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

He blanked out for a second, but when he came to consciousness Kaden was running towards his attacker in her Wolf form.

"Kaden—! Don't! He's a fucking tiger!" Axel coughed out, but she kept running, almost invisible in the shadow of the wall with her midnight fur.

She pounced on the Tiger's back, clawing at him and trying to find purchase on his brawny human back.

In response, he snarled savagely and grabbed one of her hind legs, hurling her through the air at a nearby house.

But she was quick on her feet and rebounded off the siding safely.

Sean, his attention diverted from Axel, stalked towards Kaden, a toothy grin plastered on his face, "I knew you wolves would bring nothing but trouble."

Before he reached her, Axel found his footing and flung himself in front of Kaden,"Stay. Away." He growled, sounding more animal than human. And this satisfied him.

Sean scoffed in arrogant cat-like fashion but still stopped a few feet away, turning his gaze on something over his shoulder.

Kaden growled at the newcomer approaching, but the large Were held up his hands in surrender, "Woah, girly. S'alright. There's been a misunderstanding, eh? Got word from Brendon to call off the attack, so put away those kitty claws, Sean."

Sean hissed at him, spinning on heel to order the others to stop fighting, all the while muttering about them blowing the "damn wall" and how he wasn't about to fix it.

Axel ignored Sean and turned his wolf's ice blue eyes on the new threat, a bear. "I'm not leaving without her."

Eli blinked once then turned to Kaden, "Well that's all fine n' dandy, Wolf. I ain't keeping her prisoner. She came of her own accord, Taylor likewise."

Axel just glared.He didn't care the reason, he just wanted her back.

"Now, that I have Sean handled and everyone knows you aren't the enemy-"

Before Eli could finish, Kaden gave a bark, nuzzled his leg in thanks and took off full speed down the road.

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

Kaden's poor wolf legs worked hard to put as much distance as they could between her and Axel.

The emotions she had locked away when she had left Axel's home a few nights ago were leaking into her head little by little until she was overwhelmed by them.

Among them was:Anger—Anger that Axel thought she was his property to reclaim.Confusion as to why Axel wanted her so badlyLoneliness, from Axel's absence.

Sadness at the thought of being separated from Taylor to be with said cause of all listed feelings.

And fear, as to what it could all possibly mean…

She finally couldn't run anymore and shifted back to human form to sit in a dark, empty yard, naked but for Axel's dog tags—which still softly tickled around her neck.

Why the hell was Axel back? This wasn't fair!She was trying to forget that part of her life.

Kaden pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them to rest her head on, "At least I got away."

A chuckle whispered out from the darkness,"You should know better than that."

Of course it was Axel's voice, he was off to her right, but she refused to look up.

He padded silently towards her and pulled her up by an arm, taking his shirt off and putting it over her. After everything was in place Axel then hugged her from behind, one arm wrapping around her waist, while the other snaked up to play with his dog tags still around her neck.

"I'll always find my way back to you, love," He cooed, placing a chaste kiss on Kaden's cheek before she came to her senses and shoved him away.

"Don't touch me." She replied in clipped tones, glaring up at him.

"Kaden, why did you run?"

"I'm not sure I want to talk about it." Kaden looked away, sounding defeated.

"Kaden…"

"Anyways, what the hell are you doing here?" She quickly adopted a hostile tone, sounding more like her old self, "How did you find us?"

Axel gave her a predatory smile, looking at her fingers still playing with his tags,"Answer lies in the palm of your hand sweetheart."

Kaden's face blanched.Taylor was going to seriously kill her this time.

And as if Taylor had been listening in somehow, she felt a odd tug coming through their bond from her friend's end.

Kaden started to walk away, but before she could fully escape the uneasy situation, Axel grabbed her face in between his palms and kissed her, making Kaden's eyes go wide in surprise.It was a powerful and passionate kiss, but she had no time to indulge in meaningless self discovery; she broke the kiss.

Groping for a better excuse but not finding one—she finally opted for a half truth,"Taylor, needs me."

And with that uttered, left the lovesick puppy trailing after her with less answers than he started with…

= Mason's POV =

It had been easy. Too easy, to break the gate.

Either they were very confident in their abilities to defend the place or they assumed their cover was good enough to get them by.

As it was, Axel's team blew through the wall like it was wet tissue paper.

But regardless of how easy it had been, they still raised a quite fuss.

And more importantly, they drew all the attention away from Mason and his team.

Akira vaulted over the wall first, he was a nimble bastard. They chose a spot far from the main gate and it's chaos—audible even from their position.

It was harder to get over the wall, even with their strength, but with Akira perched atop it, pulling them over the last few feet to the edge they couldn't reach—they were almost home free.

