Pack Poisoned, page 4
part #2 of Thrown to the Wolves Series
Kissing her shoulder, I ask, “What would you prefer?”
Pausing to mull it over, she eventually decides, “If I’m doing this, I’d rather be all in than keep one foot out the door and complicate things even more. There’s already enough chaos to juggle right now.”
Pulling out my phone, I update my calendar. “Then I’ll take care of it tomorrow. I’ll swap off with Slade, so don’t be startled if you wake up beside him instead of me, because I’d prefer to get an early start.”
Her lip twitches. “Is that what you meant that first night when I asked about your job? You do whatever needs done?”
I simply shrug, not embarrassed about it. “I like having a clear sense of direction, a list of problems with solutions that I can chip away at. This part of the hot mess? Easy for me. Get a certificate, appropriate signatures and things filed, paperwork so we can update your ID and social security card, etcetera. It’s mundane, but in a soothing way. I like helping, and this is something I can actually do that will make life easier for you.” Leaning down, I crane my neck to kiss the top of her head. “And I like that you aren’t embarrassed to claim us as yours.”
She scoffs. “Ah yes, woe is me. Married off to hot, rich, sweet guys that fight over who gets to eat me out. So embarrassing.”
I waggle my eyebrows playfully and pull her closer, well aware we’re actually both about two minutes away from passing out. “Not much of a fight if I have a head start.”
Chuckling, she shoves my shoulder before settling her head on my chest. “You’re way too hard on yourself. Though I do have a question. Does that mean on paper, I’m only married to one of you?”
With a sad smile, I stroke a hand over her hair as she closes her eyes. “Unfortunately. Most packs don’t even bother attempting to go through the formalities, or if they do, it’s to the head of the family. It doesn’t matter on our end; mates are mates. We don’t need a piece of paper with some random person’s permission to allow us to claim our mate.” Beaming, I add, “But since I’m filing the paperwork before the others think of it, I get the honor, so they can suck it.”
She barks out a laugh, and the pressure in my chest tightens with longing. “So I should probably keep my hands to myself at work then so rumors don’t start flying about me sleeping with your brother, huh?”
“Woah, hold on, is that why you two are holed up in that place pulling fourteen hour days?”
Chuckling, she gently smacks my stomach. “No, we really are working, but I’d be lying if I said we weren’t flirting or stealing a kiss here and there, too.”
Huffing a breath out of my nose, I shake my head. “You sound so sweet and innocent when you say shit like that. It’s hard to remember you’re the same girl that had me whipping it out in Victor’s house.”
Her cheeks turn scarlet. “You started it, shut up.”
We slide down the pillows with as hard as I’m laughing. Eventually, I manage to gasp out, “Pretty girl, don’t worry about the rumors. Hell, if you want, you can tell people at work that you married Reid if it makes it easier on you. We genuinely don’t care about the opinions of random, irrelevant humans.”
She narrows her eyes. “I was a random, irrelevant human when we met, thank you very much.”
“Random, maybe, but the farthest thing from irrelevant,” I counter instantly. “You were the human that saved our sister. The others will happily tell you that the first night I brought you here, the second you went upstairs with Emmy, we all started fighting about the best way to convince you to stick around. Trust me, Sabrina, your approval is the only one we’re all desperate to earn. Especially Cin, though he’d never admit it.”
She tilts her head, surprised. “He specifically told me he stopped seeking anyone’s approval when he was a kid, didn’t look back, and has never been happier.”
Humming in agreement, I resituate us again so that we might actually get some semblance of sleep tonight. “We all say a lot of things. Guess you’re going to have to look beyond the words and watch him to see for yourself. But, Sabrina?” She looks up at me and I swallow. “We’re terrified you’re going to be the death of us, pretty girl, and it’s going to make us do some stupid shit sometimes. So I need you to be better than us, okay? Ignore us when we say everything’s fine, because we only know how to tread water, not how to ask for help to keep us from drowning.”
