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

at such an erratic pace.

By the time they reached the Electronics, Taylor's arm felt like it was about to come out of it's socket and Mason probably didn't have any soles on the bottom of his shoes.

"You done?" he whispered in her ear provocatively.

"Never. You done being an alpha idiot?", she hissed back.

"Why is it—"

"May I help you two?" a young Wal-Mart clerk asked from behind the kiosk.

"Yes, we'd like to get a Wii. Would you mind getting one out for us?" Taylor turned on the charm.

"S-sure." The teen stammered "It'd be my pleasure."

She flashed a smile, "I appreciate it."

Mason's grip on her arm tightened.

"Ow!"

He didn't apologize as his gold eyes flicked back to hers.

"What?" she managed to growl before the clerk strolled back into their conversation with a large white box containing the Wii.

"Anything else I can do for you?"He was in a rather chipper mood for working the late shift.Mason eyed him with contempt.

"Ah. I need Wii Sports, SS Brawl and any other good games you'd recommend."She went to grab the box but the boy politely refused, set the box behind the counter, muttered something about her not having a cart and he'd carry it for her because it was heavy.

Mason snorted.She could carry five times that boy's own weight, that Wii wouldn't even faze her...although, the boy probably wouldn't really have bothered with the technicalities even if he knew.

"Sure. You like action games?"

"You bet." She grinned.

"I think some Call of Duty or Rainbow Six would be good for you then."His hands flew to his belt to find his key ring and the key that unlocked the glass shelves, eager to look for the best games for her.

= = Mason's Pov = =

He watched Taylor flit about the store in a grumpy manner because he had her arm.Then watched her crabby mood do a 180 as she flirted with the puny electronics boy.

Damn.Was he jealous?Is that what this feeling was?Well, he didn't like it one bit.

Mason had no idea what any of these games were but he took a leap,"Make sure they're two player games. We like to play them together."

He moved his arm, that was clamped to her forearm, and slung it to drape around her waist.He gave the guy a promising stare and the kid snapped to attention.

"Y-yes, of course. Why don't you just go to register six? I'll take all the stuff up there when I'm done."

Mason watched him flee the scene, much like he wanted to do, when he looked down to see Taylor fuming.

"What…was that?" her voice was low and barely contained.

Okay.He was walking on eggshells.

Mason shrugged,"He was flirting with you. I was doing you a favor."

That, apparently, was the wrong answer because her eyes blazed.

"I mean, you don't want to lead the human on." He peddled on.

"I wasn't leading anyone on-"

Oh yeah right.Well, maybe she did it unconsciously?

"I make it very clear who I want and who I don't." she heavily emphasized 'don't' while pinching his arm to let go of her waist.

Mason gave a small growl to go with his frown and pulled her against his chest.

Well, missy.

Mason looked silently into her eyes.

The challenge has been thrown.And the more you resist, the more it strengthens my resolve.

~Taylor's POV~

Taylor squirmed against his chest as he looked directly into her eyes.Too prideful to make the same mistake twice, she stared hard back.It wasn't until he started to smirk down at her that she felt her flight response fighting to take action.This wasn't good.

"Let-let me go." She tried to keep her voice even.

"Never." He copied her previous statement.

"Mason,"It seemed she'd have to reason herself out of this one.

"Hm?" It seemed he was savoring this moment.

"I—You know what? Reasoning has never been my strong suit, unfortunately for you."With that statement said, she jerked her head back and thrust it forward, head butting him square on the chin.

Mason cursed letting her go and grabbing his jaw.

Taylor groaned, "Aw man, you have a hard head…literally."

No one wins with a head butt.

Looking up she saw Mason was starting to recover from the brief pain and was looking for payback.With an undignified squeak, she darted toward the sixth register.And made it…barely.

Taylor stopped so abruptly she felt Mason's chest bump into her back.His hands gripped her shoulders.

"Honey," he drawled out deliberately slow.

Taylor bristled as his mouth leaned closer to her ear.

"We'll talk about this later."

It was said sweet because the older woman who had already rang up their stuff was beaming at them.

"Oh what a cute couple."

"Ma'am, we're not—"

Mason's arms snaked around her front to wrap around her waist, bringing her closer to rest against him.

"Thank you. She's quite the handful though."

Both of them laughed good-naturedly as he paid with a visa.

Taylor mumbled under her breath, suring Mason would hear, "That's like the pot calling the kettle black."

This cut off his laugh as he slid his hands back and grabbed the plastic bags on the counter.

"Thank you." He inclined his head to the woman and stalked out the door.Leaving Taylor no choice but to follow.Although, it was tempting to find a different exit and hitchhike back to Kaden on her own.

There was a light breeze as she stalked after the silent alpha, watching as he loaded the bags in the back of the cab and unlocked the doors.

With a pause and a quick glance over his shoulder, he muttered, "I should make you sit in the back too."

