She grit her teeth. “I get it. I’m freaking out too. Just don’t—”
Tommy turned and fled. He had to get away. He couldn’t stay around people and let someone trap him. He had to run.
Chapter 2
AMBER
“Shit,” Amber said as the nameless kid took off at a run. He could hurt somebody. Hell, so could she.
“Are we going to change?” Genevieve asked.
She turned to face her. “Yeah. Assuming we don’t die.”
Her hands shook and her insides churned with guilt and fear as memories she desperately wanted to forget rose to the surface. Dylan screaming. His body twisted in pain as his bones broke, but couldn’t reform. His eyes as the magic tortured him and stole his life.
A thump of something other beat inside Amber’s chest. “We need to get to the woods,” she said, her voice edged with a growl.
She grabbed Genevieve’s arm and dragged her toward the dark line of trees. It looked like safety. She had to get Genevieve there, and she had to find the boy. The drive to do so overwhelmed the fear and guilt.
Genevieve struggled against her grip. “What are you doing?”
Amber stopped in her tracks. “Can’t you feel it?” she asked, looking straight at Genevieve. “Do you want to be standing next to some stranger when the change happens?”
Genevieve shook her head and she dropped her arm.
“Just follow me. Please.”
Genevieve nodded, biting her lip uncertainly, and Amber turned back to the tree line. She would follow or she wouldn’t.
Footsteps crunched in the gravel behind her, and Amber breathed a sigh of relief.
“How long do we have?” Genevieve asked, jogging a little to catch up and walk beside her.
“I don’t know exactly,” she said. “It varies from person to person. Not long, though.”
Genevieve was silent for a moment, then asked, “How bad is it going to hurt?”
“It won’t hurt if your body can take the magic,” she said, closing her eyes against the memory of the alternative.
“And if it doesn’t?” Genevieve pressed.
Amber stopped and whipped around to face her. “Then you die a painful and bloody death.”
Genevieve stared at her with wide eyes. “Shit.”
“That about sums it up,” she agreed, continuing into the forest. Something inside her relaxed as they passed under the cover of the trees.
“Do you know a shifter or something?” Genevieve asked.
“No,” she said tersely. “I knew someone that didn’t survive the change.”
“Oh,” Genevieve replied, her voice much quieter.
A strange warmth curled through her limbs. She stopped and looked up at the sky, her breaths coming a little faster. Something woke up inside of her, opening its eyes for the first time. They stared up through the leaves as her muscles twitched.
The shift rippled along Amber’s skin. She watched as claws extended from her fingertips and fur prickled down her arm. Grief warred with the foreign elation inside of her. Why? Dylan had been the one they chose. Why did this kill him and not her? Why did she have to be the one to survive?
TOMMY
Tommy fell to the ground as a panic attack stole his breath and blurred his vision. His muscles trembled, and he wheezed as claws pushed painlessly from his fingertips, digging into the soft dirt. It didn’t hurt. He thought it would.
Barely able to process what was happening, he forced himself upright and pulled off his shirt. It felt like it was suffocating him. He tried to pull off his jeans, but they got hung up on his shoes.
He fell backward and blinked up at the sky. The moon peeked through the trees, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from its bright face. It was brighter than he had ever seen before. It sang to him, and something inside of him sang back.
With a sickening snap, his bones began to shift. Fur rolled over his skin and his feet fell out of his shoes as they narrowed into paws. His face lengthened into a snout, and his teeth morphed into sharp fangs. Light his human eyes couldn’t process now illuminated the dark forest. He could see every branch and every leaf perfectly.
He lifted his hand toward the moon, but a paw attached to a long leg was what moved instead. With a yelp, he twisted and tried to stand. Four wobbly legs scrambled against the dirt underneath him. He stood, panting and shaking.
Tommy was afraid, but there was something else in his mind, and it was not scared at all. It was exultant. The wolf yipped in excitement, turning in a circle and sniffing at the clothes that lay in a pile where he had changed. He picked them up gently and stuck them by a tree, nosing leaves over the top of them. They were poorly hidden, but the wolf seemed pleased.
