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Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 71
I must have lost track of time. I left the women to finish up and grabbed my jacket from the hook. Pax took my hand, and we ran out of the mess hall together. We gathered near the Elders’ cabin on the flat ground because there was plenty of space for the kids to wolf out.Pax let go of my hand and ran to the center with the other pups. I stood with the crowd of adults, my hands at my side. The first few shifts were always rough on young pups. But once they got the hang of it, they were so excited they tended to destroy tons of clothes while they practiced and showed off.Pax was one of the last to reveal his shift. It wasn’t because he was nervous—on the contrary, he was waiting to have most of the crowd’s attention so he could hop and dance around, working everyone up into an excited cheer. I laughed along, wondering when the shy, self-conscious boy I’d met had become such a ham.A deep, rumbling laugh sounded from behind me. I turned my head, but I knew Night was standing there. He
Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 72
All my life, the only physical affection I had ever received had come from my mom, who hugged and loved on me as often as I let her, and the pups I babysat who didn’t know any better. The Kings’ wolves, however, avoided touching me like I was dirty.But that had changed when I arrived here. Tavi practically threw herself at me at every opportunity, jumping at the possibility of holding my hand or hugging me. Jasper reached for me every once in a while too, and even Night seemed to touch my arm or my wrist when we were close. I used to watch how affectionate the Kings’ wolves were with each other and crave even a taste of the same treatment.But here, with the Wargs, I finally knew what it was like to touch and be touched by someone I cared about, someone who wasn’t my mom, and it felt like a door opening for me.When Lillian let go, she smiled at me once more before turning to her son. “Pax, it’s time to go home.”Pax whined, stomping his feet.“Pax, honey, don’t make me say it a seco
Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 73
“I hear you,” I said, “but for now, we should focus on how we plan on retaliating against the Kings for Iggy.”We’d buried Iggy in a plot of land in her favorite section of the forest. It was a small ceremony—just her family, me, Dom, and Iggy’s close friends. It was the first time I had seen Iggy’s family since I broke the news of her death, and the first thing they’d asked me was what I was going to do about her death. They rightfully wanted some retribution for their loss.Dom sighed. “Alright, what do you propose?”“We could do the same thing they did—send a special team to attack them while they’re unawares.”“I don’t know. I don’t think that’s direct enough.”“That’s fair.” I would never attack children, expectant mothers, or their infirmaries directly, but it was hard to know exactly how to respond when Iggy had meant so much to the community, and to me, as a member of my inner circle. “We could target someone who Troy keeps close to him.”“An assassination,” Dom said with a no
Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 74
“You kidnap a girl and try to make her life miserable, only for her to turn out to be your mate!” Dom dissolved into laughter again.Mate? The word was like a silent explosion in my head. My wolf began to pant and hop around like the word had summoned him.“No,” I said. “What? No, that’s ridiculous. Bryn is a human woman, Dom. There’s never been a real mate pair between a wolf and a human. Ever.”“Uh huh.” Dom smirked.“It’s more likely that it’s just stress about blowing the mission to kill Troy when I had the chance. Now I’ve got the stress of this human and of trying to figure out how to keep our pack safe. That’s all.”“Oh, yeah, I’m sure that’s it.”“Don’t fuck with me, Dom. I’m telling you, it isn’t like that.”“Yeah? Then why were you about ready to shift when I mentioned a particular young wolf’s name?”I clenched my hand so tight that the beer bottle shattered in my hand, spraying blood and beer over the table. Fortunately, it was mostly empty. Dom pursed his lips to keep fro
Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 75
As I moved, I realized how easy it would be for me to escape. It was still light out, and no one was coming after me despite Night, Dom, and Violet’s warnings that there were sentries always keeping an eye on me. It was a beautiful day, and I could run for miles without anyone knowing I was gone. My pace slowed as I thought about leaving the Wargs’ compound behind. It didn’t sit well with me to leave everyone I’d come to know.Ahead of me, the wolf looked back my way, seemingly asking me to hurry up.I’ll just see what this wolf wants, I reasoned. Then maybe I can think clearly about this.With my mind temporarily settled, I increased my speed and continued following the wolf deeper into the woods. Before long, the dense trees parted to reveal the craggy maw of a small cave. The wolf sat beside it. It looked at the cave’s dark entrance, at me, and then back again. It wants me to go inside, but why?“Why did you bring me here?” I asked it. I hoped it would shift or give some other indi
Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 76
I decided that now was as good a time as any to sort out my thoughts on escaping, on heading home. I missed Mom so badly that my stomach ached, but I couldn’t see myself going back there. Not willingly, anyway. The way Troy treated me and his threats—which I knew he intended to make good on—were too frightening. The Wargs pack had made me feel welcome and had given me a place I felt with increasing certainty was my home.I dropped the idea of trying to find my way back to my mom. I knew I would be miserable leaving behind all the relationships I’d formed with the Wargs, especially with Pax, Jasper, Tavi, Dom, Violet…and even Night.I’d made my decision to stay, but now I needed to figure out what to do about the large problem snoozing at my feet. It was getting dark, and soon there wouldn’t be enough light for me to find my way back. My only options were to leave the wolf behind and get help or to stay and get stuck here overnight. I can’t do this on my own. I need another shifter to
Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 77
I put my nose to the ground. The moment I picked up her scent on the soil, I launched into the forest, eager to follow it before it dissipated.“I’ll go find the other trackers,” Tavi called after us, which was good. I was far too focused to try and reach them myself.The deeper into the woods we went, the more I had to fight the feeling that Bryn might really have run off—that she’d played all of us this entire time. This path would have taken her to the river, and after she crossed it, she would be in Kings’ territory again.Damn. This was why I didn’t trust anyone. Why would I ever open up my heart when I had been burned countless times before? I was stupid to think that I could let her in, to believe that she might be my mate like Dom had said.Dom pushed his way into my mind. “The rain is getting worse and worse by the mile,” he said. “Something might have happened to Bryn. How would she know to take these paths? It’s possible that she’s been taken or lured away somehow…though, I
Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 78
The first wolf that I had taken down, the one I thought I’d killed, barreled into me, still dripping blood from its wounded neck. It slammed me into the wall, breaking ribs. I wheezed out in pain, landing hard on the ground.The bleeding feral turned toward Bryn, growling. She again threw her body over Vince’s. Why don’t you run? I thought desperately. Get out of here, Bryn!The wolf neared her, eager to taste her blood, Vince’s wolf tried to snarl, but he was too weak to effectively protect her. She screamed, kicking the wolf’s snout as it got too close. It bared its teeth at her, and I knew it was about to strike.With a surge of wrathful energy, I hauled myself to my feet. Pushing through the pain in my ribs, I shot across the distance that separated me from Bryn. I tackled the wolf to the ground, ignoring its snapping fangs. I bit into the wolf’s neck again, and this time, I ripped its throat out. Blood sprayed across the cave wall in an arch. His carotid artery spurt, spurt, spur
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