Growl

  Lacey held her breath as her body shook uncontrollably. She looked from Jesse to Cole. They looked so much alike that the only way she could tell them apart was the scar on Jesse’s neck...just like he’d told her.

  The brothers were at a standoff as they stared angrily at each other. Then Cole smiled and looked away. For a second, Lacey thought that he was going to give up and leave but then he raised his hand and one of the wolves jumped on a smaller one and bit into its back. The smaller wolf howled out in pain and changed into a woman before falling to the floor, naked. The other wolves all started to fight again but stopped when one of the wolves lowered his head to the woman and held its mouth open at the back of her neck like he was going to bite her again.

  A lot of growls filled the room, reverberating off the walls. As Lacey watched what was going on, she was quickly able to see a difference in the wolves. They stayed together in two groups. One group was large, with about twenty or so wolves and the other was small with only five wolves. The smaller group was trying desperately to get to the woman lying on the floor but they were being held off by the larger group.

  It wasn’t until Lacey was able to see through the group of wolves to the woman, that she knew who it was. Her red hair splayed across the floor all around her.

  “Tonya!” Lacey screamed.

  Cole looked at Lacey with a cocky smile. “Come with me or she dies.”

  Tonya lifted her head from the floor and Lacey saw the fear on her face and in that moment, her mind went to Cindy. Her eyes started to water. She had already lost one friend, she wasn’t about to lose another.

  Lacey let go of the hold on her powers. The wolves standing over Tonya lifted into the air and flew across the room, slamming into the wall. As they fell to the floor, more took their place over Tonya. Lacey forced them away the same way she did the first ones. All the wolves stopped what they were doing and stared at each other, trying to figure out what was happening. Some growled while others whimpered, like they were afraid.

  “Get out!” Lacey yelled at them.

  At the sound of her voice, Jesse turned around to see Lacey’s body trembling, like she was struggling with an unseen force. The look on her face scared him. She was staring at the wolves, her face hard with concentration, her brows furrowed angrily. He reached for her only to be stopped by his brother.

  Cole grabbed him and tried to push him over the railing. Lacey turned her attention to Cole and threw him backwards down the stairs. He quickly got up and started up the stairs again but she knocked him back down. The wolves resumed their fighting and Lacey took out her anger and fear on them all.

  One by one, she threw them across the room. They hit the wall, fell to the floor, jumped back up and charged toward her again. It was an endless cycle that was draining her of energy. But she didn’t stop. Ignoring the blood that was dripping from her nose, she put more force behind each attack. She sent the wolves crashing into each other as well as into the walls.

  Cole stayed at the bottom of the stairs, watching Lacey. He was in complete awe of her. Everything about her fascinated him. He had never in his life met a woman like her and he wanted her more now than ever.

  Growing weaker with every passing second, Lacey knew that she couldn’t keep up her strength much longer. She needed them to leave. She glared at Cole. “Get out or I will kill you all!” she yelled.

  He didn’t respond. He just stared at her in amazement.

  “Now!” she screamed and forced the doors open with her mind. Some of the wolves ran out while others had to be thrown out.

  Jesse stood a couple feet from Lacey. He had never seen anyone do what she was doing. It didn’t seem possible that she was responsible for the pile of unconscious wolves against the wall. She began to sway on her feet and Jesse reached out to steady her. As soon as he touched her, he was immediately knocked backwards into the wall.

  Lacey looked at him as the blood dripping from her nose became a steady, nonstop flow over her lips and down her chin. Her eyes were red and glassy. She turned away from Jesse and focused on the wolves still in the room.

  She tried to toss them out but her strength was waning fast. They barely moved a few feet. Cole noticed how weak Lacey was getting and took the opportunity to try and get close to her. Before she knew what Cole was doing, he charged up the stairs and knocked Jesse over the rail. He fell twenty feet to the floor.

  Lacey screamed and looked over the rail in horror. Jesse was sprawled out on the floor, completely motionless.

