Undying
Crystal Lake Pack: Book Two
Candace Wondrak
Copyright 2019 by Candace Wondrak All Rights Reserved. Cover by Lizzie over at Pixie Covers.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Books by Candace Wondrak are only available at Amazon. If you are reading elsewhere, please note it is an illegal, pirated copy, uploaded without my permission. I, the author, nor the distributor received payment for the copy, and if prosecuted violation comes with a fine of up to $250,000. Please do not pirate books.
Chapter One
Addie carried a plate with a slab of meat on it, and in her other hand she held a bowl of water. It was some kind of steak, red and pink and bloody—because she didn’t cook it. She figured he’d like it better raw. If she was a wolf, she knew she’d enjoy it better like that, too. Then again, when she was back into her human form, it might be another story, because the mere thought of eating any meat that wasn’t cooked disgusted her.
Either way, she didn’t have to worry about it much. She wasn’t going to shift, not going to truly unlock her inner wolf until the whole situation with Clay was taken care of. Nobody knew when he was going to show his face again, but he would. He had to, if Addie really was the key to unlocking the nature of the beast. Whatever the heck that meant remained to be seen. The death priest wasn’t a huge fan of giving straight up answers, and she was too new to this to know better.
Beneath her jean jacket, her shoulders itched. Her skin still crawled when she thought of Clay and what he’d done. What he would have done to Landon if she hadn’t gotten them out. Such thoughts were best left forgotten, but it was still so fresh in her memory. It’d only been hours ago, after all.
Hours. That’s it.
A death priest. Who knew those things existed? Addie certainly didn’t. She didn’t even know shifters existed, let alone the fact she was one—or, really, half shifter—until Henry and Maze stumbled into her life not too long ago.
God, her life truly had changed drastically in such a short amount of time, hadn’t it? Not only did Addie learn she wasn’t human, but she’d also learned neither was her father. She was part shifter, part witch-slash-warlock, which somehow made her super appealing to the crazies like Clay. Yeah, that part she wasn’t so excited about.
But being a shifter? At first, she’d disliked the thought of not being human. She’d hated Henry—still did—for thinking she would go along with them and choose the pack. But after meeting the pack, and after a heck of a lot of inner angst, Addie had realized the pack wasn’t so bad. Being with Maze and Dylan wasn’t as awful as she first thought. Landon? Sure, they might’ve bonded a bit during their stint in the murder cabin, but it was difficult for her to forget his first words to her.
Noteventhatpretty.
Yeah, it would be a little while before Addie forgot that, even if he didn’t mean it. Even if he was just lashing out, he had no right to say something so rude. If Landon wanted to be with her like the pack had planned, along with Maze and Dylan, then he had to make it up to her. How? She had no clue. Addie had never quite encountered a situation like this before.
Oh, how normal her life had been, until the day she got her first C-minus and attacked her professor with a floating textbook. Granted, she was now aware she should’ve controlled her anger, but at the time she had no idea she was magical in the least. She’d thought she’d hallucinated, and the school board and Dean had reacted swiftly and harshly by expelling her, regardless of her statement that she didn’t know what happened.
Saying she didn’t attack someone and beat them into unconsciousness when she and said person were the only ones left in the lecture hall? Apparently it was a hard-to-believe story. Unverifiable.
It was ridiculous to her when she remembered how much her life had changed from a stupid C-minus. Until then, Addie had always been an overachiever when it came to school. Her GPA was always sparkling and insanely high. She’d studied for tests weeks in advance, until she had her notebooks memorized. She’d had a roomie she didn’t really talk to and friends who left for out of state colleges, who never returned any of her texts anymore.
Here, in the pack, she felt at home. Addie had friends, or whatever Maze and Dylan were. She had people who would do anything to protect her—not like she needed loads of protection,
because she was firmly in the twenty-first century belief that sisters could do it for themselves. But, still. It was nice, knowing people were there for her, regardless of whether or not she accidentally hit her professor with a magically-backed book.
Addie did wonder though, if Henry and Maze would’ve forced her mother to drive to the college and bring her home even if she hadn’t gotten expelled. Henry seemed to be the take charge and give orders kind of man, and he was her mother’s father. She had totally understood why her mother had run from the pack just by meeting Henry. He was kind of a dick. Being seventy-something years old did not give him the right to act however he pleased and say whatever he wanted.
Either way, it didn’t matter now. Addie was here, and she’d decided to stay. She probably would’ve decided the same, even if she did have a college to get back to, even if she did have friends around, because being here, with them, just felt right. It was a feeling she could hardly put to words. Maybe it was her inner wolf guiding her actions, now that she and Addie knew each other as well as they could without actually shifting.
Being here, learning how the pack operated, it was going to take time. She’d have to learn while somehow practicing her magical mumbo jumbo in preparation for when she met Clay again. It would help to have someone here who knew more about magic. The wolves knew of it, but they couldn’t help her control it, couldn’t help her practice and get stronger. It…would’ve been the perfect job for her father, if he would’ve still been alive.
Alas, alive he was not, so Addie would fumble around and pray she stumbled upon a way to beat Clay at his own game. Preferably beat him without using any death magic or spells, because she did not want to start turning into a living skeleton, like she’d witnessed on him.
The mere thought made her shiver.
Addie walked to the door leading to the basement, but she was stopped by a bruised, wounded wolf who stood easily a foot taller than her. Definitely taller than Dylan and Maze, Landon was a bit older than the twins and Addie.
His hair was a light, chestnut brown, long enough to be shaggy but not so much as to cover his eyes, which were a vibrant, lively blue, a darker azure than the sky on a cloudless day. He had a bit of stubble, due to being locked up in Clay’s crazy cabin for a while, but other than the patched-up injuries littering his body, he looked good.
