“I can’t really discuss that. Please be care-” And then she’s off the phone, the phone call goes dead.

  “Tayla! Please!”

  I’m instantly on high alert, looking around the outside trying to figure out who could possibly be looking at me. Is someone watching me? What is happening?

  I hear a dog growl in the background and my heart races. “Bowser!” I call after him, hoping it’s him. “Baby, come back!” I cry.

  All around me is silence. There isn’t anyone around or any noise. Everything is radio silence. Which scares me more than anything else.

  “You must be the wonderful Taylor,” a man says sweetly to me.

  “Uh, hi?” I spin my body to look at him.

  The man looks like a character out of a horror movie. His eyes are glowing in the dusk, with his skin looking tan. He looks like a movie star with a little too much make up.

  “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Do I know you?” My body is telling me to turn around and go back into the safety of the club house. I shouldn’t have left the club house unattended just because I wanted to check on my dog. I feel like a complete idiot.

  “Do you want to see Tayla again? Alive?”

  “Yes!” I blurt without any hesitation. I need my twin sister back. Now.

  “Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for her? Are you willing to give yourself over to them in order to save your sister?” The demonic man asks the million-dollar questions.

  If I have the chance to save my sister, I’m going to do whatever I have to do to save her. I can’t live without her. She is a part of me, and I need her to live. I need her to be safe. “Yes,” I answer.

  “Then, let’s go. I’ll take you to her and we will set her free.”

  With one last look, I look back at the club house. No one has bothered to come looking for me. I should have known I wouldn’t mean that much to Caine. All that matters is Tayla.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Caine

  The triplets take us to a large two-story house. In our town, the house would have been considered a fucking mansion. It even has a pool. The triplets aren’t coughing up any information about whose house it was. They would just look back and forth at one another anytime Bleiz or I asked a question about the house of Longhorn. Then one of the three would blurt, ‘We can’t tell you, Prez. We’ll take the punishment, but we can’t tell you.’

  They didn’t need to tell me. The whole house smells like a female wolf. She isn’t in the house or we would have heard her. But there is no denying that a woman lives here.

  All my sensations are on high alert. I’m waiting to see if someone’s going to jump out and jump us or some shit. I didn’t want to think the triplets would set us up, but I don’t like them not telling me the information.

  “Triplets!” I yell in the middle of the foyer.

  They come bounding down towards me with their heads up-right ready for the tongue lashing they are about to receive. Little do they realize; they are about to get a hell of a lot more.

  “You didn’t follow my direct orders on telling me where you’ve been since you left our club house. Whose house is this?”

  Their heads tuck down into their chests. “Uh,” one of them mutters. “We can’t tell you. We promised.”

  I shake my head. I form a fist and aim it at the first triplet. I punch him directly in the stomach for denying my direct order. And then I move on to the next. Then the last one. They are curled around their mid-sections cussing about getting punched.

  “Does anyone else have information they are keepin’ from me?” I shout to the brothers in front of me. “Does anyone else know anything?”

  Everyone is silent in hopes of me not turning my anger onto them. Even in my human form, my punch is still strong.

  No one says a word. “That’s what I thought.”

  I knew I wasn’t going to get much sleep, so I gave up the beds to the others and took up one of the couches. Bleiz took up the other couch. His face is covered in worry. If he lost Tayla, he’d lose himself.

  The man denied loving her anymore. We both had spent the past years getting over the twins. No matter what we said or did, reality was, they were our mates.

  “We’ll get her back, brother,” I say sitting up on the couch.

  “And if we don’t?” He whispers looking at me.

  “We will,” I said firmly. Truth is, I’m praying like hell to the gods that we get her back. King is a fucked-up son of a bitch. He might not plan on doing anything to Tayla now but down the road he will. It’s in his nature.

  Tayla and Taylor aren’t one of us. In King’s eyes, they are just two outsiders, who have stumbled into our lifestyle. Our culture. King believes in keeping our wolf bloodline pure. That’s how I know he’ll eventually hurt Tayla.

  “Why the fuck did Taylor have to show up to have you be her damn knight in shining armor?” He grumbles. “I was just fine thinking Tayla was living the dream in that big city.”

  “I know what you mean,” I sigh. “Once we get her, you better not fucking let go of her,” I order.

  “Why the fuck would I want her back? She fucking left my ass. Don’t you fu--” His words cut off as soon as my teeth are showing, and I snarl.

  “I wasn’t asking. I’m giving you an order as the president. As the Alpha. As your brother. Don’t let her walk away this time. Even if you have to lock her in the fucking clubhouse like I did with Taylor.”

  “Like she’s going to follow orders,” he chuckles.

  “She knows the consequences, if she leaves.” I can’t help the cocky smirk I beam with.

