Pack Gems by Kuro Kusai, WhiteWolf Aura (free ereaders TXT) 📖

how bad things looked, she eyed Mason who still hadn't taken his eyes off her—aside from a short death glare for Kaden.

Averting her eyes from his stare, she looked to Kaden…and her shadow.Her smile curved, "Axel, my man, long time no see."

Axel's brilliant green eyes leered back at her venomously.

Kaden stiffed slightly at the new topic before loosening into a relaxed forced posture next to her.

She smelled of Axel, although Taylor would never say so. Hell, she probably smelt like Mason after her ordeal and nothing...well, practically nothing, had happened between them either. She wasn't about to make assumptions.

"Well this is awkward," Kaden spoke through the silence, making Taylor snort a laugh.

"Yeaaah, it was nice of you guys to come all this way to visit but…" She began.

"Put some clothes on, you heathen, I don't want to look at that all day." Axel snapped, ignoring the both of them now.

Seriously?You think if they traveled this far, they'd be a little more attentive—if only for the day.

Mason snarled and with a move Taylor already saw coming, launched himself off the wall he was leaning against to try and get a swipe at Axel.

"Hey!" Taylor stuck out a leg and tripped him before he could get to his goal, "You'd think being together this long would have numbed some of the hostility!"

Flat on his face, Mason growled into the carpet.

But it wasn't really all that threatening with his ass face up, mooning them all.

Hand shooting out, he jerked her ankle forward enough that Taylor lost balance as well and ended up falling on her own butt beside him.

She wanted to growl back, but she could only laugh, "My, someone's grumpy."

"I mean, a fucking bear!" Mason propped himself up on one elbow, looking past her to Axel now.

"And a huge damn tiger!" Axel joined in.

Kaden shot Taylor a confused look, Taylor shrugged.

And like that, their rage was forgotten and in its place were tales about the fight and the Alpha's amazement at how two females could get in such dangerous situations so quickly—no matter how much Taylor and Kaden tried to explain their new friends weren't threats…well, at least the bears…

This type of "conversation" hadn't stopped until Akira and Audrey showed up with a nervous Tessa in tow.

Peeking around the corner cautiously, Tessa searched for Taylor's eyes, catching her attention.

"Tessa, hey—oh! Akira!" She hugged him warmly, finishing with an awkward smile to Audrey, who stood off to the side looking more uncomfortable than Tessa.

"The rest of them are staying at your temp. house, but I came to tell you your request for housing went through and Mindy wanted me to give you your key…"

"Oh, thanks." Taylor looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to hand her a key.

"…But I ended up giving it to your friends…I hope that was okay?" She looked petrified.It made Taylor wonder what had happened to her in the past.

"That's fine. They're pushy wolves, hard to get the word no through their heads." She offered Tessa a smile that she hoped would ease her fears.

"O-okay, but…there's more bad news."

Lovely.

"More?"

"I was told that there were two packs here and you would need another house…but we don't have one open anywhere near the one you rented…"

Taylor was still trying to process the information about packs and their house. A house they hadn't even stepped foot in yet.

"That's fine. Whatever one's available that's big enough for us and my pack,"  Mason spoke from an open room down the hall. Akira had brought him clothes to change into.

"You're staying?" Taylor groaned.

"And with Axel?" Kaden raised a brow.

He stormed out of the room, a simple grey shirt and worn blue jeans on.

"Don't be ridiculous. Kaden's staying with Axel and Taylor is staying with me."

"WHAAT?!" They each echoed, making Tessa flinch.

"We've already discussed and agreed." Axel cut in, "You can't be trusted and your safety is in question now, you don't have the luxury to be picky."

"Noone's going to find us." Taylor protested.

"We did." Mason leveled his gaze.

"Speaking of, how did yo—"

"Okaay! Fine! We'll stay with you, damn, quit with the whining." Kaden interrupted Taylor's question.

Axel shook his head, him and Mason sharing an amused, knowing look.

"What the—"

"Come on, let's go find us a house." Mason grabbed her arm and motioned for Tessa to follow.

Shooting a glare backwards, toward Kaden, she promised silently that she would figure out what that was all about later.

.::. Kaden's POV .::.

"Chain her to a chair."

"Super glue her hands together!"

"Wrap her in a cocoon of duct tape."

Kaden huffed, half amused, half exasperated, "Really? Connor? Duct tape cocoon?"

"At least that's a step up from 'break her kneecaps'." Kendrix pitched in.

Kaden raised an eyebrow, "Who the hell pitched that?"

Connor laughed, "Gaby always did have a morbid sense of humor."

"Whatever, anyways we're been at this for how long? I'm hungry."

"Kaden. They could have killed you! Don't you understand the danger a free-range Tiger could pose? They could kill you in the blink of an eye. He could have taken you away from me in a second..." Axel trailed off.

"First off, I don't belong to anyone. I'm a 23 year old Wolf. I'm able to care for myself. You should have left us alone. Left your pack out of harm's way. We are trouble."

"Why would I leave you alone? I love you."

Kaden's eyes widened but before she could say anything, Gaby interrupted, "She's right. You're putting us all in danger." Gaby added in.

"Piss off," Kaden said looking back at her, irritated "I couldn't care less about you."

Before Gaby could retort, a knock came from the door.Kaden looked on while Kendrix got up and went to answer the door.

To her surprise, Chloe's face peeked around the corner, her hair now a light blue, which Kaden was positive wasn't there before.

