Red Ridge Pack 1 Pack of Lies (7 page)

In the near distance, I heard a rustling in the brush, which ceased the mission that had held me spellbound. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked around, spooked by what I might find, but what I saw was the last thing I expected.

Peering out from behind a tall oak, a wolf was watching me. We just stood still, staring at each other, neither of us moving a muscle. His amazing green eyes were in sharp contrast to his deep, dark fur. He was a much bigger wolf than me, strong and lean, and the glint in his eyes told me that he was no ordinary wolf.

I gathered up the courage to take one single step toward him and was surprised when he did the same. We continued this dance. I took a step, then he took a step, until we met in the middle near the edge of the lake. We stood with our noses only inches apart, just looking into each other’s eyes. I couldn’t stop myself from drinking in the intoxicating scent that he exuded. Somehow I knew that he was doing the same.

He took one more step forward making our noses tap together gently. If it was possible to smile in wolf form, I would have, and without the use of words, I was left with only one option. And I couldn’t resist. Nuzzling his neck with my face felt like the right response. The need to touch him was so strong, but once I did it, I immediately felt self-conscious and backed away. He again took a step toward me and returned the affection.

Lightening the mood, the dark wolf hunched down as if he was about to pounce. This began a game of cat and mouse that seemed to last for hours. We chased each other through the forest and played like we were little kids.

I was running as fast as my new legs could carry me when I felt a nip at my hip that sent me crashing to the ground. Before I could regain my footing, the wolf was on top of me. He had me pinned down so that I was forced to stare into his brilliant green eyes. The emotions that flowed through me scared the living shit out of me, and I had to get away. I had to get away from this strange, dark wolf that awakened a need in me that I didn’t know existed.

Before I could even begin to struggle, he leaned down and licked the tip of my nose, sending shivers from the tips of my new pointy ears to the tip of my new fluffy tail. I froze under his weight. He backed up just enough to let me regain my footing, and then he nuzzled my neck again. It just felt right, like we were meant to do this.

Seconds later, that familiar wave of nausea passed over me again and my muscles began to ache. I couldn’t change back for the first time in front of this stranger, even with the connection that we so definitely shared. When I felt the excruciating pain start in my chest I panicked, and took off in the direction of my house, somehow knowing the way and having no choice but to leave my mysterious stranger behind.

***

I made it to the back patio just in time. The change was sudden, automatic, like my body just knew what to do. I couldn’t have stopped it if I had tried. Unfortunately, my clothes did not miraculously appear beside me. This was a pesky little problem that I had not even considered. Freezing my butt off, I ran in through the mud room, thankful to find that Mom had already stocked a shelf with some towels and sheets. I wrapped myself up in a fluffy bath sheet and tip-toed through the house and up to my room. Still shaking from the cold, I ran to the window to draw the curtains shut. When I looked down into the night, I saw the dark wolf’s eyes staring up at me from the shadows.

Chapter 10

Cade

Oh man. Allison Wright is going to get me in a lot of trouble
, I thought as I stood and watched her change from a beautiful golden wolf to the most stunning woman I had ever laid eyes on, and I wasn’t just saying that because she was completely naked. She was not like the girls from around here. She was lean and strong like them, but she had the soft, curvy shape of a human. But it wasn’t her body that entranced me; it was her scent.

I could sense her; smell her since earlier in the day. I couldn’t even go down to the bonfire for fear of how I might have reacted being so close to her. I thought I would be safe hiding in the woods. I couldn’t help but find her. No one would blame me, right? I never dreamed she’d sniff me out in wolf form. I guess I didn’t have to roll around on the ground with her, but she was just too hard to resist.

I stood outside and watched her window until her light went out; then I headed home… alone. On the way there, I concocted a plan: run home, speak to no one, and shower quickly before anyone found Allison’s scent still lingering on me. As much as I hated the thought of her scent leaving my body, I couldn’t risk someone finding out.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out like it was supposed to.