She would never admit it aloud, though. Handsome or not, he was kind of a jerk.
And, really, every single shifter in this place was a model in his or her own right. Even Henry and the other elders she’d met didn’t look as old as they were. Shifters put models and every single Hollywood actor to shame.
His dark eyebrows were furrowed, and Landon stepped between her and the basement door, tilting his head down at her as if she suddenly grew a third eye. Like she was the crazy one. “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice as tough as it could be, considering the state of his body.
Addie glanced at the plate of meat and the bowl of water in her hands. Wasn’t it obvious what she was doing? Did spelling it out make him feel better or something? When she looked up at him, meeting his eyes, she noticed his nose was slightly crooked, as if it’d been broken in the past.
She would be a liar if she said she didn’t like the semicrookedness of his nose. She kind of had a thing for noses. It was her one body part, the thing she focused on while judging a man’s attractiveness, at least on his face. Other than symmetry.
A man with a tiny nose like hers? Not attractive, at least in her eyes.
Overcoming the urge to ask about his nose and how it’d been broken, Addie said, “What’s it look like?”
“I’m kind of hoping it’s not what it looks like,” Landon replied, crossing his arms over his chest—both impressive and muscled, in spite of their numerous wounds. Some of those wounds were claw marks, along with a couple that looked like teeth marks. It made sense he would not want her being nice to the stranger, but Addie would be damned if she’d let him control her.
Just because she decided to join the pack did not give these guys the right to dictate what she did and did not do.
“Who knows if Clay was feeding him,” Addie said. “I’m not going to let Jack starve—”
“You say his name like you know him. You don’t. He’s a stranger, and he looked more than happy when he attacked me in the forest and brought me to that freak.” Thatfreakbeing Clay.
Addie knew Jack helped Clay, but she didn’t know he’d actually been the one to do the kidnapping. She’d assumed Clay used a spell to mask his scent, and then he partially opened the barrier to let them inside. Then again, she couldn’t be sure, because magic was still so new to her. It had to have rules like everything else, but only God knew whether she’d discover what those rules were.
It would be so much easier with a teacher who knew all about magic…but now wasn’t the time for whining. The whining could come later, when no one’s life was at stake, when Addie was not wanted by a cruel, sadistic man.
“He was being controlled,” Addie said. She didn’t want to constantly have to jump to Jack’s defense, but she knew it would take time for the others to trust him. Heck, maybe the trust would never come. There were a lot of crosses in that clearing. A lot of shifters who had lost their lives to Clay and his death magic. “You can’t hold him accountable for—”
“I can,” he cut in, blue gaze narrowing. A sneer seemed to be Landon’s favorite expression, the one he wore ninety-nine percent of the time. “And I will. You weren’t there, Addie. You didn’t see the excitement in his eyes. That wolf is as crazy as Clay.”
Addie knew she wasn’t there the entire time, so she couldn’t actually defend Jack against those accusations. Still, starving him did not feel right to her.
“I won’t let him starve, Landon. If you don’t like it, tattle on me to Forest. Until then, please step aside so I can go downstairs.” Currently Forest was out of the house, so if Landon was going to run off and tell on her, it would at least buy her some time.
For a while they silently glared at each other. Addie was not about to back down, and she would never kowtow to Landon and let
him control what she did. Her will was iron, harder than steel. Her will was like a diamond. Unbendable and un-scratch-able. Just because her wolfish side wanted to roll over on her belly and let him have her in ways she’d never been had before didn’t mean…
That was completely off-subject here, Addie scolded her mind, and she should notbe thinking about such things.
Inappropriate to the extreme. She’d just met Landon. She’d just met them all. Just because her wolf was in heat did not mean she was. Addie would be able to hold herself back. For her own dignity. For…whatever else there was holding her back.
Even though she knew she should not be thinking about it, Addie also knew Landon felt the same. It was a shifter thing, a wolf thing. She was an unclaimed female, and he was one of her supposed mates. While it might have caused her stress before, not to mention she’d hated it with a fiery passion, now…now it was hard for her to hate it, harder for her deny her wolfish instincts.
God save her, she wantedto be claimed.
Perish the thought. If her mother knew, she’d kill her, or at least be really, really disappointed in her. Sarah had run away from the pack to be with her father, all for love. Clearly, fighting the mating instinct was not impossible if her mother could do it.
Addie pretended not to notice how Landon’s eyes fell, slowly traveling up her body before he muttered, “Fine. Go on, then.” He stepped aside, allowing her entry to the basement.
She shot him a look. The hardest glare she could muster while she ignored the heat that had crept up her body when he’d checked her out. As if she was waiting for his permission to go downstairs.
As if she cared about Landon, AKA the douchey brother-whowasn’t-really-a-brother.
Addie pushed around him, balancing the plate of stake on her arm as she opened the basement door. The steps were wooden and creaky, just like she imagined every single set of basement stairs were. Even in a nice house like this, basements were just creepy. It’s where the monsters were in every horror movie ever made. She would’ve made a joke about not believing in monsters, but…well.
She kind of was one herself, wasn’t she?
A shifter. Sort of like a werewolf, only different. Shifters could turn whenever they wanted, regardless of the moon’s cycle. Shifters could not infect humans with a bite or a scratch, but they had to help awaken the younger shifters of the pack. Maze had said something about the beast of the alpha or an elder bringing forth the younger one. A ritual rooted in tradition, one Addie would join after Clay was dealt with and the threat of the death priest gone. Though, she would argue until she was out of breath, she did not want Henry to be the one to scratch her and help her unleash her inner wolf. She would much rather have Forest do it. Would he? He seemed to be loyal to tradition. Maybe he would refuse her and tell her Henry was her grandfather, it was his right—or something equally as ridiculous—to awaken her. The thought was a horrible one, one that made Addie frown.
