Accidentally Wolf (7 page)

“Fuck off, Shane. She’ll be fine
once we get her back to our pack.”

If Zayn didn’t get to her before
they reached wherever they planned to rendezvous, she’d be damned before she’d
go meekly where they took her. She wouldn’t sacrifice herself, her body, or
mind for anything. She knew what she could take and what she couldn’t.
A beating, yes, but a violation of her body?
No. Even if
Zayn said he would still love her, she didn’t think she could love herself.

Don’t think like that, baby. I’m going to get to you before that ever
happens.

Zayn, I will hang on and do as you’ve asked, but I will not sit or lay
idly by while they do whatever they choose, if it comes to that. You have to
understand. I just can’t.
Grief for what might be welled in her heart as
she imagined being raped by these beasts. She couldn’t let it happen, but how
could she stop it? How soon before Zayn found her? How much time did she have
before they began moving again?

“Did you hear that, Shane?” Tom
asked.

“I had the other guys spread out
to lead the pack, should they try to follow, in other directions. This is our
meeting place. You need to calm down.”

Cora watched Shane pass what
looked like a hand rolled cigarette to Tom. The sound of a lighter being lit
and then the unmistakable sound of someone inhaling were overly loud in the
quiet night. A scent that reminded her of the last time she’d been to her dad’s
house drifted through the air.

Son of a bitch.
Shifters on drugs?
What did that mean for her?
For Zayn and his pack?

Zayn, Tom and some guy named Shane have me and are doing drugs. I’m
pretending to be knocked out, but…shit. Men on drugs do messed up things. What
about shifters?

I noticed something was off when they picked us up. Just try to not
catch their attention. I think I’m close. Your scent is stronger.

What Cora hadn’t noticed was how
close to the road they were. The sound of a vehicle pulling into the clearing
sent alarm down Cora’s spine. The doors to the large van slammed open with
several men jumping out, shouting orders at her two captors. She went against
all her natural instincts and lay like a doll, pretending sleep. Even though it
was against the grain, she knew it was the right choice.

What’s happening?

Zayn’s frantic voice calmed her,
gave her a focal point inside her mind.
We
must be by a road. There’s a white van that just pulled in, and now we are
being loaded into the van.
She shuddered as one of the men who picked her
up took advantage of her supposedly incapacitated state to reach between her
legs to grope.

I want you to find out his name too, baby. He will be another that I
plan to kill with my bare fucking hands.

This time she shuddered for
another reason.

“Hey, I think the little bitch
might be coming around. She’s shaking a little.”

“You better watch out, Bart. She
tends to throw up on men who carry her.” Shane laughed.

She wanted to punch Shane in the
throat after she kicked the one named Bart in the nuts. After Shane’s words,
Bart dumped her in the back of the van inside a cage made for animals, uncaring
if he hurt her. He sniggered when she moaned, but she didn’t allow any other
sound to escape. No way in hell was she going to give them any more entertainment
if she could help it.

“Did you lock the cage, Bart?”

“Nah, the bitch is out for the
count. What did you do, fuck her silly?” Bart’s voice held way too much glee.

“I like my women conscious, you
sick bastard,” Shane said.

“You can’t get a conscious woman,”
Bart sneered.

“Shut the fuck up both of you. We
ain’t got time for your bullshit. We are right in the middle of their
territory. Did your boy lay out the traps like he was supposed to?”

Cora wasn’t sure who the newest
speaker was, but his voice alone scared her. The deep baritone sounded like
he’d been gargling with sandpaper.

 
“He said he laid them all around their
borders, but—” Tom stopped.

“Spit it the fuck out, boy. I
ain’t got all night.”

“I guess a young cub, the alpha’s
boy, got caught in one. I don’t know how many they found.”

A roar split the air. Several
windows in the van shattered. If Cora had been closer to the one who did the
roaring, she was sure she would have
peed
her pants.
As it was she trembled in the cage.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to
get rid of some excess baggage.” Shane said.

“Keep it up and you’re next.”

“Sorry, Keith.
I’d say that Paul—he’s our inside guy—would know how many traps they might have
found. Once we reach our territory, I’ll try reaching him.”

Cora listened to Shane placate the
other man named Keith who was obviously in charge.

Zayn, the van is moving, and they said they had a guy named Paul who
was inside, whatever that means.

Paul is with me and a member of our pack,
he growled.

Are you okay?

She didn’t know what she’d do if
he wasn’t all right.

I already figured out that Paul was a traitorous bastard. Niall is
following the van and we’ve got eyes and vehicles on the road waiting to see
where they take you. Relax. I’m fine.

