Queen of Wolves Read online

  Beatings ensued, until she was huddled in the corner, barely conscious, barely breathing. She was beyond caring of her own safety. Her only goal was to keep silent, so that her sisters would remain safe.

  “Where are you, sister?” Zara cried out to her. “Tell me.”

  “Do not come here.” Faline mumbled through her broken jaw.

  “Of course I will come.” Zara insisted.

  “No. Leave me. Stay with your new mate. You are safe there.” Faline shivered and slid into the blessed blackness of unconsciousness.

  In her sleep, Zara moaned, thrashing, like she was trying to run. Cole woke immediately, holding her tightly to him. “Hush, sweetling.” He murmured. “You’re safe now.” He reached his hand to rest on top of her head and stroked his fingers over her forehead and nose. Immediately, she calmed her whole body relaxing against his. She never woke, but instead began to purr in her sleep.

  He chuckled and buried his face into her hair, breathing her in. In bed with him, she was a wild wolf, but in her sleep, she was still all cat, and to his surprise, he found that he rather enjoyed the sound of purring to sooth him back to sleep.

  Chapter Six

  Alarm sirens blared in the pre-dawn hours of the morning. Cole and Zara bolted awake.

  “What the hell is that?” She shouted over the noise, holding her ears.

  “Attack siren.” He shouted, jumping to his feet. He looked around for his jeans. “Get dressed!” He said, throwing the shirt she had worn the night before at her.

  “It’s shredded.” She said, holding up the torn cloth. “I can’t wear this.”

  He grinned, remembering that he had torn the shirt in an effort to get it off of her. “Guess not.” He ran to his closet and pulled out one of his black shirts.

  He tossed it at her. “Sorry baby. Not how I planned to wake you up this morning.”

  There was a pounding on his door. He flung it open and four of his guards piled through the door. Zara barely had time to fit the shirt on over her head before they saw her.

  “What’s the situation?” Cole asked, slipping a blue sweater on.

  “There are panthers on the land sir.” Bryce said all business. “At least twenty of them.”

  “They found me.” Zara said. She pulled the heavy blankets back and stood up. The large t-shirt went down to her knees.

  “Ma’am” The four men took a knee, bowing their heads to their new Queen.

  “I won’t let them get to you.” Cole vowed.

  “We don’t’ have time for this.” Zara said. “Please stand up, guys.” They stood, silently.

  A second siren blared, indicating that there were Panthers in the den.

  “Son of a bitch!” Cole ground out. “Get the young ones to the safe room!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. “You too.” He said. “Go with them.”

  “I am safer next to you.” She insisted. Her heart thudding in her chest.

  “Please. Just go. You are Alpha now. You need to protect your people. Go with the guards. Keep our people safe if something happens to me.” He said, kissing her fiercely. He shoved her toward the guards. “Do not let her be taken!” He roared. He ran down the stairs, howling.

  The foyer was chaos. Panther and wolf, neck and neck. One of them lunged at him and he jumped off the side of the railing, shifting smoothly before he landed, his jeans obliterated. He leapt onto the back of one of the Panthers who had one of the Omegas backed into a corner. He ripped at its neck, taking out a huge chunk of the throat. The animal tried to snarl at him, but gurgled on its own blood.

  He gave the animal a good shake, and threw it sideways, into another Panther, who stumbled and was quickly overtaken by two other Omegas. The Panther on the stairs was killed by the first guard coming out of the Alpha’s rooms.

  Zara and the guards made it down the stairs. She was barefoot, nearly tripping down the stairs covered in blood, two of the guards ahead of her, and two behind her. The blood soaked her feet. She could feel the energy of it swarming over her skin, like thick, inky darkness, fear like a thick oily coating, pressing in on her. The cloud of death hung in the air amid the growling and screams of battle.

  Her head swam, and she stumbled, pitching forward. One of the guards grabbed her arm, steadying her. “This way, Ma’am” One of them shouted. They stepped over bodies on their way through the hallway. They had been bottlenecked there, unable to spread out. The gunshots echoed through the den, as wolf after wolf went down.

