by Ryan Michele
I suck in a breath. I’m not sure I can make it work. I don’t know how. I’ve been trying religiously for weeks. I’ll keep at it, though.
Each one of us nods our heads in agreement.
“Thor. You work with Mal. Dig like hell and find anything and everything. Max, you figure out what you can from your end. I’ll be on Maggie and Nana when they get back,” Xavier continues. “For now, let’s all go eat then we’ll start.”
At that moment, my stomach rumbles and Thor lets out a chuckle. “Yep, Sabrea here has worked up an appetite.” I elbow him. Not hard, just enough to get his attention, and chuckles sound throughout the room.
Sabrea
VOICES COME TO A halt as Xavier, Zara, Max, Kenly, Thor and I walk into the dining area. It’s bigger than the one I shared with my old pack, but it’s the same premise. Tables line the area filled with wolves devouring food. The smell wafting through the air has my wolf snarling. I want to eat right now, but with all the stares, I can tell that it may be a bit before that happens.
“This is Sabrea, my mate,” Thor announces to the large group. “She was born with only one ear and cannot shift.” Heat rises from my chest and up my neck. Way to just put it out there, Thor. “I don’t give a shit and neither will any of you.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” is screeched from a pretty blonde with ample curves standing beside one of the tables. Her hip is cocked, her hand gripping it, in what I like to call ‘bitch-stance.’ “Seriously? First we had to put up with,” she waves in Zara’s direction, “whatever that is. Then Kenly is a fucking human for Heavens’ sakes, and now you bring in a female that can’t shift? I mean, come on. Have you three lost your minds?” She is obviously addressing the three men in the group but it’s us females that step forward.
It’s like some cosmic pull that one of us began to move and the others went in sync with it. We form a line in front of our mates, not touching one another, but all of our eyes piercing this woman.
“Marissa, what did I tell you about running your mouth?” Zara says in a voice that should scare the ever-loving shit out of this Marissa chick. It would me if I were in her shoes, but apparently it doesn’t.
“Blah, blah, blah,” she says, making her hands talk, but they look like ducks quacking. Whatever. “I was talking to the men, not to you three,” she snarls, standing there like the three males behind her are her mates and we are encroaching on her territory.
I sense Zara wanting to take a step forward and the three of us do so in unison. “I haven’t had the pleasure to meet you. I’m Sabrea,” I say in a sugary-sweet voice that always has others looking at me like I am no threat, just trying to keep the peace.
“I didn’t ask who you were,” Marissa snaps. “Seriously, Thor. A mate who has no ear and can’t shift? She can’t help defend the pack. She’s defective.”
And that word causes a snap inside my head. A big one that I can’t control.
In a blur, I’m in front of Marissa, my hands at her throat holding her up so her feet dangle from the floor. My fingers bite into her skin. What I wouldn’t give for a set of claws. My wolf bangs her head hard on the glass encasement, just begging to get out. I’d love to let her. Marissa takes a swipe at me, her claws fully extended.
Knowing I can’t beat her if she turns into a wolf, I throw her like she weighs nothing across the room. She lands on one of the tables, food splattering everywhere, including on the bitch. The wolves sitting at the table jump up, brushing the food off of them and a tinge of regret washes over me. “Sorry about that,” I tell them to some grunts and waves.
“You bitch!” Marissa screeches, standing back up with her face beginning to contort into wolf.
“You rang?”
Marissa runs at me, but I move so much faster than her. My swiftness is beyond comprehension. Guess I’m giving my new pack a little show. Marissa goes flying into Thor and he grabs her, saving her from falling.
He’s touching her.
He’s fucking touching her.
She looks up and smiles at him then turns back to me and smirks snidely, acting unsteady on her feet so Thor has to hold her tighter.
Mine. I growl and charge at Marissa, yanking her out of Thor’s arms and giving him a look that could seriously kill him. With my burst of speed, I pick Marissa up and her claws begin swiping, narrowly missing me.
