Pack Poisoned, page 7
part #2 of Thrown to the Wolves Series
“Do you want to do this now, or wait a few days?”
Both he and Cin bark out a variation of, “Whatever will make this fucking end.”
While I’m torn, my other half isn’t, not giving me a moment to debate the matter before I’m pulling Bo’s lip between my teeth and biting him in the same spot as when I accidentally claimed him in what feels like a lifetime ago. He curses, tearing at his clothes while writhing in agony. All the while, Cinjin’s busy leaving bloody rivulets streaming over his flesh, breathing erratically.
Giving Boden some space to begin the process, I move over to deal with Cin before he rips himself apart. Straddling his waist, I grab his wrists and pin them above his head in the grass. He bucks, nearly managing to break free, but as soon as I snap my teeth, he completely stills... Only to remind me of our position as he rapidly hardens beneath me.
Leave it to Cinjin to be a bloody, miserable mess and still get off on me fighting him.
Rolling my eyes, I use the contact to take a deeper look and frown. The block is in a similar state as Bo’s was, but where Cinjin’s other half was nearly dormant this morning, now, it’s far more volatile. I’m already going to have my hands full keeping the other three in check, and they aren’t even resisting, more desperate to be free than anything. Cinjin, though?
There’s something else going on that even my wolf isn’t sure that we can handle right now. It’s like he doesn’t want to be free simply for the sake of freedom. Almost as if he has an ulterior motive, and escaping this cage is simply a necessary step in order to obtain what he’s really after. If I give him an inch, he’ll likely take a mile, no matter what I say.
Closing my eyes, the familiar rushing feeling from this morning returns, and I start fighting tooth and nail inside of my head, but my wolf has an iron grip on the forefront of my brain, leaving me watching helplessly from within my own body. Absorbing some of his energy to wrangle his beast into submission, I breathe out a mental sigh of relief as soon as I feel my other half stop of her own volition this time.
“It’s not your time yet.” Suddenly releasing my death grip on Cin’s wrists, I roll off of him and flop onto my back on the grass.
“Sabrina?” Kaige’s concerned face appears above me and he extends a hand in offering.
Shaking my head, I give him a half-assed thumbs up. “Just need a second to catch my breath,” I pant as my head spins. It’s been barely more than an hour and I’ve already given myself whiplash with the abrupt back and forth switches between me and my other half.
Cin brushes some of the hair off of my forehead, breathing heavily as he rolls to hover above me and block out my view of Kaige completely. “Did she tire herself out? You back with us now, angel?”
I waver my hand back and forth. “Fuck if I know. Currently easier to hold onto the driver’s seat in my brain for the moment, I suppose? But I don’t think I should, in all honesty. I don’t have the first clue what the hell I’m doing, and she’s been doing a stellar job with you guys so far. So I’m going to trust her to take point unless she decides to go on a murdering spree or something; not that I have much choice in the matter.”
Closing the small distance between us, he kisses me softly. “As long as you come back to me, alright? I know it’s tempting to give up and let your other half run the show full-time when things get hard, so you have to dig your heels in at least a little bit tonight, or she’ll take control completely. So I need you to promise me, Sabrina. Promise that you’ll fight, that you won’t leave me.”
As he pulls away, I push myself upright with a groan. “Like I’d go anywhere. I haven’t even tried taking out your screaming metal death trap, yet. Isn’t touching all of your stuff until you have an aneurysm and regret getting married a requirement to really be mated?”
With a small smile that doesn’t completely reach his eyes, he helps me to my feet. “You talk a big game for someone that tried to squeeze the life out of me the last time you were on my bike. If you actually stole it and managed to bring the both of you back in one piece, I’m pretty sure it means I have to marry you again. I think double marriage means that I become the favorite husband, outranking the rest, so you should definitely not look in my nightstand where I’m going to start hiding the keys.”
My weak laugh cuts off as I feel my other half stirring again, so I rush out, “Until then, go keep Reid company?”