The Crystal Lake Pack was steeped in tradition from the sound of it, and though Addie was a fan of certain traditions, others needed to be broken. Sometimes tradition was just a keyword for bigoted or sexist.
Whatever. Addie would cross that bridge when she got to it.
Chapter Two
Her feet drew her down the creaky steps, one by one, slowly bringing into her sight a view of the basement. It was unfinished, just a concrete slab below with pipes and ductwork above. A washer and dryer sat in the corner, along with a few metal shelving racks. But all in all, it was pretty bare.
Oh, hold on.
Bare, except for the metal support beam in the center of the room, and the wolf currently chained to it like a prisoner.
To say Jack looked unhealthy would be a bit of an understatement. His fur was longer and scraggly, its ashy blonde hue a pale color, lacking the life and sheen it should’ve held. His ribs were visible, his furry tail lanky. His eyes were a bright green, very similar to Addie’s, but they held a haze, a sadness that made her feel for him even though she knew she shouldn’t.
She had a heart. Sue her.
“Hi, Jack,” Addie spoke once she reached the basement’s floor.
Jack’s ears perked up at the sound of her voice, even though she knew he heard her walking down the stairs. Heck, he probably heard her upstairs while she was talking to Landon. He was laying down on his side, his thin chest puffing out with each labored breath. A metal chain was locked around his neck, tying him to the support beam and covering the huge scar marring the underside of his throat.
She wondered how in the world he got the scar, because it was probably the worst scar she’d ever seen in real life. The worst that wasn’t on a TV show. It was so deep, so thick, hardly any fur grew over it.
“I brought you some food and water,” she said, watching his tail thump twice.
Addie was going to set them right beside his head, but a voice called out to her from the stairs, “Don’t get too close to him.”
Landon. He’d followed her down, and she must’ve been too intent and focused on Jack to hear his footsteps behind her.
Not wanting to argue in front of him, Addie carefully set the plate and bowl on the floor, pushing them with her foot to get them closer —only for the sake of the argument sure to commence once she went back upstairs. Landon was not the type to give up, clearly.
How annoying.
“I’m sorry, Jack,” she whispered, hoping he knew what she meant. Sorry for how he was locked up, sorry for how the pack treated him. Sorry for everything Clay had done to him. Sorry for it all. But when he looked at her then, she didn’t see the intelligence of a person caught in his wolf form. She saw an animal, with an animal’s instincts.
Jack was only nice to her because he wanted her to shift, and then he wanted to claim her.
Addie couldn’t say why, but she was disappointed in this revelation. She wasn’t sure how she could get Jack’s human side back, how he could once again be more than his wolf. Unfortunately for him, helping him shift back into his human form was not her priority right now. Feeding him, giving him water, yes, but Clay was front and center on her list of problems.
She felt awful about it.
Addie spun on her feet, pushing past Landon to hurry up the steps. Once they were both out of the stairwell, and Landon had the door firmly closed behind them, she whirled on him, pointing a finger at his chest. “You know, he didn’t attack anyone when they brought him here.”
Landon smirked. “He didn’t have a chance to. He was outnumbered, cornered. He had no choice but to come.”
God, how badly Addie wanted to wipe that smirk off his freaking face. She didn’t need any smirkers around here. Who did? This wasn’t a movie. Smirking was totally unnecessary, regardless of the situation.
“What?” Landon asked, tilting his head and acting far too cocky. “Cat got your tongue?” His smirk turned into a full-blown smile. He thought he was funny, did he? Well, he had another thing coming.
“Nope,” she said. “No cats around here. Only a jackass of a wolf who thinks he knows everything.” Being connected with her wolf now made Addie prone to swear a bit more than she used to. Her mother would have an aneurysm if she heard her say the word jackass.
And even so…she thought she sounded like a child swearing. The word didn’t come out right. It sounded off, somehow. Wrong. A kid trying to sound like an adult which was so stupid, because Addie was nearly twenty. She was as much of an adult as she could be. Being legally able to drink alcohol when she turned twenty-one? Not her threshold to adulthood.
Landon did not particularly like being called a jackass, for his expression darkened, the smile falling off his face. He took a step toward her. “What did you just call me?” His chest rumbled with a strange mixture of a breath and a growl.
And, darn it, if Addie didn’t find it painfully attractive…
Her wolf wanted to throw herself at him right then and there, but luckily someone else stepped in the hall, munching on a breakfast bar even though it was way past breakfast time. Maze stood, acting as if his burnt arm didn’t hurt at all, chewing loudly as his eyes flicked between Addie and Landon.
“Am I interrupting something?” Maze asked, his brown eyes taking in every single detail. How Addie stood, how Landon had moved closer to her. Probably noticed the way her cheeks were flushed. “Tell me I’m interrupting something,” he said again when neither of them spoke. “Should I get Dylan? We can both interrupt, if you want.”
“Why would I want you both to interrupt?” Addie said, glad for the distraction. It saved her from doing anything she might regret later…and anything she might not regret later. Knowing her inner wolf, she wouldn’t regret anything that took place between her and any of her intended mates.
The same time Addie asked her question, Landon hurriedly said, “Nothing. You’re interrupting nothing.” He backed off, fuming as he stormed down the hall, nearly knocking into Maze’s shoulder—the burnt one—as he disappeared out the front door.
“Methinks I interrupted something,” Maze said, wiggling his eyes in the most stupid of ways.
