Pack Possessed, page 14
part #4 of Thrown to the Wolves Series
“I hate you so much. New rule, you don’t get any control over our limbs when it’s my turn.”
It’s not like I did it on purpose.
“That’s why I only said limbs, not the whole body. You can have... the belly button and left kidney.”
Sabrina swipes water off of her face, attempting to get up, only for her hand to slip on my wet stomach and crash back down with a wet slap of flesh. It sends her into a fit of laughter that’s contagious, and soon, neither of us can even make eye contact without devolving into another round, giving up our attempts to get up.
Barely able to suck in a breath, she haltingly wheezes, “I didn’t realize ‘can’t live without my touch’ was a threat and when you pulled out, you’d try to take me out, too.”
“You’re the one that slipped and kicked me!” I gasp between chuckles. “Can we still say it counted and scratch shower sex off the bucket list?”
Red faced, she can only manage a nod and a thumbs up. A good five minutes later when we can finally breathe, I lift her off of me, half-rolling her onto the floor so she can get her footing on less hazardous ground. I go to grab a towel, meeting thin air on the hook and hang my head in defeat.
“I thought your comment about drying off on Hunter’s shirt was just to rub your scent on it.”
Still chuckling, she carries on using it to swipe water from her body. “Nope, laundry day got skipped in all of the chaos. Are we really supposed to head to the warehouse in a little bit or was that part of the lie? We could always deal with that instead if we’re free for the rest of the night since the first plan didn’t work out.”
“Fuck the laundry.” With a mental roll of my eyes, I’m shoved out of the way as my demon takes over, intent on redeeming himself. Throwing her over our shoulder, he yanks open the door. “There’s no way in hell that is how we’re leaving things between us.”
Unperturbed at the water dripping everywhere, he strides across the main space and into the bedroom, tossing her onto the mattress. “We aren’t leaving this cabin until my scent becomes a permanent part of your skin.”
Chapter 10
Sabrina
“Shouldn’t we be dealing with someone that actually, you know, volunteered?”
Cocking my head, I assess the bound and gagged man bucking against his restraints in a metal folding chair in the woods behind the warehouse. It’s the same guy that tried to laser my face off the other day, and by the obvious disdain being lobbed my way, current events haven’t warmed him up to me in the slightest.
“Think about it; he hates you,” Sebastian announces with a broad smile that answers nothing.
“Oh, well, now that you cleared that up,” I trail off, scanning the tree line.
We’re way too exposed out here and it has me on edge. I get that we can’t have him potentially shift inside of the warehouse and destroy the machinery that escaped the explosions, knowing they’d never get lucky a second time, but I don’t like it. Sure, it has the potential to work in our favor if by some miracle this actually works, but it can also blow up in our faces. If it doesn’t work, then we might also have to kill the witnesses lurking in the shadows, and this late at night? There’s bound to be plenty.
Our entire plan of not having a plan is relying on this being an effective smokescreen. That can only happen if we have men clamoring to get their hands on this drug, for rumors to spread in whispers around the mountain that there’s a way to escape Acheron’s influence on top of being able to shift without the need of a mate. Bonus points if it makes them less ‘axe murdery’ and more ‘sure, we’ll go to war with the biggest pack on the mountain for you. What else is there to do around here, anyway?’
Pipe dream, but still; it’d be a convenient solution.
Sebastian rolls his eyes. “It’ll be obvious if it changes how he feels about you.”
Bo catches my eye, looking nearly as excited at the prospect as Sebastian is. “If he pulls a one-eighty and starts fawning over you, we’ll know that your blood has a mate effect, even if there’s no claiming bite. Then we get to kill him.”
“Makes sense to me.” The poor son of a bitch starts thrashing in earnest, releasing a muffled litany of curses until his face grows red. Giving him my back, I turn my focus to my other sort-of-but-not-really-dads. “Even if he does shift, this is still a one-off though, right?”
