Red Ridge Pack 1 Pack of Lies (20 page)

Cade and I might be on the outs now, but as soon as I could figure out how to get Alli out of the picture, it will be me and Cade running this pack together before too long. I got up out of bed and fumbled around in the dark trying to find the jeans that I had on earlier.

With my phone in hand, I took a few deep breaths, trying to decide the best course of action. I needed to tell someone. Just as I began to dial Cade’s number, I heard a rustling in the bushes outside my window. Instinctively, I jumped up and headed toward the noise, but before I could pull back the curtains, there was a knock on my window.

Hesitantly, I pulled the drapes aside. “Hey, remember me?” Dylan said through the glass.

I pushed open my window and stared at the guy who had been keeping me up all night.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Come out here. I have a surprise to show you,” he said with a wink.

I thought about shoving the window closed, calling Cade, and forgetting about any surprise Dylan might have, but that’s not how I do things, so I grabbed my robe and boots, and headed outside.

With a flashlight in his hand, Dylan prowled toward his car, like a cat-burglar.

“What the hell is going on here, Dylan?” I asked as I followed him over to my driveway.

He turned in my direction and held the flashlight under his chin like he was preparing to tell a scary, campfire story, as he said, “You’ll see.”

“You really have lost your mind, haven’t you?”

“Oh, you have no idea!” he admitted with a sly grin as he popped the trunk.

Holy mother of God!

“What the hell have you done?” I asked, staring down at the body of Allison Wright.

“Don’t get your panties in a wad. She’s not dead. Just resting peacefully.”

Well, that was definitely better than dead.

“What is she doing in the trunk of your car?” I asked, slightly afraid to hear his answer.

“Technically, this is not my car. It’s Gage’s. I just borrowed it.”

“Could you answer my freakin’ question?”

This was absolutely unbelievable! I grabbed his flashlight and pointed it toward Allison, searching for any sign of life. She looked dead, and lying on a sheet of plastic with blood dripping from a cut on her head made things look all the worse.

“Well, if you must know, this is step one of my evil plan. Abduct the girl. You want to know what step two is?”

“I’m afraid to ask.”

“I’ll give you the condensed version. 1) Abduct the girl, 2) weaken Cade, 3) challenge Cade, 4) challenge Marcus, 5) make you my mate. So, what do you think? Oh, and 6) rule the pack.”

“What do I think? I think you are a lunatic! I think you clearly have a death wish, and I don’t want to have anything to do with this insane plan.”

I turned and started walking away. “I’m calling Marcus. And you can’t stop me. He needs to know what you are up to.”

Dylan grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into a suffocating hug. “Calm down, sugar. My plan will work. Trust me.”

“You do want to run this pack one day, don’t you?” he asked.

“Of course I do.”

“You do know that the only way that will ever happen is if you are with me, right?”

“What do you mean? Cade is not getting rid of me,” I said.

“Oh honey, haven’t you been paying attention? I certainly have. Alli here, is Cade’s true mate. You’re officially out of the picture… but if you want a way back in…”

True mate? No way! This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t speak. Words were caught in my throat, and all I could do was take a step back, lean over, and rest my hands on my knees. My breathing was rushed, and my head was swimming.

I managed to look over at Dylan, who was standing there looking as smug as ever. He reached up to shut the trunk and said, “Oh come on, Kendall. Get a grip. You’re tougher than that. You are supposed to be the alpha female of this pack. Are you really going to freak out instead of doing what needs to be done?”

I sat down as I concentrated on controlling my breathing. I pushed aside all of the built up anger, hurt, and betrayal. In its place came a need for revenge. I was not losing my place in my pack to anyone.

“So why take Alli? How is that going to help us?”

“Us, huh? I like that. The longer Alli and Cade are apart, the weaker they become. If we can keep them apart long enough, Cade will be as weak as a new pup.”

“So what are you planning to do with her?” I asked as I pointed to the trunk.

“What happened to
we
?”

Oh no, no! Was he out of his mind? There was no way I was getting involved in this mess… anymore than I already was, anyway.