He hesitates, but ultimately agrees, slamming his lips against mine in a quick, bruising kiss before jogging into the house. Kaige and Hunter are left standing on the sidelines, but their attention isn’t on me. It’s on the men transforming and growing before them, the process far less seamless than Emmy made it out to be.
The sound of Bo, Slade, and Damian’s pained grunts and shouts are overshadowed by the snapping of breaking bones, movements jerky and unnatural. Through the splits in their flesh, grey wisps of smoke flash in the moonlight, overtaking the bloody wounds for brief moments before disappearing, like it was all a trick of the light. Fur of obsidian and ash spreads across their bodies in a blurred haze, the last of their humanity disappearing alongside their cries. Ears ringing with the memory of their agony, an ominous silence settles over the open expanse of the yard.
As the last pieces click into place, the three of us are left staring in morbid fascination. Hunter’s fingers curl around my wrist, tugging me back a step without ever taking his eyes off of the three massive beasts in front of us. “Those things aren’t wolves, they’re fucking hellhounds.”
At the sound of his voice, three massive heads swivel in our direction. Their eyes snap down to his hand instantly, setting off a chain of low growls that I can feel in my bones. Baring his teeth, the sound deepens as Slade takes a single step forward in warning. It’s easy enough to tell them apart; their eye colors are the same as their human counterparts, even if there’s a feral glint in them now, their pupils blown. And currently, all of that newly released aggression is being directed toward the man that’s holding my wrist in an iron-grip.
“Hunt,” Kaige warns, but the suicidal bastard only urges me back another step, like he means to drag me into the house with the two of them.
My voice is light and upbeat, not the cold one I was coming to associate with my inner monster. “Hunter, how would you react if you saw another man touching your mate? They’ve spent a long time locked up, you know. Hungry. Starved for attention. Resentful. I don’t imagine ‘patience’ is in their vocabulary quite yet.”
Where Slade and Damian stand as tall as my ribcage on all fours, Bo could easily rest his massive head on top of mine. So as soon as my golden-eyed mate takes a step forward, Hunter loses some of his bravado, finally releasing me.
Kaige clasps his friend’s shoulder. “We should get inside.”
“So should she!” he snaps.
This time, Bo gives no warning. One second he’s standing a stone’s throw away, the next he’s in front of me, my face pressed into his chest as he snarls. Reaching up, I run my fingers through his soft fur, and the vicious sound instantly drops down to a warning growl that vibrates his entire rigid body.
“It’s alright, they’re not going to hurt me.”
Looking over my shoulder at Hunter, I raise an eyebrow in genuine surprise. Either he has balls of steel, or he’s incredibly fucking stupid, because he hasn’t budged from his spot, even with Boden’s teeth inches away from his throat. A hard look of determination has settled over his features, like he has every intention of not going down without a hell of a fight. Kaige on the other hand has his lips pressed into a grim line, and my other half can’t help but grin at the small bit of panic she sees flare in his bright orange eyes as he comes face to face with the sudden, terrifying realization.
His ability is useless where they’re concerned.
There’s no manipulating their wolves into submission if necessary, and for alphas that have spent their lives overconfident and relying on the power that they wield over everyone else? Here, they have none, because these three are mine.
Teeth clamp around the back of my shirt, tugging me away from Bo and forcing me to stumble backwards, scrambling to stay upright as I’m dragged farther away from the house, and the two alphas standing in front of it. When there’s a good bit of distance between us, I dig my heels in, twisting to shoot Damian a pointed glare.
“You can let go now.” I gesture to the house as the door slams shut, Hunter off to throw a bitch fit about being overruled when he’s used to being the king of his little castle.
Damian growls, and I roll my eyes, but smile at his antics, nonetheless. Glancing back at the house, I see the twins aren’t alone up on the second floor balcony, Emmy and her mates beside them. My smile falls and my stomach flips, though I’m not sure why, exactly. It feels too much like we’re on display, maybe, as if everyone is watching and waiting for something. Whether that thing is something impressive, or for one of them to tear my head off at any given moment, who knows. Or maybe it’s simply that so much has changed since Emmy came into my life that it feels like I’m being forced to take a hard look in the mirror when I’m at my worst, something that I’m not nearly ready to process yet.
