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

"Whaaat?" Taylor was mildly curious as to what he was about to propose and that was the only reason she let him man-handle her at this point. Both she and Kaden were almost well enough to be lethal again yet these wolves seemed to keep forgetting that. Mistake for them.

"Now that you're in our pack, you can—"

"Whoa, bud, when did that happen? As far as your pack's concerned, we're still out of your reach." Taylor unconciously put her hands on her hips in a defensive gesture.

He gave her a patronizing smile, "It's cute that you think that."

"Aw, and it's cute that you're so delusional." Taylor lightly pinched his cheek.

Taylor was now mildly aware of the muffled laughing sounds coming from inside the kitchen. She wasn't sure whether it was from Kaden, Axel or any of the other wolves in the kitchen eavesdropping.

Mason seemed to discover he was the star of this new roast taking place outside his kitchen and growled grabbing Taylor's wrist again, "Come on."

"What? No." Taylor dug her heels into the carpet.

Kaden chose this time to bust through the door, "You heard her buddy, take your grimey paws off."

"My knight in shinning armor." Taylor dramatically stretched her free arm outward at Kaden.

Kaden grasped it firmly, "Yes, m'lady. Sorry for the delay, there were a gang of rowdy oreos that had to be put in its place."

"Oh. You better not have eaten all of them." Taylor warned, thinking longingly back to her stack and the glass of milk barely touched.

A pull from her arm brought her back to reality. Mason yanked her towards the door, "Oh for God's sake, I was just going to take her to get your Wii."

"Oh."

Kaden let Taylor's other arm go before a painful tug-of-war ensued, "Well then, get all the good games, Taylor."

"Wait! You're not coming?" Taylor sputtered feeling the dread of being left alone with Mason.

"Yeah, I don't feel like going…I've had a big day." Kaden gave an exaggerated yawn.

"Oh? And I haven't?!" Taylor was being forced out the door now.

"And besides, someone has to look after your oreos. I'll protect them with my life." Kaden gave her a salute.

"Da—" Taylor's insult was obscured by the slamming of the door.

"Let's go." Mason seemed genuinely happy about

Taylor's grim mood.

Bastard.

He led her around the back of the house and to a large separate garage.

He bent to grab the latch and hoisted up the non-automatic garage door with ease.

Inside were two covered cars that immediately piqued Taylor's interest. Naturally, Mason yanked her toward the last uncovered vehicle. It was a simple a simple Ford truck from what she could see."A pickup?"

Taylor was a little disappointed. Her imagination went wild with all kinds of rides Mason might have, from Kawasaki motorcycles to sleek black BMWs, she imagined it all. He was supposed to have a high class yet rugged thing going. Apparently, he didn't get the memo as he got into the cab of the truck.

"Hey, it's a 2009 Toyota Tacoma 4X4, okay? It survives out here in the woods." Mason rolled his eyes at her when she was settled in the passenger seat.

Oh. That made sense. She never thought of an actual vehicle getting through to this cabin. But to be fair, when she had run through here she wasn't exactly noting the rough land while running for her life.

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

Back at the house, Kaden could feel something coming closer. Something was stalking the house, hunting its prey, but she made sure that her fear didn't travel through her bond with Taylor, that woman would get here faster than the attackers would and endanger herself unnecessarily. Most of the Pack was gone now, the only ones left were Axel, Lucas and Calvin, playing an old school Nintendo 64 and who the hell knew where Audrey was. Kaden smeleld them well before she hear the knock.

"What the-" Is all that came out of Cal's mouth before the rival pack tore the door of its hinges and attacked.

How many there were she couldn't say. As she engaged the first wolf to burst through the door, she came to realize they were hesitatant to do any real damage. She could smell the apprehension.

As she thought about what that could mean, another wolf came up behind her and brought an elbow down on hersholder blade.

She cried out in pain and lunged for the new attacker, but before she could do any real damage, Axel was there, stoic, fighting the Werewolf with quick, fluid movements.

"The Boss needs her, dead or alive wasn't specified!" She heard the black Were say, his dreadlocks swinging around wildly as he attempted to fend off a very angry Axel.

The Were was pinned between the floor and Axel's granite form holding a butterfly knife centimeters from his throat.

"Kill…her?" he grunted as he lowered the knife and slit the Weres throat, "How about we just get rid of you?"

That was all Kaden witnessed before someone hit her hard on the back of the head.

She fell to the floor, her vision blurry, she was trying desperatelly to stay concious...

~Taylor's POV~

After a few minutes of silence with Mason's insistence to keep the radio off she had to speak,

"Okay, what's the real reason you're dragging me out here?"

Mason took his eyes off the dirt road briefly to look at her face.

"Well?"

Looking back at the road he spoke, "I need you to pick out the Wii stuff, I don't know anything about any of that."