Still, it got Addie to laugh. “Methinks you’re so weird.”
He finished his snack, his mouth too full to act shocked. Once he swallowed, he gave her an easy, dimpled smile, and the smile sent her insides aflutter, little butterflies scattering in her stomach. “Methinks you kind of like it.”
“Methinks we should stop saying methinks,” Addie said with a sigh, crossing her arms. “I don’t think he likes me.” She didn’t know why she cared all of a sudden; before she’d found him in the cabin, she was firmly on the side of screw you, Landon. Now…now things were complicated.
It had to be her wolf. Her wolf wanted him to like her, wanted more from him than just a claiming. So stupid, not to mention ridiculous, because she felt the same way about Dylan and Maze.
Having the same intense feelings for multiple people was not something Addie was used to. She grew up in human society, not in the pack, and having multiple mates, partners, husbands, whatever they were called, seemed odd to her, even if her wolf was all for it. Since she was staying, it was something she’d have to get used to.
“Who?” Maze turned his head, following her gaze to the front door, which now sat closed. “Landon? Oh, come on. Isn’t it obvious?” He chuckled, shaking his head. His short blonde hair moved only slightly with the movement, and Addie resisted the urge to run her fingers through its length. It was the perfect length to tug on.
Okay. That was something she probably shouldn’t have thought.
Swallowing down her inappropriate thoughts, Addie nodded. Yes, she’d meant Landon. Who else? And what the heck did Maze mean when he said it was obvious? Nothing was obvious to Addie. At least, not when it came to things like this. To her wolf, sure. But her? Nope.
“Landon likes you,” Maze said, speaking as if it were more than obvious. “That was him showing he cares about you. Following you downstairs like that? He wouldn’t do that for me. Unless I asked him, which, you know, I would never, because I’m a man—but you?”
She blinked, saying slowly, “I am not…a man?” Addie wasn’t sure why she asked it like a question, because she’d known for quite a long while now she was not a man, but Maze was staring at her like he expected her to talk.
“Right you are, yeah. Definitely not a man.” Maze stopped his long-winded speech to have a good, hard look at her, and she rolled her eyes. “Believe it or not, Addie, that was Landon playing nice.”
Nice? That was Landon playing nice? Addie did not want to know what he was like when he was playing mean, or whatever the opposite of playing nice was. Playing dirty? Whatever. Now was not the time to get lost in her own thoughts.
“And you called him a jackass,” Maze laughed out. “The look in his eyes was priceless. I wish I could’ve recorded it. Mushy-gushy Landon. Who would’ve known?”
The more Maze spoke, the more Addie felt herself growing confused. “That was not mushy-gushy Landon. That was…he’s a— well, a jackass!” There that word was again, sounding foreign on her tongue, as if it was hard to pronounce.
The smile Maze wore only widened, his dimples deepening. Though she liked those dimples, she was ready to smack them right off his face. “You like him, don’t you?” When she only glared at him, no words coming from her to deny it, he said, “You like the jackass. Don’t deny it. I can see it. That means you like each of us, yeah? No problem with our mini-pack. Forest will be happy to hear it—”
Okay, at that, she had to cut in, “Don’t you tell Forest anything.”
“Why not? He needs to know. Plus, he should have some good news, after all this.”
Forest was their alpha, but he didn’t need to know how she felt about the others, did he? Yes, they were supposed to be her intended mates, so she supposed it might all work out, but still. Knowing he knew, it was…weird.
Then again, soon enough the whole pack will know, won’t they?
“I’ll…I’ll tell him,” Addie said, not sure if she was lying or not. “Where is he?” He’d left the house a while ago, putting Maze and Dylan in charge of watching the basement door to make sure Jack didn’t escape, but where he went, she hadn’t an idea.
“He’s probably done informing the pack of what happened. He might be back at the clearing, helping to dig up the…” His voice quieted, losing its witty gusto. “The bodies.”
All of the shifters who’d lost their lives to Clay. Far too many. Addie knew she’d have nightmares about it for a long time. All those crosses, stuck haphazardly into the ground, marking the graves. All done in the name of twisted research. Clay was a madman, and he had to be stopped.
Addie didn’t want to return to the clearing where the cabin used to be—and then suddenly wasn’t, because of magic—but she could not stay in this house and argue with Maze about it. About Landon, about Forest. About anything. She had to get out, feel the breeze on her back.
“I’ll go,” she said. Addie started to the door, hating its ugly yellow color, but she was trailed shortly by Maze. Her hand was on the doorknob, but Maze set his burn-free arm against it, holding it shut. She might’ve been stronger than she was before joining with her wolf, but she was still not as strong as the guys. “Maze,” she whispered, “what are you doing?”
“You know, Dylan ran home to grab his book.” She felt him move closer to her, could feel his body radiating heat behind her. “We are more alone than we might be for a while.” His voice held no traces of the sarcasm it usually did. It was low, serious, almost too deep.
She shivered, and not because she was cold. Addie managed to say, “What are you getting at?” She wasn’t sure why she asked. She already knew.
“There are other things we could do, besides running off to Forest.”
Running off to Forest was probably the smartest thing to do, considering. Her body had other ideas though, for it responded to Maze’s suggestion. Addie felt her back arching, and she leaned against his chest. Solid, warm, strong. He smelled mainly of aloe vera now, but behind the gel, she knew his scent, knew him more than she’d ever known another guy before.
Humans, clearly, weren’t her type. Shifters were. Wolves were, because they were one and the same.
“I thought,” she whispered, her voice far too breathy and light, “you said Forest should know?”
