Pack Challenge (18 page)

Like right now.

“I’m not bad. I was wondering, though, if you and your boys could do me a favor tonight. Some strangers were round my property just a few minutes ago. Never seen ‘em before.
Not from
around here
, if you know what I mean?”

“We’ve been seeing a lot of that in town the last couple of weeks.”
I
just bet you have.

“Well, I was wonderin’ if y’all could check my house from time to time tonight and make sure they don’t come back.”

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Shelly Laurenston

“For you, Sara Morrighan? That’s not a problem. I do hope you gave them strangers a Texas-sized welcome.”

Sara laughed. “I sure did. But I gotta sleep sometime. Be nice to know you guys will be watchin’ my back.”

“You bet. I’ll send a car out there right now.”

“Thanks, Eddie. Tell the sheriff I said hey.”

“Sure will. You sleep well now.”

Sara turned off her phone, looked out again into the darkness, and finally went back inside. She locked and bolted her door.

She stared down at her wolf friend still out cold on her floor. Once again, irrational behavior took over. She hauled the poor thing up on to her couch, cleaned off his wound, realized it wasn’t as deep as it initially looked, and wrapped it in a clean bandage. Then, to top it off, she covered him with a blanket.

Yup
,
I am clearly losing what is left of my mind. Soon I’ll be as crazy
as my grandmother.

Sara made sure all her doors and windows were locked, took a shower, and went to bed.

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Three a.m. and Sara still couldn’t fall asleep. All that obsessing over
everything
did not make for a good night’s sleep. Well, it started off obsessing over everything until swinging around to obsess exclusively over Zach. He looked so angry when he saw that scumbag touching her.

He actually snarled. Snarled! It was kind of cool.

“This is ridiculous.” Sara tossed the covers aside and slipped out of bed. She padded out of her bedroom, through the hallway, through the living room, into her kitchen. She poured herself a glass of ice cold water and headed back to her bedroom. She’d just gotten to the hallway when she stopped dead in her tracks, the glass of water gripped tight in her hand. Eyes staring straight ahead, Sara slowly walked backward until she was standing in her living room. Taking a deep breath, she turned her head until she looked directly at the couch. And there he was, laying on it. His wound bandaged. The blanket she’d placed over him pushed down so it rested around his hips. The muzzle still on his face.

She stared at him. Just stared.

After a few moments, his eyes opened. Looking around in confusion, he pushed the muzzle off his face, and frowned at it. Then his eyes focused on Sara.

“Sara?”

“Zach?”

Several seconds slipped by, then he said, “Wait—” She didn’t. Her water hit the floor and she bolted. He was off the couch, charging after her. She ran into the dining room and around the

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large oak table, Zach a second behind her. He stood naked on one side of the table while Sara stood on the other. She took two steps to the left. He shadowed her. She took three quick steps to the right. He did the same.

“You…you’re…” She couldn’t even think straight.

“I need you to remain calm.”

“Fuck you!”

“That’s not calm.”

Sara growled.

“Okay. Okay.” Zach held his hands up, fingers spread wide. “I know you’re confused. And scared. But everything’s cool. Give me five minutes, I can explain everything to you.”

“You can explain to me why last night I went to bed with a big shaggy dog on my couch and four hours later I find you? You can explain that to me?”

Zach went silent for a moment. “You’re right. Why bother?” He lunged across the table for her. Sara stumbled back and slammed against the wall behind her. He missed her, so Sara jumped onto the table, over him, and tore across the room. But he was so fast. She’d made it to the hallway when she felt his arm grab her around the waist. She struggled desperately, trying to get away from him, but he continued to easily control her with one arm.

She screamed in frustration and kept screaming. Zach brought his other hand up to cover her mouth, but Sara saw it coming. Grabbing his arm, she wrapped her mouth around his flesh, and bit down. He grunted in pain but that was all. She bit harder but still he made no sound. Now she was getting pissed. She wanted to hear him scream. That’s when she felt it—her canine teeth grew. Just like that they burst from her gums.