"Kaden! Heyyyyy! How are you? Oh. My. Gawd. You look so mad and tired." Chloe exclaimed as she did a brisk walk, navigating around all the other wolves, to sit at Kaden's feet like a lil' cat.

"Wassup kid?" Kaden replied, internally laughing as she noted that Chloe finally noticed the other wolves she had just walked around, she eyed them nervously. The girl wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"Oh yeah the committee wants you guys to come to a party we're having. So everyone can, like, get to know each other or whatever."

Kaden hesitated, looking around at the wolves behind Chloe, most of which were mouthing 'No'.

"Humm, I'm not sure the –" Kaden was cut off as an excited Chloe continued, "Oh c'mon! We even ordered like tons of steak for you. I heard them say they didn't want any casualties caused from hunger. Isn't that weird?"

Kaden laughed, "Kid, you're so naïve. But we've LOVE to come."

Yes, Kaden knew not one Wolf from Axel's pack wanted to go, but that's what they deserved for interrupting her consumption of delicious baked goods.

"Great. You tell Taylor for me, okay? I'm gonna go tell them you said yes, and help fix everything. BYE!" Chloe said as she literally jumped up and parkoured across the house. Talk about a cat stereotype.

"Really. You're really gonna make us socialize with bears." Connor spoke, none too happy.

"Cats too. Lynxes, Lions, and Siberian Tigers," Kaden replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

Axel gave her a droll stare.

"Awww c'mon, Ax! Free food!"

"I could buy you food."

Kaden huffed, grabbing the dog tags around her neck like she'd become accustomed to when stressed.

Axel eyed her for a moment, "So, why did you take them? The dog tags, I mean."

Kaden looked down at Axel's name carved in the tags. "I'm not sure. I just kinda stuffed them in the backpack along with the g—glazed donuts." She finished lamely as she realized the gun was still in the backpack.

Kendrix and Connor eyed her like she was crazy.

"I gotta pee." She said, abruptly standing up and making a beeline for the backpack, which was on the dining room table, "I'll be back."

She debated whether to hide the gun or keep it on her, but paranoia won out and she tucked it into the small of her back, making sure it wouldn't fall out, and then proceeded to hide the backpack on a high shelf in her room.

Going to the restroom and splashing some water on her face she muttered, "Think of something…..think of something… gotta keep 'em outta danger…and away from us."

She sighed in resignation and washed her hands, then opened the door.Gaby stood just outside the bathroom doorway, backpack dangling in one hand.

"I'm watching you mutt."

"If you were smart, " Kaden replied walking around her, "You'd watch your back."

Gaby turned, watching as Kaden rounded the corner, her plans for destruction already brewing.

=Mason's POV=

Mason drug his still flabbergasted mate along behind him, he didn't take it as a good sign that she followed along wordlessly.

After his declaration that she was staying in a house alone with him, he expected yelling—maybe even a couple of swings he'd have to dodge, but nothing.

Nothing had fazed her past his admission.

He could practically hear the gears turn in her head, desperately trying to rationalize it, explain it was false somehow.

It wasn't until he reached one of the few available houses they'd finally found with their fox friend when she spoke, resisting against his hold, "How long are you staying?"

The halted motion almost made Daren run into her, but Akira guided him out of the way by his shoulders in time, steering him past them a few feet for a feinted privacy.

"As long as it takes," Mason tried to look into her light honey eyes but she refused to let that happen.

She stared resolutely forward, taking every detail the house had to offer. He almost thought she wouldn't question him further because she started to walk past the iron-wrought fence into the yard but Taylor spoke, "I won't stay here that long."

"Then neither will I," He meant to make it a light-hearted joke but it ended up sounding much more serious than he intended.

She stiffened and pulled from his grasp and up to the steps with Akira and Daren. He watched her touch Daren's shoulder gently to motion him out of the way of the door.

His growl rang throughout the air unbidden.Mason saw Taylor falter with the key before squaring her shoulders, unlocking the door, ushering Akira and Daren in, and whipping around to issue a low growl of her own.

Mason clenched his jaw shut, conflicted as to what to do when such a vicious growl was coming from his mate, directed at him.

He stood in the grass dumbfounded.

With one last look at him, she turned, stepped into the house and he closed his eyes as he heard the deadbolt slide into place.

~Taylor's POV~

She let a small grin overtake her face as she turned to face Akira and Daren,"Either one of you let him in and I'll personally cut your balls off. Clear?"

They each nodded hesitantly but that wasn't enough for her.

"Are-we-clear?" Taylor punched the entryway table for good measure, hearing the splintering of wood annunciating each word.

"Clear!" Each answered in unison.

"Besides, I'll always be within ear-shot of the door. You won't make it before you even turn the knob."

Taylor knew that a locked door wouldn't keep a determined Alpha out, but she was proving a point and she had to stand up for it.

Mason getting jealous wasn't as disconcerning as the primal growl that erupted from harmlessly touching Daren's arm. She wouldn't avoid contact from men for the rest of her life because Mason didn't like it.

Wolves needed contact to thrive, a casual bump or brush of the shoulder was expected and she was used to that contact now—she needed it.

Her wolf paced restlessly under her skin, at odds with how her human half handled the situation. Taylor always tributed her temper with her wolf, but after this ordeal, with her wolf more mournful that their "mate" was spending the night outside—the fire in her veins was purely a product of human emotions.

Daren and Akira lay on the couches in the living room, the TV turned up unbearably loud, terrified that they'd hear