Pack Challenge

Chapter Four

TOC

Zach and Conall arrived at their temporary den a few minutes after everyone else. The women had done a good job of finding a place with solid hunting, a lake nearby, and thick woods allowing for privacy. Julie and Kelly were already on their cell phones making arrangements for the following nights festivities. They had the best connections and could have the place set and ready in no time.

Zach was about to head down to the lake and maybe get in some hunting but Yates called him and a few of the others over.

“Well?” He wanted their opinion on the female.

“She’s fucking clueless,” Jake, a recent addition to the Pack, offered. “How’s that possible?”

“We can thank that bitch Lynette. She raised her. So just telling her the truth ain’t an option. She’ll never believe it.”

“But,” Conall added, “They’re already here. I could smell them on the outskirts of town.”

“So, then the question remains. Do we just take her?” Yates looked at Zach. He’d been doing that a lot; seeking his council.

Zach shook his head, “I wouldn’t. She’s squirrelly. We take her now; she might snap on us. And the aggression’s already there. She’s about three tequilas away from losing it completely.”

“Sure we shouldn’t just put her down?” Jake asked. “She is seriously wounded.”

Zach turned to look at him. He knew Jake was young but he was starting to discover that he was stupid too. Jake didn’t try to stare Zach down. He knew better. He still had scars on the back of his neck from Zach quietly explaining his place in the Pack.

“That’s not an option.” Zach stated calmly.

“Fine.” Yates nodded, “We watch her and we wait. But remember, we’re on Marrec’s territory. Be nice.” He looked directly at Zach.

“What are you lookin’ at me for? I’m a ray of fuckin’ sunshine.”

“You’re an asshole.”

Zach shrugged, “It’s a flaw.”

“I’m glad you’re so comfortable with the real you.” Yates smiled, “You take first watch tonight with Conall.”

“Babysitting?”

“Every princess needs her knight.” Yates walked off toward the lake.

Zach sighed, “Princess my ass.”

Four hours since they left Marrec’s shop and they were still arguing, but now they had moved on to clothes. What Sara shouldn’t wear and what she should wear. The party was 24 hours away and most likely she wouldn’t wear any of their suggestions. But the two of them were like rabid dogs. Once they started arguing it was really hard to get them to stop. She tried to escape them when she closed up the store for Marrec, but they’d argued all the way over to her beat-up white pickup and got in. She was really glad she stopped keeping her shotgun in her gun rack.

Sara sighed and shifted on her bed, trying to ease the pain in her right leg. Honestly, the things she put up with. They were really lucky she loved them both so much. Otherwise, she might have killed them by now.

All this waiting was making her a bit crazy. It was giving her time to think. To worry. Her leg had been getting worse the past couple of months and she didn’t know why. It never fully healed after she and her father had been attacked, although to the naked eye it simply looked like a badly healed wound. That’s why she had been drinking the other night. It was the only thing that truly dulled the pain and her brain. It had become a constant challenge for her to battle the voices that told her nothing was right. Her body wasn’t right. She wasn’t right. Her life was a mess. Although it didn’t seem messy. Boring maybe. She didn’t exactly live on the wild side. That night of drinking was about as wild as she got, and the only thing that she remembered doing was kissing a stranger. A really gorgeous stranger. He had the thickest neck, and those beautiful hazel eyes that just seemed to… Sara shifted again. This time not from the pain in her legs but the throbbing between them.

This was ridiculous. She was a nice girl. Not a whore. All men treated her with the utmost respect or they were cruel about her scars. There was no in between. They either treated her like a princess or treated her like freak. He treated her like she was hot. But she wasn’t the “hot friend.” She was the sensible friend. Angelina was the hot friend. She was the reason guys became friends with Sara in the hopes that she would fix them up with her. Angelina wore designer clothes and expensive high-heeled shoes. She was the only woman Sara knew who would come to Skelly’s on Goth night wearing a champagne-colored dress—her “signature color,” as she called it—matching heels, and a purse.