As Mason landed, trying to cushion the blow by bending at his knees, his crouch was the perfect concealer for the two large men's eyes, lounging in the backyard.

1900156333He barely had time to study their faces before Daren landed with an audible thud next to him.

The men froze mid-sentence to look in their general direction.While they were hidden from view by some fairly healthy sized hydrangea bushes—It wouldn't hold them for long.

Akira, who was already next to Mason and landed silently, punched Daren on the shoulder.

Bree didn't take her eyes off the men lumbering toward their bushes, which was probably a smart thing to do.

Mason swiveled back around to survey the increasingly alarming situation.

The big question was, did they all blow cover to take down these guys or have just—Bree burst from their purple hydrangea shield.

"Akira, Daren, go!"

Mason made the split second decision to have all his man power focus on one goal so they wouldn't get hurt.

He would go on alone.

They obeyed instantly, charging out of the bushes to help Bree, who had attached herself to one of the Were's back and was repeatedly trying to slam the back of his head in.

Watching his pack work for a heartbeat, he reassured himself they were fine on their own.

Creeping around the house and away from the snarls and shouts, Mason looked out at a mundane street.

He had just about made it down the pedestrian block, when an inhuman roar of rage stopped him in his tracks. Turning around he had just enough time to register a large body slamming into his, ripping the air out of his lungs in a violent whoosh.

His bulky attacker tried to wrap his arms around Mason's waist as they fell but Mason twisted from his grasp, rebounded off the asphalt and was on his feet with his fists up, ready for the next attack.

"You!" Mason almost dropped his guard in shock, his attack's scent was unmistakable.

The man got back to his feet just as quickly, impossibly quick for his size,"Me."

"You're going to regret taking her." Mason promised on a growl.

"I never understand you wolves…First, you land into my backyard and beat up my family," the man huffed visibly as rage overtook him, "Second, you go spouting nonsense, accusing me of wrong-doings."

"That's fine, I'll finish this quick. You'll talk." Mason snarled and charged the giant lummox standing between him and his mate's location, unfortunately the man dodged. The giant wasn't as slow as he looked, although Mason shouldn't have been surprised, he could smell he was some kind of Were.

Keeping up his relentless attack so the man wouldn't have the chance to change into his WereAnimal was risky because that meant he had to attack and stay at a close distance, ready to take the kill shot at the first sign of change.

He dodged a swipe that would have slammed him back against the nearest house.

Deciding he needed to move the fight out of the middle of the street, he backed into the shadow of a blue townhouse.

Mason had reservations about fighting with a wall at his back, preferring space to maneuver if necessary but if it was between being overwhelmed with an enemy circling around his back or being pinned in, he would take the wall.

He wanted to die seeing his enemy coming.

He desperately wished he was in his Wolf form, to have ears that could swivel around to take in what his eyes couldn't afford to. If Axel and his men were facing Were remotely like the ones Mason and his pack were encountering then the battle couldn't be going well for them either. It didn't matter how well their fighters were, they were badly outnumbered and facing opponents whose fighting style and abilities were foreign to them.

The man took a break from swinging at Mason's head to brush his unruly brown locks out of his face and glowered at Mason like one would an annoying bug.

Mason's fatigue was starting to show in his movements, the small break not helping him recover energy, and it wasn't long until the Were clipped his shoulder, the force of such a glancing blow still managing to make his body spin violently out of control.

"Oh, shit."

Mason rose his dazed head from the ground at the familiar sound.He growled, not believing his eyes.

There she stood, his mate, perfectly fine—and eating a large sugar cookie.

The Were had yet to acknowledge Taylor, who stood mere feet behind him, pulling back a fist that would easily be Mason's finishing blow; Taylor jumped into action, dropping her sugary confection.

"No, Brendon!" She slipped a hand around the Were's arm, halting his punch.

Mason growled at her familiarity.The rage inside him so great, it triggered his Change.

The Were affectively ignored him and studied Taylor for a full minute, the rage that had been directed at Mason still his eyes. Mason tried to make his Wolf body rise in preparation; he would protect her till the end, but he wasn't even half way through his change yet.

The man tossed one more look in Mason's direction before he looked back at Taylor—and smiled.

He straightened his large body out of a crouch and ruffled Taylor's hair,"Ah, you know this wolf.  He on the good side then?"

Taylor broke into a soft smile, a smile that should be reserved just for him,"Yes. The good side, Bren."

"Did you know this fool accused me of hurtin' a female, a female I'm now assuming is you?" the Were named Brendon asked her, "My mama raised gentlemen, he's lucky I