A low whine is followed by a nose butting against my arm, as if Damian is picking up on my internal turmoil. Scratching absentmindedly at his neck, I watch as Bo and Slade sprint across the open expanse of yard to join us by the tree line. Despite their size, their movements are unnaturally graceful, especially since the smoky haze hasn’t dissipated from their fur, helping them blend into the night as if they were created from its essence. The ground trembles beneath their heavy footfalls, yet even those are soundless, their approach a warning you feel.
Small whines and growls surround me as all three of them start nudging at me, buffeting me around between them. Slade’s head butts into my stomach, sending me stumbling back into Damian.
“Oomph! I’m going, I’m going, geeze. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
Grumbling, I follow Slade’s line of sight to where he’s shooting frequent glances back at the house while Bo’s busy glaring at the backyard like it personally offends him.
“Hate being exposed out in the open like sitting ducks, or are you feeding off of my anxiety?” It takes me a second to realize that I’m speaking freely, not even registering the transition this time.
Obviously none of them answer, herding me under the cover the trees offer. Even hidden in the woods on the back of their property, though, they don’t settle down. A restless energy emanates off of them in waves that I can practically taste in the air, like the static charge right before a storm breaks. When I don’t catch on quickly enough, they start nipping at me. Shoulders, arms, legs; they’re relentless.
I’m ushered deeper, where the dense canopy blocks out all but the faintest traces of moonlight. At this rate, I’m going to trip on a root and break my neck, but I can only imagine that after spending their entire existence sealed away alone in the darkness, all of the open space, people, scents, and sounds would be a sensory overload in their already stressed-out states, so I don’t protest. When we’re fully concealed and as isolated as we can get on the property, though, they still don’t calm down.
Done herding me where they want, they go back to nipping like damn puppies. I shove Bo’s muzzle away for the tenth time, only for Slade to bite the bottom of my shirt and start stepping back, like he means to rip it off. Understanding now, I gently tug it out of his mouth, but it doesn’t escape unscathed. Though sadly, the small tears are nothing compared to the gross slap of wet fabric that snaps back, now clinging to my side.
“No.” My answer is soft yet firm as I smooth a hand over heads and necks, refusing to shift despite their emphatic insistence.
A dangerous sound escapes Damian in response that immediately sets off the other two. Next thing I know, all three are at each other's throats; snarling, biting, and slamming into one another like they had a heaping bowl of testosterone and steroids for breakfast. When Slade and Damian nearly slide into me as they go skidding in the dirt, Bo latches onto his brother’s leg and flings them both aside into a tree trunk with a furious whip of his head before jumping back into the fray.
“Hey!”
My shout is infused with enough power that they instantly freeze, but make no move to unclamp their jaws from whatever body part they currently have trapped in their mouths. Striding over, I put my hands on Damian and Slade first, since Boden’s a follower, not a leader, and likely just matching their energy. My inner wolf takes over more gently this time, and a few seconds later, the heady rush of power flows into me as I siphon some of their chaotic energy. I hold my breath, flashbacks from this morning flitting through my mind, but am a little less afraid after seeing that she could stop with Cinjin.
Damian bucks to free himself from my grasp, and I tangle my fingers into his fur to tighten my hold. Slade releases a dangerous rumble the entire time, yet remains preternaturally still; even his wolf seems to want to be rid of the toxic energy that plagues him. Bo, the giant, murderous puppy, acts as if he's more pissed off that he’s being left out than anything, and forces Damian out of the way so that he can take his spot.
Breathing through my nose, a splitting headache blossoms in my skull as I clench my jaw tight enough that it threatens to snap the tendons. Coupled with the onslaught I took on this morning, it’s overwhelming, and when I release them, I fall back on my ass. All of my nerve endings are electrified and jittery, my body trembling from the influx of energy. With a lurch, my stomach roils violently, and it takes everything I have not to throw up, leaving me gasping for air.
The sudden urge to hunt down the guy that hurt Emmy is so strong that I attempt to get to my feet, but immediately collapse again. I wonder if burning flesh smells differently when they’re still alive or if it’s the same as the corpses we disposed of.
