The Blackpine Pack
1605 Words
The SUV tore through the forest like the devil himself was chasing us.
Maybe he was.
Rain battered the windows, turning the world outside into streaks of black trees and silver moonlight. I kept one hand pressed against
Kael’s shoulder and the other against the bloody bandage around his leg, trying very hard not to think about the fact that I was touching a naked Alpha werewolf in the backseat of a speeding car.
A wounded naked Alpha werewolf.
Who apparently thought I belonged to him.
Perfectly normal night.
“You’re still bleeding,” I said, pressing harder against the wound.
Kael’s jaw flexed, but he didn’t make a sound. “It will heal.”
“Not if you bleed out first.”
“It takes more than a trap to kill me.”
I looked at the blood soaking through my fingers. “That sounds like something men say right before they die from preventable complications.”
The blond man in the passenger seat laughed quietly.
Kael’s eyes moved to him.
The laugh died instantly.
I would have enjoyed that more if I wasn’t currently being kidnapped.
The SUV swerved around a sharp bend, and my body slid against Kael’s. My palm pressed flat against his chest for balance. Heat shot through me so fast that I forgot how to breathe.
His chest was hard beneath my hand. Too warm. Alive in a way that made every nerve in my body suddenly aware of him.
Kael looked down at where I touched him.
So did I.
Then I snatched my hand back.
“Road,” I snapped at the driver, even though he wasn’t the problem.
Kael’s mouth curved faintly. “You’re nervous.”
“I was shot at, kidnapped, and trapped in a car with supernatural men. So yes, shockingly, I’m nervous.”
“You’re safe.”
I laughed once, sharp and humorless. “You keep saying that, but I don’t think you and I define safety the same way.”
His expression darkened. “If I wanted to hurt you, little doctor, I would have done it already.”
“That is not as comforting as you think it is.”
The blond man turned slightly in his seat. “For what it’s worth, he means it in a protective way.”
I stared at him. “That makes it worse.”
“I’m Rhys,” he said, giving me a small grin that looked completely out of place in a car full of blood and panic. “Beta of Blackpine. That’s Dom driving. The silent one beside him is Elias.”
The dark-haired man driving didn’t look back. “She doesn’t need introductions.”
“Yes, she does,” Rhys said. “She’s terrified.”
“I’m not terrified,” I lied.
All three men looked at me.
Even Kael.
I lifted my chin. “I’m angry.”
Kael’s eyes softened for half a second. “You have every right to be.”
That caught me off guard. I expected command. Possession. More of that terrifying mine nonsense.
Not understanding.
The SUV slowed suddenly.
Ahead, the trees opened just enough to reveal a massive iron gate built between two stone pillars. Symbols were carved into the
stone, old and jagged, glowing faintly beneath the rain.
My throat went dry.
“What is this place?”
“Blackpine territory,” Rhys said.
The gate opened on its own.
Of course it did.
We drove through, and the forest changed.
I felt it before I understood it. The air grew heavier, warmer somehow, charged with something invisible that pressed against my skin. Lights appeared between the trees. Then houses. Cabins. A long road curving up toward a large lodge tucked beneath the shadow of the mountains.
People stepped onto porches as we passed.
Not people.
Wolves.
Some looked human enough. Others had eyes that flashed gold or silver in the headlights. A few were shirtless despite the rain, muscles tense, heads lifting as the SUV rolled by.
They could smell us.
Or they could smell him.
Then one woman’s eyes landed on me.
Her face changed.
“Why are they looking at me like that?” I whispered.
Kael didn’t answer fast enough.
I turned to him. “Kael.”
His gaze flicked to mine when I said his name. Something possessive warmed in his eyes.
I immediately regretted it.
“They can smell the bond,” he said.
My stomach tightened. “There is no bond.”
“There is.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
I glared at him. “Very mature.”
“You felt it when you touched me.”
My mouth opened.
Closed.
Because I had.
But that didn’t mean anything. It could have been adrenaline. Fear. Exhaustion. Some weird werewolf pheromone thing. Literally anything else.
“I felt stress,” I said.
