Pack Gems by Kuro Kusai, WhiteWolf Aura (year 2 reading books .txt) 📕

Taylor landed a fatal blow to the back of Mr. Wolf's head. Much to her dismay- not surprisingly, he only faltered and turned on her with a savage snarl.

Taylor ducked out of the way of his arms as he thrust punch after punch at her. Thank God Kaden and Taylor were as quick as they came. Taylor kicked his side but instead of it landing, he grabbed hold of her calf and flung her against a tree.

There was a cracking noise. One that didn't come from the tree. Kaden's snarls were becoming quieter. She wasn't sure if this was because she was losing consciousness from the sudden flare of pain or if Kaden was in trouble.

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

Kaden heard a deafening crack behind her, glancing out of the corner of her eyes she saw Taylor on the ground. It didn't look like she was going to get up again. What a good actress she was.

Kaden turned back towards her prey as she realized that her initial pounce upon them had only succeeded in making her stray further from her partner. The pack wasn't anything if not smart, they were isolating her.

Shit.

Returning her attention back to the fight, she realized her three attackers formed a semi-circle around her. One male and two females- by the smell of them.

The male gave her a wolfish grin....it was a mocking one. It was his mistake.

Without a second thought, she pounced. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, coming to her aid. Kaden swiped him viciously across the snout. He yowled painfully; giving her time to jump back, ready for the next attack.

The grey she-wolf growled threateningly, no doubt he was her mate.

Refusing to be intimated, she growled back, her lip pulling up to expose her sharp canines.

Too distracted by the grey wolf, she's remembered much too late about the other dark red female wolf.

She attacked Kaden with surprising speed and agility. The she-wolf was ALMOST adequate. But being faster than Red, Kaden dodged her attack-- only to find that it was a trap.

The male jumped her from behind, pinning her while Red attacked from the front, snapping her left paw with her powerful jaws.

The grey she-wolf took advantage and knocked her over. Kaden's painful yowls turned into snarls. Anger clouded her vision as the grey female stood above her. Kaden was belly up, totally exposed.

With a feral snarl Kaden went for her neck, but the grey wolf jumped back just in time.

Kaden flipped herself onto her paws, but Red tackled her. As if by mutual agreement they all jumped in for a piece of her. And damn were they hungry.

Without thinking, she went for the one she hated the most, good ol' Red. Apparently she wasn't expecting it, because Kaden reached her throat and latched on...tightly.

The rest of Red's packmates, desperate to get Kaden off her victim, viciously attacked her.

It hurt like hell, but it didn't faze her.

Deciding Red had had enough, she tried to retreat but the male rammed into her, knocking her to the ground once more.

Kaden looked down her body to find that she'd been bitten so savagely that she could see bone. Wow, that was a lot of blood. She looked up to find the attacking wolf glaring at her and from the looks of it, she'd momentarily blinded him in the left eye. If she could laugh as a wolf she would have, but all that came out was a weird huff.

She then looked past him to the grey female on his right and the very wounded Red on his left, both flanking him.

The leader continued to glare at her as she slowly got up. Pain ripped through her, but she refused to show it. Instead she returned his glare tit for tat.

Kaden knew the look he was giving her would have subdued most anyone.

Lucky her, she wasn't just anyone--or rather any wolf.

Outnumbered, exhausted and hungry she tensed; happy to welcome any one who had the balls to attack her. She braced herself as the male got ready to spring, and by the looks of it, he had nothing to lose.

He started the carnage, and soon the females followed suit.

~Taylor's POV~

Mr. Wolf came at Taylor while she was on the ground. He made mistake number two coming in range, thinking she was down for the count. Ignoring the burning sensation around her middle she kicked out his legs from underneath him. Seeing an opening, Taylor kicked between his legs. Mr. Wolf doubled over with a cry.

Instead of finishing the man off, Taylor blindly whipped around to find Kaden. She was on three legs, immobile. Chunks were taken out of her and crimson coated her coat and most of the ground. The other three wolves, too engrossed in picking off pieces of her friend, didn't see Taylor coming. The light grey one nearest her paid for it dearly.

With a running kick, the she-wolf was sent spiraling across the air, landing in an unmoving heap. The other two turned on Taylor. Forgetting Kaden.