She wanted to laugh at his command,
and she had no doubt it was a command.

Are you laughing at me? Do you know what happens when a mate laughs at
her mate?
He paused, his voice sounding huskier in her head as he said,
They
get lucky.

Locked in a cage, being driven off
to some hell hole with a bunch of drug addicted shifters and she really wanted
to find out what he would do to her. The only thing that kept her from
imagining what he would do to her was the knowledge that the shifters up front
had an amazing sense of smell, and they’d think it was an open invitation.

I’ll hold you to that, Zayn, but I’m really scared. The one named Keith
is really, really scary. I mean like he sounds like Freddy Kruger type scary.

Zayn tried to cut off his
thoughts, but she caught the flash of fear.

Who is he? What is he? Knowledge is power, Zayn.

I need to share this with Niall, baby. I won’t keep anything from you.
I promise.

A huge leap of faith is what it
took for her to say the next three words.
I
trust you.

The van picked up speed, taking
her farther away from where she knew Zayn was.

Thank you, Cora.

She was still reeling from the hit
to the head and tossed to the ground. Now being thrown around in the back of
the van, it was all she could do not to throw up all over herself. That was one
reason she’d never been on a cruise before. She knew she wouldn’t make it even
one day, let alone seven days at sea, without getting sick. Cora didn’t think
she had anything left in her stomach to come back up, and the last thing she
wanted to do was gag on stomach acid, thank you very much.

“Boss, I’m seeing all kinds of
glowing eyes following us in the woods.”

“I don’t care. Let the dogs chase
us.” Keith said.

“But, you don’t understand.”

Whatever he was going to say was
cut off by what Cora assumed was Keith’s fist hitting the man.

The vehicle began to slow, and
Cora braced herself against the back of the cage to keep from being slammed
around again. Just as she was preparing for the inevitable increase in speed,
something slammed into the side of the van, followed by another.

Shouts from the men in the vehicle
sounded from the front, but Keith’s voice stayed calm as he issued orders. Cora
knew she’d promised Zayn she’d not run, not fight, but he hadn’t met Keith. He
didn’t hear the absolute sound of death in the man’s voice. She did.

If it was any other man or beast
that had her, she would have kept her promise to Zayn. But the man they called
Keith wouldn’t keep her alive if he didn’t want to, and she didn’t think he’d
want to. His anger was so palpable every person left in the van was shaking in
fear, waiting for his instructions, fearful of making the wrong move.

“Shift and kill. Whoever comes
back to me without someone’s head will die by my hand.”

Oh, yeah. It was time to go.

Metal doors were no protection
from an angry shifter, and obviously a metal cage wouldn’t be either. Cora
worked the slider door open, grateful she had opposable thumbs.

She sighed when the door swung
open. Her head pounded out an angry rhythm as she crab-walked out of the small
space.

“I can hear you, little lamb.”

Cora froze with her body half in
and half out of the cage. Indecision warred within her. He could leap over the
space separating them and kill her, or…he could leap over the space and kill
her. Basically she was dead if she didn’t get out. She tried the latch on the
back door, unsurprised to find it locked.

Calling on the extra strength she
knew all shifters had, that she’d yet to tap into, she prepared to aim her feet
at the back doors. She’d have one chance to get out with surprise on her side,
and hopefully, the good guys were winning on the outside.

Keith taunted her. “You can stop
pretending to sleep. I can hear you breathing, and your heart is beating much
faster than someone who is sleeping.”

While his sandpaper voice grew in
volume, she took the time to place her body flat on the metal floor in the best
position.

I see the van, Cora. Where are you?
Zayn asked.

Zayn, I’m getting ready to kick the back door open. Keith, the leader,
is still inside here with me, but he’s different. I don’t know how or what he
is.
Just…different in a very bad way.

Wait for me. I’ll get you out.

I can’t, Zayn. He’s getting ready to do…I don’t know what. I can
guarantee you I don’t want to find out.

Cora heard the movement of fabric
closer than it was before and without hesitation, she kicked out with both
feet. Pain shot up from her toes to her knees. She used her hands to push her
body out of the opening, nearly freezing at the sight of a dozen or so
werewolves fighting.

An inhuman roar behind her sent
her feet in motion toward the fighting, instead of away. A wolf with a gleaming
red coat and glowing blue eyes caught her attention as he snapped the neck of
his opponent, before he dropped him to the ground.
Niall.
She knew the wolf was Zayn’s brother by his coat.

Cora, head toward my brother. I’m coming up behind him.

