Her Protectors (Wolf trials Book 2) Read online

  “You don’t have to worry about that honey. My brother was a cruel son of a bitch. He may have been blood but he wasn’t family. I’ve tried to do right by Pete, so just try not to break his heart. He has dealt with so much trauma the past few years. As much as he tries to tell me his mother’s loss no longer affects him, and that he’s moved on, I know he lives with it every day. He constantly thinks there was something he could have done, even though there wasn’t. His father made that choice and now Pete must live with the choice he made. Unfortunately, that’s life.

  Now enough of the gloomy shit, how about we go get you a drink?”

  “Uh, I’m only 17,” I tell her, not sure she realizes how old I am.

  “Seventeen, future Alpha Queen competing in the trials, your father has died, and a sadistic mad man is out to make sure you die. If there was ever a time to start drinking, it would be now,” she challenges.

  I hesitate, thinking I shouldn’t let my inhibitions down but screw it. I deserve to let go for a couple of hours.

  We go inside the pack house, it’s beautiful on the outside but the inside is breathtaking. You can smell the freshly cut wood that decorates the inside. It’s only been done in the last ten years, making the smell stronger but not in an intense way, more like a homey way. It’s as if the forest is inside the house.

  There’s an open plan living area with a homemade bar. It’s very cool.

  “This is a really lovely home. Was it built from scratch?” I ask, curiously.

  Lily walks around the bar, pulling out a couple of shot glasses. “Yeah, my daddy built it for my mom. When he found out they were mates, he had a lot to make up for so he built this as a ‘please forgive me for being a dick.’ He’s lucky mom was a forgiving person otherwise his balls would be on a stick perched lovingly at the window. The amount of times she threatened to do just that, I’m still surprised that I don’t see them out there,” she chuckles as she mixes a couple of drinks in a jug.

  “Aunt Lily, please tell me those aren’t your one knockout shots?” Pete asks, coming down the stairs followed by the others. The Elders are nowhere in sight, thank god. I don’t have the energy to deal with them right now.

  Lily grins wickedly, “You know they are. Dani here has had a rough couple of days. This is exactly what she needs to relax.”

  Jason smirks at me across the room, “Are you sure about that, Dani? They’re called one knockout shots for a reason. Only Lily can handle more than one. These things are strong enough to knock down a dozen wolves.”

  “It will be fine. Seriously what harm could one shot do?”

  ***

  “Life is awesome! Look at all these pretty colours! They’re so cool,” I murmur, waving my hand through the air.

  Nate picks me up from my seat and manoeuvres me around until I’m sitting in his lap. He tucks my loose hair behind my ear, while looking over at the Pete, “No more for Dani. She is cut off. She’s seeing things that aren’t there.”

  Lily laughs loudly startling me, “Oh honey, don’t you worry about that. It’s probably just the brownies taking effect.”

  Pete groans, “Aunty, please tell me you didn’t?! Dani hasn’t been around Wolfsbane before,” he shares a glance with Cam.

  “What’s Wolfsbane?” I ask, a slight slur in my voice. Wow, how weird do I sound?

  “It’s an herb we use. All the myths used to say that it was poisonous to us but it’s actually quite therapeutic. It calms the nerves while making you feel happy. It’ll wear off overnight,” Lily grins, watching me wave my hand in front of my face.

  It’s so cool! A myriad of colors trail behind it making it appear so magical. I wonder if I can make my hand purple? I squint my eyes trying to change the colour of my hand, only to pout in disappoint when it doesn’t stick. That’s not fair. I want purple hands!

  Mitch and Jonnie are both watching me, so I climb out of Nate’s lap and crawl over to them. I drape myself across their legs, giggling uncontrollably, “Hello… Why are you laughing at me? Am I funny???” I slur out, a bright smile in place.

  Jonnie grins and pulls me fully into his lap, “Why, yes you are, Dani. It’s nice to see you happy.”

  “And it’s nice to see you happy,” I beam, poking the tip of his nose. “Boop!” I laugh at the absurdness of booping his nose. It’s so fun!