"Oh come on Grandpa, you do too. Besides, why do it tonight? Every store will be closed."

"Not Wal-Mart. Open 24 hours a day and excuse me for wanting to deliver on my end of the deal as soon as possible." he spoke into the dashboard.

Was he trying not to make eye contact for her sake?

It was possible Mason just hated to owe anyone and that was why they were driving to Wal-Mart for a Wii at ten o'clock…but even that was a stretch.

"Next excuse…unless you wanna just skip this part and tell me the truth."

"I just wanted your company?" he offered hopefully.

Taylor would have been more flustered if he hadn't worded that to not come out as a lie.

The beauty with Werewolves was that they could smell a lie.

Don't ask her how, but it had a sharp, distinct smell that could be covered up by cologne or perfume—But Mason wasn't wearing any. So, that meant he danced around his lies.

Fine. She could play detective.

"How nice, and why would that be? Not for my charming conversation, I'm sure. Maybe you needed to get me alone? I wonder why…hm…" she pretended to give it some thought.

While Mason showed great tact and restraint in not waiting to ask her about her Changing magic, she'd bet he would have by the ride back.

"Why would you think that?" he kept his face composed.

Ah, avoided the question. Sneaky, sneaky.

"So, you didn't want me alone?" Taylor quirked an eyebrow up.

"Of course I did, you grill me in front of my pack, the only time I can talk to you without being undermined is by taking you away from witnesses."

She had to laugh at that one.

He was right but she wasn't about to apologize. He seemed to need to be taken down a few notches.

"That's it?" she was starting to get won over, and she was begrudging to admit it.

"Should there be more?" He gave in to a soft laugh himself.

That wasn't a direct answer either. The only way she'd get the absolute truth was if she asked him outright.

"That was the only agenda you had for bringing me out here? Yes or no." Taylor watched his mind process how to get out of this situation to only come up short.

"…No." Mason admitted.

"Then fess up." Taylor sighed.

"There are a number of other reasons but I'm sure the one you're searching for has to do with your…special ability."

"Yes."

There we go. The truth at last! Man, would she hate to be a lawyer.How would one explain to the judge, he was lying I smelt it?

"I want you in our pack…" he trailed off.

Yes and you want this power yourself.

"And I want you to know you don't have to share your magic if you don't want to."

What?

……

"What?" Taylor voiced her confusion while turning to meet Mason's full gaze.

"What did you expect me to say?" humor danced across his features.

Taylor couldn't help it, she rolled her eyes.

"You broke first."

He was talking about a dominance contest that 'technically' went on between them and she lost.Never look an Alpha in the eyes, they see it as a challenge, she learned that early on.And no matter how anti-authority she was, to survive- especially as rouge, you didn't make eye contact with an Alpha.But it seemed Mason was a special case because she completely forgot about her rule that had kept her alive this far.And the fact that she lost pissed her off to no end.

Taylor whipped back to see he was watching the road, "What?! That didn't count! That wasn't a challenge!"

"Yes, it was. You just backed down from me." He was grinning like a mad man.

"Oh yeah? Then give me an order." Taylor glared.A submissive wolf that 'lost' a challenge would be under the dominant wolf's command.

"Give you an order? Never thought I'd hear those words…"

"Shut up!"

"Okay, I order you to glare at me," he glanced out of the corner of his eye at her "See? There you go. Obeyed."

"Words can't express how much I hate you right now." Taylor gave up talking to him in favor of looking out the window.

~ Taylor's Pov ~

Arguing, as it turned out, made time fly because they had entered the Wal-Mart parking lot.

He parked the truck as close as he could at 10:30 at night, meaning the only closer parking spots had been handicapped—Which Taylor was going to say they could park in thanks to Mason anyway, but she remembered he was still in his 'Oh Mighty Alpha' high and kept silent.

They walked through the automatic doors and Taylor's eyes were assaulted by the bright overhead lights.

"Get a cart."

"No. Get your own cart."

"PLEASE get a cart." Mason ground out through his teeth.

"We don't need a cart."Taylor was walking in the opposite direction as him, away from all the carts and baskets.

"Fine. You carry everything."With a sigh he jogged to catch up to her and pulled her arm to slow her pace down.

Taylor wrinkled her nose and tried to yank his hold off.Mason merely kept strolling through the aisles to get to the electronic section.

"Don't make me scream rape."Taylor hissed under her breath which only succeeded in getting a chuckle out of Mason.

"And who will come to your rescue?" his voice dropped a few octaves giving Taylor the chills.

She looked around.Besides the two middle aged woman who looked half asleep, there was no one in the store that she'd seen.With a huff, she started to walk faster again despite his efforts to slow her down.

This had the effect equivalent to a fairly good sized dog on a leash trying to drag its owner across the park when the owner clearly didn't want to go