  Cole grabbed Lacey by the arm and tried to pull her down the stairs. She was weak and her vision was getting blurry and her head felt like it was going to explode. She tried to pull away from him but he was too strong. She forced all the strength she had left into one final attack. Cole dropped her arm as he was forced backwards, down the stairs.

  He jumped up and started towards her again but stopped when she screamed out loud and grabbed her head. Lacey screamed so loud that everyone in the warehouse froze and looked at her. She swayed on her feet then slumped down onto the stairs. All the while, screaming as if someone was killing her. She wasn’t used to using her powers so much and over the last couple of days she had used them more than she had in her entire life. And now she was paying the consequences for doing so.

  Cole ordered the last of his pack to leave. He stood in the doorway, unable to take his eyes off of Lacey. He wanted to know what was causing her pain. But Jesse was starting to move on the floor. It was just a matter of time before he was going to be up and ready to fight again.

  Trevor moved toward the door, still in his wolf form and growled at Cole. He looked down at the sandy brown wolf and smirked. “This isn’t over” he said and walked out.

  Jesse’s pack quickly shifted back into their human forms and secured the warehouse so that Cole and his pack couldn’t come back in. Jesse got to his feet and hurried up the stairs to Lacey. The look of pain on her face made his chest ache.

  “Lacey, what’s wrong? Tell me what to do to help you!” he yelled but she didn’t answer him. She just gripped her head harder with her hands and squeezed as tears flowed down her face.

  Jesse scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his room where he laid her down on the bed. He didn’t know what else to do. She was obviously in pain but he didn’t know how to help her. He anxiously paced the floor by the bed, his eyes never left her face as she continued to cry out. Tonya and Scotty ran into the room.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Scotty had to shout over the screams.

  “I don’t know” Jesse yelled back.

  Tonya ran over to the bed and sat down beside Lacey. She tried to calm her down by talking to her and wiping the blood from her nose and mouth.

  “Pills!” Lacey said through gritted teeth. “I need pain pills!”

  Scotty ran into the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet. He came back with a worried look on his face. “We don’t have anything.”

  Jesse ran his hand down his face and stared at Lacey, feeling completely helpless. “My backpack!” she said in a strained voice.

  He grabbed her bag from the dresser and dumped everything out, then picked up the bottle of extra strength pain reliever and opened it. Scotty ran back to the bathroom to get a glass of water.

  Jesse offered Lacey two pills. She shook her head and grabbed the bottle from him. She poured eight pills into her hand and swallowed them before he could stop her. He snatched the bottle away from her. “Damn it Lacey, what are you trying to do? Kill yourself?”

  “Get out!” she yelled as Trevor walked in the room. He looked at Tonya and nodded for her to leave. The chair in the room started shaking as did several other items, including the bed Lacey was lying on.

  Jesse looked at Scotty and Trevor. “We need to take her to the hospital.”

  “I’ll get the jeep ready” Scotty said and ran from the room.

  “No!” Lacey screamed. “The pain will stop soon. Just leave me alone!”


  Jesse reached for her, to pull her up from the bed but before he could touch her, she screamed as another pain hit. Jesse and Trevor were sent flying out of the room. They crashed into the wall outside the door and Lacey used the very last of her strength to shut and lock the door behind them.

  Trevor and Jesse slid down the wall to the floor. Trevor sat up and glared angrily at Jesse. “What the hell have you gotten us into?”

  Jesse ignored him and stared at the bedroom door. He wanted to go back inside with Lacey. He jumped up and reached for the doorknob. Trevor grabbed his arm. “Answer me, Jesse! Who the hell is she? And how did she force us out without even touching us?”

  Jesse shook his head. “I don’t know. All I know is that she is human.”

  “Human my ass. You better find out who and what she is before we all end up dead. Were you paying attention to what she did downstairs? She could probably kill us all if she wanted to” Trevor said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “She’s not going to hurt us!” Jesse yelled.