  Suddenly Zara was alone. All the wolves protecting her had been shot with some sort of tranquilizer dart. She ran, full speed out the front door and into the courtyard. More were dead there, both wolf and panther.

  “There she is!” Someone shouted. “Go after her!”

  She ran faster. The rocks and twigs of the forest cut open the bottoms of her feet, leaving a bloody trail to follow. She was only half shifted when she felt the sting of the first dart hit her back. Six more hit her, one of them in the neck. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

  “No!” Cole shouted, scrambling to reach the small child running frantically through the foyer, a panther chasing her. Cole leapt over the child and collided mid leap with the Panther. They both went down hard. The Panther tore into Cole’s side, and he yelped in pain, twisting away, tearing a huge chunk of skin and tissue out of his side. Rage boiled through him, and the power swirled, pushing outward. He shoved hard, and the large cat was thrown back by the wave of energy. “Protect the elders!” He shouted to the remaining members of his hunting party. Half of them were lying dead throughout the den. “Child, get to the safe room!” He shifted again, and killed the Panther who was still stunned by the energy blow. The cat died with one swiped of his giant paw, and he quickly turned, seeing three more Panthers bearing down on him at full speed. Several of his hunting party helped to take them down, and together, one by one they worked as a team, eliminating all the panthers in the den, hunting as a pack, as one.

  When Zara woke, she found herself in a dingy, cold room. Water dripped from somewhere. She shivered. Her feet were freezing, but, unlike her baby sister, she was still dressed in the large shirt Cole had given her. It smelled like him, and she took a moment to breath in his scent. He would come for her, she knew. He would find her.

  “Zara?” A hoarse voice whispered from the corner.

  “Faline!” She rushed to her sister’s side.

  “I told you…not to come.” She whispered, shivering.

  “I wasn’t given a choice.” Zara said, she sat down and held her sister. She siphoned her strength through her hands, into Faline. She worked slowly, carefully, touching each mottled bruise on her fair skin. She worked methodically, healing her sister over the next several hours, until she was exhausted and couldn’t do it anymore. She shifted into her panther, and curled up around her sister, to keep her warm.

  She thought of Cole and the one night they had together. The last she had seen of him, he had taken down a panther that was after a child. Her thoughts drifted to the possibility of their own child. She knew she was fertile this week, and more than likely, she would birth a child in the spring. She didn’t have any more time to think about it though. Footsteps approached. She woke her sister gently, and helped her to stand. “Can you run, if we get the chance?” She asked softly.

  “Not successfully.” She shook her head. The motion made her dizzy enough to throw up. Zara noticed that her blonde hair was caked with old blood and mud. Her scalp most likely infected.

  “I’ll kill them all, if I have to.” She vowed.

  Cole was making the same vow to the remaining members of his pack. At one time there had been over fifty of them, men women and children. Now they were barely twenty in number. He and the surviving hunting party had made their way down to the safe room, where some of the elders and children were huddled with their pregnant mothers. Almost everyone had lost a loved one, and two of the elders had been killed. Like it or not, the war had begun.

 
; He called everyone out, looking frantically for Zara. She was not among the survivors. He left Cass in charge, and ran outside. She had not been among the dead in the den. He went from body to body, hoping not to find hers, and half hoping he would, so he would know she wasn’t being tortured by that sadistic fuck.

  She wasn’t there among the stench of the blood and the dead, and with a sinking heart, he knew that she had been stolen from him. He howled his rage and sank to the ground next to the bodies of the two women he had ordered bound together. In doing so he had ordered their deaths.

  They had not stood a chance against the attack with their wrists and ankles bound together. There had been no time for anyone to unchain them, and they died because of him. They all died because of him, and he knew without a doubt, that knowledge would haunt him all the rest of his days. He sat in the dirt, unseen tears flowing down his face.

  He had no idea how long he sat there. It could have been seconds, or hours. Gavriel stood next to him, a bandage over his eye and his arm in a sling.

