Page 43 of Mated By the Pack
I take a deep breath and push the door open. My bracelet illuminates them, huddled in the corner. Nara has Tansy and Fiona behind her. Brenna is by Nara’s side, clutching her stick like it will somehow protect her from hungry predators.
“It’s okay. You can come out. They’re not going to hurt us,” I say, tensing up when I hear metal scraping against metal in another part of the bunker.
Fiona peeks out from behind Nara, then she pushes her aside and nearly knocks me over with a hug. “I’m so glad they didn’t eat you, Nurse Calla,” the girl whimpers. “I was afraid we were going to be next.”
“What happened?” Nara asks cautiously. “They just decided to… let you go?”
“Not exactly,” I sigh. A second later, the lights come on. These aren’t just auxiliary lights. The bunker flickers to life as a deeper humming echoes below us, and a white, fluorescenthue illuminates the bunker. “But we’re staying here tonight. Tomorrow, they’re going to get us home to Haven North.”
“Your bracelet lets you talk to wolves. And they talk back?” Brenna questions, relaxing her grip on her stick.
“They’re not just wolves. They’re… men,” I explain, seeing confusion in the eyes of the others. “Probably some sort of hybrid. I’m not sure. But they’ve been protecting us. They’re the reason we got this far.”
I go into a little more detail, but don’t share everything. That I’m the one they’re protecting and the reason why. That they’ll see the streets of Haven North again, but I won’t make it that far. That would just complicate things.
Tonight, they just need a little hope.
CHAPTER 12
Jace
We found this old military bunker not long after The Tangle became our home. It’s served as our den ever since. Most of us assumed it would become our tomb, if we survived long enough.
But then the years dragged on, and we didn’t age. Settlements became cities. Those more human than animal huddled behind walls, scared of what lurked outside. Scared of the hybrids. Scared of The Tangle. Scared ofus. So scared they ran us off, even when we tried to help.
We passed as humans for a while. Ex-military. Survivors of the Great War. We walked on two feet in the daylight, and didn’t give in to the call of the wild unless we were running on four paws in the moonlight.
Then the call was the only thing we knew. We were more comfortable in fur than the skin we were born in. Parts of our humanity drained out of us, a slow drip The Tanglegladly devoured. The things we enjoyed as men were no longer thrilling. No longer satisfying. We changed into something we barely recognized.
But we loved the way it made us feel, despite feeling like we had no future. Until she woke something up inside us. Now we’re just tortured. At least, I am. Gideon doesn’t seem to be as struck by it as he was when he first got her scent. I feel like I’m walking on the edge of a sharp blade with my dick so hard I can’t see straight.
“Put on some fucking pants,” I mutter, following Gideon into the lockers in the lower level of the bunker. “We don’t need any damn pants.”
“Yes, let’s frighten Calla’s friends more than they already are,” Vance says sarcastically, giving me a nudge before he opens a locker. “Your solution was to send them into The Tangle on their own? Really? You thought she’d go for that after everything we’ve seen.”
“She is our mate. They don’t matter,” I growl, yanking a locker open so hard it comes off the hinges. The metal clatters on the ground at my feet. “The quicker we breed her, the quicker we’ll be free of this…need.”
“I kind of like it. Makes me feel more alive than I have since we first started calling our wolves,” Gideon says, sliding on a pair of fatigues that protest when he tries to fasten them. “Shit, I guess I ate more than I realized while we were protecting Calla.”
“You’re a little taller, too,” Vance says. “I know we agreed there would be no leader after Silas, but you’re changing, Gideon. You’re becoming our Alpha. And I think Calla has something to do with that.”
“It’s too much meat,” Gideon sighs, opening a few more lockers before he finds a pair that will fit. “That’s all. I’m not trying to be the leader.”
“And I don’t care if he puts on a few pounds or is twice my size,” I grumble, sliding on my pants and fastening them. “We make our decisions as a pack, just like we agreed.”
“I know you two don’t believe in the things Edward and Zane did, but I’ve studied their research. Whether you want to accept it or not, the natural hierarchy is already emerging.” Vance takes a step toward me and smiles. “When was the last time Gideon could restrain you by putting his arm across your chest? I remember a time when you would have bitten it off to get to your prey.”
“Fuck you,” I mutter. “I’ve accepted that despite being able to shift, we’re nothing but animals now. Beasts driven by instincts, because of the genetic experiments. Those instincts are doing this to us, because Calla is different. What she is, I don’t know. My guess? Someone in her family was part of the same experiments we were. The scientists were trying to engineer mates we could breed with, before everything went to shit.”
“Yes, I remember,” Vance says. “But they were never successful, were they? Every woman they shoved in a room with us. Not one of them ever got pregnant. Even after they started trying to do it artificially. Even when they tried with the Gen-Wolves. The embryos died in the dish. Thankfully, they never got to try what they had planned next. Mating us with our own damn sisters.”
“I would have never done that.” I shake my head angrily. “It’s not fate, Vance. It’s just what we are now. I don’t need to understand it to know I’ve got her scent. When you finally catch it, you won’t give a damn about the reason either.”
I clench my jaw. My skin’s too tight, my cock won’t settle, and the fucking smell of her iseverywhere. I can already tell she’s made it down to this level of the bunker, wandering our den. If this is what fate feels like, it can burn in hell. Just like we’ll do, if The Tangle allows it after we’re gone.
But her scent is like a fucking drug. I breathe it in and forget how to hate the world, if only for a moment. I just want to taste.
“This bickering is getting us nowhere,” Gideon snaps. “We’ve got guests. Let’s see if we can remember how to be men for a little while. For their sake.”
