school burlesque dancer, showing just a little and then taking it back. I didn’t know whether to laugh or grab him by the pink, fuzzy robe, and kiss him until my lips hurt. He wiggled and giggled himself my way and tried to grab my hand, but there was no way I was taking part in his little version of Soul Train.

  “Come on Alli, dance with me!” he said as he shimmied around in front of me.

  “No way. You’re doing a great job though. Really, keep it up,” I told him still laughing.

  He took my hand, spun me around, and wrapped his arms around me forcing me to sway with him to the imaginary music. I decided, well, screw it. If he was willing to act like a fool, who was I not to join in?

  I wrenched myself out of his grip and danced around just out of his reach. Every time he took a step toward me, I took one back. I should have known better than to start a game like this, cat-n-mouse with a werewolf? Already, things weren’t looking so good for the mouse. I saw that glint in his eyes just before he attacked. Before I knew it, I was pinned to the couch and Cade was staring down at me.

  It was at that moment that I realized just how little we both had on. And the look in Cade’s eyes had changed; we weren’t playing anymore. Time slowed as he leaned down and brushed his lips across mine. He took his time kissing me, exploring my mouth, until he deserted my lips to nibble on my neck. I didn’t have time to think or even to doubt what we were doing, because as he made his way back to my lips the kisses changed.

  Suddenly, our kisses were urgent, desperate, necessary. Cade was like the oxygen that I needed to live. My hands had a mind of their own. They ran up his tight chest and pulled the silly, pink robe off his shoulders. I wanted… needed to feel his skin on my skin. I felt him hesitate and pull back a little.

  “No Cade, don’t stop,” I whispered as I pulled him back to me. I wanted this. I wanted him.

  Chapter 43

  Kendall

  Walking out my back door, now fully dressed, I hoped that the wolf would still be waiting. He did follow me home through the storm, so I could only assume that he must have want
ed to chat, though I couldn’t for the life of me figure why. Since he’s been lurking about for some time now, there must be a reason for his sudden appearance on our land. While weres are generally always welcome on the estate, it’s not customary for outsiders to show up without introduction from the alpha.

  It was then that it occurred to me that he might be the “dangerous” wolf that Marcus had warned us about. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? Before I motioned for him to follow me home. I could only hope that he wasn’t as dangerous as our pack leader assumed.

  Standing on my front porch, it didn’t take long to find him standing only a few feet away, near the side of my house, no longer in wolf form. “For the love of God, cover yourself,” I said as I threw the human stranger a towel. Apparently this guy had no shame. It didn’t seem to bother him in the least that he was standing there in the dark completely naked. He sure took his time drying off and wrapping the towel around himself.

  He walked up onto the porch with a sly grin on his face, but didn’t speak, so I asked, “So what’s up with you? You’ve been prowling around the estate for a while now. Does Marcus even know you’re here?”

  Now standing only a few feet away, he held out his hand and answered, “My name’s Dylan, Dylan Christianson. Nice to finally meet you, Kendall.”

  His ice-blue eyes sparkled under a set of full, dark brows. He would have been considered handsome if it wasn’t for the nasty scar that ran from his right cheekbone to the edge of his thin, firm lips. The scar made him seem dangerous, kind of dirty-hot. Not my type, but hot none-the-less.

  “Why are you following me?” I asked.

  “Because you told me to,” he replied in a sexy, husky voice.