“He can wait another hour, can’t he?” Maze leaned down, nuzzling the back of her neck, his nose brushing past her brown and pink hair, lips reaching her tender, sensitive skin. How the heck could he flick the switch from sarcastic little twerp to a suave smoothtalker?
Oh, Addie wanted to say he could, because running off and telling Forest all about her business was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted nothing more than to let Maze keep going, to feel his lips on more than just her neck, but she also knew once she crossed that line, there would be no going back. No putting her feelings back into a box. Once it happened, it would happen fast and strong like a hurricane, and anything subsequent she would never be able to deny.
No, for everyone’s sake—but mostly for hers—Addie had to nip this in the bud and ignore the warmth flooding the area below her stomach.
“As tempting as it is,” Addie spoke as she straightened her back and stepped closer to the door, pulling herself away from him. The nuzzling being done on her neck stopped, and she felt its loss heavily. “I’m going to have to pass.”
“You are too cruel,” Maze said, his arm sliding off the door. “Too cruel.”
Addie yanked the door open, tossing him a look over her shoulder. “Sorry, but you started it. I just had to end it.” She hoped she didn’t come off sounding too mean, but she would not lose herself to him or his brothers. Not while she had to prepare herself for Clay.
Maze must not have been too offended, for he only gave her a lopsided smile. “Your willpower—I can see it crumbling. One of these days, I’ll get you.”
Like she knew it was coming, she said quickly, “Don’t you dare wink.” But by the time she’d said it, he had already done it. Addie let out an incredulous laugh, because who the heck winkedin real life?
Before she gave him another chance to do something equally as silly, she was out of the house and down the sidewalk.
Chapter Three
Addie didn’t make it far. She got to the sidewalk and turned to head toward the lake—her sense of direction was much better now she was united with her inner wolf—but she nearly ran into someone. She jerked back, saying immediately, “Sorry.” It was then she realized she’d almost bumped into one of the pack’s pregnant women.
A pretty girl, a bit older than Addie by a couple of years. Wild, long black hair almost halfway down her back. Pale skin, a frecklefree face containing the world’s softest, warmest brown eyes. She wore a colorful, Bohemian-style dress, hoops in her ears and sandals on her feet. From the look of her belly, she was ready to pop any time now.
Did the pack have a doctor nearby? Did they go to the hospital? The pack seemed quite self-sufficient when it came to injuries, but a pregnancy was a little different and required a special kind of touch. Then again, women had been giving birth for millennia now. Certain things were instinctual, especially when it came to shifters. And the woman before her? Shifter. Definitely. Addie just knew.
“It’s okay,” the woman said, her eyes studying her intently, as if Addie was a strange specimen. Which, she supposed, she was, since she was half shifter and half witch/warlock and could access the powers of both. “You’re the newcomer—Adeline?”
“Addie,” she said. At least talking with this woman was getting her mind off of Maze in the house. It wasn’t even their house. It was Forest’s. What was he thinking, suggesting they do stuff in someone else’s house?
“I’m Caitlin,” the woman spoke with a smile. Unlike the mischievous nature of most of Maze’s smiles, hers was soft, genuine, hiding nothing. It was…refreshing, actually. “It’s nice to finally meet the one making such a fuss.”
As Addie stared at her, she recognized her. She was the woman on the sidewalk, on her first day, when she’d arrived here. Caitlin had stared at her strangely then, too. “I’m not making the fuss,” she said.
“Don’t be modest. You’ve created a ripple in a calm lake.”
Addie wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, and she didn’t know how to answer the woman. Not a fan of small talk, she said, “I was just leaving to find Forest.”
Nodding, Caitlin said, “I’ll walk with you. I doubt they’d want you to be alone, with everything that’s happened.” She cradled her belly as she turned around, facing the same direction Addie was.
“Who?”
“Your mates, of course.”
Now it was Addie’s turn to nod dumbly. “Of course.” It was already a given, then, that she would be with Maze, Dylan, and Landon. She was unsure if it made her angry or not. At this point, she didn’t know what she should feel.
As she started walking, Caitlin kept her word and went with her. Addie asked, “Getting in your midday walk?” Was that a thing pregnant women did? She had no idea.
God, that question fell under the realm of small talk, didn’t it?
“I try to stay active, even if I’m not supposed to shift,” Caitlin said, patting her round belly.
“You’re not supposed to shift?” It was news to Addie, and she couldn’t say why it shocked her so much. She hadn’t shifted once, but it seemed like something important, something vital to who all shifters were. Being unable to do so for nine months straight? Had to be pure torture.
Caitlin replied, “It’s not good for the baby, not this far along. I haven’t gone on a run with the pack in months.” She squeezed her eyes shut, as if the thought hurt. Addie supposed it did. “You know, I was in the meeting when Forest told the pack what happened. You haven’t been here a week yet, and you’re already becoming something of a legend.”
A legend? Addie? “That seems a little extreme.”
“It’s not. The way Forest spoke about you…it’s like you’re untouchable. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone get his respect so fast.”
“Forest’s respect?” Addie shook her head. There was no way she had Forest’s respect. She was a newbie, someone he didn’t know. Plus, she’d only agreed to join the pack this morning. She wasn’t one for following rules or respecting authority herself—unless that authority earned it. To hear Forest had spoken of her with respect… Caitlin had to be wrong.
Caitlin went on, oblivious to the surprise on Addie’s face, “Forest doesn’t give his respect lightly. You must be quite a woman.” She smiled again, her features soft and supple with the added weight of her pregnancy.
“Oh, you know. I try.”
As they went, Caitlin asked her dozens of questions. What she’d been doing before this, why she decided to stay, whether she thought she would like it here. They meandered slowly, mostly because of Caitlin, but the meandering walk was a good distraction from everything. Addie found it easy to talk to her.