She loved that they were so
connected and how he seemed to know exactly what she needed to hear.

By the time Zayn reached the road
where they’d stopped the van, the pack had killed two of the other pack
members. She watched Zayn meet the red glowing eyes of Keith. The chilling
smile, like he’d orchestrated the whole diversion, made Cora shiver. She knew
he was trying to get a rise out of Zayn.

Keith whistled an ear splitting
sound. The remaining men jumped back from their fighting and limped or ran back
to the van.

Before any of them could stop the
other pack from leaving, they filed inside the beat up vehicle and left,
leaving no doubt they’d not seen the last of them.

Niall, Torq, and Bronx still
stood, although they had all sustained severe wounds. Against the odds, Cora
was happy they were walking away, only she felt like they’d played into the
other man’s hand.

“Where’s Paul?” Torq asked, after
he shifted to his human form.

Zayn shifted too, wrapping his
hands around Cora. “Paul was working with them. Did you notice he had a yellow
tinge to his eyes?”

When they all shook their heads,
he explained his theory on the drugs and what Cora had told them about Shane
and Bart. She was glad she didn’t have to tell them herself.

“Fuck,” Bronx growled.

“So what do we do? Call a meeting
and check everyone’s eyes out? A shifter is dangerous period, but a shifter on
drugs? Man, they could expose us to humans. We’d be hunted down and, at best,
killed, or worse, made into science experiments.” Torq ran his hands through
his hair.

“Let’s shift. I’m calling a
meeting with the elders and the rest of the council. Obviously there’s a lot
more going on here than just a little pack rivalry.” Niall’s words calmed the
aggression they all were feeling.

Chapter Six

After Keith realized he was
outnumbered, instead of staying and fighting, he left his fallen, called his
wounded, and fled the scene. Even the thought of that eerie howl sent shivers
down her spine hours later. To make matters worse, Zayn deposited Cora in his
home and then left for some meeting she couldn’t attend.

Life wasn’t fair. Cora was coming
to recognize this reality. First she tried to save a young wolf, who just
happened to be a shifter, who then bit her. Then she gets the worst flu of her
life, only it wasn’t the flu. Oh no, Cora couldn’t do anything normal. Nope,
she finds herself surrounded by a bunch of hot well-built men, who all turn out
to be, of all things, werewolves. They ‘insist’ she go stay with one of them.
At this point, surely there should’ve been some creepy music playing somewhere.
Now, one of those hunky shifter guys claims he’s her mate.

As far as men went—or mates—Cora
couldn’t have picked a more perfect specimen. Zayn would tick off every box on
her dream man chart, except the getting hairy part. Even in her wildest dreams
she didn’t think they were real. She couldn’t utter the words in her mind, let
alone comprehend the fact that she was supposedly one too.

“What are you thinking so hard
about?” Zayn slipped his arms around her waist.

Cora knew when Zayn had entered
the house, kinda like her
spidey sense
kicking in.

“You don’t have
spidey sense,”
Zayn chuckled.

“Get out of my mind.” Cora jabbed
her elbow into Zayn’s stomach.

The sound of his grunt made her
giggle. His fingers dancing up her sides had her squirming to get away. Even
with her added strength, she couldn’t break free from his questing fingers.
When those fingers went from playful to downright skillful between her thighs,
all thoughts of giggling flew out the window. As he wiggled them against her
panty covered sex while they both stood looking out at the backyard, she
realized he definitely ticked every box and even some she didn’t know she had.

“S-sex doesn’t s-solve
everything,” Cora stammered.

“I need you, mate.” Zayn and his
talented tongue traced whirls around her ear.

She had to admit the man was
talented on so many levels. “I need some explanations,
mate.”
Although her body screamed a protest, she stepped out of his
embrace. His palm sliding out of her panties left a wet trail up her abdomen,
which she was sure he did intentionally.

She turned her back to the counter
and hopped up with very little effort. Score one for the extra werewolf
strength. Still keeping her eye on the predator that was her mate, she picked
up an apple from the bowl and leveled him with a glare. She was good at the
waiting game. Eyes still locked with his, she took a bite of the fruit chewing
slowly before swallowing.

And repeat. Cora was almost
finished with her snack, and Zayn still stared her down without answering.

“Fine.
What do you want to know?” Annoyance laced his tone.

“First off,” she held up her index
finger, “I need to know how to shift, just in case something like that ever
happens again.”

“Nothing like that will ever
happen again,” he growled.