Chapter 3
Sabrina
“You’d rather she suffer needlessly than let me help her? Fuck off.” Damian’s pissed off voice drops to join the hushed argument happening on the other side of the bedroom door. Rolling over to go back to sleep, I find Bo’s spot cold beside me, and a note in his place wishing me good morning and a reminder to text him if I need anything or if Slade’s being an obtuse idiot again.
The next thing I know, said brother is storming into the room with Damian hot on his heels. “Sorry we woke you,” he apologizes as I sit up, more confused than annoyed, but both can easily be remedied by some answers and caffeine.
“What’s going on?”
Schooling his features, he explains, “Damian’s still insisting that he’s able to mend your leg, yet won’t offer an explanation.”
Scowling, Damian snaps back, “To you. This is Sabrina’s call, not yours. You don’t get to shoot it down as a possibility because you don’t like the thought of me being the one to help her.”
Tilting my head, I look between them, both of their attention rapt on my face in a preternaturally still, unnerving way that makes me squirm. “How?”
Damian’s mop of messy, dark hair falls into his face, obscuring one of his hypnotic, red-ringed, silver eyes. “I have a special knack for this sort of thing, an ability to manipulate the feral energy we wield in a different way.”
Unconsciously, my gaze flits to Slade’s, where even though he’s attempting to conceal it, it’s clear that the entire ordeal has him on edge. I’m about to open my mouth to refuse, to tell Damian not to worry about it so that Slade can relax, but the more I think about it, the more I keep coming back to the fact that they don’t trust these three at all. If Damian’s telling the truth and can help me, it’ll go a long way in easing some of the tension around here, or these next few weeks are going to be stressful and miserable for everyone. We want them on our side when we make the trip across the country; not thinking they’re on some warped, righteous crusade to save me.
Blowing out a long breath, I mentally prepare myself for whatever fallout may come from my choice, understanding now why making decisions in this place causes Bo to become nauseous. “Hey, if you think you can make me less of a burden around here, feel free to give it a shot.”
“You’re not a burden,” they refute in tandem, and my lip twitches before I bite back my amusement.
“Fine, let me rephrase. I don’t like being so reliant on other people that I need help to make it down the stairs without breaking my neck. So if you have something that’ll speed up the healing process, I’m all for it, because I’m going stir crazy laying around all of the time. Slade can sit with me though, right?”
Damian nods before a slow smile takes over his face as if he’s suddenly concocted a plan to steal Christmas. “Of course. If he wants, he can even help.”
Slade narrows his eyes as he slides in behind me on the bed so that I can lean back against him, his suspicion ramping up my nerves until I begin to second guess my decision. “What do you mean?”
Damian chooses to speak to me instead, blatantly giving Slade the cold shoulder. “You know how Kaige did that thing that made you relax?”
I nod. “Like Slade does, I’m familiar.”
He huffs, but agrees, sitting on the edge of the mattress. “It’s an alpha thing. For lack of better phrasing, we can communicate with the wolf in your chest in two ways. Whether that’s to convince it that everything’s alright and soothe it, which is typically reserved for women and children, or to pull some of the volatile energy plaguing it, forcing it into submission.”
Craning my neck uncomfortably, I look at Slade for confirmation who clarifies, “It’s how we keep people in line. We pull some of the feral energy from them and absorb it as our own. Brings them to heel while also getting a boost in strength, which is what makes us a force to be reckoned with, if we so choose, though it doesn’t come without cost, so we use the ability sparingly.”
I turn back to Damian. “Like you did with Adrian.”
He smirks. “As good of an excuse as any; the trip here with him tested all of our nerves, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ready to jump at the chance when you offered.” Clearing his throat, he scoots closer, kneeling beside me and sitting on his heels. “Anyway, it’s our wolves that give us our expedited healing. So in a nutshell, I’ll send yours a boost of energy instead of draining it, while at the same time coaxing it to relax and channel that extra energy into mending your leg.”
