Wolf Untamed by Alexis Calder

7

Whispers and stares followed me as I made my way to Greta’s tent. I wasn’t about to stop and chat. How was I supposed to explain what happened? For them to have thought I was captured, it meant that Alec told them that right away. Then, he went and got himself captured. What did the residents think when they saw Alec hauled off? Or had he managed to get captured away from them?

I shook my head, trying to make myself stop worrying about the logistics of the strangest failed rescue attempt. And yes, he failed. If he went into captivity with the intention of trying to turn one of my assailants, he was doomed from the start. The fact that Kyle turned was pure luck. Without him hearing about my mark, it never would have happened.

I avoided eye contact when I saw Mario walking toward me. I felt awful. We had borrowed his car, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“Hey, Lola, I’ve got a new car arriving next week. Want to help me build the engine?” Mario asked.

I looked up at him, surprised that he picked up right where we left off. “That sounds fun.”

“I’ll make sure I save some of the challenging stuff for you to help with,” he said with a grin.

I smiled back. It was unlikely I’d be around to help him with this project, but I didn’t have the heart to disappoint him. Especially since he sounded so genuine.

“Lola, I’ve been waiting for you.” Greta had just walked out of her tent. A rush of relief washed over me.

“You better run. She doesn’t like to wait,” Mario said.

“When you get as old as me, you don’t have time to wait,” Greta called.

“I better go.” I waved to Mario before hurrying over to Greta. I was confused about my place here and wasn’t sure who was friend or foe. Alec hadn’t even mentioned who the spy was. But I couldn’t deny that the shifters here had been kind to me. They’d taken me in and let me be part of their community without asking for anything in return. Well, aside from the obvious. But were they all like Alec? Waiting for the right moment to use their friendship with me to their advantage? Or were there actual nice shifters here?

“Took you long enough to get out of there,” Greta said.

From anyone else, the comment might have sent me into a rage. From Greta, it was playful. “I had to cause some damage on my way out first.”

“Well done.” She held open her tent flap for me.

I ducked into her tent, my response playing in my mind. Kyle had caused some serious damage on our way out and I had yet to get any of the revenge I’d promised. Shame settled into my gut. I wanted to be strong and stand up for myself, but here I was, getting rescued again. That had to stop happening. First step, freeing my wolf.

A restless, fluttering sensation swirled in my chest. I froze in the center of Geta’s tent, trying to decipher what the feeling was. I’d thought about my wolf, then I had felt something. The feeling swept through me again. I smiled despite the fact I had no idea where to go from here. All I knew was that my wolf was responding.

“They used the toxin on you, didn’t they?” Greta asked as she settled into one of the chairs.

I walked over to the table and took the chair opposite her. “Yes. But I think it’s worn off.”

Greta smiled. “You’re feeling your wolf.”

“I think I’ve felt her a few times in the last day or so. I definitely felt her just now.” I looked at the older woman. Her eyes were bright, her smile infections. I couldn’t help but smile back at her. “Do you think it means I’m ready?”

“Do you know what you want now?” She asked.

The question took me by surprise, though it shouldn’t have based on my previous conversations with Greta. On the drive here, I thought the whole situation would require days of reflection and wresting with my own demons. But as soon as Greta posed the question, I knew the answer.

“Yeah, I do,” I said.

She nodded. “Then I imagine you are ready. The first shift is always easiest on a full moon. Tomorrow is your night.”

My stomach twisted into knots. Anticipation made my chest feel tight. The stirring of my wolf rose to meet it. So, you’re ready now. I found myself falling back into the habit of speaking to my wolf as if she was someone else. At least this time I managed to do it in my head.

Of course she didn’t respond, but I got the sense that she approved of my decisions. The funny thing was that all the crap I gave Alec about not stepping up to embrace his role as alpha was exactly what made me realize what I needed to embrace mine.

The mark on my hip wasn’t a curse. It was a gift. I wanted Ace and Tyler and everyone else who hurt me gone. I wanted to make them suffer for what they did to me. If I managed to prevent anyone else from going what I went through, I should take the chance.

My life hadn’t been easy, and I knew that it was a miracle I was alive at all. It almost felt like I needed to do something bigger to celebrate the fact that I survived. Challenging for the title of alpha at Wolf Creek would be fucking huge. Besides, it would cause immense pain to the people who hurt me.

There was only one thing they wanted. Power. They wanted to keep Wolf Creek prisoner and stay at the top of the food chain.

The only way I’d truly hurt them would be to take the power from them and put myself in charge. I couldn’t deny that seeing them meet a bloody end wouldn’t be a nice addition, but I knew what I had to do. I was going to fight for the pack that refused to fight for me. There was always going to be someone weak they’d try to break and I couldn’t let it keep happening. I had to stop them. And I had to make sure they couldn’t ever hurt anyone else again.

I stood. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. You’re the one who’s doing all the work,” she said.

I smiled and gave her a nod before making my way out of the tent. Kyle was standing outside, waiting for me. He tensed like a soldier standing at attention. Having him around was going to take a lot of getting used to.

