Shadow Wolves: Her addiction (Book 1) - Complete

Chapter 9 - Time to find courage

Jake

I sneaked in through the back door, hoping not to be seen. No one usually noticed me, except for my mother. I was unfortunate that my father was in the laundry room this time, busy with his favourite pass time. Screwing the new girl. He loved them young and fresh.

“You … Wait …” he shouted. He made me stand there and wait around the corner while listening to him grunt and the girl moan, as I rolled my eyes.

“Cu.m slut …” Father shouted, and I heard a slap, wondering if it was on her ass. She was pretty, after all. Did he have no self-respect?!! Father growled loudly and I knew he was done. Finally, a couple of minutes later, he walked out, slapping the red-head on her ass, and turned to walk in the direction of his office. My father’s bastard children probably accounted for half our pack members by now!

I had grown used to my father’s barbaric ways, but it didn’t change the fact that I found my father disgusting. It was well known in our pack, that if you were young and beautiful, you would soon be working in the Alpha house. The pack did not dare go against him. We were all living in fear of his wrath. The last male that went against Alpha paid an awful price. He had his goons beat him to a pulp and then dragged him into the main hall.

“Does anyone else have a problem?” He asked, and everyone whimpered or just turned away in shame. The wolf was found in his room later that evening. He had succumbed to his injuries. They were only allowed to see the pack doctor when a baby girl was born. The rest of the time, the doctor was to be on standby for the Alpha and his family and medicine was to be saved should we need it. The Alpha and his family had to be strong to ward off any attacks and to “protect the pack”. Okay, fine, I was part of the “chosen ones”, but it didn’t change the fact that my father still disgusted me.

“Now give me your report!” He didn’t even look at me.

“There has been movement, Alpha.”

“Yes, and? The patrols have already given me that information. You have been out there for a while. What information do you have? Is she back?” I gave him my full report, but kept the information of her nakedness to myself. I was not going to give his perverseness that satisfaction. He seemed satisfied with the information and told me to stay away, and that his patrols would take over from here. I was relieved and left his office to go straight to my mother’s room.

“I found him with the new girl.”

“Well, at least I don’t have to deal with his grossness.” Mother laughed. I told her about what was happening, and she looked very interested. Through the years, she had raised her own army and became her own force to be reckoned with. All I could think of was that I did not want to be there when all those wolves came down on that one blond lady.

Anthony

“That wolf woman is going to make us grow old before our time,” Lunar growled as we arrived at the hotel. Matt was reporting back on what had been happening. It seemed my darling mate was now patrolling her territory. My shadows really had to bring their A-game to make sure not to be seen by her. Henry’s border patrol had noticed her presence, which meant my shadows had to keep an eye on them as well. All Lunar and I could think about, was getting back to our mate.

“Well, we knew they would find out she was here sooner or later.” I shrugged.

“I was hoping she would write her book like a normal human and that we could return home without having to fight.” Matt scratched the back of his neck, making me burst out laughing, and he just looked at me.

“Your Luna … do you know her at all?” Matt huffed, then turned and left to meet up with Fiona. I left the hotel and patrolled the perimeter, checking in with all the shadows. When I completed my patrol and was happy with the reports, I found a new viewpoint to guard Meg from. I could smell roses and mint, no matter how hard she tried to hide her scent. Matt reported that she had stopped hiding her scent.

So, I had the shadows cover her territory to make sure we kept Henry’s patrols in the dark as much as possible for as long as possible. Enough so they would not try a sneak attack and would have to face us head-on. Henry would avoid a full-on attack at all costs. He did not have it in him to stand against a full pack. I saw the light go on in her bathroom. It was getting darker, and I was becoming a regular peeping tom. She started running the bath, then started unbuttoning her shirt. Just before she took it off, she closed the window.

“Just our luck …” Lunar sighed.

“It’s better this way,” I told him, trying to convince myself in the process. I could not go on another hormone run on my first night back. Fiona’s report had mentioned that she spent her evenings on the terrace, looking out to the old territory’s side. What was she planning? Early mornings, she would shift into either Sam or Storm and go for a run while patrolling her borders, but never at the same time. During the day, she was on the patio in front of her laptop or working in the garden.