"That's enough." A voice sounded in her ear.

She jumped and aimed an elbow backward but there was a heavy blow to her head that had made her vision go instantly black.

~Taylor's POV~

Taylor awoke with a gasp.

Her entire body shook from the cold sweat that had beaded over her skin while she was out. The smell of dried blood and unfamiliar wolves told her where she was-- if she hadn't figured it out from the chains holding her to the wall.

"Taylor..." a voice croaked, barely audible from across the room.

"Kaden!" she whispered frantically back.

Looking quite tattered and torn, Kaden offered a sly grin back at her, "Well, look at what we've gotten ourselves into."

Taylor's mouth twitched into an amused smile that died quickly at the sight of her friend in chains, pinned on the opposite wall. She too, could feel the heavy shackles that held just enough silver in them to warm her skin uncomfortably but not enough to burn.

Thank God for small favors, she supposed.

Taylor opened her mouth to ask how long she'd been out when another voice interrupted,

"Well, well, look who's finally awake." the voiced cooed, sweet as honey.

Simultaneously, Kaden and Taylor snapped their heads toward the door, letting out an inhuman snarl.

It was Mr. Alpha himself.

He ignored their savage snapping and growling and instead of reacting, he carried on chatting,

"Welcome to Kansas City, ladies."

Taylor felt fire leap through her veins at his nonchalance. She went with her better judgment and reigned in her temper, "Thanks for the heartwarming welcoming party, but we really should be going. If you could just release us from these shackles we'll be on our way."

Okay. So it came out a little sarcastic...

His lips curled back, showing his white human teeth.

Oh. She'd made him mad... Again.

Taylor had to admit, he was good looking, about 6'3 with tan skin pulled over sculpted muscles. His hair was tousled, as if he'd just ran about 4 miles from a restaurant to here, falling around his face and hanging in his eyes.

It was his eyes that pulled Taylor in though. Pure amber-golden eyes that seemed to pull her in-- that, she assumed was because of his rank. Alpha's had a certain power over other lower ranking wolves and although Kaden and Taylor could resist the call, they weren't immune. This was half the reason being around an Alpha made her skin crawl. Despite that with his head tilted and hair obscuring the brunt of his eyes, Taylor could feel his challenging stares at the two of them.

"So, I'll make you a deal." he showed off with another flash of teeth, "I won't call Bran if you don't run off...not that you could get very far anyways."

Okay, now she wanted to kill him. Why hadn't she when she had the chance??? She mentally kicked herself.

"Lucas! Take the darker haired one into the other room. I'll deal with this one." he jerked his chin toward Taylor.

Kaden gave her a sympathetic smile-- Taylor returned a cheeky grin back, "Stay strong on me, Kaden!" she joked, overdramatically.

Kaden was about to reply when her binds that kept her on the wall were undone and she was pulled from the room by Lucas.

While Taylor's attention was elsewhere, Mr. Wolf came up to undo her chains too. Taylor growled at the sudden proximity. He hit her forehead in a taunting manner and she lunged for his hand even with her human teeth.

What made her even more frustrated-- he laughed,

"Oh, you're going to be fun to tease."

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

The new wolf, Lucas, escorted her to the room next door. He closed the door so she could no longer hear Taylor's sharp wording, poking at the Alpha's patience. He grabbed her arm and proceeded to binding her to the very uncomfortable looking chair in the room.

"Damn, if you're gonna grab me like that, you better buy me dinner first." Kaden snapped, "Preferably some rare stakes."

Lucas turned and gave her a level look; he had crew cut dirty blonde hair, and dark brown eyes, his height about two inches shorter than his Alpha.

"Just tell me your name, the pack you belong to and your business here." He was quick to get down to business.

"Seriously?" Kaden asked in bewilderment, "No steaks?"

He threw his arms up in exasperation and leaned in over her, just bare inches away.

"We can do this the easy way...or the hard way." He whispered menacingly.

She just wanted to know where the line was drawn...so she could cross it.

"Is there no semi-easy medium way?" Kaden asked.

He let an angry growl erupt from his throat. The man had no patience. This was going to take a while.