Wolf Untamed by Alexis Calder

6

“Where exactly are we headed?” I asked from the back seat. I’d happily declined the front. It was too close to Alec for my comfort.

“Camp,” Alec replied.

“You can’t be serious. That’s the first place they’ll go looking for me,” I said.

“I don’t think so,” Alec said.

“They know you came back for me. Why wouldn’t they try looking at your camp? Even if not to find me, to ask for information.”

“I’m glad you finally acknowledged that I came back for you,” he said.

“That’s what you got out of that?” I scoffed.

“I got myself caught,” Alec said.

“He made them think he had a recipe for the toxin so they went after him,” Kyle said, his tone giving away his disbelief. “Somehow, they think you gave it to him.”

“Wonder why they’d think that?” I said, my tone dripping with sarcasm.

“What am I missing?” Kyle asked.

“My grandfather, the one who was cursed, is the same asshole who invented the toxin. Turns out the thing that Wolf Creek uses to maintain its dominance is the same thing that cost me a chance at a normal life.”

“Wait, what?” Kyle sounded stunned.

“Fucked up, right?” I couldn’t keep the disdain out of my tone.

“I knew things were bad in Wolf Creek, but I didn’t know they were that bad,” Kyle said.

“You do realize that nothing about growing up in Wolf Creek is normal. I’m sure they fucked both of you up. Bad,” Alec said.

“Says the guy who denies all the basic shifter protocol,” I accused.

“Speak for yourself, alpha girl,” he said.

“Alright, I know I have a lot of catching up to do, but right now, I need you two to focus. Whether you like it or not, my plan for getting Lola to safety involves both of you.” Kyle turned in his seat and fixed his gaze on me. “My job is to protect you. It was determined by the gods. So, please, Lola, let me do my damn job.”

I still didn’t believe he was being genuine despite how serious he sounded. It was going to give me whiplash. “You do know that you can’t go back to them now. They’ll know you helped me.”

“One of these days, you’ll see that I’m on your side. I’m going to help you,” he insisted.

“You’re going to get us all killed by listening to him.” I lifted my chin toward Alec.

“We had a spy in the camp,” Alec said. “It didn’t take much for me to let slip that I had the recipe in front of him. They came for me that night. I didn’t fight them. It got me back in for a chance to rescue you. While I was away, a friend planted the car for us.”

“Your rescue plan was to get thrown into a cell in the same building as me?” I rolled my eyes. “Excellent plan.”

“I got you out, didn’t I?” He growled.

“Don’t get pissy with me. You didn’t get me out. Kyle did,” I said.

“Who do you think got through to him?” Alec asked.

“Enough!” Kyle shouted.

I snapped my mouth closed. I’d never heard Kyle take command like that.

“You two are like children. This is literally life or death. I am going to keep you alive despite the fact that you seem to have a fucking death wish.” He took a deep breath and blew it out, his frustration clear. “They think Alec is dead. I started the fire in his holding cell. They’ll find a body. Please don’t ask me for details.”

I blinked a few times, letting the words sink in. “What did you do?”

“What I had to. I told you, I will protect my alpha,” Kyle said.

My chest felt tight. I wasn’t sure how to process this. Kyle had never been as aggressive toward me as the others, but he was still part of the trauma of my past. But he got me out. And he killed a member of the pack to do it. He was in even deeper shit than I thought. They could come after his family if they made that connection.

Kyle was all in with me. Even if I didn’t trust him, I was all he had now. His family would have to disown him to have any chance of maintaining their lives. They were likely going to be ostracized and that was a best-case scenario. If Ace knew the extremes of Kyle’s actions, his whole family could end up in the caves. Including his sister.

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust him. But I’d been too hurt for too long. I wasn’t sure I could ever move on enough to form a friendship with him.

“I don’t know if I can ever forgive you.” I looked from Kyle to Ace. “Either of you.”

“You don’t have to,” Kyle said. “I told you, I’ll earn your trust eventually. I don’t expect absolution.”

Somehow, his words were exactly what I needed to hear. How the fuck had I ended up in a car with a former enemy and the man who broke my heart and betrayed me? I covered my face with my hands for a moment, taking a breath before dropping my hands. “What’s your plan?”