Miki was the brilliant, super-cute friend. She was the one that could diffuse the bomb in 30 seconds with bubble gum, toothpaste, and a binder clip while still looking cute in a belly shirt. Miki was working on her third master’s degree because she thought the whole “PhD thing” was so overplayed. Miki was the one in high school who hadn’t been able to use a computer or phone for three years “as per court order” and knew all the M.O.s of serial killers from the 20^th century because every woman should know the warning signs of a serial killer. “What if you’re dating one,” she’d always ask with a smile, just before giving some gruesome detail or two about some murderer.

And then there was Sara. Reliable, dependable Sara. She was like the Golden Retriever of the group. She was always the “good buddy” or the “little sister.” She was never the “piece of ass.” And after 28 years she had learned to accept that fate. She accepted it like the pain in her leg and the scar on her face. It was there and it was who she was. Might as well just deal with it.

But then he came along. Zach. She thought she had dreamed that kiss. That amazing freakin’ kiss. Part of her wished she had. The reality of it was getting a little too much to bear. It was stressful. She had been drunk. Drunk-Sara was fun. Drunk-Sara set things on fire. Drunk-Sara grabbed groping men by the balls and squeezed until they passed out. There was no way Golden Retriever Sara could compete with Drunk-Sara. And Drunk-Sara was a liability. She didn’t remember much about the night besides the kiss. But she was almost positive someone had grabbed her while on the way to the bathroom. And it was the beautiful man that had saved her. And for some unknown reason she was obsessed with his teeth. She just couldn’t remember why.

Sara sighed. She could still hear her friends yelling. Something about a thong and how she wasn’t a slut… unlike some people.

Sara scooted off the bed and stormed into the living room. No use yelling at her friends. Then it would be three crazy women yelling. Instead, she went to her stereo system and turned on some loud techno music from a DJ in Germany.

Miki and Angelina continued to yell for another minute, until they realized they couldn’t hear themselves much less each other. They turned to stare at Sara. When she was certain she had their full attention, she turned the music down, but not off.

“Are you two done?”

“She started it,” Angelina complained.

“I started it?” Miki snapped.

“That’s it!” Sara yelled. She walked to her kitchen and grabbed three beers from the refrigerator. “Here.” She handed one each to her friends. “You two bitches are making me nuts.” Sara opened the ice cold can and took a swig. “Besides, it doesn’t matter what I wear.” She stated again after swallowing, “I don’t have a chance in hell with a guy like that.”

Sara went to her front door, determined to sit on her porch and enjoy the cool night. But Miki’s cutting voice caused her to trip on the doorframe and stumble outside, “If we had left the store, he would have fucked you on the counter.”

Zach’s body was concealed behind trees as he watched Sara’s house. “I want you at her house,” Yates had ordered after he’d argued. “Make sure she doesn’t have any more surprise visits.”

He hated babysitting duty and Yates knew it. But he put up with it… for now. Because everyone knew, clearly even Yates, that Zach would be making a move to be Pack leader. He knew he was ready. And he wanted it. He was just waiting for the right time to move. He loved Yates like a brother, but the man was getting weak. It wasn’t age either. It was his woman. Casey was tough, but she was toxic. She was too human for the role. Wanting power. Her primary concern, no matter what she said, was not the Pack. But her standing within it. The females put up with her, but he could tell that wouldn’t last much longer. His sister, who had been traveling for about a year, had a good shot at Alpha Female, but he wasn’t sure she even wanted it or would leave Europe to come get it.

That’s why Casey’s recent foray into the past was an obvious tactic to keep him busy and out of the way. She never cared about Bruce Morrighan’s missing offspring before. They all knew she had been taken by her grandmother after the brutal killing of the girl’s father. And although Casey thought she could keep Zach away for weeks “monitoring the girl,” as she put it, they never expected the Pride to actually be hunting the woman. Finish off the job they had started so long ago. But Pride females were notoriously patient. They had probably known where Morrighan’s offspring was for years, but no one, absolutely no one, would even think about going up against Lynette Redwolf.