She held up her hand. “You can’t
guarantee that. Keith is still out there, for one.” She held up another finger.
“I need to know how to protect my mind.” She tapped her head, realizing she
still held the apple core in her hand which she tossed into the bin with
accuracy.

Zayn grabbed her palm, licked her
fingers and then her hand, all the way up her wrist, making her shiver with
need. God, the man really was extremely talented.

“I think you’ve gotten all the
juice,” she whispered.

“Oh, baby. You’ve got so much more
juice I want to lap up.”

“Aren’t cats the ones who lap up?”

Zayn covered her mouth with his
hand. “Don’t ever compare us to them damn cat shifters.” He shuddered dramatically.

“Are you saying there are cat
shifters?” Cora knew her eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of her
head, but she was just getting used to werewolves. Now, cat shifters too?

He waved his hand in the air.
“Cora, there are many different shifters. Most stay away from those that are
not of their kind. There are, however, special circumstances.
As for how to shift?
Remember, I told you to picture
yourself as a wolf?”

She nodded. “Right, but how do I
know what I would look like as a wolf? I mean for you, it’s easy because you
know what you look like. How do I know what I’d look like?”

Zayn raked his hand through his
hair, making Cora almost feel sorry for him.
Almost.

“Let’s start with something easy.
Picture building walls up around your mind, like a fortress of
sorts.”

Cora thought of Cinderella’s
castle and used bricks similar to build her walls. She blocked the sound of
Zayn’s chuckle, made sure no light could seep between the bricks as she
meticulously placed them all around her mind. By the time she felt her thoughts
were secure, she opened her eyes. Time had no sense of passage while she
worked. To her it had only been minutes, but when she looked at the clock, it
was over an hour later, and she no longer sat on the counter.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,”
Zayn growled, his hands shaking.

“How the hell did I get on the
couch?” Cora touched her head. “Did it work?”

“Did it work? Are you fucking
kidding me?” Zayn jumped up and began to pace.

Cora swung her legs over the side.
“Zayn, please calm down. Your eyes are going all wolfey like, and you’re
scaring me. Come. Sit.” She patted the place beside her.

He turned, electric blue eyes
flashing. “Come? Sit? Little girl, I am not a dog you teach to do tricks.”

“Oh I don’t know. I think you know
all kinds of cool tricks.” She winked.

He stalked towards her. “Now you
want to talk all sexual? Baby, you are playing with fire.”

“If you answer my questions, I’ll
reward you.”

“Fine,” he sighed.

He was so cute she leaned forward
and kissed him, just a light brush of her lips over his. She blinked up at him
when he just sat there. “I’m waiting.”

“I thought you were kissing me.”
He tried to deepen the kiss.

Cora pulled back. “Let’s do this
like a game. Do you like games?” She sucked his top lip into her mouth.

Dressed in a pair of borrowed
sweats that had belonged to Niall’s mate and one of Zayn’s T-shirts, Cora
smiled.

His eyes narrowed. “Why am I a
little scared?”

“Is the big bad wolf scared of
little ole me?” Cora leaned back into the soft cushions with one knee bent, the
other with her foot planted on the floor. “For every answer you give me, I’ll
take off a piece of clothing. Once I’m down to the skin, you can have your
wicked way with me.”

For Cora it really was a win-win
situation.

Zayn moved closer so their knees
were touching. “Think of something, anything.”

Keeping the image of her imaginary
wall firmly in place, she kept her naughtiest thoughts behind it. However, the
things she pictured made her nipples hard and had a flush covering her pale
skin.

“Damn it, that’s not fair. You’re
thinking of sex. You can’t think of sex,” he growled.

She slapped his thigh. “You could
read my thoughts still?”

“No, your body told on you. I
couldn’t read or see a thing. Now off with something.” Zayn waggled his eyebrows.

Cora looked down at her bare feet,
chewed on her bottom lip, and then decided to take the oversized top off. She
still had her bra on, much to Zayn’s dismay. The borrowed T-shirt dropped
between them soundlessly. She watched Zayn look at the white T, then her chest,
and back again. He bared his teeth in a grimace, and then knocked it off their
legs.

“No fair. Girls wear too many
clothes.” His eyes however gleamed with appreciation.

She took a breath. “How will I
know how to picture my wolf?” That was a question that really bothered her.

“While you were
out, I texted my mom.
She says for you to picture a smaller version of a
dark brown wolf. Your wolf is inside you and will know what it needs to look
like. However, she…ah…she said the first time for a turned werewolf isn’t the
same as for us born.”

She waited, and when it didn’t
seem like he was going to go on, she waved her hands.
“And?”

