Bound to the Pack (Bound to the Pack, #1) (5 page)

Jen

A
s I watched him running off, my mind raced. I had no idea what was going on and the only one who did was growing more and more distant with each indecisive second. I raced back into Kris’s apartment to grab a few things. Snacks, water bottles, a blanket. I had no idea what I was doing but hell, it sounded like Liam needed to get somewhere, and fast. Somewhere to help Kris.

What else do I need?

I rummaged through closets and drawers as quickly as I could, finding a flashlight and, thankfully, a backpack to shove everything into.

This will have to do. I need to catch up to Liam before I can’t find him.

My small bundle together, I slung the backpack over a shoulder and ran to my car. Tossing everything into the back seat I nearly dropped my keys again in my haste. “Focus, focus.”

I managed to get the car started in spite of myself and drove off after Liam. When he had started running it looked like he was heading towards the main road, so I headed that way as well, mind still racing.

Before the full moon. What was
that
about? I had no idea when that was, I had never paid much attention to the lunar cycles, but I was getting the impression that this one was close. Very close.

Minutes passed with no sign of him. Wondering if I had been mistaken, on the verge of turning around, I spotted him.

Still running.

Marveling at his stamina, and blushing slightly at the stray thought of testing it in other, more interesting scenarios, I pulled up beside him. He looked over, surprised, and slowed to a stop.

“Get in.”

“What?” He stood rooted to the spot, looking at me warily as if I were trying to trick him.

“Look. I’m worried about Kris. You know where she’s heading and, wherever that is, we can catch up to her much faster if I drive. Let’s work together. Get. In.”

He hesitated, then nodded as he opened the door and sat down. He was massive, filling the passenger seat and then some, and despite apparently running as quickly as he could since he had left the apartment he wasn’t even breathing heavily.

Noticing how uncomfortable he looked, shins pressed to the dashboard, I wondered if he thought the seat was fully reclined. “The seat goes back further if you want some more room.”

“If I may ask, how?”

“The lever? On the side of your seat?” I put my hand down the side of my own seat and adjusted it slightly.

He nodded, reached down, and a second later the chair shot all the way back. The startled look on his face was priceless. He recovered quickly. “This is better. My thanks.”

Not for the first time I wondered what rock he had been living under his whole life. “How do you not know how to adjust a car seat?” I laughed at his flat stare.

“I have never been inside a car before.”

My laughter cut off abruptly. “Really?”

“We are wasting time. Please, I will direct you but we
must
hurry.” Knowing a change of subject when I hear one, I began driving as he directed me, eventually making our way to the road out of town. “We will stay on this road for approximately fifteen miles, then turn off.”

There was a tightness around his eyes, he didn’t seem to be enjoying his first car ride. It took everything I had not to swerve around the empty road just to get him to react. I decided to press him for information instead. “Liam, what were you talking about at Kris’s? What’s really going on? Explain it in a way that I can understand. Please?”

“There is still time to do this properly. I will follow the laws.”

“What does that even mean? What laws?” My questions were met with that same flat stare before he simply turned away. Any further attempt to ask questions was met with solemn silence.

Whatever was going on was going to drive me insane if someone didn’t start spilling the beans.

A light rain had begun to fall as we arrived at the turn off. It was a well-traveled dirt road, not uncommon off the beaten path in New Hampshire. We followed the road for a few more minutes until an open area appeared out of the darkness that had clearly been designed as an impromptu parking lot. Several cars were already there, likely due to a campground nearby. I spotted Kris’s car and pulled up beside it.

It was empty.

Liam

S
tepping out of the car I breathed in my first Jen free air in what felt like an eternity. I did not need this kind of distraction, not now.

Being out of the car allowed me to regain some of my composure. I vastly prefer my own two, or four, feet than being in one of these cars. So unnatural.

Watching Jen exit from her side of the car I reinforced my decision that if I was going to take her for a mate I would follow the laws and ask permission from the alphas. I would explain my world to her, bring her into it, make her a part of it.