I could smell Kendall before I saw her sitting on the porch steps waiting for me. It was more than obvious that she had had a few drinks and was pissed off.

“So, I see you met her. You reek!” she said as she slithered toward me.

“Kendall…” I started, but she cut me off.

She moved closer until she was right up in my face and threatened, “You listen to me Cade Walker. You better stay away from her. I mean it. You really don’t want to find out what I am capable of if you don’t.”

I stared at her in disbelief. The hostility in her voice was, quite frankly, a little scary. This was a side of her I had never seen. Well, I guess that’s not technically true, but I had never been on the receiving end of one of her hissy-fits. It was obvious that she was serious, but still it surprised me that she actually expected me to obey. There was no way anyone, especially Kendall, was going to start telling me who I can and can’t spend my time with.

I moved around her and put my hand on the doorknob and said, “Kendall, go home. I’m not in the mood to talk to you tonight.”

With her arms now crossed over her chest, Kendall replied, “Excuse me? I’m not done yet.”

“Yeah, but I am. Goodnight,” and with that, I walked through the front door without looking back.

I was heading upstairs to wash away both the evidence of my new secret and the bad mood that Kendall put me in when my dad’s voice interrupted me, “Cade, we need to talk. Now!”

I paused halfway up the stairs and took a deep breath. He was going to know. There was no way to hide the fact that I had been with Allison. If Kendall could smell her, there was absolutely no chance that the alpha would miss it.

Before I set one foot inside the study, my dad said, “You are not to see her again.”

It was a command. There was no emotion in his voice, nor concern for how I felt about the situation.

I stared at him unsure of how to respond.

“Sit down, Cade. We need to talk.”

I decided my best bet was to play dumb. “What’s this about, Dad?”

From there, it truly was a one-sided conversation as Dad lectured while I listened.

Dad: The Wright girl is off limits. There will be no more interaction with her. There will be no more anything with her. Do you understand me?

There was no time to respond before he started in on me again.

Dad: You know your role in this pack. You will become the alpha, marry Kendall, have lots of pups, and lead this pack. I will not allow it to be any other way. Do you understand me?

Again, no time to respond.

Dad: I can’t believe you would even consider, for one moment, that you would get away with this? What were you even thinking?

Dad: Do you even have anything to say for yourself?

Me: I…

Dad: You know what? Just get out of here. Go take a shower and wash her off of you before Kendall finds out and tries to kill you.

I turned to leave, not sure that anything I could say would matter anyway. But before I made it to the stairs, Dad had one more thing to say.

“And son, if I ever find out that you were with her again, you will be disobeying a direct order from your alpha, and I will handle it as such. And you know what that means.”

Chapter 11

Allison

The overwhelming scent of bacon and fresh coffee woke me from my first disturbingly vivid werewolf dream. As I slept, my mind replayed the events of the night before: the running, the playing, the mysterious wolf with the amazing green eyes. The images burned into my memory of that night felt intimate, so personal that I couldn’t even begin to imagine telling anyone about it, about
him
. And for some reason, about my change, too. I couldn’t explain it. I didn’t even want to tell Aiden that my were-side had made an unexpected appearance last night. At least, not yet. At least not until I find out the identity of the unidentified wolf.

The single fact that I changed into a freakin’ wolf completely blew my mind. It was easy, natural, not at all like I imagined it would be. Well, it wasn’t exactly easy and natural. Maybe that’s not the best way to explain it, but even though painful at first, after it happened, I actually felt whole for the first time in years, maybe ever.

***

When I finally made my appearance downstairs, we all spent the morning unpacking, Aiden and I focusing first on our winter clothes, being that tomorrow would be our first day of school. We quickly discovered that we were in desperate need of something to wear so that we didn’t get frostbite. Surviving in the Rockies during the winter would be quite a bit different than the winters in Houston that we were used to. In fact, different isn’t really a strong enough word. In Houston, we would live in jeans and hoodies—not to mention the occasional shorts and flip-flops when a warm-front blew through—all winter, but here, I needed a damn parka if I had any hope of staying warm. No lie, a parka… maybe even with fur. How appropriate.