Leo and Merrick exchange a loaded glance that does nothing to set my nerves at ease. Finally, the latter slowly states, “Honestly, we don’t have a damn clue what it’s going to do. The hydrogen sulfide was what we’d always been told was the key to getting their wolves to the surface. But your mates were bound and determined that we leave it out of this batch, so besides the addition of your blood, we just went a little heavier on the other ingredients.”
Leo shrugs. “Might not do a damn thing, or hell, maybe it’ll make him immune to you like a vaccine.”
“Well, that isn’t disconcerting at all,” Aurelia quips, and I mentally flip her off.
They’re trying their best, be nice. The only knowledge they had is what Ash fed them, part of which was clearly bullshit to fuel his agenda. Sure, they might have developed a core understanding of the basics after their hands-on experience all of these years, but that’s hardly a substitute for a legitimate science course. The fact that they managed to engineer it at all under these conditions is praise worthy, not anything to complain about.
Pulling on the vestiges of my confidence, I nod. “Trial by fire then; my favorite.”
If he breaks out of that chair, he’s probably going to head right for us. Are you good with stepping in before I get my neck chewed on if he slips past the others?
Her surprise can be felt as if it were my own, and I need to physically shake my head to dispel the feeling. “If you’d like.”
With a heavy exhale, I pray the sentiment isn’t going to come back to bite me in the ass. I have to admit that you’re better suited for this part than I am; faster reflexes.
Kaige’s hand settles on the small of my back as we watch Bo help hold the man still enough for Sebastian to pierce the vein on his inner arm. A collective breath is held amongst our small gathering, every second that ticks by dragging into hours. And all the while, I keep my attention rapt on the loathing glare of our human-adjacent guinea pig as he gives up his thrashing in favor of drawing in heaving breaths through the cloth gag.
After an agonizingly long stretch trapped in a stressful stasis, Reid sighs. “Okay, maybe we dial back the amount instea-” he’s cut off by a sharp snap and muffled scream.
Heart skipping a beat before restarting in double time, I watch as his bones break seemingly of their own volition and his back arches as much as the bindings allow, trapped in a silent scream. Little by little his body breaks apart in jerking, unnatural motions. For a brief moment, a knot forms in my stomach as all of my memories of the lycans resurface. Before they become crippling, they trickle away, a soothing reminder left behind that that’s all they are; memories. I survived them not once, but twice.
“You’re not scared of them, you associate lycans with the traumatic events that happened those days.”
Concentrating on my breathing, I keep my gaze trained on the way the rope snaps with his swelling form. But as he tumbles face first to the ground, wrists still bound behind his back, he shrinks in on himself. Between the shredding of his clothes, tawny fur spreads over his skin until eventually, all that’s left in his place is an insanely pissed off wolf whipping around to shed the loose ropes from around his feet.
“It worked.” Cinjin’s awed voice is followed by him wrapping an arm around my collar from behind.
Kaige frees his pinned hand, stealing mine instead and lifting it to his lips with an incredulous chuckle. “Of course it did.”
Unable to tear my gaze away from the seemingly normal wolf that’s finally managed to untangle himself, I argue, “Pretty sure we should wait to see if he’s rabid or whatever other side effects there may be before we start celebrating.”
Hunter’s tone is as harsh as ever despite the fact that he’s agreeing with me. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We need to see how he acts around Sabrina before we break out the champagne, and test if we can manipulate his energy. Kaige?”
Beside me, Kaige tenses and offers a terse, “Nope.”
Tempering my expectations, I brace myself as much as possible. He may not be a lycan, or even launching himself at anyone, but that comes with its own set of complications. If it turns out my blood does have a mate effect, we’re back to square one. But when he finally meets my gaze, I find the same amount of hostility as before, if not even more so. Without breaking eye contact or giving any warning signs, he suddenly lunges.
Right at Damian’s face.