With an approving huff, the wolf turned and sprinted deeper into the forest. Human feelings warred with the wolf’s instincts, but Tommy’s worry couldn’t overcome the joy of the wolf. It was a full moon. It was a night for running and hunting, not thinking. The wolf lifted its head and howled as it ran.
The forest was silent for a moment, then an answering howl echoed through the trees. He slid to a halt. Another howl joined it.
Pack. Family. Home. He turned and ran toward the other wolves.
GENEVIEVE
Genevieve stared at the ruddy wolf across from her. She shifted on her paws, muscles tensed and ready to flee. The wolf watched her with yellow eyes that glinted in the bright moonlight, then took a step forward.
Genevieve hunched down. Something about this other wolf made her want to show her belly. She didn’t like the feeling. It was unnatural. To her at least. The wolf inside of her was practically purring; it wanted to submit.
Amber made a rumbling noise in the back of her throat, then turned away. She looked back over her shoulder as though she was asking her to follow.
Genevieve took a careful step forward, and Amber took off at a run. A thrill ran through her and she raced after the larger wolf.
Her new body sang with emotions she didn’t recognize. Curiosity at every scent. Delight at her speed. A fierce desire to win the race. Genevieve hated competition of any kind, but the new presence inside of her loved it. She dug in and pushed her strange new legs to go faster. Though she was smaller than the reddish wolf, she was gaining on her.
A howl cut through the night. Amber stopped short and Genevieve slid in the leaves, bouncing off the other wolf’s flank. She shook her head to clear it and waited, tense, to make sure she hadn’t pissed Amber off.
Amber was looking through the trees, ears standing straight up. She tilted her head back and howled in return. The sound did something to Genevieve. To the wolf inside of her. It coursed through her with a mixture of longing and a desire to prove herself.
She lifted her snout toward the moon and joined her howl with Amber’s. After a moment, Amber stopped and waited for a response, but the forest was silent. She took off in the direction it had originally come from.
Genevieve raced after her, determined to beat her this time. She had to show the other wolf she was fast and strong. The creature inside of her knew she wasn’t just some submissive puppy. Her muscles strained against their limits, and slowly, Genevieve gained on Amber. She willed her legs to go faster and she began to pass the larger wolf.
A bitter scent distracted her. The wolf inside of her growled in anger. Human. Intruders. This was her pack’s territory now.
Trespasser.
She snarled in anger and veered away from Amber, racing toward the smell of unwashed human. Fury coursed through Genevieve’s body. It wasn’t her emotion, it was pouring out of the creature that now shared her mind. She couldn’t think. Instinct took over, driving her forward. Protect. Kill.
Genevieve could see the human now. He was laying under a tree in an old sleeping bag. She lunged toward him, but teeth closed around her leg and jerked her to the ground. She yelped and turned on whatever stopped her, teeth snapping as she growled her displeasure.
The ruddy wolf growled right back
and leaped toward her, wrapping her jaws around the back of Genevieve’s neck. Amber’s teeth didn’t break the skin, but Genevieve knew they could. Her body went limp. She twisted, showing her vulnerable belly to her alpha.
Alpha. The word felt right to her and the wolf inside of her.
But Amber wasn’t letting go. Her teeth tightened on Genevieve’s neck, and a growl vibrated in her mouth. Genevieve twisted farther and whimpered. Her alpha was rejecting her.
A branch cracked behind them, and Amber whipped around, dragging Genevieve with her. A gray wolf stood a few feet away, watching them anxiously. He shifted from paw to paw, then lowered down to his belly.
He slunk forward, staying low to the ground, his eyes never leaving Amber. He slid up beside Genevieve and lay his snout over her neck. Tommy looked up into Amber’s eyes and whined, the sound pleading.