“Get this straight, bitch. I may not shift, but I will take your fucking ass down if you ever put your hands on him again.” I toss her back across the room, this time into the doorway that leads to the living room. She lands with a loud thud. “Bitch, don’t fuck with me, I promise you won’t like what happens.” Marissa stands and silently leaves the room.
I turn and glare at Thor then move over to the food line. I grab a white plate with a little too much anger and begin slopping food onto it. I really don’t know what I’m adding, but truth be told, I don’t give a shit. I’m hungry and I’ll eat just about anything. And being pissed at Thor doesn’t help. Strong arms wrap around my waist, and I turn my head in a flash, snapping my teeth at Thor. Screw him.
“Calm down,” he coos in my ear.
At this, I plop my half-full plate on the counter and turn to him. “Calm down?” I take a step closer, our chests touching. “You want me to fucking calm down when you had your damn hands on her?” I give a mighty shove and he steps one foot back, but remains where he is. I know I’m strong, but come on, he’s a male. “You expect me to live like that? Fuck no. Get that shit through your head right now, Thor. I don’t share. I’ll kill any bitch that touches you. Got me?” I poke his chest with my index finger for emphasis and hear chuckles all around me. I kind of forgot I had an audience. Shit.
“I got you,” Thor says with a fantastic smile on his lips. Shit, he’s hot. Asshole. “Same goes for you.”
“I’m not the one with a female in my arms,” I growl, my wolf getting more temperamental every second she can’t escape. Fucking hell. A headache is coming on. When my wolf gets like this there isn’t a lot I can do. I press my fingers into my eye sockets, trying to help with the pain.
“What’s wrong?” Thor’s concerned voice touches me, but pain slices through my head just as my wolf charges hard into her glass enclosure. I swear every time she hits her head, the headache gets more intense.
“Need to lie down.” I’ve already got enough problems; I don’t need anyone to know about this too. I need to get the hell out of here.
“Sabrea,” Xavier’s voice calls from behind me and it takes all of my might to turn to him. “What is wrong?” It’s not a request, it’s a demand. Shit.
“Headaches. After all this,” I wave my arm around, “my wolf is trying to get out. She slams on the glass over and over. It kills my head. It normally only lasts a few minutes, but the pain is bad.”
“Stella!” Thor calls. “Living room. Lie on the couch. Now,” he orders, but instead of letting me walk, he picks me up bridal style and sets me down on the plush couch.
My wolf crashes again and I try to hold back the whimper, but am unable to. Calm, wolf. It’s okay. Calm. I try to talk to her as Thor comes to sit behind my back and pulls me to him on the couch. My wolf sniffs and immediately begins to calm, acknowledging Thor. I swear sometimes she gets so riled up she has a hard time realizing what’s around her in the first place. Unfortunately, I can tell from Thor’s thoughts that he can feel my pain, and I hate that part of our connection. I never want him to feel pain from me.
Stella rushes in and places her hands right above my head. I close my eyes as an ease comes over me and blow out a huge puff of air. “Better,” I moan. “Thank you.”
“You get these a lot?” Thor asks, but from the expressions on Xavier, Max, Zara, and Kenly, they want the same answers.
“Just when my wolf really tries to break free. When she’s really trying to attack.”
“But you didn’t get a headache when you were attacked in the woods? Wouldn’t your wolf want to come out and protect you?
” Max asks.
“She pushed to get out, but you have to realize that she hasn’t been out much therefore her fighting skills are not where they should be. Three males, she wouldn’t be able to fight off. One bitch of a female, no problem.” At least that is what I think happened.
Xavier shakes his head and runs a finger through his hair. “Fucking shit.” Zara wraps her arms around his waist, pulling him to her. His empty arm comes around her and he rests his chin on her forehead.
“We’ll work on it,” Zara says to the group and I have no idea how she plans on doing that. I mean hell, I can’t figure it out, Marvin couldn’t figure it out. I’m not sure what it is I need to be working on. “Let’s get you something to eat and we’ll go from there.” I nod while Thor helps me to my feet.
