The Pack (The Pack 1)

He stood there, a violent excitement rolling off him as he watched me. I didn’t need an introduction to know he was one of the Hanley’s. He was practically panting with eagerness, and a wave of revulsion went through me as he licked his lips.

I had no doubt, what he planned for me, and knew I couldn’t leave Caleb alone. A fact he realized as I heard him curse at the man standing there. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Caleb called out, trying to reason with a lunatic.

“This is an act of war,” Caleb yelled, his fist clenched as he stood between the snarling wolf and me. “Leave now and we’ll forget this trespass.”

“Give us the girl and we’ll go,” Hanley offered, pointing to me. “She’s fair game. No matter what your fathers say,” he sneered. I shook my head, ready to take my chances with the rabid wolf when Hanley giggled and said, “You can’t protect her, not without your guard dog. She’s ours now.” The wolf snarled, as if in agreement, and as my horrified gaze darted between them, I realized the wolf belonged to Hanley. I stumbled backwards, my earlier unbelievable thoughts coming back as Caleb let out a vicious snarl of his own.

I dropped my bag and found my feet, running as hard as I could back the way we’d come. My only thought was reaching Dominic. He could protect us. The wolf gave a short howl behind me, snapping into silence when Hanley shouted for him to shut up. I didn’t waste energy wondering about why he didn’t want him howling, since I wasn’t sure I could outrun a wolf anyway. I ran as if my life depended on it, knowing both of our lives just might. My chest seized within seconds as I tried to suck air into my panicked lungs. I felt something behind me, the thud of paws on the ground catching up, as I desperately tried to keep going. A quick glance back revealed the wolf lunging at me and I couldn’t stop a scream from escaping. I felt the punishing hit of his paws slam into my back, the force sending me to the ground. Right before I hit, I spotted Dominic running toward us.

I curled into a ball as the wolf twisted, trying to right himself as he flew past. Angry snarls met my ears as I kept my eyes closed and rolled myself sideways.

“Shit!” A loud voice cursed and I knew it had to be Hanley because I’d be cursing too if I saw an angry Dominic running toward me. I scooted myself back, stopping when I bumped in to a tree. My heart was threatening to beat out of my chest as Dominic skidded to a stop in front of the wolf. He glared at it, giving no indication of fear as he faced the feral wolf.

“You know better than to be here,” Dominic told it, surprising the shit out of me. The wolf only growled, its feet curling into the ground in preparation to launch itself at Dominic.

“Wrong choice,” Dominic growled as the wolf lost patience and lunged at him. Dominic moved faster than I expected as he ducked and then shoved the wolf into a tree. It leapt back up instantly, charging Dominic, but as Dominic ran at the wolf, his body seemed to blur and seconds later a massive wolf was in his place. My mouth dropped open as I watched the two wolves fight for dominance. The sound of another fight came to my ears but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the two wolves in front of me. As impossible as it seemed, one of them was Dominic and I was afraid to look away in case something happened to him.

Like he turns back into a man? An internal voice whispered and I shook the thought away. Dominic quickly overpowered the other wolf, size and rage on his side as the other wolf whimpered and tried to escape Dominic’s lethal jaws.

A hand twisted in my hair, yanking my head back as they dragged me away from Dominic. I grappled with my captor, using my nails to claw at the arm gripping my hair. He cursed and backhanded me, causing me to stop as pain washed over me.

“I’m not leaving without you,” he muttered, dragging me. “You’re mine. I saw you first.” My eyes watered as he continued to rant and I fought to stop him, trying to grab on to something – anything – to slow him down until Dominic or Caleb could reach us. “They think they’re special, but they’ll find out soon enough. After I’ve fucked you, they won’t want you back.” His words washed over me as I fought the dizziness trying to overtake me, knowing I needed to do something. “Not that there will be anyone left to save you,” he laughed manically, fueling my determination to escape. He continued to drag me, making it hard for me to gain any momentum. Instead, I reached for his leg, hooking my arm around his knee and knocking him off balance. He fell to the ground, but the hand still tightly wound in my hair jerked, and I cried out as it felt like he tore half my hair out.