Amber huffed around her mouthful of skin and fur. Something changed. Amber’s teeth broke through her skin but it didn’t hurt. A new magic flooded through Genevieve. Warm. Bright. Comforting.
Amber dropped her and gently wrapped her jaws around the back of Tommy’s neck. Genevieve felt the moment Tommy accepted Amber as alpha.
For a brief moment, golden threads shimmered between them, connecting them all. Amber’s eyes flared bright red. The golden threads disappeared, but the new bond did not. They were a pack.
Chapter 3
AMBER
What the hell had she done? Amber stared at her now-human hands. The pack bond was a steady presence at the back of her mind, along with the wolf. It was curious and intelligent.
Her hands shook. She was a werewolf. A shifter. Amber felt strange new instincts she didn’t completely understand. She wanted to claim the forest around her, protect it and her pack.
Amber put her face in her hands. God help her, she had a pack.
“Amber?” Genevieve asked tentatively.
She curled her fingers into a fist and took a deep breath to calm herself down before looking over her shoulder at the other woman. “Yeah?”
“I don’t suppose you remember where we left our clothes, do you?” Genevieve asked, standing with one arm crossed over her chest, and the other hand hiding her crotch. The pink hair that had perched on top of her head in matching buns last night was a mess of tangles around her face.
They had slept in a pile after running through the forest most of the night. Unfortunately, they had woken up this morning human and very nude.
“Vaguely.” Amber shrugged. She looked at the boy and sighed. “You don’t want me to call you kid, right?” she prompted.
The boy looked back at her, then covered his eyes and turned his head away again. “My name is Tommy,” he said, a blush creeping up his neck.
“Alright, Tommy,” Amber said with a nod. “Nice to meet you. Genevieve and me are going to go retrieve our clothes. Hopefully. Did you manage to get yours off before you changed?”
“Um, yeah, I think so,” he said.
“Well, why don’t you go get yours too, and we can meet back up in the parking lot?” Amber asked.
“Sounds great,” Tommy said as he scrambled to his feet. He hurried into the trees without a backward glance.
Genevieve covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. “I thought he was going to die of embarrassment,” she whispered.
Amber grinned. “He’s probably never seen a boob before in real life.”
Genevieve snorted, losing her battle to keep from laughing. “He was blushing so bad.”
“Better that than gawking at us,” Amber said, feeling fond of Tommy already.
“Agreed,” Genevieve said with a smile.
Amber turned in a circle and sniffed the air. Then felt stupid for trying to sniff her way back to their clothes. The wolf was peering out of her eyes, and its instincts were getting mixed up with her own.
“This way, I think,” Amber pointed in the opposite direction from where Tommy had headed.
Genevieve nodded and fell into step beside Amber. They walked silently. Genevieve stared at the ground, and Amber looked straight ahead. Being naked was awkward even though they were both girls. No one wants to go hiking in the nude. Especially with a stranger.
“Thanks for…you know,” Genevieve said, making a biting motion with her hand. “The homeless guy.”
Amber nodded. “No problem. I’m just glad neither of us were alone. I think it made it easier.”
“You can feel the thing, right? The bond or whatever?” Genevieve asked.
“Yes.” Amber rubbed her hand against her sternum. She could feel how far away Tommy was and had a vague sense of both of her new pack member’s emotions. She thought she might be able to tell more if she focused on it, but it seemed intrusive. She certainly hoped they couldn’t feel hers.
After a few more minutes, they found their clothes strewn in the small area where they had shifted the night before. Amber pulled on her underwear and jeans first, then picked up her jacket. The sleeve had a jagged hole where she had been bitten. She stared at it and tried to decide if she would be able to patch it or stitch it back up.
"That thing has seen better days," Genevieve said with a laugh.
"I'm going to fix it, "Amber snarled at her before she could stop her overreaction.
Genevieve lifted her hands in apology. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't realize it was important to you."
Her shoulders slumped and she turned away. "It was my brother’s.”