“Thank you,” Kyle said. “Alec said you have friends at his camp. The spy returned to Wolf Creek, so we should be relatively safe, but we can’t stay long. What we need is time for you to finally get a handle on your shifting. Then, we have to deal with your father before you can challenge Ace to claim the pack.”

“Wait, what?” My pulse raced. “I didn’t agree to that. What if I don’t want to go back to Wolf Creek or have anything to do with my father? And I have to point out how there’s nothing in your plan about breaking my mating bond with Tyler.”

Both males were silent and they turned away from me. I got the distinct impression they were avoiding the subject on purpose.

“Don’t you dare,” I threatened. “There is no option besides severing that bond. I will not live with that forever.”

“I heard how you saved him,” Alec said.

“So? That doesn’t mean I want to be with him. It means I’m a good person. I don’t let others die, even if I don’t like them,” I said.

“The bond between the two of you is strong,” Kyle said. “Tyler was already changing his mind about forcing the bond. He wanted you to get there on your own. It was Ace who pushed.”

“I don’t care. There will never be anything between Tyler and myself. Ever. Do you understand?” I was pissed. How dare they even suggest such a thing.

“Well, once you re-claim the pack, you can do whatever you want with him. Send him to the caves, banish him. The choice will be yours,” Kyle said.

“I want the bond broken.” I wasn’t even about to go into detail about the whole claiming my pack thing.

“And what is all this about my father?” There was far too much going on right now. “How does everyone else but me know this information? Does everyone in Wolf Creek know?”

“He told me,” Kyle said. “And trust me, nobody else in Wolf Creek knew or your life would have been very different.”

“But you know now?” I asked. “Who my supposed father is?”

Kyle nodded.

“My mom said I should stay away from him. She said the reason she never told me I could shift was because if I did, he’d find me.” Not that my mother had a great record as a parent. For all I knew, she was lying to me. Or maybe she didn’t even know who my father really was.

“He knows about you,” Alec said.

My breath hitched. My father knew about me and who I was? A little part of me was furious that he never came to look for me. I was also a little disappointed. He probably didn’t want me. Anger surged. I didn’t need him, anyway. “What if I don’t want to know who he is? It’s not like he tried to help me.”

“You might not have a choice,” he said.

“How do you know?” I asked, my tone accusatory. “Another thing about me that you knew before we even met?”

“Yeah, sort of,” he admitted. “I’ve been trying to find the recipe for the toxin for years. My research led me to your father.”

“So you’ve been obsessed with my family for years? And then you seduced me? What the actual fuck is wrong with you?”

“Dude, that is super messed up,” Kyle agreed.

“Okay, you and me, that was real. I liked you, Lola. I never planned what happened between us. And I certainly didn’t want you to get hurt,” he said.

“Funny way of showing it when you turned me over to my abusers,” I said under my breath. I didn’t want to go around in circles about this again. We all knew it wasn’t going anywhere.

Deep down, I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this on my own. Kyle might mean well, but he wasn’t much help. Like me, he’d been isolated in Wolf Creek. We needed someone who was more educated on the outside world. Unfortunately, Alec was that someone. I had to accept help from him for the moment, but as soon as I got back on my feet, I had to go it alone again. Maybe I’d let Kyle tag along. I wasn’t certain yet.

The one thing I did know, was that nobody had asked what I wanted. Before I pressed the issue, I needed to work through it for myself. I had no idea how I wanted to move forward. Did I want to return to Wolf Creek? Did I want to be an alpha? I’d never even imagined myself in that role before. Add in the information about Alec maybe knowing who my dad is, and I was in way over my head.

“Lola?” Alec’s tone was gentle and familiar.

It sent a little shiver through me. Dammit. I wanted to stay fully mad at him at all times. He couldn’t go around using that tone with me. “What?”

“Are you alright? This was a lot,” he said.

“No, I’m not alright,” I admitted. “Nothing about my life is alright.”

“I wish I could take everything I ever did to you back,” Kyle said.

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” I wasn’t sure what I wanted from either of them. First, I thought I wanted nothing more than to be alone and figure this out on my own. Now, I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I hadn’t ever let myself think about a future as a shifter. I’d only ever thought about survival as a fake human.

“I don’t know how to do any of this,” I said. “My wolf doesn’t respond to me, I’ve never felt welcome in a pack, my own mother stopped trying. And I’m not even sure I want to know who my dad is.”

