Pack Challenge

Chapter Seven

TOC

She had easily gotten through the intense question rtion of the evening: Where did you go? No where. Did you see Zach? Nope. What happened to your leg? Just a scratch.

She flew through Miki’s 20 minute analysis on the group’s business—some of the hottest clubs she’d heard of in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, London, Milan, the list just went on and on—and why a bunch of so-called club owners would be in a little dinky town in Texas throwing a rave.

But it was Angelina’s innocent “I had so much fun tonight” while they were driving home that Sara simply couldn’t take the pressure any more.

“I’M A WHORE!” She screeched.

Miki hit the brakes of the white pickup, causing the vehicle to fish tale. It stopped in the middle of the deserted highway.

The three friends sat in the vehicle, not moving, not speaking. They stared out at the big, star-filled Texas sky.

Miki, her hands still gripping the steering wheel, glanced at Sara “You’re not wearing any underwear, are you?”

Sara let out a strangled squeal and buried her head in her hands.

Angelina and Miki burst out laughing.

“Bitches.” Sara muttered.

It had been a busy night for Sara. A slammin’ rave. Head from a stranger. And shit from her friends. But she was sure it was the mere three hours of sleep that was making her unbelievably cranky. She’d already ripped poor Marrec’s head off when she got to work. He’d run out and gotten her a large cup of coffee, like an offering to some evil bitch goddess, then scurried away to his workshop to finish off some guy’s order. She didn’t blame him. She was being a total bitch and she knew it. She blamed Zach.

Zach. That was a stupid name. He was stupid. Stupid big armed, big handed bastard. Both Miki and Angelina assured her that she would never see the guy again.

“Honey, he’s a biker. He got his wings and flew.” That was after they had arrived back at her apartment. During this portion of the conversation, she had buried her head in the couch, her hands over her ears, but her friends weren’t giving her a break.

“Would you prefer we lied to you,” Miki asked, “Tell you he’s going to marry you and take you away from all this.”

“We love you too much to do that.” Angelina added.

Yeah. Sure. That was it.

Sara flipped through a magazine she found lying around. She figured it was Angelina’s since it was all the newest fashions, none of which she knew. But she wasn’t reading anything. She wasn’t even seeing the pictures. All she kept seeing were those big hands and those beautiful hazel eyes. She kept remembering how his tongue tasted and the feel of his hands on her legs… between her thighs…

“Hi.”

“Nothing!” She snapped, for no reason in particular. She saw Angelina in front of her.

“Hmm, I wonder what you’ve been thinking about?” Her friend asked with mock innocence.

Sara sneered at her. “Why are you here?”

“I was just seeing how my best friend was doing after her recent bout with promiscuity?”

“I’m tired and cranky.”

“Clearly.” Angelina tugged on her friend’s jacket. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I’ll get you lunch or something.”

Sara’s eyes narrowed, “Did Marrec call you?”

Angelina turned on that dazzling smile. “Well, he’s been hiding in the back now for two hours. You scared the shit out of him.”

“Honestly.” Sara slipped off the stool and grabbed her backpack. “I’m leaving,” she yelled at the back door. “You can come out now.”

Sara came around the corner and moved toward the front door. When she realized that Angelina wasn’t next to her, she stopped and spun around. “Are you coming or what?”

But the expression on Angelina’s face startled her. She was staring at her like she had grown another head. “What’s your problem?”

Angelina’s eyes narrowed. “Honey, where’s your limp?”

Now it was Sara’s turn to look as if her friend had grown another head, “My… what?”

“I’ve known you 20 years now. And since day one, I’ve watched you limp your ass around this town. Now. Today. I just watched you practically skip to the front door. Pain free. What the hell’s going on?”

Sara looked down at her legs. She took a few steps. Nope. No limp. Because there was no pain. None. Stranger still, even on those rare occasions that Sara didn’t have pain, her leg was always so weak that she still had the limp. Now it felt like her wounded left leg was as strong as her right. And both felt even stronger than that.

Sara bent her knee and raised her leg up. She stretched the leg out behind her and leaned forward. No pain. No weak muscles. Just fluid movement.

Sara had been so late this morning and so busy thinking about Zach she hadn’t even realized it. In fact, when she got out of bed she immediately started limping out of habit.

“I don’t know. It hurt yesterday. A lot.”

Angelina was next to her now, concern written all over her face. She knew what her friend was thinking. Stuff like this just didn’t happen to people like them. Random events of good luck, is what Miki always called it. In their world, people didn’t win the lottery, meet the perfect man, or suddenly get better. And that meant only one thing…

“Oh, my god. I’m dying.”

“What?” Angelina shook her head, ‘You’re not dying, you idiot.”

“Everything okay, ladies?” Marrec had re-appeared and was watching them closely. Sara opened her mouth to tell him that she was clearly dying because her leg suddenly felt better and people always felt better just before they died and she just felt he should know. But Angelina cut her off.

“Everything’s fine, Marrec. Thanks.” Angelina pushed her out the door into the parking lot.