The other teeth in her mouth re-adjusted to accommodate the canines’

new length and they easily sank deep into his flesh.

Zach pulled her tight against him and buried his face in her hair. “I hate to tell you this,” he muttered, his voice thick in what Sara assumed

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was pain. “But we consider what you’re doing foreplay. You’re making my dick hard.”

Startled by his admission, her canines immediately retracted and she felt the rest of her teeth adjust back to their old position.

Then Zach lifted her like a load of laundry and carried her into the bathroom. He looked around, seemed satisfied she couldn’t get out through the tiny, high window, and tossed her into the tub.

Sara’s ass hit the hard linoleum. “Ow!” He didn’t even look at her, instead grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist. Then he slammed the bathroom door closed and opened her medicine cabinet. Pulling out alcohol and bandages, he ran his bleeding arm under the faucet.

“You know, this is why I didn’t tell you earlier. I knew you wouldn’t be rational.”

Sara wiped Zach’s blood off her mouth with the sleeve of her football shirt. “What did you do to me?”

“Nothing. You are what you are without my help.”

“What does that mean?”

Zach poured rubbing alcohol over his wounded arm. “It means I didn’t
do
anything to you. You just didn’t know what you were. You can actually blame your parents for what you are.” Sara took a large, dramatic breath. “I am a werewolf then?” Zach looked at her as if she were insane. “There’s no such thing as werewolves.”

Sara stood up, her aggression coming off her in waves. She could feel it. Two more seconds and—feral! “Then what the hell are you?”

“A shapeshifter.” He seemed truly insulted. Like she’d called him cracker or redneck or said his mother wore combat boots. “The whole Pack are shifters. So was my father. And his father. And on and on. I can trace both my father and mother’s families back to the druids.

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Werewolves,” he spat out in disgust as he turned back to his wound.

“And at night the boogeymen come and get us.”

“Don’t give me attitude.”

“Then don’t ask me stupid questions.” He readjusted the bandage on his arm. “This isn’t about things that go bump in the night. It’s about a gift handed down to us through the ages. I live my life in this world and theirs. And I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

“You’re a freak.”

“Yeah. Probably. But I’d take one of us over what you’d call normal.

At least I always know where I stand with them.” He may know where he stood, but she was completely lost. “Why are you here, Zach?”

“It involves me falling off one of those goddamn hills you’re so proud of, but that’s a very long story.”

“Why are you
here
?” She didn’t mean tonight. She meant at all.

Zach understood.

“Your parents were part of our Pack. But we had to wait until that old bitch died before we could come for you.” Zach tied off his bandage.

“So last night—”

He brutally cut her off, “Don’t even go there. I didn’t have to fuck you last night.”

Sara winced, but stood her ground. “That’s good to know. I’d hate to think you were just following orders.”

“Wait.”

Sara hadn’t moved, but he seemed to think she was about to. “That’s not what I meant to say.” Zach touched Sara’s arm. She looked down at his big, strong hand. She’d gotten finger-fucked with that hand.

She didn’t even know she was going to do it until her fist actually made contact with his jaw. His head snapped to one side, but he swung back with a snarl and Sara took a step farther into her tub, away from

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him. His canines extended and his hazel eyes glinted in the dim bathroom light.

“Holy shit.” Then she had her finger in his mouth—she couldn’t help herself. He stopped and stared at her as her forefinger ran over the white enamel. “That’s so cool. Now I remember why I’ve been so obsessed with your teeth. Do mine look like that?”

Zach pulled her finger out of his mouth. “You’re crazy.” She stepped out of the tub and went to the bathroom mirror. She raised her lip and carefully examined her face.

“What are you doing?” Zach seemed almost afraid to ask.

“Seeing what my scary wolf face looks like.” Putting his palms against his eyes, he sighed—deeply. A cleansing sigh really. Somehow Sara knew that with a little effort she could make him do that all the time.

“You can’t stay here,” Zach suddenly announced.

“Why?”

“They’re after you. Remember the guy who attacked you today in the shop?”