She came around to my side of the car, stopping close to me, and peered inside Kris’s car before looking up to me. She looks so delicate, I have to protect her.

No, that wasn’t my responsibility. Not yet.

“They’re not here. What do we do now?” Her voice held the confidence that I would know what to do and she was expecting me to take the lead. Unfortunately, what needed to happen was the last thing I wanted.

“You are getting back into your car and returning to your home.” I hated saying the words, wanting nothing more than to keep her next to me.

“I want to help you.” It wasn’t a plea, she had just said a simple statement of fact.

“And so you have. Any further would be far too dangerous though, in ways you cannot yet understand.” Stepping closer to her, close enough to feel the heat of her body, I leaned forward and inhaled the scent of
her
one more time. “I will bring Kristen back. Then we will talk, Jen.” I brushed my fingers against her cheek, needing to feel her just once, before turning away and beginning my walk up the path towards the high Appalachian hills. Towards sacred ground.

Towards home.

I
couldn’t move. The electricity of his touch was still coursing through my body, the implications of his words echoing inside my head. Does he actually like me? It seemed clear that he did. God, I was wet.

And getting rained on.

Bringing myself back to reality I made one of the rashest decisions of my life. Opening the car door I grabbed the backpack of supplies, slung it over my shoulder, and began following after Liam.

The light rain pelted my face as the wind pushed me back down the hill in soft gusts, nature telling me I was unwelcome here. I had no idea what I was doing, knew nothing of surviving in the wilderness, and had no intention of stopping.

I followed the path that was carved between the hills where they met each other, hoping he hadn’t turned at some fork I had missed, or worse, he could have simply stepped off through the underbrush. At each intersection I took what seemed like the more traveled path.

I was quickly lost.

The passion of the earlier moment had now passed and the reality of my situation began to press in on me. My flashlight was pitiful in the darkness of a rainy night, I had no idea where I was, every noise set me on edge, and I was alone.

Checking the time on my phone did nothing to help. In the rush to catch up to Liam I hadn’t seen what time it was when I left Kris’s apartment. It felt like it had been hours, but could just as easily been a fraction of one.

“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Jen you’re an idiot.” Even my whisper felt out of place here.

How could I have already forgotten how fast he moves? Fighting down the panic of not finding him yet, I pressed on and hoped for the best.

The cold and dampness pressed down on me, causing my body to reply with an incessant shivering. I thought of using the blanket as warmth but decided against it, knowing it would just get soaked and become too heavy to be easily carried.

I had to fight the urge to keep checking my phone, I was running low on power and had no signal here anyway. My last check had told me it was nearly eleven, hours past when I had first thought to look at the time.

Smoke.

I smelled smoke, faint but there.

Heart beating in my ears, hoping I had caught up at last, or at the least found some friendly campers to help a lost hiker, I cautiously began trying to locate the fire. It was made far more difficult by the shifting winds. The rain wasn’t helping, either.

A glint of light flickered between some trees up on the side of the hill to my right, well off the path. Taking care to be as quiet as possible, I began a slow climb up the hill. I stopped a good distance from the camp and settled in to see who the fire belonged to, thinking it unwise to just enter an unknown camp deep in the hills.

Liam

A
fter stripping down and setting my damp clothes by the fire to dry, I stood and gazed at the world around me, taking in nature in all its raw beauty. It felt good to be back in the hills of home, away from the confusing allure of the human town. I was far enough away from their area that I was permitted to shift.

I did so with relish.

Soft pops and creaks sounded as my form compacted, lengthened, shifted. The noises sounded worse than they were, the act of shifting felt good, like stretching out sore muscles. A slight itching as my fur grew out was quickly over, leaving me covered in a thick coat of mottled black and grey fur. I exulted in my massive wolf form, I was easily the largest wolf in our clan and few in all the tribes were much larger. It would only be a matter of time before I was given permission to form my own pack as alpha.