Dylan leaned against the trunk and said, “Come on Kendall. We can do this. This pack can be ours. Me and you. We can rule this pack together. Help me think of somewhere to stash the girl.”

“Just leave her in there,” I suggested.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep her in a trunk for a week. We need something more private. Something close by, but deserted.”

I thought about it for a minute before the perfect location dawned on me. “My mom has a ski cabin just outside the estate,” I offered, though I could hardly believe that I was getting caught up in Dylan’s take-over-the-pack plan.

“Perfect. I knew I could count on you,” Dylan said before he lightly kissed my cheek.

Chapter 47

Allison

I woke to the sound of two voices. One I immediately knew to be Kendall’s. The other sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place where I had heard it. It was a male voice, and it only took a moment of eavesdropping to determine that he was the mastermind behind my abduction.

I was lying on a bed with my hands and feet tied, and one killer headache. Luckily, they didn’t see me open my eyes, and I had enough wits about me to shut them again before they realized that I had regained consciousness. With my eyes closed, I listened intently to their scheming.

Kendall: How long should it take?

Male voice: I’m guessing about a week.

Kendall: You’re guessing. You mean you don’t know. Jesus, Dylan.

Ah ha! The mystery voice belonged to the asshole in the woods.

Dylan: A week should be enough time for Cade to weaken.

Kendall: Why can’t you just get rid of her?

Dylan: Seriously? You are ready to just up and kill her? Besides, if we kill her, their bond will be broken. Cade won’t weaken at all, and we will be left with one angry son-of-an-alpha. We can’t kill her… yet.

Kendall: So what are we going to do with her for a week?

Dylan: Well, you have to go back to the pack, so you can keep me updated as to what is going on and so nobody gets suspicious. I guess while you’re gone, I’ll stay here and take care of our little friend in there. I did see a Wii around here, didn’t I? I might just have to pass the time playing
Madden
.

Kendall: Uh-huh. Great plan. I hope you know what you are doing.

Dylan: Don’t worry. It will all work out. After a week or so, I’ll take care of Cade, and then I’ll let you take care of our little friend on the bed here. After that, it will be easy to take out Marcus. You’ll see. This pack will be ours.

Kendall: So what now? I just head back and act like nothing has happened?

Dylan: Exactly. Text me soon.

After saying goodbye, Kendall walked out the door, and just like Dylan said, he started up the Wii.

I had to get the hell out of here. I squeezed my eyes shut, tried to concentrate, and pictured myself in wolf form, but all that followed was excruciating pain behind my eyes. It took everything I had not to scream out in agony.

I tried to slow my breathing and relax. I can do this. I had done it before. Changing was my only way out of these ropes. Breathing deeply, I closed my eyes and tried again. But before I could even focus, the pain was back and worse this time.

Exhausted, I surrendered, deciding that changing wasn’t an option. Instead, I watched the douche-bag play Madden for almost an hour before I finally decided to speak. He hadn’t even bothered to look my way. I could have had a concussion or something, but apparently, he wasn’t too concerned.

I cleared my voice and said, “I need to pee.”

“Oh, you’re awake. Good. We have so much to catch up on,” he said, as he paused his game and put the controller down.

“Can I go to the bathroom first?”

“Sure honey,” he said as he leaned over and untied my legs.

It felt good to finally stand up and stretch a little. I looked around the room and then at him. He finally realized what I was looking for and said, “Right there to the left.”

I walked into the restroom and turned around to shut the door, but Dylan was standing in the way.

“Afraid not, honey. Don’t worry, it’s not the first time I have seen a girl pee before.”

Oh fabulous. He actually expected me to use the restroom in front of him? Thankfully, he made a production by putting his fingers in his ears and whistling at the shower curtain. It was quite a feat getting my jeans down and then back up with my hands still tied together.