THIS IS REALLY NOT the way to begin a relationship. Even though Thor and I are mates, I still want to get to know him. I want to learn his likes and dislikes. I want to memorize each plane of his sculpted body. I want to take the time to kiss every inch of him and explore. But when the weight of an impending attack rests on your shoulders, there really isn’t much time for that. Let alone going out for a run all together, which I’m really desperate for.
After we eat, Zara, Kenly and I start practicing, for lack of a better word. I feel like all we are doing is wasting time. I stare at the glass of water…and stare…and stare. Nothing. Not one damn thing. Just like before. Nothing has changed now that I’ve found my mate. Nothing but the sex, which is hot. Seriously hot. But right now there is no time for that either.
The males are in Xavier’s office going through papers looking for a better connection between Camp and the Lobo pack. I wish they would find something. Hell, I wish this whole thing was over.
“Dammit!” Zara yells, a few feet away from me.
She’s been trying to get her light power—we don’t even know what to call it so we went with generic—to work. Kenly has yelled at her, called her names, anything to make her angry. She even said some things about Xavier, but I could tell it killed Kenly to say them and Zara got angry, but not enough for any light shows.
“I think we need a break,” Kenly says, exasperated.
And I agree with her. We are getting nowhere. Kenly has tried on both Zara and me to get us to do stupid shit by just telling us. We laughed a lot, but that’s as far as anything went.
“We need to figure out what our trigger is,” I state the obvious. “Who can we talk to, to find out?”
Both Zara and Kenly look at each other. “Marvin,” they state in unison.
“But aren’t your grandmothers going to see him?”
“Yes, and they’re probably still there,” Zara says, setting her feet on the ground and rising. “I think we should go over with them. See if he can get more when we are all together.”
Kenly and I rise also. “Agreed,” we say simultaneously, and smile. The smile dies when a huge explosion rocks us. The three of us put our hands over our heads, ducking to the ground and having no idea what the hell we are protecting ourselves from.
Are you okay? I hear Thor through our link.
I think so. I scan the group. “Everyone okay?” Both the females come out from under their hands, shock deep on their faces.
“Yeah,” Zara says, brushing her jeans off from the grass, dust and debris scattering around.
“Holy shit,” Kenly says, and I look in her direction then up to where she is focused.
The large waterfall that I have to say lit up the entire landscape of the den is gone. Blown to shreds, parts of the rock still exposed but all of the water...gone. What the hell?
“Max told me that is the water supply for the pack. What the hell is going on?” Kenly says, astounded.
I’d suggest you get out here. The waterfall is blown, I think to Thor.
Fuck. Get inside. Now.
What’s going on? I ask him through our link.
No fucking clue. Get inside, he orders this time.
“We need to go in,” I say to the females who are already on the move and must have heard their own orders from their mates.
“Hurry.” Zara moves quickly with all of us on her heels.
As we enter the den, wolves are moving swiftly all over. Xavier is barking out orders for wolves to find out what the fuck is going on and demanding views from surveillance videos, or something like that. Zara moves to his side and Kenly and I follow, needing that connection to our mates.
“We need to head out. You three stay here,” Xavier barks at Zara, Kenly, and me.
“What? No, Xavier. I need to go with you,” Zara says, looking up into a stony-faced Alpha.
“Me too, Max,” Kenly adds.
Xavier cuts each of them off before I can mutter the same thing. “No. You stay here with Sabrea.”
Then it hits me. He’s making them stay because I can’t shift. Because I’m the one that needs protecting. If I could, we’d all be going out on the hunt for what happened. Fucking hell. The deep pit of not being good enough opens wide in my gut and begins to suck me down its vicious hole.
“I’ll be fine here. There will be wolves that will stay behind. Please don’t worry about me,” I plead with Xavier but am hoping that Thor sees my plight. This isn’t fair to the others. They’ve done nothing wrong, and I don’t need a fucking babysitter.