She wanted to tell Genevieve it was okay, but her emotions were all over the place. She didn’t want to be a werewolf. Not after what had happened to her brother. Her family would never accept it, not that they wanted her around now anyhow.
Genevieve didn't ask any more questions after that. Amber pulled on her shirt and draped the ruined jacket over her arm.
They headed back towards the parking lot. She could feel the tension in Genevieve and had an urge to try to mend it. Her wolf was frustrated and irritated with her for hurting Genevieve. It was protective of its pack members. Amber was irritated with it for existing, much less having an opinion.
Chapter 4
AMBER
The first thing Amber heard was a snarl, then she felt Tommy's fear. She broke into a run, and Genevieve followed her.
Some big, bald guy had Tommy backed up against a car. His hands were fisted in the collar of Tommy’s shirt. Fury ripped through Amber. Neither she, nor the wolf inside her, would stand for someone threatening her pack.
With a speed not her own, she sprinted toward them, hitting the other werewolf from the side. Tommy’s shirt ripped as the guy’s claws were torn out of the fabric.
"Don't touch him," Amber growled, shoving the other wolf back again. She made sure she was between him and Tommy.
The werewolf snarled, but didn't move toward her. The scent of other shifters drifted toward them. Amber looked up and saw three bulky men headed their way through the mostly empty parking lot.
The man in front wore a blazer over a plain shirt. He walked a few steps ahead of the other two, and Amber immediately identified him as the leader of this little group. Whether he was the alpha of the pack or just the highest-ranking werewolf present, he was definitely in charge.
Amber put herself between him and her pack.
He stopped next to the man that had been threatening Tommy and looked her up and down. "I guess we just discovered what that omega got up to last night,” the man said. "Did you idiots kill anyone?"
"Touch my pack again and I might,” Amber said. The wolf inside her wanted to charge this man and tear him down in front of the others. The desire to challenge him was almost overwhelming, but Amber resisted. No matter what instincts she had now, she wasn't going to be stupid. They were outnumbered, and challenging him would put the two wolves she was responsible for in danger.
The man gave a disbelieving snort. “I’m sorry, your what?”
Amber bit the inside of her cheek, uncertain. She had intended to keep the whole alpha thing under wraps
before she had blurted out that Tommy was hers. She wasn’t sure what it meant to be an alpha, or if she even wanted the responsibility.
“You heard me,” Amber said. Now that it was out there, she’d be damned if she’d let this douchebag laugh at her for it.
The guy shook his head. “Bitten wolves can’t be alphas,” he said, looking at her like she was stupid. “You don’t have what it takes.”
Amber straightened. This guy was a bully and a bigot. Something in his tone told her he wasn't an alpha himself. She curled her lip in disdain. The wolf peered out of her eyes, and red tinted her vision as she felt alpha power rise in her. The wolf’s instincts told her that the other werewolf had to back down, or challenge her.
An angry blush crept up his neck and he took a step back, lowering his eyes. “How the fuck did you do that?"
“How about you tell me why a werewolf that you seem to know was running around a concert last night attacking people?" She took another step toward the other werewolves and was satisfied to see the wolves move back again to keep distance between them.
“That would be because Samuel didn't do his job,” a deep voice said from Amber's left.
Amber turned, startled. She hadn’t heard the guy coming at all.
The man walked toward them; he was different from the others. There was a weight to him that was unnatural. This was their alpha.
The werewolf that had been taunting her stared hard at the ground. If he had a tail, it would be tucked tightly between his legs. She was surprised Samuel didn't drop to his stomach in human form.
“We're close to finding Peter—” Samuel began.
The alpha looked at Samuel, who snapped his mouth shut. Turning back to Amber, he put on a more pleasant face. “My name is Donovan Lockhart. I'm sorry for the way my gamma embarrassed himself today, Samuel is correct that it is unusual to see a bitten wolf take up the mantle of alpha. It is, of course, also not legally permitted. However, I can help you with that if you would like to join my pack."
Misfit Pack (The Misfit Series) Page 2