Why? Because the bitch was crazy.

A Native American and a shapeshifter, Lynette had rejected both early on. Instead she’d tried to become a “normal woman.” She buried the Beast and stayed human. The fact that she’d come from a long line of shape-shifting shamans apparently meant nothing to her.

And her plan had been to raise her daughter the same. She had big plans for Kylie Redwolf. But Kylie figured out what she was by the time she was fourteen. At eighteen, she met her mate and Sara’s father, Bruce Morrighan. His family dated back to the 16^th Century. A tough Scottish clan of wolves that had done some serious damage to the land before they’d gained some control over their need to kill. Like Zach, Bruce was born and raised as part of the Magnus Pack. It was the only world he’d ever known. Until he met Kylie. Their mating was supposedly one for the record books. Their passion scorching the Colorado Mountains were they found each other. Bruce on a camping trip. Kylie trying to escape her controlling mother by working as a waitress in a local diner. Once they were marked and mated, the couple seemed to become more wolf than human. Staying in wolf form for days on end, they slept, hunted, and lived the majority of their lives as wolves. When they had Sara, the Pack’s feeling was that she was certainly going to be Alpha female one day.

But then Kylie fucked with Annie Withell, head of the Withell Pride, and all hell broke loose. During a confrontation, Kylie somehow killed the 400-pound Annie and started a Pack-Pride war that had continued to this day. By the time Sara was one year old, Kylie’s torn and half-eaten wolf carcass was found dumped on the front door of the Pack’s den.

Bruce had been inconsolable. And he, with the help of several Pack mates and against the Alpha leader’s orders, attacked the Pride. Killing two of its prime breeding males. Then he’d taken his daughter and left. Moved to Arizona. Everything went quiet. Until the pair went on a hunting trip in an Arizona state park. No one knew the details, but the human remains of Bruce were found by the campsite.

Sara was missing for a day, but was eventually found 20 miles from where her father’s body was found, unconscious next to a riverbank. Her face torn like it had hit jagged rock. Her leg torn as if hit by an animal paw. She was in a coma for a week. No one thought she would survive. When members of the Pack went to the hospital to visit and protect her, they were greeted by Lynette. She took Pack members outside of the hospital to “chat.” But her chat consisted of her attacking them with a thin blade. She got one in the shoulder. Another in the back and a female in the face, taking off part of her ear. She left them all alive, but told them never to come back. That the “bitch” was hers now.

She’d taken the girl to this tiny town in the middle of nowhere Texas and raised her. The ultimate revenge against a daughter that had abandoned her and represented everything she hated about herself.

But why would Lynette bring Sara here? To a town run by wolves? Marrec was a shapeshifter and so was half the town. He protected and loved Sara like his own daughter. He could have turned her himself. So why hadn’t he? Or was it once again the wrath of Lynette, clearly a psychotic bitch to the extreme, which kept him from putting his life and the life of his Pack at risk for a girl that, in the end, was not his blood?

Yet his loyalty to Sara was still strong. Palpable, in fact. Apparently Casey had to do some fast talking to keep the guy from pushing them off his territory. Maybe now that the old bitch was dead, Marrec decided it was time for Sara to know the truth. To know who and what she was. Perhaps he’d waited until he felt that the death of her grandmother was far enough away, that she could more easily learn to accept what she was. But before he had the chance, they’d shown up. The Magnus Pack. Her true father’s Pack. Perhaps to Marrec having her turned by her father’s Pack seemed only fitting. So, in the end, he’d allowed them all to stay without much trouble.