On the way back to the master bedroom, Dylan apparently decided that he needed to fill me in on his evil plan, which wasn’t exactly the same evil plan that I had overheard. This version didn’t include killing anyone, especially me. According to him, I had nothing to fear. Supposedly, I would only be inconvenienced for a week or so, and then I would be set free to return to the pack. Little did he know I knew the truth.

When we entered the bedroom, he motioned toward the bed, and said, “Get comfy. I have a game to finish.”

Chapter 48

Cade

After realizing that Allison had left my house, I ran directly to her place hoping to explain away my father’s assholishness. But she wasn’t there, and immediately, my search began. Now it was two o’clock in the morning, and I have been to her house, our swing, the cabin, and back to her home again. It was time to ring the doorbell.

The light was on in the kitchen, so I hoped that someone was still awake. It didn’t take long for Mrs. Wright to answer the door, and it was obvious that she was worried too.

“Oh my God, Cade. Do you know what time it is?” She looked around and asked, “Where’s Allison?” her tone immediately shifting from irritation to panic. Seeing me shivering, she grabbed my arm and ushered me inside.

I stood there not knowing how to answer without making things worse, so I just told her the truth. “I don’t know. I was hoping she was here.”

“What? I thought she was with you,” she said as she led me to a chair in the kitchen.

“She was. We went to my house to tell my dad about us. I asked Allison to let me go in by myself first, but she must have heard my dad shouting at me from where she sat on the porch. He didn’t take the news very well. When I made it back outside, she was gone.”

Mrs. Wright poured me a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter looking outraged.

“I have looked for her at every place I could think of. I have to find her and explain. My father said some horrible things,” I admitted.

“I tried to call her a few times, but it just went to voicemail. What exactly did Marcus say that would have caused her to run off like that?” Mrs. Wright asked.

At first, I had no intention of repeating what my father had said, especially not to Alli’s mother, but I knew that she deserved to know. After she heard the abridged version of the argument, she proceeded to explode. She called my dad every dirty word in the book, woke up the whole house, and only moments later, she was on the phone with her mother, a council elder.

“Cade, bro, what are you doing here?” Aiden said as he walked into the kitchen to see what was going on. When no one answered, Aiden asked, “What has my sister done now?”

Chapter 49

Kendall

It had been seventeen hours since Allison went “missing,” and the entire pack was called in for an emergency meeting at the Lodge. All I had to do was keep my cool and report anything important back to Dylan.

I walked into the Lodge with Shari and Becca, and we took our usual seats near the back. I noticed Alli’s parents standing in the front of the room with some of the council elders. They both looked so panicked that I almost felt bad for them. Almost.

Shari elbowed me and whispered, “Hey, look over there. What’s wrong with Cade?”

I looked over and saw Cade sitting next to Aiden with his head in his hands. The tiny part of me that felt guilty for what Dylan and I had done vanished. Cade deserved to suffer.

On one hand, I knew that he couldn’t help who his true mate was, but on the other, I couldn’t just sit there and watch someone else run this pack. This is my future, and it was time to look out for number one.

Marcus called the meeting to order, and everyone quickly found themselves a place to sit. Only seconds later, silence filled the room, and Marcus adjusted the microphone, but instead of beginning his speech, he moved aside for Allison’s grandmother to take the podium.

Katherine Grant cleared her throat and spoke, “Fellow pack members, I want to get right down to business. I have some disturbing news to report. Allison Wright, my granddaughter, has gone missing.”

Immediately, chatter spread like wild fire through the room, but when Katherine began speaking again, everyone quieted.

“She has been missing for just over seventeen hours now, and at this point, we have no leads as to her whereabouts. The council has come to an agreement on how best to handle the situation, and we are asking everyone to give us their full cooperation until she is found.”

“Omigod! Did you know about this? Poor Alli,” Shari said looking shocked.

“Of course I didn’t know about this. I totally would have told you,” I replied, hoping she couldn’t see right through me. I gave a cursory glance around the room to make sure that no one was looking at me. I hadn’t thought about it until just then, but I was the only person that Alli had problems with since the Wrights arrived. Surely, no one here would think that I was capable of kidnapping.