I settled down for the night, knowing she would be asleep soon. She took her place on the terrace, sitting there for a couple of minutes, when out of the blue she jumped up and disappeared into the house. She reappeared in exercise clothes, running towards the forest. She was dressed all in black and, because of her wolf blood, had no need for a flashlight.

“Typical! I returned and she changed everything.” Following her, making sure I stayed far behind, and that the shadows were closer to her to see where she was going. She was going straight for Henry’s territory. I mind linked the shadows to stand ready. We might need to take over the territory tonight and proclaim her Alpha. We watched as she sneaked past Henry’s patrols right up to his house. Shadows followed … His patrols were not properly trained, thanks to his greed, making it easy to fool them. I lost sight of her once she was inside the house.

“Dammit! What is she thinking?!”

“She will be okay.” Lunar tried to calm us both.

“I’m sure she’ll be.” I joined in, not really feeling his confidence.

“Alpha Phillip trained her.” Lunar nodded.

“I can’t send a shadow after her into the house to interfere.” I softly growled. “She has to do some things on her own, even if we don’t like it.”

“What if she gets caught?” Lunar started to panic.

“Then we will just have to save her.” Lunar and I clearly had different ideas.

“She’s taking too long.” Lunar was getting really impatient and worried. How were we going to handle the situation? If we interfere too much, she will find out about us protecting her. If we didn’t step in and help her, we would not be her protectors. She had let go of her claim as Alpha and the option of claiming back her title was not something we would want her to go through. She went flying out a window and ran straight into the forest until she reached her house. They breathed a deep sigh of relief and followed her home.

“See, Lunar, you were worried for no reason.”

“HEY! Who was the one that was worrying here?!”

Megan

Maybe it was time I stopped living in fear of what my uncle might do. I wasn’t sixteen anymore! I sat on the terrace-like I’d been doing lately, watching for any movement from the border. So, I didn't have a beta or a pack to launch an attack. I had knowledge on my side, and being one person meant I could move around easily without being caught.

“Yes! Uncle Henry is so arrogant, he never properly protected the territory. The pack hadn't trained properly in a long time. It's a wonder another pack hasn't taken over yet,” Storm growled.

“What's the plan, Megan? I can feel something sinister brewing in our minds.” Samantha was grinning from ear to ear. She wasn’t one that liked fighting, but she would love to dig her teeth into her uncle’s throat! I jumped up from my chair, ran downstairs to my office. Scribbled a note and took out a black rose from mother's hidden safe.

Everybody had known about the meaning of receiving a black rose, but no one ever found out who they were from. Not even father knew. I left my house, dressed all in black, making my way to my uncle's house. Getting past his patrols, personal guards, and into his room was no easy task, and I had to keep my guard up.

His personal guard was trained better than I expected. I left the present on his bed and left his room as quietly as I arrived. It would be the first black rose that had shown up in almost 10 years. I wished I could've been there to see his face when he read the note and saw the rose.

The black rose was a tradition taught to my mother by my mother’s trainer when she was young. He still followed the old ways, my mother told me when I was little. I had to keep it a secret, so my mother could also train me. I arrived home feeling exhilarated, scared, excited, fearless, everything all at once. For the first time in my life, it felt like I was in control. Really in control, not the fake control I had been trying to convince myself I had these past couple of years.

I checked my border on the way back and found no new signs of wolves. Adrenaline was rushing through my veins, so I sat down in front of my laptop and the words just streamed out of my fingers, like a dam wall bursting open, letting the water rush through. Even my heroine in my story was getting a bit feisty. Both Sam and Storm giggled as they read while I typed, which was usually a good sign.

When my eyes could no longer play along, I dragged myself off to bed. Stripping out of my clothes, too tired to put on anything, I climbed into bed and closed my eyes. My dreams were filled with images of a tanned, defined, strong, breathtaking body, carrying me bridal style to a secluded cabana. The heat radiated off his skin where we touched, while the cool ocean breeze kissed the rest of me.

He slowly put me down on a bed covered in satin sheets, with pillows in faux fur, and got up to close the cream curtains, for what they were worth. The breeze kept blowing them open.