  Taylor’s pretty little ass will be mine either way. If she runs, I will hunt her down, spank her ass until she comes, then take her home to fuck her senseless and remind her who she belongs to.

  My dick hardens just picturing her creamy-colored ass. She’s fucking perfect.

  “I don’t think she’ll see that as much of a consequence,” Bleiz laughs and leans his head on the back of the couch. “Fuck. When did life get so fucking complicated?”

  “It ain’t complicated forever. Just--” The sudden pain in my chest makes me bellow over grasping at my shirt. My heart is racing. The wolf in me is howling in pain. The pain is worsening. I haven’t felt a pain like except when Taylor left town.

  “You alright?” Bleiz asks. He’s already standing in front of me. The guys are flooding from every inch of the house over to me.

  “What’s up with Prez?” Randy questions groggily.

  “I don’t know. One minute he’s talking. The next minute--” Bleiz stops talking when his phone rings. No one ever calls his phone unless it’s an emergency-- Taylor.

  “Answer,” I gasp looking up at him. They’re all looking down at me with concerned looks. “Answer the fucking phone.” The last of my words are a forced growl.

  Bleiz answers his phone.

  “This better be good, Chucky,” he says keeping his eyes on me. “What the fuck did you just say?” Bleiz’s eyes are shifting. Glowing yellow. Pitch-black. His beast has arrived. I can’t even fucking stop him if I wanted to.

  My body feels like someone it is being shredded from the inside out. Sweat is dripping down my face and I can’t shake the feeling of death.

  “Get your fucking asses to Texas now!” Bleiz hangs up the phone. “Triplets, outside now!”

  Bleiz and the triplets go outside.

  Did that mother fucker just walk off and not tell me what the fuck is going on? I’m the fucking president. I’m the fucking Alpha. Instead of punching Bleiz in the stomach, I’m gonna fuck him up old school. He’s gonna wish he got punched in the gut when I’m done with him.

  My chest tightens more. I didn’t think it was fucking possible. I’m already wheezing.

  My wolf lets out a ferocious howl and the pain leaves me. It leaves as though it was never there.

  “Fuck,” I take a deep breath then a few more. “What the fuck was that?”

  “Not sure, Prez. Want me to call Doc?” Lycon asks somewhere in the crowd of brothers surrounding me.

  “No. I want someone to bring Bleiz’s ass in here.”

  No one moves a muscle. They look back and forth between each other. Each one shaking their head. Finally, all eyes land on Preston, the youngest prospect. He looks scared shitless.

  “Spit it out, boy!” I growl.

  “They shifted and left, Prez,” Preston mumbles with his eyes looking everywhere but me.

  “What do you mean they left?”

  They all take a few steps back from me. Their stances have shifted into defense stances. Whatever they are about to tell me is going to make me lose my fucking mind and go after all of them.

  “Would you rather be outside and say it?” I ask as nicely as I can. The venom in my question isn’t hidden though.

  “The walls won’t protect nobody, Prez,” Preston chuckles nervously. “Your girl disappeared from the club house!” Most of the guys including Preston take off out of the house.

  My claws are digging into the couch. The material is shredding. The world around me is now red.

  “What the fuck did he just say?” I ask those who remain. The ones who are loyal to the rules.

  “The guys can’t find your girl. The clubhouse parking lot reeks of other wolves. King’s boys. Bleiz went with the triplets to track her down to see if they pick up her scent near the border,” Jimmy states. “I’m ready to rip some fucking heads off when you are, Prez.”

  “Good. Let’s go rip some fucking heads off.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Taylor

  The guy leads me out the gate. Caine’s guys standing guard are on the ground bleeding.

  Their bodies are so disfigured, I couldn’t tell you who they were even if I knew their names. Their faces look like they have scratch marks over every inch of it. Skin is flayed off their faces in a sickening way. Their bodies are tossed to the side as if someone threw them over there and their clothes are even shredded.

  What the actual fuck? Was there an animal attack that I didn’t hear from inside the club house? How did the brothers inside not hear the commotion outside? There is no way no one couldn’t have heard this happening.

  “What the--” I whisper. A slap to the face silences me. My cheek stings from where I was struck. Tears fill my eyes.

  “You don’t talk unless we tell you to talk. Got it?” The man snaps at me. I don’t reply just nod. “Good, girl.” His upper lip curls into a grin.

  Ugly bastard.

  He takes me to the tree line across from the club house. We are greeted with a group of men. Each of them are wearing the patch I saw at the dance studio. Each of them are looking at me like I’m their prey.

  I take a deep breath and remind myself that I am willing to do anything to get Tayla free.

  “She rides with me,” the original man tells the others. They nod then the unexpected happens.

  What the actual fuck? I don’t understand how this happens. How this could even happen.