As soon as the thought appears, it’s buried beneath brief flashes of images. Reid, with his throat ripped out at the base of the stairs. Cin, Hunter, and Kaige, so thoroughly torn apart, they’re nearly unrecognizable, limbs scattered throughout the dining room.
And me, my lifeless eyes unfocused as Slade crouches above me, wiping his bloody hands off on my dress.
It’s not real, none of this is real.
A low whine is followed by Boden’s massive head sliding onto my lap.
“I’m going to kill her.” I shut my eyes tighter as the intrusive thought echoes around my skull, the voice a whisper morphing from one of my mate’s to the next on repeat.
My fingers twitch with the phantom desire to put a bullet through Adrian’s skull.
It’s not real.
Bending forward, I bury my face in Bo’s fur, using the pressure against my skin as a grounding point. One breath, then another, but the taste of ash and death is heavy on my tongue, the scent filling my nose and refusing to let me escape the desire to incinerate everything and everyone around me.
Embracing the mantra my therapist drilled into my head, I choke out, “Your initial response is what you were taught to think, and the second thought is actually yours. Unlearning the toxic way of thinking and behaviors that were an integral part of your development takes time and repetition. The important thing is that you recognize it, and choose to do better.”
Another wave of nausea assaults me, and I have to take a few seconds to breathe through it before I can murmur, “Those thoughts aren’t mine, and I am not going to act on them. No burning, no shooting, and no dismembering.”
Bo whines again, as if he’s apologizing for hurting me, even though it was my choice to make myself temporarily sick to ease their-
Their pain, that I took upon myself. Their thoughts; not mine.
Panting, I look up at Slade and Damian, both of whom are pacing in agitation, still restless since I didn’t take nearly enough of the edge off for them. Because they do this sort of thing all of the time. How much of this pain is actually theirs, and how much is simply the burdens they’ve taken on throughout their lives to spare other people?
If they deal with this constantly, how are they not stark raving mad?
My wolf temporarily knocked out of commission, I suddenly find myself back in full control of my miserable body with no fucking clue what to do about it. Desperately needing a few minutes to collect myself, I grasp for straws.
Not men, not monsters; a breed of their own. Ruled by instinct, even if they’re still in there somewhere. Sucking down air as an excuse to buy myself a little time, I quickly find it a useless effort.
They don’t give a shit.
Bo’s reacting to my discomfort, while Slade and Damian look like they’re ready to kill something simply to burn off some steam.
That’s it.
‘I like having a clear sense of direction,’ Bo claimed the other night. They weren’t at each other’s throats when they thought that Kaige and Hunter were a threat. Instead, their primary goal was ensuring that I was safe. Once I was in the clear, though, they went back to their pissing contests because they didn’t have anything else to focus on, so they’re making their own entertainment.
“You know, after everything that’s happened lately, someone really should run the perimeter to make sure no one is going to try to sneak in to murder us in our sleep. And think of all the fun you could have tearing them apart if you caught them.”
As expected, pissed off sounds surround me as the guys think about anyone setting foot on their land, hurting the people under their protection. Hastily, I add, “Remember though, Lizzie and her mates aren’t our enemies if you run into them! Pack; one of us. Same as Emmy and her guys.”
I swear they roll their eyes at me, and I instinctively snap my teeth at Slade in annoyance. “Oh, fuck off with your attitude. Like I wasn’t there when you wanted to turn Kaige and Hunter into chew toys, so excuse the heck out of me for thinking I should clarify.”
More growls, and this time, I flip both of them off. “Yes, yes, how dare I speak the names of other men in your presence. Oh wait-” crossing my legs, I rest an elbow on one knee and prop up my chin, the other hand busy scratching behind Bo’s ear since he’s the only one behaving right now. “That’s it, isn’t it? Kaige and Hunter are a threat because they’re the only unmated men on your land besides Reid. And let’s be real, we all know I’d march into the house in a heartbeat to bite that man if things weren’t so complicated.”