Now here Zach sat. On a Friday night, watching a house. He could see into it through a window, but all he saw were the two other females still arguing. Boy, could those broads go and go and go. Sara had disappeared and he was really starting to miss seeing her. Although Conall was enjoying his view of Miki. The angrier she got the more Zach could smell Conall’s desire for her. Twisted. He saw Conall quietly pad by, his white-blond fur ruffled by the light wind coming from the East.

Zach scratched his muzzle with one paw as German techno music hit his ears. Good German techno music. In the boonies of Texas? He looked back at the house. The music died after a few moments and a couple of minutes later Sara stumbled out onto the porch. She was wearing baggy sweats and a big Hockey shirt. He heard her friends laughing, but he refused to believe they were laughing at the fact that she seemed to have trouble walking. He’d hate to have to kick their asses.

But Sara was laughing too and he realized he was getting protective over a woman he didn’t know and really didn’t want to know. He had no plans of getting all tangled up with a female. Especially not this female.

He was a good 100 feet from the house, but he could hear her clearly. “I hate both of you!” She yelled as her friends came out on to the porch. Sara sat straddling the banister, and boy, was he envying that banister, while Miki hit the swing and Angelina sat on the stairs.

He was marveling at how they went from full-on screaming one minute to hysterical laughter the next.

And he wished he could have heard what they had just been talking about in the house because Sara’s next sentence completely intrigued him, “But forget about me, I think Miki’s the one with the chance to get laid.”

“Don’t start.” Miki warned.

“He was like the dog,” Angelina offered, “and you were like the chew toy that was on top of the cabinet. He couldn’t quite reach it but he wouldn’t stop staring at it.” Sara burst into another round of laughter while Miki looked like she was about to lob her beer at Angelina but changed her mind and took a long swig instead.

“But,” Angelina continued, “No one seemed the least bit interested in me.”

“Well, of course not,” Sara answered. “You have no obvious physical flaws and you weren’t balls-out rude. Why would they be interested in you?”

The three women laughed some more at that. Then they drank their beer and quietly listened to the night. Zach couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so beautiful. And when Sara leaned back and stretched, a low growl coming from her throat that he felt more than heard, it took all his control not to charge over there and drag her beautiful ass back into the house and to her bed.

“We should go hunting next week.” Angelina offered, “Work off some of that aggression.”

“Yeah, Miki.”

“She’s talking to you, bonehead.”

Sara was floored. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Oh, come on. When you told that biker last week you were going to shove your fist up his ass?”

“He touched my tits.”

“You’ve got big tits,” Miki muttered.

“And when you threw that helmet at Marrec?”

“I missed.”

“Barely.” Miki added.

“Would you shut up!” Sara snapped at Miki. Both her friends smirked at her, and Sara realized that they were right. She had been aggressive lately. Really aggressive. Perhaps dangerously so. But she didn’t know why.

She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just stressed.”

“Your leg?” Angelina gently asked.

“It’s nothing serious,” she lied. “It’ll be fine.” She smiled at her friends, “Really.”

Angelina and Miki exchanged glances, but moved on.

“So,” Angelina offered, “That Zach’s quite a piece of ass, huh?”

“We are so not having that conversation!” The three friends laughed as Sara felt her face get red. “Bitches.”

Zach gave Conall a wolfish grin. He had to admit, it was nice being referred to as a “piece of ass.”

He watched Sara lie to her friends. And she was lying. The girl was in a momentous amount of pain, but she was hiding it amazingly well. She was a lot stronger than any of the Pack, himself included, was giving her credit for.

Sara finished her beer. “I’m thinking about getting a new dog.” Well that came out of nowhere. And based on her friends’ reactions they were none too pleased.

“Oh, for fuck sake.” Miki snapped.

“I thought you guys liked dogs.”

“I’m a cat person,” Angelina volunteered. Zach had already guessed that.

“I like dogs, just not the dogs you get. You always pick some scraggly-ass stray off the street and try to make it a pet.”

“You could get a cat.” Angelina offered hopefully.

“Agents of Satan? No thank you. I like my eyes right where they are. In my head.”