Some people—or in this case, shifters—had a way about them. They were easy to relate to, even if they were strangers, even easier to talk to, though she’d never spoken a single word to her before. Past all Addie’s anxieties over everything that was happening, she recognized the feeling Caitlin inspired.
It was like talking to a friend.
Oh, how Addie missed it. She’d forgotten what it was like.
Her first year of college, she and her high school friends had stayed in touch. During holidays and summer break, they visited each other and hung out like old times. Addie didn’t recognize it then, but it was when things began to grow stale between them, awkward. She’d been oblivious, but it’d been clear they were moving on and she wasn’t. Unlike them, she didn’t go out to parties and didn’t make friends with other girls in her dorm.
She had foolishly thought her friends would remain her friends, regardless of the distance between them. After all, there was Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, a whole slew of other social media platforms, not to mention texting. It wasn’t like she expected a call
from each of them every day, but a few texts every now and then would’ve been nice.
It didn’t matter in the end, though. Addie was left behind, forgotten, tossed aside in favor of shiny new people, shiny new friends, and so she just shoved her nose into her books harder. Second year of college started, and Addie had never been more alone. She had all the Disney movies and microwaveable food she would need in her room. She had studied so much, actually read the chapters in textbooks her professors assigned, and went to bed early every day, never missing a single class.
Of course, then she got a C-minus on a research paper, and the rest was history.
The forest around Crystal Lake’s other side was already beaten down with a heavily-used trail. Addie and Caitlin walked along it, carefully stepping over any fallen branches that were in their way. They neared the clearing, and Caitlin stopped them.
“I’m not sure what you have to talk to Forest about, but it can’t wait?” A heaviness coated her question, an unknown lingering on her gentle tone.
Addie was struck confused by the sudden question. “Uh, why?” So very eloquent. She had a way with words, so good at using them everyone else was jealous. Even Maze was jealous of her wordplay. Okay, that was a huge lie. No one was better at stringing words together than Maze. That boy could go on and on about the stupidest of things.
Caitlin’s brown gaze fell to her feet. Or the area around her feet. Addie wasn’t sure the woman could see her feet, given the huge belly she had. “It’s really not my place to say, but…we’ve all lost something here, Addie.”
“Clay took so many of you,” she said. “Why did you stay? Why didn’t you guys pack up and leave?” The question of the day, really. No, of the year. All those crosses, all those bodies underground. A good portion of their population, taken and experimented on by a madman. Addie knew, though, if they had left, Clay would’ve followed or found another pack to torment. There were no good options here, but it was like the Crystal Lake Pack hadn’t even tried.
“Where would we go? We’ve been here for nearly a hundred years. This is our land now, our home. No alpha worth their fangs would turn tail and run from an enemy. We fight.”
Addie held back from snipping back at her, because none of this was her fault, but it was so hard to comprehend, difficult to understand why the pack would rather die than move and possibly save lives. If shifters were dying out, wasn’t every life worth it?
“Plus, the human world is…strange to most of us. We’re mostly out of the times here, you know. I think, as a whole, there’s maybe five cell phones in town, including the one I’m sure you brought.”
Crap. Speaking of phones—Addie felt around her backside, in her jacket’s pockets—she’d left her phone in her room. She had to call her mother as soon as she was able to. She was going to kill her doubly, now. Addie would’ve made the comment about how she could hardly function without her phone, but after spending a few days here, she was already proving herself wrong. She hadn’t gone on social media for days.
It was…kind of freeing, not having the cloud over her shoulder, not seeing what her ex-friends were up to in their stories and their posts.
Then again, she had to deal with life and death situations, not to mention a crazy death priest, plus deal with the attraction to multiple people at the same time, but…well. Those were all things she’d have to get used to, since she was staying here. Part of the pack. Both a shifter and not a shifter.
“The human world is normal to me,” Addie finally said, shrugging. “All this shifter stuff is what’s weird. To be honest, I’m still caught up in the multiple mates thing.”
Her last remark caused Caitlin to laugh. “It’s not as strange as it might sound to you. When you’re bonded with another, they care for you, and they know you’ll also be with others. There’s no jealousy. I’m sure you’ll find it freeing, once it happens.”
Addie was not so certain about that. She’d never been with anyone before—now she knew it was because she just wasn’t attracted to humans the way she was to shifters—but it made her very self-conscious. Worried when, if she’d only had one boyfriend
before, she would have worried a heck of a lot less. What if she did something wrong? What if she said something in the middle of youknow-what and completely ruined the moment? What if…
Okay, there were a lot of what-ifs that raced through her head in that moment.
Her worry must’ve been obvious, for Caitlin let out a feminine laugh, light and fluttery. “You’ll be fine. If you ever need someone to talk to about it, I’m usually available. The pack doesn’t let me do anything since I’m so close,” she referred to her very pregnant state.
Addie nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” She really, really did, even if Caitlin was just doing it to be nice, or if Forest or some other shifter had told her to. It was still comforting to know someone would be there to listen if she ever needed it.
“Now go on,” Caitlin said. “I’m going to head back to town. Have to pee, and doing it in the woods is impossible when you have all this weight. It’s a lot easier to sit down. You know, pregnancy sucks.” She smiled, rubbing her round belly with such love and adoration it kind of made Addie sick.
She was so not ready for that.
Caitlin turned and starting walking away, going back the way they came—although she did more waddling than walking, with her huge belly. Her long, curly hair swayed with each step, its black lengths bouncing.
A nice woman, someone Addie instantly liked. Talking with her, even for such a short time, made everything seem more real. What if Clay came back and she was his next victim? What if he decided Addie was no longer the key to unlocking the beast, but Caitlin’s unborn child was?