I looked at the back of Alec’s head. He was focused on the road in front of him, but I knew he was listening. “Let me guess, my dad isn’t just some random guy my mom got busy with. There’s more to this. He’s going to be awful. What if I don’t want anything to do with him? Fuck, what if my mom was right and him knowing I’m alive makes my life even worse? If that’s even possible.”

“One step at a time,” Kyle said. “Figure out your wolf, then we go from there.”

“I tried that before. I was close. Then, I had to leave it all behind to go make Alec some money.” The pain surged in, as raw and fresh as when he’d turned me over. I guess I did need to think about it. “I hope you got enough for selling me out.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Alec said. He didn’t even turn to look at me. I should be grateful he was so focused on driving, but I knew it was out of avoidance rather than safety.

“I don’t think I can do this,” I said.

“Do what?” Kyle asked.

“Any of it. Go to the camp. Be around all those people who think I’m a total sucker.” I liked the feral shifters. I’d made friends there and it was embarrassing to walk back there after making a fool of myself. “Wait, is this how you pay for things at the camp?”

“No, of course not,” Alec said. “Sure, we might get involved in things that are a little shady, but we’d never turn over another shifter for money.”

“So I was just an exception,” I said.

“None of them know what happened,” Alec said. “They weren’t involved and they aren’t to blame. This was all on me.”

“Sheila?” I asked.

“Not even Sheila,” he said.

“So what do they think happened?” I asked.

“They think you were captured,” he said.

“Wonderful, so you get to go back as the hero and I’m the victim. Again.” I shook my head. “No. I’m done being the victim.”

“If it will help, I’ll tell them Kyle got us both out. Let him be the hero,” Alec said.

“Tell her why you did it,” Kyle said.

“I don’t want to know. His reasons don’t change his actions. There was nothing that would justify what he did to me,” I said.

“That’s fair,” Alec said. “And for what it’s worth, everyone at camp was sorry when you left. I think all they’ll care about is that you’re back safe.”

I swallowed against a lump in my throat. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed the camp and its residents. “Kyle, what do you think? About going to the feral camp?”

“I think it’s our best shot. It’s almost like hiding in the open. I don’t think they’ll expect you to return to your last location. Besides, we could use the help,” he said.

I hated the whole thing. People didn’t help me. Ever. I was always on my own. Any plan that revolved around others was too risky. On the flip side, I was a broken shifter with a murderous mate and would-be father-in-law. Fuck my life.

“I don’t want to talk to you when we get there,” I said to Alec.

“Fine by me,” Alec replied.

“I’ll need a tent for me and Kyle,” I said.

That made Alec turn to look at me. “Him?”

I raised a brow. Was that jealousy in his voice? Maybe he should have thought of that before he betrayed me. “So far, he’s the only one who seems to be looking out for me.”

“Isn’t he one of the guys who used to beat you up?” Alec asked.

“He is, but he never sold me to my enemies,” I said.

“I saved your life,” Alec said.

“That doesn’t mean you own it,” I snapped.

“He gets a second chance, but not me?” Alec sounded pissed.

“He didn’t take my virginity and then turn around and hand me over to a mate who spent the last decade beating the shit out of me,” I said.

“It’s going to be okay,” Kyle said. “We’ll get through this. I swear.”

His words were surprisingly comforting, but the tension was thick between me and a very silent Alec. I was done talking to him. I said what I needed to say and I was pretty sure there was nothing he could do to change things between us. Like Kyle, I supposed I could view him as an ally if he demonstrated his ability to help, but we couldn’t go back to the way things were.

Alec slowed the car down and I realized we were already back at the camp. I saw the green tents dotting the outskirts of the common area. It was probably around dinner time since there were so many shifters gathered around outside. As Alec pulled the car into the space by Mario’s tent, I noticed the huge stack of wood in the center of the common area. “Bonfire?”

“Tomorrow’s the full moon,” Alec said. “We’ll light it then.”

My stomach twisted. It had already been a month since I’d shifted to keep myself alive. In that time, I’d tasted freedom, and had it yanked away.

“I need to see Greta,” I said.

“I’m sure she’s already waiting for you,” Alec assured me.

When the car was stopped, I didn’t bother with goodbyes. I opened the door and walked out, headed toward Geta’s tent.