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

Brendon, although he probably could have knocked Taylor out with one quick cuff of his wrist and gone on to rip Kaden to shreds, he backed up slowly from Taylor with his palms outraised in peace.

Taylor didn't know if they were all like this, but she couldn't help but think--I like bears.

Taylor outstretched her hand to keep Kaden back as she stalked down the snack aisle, "Woah, woah, Kaden, meet our guide to the promise land—Brendon."

Kaden slowed, the danger that was so clear in her mind moments before disappearing, her body sliding from hostile to nonchalant.

"Hello," Brendon tentively stepped forward to offer his hand again.

Kaden ignored his huge appendage and stared, no doubt trying to catalogue his scent.

"He's a bear!" Taylor cheerfully supplied, making Brendon blink in surprise before settling into a low chuckle.

It was then Kaden smiled widely, grasping his hand between two of hers, shaking purposely,"That's pretty cool. It's nice to meet you, Brendon Bear."

"Ma'am? Ma'am??" Taylor and Kaden turned around to see the store keeper standing nervously, waiting for a fight to start, he kept his phone open and ready.

"We're fine, fine." Kaden waved his fears away, "Misunderstanding."

The old man eyed Brendon's large frame once before flicking back to the pair of them, "…if you're sure?"

Taylor nodded and resumed her snack gathering, "Like I was asking, why are you here?"

Brendon grabbed his own pack of honey roasted peanuts—how appropriate, and continued, "I'm a truck driver, I haul all over these neighboring states. You just caught me coming back from hauling a load of lumber to Wichita Falls."

"So you have a big rig and everything?" Kaden had a bag of FunYuns in her arms.

Brendon tipped his head, "Right outside."

"Double cool." Kaden declared, going to the next aisle in search of drinks.

"Okay," Taylor accepted his answer easily, "We'll follow you…will we be allowed to…stay at the Sanctum?"

"As long as you don't start trouble, everyone's welcome at the Sanctum. And if you're impressed with me, wait and see what else lives there."

Taylor mulled that over, her imagination running away from her with thoughts of all kinds of odd Weres and witchery.

"Mind if I ask one thing?"

Taylor tilted her head, "Shoot."

"…You're running away from the bad guys right?"

Taylor gave the curious bear a tight-lipped smile, "Yes, we're running from the bad guys."

He nodded his massive head like that was all the conformation he needed, "Well then, you'll especially fit in with us. We've all been chased at one point or another," he hesitated at the next part before meeting her eyes, "We defend our own."

The last sentence was said with such a low, malevolent growl that it gave Taylor the chills."Thank you…"

Paying for the snacks and drinks they each climbed in their respective vehicles.

Brendon, perched atop his massive silver and white cabin seats of his semi, rolled down his window to call down to them, "Although my trucks empty, I still won't be cruising too fast. Is that a problem? If not I can just give you the address and you can zip ahead of me."

Part of Taylor just wanted to get the address and put further distance between their enemies…and Mason and Axel—who, no doubt, knew they were gone by now.

But she resisted. They needed an introduction, it was better than strolling in unaccompanied. And while it was unwise, she already trusted the bear. He seemed genuine in his motives. There was no way he was wormed into wolf politics that concerned them.

"That's okay." She decided out loud, "We'll just settle in behind you, like your own personal convoy."

He grinned and gave a salute before rolling up his window and starting his huge engine in a large thundering roar.

l Axel's POV l

The sound of banging and shouting put the Alphas into action.

They both sprinted towards the living room, entering in the middle of a brawl.Kendrix and another one of his Pack mates, Rush, were wrestling a foreign Wolf, trying to subdue him.

Axel, feeling the pull of the Pack, immediately fell into his Alpha role, "What's the story?"

Aaron came in through the front door, panting with a swollen lip, "We caught them sniffing around the place. They ran, we pursued."

Axel then walked over to where the foreign Wolf was snarling at Kendrix, pulled back his foot and kicked him in the ribs.

A loud crack, closely followed by a cry of pain, silenced the room.

"FUCK!" howled the Wolf.

"Tie him." Ordered Axel.

Rush complied, grabbing the wolf and putting him into a sitting position as Kendrix went to get restaints.

Axel knelt down and took the Wolf's hair like a reign, pulling his head back and making him look at Axel, "State your business."

"I ain't done nothin' wrong!"

Axel stood up again, towering over the wolf, and marking his dominant status, "Then why did you run?"

The Wolf looked away before answering,"You have something that belongs to us."

That's when Mason interrupted, his own Alpha instincts taking over, "And that would be?"

The Wolf hesitated, "Two girls, we made an exchange for them."

Axel was smiling on the inside at the thought of Kaden and Taylor being called 'girls'.

"What are two packs doin' in one den anyways, what's up with that?"