  “Cole.” He said gravely. “You’re people need you.”

  He stared up at the man. “Did I bring this upon us all?” For a moment, he felt like a lost little boy, in need of assurances.

  “Why would you think that?” Gavriel looked down at him, narrowing his eyes.

  “Because I gave her sanctuary.” He said simply. “I took her as my mate.” He said softly. “And then I lost her.” He was surprised at how much that ate at him. In reality she was basically still a stranger, yet…he loved her more than he ever imagined possible. The emotion burned in his belly, swarming over him. It made him uncomfortable, to need someone so much. To need her.

  “Then take her back.” Gavriel said. “Stand your ground. You have the full support of the entire council at your back.” He stated. “We will all fight for you!” His voice boomed with authority. Gavriel’s eyes glowed a piercing orange, the color of fire.

  Cole nodded and stood. He was nude, covered in blood, and other bodily fluids of the ones he killed. He was numb. He couldn’t even feel the pain.

  “I’ll call the other local packs and tribes.” He said softly, and asks if they will join with us.”

  “I’m sure they will, when they hear that their elders have been attacked on sanctuary lands.” Gavriel said. “And I must call the families of the elders who were slain today, so arrangements can be made. Until then, let’s get your side looked at by that pretty doctor of yours. You are leaking all over the place.”

  Chapter Seven

  Vaughn laughed at the woman’s helpless screams. One of the panthers under his control raked his claws slowly down her back, over her butt and thighs. Blood flowed freely and dripped into the dirt of the ground, soaking a puddle underneath the woman hanging there by her wrists.

  “Tell me, where is your other sister?” Vaughn sneered.

  “Fuck you.” Faline snarled.

  “In time, little cat.” He vowed. “I rather look forward to it.” He sneered.

  She gritted her teeth and didn’t dare speak. “Hurry Sister. I won’t hold out much longer.” She screamed again, as sharp claws shredded her back over and over again.

  Zara ran full speed through the mountains. She could feel the energy of her sister, the pain searing into her own back. Pure adrenaline surged through her, and she picked up speed, focusing on gaining ground with every step, as if the hounds of hell were after her.

  By the time she reached the boarder of her new lands, she felt like her lungs were going to burst. She only stopped long enough to catch her breath, and began running again. Her sister didn’t have long. She just hoped that she was strong enough to survive until Zara could bring back help.

  Within the next hour, every pack, clan and tribe knew about the Alpha’s new mate, and violation of sanctuary. Each tribe sent their very best hunters and some of their omegas to help bury the dead. The Red Fox Clan, brothers to the wolves, and longtime friends of the Black Moon Pack were the most outraged, although the Mountain Lions were upset as well. Mostly they were concerned that retaliation would mean an attack on all the cat populations.

  The Wolverines demanded retribution for their lost elder, as did the Eagles. The Bears offered their protection to the remaining elders and the Ravens offered some of their own to stand guard over the wolf pack until they could get back on their feet.

  Cole welcomed the help, and the uneasy peace between their perspective groups. He wondered briefly, if any of them had helped plan the attacks, but he smelled no deception in their vows to help his people.

  Cassius, Ukiah, Dalton, Teague and Matteo were the only members of his hunting party left alive. Dalton was badly injured and no one was sure if he would survive the night. The rest of them gathered around their Alpha, preparing their attack strategy with the remaining elders.

  “Cass, I need you to stay behind.” Cole said.

  “But…”

  “No. If I am killed, you are my second. I need to know you will be here to lead the pack if this all goes sideways.”

  The two stared at each other, until finally, Cass nodded. “I’ll take care of them.”

  “Thank you.” Cole clapped the man on his back. They were cousins, more like brothers. Cole had been taken in by Cassius’s father, Jarrick, when his own father had been jailed by the council for abuses toward his mate and her children. Cole never saw his father again.

  Cass organized the burial of their dead and the burning of their enemies, as the rest of the men headed out, along with the remaining elders. They had barely crossed over the bridge of the river when Matteo spotted Zara running toward them through the trees.