Addie would not let Clay hurt anyone else. She’d do whatever it took to stop him.
Where was her magical, old wizened tutor? The one there always was in the movies to help guide the hero? Not like she was the hero here, but…
Damn it. She was the frigging hero.
Chapter Four
Addie waited until Caitlin was out of sight before turning and heading past the last line of trees and into the clearing. It looked so different without the cabin, both less menacing and more foreboding. The cabin itself had been nothing special, just a one room building, less than three hundred square feet, but it was one she would never forget.
All the blood. All the lives lost inside it. The fire that roared with a red flame, kept alight with Clay’s death magic. Terrible memories that would haunt her dreams, years down the road. That was assuming she lived through this. If Clay had his way, she wouldn’t.
An invisible energy pulled at her, tickling her skin. Addie knew enough now to know it was the residual magic. Every spell Clay had used to keep the cabin hidden, every spell he’d used inside it, even the one for the barrier that masked the cabin’s location from the pack, lingered. Not strong enough to do anything; more like a footprint. A footprint saying magic was here. It was the first time she’d ever felt anything like it.
Had she never run into magic in her life before the floating book, or was she only now detecting things because she knew the truth? Because she was able to kind of harness her own power?
A crew of shifters worked along the rows of handmade crosses, using shovels to break the ground and then their hands once they were deep enough, probably not to hurt the bodies more. Respect for the dead. Once they dug them up, they placed them on a makeshift stretcher—two thick sticks tied with some cloth—and carried them out and away from here.
The sun shone hot overhead, beating down on her hair. All this sun exposure was not good for the pink strands between her brown, but there was little she could do. Maybe she could call her mother and have her send her some more dye after all this.
Did they even get mail here? They had to. Stupid question.
Addie spotted Forest kneeling over the most recently dug-up body. Going up to him while he was leaning over a decaying, dried corpse was not what she wanted. Then again, why was she even here? It wasn’t like she was going to tell him hey, decidedIwantto getrailedby thethree wolvesyou’ve chosenas mymates,sogood choicewiththem.
As she was lost in her own thoughts, Forest stood, nodding once to the men around the stretcher. They picked up the body, carrying it away from the clearing, marching back to the town. Addie had no idea what they were doing with the bodies, but it had to be more respectful than the way Clay used them and dumped them in unmarked graves, save for those hideous, ungainly crosses.
He’d heard her, probably heard her approach for a while, now. Forest did not turn to face her as he wiped his forearm on his forehead, muttering, “You should not be here.” His shirt was covered in sweat, the cotton material hugging his muscles in ways she definitely shouldn’t notice.
Forest was older than her by at least ten years. He was supposed to be her mother’s mate, but he was born years after her, and by the time he was of age, Sarah had already run off with Addie’s father. Sure, he was drop-dead gorgeous, lick-able in every way possible, but still. Addie needed to do her best not to think of him like that.
He was an authority figure. The alpha.
Addie averted her eyes from his shoulders—which seemed awfully square and wide, suddenly—instead gazing at the gravesite. “I don’t think any of us should be here,” she spoke quietly. Magic remained. Clay could return. It was dangerous to be here, and it didn’t take a know-it-all to realize it.
Forest moved to pick up the shovel resting a few feet beside him. As he did so, he shot her a look, his blue eyes cloudy. “I will not leave anyone here,” he said, straightening out. “They will come home and get the funeral they deserve.” He finally turned to her, towering over her because he was basically a giant. “You should go back to town, Addie.”
She could not stare into his intense gaze for long. Just like the magic around her, something lingered in his stare, but unlike the
magic, it was something she could not name.
Addie could feel the gazes of the other shifters, men of various ages, all probably wondering why she was here. Some of them looked a bit more wolfish than others, but they were all thick, huge, and muscular in the way their kind was. She ignored them, focusing on the shovel in Forest’s hand. A hand that gripped the shovel so tightly, his knuckles were turning white.
He had to feel intense loss here. Being around so many shifters who’d lost their lives while under his rule had to be tough. Addie couldn’t guess what he felt, whether or not he blamed himself for all of it. She would, if she was in his position. She was the worst selfblamer around.
“I’m not going back to town,” she said, head bobbing at the shovel he held. “I want to help.” Yes, helping dig up bodies sounded much more appealing than telling Forest she was okay with the arrangement between her and her three intended mates. Probably not a joke she should’ve made, even if it was only to herself.
This situation was serious, the bodies they dug up real. This was not a time for any sort of joke.
Forest studied her, his gaze still a bit too hard, a bit too penetrating, as if he could see into her mind. “No,” he said, turning away from her. “Go back to town.” He practically growled out the four words, an order from an alpha to a packmate who was supposed to follow his word like law.
“I won’t,” Addie said. Her stubborn words caused everyone to stop what they were doing and stare at her. “I’m going to help, whether you like it or not.” Though there were nearly a dozen others hard at work, she added, “You need help.”
He was about to order her off again—she could tell by the tensing of the vein in his forehead—but he stopped himself. “Fine. You’ll help me.” Forest turned and started walking, dodging the holes that were already dug up, moving around the pairs digging.
There was one hole already half-dug, not deep enough to have pulled a body out yet, but Forest didn’t stop before it. He kept going, passing numerous crosses and graves. Addie didn’t question him,
didn’t say a single word as she watched him stop at the final cross in the row they stood in and drop to his knees, slowly lowering his nose to the ground.
He inhaled a deep lungful before standing and saying, “This one.”
Well, if he wanted to creep her out, he definitely had it down pat. Addie bit the inside of her cheek, wondering if it was too late to turn around and go back to town. Seeing a partially decomposed body on a stretcher ten feet away was a far cry from digging it up herself and touching it with her bare hands.