He asked, bewilderly looking at Axel and then at Mason,"That ain't nothing natural."

Axel scoffed, "That's none of your concern. And we haven't any "girls" here so Kendrix, go ahead and lock him up-"

The wolf laughed, "You can't hide 'em for long. I can smell their sweet unclaimed scents. As soon as we get a hold of 'em, we gonna have our fun."

Mason erupted in a low growl and Axel glared at the Wolf.

Axel had to agree, the thought of his woman in the hands of this wolf made him want to kill him...But Axel reigned his temper in and walked back to the kitchen, searching for his unfinished coffee.

Cries from their recent prisoner were echoing down the hall as Mason walked in. "Should we wake the girls?" Mason picked up his own mug.

Axel shook his head as he found his cup and put it to his lips.

"Well then, what are we going to do?" He asked, seeming frustrated at having to even ask another person's agenda.

Axel downed his coffee before responding.

"Well, I'm gonna go get dressed up."

Mason raised an eyebrow.

"Gotta look nice for the interrogation." He said smiling as he exited the kitchen.

When Axel was almost done with shaving, he heard more hostile noise coming from downstairs.

Thinking that Mason had caved and was now going to kill their only lead, he tried to hurry up and finish.

As he absentmindly applied some aftershave, he searched the counter for his dog tags but they were nowhere to be found.

A little panic struck him as he tried to remember where he'd last placed them.

He left the bathroom, and entered his room. Axel walked to his dresser, but all it had on top of it was his hygiene products.He continued on to check the drawers, messing them up in his panic to find them.

He noticed a few odd things about his drawers, but his mind was too distracted to register anything at that moment and before he could draw any proper conclusions-- a crash came from downstairs.

Hesitantly, he jogged down the stairs to seek out the commotion, but his thoughts stuck on the tags' whereabouts.

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

Kaden's fingers absently brushed the dogtags around her neck.

"Where are we right now?" She asked as she shifted her chair into a sitting position to look over at Taylor as she settled the car behind the Bear's huge truck.

"We're on the outskirts of Killeen, Texas. It's around 150 miles from San Antonio. "

Kaden grunted a response and opened her bag of Funyuns, "So a Bear? Hmm. I didn't really think they existed, though I'm not at all surprised."

"Yeah, the dude's huge. And it's all muscle."

"Yeah, no kidding. Why didn't you wake me up before going in? You gave me a damn heart attack."

"I could say the same thing about that cashier back there." Taylor replied with a chuckle, "Poor guy."

"He'll live."Kaden replied before crunching down on a helpless Funyun.

"Wonder what other types of Weres there are. By the looks of it, Wolves are the most…abundant, to say the least."

"Well, if there are such things as Were-Squirrels or something, they probably got us beat. Yumm, squirrel."

Taylor snorted, "Yeah unlikely. I was thinking maybe Were-Lions. Or Were-Cheetahs."

Kaden shrugged, "No idea, we'll see I suppose. Wonder if we'll blend in."

"Well, our best bet is to behave." Taylor warned with a sideways glance.

Kaden gave Taylor a level look, though her brown eyes were full of amusement.

"Hey, I behave. Just not in a way everyone approves off."

"Yeah, yeah." She replied with an easy smile and a shake of her head.

Kaden, now done with her snack, threw the bag into the car's back seat.

"What do you think Axel and Mace are doing?"

Taken back by the change of subject, Taylor thought for a moment before responding, "Probably searching. Trying to follow our scent, until the trail leads them to an abandoned gas station."

"I just hope they're okay. "

Taylor nodded, "Yeah."

"Hey Tay?"

"Hum?"

Kaden hesitated before building courage and going for it, "While I slept, little pieces of memory returned to me. That or I had very lucid dreams."

"Oh?" Taylor waited for a response, but after Kaden didn't elaborate she egged her on."These memories and or dreams are…?"

"Ehhh, well, it's about my past."

"Yeah, that tells me a lot."

"I'm not really sure how much I can trust them."

"Then tell me what you 'dreamt.' "

"In most of them I was drugged for the most part, but I think I dreamt about my family. And they really liked Ryan, the fucker who turned me. I think they set me up with him. It's so blurry though."  Kaden leaned her head back, a headache well on its way.

"What do you mean? You think your family did this on purpose?"

Kaden heaved a heavy sigh, "From the little clips of memory I have in the time of my turning, I think they got paid for it. I can't be sure, the things being said came in and out of focus. The Change fever can distort things...right? Either way, I'm not seeking them out."

"Yeah." Taylor supplied, "You might have heard wrong. But it's better to leave your family as they are, at least for now."

"I hope so." She replied reaching for the radio dial, drowning the car with music.

= Mason's POV =

He wasn't aware of it at first, but an outraged snarl escaped his mouth mid-sentence,