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

"What the—" Was all she had the chance to say before the electricity shot towards her.

Kaden was slammed to the ground, all the air leaving her lungs. She tried getting up, to assess the damage done to her body, but there was none. That's when Kaden realized that the blue glow Gaby had was also around her own body and it felt like being pulled down a rushing stream but oddly, it didn't hurt at all.

Startled, she tried to get back on her feet, but was knocked back down as another pulse of lightning shot out of Gaby's outstretched hands, this one much more powerful.

This new powerful blast, however, overloaded her bond with Taylor, snapping their link like an overstretched rubber band—and left her feeling alone.

Ever since Taylor and Kaden had been together, there was always a reassurance that told them they were never alone. Never. But now that the bond had broken, Kaden felt no whisper of reassurance— Gaby had ruined it. She grew frantic as her attempts to reach Taylor failed.

Nothing.No feelings, no thoughts, just emptiness.

After recovering from the initial shock that their ties had been severed, Kaden could only feel a burning anger.

Whipping out her gun from behind her back, glad she had brought it out tonight after all, she raised the sight level with Gaby's face.

Gaby's laughter rang out, her frustration at failing to kill her with her Witch powers a first time melting away, "So that Native bitch's power saved you the first time, lucky you, but apparently it didn't save your fried brain. A gun?" she chuckled some more, "Mere steel won't harm me."

To her nose, that's what it would smell like, a normal metal hand gun that couldn't even boast silver bullets to poison a Were with, but it wasn't a normal gun. Gaby didn't even think to block and Kaden didn't think about the irony involved in killing Gaby with her own bespelled creation.

Kaden pulled out th egun, and without another word, pulled the trigger.

The bullet shone bright white, spiraling towards Gaby, hitting her square in the forehead. Her body fell to the ground, making a soft thump on the grass, her mouth open in horrified 'o', preparing for a scream that never reached past her lips.

Kaden looked down at the gun, it was warm, and heavy in her hands. She sighed, wiping sweat off her forehead. She was almost about to turn her back on Gaby's body when she was startled by a bright light out of the corner of her eye. A large blue electrical orb emerged from within Gaby and was making its way into the pendant Gaby still wore around her neck.

Kaden looked down at the necklace, wary, before aiming the gun and shooting the pendant into a million pieces.

The orb, now free and apparently not knowing what to do, quickly dashed into the next best host, and apparently, that was supposed to be inside Kaden.

~Taylor's POV~

"No, will not reconsider my actions! I'd lock him out again if I had to." Taylor had cornered Daren into the far end of the couch.

"I'm just saying, you should be flattered," He mumbled, no longer sure that anything he said was safe.

Taylor waved her hands at him in exasperation, "You just don't understand. Ugh, males!"

She felt the couch dip, signaling Kaden's return when Akira walked into the room, finally ready. They all rose as one quirky little pack and filed out the door, matching their steps with the speeded tempo of the music down the lane.

They had barely made it a block and a half before she, being on the end of their traveling line, was plucked into an open shed that rested on a front lawn. Slammed against a lawnmower was not part of her plans that night, she snarled her displeasure into the darkness.

"You can't go to a party without me," Mason's midnight voice soothed.

Taylor squinted to her right, her eyes not adjusting with the setting sun's rays filtering through the shed's open door. She snatched a hand through the air, coming up empty.

A chuckle rang though the air before it sound stilled. Taylor took a step backward to leave when her shoulders ran into a warm back. Arms wrapped around her, she twisted in it's hold, his hold.

"Can't you apologize like a normal person??" Taylor growled, still having trouble seeing his face because he was backlit in the opening of the door.

"Normalcy is overrated," he paused to stroke her cheek, "And I'm not apologizing."

Taylor pushed at his chest to make him leave the confining shadows of the shed, but was shocked at the abrupt yank and fall of their bodies. Sprawled on the lawn, Taylor took a moment to watch Kaden, Daren and Akira's small forms reach the end of the street and the party destination.

Deserting bastards.

"May I accompany you--"

His voice drew her attention to him once more, "No, you may--!" She cut her tirade short at the blazing feralness of his eyes. As a honed reaction, she tried to spring away from him.

His eyes narrowed, forehead crinkling in displeasure, "Do I scare you?"

"Y-you? Nooo," she hoped spouting such blatant lies would placate him enough to persuade him to release her.

"I do," he spoke in wonder, dragging his finger along her jawline and down her throat.

She shivered.

"But it's not really me you're afraid of, is it?" he lowered his mouth to rest at the base of her throat. Taylor didn't respond so he continued on, "It's the wolf beneath…What happened to you?" He spoke breathlessly now, terrifying her.