Shouldn’t they have gloves on? Or masks? Or something?
“Let me loosen the dirt first, take off the top layer,” Forest said, more informing her of the plan than asking her if she was sure she wanted to do this.
Addie nodded. It was way too late to turn back now.
She stood back, shrugging off her jean jacket as she watched him go at it with the shovel. Her jacket had seen so much lately, she’d hate to get it even dirtier. Addie set it aside, past the boundaries of the graves, rolling her shoulders, which were now bare in her tank top, and little chilly to boot. Once she started working though, she knew she’d sweat.
Within a few minutes, Forest had the grass dug up, along with the next foot or so of dirt. The rest would be up to their hands, so as to not further dismember the body below. He knelt on one side of the hole while Addie positioned herself on the other.
Forest stuck his hands in the hole first, and she saw his arm muscles seemed to bulge more, the veins popping. She wasn’t so much in awe of his physique—even though it was something to stare at—than she was stunned at the claws that grew on his fingers. They looked like wolf claws. The rest of him didn’t seem to turn even a little.
“You can,” she paused, unaware of how to say it or what it was called, “shift a little?” There had to be a better word, or a phrase. Shifting a little did not inspire fear or awe, not like those claws did. They could rip out anyone’s throat easily.
“Only some can partially shift,” Forest replied, his blue gaze flicking to her for only a second before returning to the hole as he
dug. He must’ve thought she was scared of getting scratched, for he added, “Just keep your hands away from mine, and you’ll be fine.”
Right. Because a scratch would mean she would connect with her inner wolf fully and be able to shift herself. Not in the plan anytime soon, at least not until Clay was dealt with. But, strangely, that wasn’t what Addie meant. She knew Forest wouldn’t scratch her, that he’d be careful around her.
She…wasn’t sure what she meant. Maybe she was just thinking out loud. Maybe she was just in awe of the alpha. Nothing more. She definitely was not developing a crush on him. There were a million reasons why that would be a bad idea. No, a million and a half. Probably more. Her inner wolf was in heat or something, yearning to be claimed.
Well, her inner wolf had another thing coming. She’d be waiting a while.
Addie and Forest dug. Neither of them spoke another word, which was probably for the best. His voice was too deep, anyway. Too manly. How was she not supposed to develop a crush on the guy? He was sex on two legs. Realistically, so were her three intended, but Forest was a man. He was older. There were angles on his face the others didn’t have yet, a matureness that only came with age.
God, she needed help ASAP, and not with the hole.
It took them a while, and of course Addie mostly fumbled about because this was the first time in her life she’d ever dug through dirt —not to mention the fact she didn’t have claws—but it happened, just as she knew it would.
They reached the body.
Specifically, Addie was the one who reached the body first. Dried skin, almost like a mummy, because Clay sucked all the blood out of them before he got rid of them, to refuel his body.
“Keep going,” Forest whispered, shifting his clawed hands back to normal, having earthed up part of a leg, all brown and hard. “We have to get every part out of the dirt so the body doesn’t fall apart when we pull it out.”
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
essential service, with the expectation that at the close of the war they would be protected by us. But what was their consternation when, upon the reception of the news of the treaty of peace, it was found that they had been forgotten, and that after the promises which had been made, we were obliged to desert them and leave them to the voracity of their Mexican masters, by whom they are now of course viewed in the light of traitors to their country.
Never in the history of wars among civilized nations was there a greater piece of injustice committed, and the United States government deserves for it the imprecations of all who have a sense of justice remaining in them. The probability is, that some ignorant scribbler, who had cast his eyes upon the rugged rocks that girdle her sea-coast, had represented Lower California as a worthless country, and that, forgetting justice and good faith, our government left this compromised people to suffer at the hands of their own brethren. The result was that many of them were obliged to fly from their country and go to Upper California, their property was confiscated and they can never return to their homes but with the brand of traitors resting upon them.
It is the duty of our government to repair if possible the wrong thus done. Lower California must at some time inevitably be a territory of the United States. It is a peculiarity of the Yankee race that, like the western farmer, they only want to possess “all the land that joins them;” and this country, isolated as it is from Mexico, inhabited by a people who heartily hate the institutions of their mother country, neglected by her, and lying in such close contiguity to our possessions on the Pacific coast, must fall into our hands, and, instead of being a worthless territory, we should find it our greatest acquisition on the Pacific. The gulf of California is one of the finest sheets of water in the world, and the inner coast is indented with many safe and land-locked harbours. The bay of La Paz is safe and large, and the establishment of a naval depot at this point would keep in check the whole western coast of Mexico. Mexico does not desire this territory, and no people were ever more anxious for a separation from the mother country than are the inhabitants of Lower California. It would be an easy purchase, and if necessary an easy conquest, and unless it is done by the general government, a second Texas affair will occur there before many years pass. When Upper California becomes more thickly populated, and the progress westward is stopped by the surges of the Pacific, the northern territory of
Oregon being already ours, the progress must inevitably be southward, and even now ideas are entertained of seizing the country.
In order to prevent the disastrous consequences which must ensue from a re-enaction of the Texas tragedies, and to render justice to a people whose confidence has been abused by our government, I would respectfully recommend to the home government the immediate commencement of negotiations for the purchase of this valuable and interesting territory. The appointment of commissioners to report upon its resources and its value in a naval point of view, would be speedily followed by its purchase, and thus would be prevented the piratical expeditions for the seizure of the country which otherwise will soon be undertaken.
THE
END.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIX MONTHS IN THE GOLD MINES ***
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