“You can reverse it?” Slade asks in a hushed whisper. His tone is closed off enough that I can’t get a read on if he’s surprised or upset, but based on the way his fingers tighten on my side, I’m guessing the latter.
Damian seems to pick up on it too, but rather than make another jab about how much better of a choice any of the three of them are instead of the men I’ve chosen, he relents, “Kaige and Hunter can’t either, and trust me, they’ve tried plenty since finding out that I had the ability. We’re born and raised to take power and hold onto it unless releasing it through force, so I doubt many have even considered experimenting with peacefully giving it away, or ever had a reason to. I only can because one of my fathers taught me when I was a kid before my wolf was strong enough to dig his heels in, I think. These fuckers don’t want to give up their power to anyone, even us.”
Slade nods, though he doesn’t say anything. Without any more protest, Damian settles a hand on my collar bone and I squirm beneath his touch, gripping the hem of my shirt. At the last minute, he sighs, reluctantly asking, “You want to chip in on this one, or no? I don’t blame you if not; it’s not a good feeling when the shoe’s on the other foot.”
Ah, therein lies the diabolical plan behind the smile. He was looking forward to using Slade as a battery pack and leaving him weak.
I swear, how men get anything done when they spend so much time measuring their dicks against one another is a miracle.
Slade’s voice has a hard edge as he declares, “If it’ll actually help her, of course I will.” He extends a hand in offering, wrist up. “But if you’re lying, I’ll take immense satisfaction in returning the favor.”
Latching onto his arm, Damian closes his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. As he exhales, I arch up with a gasp, the back of my head resting on Slade’s shoulder. A warm rush pours in from beneath his palm, swiftly spreading throughout my body until there’s nowhere I can feel that doesn’t have a trace of Damian touching it. It’s all-consuming, and I shut my eyes, sinking into the overwhelming sensations. The rush of energy is mixed with a calming wave similar to what Kaige and Slade have done before to settle me down, though this time, there’s a strange cross between numbness, and my nerve endings prickling with electricity; sort of like standing after your leg falls asleep. It’s everything and nothing, and I scrunch up my face as another harsh wave assaults my system.
The skin on my leg begins to gradually grow warmer and more irritating until it’s practically on fire. The itching is so intense that I‘m only vaguely aware of Slade capturing my hands as I buck against him, desperate to gouge at the skin. Damian only presses more firmly against my collar as I squirm and writhe, a pathetic cry slipping past my lips as I struggle between them.
“I’ve got you, shh.” Slade rambles endlessly as I start jerking in earnest, fire licking at my flesh. “Do you know why I call you mon soleil, love? You give me a reason to wake up in the morning. You’re the sun in my life, the light it was missing all this time, and without you, my life is bleak and miserable.”
Fighting against him as the small fire turns into an all-out inferno, I grit out, “That’s cheesy as hell, shut up.”
“Do you really want me too?” he asks with a chuckle, though his strained tone betrays his nerves.
“No,” I manage to hiss, body locking up as my muscles tense, seizing up. “Tell me I’m amazing, and then punch Damian in the face.” Sucking in a sharp breath between my teeth, I clamp my eyes shut impossibly tighter.
“Are you almost finished?” Slade snaps as I finally get a hand free of his grip, raking my nails over my thigh once before Damian releases Slade’s arm to pull mine away from tearing my fevered flesh apart.
A palm smooths over the side of my face and a tidal wave races through my system, temporarily suppressing the worst of the agony long enough that I can finally draw in a normal breath. “You’re amazing, and doing so well,” Slade murmurs against the shell of my ear, eliciting a whimper that has me struggling against the steadfast hand on my collar, pressing my face into the side of his throat. Sucking down a lungful of his cologne and cognac scent, it appeases a subconscious part of me, helping as much as the man himself to alleviate a fraction of the pain.
Damian’s voice is ragged and breathless. “It’s not only her leg.”