The raw energy of the wolf pulsed through me and I allowed myself to indulge the wolfish urging. I let the animal take control and pounced playfully on the ground several times just for the joy of it, then raised my nose to the wind to sniff out the scent of my sister.

In my human form my sense of smell was far beyond that of a normal human, but there was simply no comparison to the level of sensitivity as a wolf. As expected, the rain had nearly washed away the scent but it
was
there. I would hunt, eat, then continue my pursuit. Catching the faint scent of rabbit nearby I stalked off to find my dinner. I barely resisted the urge to howl, which would have given away my position to my sister or anyone else who might be out this night.

Not long after I had shifted back into my human form to spit and roast not one, but two rabbits over the fire, giving thanks to both for their sacrifice. While dinner roasted I felt it wise to shift again into my wolf form to scout the area around my camp. Better to know what clans and packs had been through the area recently.

S
hivering heavily as I stared at the camp, I wondered if anyone was even there. I thought I could smell something cooking and my stomach rumbled, reminding me I had skipped dinner to go on this insane chase. Having trouble deciding if I should just walk into the camp before I froze to death out here, I tilted my head back. The cool drops of rain softly pelted my face and I thought my options through. At least the rain was slowing.

Unable to make up my mind, I looked back down towards the fire.

A massive form stood in the darkness between me and the camp. It was a wolf, a
huge
wolf.

And it was looking right at me.

Uncontrollable fear rose within me as I tried to make myself call for help, but not even a whisper was allowed past my lips. I crouched there, transfixed, paralyzed as its eyes bore into my own.

A low rumble of a growl issued from the beast and my heart leapt into my throat, attempting to flee even if the rest of my body wouldn’t move. The wolf shook the rain from its coat suddenly and my body twitched in a poor semblance of a jump, thinking it was going to attack. Instead, it slowly turned from me and walked off into the darkness. Not seeing the wolf was worse, far worse.

Where did it go?

The fear before was nothing compared to the terror that now froze me in place. Crouching back down I hugged my knees tightly, feeling small and vulnerable. The shivers that wracked my body were no longer due to the temperature. Unsure of how much time had passed, I was startled as the sound of Liam’s voice was carried to me from where he stood at the camp.

“I should let you shiver out there for following me after I specifically told you not to, Jen, but you may come share my fire if you so wish.”

I had never heard anything more beautiful.

Liam

I
finished dressing, lost in thought. She had followed me into shifter territory, a feat few humans were brave enough to do.
She
had done it alone and unprepared.

And I hadn’t even noticed her.

Pausing, half dressed, I realized the rain and wind could only cover so much with how close she had been. Was my own scent already on her that strongly?

That implication rattled me. I should have avoided her from first sight days ago, but I hadn’t. I should have kept away from her all the times I sought her out, but I hadn’t. I should have declined her offer of a ride out here.

But I hadn’t.

As this last thought passed through my mind she stepped out of the shadows and into the warmth and light of the fire. Her beautiful brown eyes were wide, the scent of fear radiating from her in waves. “Liam, there is a
huge
wolf here, I just saw it. We’re in danger, we need to...”

I held up a hand to stem off the tide of her frantic words. “It’s fine, you will not be harmed.” I was sorely tempted to tell her everything right then, but held myself back.

“Because of the fire? I don’t think you understand, I’ve never even heard of a wolf as big as the one I just saw!”

I swelled with pride, I couldn’t help it.

“Stop smiling! Are you not hearing me? This is serious!” She was now terrified, strong enough to sting my nose even as a human, but her voice held none of it. How could anyone feel so many emotions so strongly yet have such control over them?

Stepping up to her, ignoring every alert and warning in my mind, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close. She barely reached my chest. “You are safe, the wolf will not harm you.” Her terror lessened, her shivering slowed, and she seemed to melt slowly into my chest. I realized then that I had lost the fight, all of my inner warnings had been silenced.