  The men, who are standing in front of me are no longer standing there. Now, giant wolves are. I can’t take my eyes off them. They are the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen. They are the size of bears except they are wolves.

  This kind of stuff doesn’t happen in real life. I don’t understand where the men went and why there is now huge wolves in their places.

  Did they actually shift into wolves? That’s a thing? Since when is this real life? Since when did my life become a bad romance movie with very little romance?

  My mind swirls and twirls with ideas and possibilities as to why this could happen. I don’t even know the first thing to think as I stare at these beautiful beasts. The wolves are amazing and beautiful. How is this possible?

  I should be running for dear life. But I’m not. Fear and fascination have me frozen in place.

  “When I shift, get on my back and hold on. If you fall off, I’m gonna bite one of your arms off or something. Got it,” the guy tells me. His finger is waving in my face. I nod. “And don’t you fucking pet me either. I ain’t no fucking dog.”

  If I hadn’t been scared out of my wits, I probably would have laughed at that. Bowser was a dog. These guys definitely weren’t dogs.

  The man in front of me shifts- as he called it. He is now covered in gray and white fur. It looks so soft. I begin to raise my hand to pet him without thought. He snaps at me displaying his sharp teeth.

  “I… I was just... stretching my arm out. That’s all,” I stammer.

  He growls then lays on the ground. He was serious about me holding on to him? Of course, he was. Why would I expect anything else with the way my fucking life is going?

  Slowly, I climb onto the massive beast. His fur is soft and tickles my nose. He’s much bigger than me; it’s hard to straddle him but I do the best I can. With both hands, I take a handful of his fur and grasp it tightly.

  There’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to hold on to this for longer than a second. It’s too soft. I don’t want him to beat me senseless or eat my leg off. With a silent prayer, I pray for the strength to hold on to him.

  Howl!

  The group of wolves howl in unison. My heart skips a beat. The man… uh… wolf... takes off like a bat out of hell nearly knocking me off. I lean forward and wrap my arms around as much of his neck as I can. My eyes squeeze shut, but that doesn’t stop the tears from sliding out and down my face.

  The wind snatches my tears. My hair is blowing behind me as the wolf runs through the woods. I can’t see it, but I can feel the wolf’s gracefulness as he dodges the trees, rocks, and other stuff with grace.

  ***

  I’m not sure how much time went by. My fingers are cramping and weakening. Anytime they’d start to loosen from his fur he growled at me.

  My body aches from the constant jolting, bouncing and sitting for so long. This guy must think I’m macho woman and can handle anything. He’s wrong. I need a break.

  He comes to a sudden halt. My body jolts forward. My hands are still gripping his fur and he lets out a yelp when handfuls of his fur came with me as I tumbled off him.

  My head hit the ground several times until I roll to a stop against a tree.

  “You really are a pain in the ass,” the man shouts at me. He is back in man form and storming over to me. One of the other men, wearing a t-shirt and vest cut, steps in front of him.

  “She isn’t yours to rough up,” the new man states.

  I don’t want to be buddy with these fuckers but knowing a name or two wouldn’t hurt.

  “Stupid bitch,” the original man points his finger at me. “I hope the Prez destroys you and your sister.”

  “What?” I shriek and get to my feet. My legs wobble beneath me. My stomach churns. I’m going to be sick.

  I brace myself against a tree. Everything I had eaten came up.

  “Fucking gross,” a few mutter.

  They can turn to fuckin wolves and I’m the fucking gross ones?

  “Fuck off,” I gasp right before dry heaving.

  “Surely you didn’t think the Prez was going to just let you waltz in and your sister waltz out,” the shit for brain guy says, making the others laugh. “No, sweetheart. Neither one of you are walking away from this. Dead or alive, you’re bait.”

  Bait? Oh, god. Caine.

  The world grows dark as reality sets in. We’re all going to die. The last bit of light I see turns black and I drop to my feet.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Caine

  My clothes have shredded off me as my wolf form takes over. My anger is too sky high to even think about preserving those fuckin’ clothes. All I want is to get my girl back and to get Tayla. I don’t give two fucks about preserving this city.

  We dash through the woods until we smell the familiar stench of another wolf clan. The smell is too much for my nose and my instincts are to rip through the fuckin’ clan until I get my paws and teeth on King.

  That fuckin’ bastard has pissed me off one too many times for him to live.

  “We’re runnin’ into a fuckin’ trap,” Randy states once we are on the borderline of their territory. “This is what they want. They are gonna be on high alert knowin’ what we know. You know that, too.”

  I nod because he’s right. We all know we’re running into a trap that could possibly end the lives of some of my brothers. My main goal is to get the girls out and shred this clan. I want it to be like these fuckers never existed.

 

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