“What do you mean?” Slade demands before stroking a hand over the back of my head, keeping me pinned against his throat. “I know it hurts, but it won’t for much longer, I promise,” he whispers, along with a steady stream of praises. “Then you can have the first swing at him.”
As the dulled fire moves from my leg to my chest, burning away Slade’s influence until I can barely breathe, suffocating under the pressure, I snap a hand out to grip Damian’s arm, murdering it in my grasp as I futilely try to yank his hand away. He pins the hand he already captured on the mattress beside me, using it as leverage to lean in and press his palm against me more forcefully, not even flinching as I claw at his arm.
“I know,” he gasps between pants, as if he’s been running for miles. “But I’m going to take care of it, I promise.”
“What are you talking about?” Cinjin demands, storming into the room. “What the hell are you doing to her?” Tears stream from the corner of my eyes and soak Slade’s skin, my body on absolute fire. Cin climbs onto the mattress from the opposite side, reaching across Slade to brush the hair from my face before hissing in a sharp breath. “She’s burning up.”
Damian makes a concentrated effort to keep his voice soothing, like he’s not currently incinerating my insides. “There’s some sort of acidic layer throughout her body, like she’s infected with something. Her wolf isn’t docile; it’s sick. How could you not have noticed?”
A low rumble escapes Slade, vibrating into my back. “It was fine when I reached out, just quiet.”
Another rush of energy floods my system and I cry out, choking on a sob. Unable to string together a coherent sentence, I pull my face away to lock eyes with Cin, knowing of any of them, he’ll get what I’m trying to say, used to deciphering Reid. “Old werewolf lore; the scratch.”
His icy gaze is hard, but he forces his face to remain kind. “You’re already one of us, sweet girl, and that’s not how this works.”
Stomach somersaulting, I breathe through the pain since he’s not getting it, my words halting and stilted. “Wolf or person, I know. But I told you, that thing wasn’t either. I swear, I’m not remembering things wrong because it was chaotic and terrifying. By the time you guys got in the room he was human again, but he wasn’t when he was attacking me. There was something wrong with him; more like a lycan from an old horror movie.”
Slade wipes the sweat from my forehead and presses a kiss to the top of my head. “We believe you, love. Deep breaths for me, okay?”
“You don’t,” I growl, beyond frustrated. “We’ve been over this a dozen times already, and you all wrote it off as trauma affecting my memories.”
A sharp stab lances through my chest that steals my breath away, and my fingers on Damian’s arm grow slick with his blood as I tighten my grip. My mouth opens, yet no sound comes out, my body paralyzed in a silent scream of agony.
“Need more,” Damian pants, pale. He doesn’t need to elaborate, Slade grabs Cin’s arm without a word and thrusts it at him like a sacrifice. Damian releases my hand on the bed to grip Cinjin’s, rapidly draining him and funneling the energy directly into me with another wave of searing pain.
“He’s going to fix everything,” Slade states confidently. “And in a few minutes, you’ll be better than ever. You just need to hold on a little longer, alright? Breathe for me, Sabrina. I promise, I believe you. Stonewood makes their money through the drug trade, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they came across something that doesn’t react well with our systems. Maybe it supercharges our other half, or weakens the man enough that the wolf is able to take partial control. They’re weak-willed, pathetic men, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have a good handle on their beasts to begin with.”
A violent twisting in my chest forces me to finally draw air into my lungs. “Wouldn’t infect me though,” I gasp. “You only voodooed me twice; once before it touched me, and the other when we were freaked out about the mob while you were distracted. It’s possible.”
A low growl escapes Damian. “Or it’s why you’ve never been able to shift. It’s everywhere, Sabrina. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were born like this, like some genetic condition. Maybe it’s a side effect of being half-human. We weren’t meant to corrupt them, or men would be able to spawn children with human women. Wolves would overrun the world in no time, and this keeps the population of monsters in the world in check. You’re an anomaly, so everything’s strictly guesswork. But it would explain why your wolf was dormant until you started choosing your mates; it’s been struggling simply to keep itself alive.”