  “She sure as hell better not” Trevor said before storming off.

  Jesse leaned against his bedroom door as his friends words went through his mind. Trevor had every right to be scared of Lacey. What she was capable of wasn’t normal but Jesse didn’t think for one second that she would do anything to hurt him or his friends. He wasn’t blind to the fact that she didn’t react until she saw Tonya lying on the ground. It was then that she exploded with power. He didn’t know how she did it, but she had saved them all.

  *****

  It seemed like an eternity passed before Lacey finally stopped screaming and the room got silent. Jesse grabbed the door handle and gave it a quick jerk. A locked door was no match for a werewolf’s strength. The door cracked at the frame and he gently pushed it open.

  Silently, he crossed the room to the bed and looked down at Lacey. She was sound asleep and probably would be for a while considering how many pain relievers she had taken. Jesse knelt down by the bed and watched her sleep as emotions he hadn’t felt in a very long time consumed him.

  He had an overwhelming need to keep Lacey safe and to keep her with him. But that was ridiculous. He knew that she couldn’t be with him, no matter how much he might want her. She was human and he was a werewolf and he had made a vow years ago that he would never get involved with a human. It went against everything he believed in. But looking at Lacey now, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to hold her in his arms. And to brush his lips across hers.

  Jesse was completely lost in thought about things he shouldn’t be thinking when someone tapped gently on the wall by the door. He looked up to see Kindal standing in the doorway. “Is she alright?”

  Jesse sat down in the chair by the bed and shrugged. “I don’t know. She was in so much pain.”

  Kindal entered the room and sat down on the bed beside Lacey. She tilted her head to the side to get a good look at her. “She’s very pretty. I see why you like her.”

  “Yes, she is. But I’m not interested in her like that” Jesse lied. “I’m just trying to keep her safe from Cole. God only knows what he plans on doing with her.”

  Kindal raised her brows like she didn’t believe him. “Uh huh...whatever you say. But just so you know, I think she likes you too. I saw it in her eyes when we were all together in the kitchen. The way she looks at you, it’s clear that she likes you.”

  Jesse wished that he didn’t feel anything about what Kindal said, but he did. Hearing that Lacey liked him, made him happy. It made him feel like he had butterflies in his stomach and it made him want her even more. And that made him disappointed in himself. He knew better than to fall for a human. He gave Kindal a hard look. “She’s human Kindal, and I’m not. End of story.”

  Kindal got up and walked over to the door. “She may be human but she’s just as strong if not stronger than us. And after what happened today, she knows our secret and you know the rules. If a human finds out what we are, we have to either change them or kill them. So I’m guessing the part about her being human won’t be an issue much longer. That is unless you’re choosing option number two for her. I think it would be a waste to kill her. We could definitely use another female around here. And if you don’t want her, I’m pretty sure Scotty does.”

  Jesse jumped up from his chair. “No! We are not going to kill her” he whispered roughly and looked at Lacey with sad eyes. “But I won’t change her either. And as for Scotty, he better stay away from her.”

  Kindal started toward Jesse with her hands on her hips. “You have to change her! She saw us shift. And Cole and his pack know that she did. Word is bound to get around that she knows our secret and when it does, we’re going to have a whole lot more than just Cole’s pack beating on our door. You have to face the fact that the life she had before she came here is over. You can either give her a new future and change her or get yourself killed by trying to protect her from our entire species. But leaving her human is not an option.”

  Jesse closed his eyes for a minute before giving Kindal the saddest look that she had ever seen on him. “I’m not my brother. I can’t take away her humanity and turn her into an animal. I know what that does to humans and I won’t do that to her.”

  Kindal’s face softened. She knew that he was talking about his mom. She felt sorry for him and the pain she knew he still carried around with him over her death. But his decision to leave Lacey human was a mistake and she had to make him understand that.

  Lacey moved on the bed and Jesse sat down beside her. Kindal touched his shoulder. “We’ll talk later” she whispered before leaving the room.