“Ladies,” Angelina sighed, “Is this, what we’re reduced to? Are we going to be…” she had an expression of utter disgust on her face, “pet people?”

“I can’t.” Miki leaned her head to the side to stretch the tense muscles, and Zach heard Conall give a low growl. “No pets. No plants.”

Sara smirked, “You mean anything that needs actual care?”

She gave a wave of her hand, “It’s just too much to remember.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to breed.”

“It’s just,” Angelina began to whine and Sara knew what was coming, “I don’t want us to end up three old maids, living in a house with cats.”

“That won’t happen.” Miki stretched her whole body. She did love to forecast. “I’ll be kidnapped by Black Ops. They’ll be hoping to use my brilliance against this government’s enemies.” Sara and Angelina looked at each other.

“Your brilliance?”

Miki ignored her, like she always did during this conversation. “Angelina will marry someone very wealthy but cold. She’ll last about 10 years, then she’ll plot, plan, and execute his murder. Get away with it. And marry a younger man. Maybe even his son.”

“Hey.” Angelina never liked that future prediction.

“And Sara…” Miki looked at her friend, “Well, she doesn’t like cats.”

“I don’t like cats? That’s the best you can do? How about ‘And Sara will live happily ever after with Mr. Doesn’t-get-on-her-nerves-too-much.’ Why can’t I have that?”

“You’re too picky.”

“It’s not my fault that scarred, damaged women aren’t high on the market. And I’m not going to take any old thing thrown at me.”

“You’re too picky,” Angelina confirmed. “Because I remember a few interested individuals that weren’t too bad. Troy.”

“Too strict.” Miki explained.

“Fred.”

“Too neat.”

“Bobby Joe.”

“Too tall.”

“Mike.”

“Too short.”

“Okay. Okay. I get it.” Sara didn’t need to hear this. All those bad attempts at relationships had happened years ago. The well had been quite dry for some time.

“Wait. There’s still my personal favorite. Kenny Ray.”

“Too nice.”

“Nice? He said I was boring. How is that nice?”

Angelina gave a wicked smile, “Too nice in bed.”

“Oh. Yeah. He was.” Sara shuddered, “Yuck.” She remembered she actually threw him out of bed. Out of bed and across the room. Odd. Maybe she was drinking that night too.

“I bet Zach’s not nice.” Angelina’s smile just became more wicked, if that were possible. “I bet he’s not nice at all. In bed or out.”

“He’s on the List.” Miki reminded them.

“But he doesn’t look like a biker, does he? You know, he actually looks like he bathes. Besides, I’m not talking marriage. I’m talking about getting control of your aggression.”

Sara looked at her friend of twenty years. “Dear god, woman! Are you talking about him fucking the aggression out of me?”

The three women began to laugh hysterically, “I’m not seeing the problem here, people. You get in. Do what you have to do and get out.”

“That’s it!” Sara cut them off. “We’re not having this discussion anymore.”

“You should just think about it. That’s all I’m saying.”

“No. I’m a nice girl. I’m not a whore.” Her friends didn’t say a word. “I’m not.”

Angelina shrugged, “You just keep believing that.”

Sara tossed her empty beer can, just missing her friend’s head.

Angelina didn’t even turn around. Instead she looked out into the darkness. “It’s such a beautiful night.”

Sara grinned, “Yup.” Her grin widened, “And it’s about that time.”

Miki closed her eyes, “I hate this.”

Sara leaned back, “Sssh. Listen.”

A moment later, Zach heard the first howl. Full bloods. He’d smelled them as soon as he stepped onto her property. He had been waiting for hours for them to give him a hard time about being in their territory and for not being full wolf but a mystical hybrid of both—they were amazingly snobby about that sort of thing. But, to his surprise, they still hadn’t bothered him or Conall. Maybe the full-bloods knew that they were there to protect Sara.

Because when they howled, their howls were for Sara and for Sara alone.