  “Mitch, come closer. I want to boop your nose!” I giggle as he shakes his head but he still comes closer. Once he’s within reach, I lean forward ever so slowly, my finger hovering at the tip of his nose, “Boop!” I laugh wildly, falling back onto the floor.

  Jason hovers over me as I laugh up at the ceiling, “Alright Dani, time for us to go to bed. Say goodnight,” he says, hauling me to my feet.

  “Whoa, the world is spinning,” I say, stumbling sideways before an arm swoops under my leg, cradling me in a soft embrace. “Hi,” I smile looking up into his gray eyes.

  “Come on, let’s get you tucked in,” he smiles softly down at me.

  I pout, not wanting to go to bed, but not feeling too good. Maybe I should get some rest. “Goodnight everyone,” I call as Jason whisks me away.

  We walk up the stairs, me keeping my eyes closed to stop the room spinning. Why did I have a shot? And so much for the ‘alcohol doesn’t effect us’ myth. Shouldn’t I have been able to metabolize it by now?

  “Jason. Why am I so out of it? Don’t we metabolize alcohol quickly?” I ask as he opens a door. He takes a few steps into the room, placing me onto a cloud, or what feels like a cloud.

  He pulls my shoes off, slowly rubbing my feet. It feels so good. “We do metabolize alcohol quickly. What Lily gave you though was a mixture of a few home brews that have been specially made for wolves. It’s so we only have to have a small amount before getting wasted. Otherwise, it can be really hard for us to get drunk, and expensive. Lily’s pack actually makes them all here and distributes it amongst the packs,” he explains rubbing his thumb up the arch of my foot.

  “Oh. That’s cool,” I smile getting drowsy. “Jason can I ask you for something? You can say no though.”

  “Of course you can, Dani. Anytime you want to talk, I’m here,” he murmurs softly.

  I sigh when he lays beside me, happy to have him closer to me. It feels like we never get to spend much time together. Between him teaching and the trials, it’s very hard to get time alone together.

  “Will you kiss me?” I whisper, afraid he’ll deny me. Ever since our first kiss, I’ve wanted more. Now I finally have that chance.

  He grins down at me with a blinding smile, “Sweet girl, do you really have to ask?” I suck in a breath, shocked to see the fire in his eyes. “I want to kiss you every day. I just don’t get too much of a chance. I don’t want you to feel exposed in front of the others.”

  “Ha! I thought you didn’t want to. You know having six mates is hard. I can’t tell what the right thing to do is. Do I kiss all of you if I kiss one of you? Do I share a bed with all of you or do we take turns? What if one of you gets sick of the arrangement after the trials? Will I lose one of you? It’s all very complicated,” I state. I feel sober but I slurred a lot of that.

  “Dani, you think too much. Don’t you remember us telling you a lot of our kind share mates? Don’t you think we know what we’re doing? How about you trust us to handle those problems? If a situation unnerves you, just say so and we’ll try to fix it. That’s our job as your mates. There will be times that we rely on you to settle some disagreements but it is very rare that we will ask you to sort out any problems we’re having. For instance, say Cam is wanting to spend more time with you, then we would discuss a way for that to happen without interfering with the rest of our time. Is that ok?” he asks, watching me for a sign of disagreement.

  I grab him by the shirt pulling him close, “You’re so smart,” I mumble. “Now hurry up and kiss me before I pass out,” I giggle. He laughs abruptly, caught off guard by my demand.

  His lips touch mine softly, a gentle caress making me m
oan with need. He growls, pushing me further into my cloud of comfort, climbing over me. His hand wraps around my waist keeping us entwined together until he pulls back. “Shit. Sorry Dani but we can’t do this. You’re still out of it from the Wolfsbane and I don’t want to take advantage of you,” he groans against my forehead.

  “Fine. Be good then but will you at least stay with me until I fall asleep? I don’t like being alone anymore,” I admit.

  Jason caresses my cheek softly, lulling me to sleep. “I’ll stay here as long as you need me. Besides we’re all sleeping in here anyway.”

  He starts humming under his breath, helping me drift off to sleep. I just hope the nightmares stay away.