  “Look!” He pointed. “She’s escaped!”

  “Thank the Gods!” Cole said. He dropped his gun and pack, and ran toward her.

  She saw him running and skidded to a stop. She shifted form and, lungs heaving, waited for him to reach her. Her legs felt like rubber and she collapsed to the ground.

  He scooped her up and held her close, not caring that the effort popped one of his stitches. “Zara..Oh Zara. Are you ok?” He ran his hands over her body, quickly checking for wounds. She was covered in mud and scratches from the brush, her bare feet torn to shreds from the rocks and sticks and prickly plants she ran over. She was covered in the sticky fluids that shifting brought with it.

  “Please. Faline. She’s hurt.” She gasped.

  “Are you okay?” He demanded, holding her like a child. She was still trying to catch her breath.

  “Fine. I’m fine.” She reassured him. “Faline!” Suddenly she seized, her entire body frozen, and he knew she was connected to something beyond his understanding. Her eyes went pitch black, then slowly burned brighter, glowing an iridescent purple color he had never seen before.

  “Holy Fuck.” He watched, not sure what to do. The others crowded around him, watching.

  “Amazing.” One of the elders said, seeing her eyes.

  Suddenly she convulsed, and began to scream. Her gut wrenching screams filled the air. She thrashed, trying to pull away from Cole. She screamed like she was in horrendous pain.

  “Zara…what happened?” He asked, desperately trying to hold onto her. She shrieked and he nearly broke her arm trying to keep a hold on her. She was so strong. He released her and she rolled out of his lap, and several feet away from him. She wailed, one long, horrible, high pitched note, and then went still.

  He thought she had passed out and went to touch her again. Her skin rippled and he stood back. Immediately, she shifted into a white tiger, large and majestic. She roared loudly, nearly breaking their ear drums, and began to run back toward where she came from. Without a word, Cole shifted and followed her, along with the others.

  When they came upon the Panther territory, Cole didn’t see anyone, but he could smell the blood. It was so strong, the metallic odor burning in his nostrils. They ran toward it. At the tree line, they all shifted back to human form.

  All the panthers were gathered around a kill i
n the center of a circle.

  “Vaughn!” Cole roared his name. “I challenge you! To the death!” He demanded, walking out of the trees.

  The rest of the Panthers stood around their leader, snarling and hissing, low to the ground, ready to pounce.

  Vaughn raised his hand, calling for silence. “I will answer the challenge.” He said, stepping forward toward Cole. “There will be no interference from my people.” He said, voice booming with authority. “Or yours.” He said, nodding toward Zara. “How did you get away from me, little kitty?”

  “Obviously, I’m smarter, faster and stronger than you.” She scowled. “It was rather easy, actually. You are an idiot.” Zara stood next to her mate. She couldn’t look at the bloody mess of tissue, hair and bone that used to be her baby sister. Her stomach rolled at the stench and she knew, instinctively, she was pregnant. She had to protect her baby from this man.

  She had felt the way her sisters had died. Violently, for no reason. There had been four of them, and now there were only two. Rage boiled up in her blood and she pushed it outward, letting her beast show through. Her skin rippled once, and she convulsed to the ground, welcoming her White Tiger form, nearly three times larger than the largest panther. It had long been believed that the White Tiger were population had long ago died out. Until her, no one had a reason to suspect otherwise.

  “Oh my God!” One of the Panthers gasped.

  “Unreal!”

  “That’s not possible!”

  Before Cole could stop her, she leapt into the air, her massive frame shadowing over Vaughn. He shifted at the last moment, and attempted to turn and run. She swiped at his hind leg, nearly tearing it off, and he screamed in agony.

  His leg hung by a couple of strands of muscle and tissue. He dragged it behind him, as he attempted to crawl away, bleeding heavily. She growled menacingly. She stalked him, making a game of it, making him suffer. Eventually, she swiped at his other leg, tearing it clean off. He rolled, screaming, baring his teeth.