His eyes dropped briefly to my lips. “You felt more than stress.”
Heat crawled up my neck. “You are bleeding and still somehow arrogant. That’s impressive.”
Rhys snorted.
The SUV stopped in front of the lodge, and the doors opened before I could ask what happened next. People rushed forward. A woman with silver-streaked dark hair pushed through them, her sharp eyes going straight to Kael’s leg.
“Inside,” she ordered. “Now.”
Finally. Someone sensible.
Kael shifted like he meant to stand on his own again.
I grabbed his arm. “Do not.”
He looked at my hand.
So did everyone else.
The entire front of the lodge went silent.
My stomach dropped. “Why is everyone doing that?”
Rhys cleared his throat. “Because no one touches the Alpha without permission.”
I released him immediately.
Kael caught my wrist before I could move away. His thumb brushed once over my pulse, slow and deliberate.
“She has mine.”
A ripple went through the crowd.
Whispers.
Stares.
The woman with silver-streaked hair narrowed her eyes at me. “Who is she?”
Kael’s grip tightened.
“The doctor who saved my life.”
Her eyes moved over my soaked scrubs, my bloody hands, my shaking fingers. “Human?”
“Yes,” Elias said.
The woman’s expression hardened.
Kael’s voice dropped. “Careful, Mara.”
One word, and the air changed.
Mara lowered her eyes, but not before I saw the warning in them.
She didn’t like me.
Great. Add that to the growing list of problems.
Kael finally allowed Elias and Rhys to help him out of the SUV. He swayed once, and despite everything, I stepped forward on instinct.
His eyes found mine.
“Still worried?” he murmured.
“I’m worried about my legal liability if you die.”
“Liar.”
I hated that he was starting to sound pleased when he said it.
They brought him inside the lodge, and I followed because nobody gave me another option. The interior smelled like cedar, smoke, and rain-damp skin. It was huge, with dark wooden beams, stone floors, and a fire burning in a massive hearth. People moved aside as Kael passed.
Every single one of them watched me.
I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly aware of how human I was. How breakable. How alone.
Mara led us into a room that looked like an old-fashioned infirmary. Shelves lined the walls, filled with jars, herbs, bandages, and medical supplies that looked at least twenty years behind anything I trusted.
I stared. “This is your clinic?”
Mara’s mouth tightened. “It has served us well.”
“You have iodine from before I was born.”
Rhys made a choking sound behind me.
Mara’s eyes narrowed. “And you have opinions.”
“I have standards.”
Kael laughed.
It was low and rough and completely inappropriate considering he was half-dead on the exam table.
Mara looked horrified.
I ignored both of them and moved to the supplies. “I need sterile gloves, sutures, saline, antibiotics, and better lighting.”
Mara didn’t move.
I turned to her. “Do you want him to keep his leg?”
That did it.
Within minutes, I had gloves, light, and enough supplies to work with. Not ideal, but better than nothing.
Kael lay back on the table, watching me with heavy-lidded eyes as I cleaned the wound. The trap had torn deep, but it missed the major artery. Barely.
“You’re lucky,” I said.
“I found you,” he murmured. “So yes.”
My hand paused.
The room went too quiet again.
I focused on the wound. “Don’t flirt while I’m holding a needle.”
“I wasn’t flirting.”
I glanced at him.
His golden eyes burned into mine.
“I was telling the truth.”
My chest tightened in a way I didn’t want to understand.
Before I could respond, a howl rose outside.
Long.
Low.
Full of warning.
Everyone in the room froze.
Rhys moved to the window.
Mara whispered something under her breath.
Kael sat up too fast, tearing a curse from his throat.
I pressed a hand to his chest. “Stop moving.”
His eyes were no longer on me.
They were on the door.
“What is it?” I asked.
Rhys turned from the window, his face suddenly pale.
“Hunters crossed the border.”
My blood went cold.
Then another howl cut through the night.
Closer this time.
Kael’s hand covered mine where it rested against his chest. His skin burned against me, but his voice was colder than the rain outside.
“They came for you.”
- Writer