“Motherfucker!” Damian goes down hard, landing on his back and pressing his forearm across the wolf’s throat, keeping its snapping jaws at bay inches from his face.
Hunter and Leo are there in the next second, attempting to haul the psychotic wolf off of Damian, but struggling. The downside of being raised as an alpha; you grow to rely on your ability to bring unruly wolves to heel with a simple touch.
“This day is turning out to be far more delightful than I expected.”
Ignoring my brain buddy’s laughter, I drag Cinjin and Kaige with me to intervene. On one hand, we need to know if I can still siphon from this guy because of my blood running through his veins. On the other, if I’m wrong, it gives me a couple of human shields at the ready to throw between us.
I only make it two steps before Cinjin and Kaige tighten their grips to stop me, the latter enjoying this nearly as much as the demon in my head. “Let the others at least restrain him first or you’re going to get your hand bitten off.”
Bo steps in to help, and between the three of them, they finally wrestle the wolf into submission. At my tentative approach, he stops struggling so much, pinning his furious attention back onto me. Shaking off Cin and Kaige, I crouch down beside Bo, just outside of the wolf’s reach.
“How about I see if I can help, hmm?”
Extending a hand slowly, I hold his gaze, searching for any sign that he’s about to lash out again. Restless energy has my nerve endings prickling painfully across my skin in anticipation, but when I press my palm to his side and nothing happens, I breathe a little easier. This time, when I pull some of the demonic energy into myself, I keep my eyes open, trained on the man hiding behind the feral beast.
Though I can feel it, it’s more of a vague awareness, similar to how the first breath of winter air hurts your lungs. Gradually as time passes, he relaxes, and maybe it’s wishful thinking, but some of the venom in his glare fades.
“Now comes the real test.”
All of the tension in the air hasn’t done Slade any favors. “There has to be another way to see if it worked.” Turning to Hunter for back up, he points out, “It’s not worth risking her getting hurt.”
“I don’t like it either,” Hunter decrees, but much to my surprise adds, “but this whole plan only works if we actually have people fighting for her. Can’t happen if we muzzle them all, or there’s no point.”
Bo swallows before steeling his spine. “Not like he’s taking her by surprise. If she can handle several lycans on her own, she can deal with one wolf.” And then he simply... let’s go, forcing Leo and Hunter to release their holds as well.
Hyperaware of every twitch of muscle, I watch with bated breath as the wolf stands, holding onto the comforting feeling of not being alone to deal with this. He takes a single step closer, and when nobody tackles him, another. Stopping right in front of me, he settles back onto the ground, trying to appear unthreatening.
But he doesn’t act anything like when my mates shift, rubbing themselves all over me and fighting for attention and affection.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” All of our heads whip to face three guys coming into view between the trees. Dropping the firewood in his arms, the one in the center snaps, “After all of that bullshit the other day, she went and took another mate?”
Rising to my feet, I flip him off. “I’ll take as many mates as I like, whenever I like; it’s none of your damn business. But for your information, no. Honestly, I don’t even remember this guy’s name, but I can personally attest that at best, he tolerates me.” Looking at the wolf in question, I gesture towards the new arrivals. “You’ll attack Damian, but not these guys? Fat load of help that does.”
Reid offers, “Maybe Damian just has a punchable face. Slade and Sebastian sure seem to think so.”
Another of the newcomers demands, “Then what the hell is going on?”
“Everyone here’s had it out for us since the moment we stepped foot on the mountain, so we figured it might go a long way in mending bridges if we helped you shift.”
Suspicion all over their faces, they wait for me to elaborate without interrupting. All of the commotion draws more of a crowd than I’d like, and by the time I’m done speaking, there has to be at least seventy people.
“This shot,” a faceless voice shouts from the masses, “we’d need one every time we wanted to shift?”
I shrug. “No clue yet, you interrupted the first stage of testing, so we’ll find out tomorrow night.”
Another asks, “But this one does work, at least for a one-off?”