Zayn raised an eyebrow. “I
answered a question. I’m waiting for my reward.” He sat back and crossed his
arms.

Oh, he was so going to pay. She
reached behind her, pretended she couldn’t quite get the catch of her bra to
come undone. “Can you help me?” As she turned to give him her back, she
accidentally brushed the bulge straining the front of his sweats with her palm
and pretended not to notice his swift intake of breath.

* * * *

Zayn loved the way his mate wanted
to play with him. Wolves as a whole were a playful lot, unless their families
were attacked. He shook off the fear and anger, not letting anything
intrude
upon the game Cora had begun. After he unhooked the
bra, he helped her remove the article of clothing, tossing it behind him,
accidentally brushing her nipples.

Cora rolled her eyes and shook her
head like he was a petulant child. “So what did she say was the difference?”

“She said because you are already
a full grown adult you shouldn’t trip over your paws. Our young tend to stumble
just like toddlers do when they first learn to walk.”

He watched her mouth drop open,
and then her small body launched forward, knocking him on his back. Zayn caught
her arms to her side. Her laughing and calling him names amused him like
nothing ever had.

Yes, he’d played with his brother
and Jett when they were cubs, and he loved playing with the kids of the pack.
But wrestling with a half-naked Cora was on a different level completely. He’d
had lots of sex, more than he cared to admit. Not that he was ever callous or
didn’t make the women feel important, but they hadn’t been his mate. The bond
between him and Cora was like a living breathing thing he never wanted to do
without.

“You cheated. Now you have to take
something off.” Cora rested with her elbows on his chest, staring at him in
earnest.

“Since you seem to be making up
these rules, is there a certain item I need to take off or is it my choice.”

She tapped her finger on her chin.
“I say a shirt for a shirt.”

As she went to get up, he held her
down with one hand on her lower back. It took some maneuvering, but he was able
to get his own shirt up and off in no time.

“Now what?”
Zayn asked enjoying the feel of Cora’s breasts against his chest.

“You said you weren’t sure if I’d
have to get naked to shift. How will we know if I don’t try with my clothes
on?”

Zayn thought for a moment, and
even though he hated to lose Cora on top of him, he knew this was important to
her. He tapped her ass. “Hop up, luv.”

Rising to her feet, she ran her
palms down her thighs.
“Now what?”

“Let’s have you try it with just a
pair of panties on. That way if they don’t magically shift when you do, then they’ll
easily rip off without doing any damage to your body. When you shift back, we
will know if they come back with you.”

Cora threw up her hands. “You make
it sound so easy.” She turned away from him.

“It is that easy.” He reached his
hand out to turn her back to face him. “Calm down. You need to center
yourself.” Zayn slipped his hands under the waistband of the borrowed sweats.
He helped her pull them down and put them over the arm of the couch. Had he
been a dog, he was sure his tongue would’ve been hanging out over the sheer
panties she had on.

Letting out a nervous sigh, Cora
stepped back. Her eyes closed.

Zayn held his breath. Time stood
still while he waited to see what her wolf would look like, what his mate would
look like as a wolf. He took a step forward, wanting to help, but knowing
nobody but Cora could do this for her.

A gasp was followed by a shimmer
of light, almost too quick for the human eye to see, and then there stood the
most beautiful she-wolf Zayn had ever seen. Her coat matched Cora’s dark brown
hair, with tips of red he couldn’t wait to see in the sunshine or moonlight.
When he told her his mom said she shouldn’t have issues walking due to her
paws, he hoped it was true.

Zayn squatted down, held his hand
out in a gesture for her to come to him. With her walls built up, he couldn’t
reach her through their bond.

“Cora, honey.
I know you don’t want me reading your thoughts, and as your mate I will respect
your privacy, but in your shifted form, the only way we can speak is through
our bond. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Her wolf body slowly crept
forward.

He feared she wasn’t able to
understand him. Her green eyes studied him, and then those walls came down
stone by stone. Her excitement level was eclipsed by a sliver of fear that she
wouldn’t be able to shift back.

Just picture yourself as human.
Zayn silently prayed her panties
were gone, but then realized that was selfish. He’d just strip them off her as
soon as she shifted. Forcing himself to step back, he gave her room to shift.

The same shimmer as before
happened, only this time where once stood a beautiful brown wolf with red tips,
now stood a gorgeous Cora in a pair of tiny panties.

“I did it. Oh my God, it worked!”
Cora squealed, launching herself into Zayn’s arms. “Whoa!”

Zayn grabbed Cora before she fell.
“Easy does it. It takes a lot of energy to shift, especially for newbies.”