Xavier looks to Thor who nods. “Fine. But you stay in the den, Sabrea. Do not come out for any reason, no matter what you hear or feel through your link with Thor. We’ll let you know as soon as we find something.”
I let out a partial breath. Part of me is happy that Xavier isn’t giving them babysitting duty while the other is upset that I am missing out on the action and not close to Thor. Fuck. Talk about a double edged sword. But I can’t let them be left behind because of me. I have got to figure out this shifting thing. It was always important to me to shift, but now it’s more so.
“I’ll stay here,” I promise to Thor. He bends down, giving me an all too brief kiss, and they’re all gone. Shit.
I sit on the couch watching the others file out. “I’ll get you something to drink,” Stella says from the doorway. It’s very nice but I feel a bit odd, having someone wait on me. I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself. I’m not completely incapacitated.
“I can get it.”
“No!” I’m a bit stunned by her outburst and she must register the shock on my face as she looks down apologetically. “I’m so sorry. I’m just a mess. I can’t believe someone did this. I mean that is our water supply and…” She shakes her head as tears well in her eyes.
I stand immediately and go over to her, wrapping my arms around her in a tight hug, which she falls into. Her tears fall to my skin, only making me hug her tighter. Even though I just got into this pack, I feel her pain, making me ache deeply, too.
She pulls away swatting the tears from her eyes then wiping her hand over her face, like they are some pesky gnats or something. “Like I said. I’ll get you something to drink. It will give me something to do.” I nod, accepting that she needs a break and happy that I can give her that small thing.
“I’ve gotta pee. I’ll be right back,” I tell her, moving away from the living room and down the hall.
Three doors down is a large bathroom with several stalls. It’s the communal one that everyone uses when they are anywhere on the main floor together. Twenty stalls line each side with six huge industrial strength sinks in the front as I walk in. I go into the stall and shut the door. Locking it, I sit down and do my business, the nerves of the day weighing heavy on my shoulders.
The door opens and shuts with a click and I breathe in deep. Marissa. Her smell instantly invades my nostrils and my stomach roils. Fucking bitch. She is just like my sisters, always thinking she’s entitled to everything. Stupid.
I do my business quickly and open the stall door, wanting to at least set my eyes on her. Marissa is leaning against the wall with a smug smile adorning her face. Well, this isn’t going to be pretty. She�
�s itching for something. I move to the sink, washing and drying my hands and ignoring her, but knowing her every breath and movement. Whatever her issue, she’ll talk when she feels like it. If she has the balls.
Unfortunately, she is standing by the wall next to the door and she needs to get the hell out of my way in order for me to leave. I move in front of her and stare her straight in her calculating eyes, giving her a look of my own.
“Move please.” Yep, I go the polite route. I’m not feeding into her. I know she’s pissed and I have no doubt that she’s ready to show me what she’s made of since embarrassing her earlier. I keep my body on alert, just waiting for it.
“Aww. You said please. How cute.” Her hands come up and I know she’s going to try to push against my chest so I sidestep them quickly. She falls a step forward, losing her balance and growling. “I’m going to fucking enjoy this.”
“What, watching me walk out of the bathroom?” I shrug. “Well, whatever floats your boat, I guess.” I keep my eyes focused on her, knowing that she’s not anywhere close to being done yet. She snarls, telling me I’m not wrong. But I can’t help the smartass comments coming out of my mouth. It’s like verbal vomit. And truth be told, a little fun. Well, until her claws come out. Then I won’t be laughing.
“You stupid bitch.” She comes forward just as I land an uppercut that sends her flying to the other side of the bathroom. The crack of her jaw echoes through the space.
“What? This again?” I ask coyly. Nothing like poking the bear…or wolf. I giggle inside at my little joke. Not that this is the time to be laughing at all and I need to watch my back before I end up dead. But if it gets her talking, stalling her and giving me some time, I’m in.
“I take you out, then you all die. Pretty much a sure thing.”