"Well, you're a hypocrite." He playfully nipped her chin, and rose, carrying them both to their feet.

Shakily, she regained footing, and looking into his golden eyes, refused to say anything.

He grinned a wolfish smile, "I don't know how many times a dominant, pissed, She-Wolf is staring out of those pretty eyes. Besides," he went on, ignoring her shock, dragging her along, "You upset Us."

He was referring to his Wolf now. It was amazing the control he had, his Wolf being that close to the surface, yet his grip on her was so gentle, his tone so lucid.

"Locking me out like that, away from the Pack and you. Then the Wolf that knocked on the door…"

That grabbed her attention, "Nobody knocked."

"Well, he almost knocked…" Mason reluctantly admitted.

"Mason! What did you do?!" Taylor accused, barely aware they had reached the block party.

"He was sniffing around where he wasn't welcome." Mason averted his eyes from Taylor's angry face and focused on some food tables, "He wanted to "show you around". Psh, as if you couldn't navigate your way to a party this loud."

"Augh…" Taylor closed her eyes. So that was what had set him off. Made more sense now.

"Enough about that unfortunate incident, dance with me," Mason insisted with an endearing laugh at odds with his wolfish eyes.

Taylor eyed him with much speculation, resisting his pull a few seconds before finally giving in, "One dance…" she grumbled, her body already aching to bob to the upbeat tune blaring from the mini speakers perched on the surrounding trees.

He grinned in answer, pulling her out to the dark, red-cherry floor mats that made up the dance floor.

It wasn't until the second twirl from Mason that she sensed something was wrong from the bond.

Before she could voice her concern to Mason a blinding, white hot pain tore through her system, making her vision go black.

But her last thought wasn't concern for herself, it was for the friend she could no longer sense.

= Mason's Pov =

As Mason watched his desperation grew.

His mate was no longer writhing in pain—which was probably less terrifying than her stone-cold pose she had adopted now.

She hadn't moved after Mason had made the split decision to move her from the chaos that was once a dance floor, changing forms be damned. His hands still tingled from the nerve frying shock of electricity that passed through his hands the minute he touched her shoulders.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up in a bleak barricaded house with Akira standing over him, telling him that he had passed out after he had tried to pick up Taylor, so Akira brought them somewhere safe until Mason came around.

It seemed during his snooze, Taylor finally had decided on a form, opting for one with fur.

He stroked her side once, hoping for any sign that she could feel him, sense…something.

The battle raged on outside, making Akira and Daren hover outside the house as protectors. Mason could smell the panic of other WereFamilies seeking refuge, huddled in the back rooms.

Mason's eyes shot briefly to a crying WolverineWere pup, currently in his human form, his little brown eyes filled with tears as he clung to his mother's shirt. Mason had made a mental catalogue of all the animals in the room with him. He wasn't about to be caught unawares if some species got edgy and decided to lash out. Everyone was a potential threat right now.

A few lion cubs mingled with other young cats near a sofa, their reflective eyes wide in terror but refusing to breakdown into hysterics. Two foxes curled themselves in the corner, their red orange coats mirroring the color of the fire's glow filtering through the windows from outside.

There were more shots, making a pack, consisting of some hyenas, wild dogs, jackals, dingo, coyotes—and of course, wolves, yip and flinch under the dining room table.

All of the Weres around him were young and very few were accompanied by any parents of their own. But the beauty of the Sanctuary, other mothers, daughters, fathers, stepped up and tried to comfort foreign young.

A young lioness in human form, only sixteen if he had to guess, hissed her displeasure at his probing attention around the room. His wolf rose to the forefront and a growl burst from his lips, making him step between her and Taylor.

Half the Weres in the room jumped, shying away from what they thought would be bloodshed. The lioness backed down with a shiver, almost making him feel guilty.

Daren burst into the room, coated black by being so close to the smoke and ash, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Mason tried to keep his voice even and calm. He rose to his feet and swayed.

Daren was at his side at once steadying him, "Alpha, lie down, please. You're of no good to us in this condition, let alone if you get yourself killed."

He bristled, knocking Daren's hands away.

His condition? He was never in any damn hindering "condition" and he wasn't about to be useless now.

"No. We need to get out of here."

"We can't. We're surrounded, the most we can do is sit tight and kill as they invade."

"Surrounded?" Mason blinked, "By whom?"

"It seems some of the local wolves," Daren sneered the word as if he wasn't in the least bit related to the genus at the moment, "Leaked the girls' location and were waiting until ALL of us were in the same place to eliminate us."

"Us?"

"Basin and Kansas City. Competing packs for the female ownerships, Alpha."

Daren was being careful not to look into his eyes still.

Still, two packs shouldn't have been able to cause such