“Sabrina,” she quietly warns, but I realized the corner I backed us into at the same moment she did.
Taking my silence as confirmation, everything escalates quickly. People start shoving past each other in their rush to raid the warehouse, all of us caught in the middle of the chaos.
“Shit!” Leo shoves his way out of the mob and takes off running, the others hot on his heels.
My new guard dog finally puts himself to good use, snapping at people before I get trampled by the crowd. Bo is there a moment later, tucking me behind him as he becomes an immovable blockade people are forced to go around. “Arguably a better problem than what we were dealing with before.”
Any suggestions?
“We could kill them, but it won’t do any of us any favors.”
Not going to matter if they destroy our ability to make more of the drug tearing up the warehouse either, to be fair.
When the onslaught passes, we catch up with the others, standing off to the side out of the way as the sea of hostile men try to force their way past Leo. The door’s still shut, so at least he managed to cut them off before they busted through the lock. Merrick palms the back of a guy’s head before slamming it into the nearest tree so hard, I’d be shocked if the poor bastard wasn’t dead before he hit the ground. When I catch a glimpse of the man’s face, it’s barely recognizable beneath all of the blood. He and Sebastian are working their way through the crowd, the three of them trying to bring their pack back into line, but these guys clearly don’t give a shit anymore. There’s not an ounce of fear, only an increasingly fed-up group of people that would rather get a few shots in before they die than continue to be forced into submission.
A gunshot fires and I flinch, but it’s only Cinjin shooting off a warning in the air. “Calm the fuck down and listen.” He makes his way to the warehouse door beside Leo. “This is how it's going to be. You want the ability to shift? We need a couple more volunteers to test a few things so we can see if any adjustments need to be made. Once we're sure there aren’t any horrible side effects, and if you need a shot every time you want to shift or if it’s permanent, we'll produce enough for all of you. Hell, you can even help so we can get it into your hands faster. But if you don’t back the fuck off right now, I will personally ensure every other person in this hellhole gets it except for you assholes.”
Someone growls, “Isn't Wilder just going to kill us the second he finds out we stole his product?”
Instantly, he snaps back, “And we won’t?”
Merrick wipes the blood on his knuckles off on his jeans as he strides up beside me, settling a hand on my shoulder and raising his voice to carry over the crowd. “After you’ve been injected, the only alpha that can manipulate you from that point on is my daughter. Not Wilder, not Leo, and not me. It’s the best freedom we can offer you ungrateful sons of bitches, but it comes at a price.”
All eyes turn on me, and I swallow uncomfortably, but keep my head held high. Wolves can sniff out weakness better than bloodhounds, but my fathers have proven that an iron fist and merciless reputation don’t garner respect. If threats are the only thing keeping people from turning on you, you’re living on borrowed time.
"I'd like you to shut up long enough to listen to a story. Afterward, you can decide if you want to stick around or not; you'll get the drug either way."
Someone snorts. "Going to preach about the power of friendship and why we should all get along?"
With a sad smile, I confess, "No, but you deserve to know that I’m the reason you’re cursed to live like this."
Chapter 11
Cinjin
A hard thump outside the door has Reid and I eyeing each other warily. Setting down my hand of cards, I rise from the table, drawing my gun on the way to the door. Hunter’s passed out with Sabrina, the Slaughters and the rest of the guys at the warehouse working on whipping out as much of that drug as they can get out of the latest batch of Sabrina’s blood, and the fact that Hunter hasn’t stormed in here already is pretty damn telling. We’ve all been pushing ourselves hard the last couple of days, but Hunter’s used to sleeping with one eye open. It’s a testament to the effect Sabrina has on people if even his demon has decided it’s not as much fun to torment Hunter anymore so they can soak up some extra time with her.
Opening the door, my heart plummets to my stomach, and out of habit, I shift my stance in the threshold, obscuring Reid from the line of fire. “What do you want?”