Miki cringed. Angelina looked unimpressed as she still rocked to the German techno coming from the house. But Sara had her eyes closed and was smiling. Then, she howled back.

“Sara,” Miki warned with a laugh. “I swear to god, those things come over here, I’m leaving your ass out here.”

Sara’s smile didn’t change. “Pussy,” she muttered. Then she howled again. The wolves answered. And all Zach wanted to do was go to her. To heed her call.

Angelina wrinkled up her pretty nose, “Aren’t you worried that they’ll come down here looking for who’s howling back?”

Sara shrugged, “I find them on my porch all the time.” At that, Miki jumped up and went into the house. “They never give me any trouble, but I always remember they’re wild animals. And this is probably more their territory than mine.”

Miki stood behind the living room window. She opened it probably so that she was still part of the conversation, but could easily close it if “they” decided to attack. She had no idea; however, that that window couldn’t protect her from shit.

“Besides, they’ve always made me feel safe. And when I had to live here with her, they always made me feel like I wasn’t alone.”

“Well,” Miki advised from inside the house, “Now you’ve got us.” Sara and Angelina turned and looked at their friend. “See?” She held up a cordless phone, “911 is just a quick dial away.”

“That’s it. We’re done.” Angelina stood up abruptly and brushed off her rear with a well-manicured hand. “Let’s meet tomorrow morning for coffee at the bookstore.”

“So you can get free coffee from me again, you cheap bitch?”

“And the newspaper. And it’s Mistress Cheap Bitch to you.” Angelina looked over at Sara, “Can we take your truck? Not feeling the walk tonight.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Sara looked at Miki, “The keys are on the…”

“Yeah, I know. I know.” Miki disappeared back into the house after closing the window.

Sara slowly lifted her leg up and swung it off the banister. “Pick me up tomorrow first.”

“You got it.” Angelina sauntered down the stairs, heading toward the truck. “Let’s go, Mik.”

Miki appeared in the door, the truck keys in one hand, and a pump-action shotgun in the other. She headed toward the stairs, but Sara grabbed the gun from her as she walked back to the house, “Not on your life, missy.”

“You call to animals and then you won’t give me anything to defend myself.”

Sara slowly limped back into her house, “I’ve found that it’s never the animals you have to worry about, Miki. It’s the humans.”

Miki headed toward the truck as Angelina started it. “I’ll remember that when we find your torn, headless carcass.”

Interesting girl, Zach thought to himself, and wondered if Conall knew what he was hoping to get himself into.

When the light went off in Sara’s house, Zach figured it was time to settle down for the night. But Sara re-appeared on the porch. A can of soda in her hand. She slowly limped to the porch swing and just as slowly lowered herself into the contraption. Once she was sitting, she let out a deep sigh. She drank her soda and rubbed her leg while looking out at the night.

The wolves called to her again and, with a smile, Sara answered. But the wolves did not respond this time—Zach did. He lifted his muzzle and released a howl that tore through the night. He called to her. Zach assumed that she would simply respond again as she had for the other wolves, but when he lowered his head, he found her standing. She limped over to the porch rail and leaned against it while she looked out into the forest. She looked right at Zach although he was sure she couldn’t see him. She walked to the porch stairs and stood there. Debating whether she should go in search of that howl’s owner? Maybe. Zach didn’t know. He had no idea that what he did would have such an affect on her. To untrained ears, his howl was no different from the wolves who just now headed back to their den. And yet she still knew.

Her internal debate was cut short though, when she doubled-over in pain. She gripped her leg and clenched her jaw. She stood holding onto the porch rail until the worst of the pain seemed to pass. When she looked up again, he could see the tears in her eyes from where she stood. She was no longer thinking about that howl and the howl’s owner. He knew deep in his gut, that she was thinking about death. Her death. Slowly, almost like an old woman, she turned and limped back into her house, barely putting any weight on that bad leg.

This time she didn’t come back out until morning.