“It was more like a kiss.” She heard Zach growl but kept her face completely neutral.
Fuck him
.

“Whatever. But he’s one of several. Like the guys at the club that first night I was here. He’s Pride.”

“You mean proud.”

There was that sigh again. “I mean he’s
Pride.
” That stated through gritted teeth.

“Pride? Lions have prides.”

“Yup.”

Sara spun around. “There are lions, too?” Patient Zach made an entrance. “Yes. And tigers. And mountain lions. There’s an array of shifters.”

“Bunnies?”

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Sara watched him swallow. “No bunnies,” he bit out. Much more and he’d grind his teeth into dust. “Think predators. Our ancestors became one with the predators. Bunnies are low on the food chain.”

“Sharks?”

“
What
?”

“Don’t get huffy. They’re the ultimate killing machine.”

“I can’t have this conversation.” He leaned against the bathroom wall.

“Zach?”

Another sigh. “Yes?”

“How many are in a Pride?”

He shrugged. “Ranges. But about eight or nine.”

“Male and female?”

“Yeah.”

“And they killed my parents?” She watched Zach’s face soften and he nodded. “And now they’re here for me.” Again Zach nodded.

With that she was out the bathroom door.

He never thought she would run. And he was right. She didn’t.

Instead she grabbed the well-oiled shotgun leaning against the hallway closet. He smelled gun powder and realized she’d recently fired it.

Snatching a box of ammo from the top of a bookshelf, she moved straight to the front door.

Zach caught her in his arms before her hand reached the doorknob.

But she was in full aggression mode and easily pulled out of his grip. She swung the shotgun back, aiming for his head.

Instinctively he caught the weapon before it struck him; although the human side of him was startled and a little hurt she would attack him.

Luckily he wasn’t depending on that side of himself to stay alive.

“Christ! What is your damage?” he snapped while trying to pull the gun away from her.

“They were here.”

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That stopped him. In fact, it froze him to the very spot where he stood. “What?”

“They were here,” she repeated. “Probably looking for you. And I let them go. I should’ve killed them. I should’ve killed them all.”

“How many?”

“I don’t know.” She pulled at the weapon, trying to get it out of his grasp. “Three. No. Four.”

“Females?”

“No. Males. Give it!”

Zach let the weapon go and Sara, surprised he let it go so abruptly, stumbled back. The only thing stopping her ass from hitting the floor, the old chair she fell into.

“And that’s the only reason you’re still breathing,” he snarled. “You, and your little gun, wouldn’t have meant much against four Pride females.”

Zach rubbed his tired eyes. “Stupid. I led them right here.”

“You’re an idiot.”

Zach took a deep breath and looked at the only woman he would—

tragically!—ever love. “Why?”

“Because you didn’t
lead
them here. They already knew where I lived.

I think they were the ones who attacked my truck the other day. Since they smelled you on me—ewww, by the way—they probably just figured you’d come here. Now move.” She stood up. “I gotta kill some cats.” One minute she was completely logical. The next a raving lunatic.

She really just plucked his last goddamn nerve.

Snatching the shotgun from her, he tossed it across the room, praying it wouldn’t hit the wall or floor and accidentally go off. The ammo followed right after.

She stood there in front of him with her baggy flannel pants, no shoes, and a Dallas Cowboy football shirt, itching to kick some Pride ass.

He guessed it would just have to be his ass.

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That was it. Sara was just going to have to kick his fine ass. Right here and right now.

Her fist reached back to punch him again and hopefully break his nose this time, when he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the floor. High enough she had to look down at him. Impressive. Not simply because he risked getting that close to her when even she could feel herself going feral again, but because at six feet tall and…well…rather “curvy”, she wasn’t the first chick guys looked at to lift over their heads—unless they were football players and seriously drunk.

“Do I have your attention now?”

His voice, so soft and so seductive—she should have known he was up to absolutely no good. Because when she nodded yes, Zach, with an evil-sounding “good” chucked her—yes,
chucked her—
across the living room into her old, but thankfully sturdy, couch.