“Where’s your truck?”

Sara pointed, “Over there.”

Angelina took the keys sticking out of Sara’s baggy khaki pants and pushed her friend over to the vehicle. “Get in,” she ordered.

Sara looked at her friend, “I don’t want a big funeral. Just something simple.”

“Would you get the fuck in the truck,” she snapped.

Zach had just gotten back from hunting, stopping briefly at the nearby lake to wash the blood off his muzzle and paws. He had since shifted back to human and, leaving most of the Pack by the lake’s edge, he had returned to the campsite to get dressed and track down Sara. He convinced himself it was just to see how she was doing. To find out if opening her old wound had helped her as he thought it might. But he really just wanted to see her. He thought about her all night. Her smell. Her taste. Her hands in his hair. Her cries of passion. Her growls of desire. He couldn’t stop thinking about her no matter how hard he tried. Not that he tried all that hard.

He had just pulled on his boots and T-shirt when Marrec arrived. A few of his Pack was with him and as soon as he jumped out of his truck he made a direct line for Zach.

Zach stood to his full height, but didn’t make any aggressive moves. Nor did he back down. But he knew that they were in this man’s territory because of Marrec’s goodwill, so he wasn’t about to risk that by ripping the old bastard’s throat out. At least not yet.

But before Marrec could get his hands on Zach, Yates and Conall, who had yet to venture down to the lake, stepped in front of their Pack mate. Yates, being Alpha, snarled, his canines extending.

“Back off, Marrec.” They may be in Marrec’s territory, but Zach knew Yates would never let him get near one of his own Pack.

“You tell that bastard to keep his hands off her!”

Yates didn’t need any clarification as he and Conall turned to look at Zach. “Tell me you didn’t?” Yates asked with a sigh.

Zach shrugged, “It depends on what your definition of ‘didn’t is.”

At that Marrec went for Zach again, but Conall pushed him back.

Yates glared at Zach before turning back to Marrec, “Is she yours? Did you mark her?”

“No!” Marrec looked truly appalled. “She’s like my daughter!” He looked at Zach again. “A very protected daughter,” he growled out.

Yates sighed. “I understand that, but…”

Marrec cut him off, “Who’s not ready to be turned yet.”

Yates was confused, “Marrec, that usually takes years. No matter what Zach did or didn’t do.”

“Then why was she was trotting around my store today like she was about to run a marathon? No pain. Just power. And guess what? Her friends noticed.”

Yates sighed again, his canines smoothly disappearing back into his mouth. “Shit, Zach, what did you do?”

Zach wasn’t ashamed of what he did; he just didn’t know Sara would react to it so strongly or so quickly. “I bled her old wound, just like you suggested.”

“I didn’t suggest shit to you!” Marrec stared straight at Zach, “And exactly how did you bleed her without her knowing what you were up to?”

When Zach didn’t answer, Marrec again went right for his throat. Yates and Conall pulled Marrec back.

Yates was clearly losing patience. “Marrec,” he snapped as he pushed the man back for what seemed the hundredth time. “The bottom line is she’s not yours. By blood or mark. So, I’m not exactly sure what your problem is.”

“Did you ever see someone turned quickly? It’s rare, but it happens.” Marrec took a deep breath and once he seemed to be under some kind of control, Yates silently allowed him to walk over to Zach and face him. The two men stood toe to toe, and although he was a good 5 inches shorter than Zach, his power and why he was Alpha male of his Pack was more than clear. “If something happens to her because of this,” Marrec warned in a deadly low voice, “no one will be able to protect you from me.”

The men locked eyes for a few more seconds; then, with a snarl, Marrec turned and walked away. The three men watched Marrec’s truck pull out of their campsite.

Conall gave his friend a sympathetic look, and headed off back to the lake to meet up with the rest of the Pack. When he was gone, Yates rubbed his tired, blood-shot eyes and looked at Zach. “Let’s not bullshit around, okay, Zach?” When Zach didn’t reply, Yates went on. “We both know what Casey is up to. But I know that it’s time for me to step down, no matter what she thinks or wants. I’m tired. And I’m burnt out. I just want to be part of the Pack. Not worrying about who is doing what. And I want you to take over. But if you fuck this up, and that girl goes down because of you… there’s no Pack in the world that will have you.”

“I don’t care.” Zach answered honestly. “You didn’t see her in pain, Yates. The girl was dying.” Zach paused for a moment, “And I wasn’t going to let her.”

Yates looked mildly surprised. He slowly nodded in understanding, “Fine.” Yates moved next to Zach so that he was right by him, his voice low, “Then you better watch her. Because if she turns as fast as I think she might, she will go down and she’ll take this entire town with her.”

Yates left Zach standing there in the middle of the campsite. And for the first time in Zach’s life, his first thought wasn’t about the Pack or himself. It was about her. The thought of anything happening to her caused his insides to clench up and his brain to shut down, leaving only one thought. He had to find her. He had to find her now.

Shit. Dick went hard again. He would really have to do something about that.