After an hour of searching through box after box of clothing and coming up with nothing, Aiden and I decided to make lists of all the stuff we needed from town, grabbed Mom and her credit card, and headed out in search of new wardrobes. We had some serious work to do before showing up at our new high school.

***

I was seriously hating life standing on our front porch freezing my butt off as Aiden and I waited for our ride to school. Our first day of school! And yes, we had to carpool. Carpool? Apparently, that’s how they do things on the estate. We were being forced to carpool with the others because, and I’m quoting my mother here, “there’s no reason to waste all that gas taking separate cars,” which in my humble opinion is kind of sucky.

Seriously, I’m all for saving the earth, going green, and all that, but I’m seventeen. I want my own car! Who wouldn’t? I wouldn’t even mind sharing one with Aiden. So we all were going to have to sit down and have a nice Wright-family talk if our parents expect us to live here without our own car.

Watching Sammy’s Suburban approach, I said a quick prayer that I wouldn’t look too out of place in my new winter coat and boots. Never in my life did I imagine owning my own pair of boots like this. I wasn’t even sure what to call them, but they were warm and you were supposed to wear them when it snowed, apparently. Aiden assured me that we wouldn’t look stupid, but I knew my nerves would only die down after I saw what everyone else was wearing.

“Chill out, Al. Everything is going to be fine. You look great.”

“Sure Aiden. Easy for you to say. Everyone already loves you. Like always,” I said with a huff.

“It’s different here, Al. I can feel it. You’ll see.”

I wanted to believe Aiden, but past experience was telling me to be cautious. We walked around the SUV, and Aiden opened the back door. There were only two seats left, one in the middle row and one in the back.

“I’ll climb in the back,” Aiden offered.

I looked up and saw the guy I would be sitting next to and froze. I mean literally froze. Forgot to breathe, forgot how to move my arms and legs, forgot everything except the color of his brilliant green eyes.

It wasn’t just his eyes that had me hypnotized; he was smokin’-hot, absolutely-heart stoppingly-breathtakingly-beyond-gorgeous hot. Mr. Dream Wolf. With his shaggy dark hair and to-die-for olive-toned body, he could stop traffic in Houston. He made my wolfie-side want to sit up, pant, and lick his face.

“Hurry up, Allison. It’s freezing. God, were you raised in a barn?” Kendall said from her seat next to
my
mystery wolf.

It was him. The wolf. Who was now human, obviously.

Does he know who I am? Of course he does. He saw me from the window. Shit, shit, shit.

Kendall’s death-to-the-new-girl glare shook me out of my momentary state of shock, and thankfully my legs began to move again. Trying not to knock anyone in the head with my bag, I made my way over to my seat.

Aiden, who had already made himself comfortable, tapped the drool-worthy guy on his shoulder and said, “Hey man, we haven’t met yet. I’m Aiden.”

“Hey, I’m Cade,” he said with a wave, and then he turned his attention to me.

“And you must be Allison?” Cade said as he held out his hand.

The second our hands met my insides turned to mush. It was as if electric currents were flowing through our finger tips, like static electricity.

“Yeah, I’m Alli,” I said as I reluctantly pulled my hand away from his, which left me suddenly feeling empty.

As the car left our driveway, everyone began taking turns giving Aiden and I the run-down on our new school: what to do, where to go, who to talk to, and who not to. It didn’t matter that we were all crammed in the car together with only inches separating each of us. It was impossible to hear, to pay attention to anyone, but
him
, and I hoped that no one was asking me questions that I wasn’t hearing.

Needless to say, my concentration was shot. I couldn’t focus on anything except the familiar scent radiating off the body next to mine. Each time Cade moved, even the slightest shift, his spicy scent consumed me. I have dreamed of that smell for two nights in a row and having him near me now was teetering on being too much to handle.

How could I possibly feel this way? We only just met. I didn’t even know his name up until a few minutes ago, but something inside me was telling me that none of that mattered.