Taylor jerked up her chin,"I'd do that."

Better than riding alone with you.

"Oh. Well, if you prefer it then never mind."He grinned as he climbed in, leaving her to glare at his shut door.

This guy…

She growled as she walked around and flung open her door, tucked her legs in and slammed it in an equally huffy manner.After a few minutes of silence on the back country roads Taylor had to give him a piece of her mind,

"You know your delusional if you think I'm part of your pack."

"I don't think you are."

She didn't have to look, she heard in his voice that he was smiling.She glared out the window,

"Then what's with getting all possessive in there?"

"Oh…That."He paused and seemed to be gathering his thoughts.

Taylor waited for his brilliantly twisted words that would probably not answer her at all—She was unprepared, however, for the blunt answer that he delivered instead,

"You're mine."

She choked back something between a laugh and an indignant gasp.

"You? …Me?", was all she could manage as she shook with silent laughter.

She could feel his power seep into the air as his growl vibrated the very truck.But she didn't have the sense—no, the willpower at the moment to stop.

"You think it's a joke?", he was barely louder than a whisper.

"I-I,"Taylor gulped in air as another fit of giggles ensued.

"I've decided that my mate will—"

"Kaden." Taylor grew still.

"What?" Mason wrinkled his nose "Not Kaden, yo—"

"No," Taylor sat up straighter in her seat "Kaden. She's in trouble!"

"What?"

That's when he heard it.His own wolves call his name.How he couldn't have heard it earlier was beyond him.

"Hurry."She whispered, feeling her bond with Kaden pulse with a spike of pain.

It wasn't a stubbed toe or an oven burn, this was bad.This called out to her, made her skin itch as the wolf in her snarled.

= = Mason's Pov = =

His eyes flicked over at Taylor then back at the road.

He was going 90 as he weaved in and out of trees, still a good ten minutes until he got to the house.He felt a power surge through the air, swirls of shocking cold air flitted though the luke warm pulses in the seat next to him.How she could keep her footing and Change at the same time was beyond him.

His nose took in her earthy, cinnamon scent, telling him she was through the change.

Fast. That was really fast.

Through the pack bond, Mason learned that there was a rival pack they had never interacted with before in their territory.Two of his wolves were injured.The bond was in such a frenzy that it was all he could sort out.

There had to be a large commotion going on to keep Cal from answering him.

He growled and punched the peddle as far down as it would go.Taylor joined in on his growl, making it sound complete—if not ten times as menacing.

The cabin light spilled across the ground through the open front door.

Mason slammed on the breaks and thrust open the truck door.Taylor's swift frame flew across his legs, out his door and into the cabin.

Mason gave a curse and dropped his feet to the ground, running after her beige blur.

Chapter 11: Something Wicked This Way Comes

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

Face down on the wooden floor, Kaden fought hard to keep conscious.The stench of blood was everywhere, grunts and curses flying all over the place, and her right arm hurt like a mother. Flipping herself over onto her back, she tried to see what was going on around her but her eyes wouldn't adjust, everything was still a blur. She finally let her emotions run through the Bond and felt Taylor's emotions flow into her as well. She could feel panic, excitement, and fear, not for Taylor, but for herself.

Kaden was pulled up into a sitting position, the person placed a blade to her throat."One more move and I'll finish you, damned be the orders."

She could finally look around, as a surge of adrenaline rushed through her veins and steadied her. Four strangers were all bruised and battered from fighting, their slumped bodies spread all around her in a semi-circle.There were three unknown men dead on the floor and an additional one in wolf.

Even their side was looking pretty beaten.

Lucas lay unconscious but breathing, back against the opposite wall.

Cal was bound, hand to feet a couple of yards away, his chest bleeding profusely...but then there was Axel.

Axel stood with quite the unusual weapon, a raptor claw, in one hand. He breathed heavily from such an outnumbered fight but still proceeded to glare at her captor.

Kaden wasn't worried. She could smell her now and couldn't help but smile, she was so going to get hell for this.

"Let her go or –" Was all Axel was able to say before another wolf came tearing into the room, past all the Weres and rammed right into her captor. The knife he had at her throat was thrown away from her vulnerable neck, instead stabbing her in the left shoulder blade as he fell back.

An explosive pain shot through her. Kaden's hand shook as she took the knife by the hilt and pulled it out, the pain almost too overwhelming. She leaned against the wall trying to catch her breath. Another fight ensued as Mason came in a heart beat later, taking down the remaining men along with Axel, so quick and efficiently you'd have thought they fought as partners for years. After the rest of the enemies had been defeated, Taylor loped back to where Kaden lay against a wall with her eyes closed.

Taylor gave her a low whine.

"What?" Kaden warily opened one eye, "I didn't think it was going to be this bad okay?"

Kaden thought about it. She shouldn't be so winded, but for the past few months they'd had a rough time on their own. She was not in the best shape, and that was putting it nicely.

Taylor responded