  Chapter 5

  “Up we get,” a voice whispers, rousing me from sleep. Jason must be moving me somewhere comfortable. Arms wrap around me, cradling me roughly. I drift back to sleep and jar awake at the feel of burning in my mouth. Something is on my tongue and it’s burning me! What the hell? I reach up to grab it, but can’t separate my hounds. Their bound together by some kind of material. I wriggle trying to get out of it, only feeling weakened. The movement makes the material touch against my skin and I know immediately its silver. It fucking burns! No other substance could burn my skin like that.

  The person carrying me looks down at me, an evil grin on his face, “Hello, sleeping beauty. I see you’re finally awake. Well don’t worry, it won’t be long until I get you to my king,” he laughs, starting to jostle me as he picks up speed. I struggle in his arms, my wolf thrashing in my mind trying to break free but something is stopping her. She lets off an almighty howl in my mind and all I can do is moan through the gag. The fire is consuming my mouth and I feel the poison spread to my throat. If he doesn’t take this gag out, I’m going to suffocate on silver.

  “Dani!” Jason’s voice calls from a distance. I try to speak but it’s no use. No one will hear me. The stranger picks up speed until we’re in a flat run. Just as I start to lose hope that I can get away, we’re tackled to the ground. At first, I expect to see Jason but it’s James. How did he find me?

  James is fighting off the wolf who tried to kidnap me, while I try to use my tongue to spit the rag out. It’s firmly wedged in and I lose hope of ever getting it out. The pain in my throat is slowly travelling to my chest, the silver has reached my lungs. Only a matter of time before I stop breathing.

  The wolf makes a run for it, leaving James panting. I plead with my eyes and he bolts over to my side. “Shit! This is going to hurt Dani,” he warns before ripping the gag from my mouth. I scream hoarsely as pain rips through every part of my mouth. He throws the rag to the side before undoing the ties around my hands and feet. He has to peel them away from my skin as the silver has burnt its way into my skin.

  “Why didn’t you call me sooner?” he asks, heaving me into his arms. I open my mouth to answer but only a squeak comes out. My voice is gone. I start to panic when James seems to notice what’s wrong. “Shhh, it’s going to be ok. We just need to get you to your mates. Calm down, Dani!” he growls as I try to make him put me down. “The faster your heart beats the more likely the silver will spread. Trust that I know what I’m doing, ok?”

  I nod, trying to calm myself down. My beast is still alert but we still can’t shift. The silver is stopping us.

  We walk out into the open and I see that it’s still dark out. I mustn’t have been asleep long. Pete sees me first and rushes to grab me from James’s arms. He gladly hands me over, watching with a small smile. No one else is around so I assume they must be looking for me. Jake and Rick burst around the side of the house, breathing a sigh of relief when they see me.

  Where is everyone else? I look to Pete trying to ask, but my voice still isn’t working. Glancing over at James, the tears in my eyes must show my frustration because he steps up to my side. “Tell your wolf what you want to ask. I can hear what she thinks,” he says surprising me. I didn’t know anyone could hear my wolf.

  Focusing, I tell her I want to know where my mates are. James answers almost immediately, “I imagine they’re still in the woods looking for you. Once they realized you were gone, everyone took off searching.”

  Oh, that makes sense.

  “Speaking of her mates, you two,” he gestures at Rick and Jake, “Go grab the rest of them, now! If you don’t hurry, she won’t be able to speak ever again.”

  They didn’t even hesitate, just splitting up in a sprint while Pete cradles me. The Elders choose that moment to come running out of the house, “What’s going on?” Sonja demands, not even bothered by the fact that Pete is carrying me inside. They follow after us as James gives them a brief run-down of what happened. How he found me gagged, bound and being carried away by someone.

  “Dani?” Cam comes to a stop when he sees Pete carrying me. I couldn’t move if I wanted to. The silver is eating away at my skin even with the rope gone.

  James jerks to attention swinging his gaze my way. “Is that true? You still feel it burning you?!” he asks panicked. I nod watching his face pale. He lifts my wrist carefully, quickly giving it a sniff before going whiter than a ghost. He snatches me from Pete’s arms and rushes me through the house to a massive bathroom. He opens the shower door, carries me in and blasts the cold water, aiming for my ankles and wrists. “Dani, you have to swallow as much water as you can. Enough to make you physically ill.”