  Lacey tossed in her sleep a few more times before finally settling down. Jesse moved back to his chair and tried not to think about what Kindal said, but it was useless. He knew that she was right, but even so, it didn’t change his mind. He was not going to change Lacey and he wasn’t going to let anyone else change her or hurt her in any way.

  *****

  Cole charged through the door of his packs hangout. He was furious at how things went down at Jesse’s. Zack came from behind him, smiling. “Don’t worry about it, Boss. We’ll get the girl. Sooner or later, she has to leave that warehouse and when she does, we’ll get her.”

  Cole growled and grabbed him by the throat and tossed him across the room. “Stop brown-nosing me and stay the hell out of my way. What makes you think that you can address me the way you’ve been doing over the last couple of days? You haven’t earned enough of my respect to have that honor, newbie. And as far as Lacey is concerned, you better not go near her.”

  Zack landed on one of the mattresses in the corner. He jumped up ready to fight back but was quickly put in his place when Kevin stepped in front of him and growled, “don’t even think about it, asshole. You go near Cole and I’ll kill you myself.”

  Zack glared at him with hatred then reluctantly backed down. He flopped down on the mattress and smiled. “I would never go against Cole. He’s our alpha.” He tried his best to keep the disgust from his voice as he spoke.

  Kevin stared at him. He didn’t believe a word that came out of his mouth. He could see through Zack’s false loyalty even if no one else could. It was clear that he didn’t like following rules or being told what to do. He had the attitude of someone hoping to rule his own pack and Kevin was going to make sure that never happened.

  “Kevin” Cole called and nodded to the back room.

  Kevin gave one last look to Zack. “I’ll be keeping my eye on you” he said before following Cole into the other room.

  “I want Lacey! I don’t care how we do it, but we have to get her away from Jesse’s pack” Cole said as he paced the floor.

  Kevin leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and tried to come up with a plan. Slowly, a menacing smile crossed his face. “I think I know how we can get to her.”

  “How?”

  “We’re going to use your brother to our advantage.”

  Cole ra
ised his brows. “And just how do you suggest we do that?”

  Kevin walked across the room as a plan formed in his mind. “She seems to trust Jesse. She already chose him over you. He wasn’t the one that she sent flying across the room.” He chuckled.

  Cole growled and Kevin held his hands up in defense. “Just hear me out, Zack was right about one thing, she has to come out of the warehouse sooner or later. And when she does, we’ll have our chance.”

  Cole wasn’t sure how Jesse fit into whatever plan Kevin was coming up with but he decided to listen to him. Any plan was better than none.

  Chapter Eight

  Cole and Kevin came out of the room with a plan they were sure was infallible. “Get everything ready. We’ll wait a few days before going after her again but next time I want us to be prepared” Cole said.

  Kevin nodded and left to get started on their preparations. He walked past Sasha, who was leaning against the wall outside of one of the other rooms a few doors down. She smirked at him. “Looks like the little human outsmarted you again. Perhaps, I should try my luck with her.”

  Kevin ignored her and kept walking. Cole pointed his finger at her. “I told you, I don’t want you anywhere near her.”

  Sasha smiled and sashayed over to him. She got in his face and before Cole could push her away, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, crushing her mouth to his. She bit down on his bottom lip and he pushed her away.

  Laughing, she said, “I bet that little girl won’t be able to handle you the way I can.”

  Cole wiped the blood from his lip and growled at her. “Don’t piss me off, Sasha. I’m not in the mood for your games. You might be able to take on most of the men in this pack but we both know you won’t win against me. Just do as you’re told and stay out of my business.” He walked off, leaving Sasha staring at his back.

  “I won’t be replaced by a human” she mumbled and stormed off in the opposite direction from Cole. There was no way in hell she was going to let Lacey live and be by Cole’s side. He was hers and she was going to do whatever she had to in order to get him back. And the first thing on her list was to kill the little human he seemed to want so badly.