Trusting Kyle was going to be damn near impossible, but I was going to need help. I needed to know if he really had my back. There had to be a way to test him, at least a little. Kyle was still a mystery to me. He’d been a fixture of my childhood, but he was quieter than others. I didn’t even know of any skeletons in his closet. Everyone in Wolf Creek had skeletons.

Then I remembered, he’d been short on details about how he’d gotten us out of Wolf Creek. He’d also hinted at some rather unsavory things. Was he hiding something? I had to know. If nothing more than to make sure I knew what I was getting into with our alliance.

“I need to know what you did when you got Alec out.”

“You don’t want to know,” he said. “If you don’t know, they can’t punish you if we get caught.”

I shook my head. “We’re so far beyond that and you know it. If we’re going to do this, we have two options: succeed and free our pack from the tyrant that is Ace Grant; or we get caught trying and we’re both killed.”

“So you’ve decided to go for it?” He lifted a surprised brow.

“Someone has to. Might as well be me,” I said with a shrug.

“Loving the confidence,” he deadpanned.

“I’ll work on it. But seriously, Kyle, tell me what happened,” I said.

He took a deep breath and looked down for a moment before looking back up. “I wasn’t on guard duty. Nobody was, honestly. They had him so drugged and bound, there wasn’t any risk of him getting out.”

I winced, hating the visuals in my mind. Imagining Alec dosed with toxin and tied up made my heart ache. I forgot how bad it must have been for him. Despite all he’d been through, all I did was worry about myself. I never even asked him if he was alright. Now I knew why only Kyle shifted on our way out of there.

“So what did you do?” I asked.

“I told someone I had intel on a break out. Convinced him that if he was the one to catch it, he’d get a boost in the inner circle.” Kyle cleared his throat. I could tell he didn’t want to talk about this.

“So when that person went to check, you made the switch?” I offered.

He nodded. “I killed him. Fast. As painless as I could. Then I got Alec out and dragged his body in.”

“Who?” I asked.

He swallowed. “I need you to know something.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“That I will not betray you. You are the rightful alpha,” he said.

My heart raced and I sucked in a little breath as fear clawed at my chest. With the comments in the car, I didn’t think it was possible, but my mind went right to the one person I shouldn’t give a shit about.

“Tyler?” The word came out breathy and small and I hated how much I cared. The bond had to be driving me. There was no other explanation but knowing that didn’t make my concern any less.

“Julian,” Kyle said.

My shoulders dropped in relief and I turned away from Kyle, hoping to hide some of the emotion in my expression. I ran a hand through my hair. Get a hold of yourself. I knew that mating bonds got stronger over time, and faded if a mate died, which meant Tyler wasn’t dead. He’d simply been the one person my mind decided to worry about in that moment. Stupid bond.

The momentary connection to Tyler passed and Kyle’s words sunk in. I turned around slowly. “Julian is dead.”

“He was a threat,” Kyle said. “You should have heard the things he said about you. And that was after Tyler told us he wanted to honor his claim on you. He had no respect for the bond. If he ever got you alone…”

All the terrible things Julian did to me over the years crashed in around me. I saw myself pinned on the floor in my mom’s trailer. I remembered when he pushed me down a flight of stairs at school. All the comments and snide remarks flooded in. Julian was a sadist. He enjoyed every second of being Tyler’s henchman. While Tyler had the mating bond as a reason - not an excuse, mind you - but a reason for being drawn to me, Julian’s reason was nothing more than enjoying causing pain.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Kyle said.

I looked up at him, our eyes meeting. I got the sense that he was concerned that I didn’t approve. He seemed to want to please me. There was something between us that felt different. I felt a connection. Not romantic, not even friendship. It was something else I couldn’t pinpoint.

My wolf seemed to be pacing inside me. She was impatient, but she wasn’t upset. I didn’t know how I knew, but my wolf wanted me to accept Kyle. To trust him even. It felt too soon. There was so much bad blood. But Julian’s death was a peace offering of sorts. Even if Kyle didn’t realize it.

“Julian didn’t deserve the kindness you showed him in quick death,” I said. “I’m glad he’s gone. You made the right choice.”

Kyle lifted his chin a little. It was a nearly imperceptible visual that he was proud. My words had an impact on him. We all knew there was a pull to an alpha when you were a member of that pack. Was Kyle already feeling that pull toward me? I got the impression he was.

Even stranger, I could feel a little connection to him. The marks we received from the goddess were sacred and intentional. We all knew that. I never studied them in depth since I never intended to stay. I wondered if his mark and his role connected us more than a typical pack relationship. Was that how it worked for an alpha with the protectors? If I did pull this off and become alpha, I had some studying to do.

“I’m going to trust you, Kyle. I don’t know if I’m making the right choice, but I know we won’t pull this off if we don’t trust each other,” I said.

“You won’t regret it,” he said.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of things I regret as we go down this path, but I get the sense that trusting you won’t be one of them.” I’d never been great at following my instincts, but I needed to start. Going against what I wanted and what I knew was right was what locked me away from my wolf.

“Tomorrow I’m going to shift,” I said. “Will you run with me?”

He smiled. “Definitely.”