  I cock my head wondering why when Lily barges into the room. The others are all just watching, horrified at the doorway. “Here, give her this. It will make her vomit in three seconds flat. Pete, Cam, grab Dani some towels, fresh water and new clothes. She’s not going to like what happens next.”

  Why do I have to throw up? I don’t understand.

  James shoves the mixture under my nose almost making me gag by the smell alone. Jeez. What’s in that? “Dani, you need to trust me. Your life depends on it. Drink this,” he pleads. I grab the small cup from his hands swallowing the brown liquid waiting for an instant reaction and am surprised when there isn’t one.

  James looks over at Lily. “Shouldn’t it be working by now?”

  “It can be delayed in some people. Give it a couple more seconds,” she says watching me nervously.

  “What’s going on?” Jason asks, having appeared in the doorway. Mitchell, Jonnie and Nate are all behind him and the Elders are all still crammed into the bathroom.

  Oh no. I scramble out of James’s arms trying to get close to the drain. The need to hurl isn’t going away. He places me gently in a kneeled position holding me up while I empty what feels like all my organs. He explains to the boys exactly what is happening to me. “She’s dying. I found her after her wolf called me, chased off her kidnapper and brought her back here. I thought she had just been burned by silver but it’s much worse than that. The ropes and gag have been doused in colloidal silver. It’s slowly eating away at her body. She needs to heal but the wolf can’t while the silver is in her body. That’s where you guys come in. I need you all to climb in here with us. You have to touch her and send her your wolves so she can break free. If not, who knows what will happen.”

  Jason, Nate, Jonnie and Mitchell all strip down to their boxers and take over James’s spot in the shower. I hate them seeing me like this. Weak and vulnerable. As it is, the Elders are watching me concerned that this could happen at all. I should be invincible to them. Now all they’ll think when they see me is ‘easy to kill.’

  Once James is out of the shower, he calls down the hall for Cam and Pete to hurry up as I need them. They see the others in the shower with me and don’t even hesitate to strip down and help, flinging the stuff they brought with them at the Elders. Lily takes it from them and shoos them all out, leaving me alone with the boys and James. It’s just lucky this shower is fucking huge or we’d all be hugging a wall. Well, I’d be hugging the floor.

  My body’s becoming weaker from all the vomit coming up and it doesn’t seem to stop. I can smell the slight taint of silver but not enough to get the s
ame reaction James did. His sense of smell must be stronger than mine.

  Everyone is now huddled around me with equal expressions of fear on their faces. James is waiting for something, I just don’t know what. “God, Dani, sometimes you are extremely frustrating, you know. You’re surrounded by your mates. Look at each of them, feel their wolves trying to connect to you. Let your wolf lead you if you don’t know how but god damn it girl, shift!” he demands.

  I do as he says letting my wolf reach out to each of the boys, feeling a spark of electricity in my bones. She howls and the boys echo it, sending vibrations through my soul. At the end of the last decibel, I feel the shift take over me.

  My wolf is free and the pain has stopped. That’s the last thing I register before the world goes dark.

  ***

  Why is it so hot in here? I feel like I’m lying in a fire! I lift my leg and meet resistance of a body laying across my legs. Looking around, I see I’m in the room Jason brought me to begin with but what’s more shocking is, I’m not dressed. Well, I’m wearing one of the guys’ shirts, Pete’s judging by the smell of it, but nothing else. All of my mates are crowded around me on the bed. This is going to make peeing without waking one of them impossible.

  I try to wake Mitch, seeing as he’s the one lying on me. “Mitch,” I whisper but it comes out a high squeak. I slap a hand over my mouth shocked at the noise. I still can’t speak.

  Shaking him by the shoulders gently, he slowly stirs lifting his head, confused. When he sees me, I offer a smile and he bolts up sending Cam rolling off the bed. “Fuck!” I hear when he lands on the floor with a harsh thud. He bolts up watching as I mime at Mitch what I need. Mitch seems to be pretty clueless as to me pointing at my bladder. “Dani, I really don’t know what on earth you want. You keep pointing at your vagina and I’m pretty sure sex is off the table, at least until you’ve healed,’ he says exasperated.