Page 1 of Wolf's Wild Woman

Chapter One

~ Rebel ~

I nearly lost my mind when I pulled up to the house and saw the truck in the drive. She knew our house was off limits. She fucking knew! Then again Donna Cameron, my mother, had been heading in this direction since we’d lost our alpha two years ago. With Rowen’s death and the subsequent loss of so many of our pack, we’d been floundering. Ripe pickings for certain elements. A smorgasbord of trouble for someone like my mother. A woman who lived and breathed for only one thing. Sex.

Still, she’d been keeping her activities away from home. Especially when she was with the owner of the truck in our drive, Jarod Makers. His son, Benji, had been chasing me since I’d turned eighteen and become legal in his eyes. He and his buddies didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t take on the family trade and whore for them the way my mother did for their fathers. I avoided them at all costs. I wouldn’t put it past their group mentality to force the issue if they caught me alone. I couldn’t expect a lot from my mother, but I thought she’d understood my need to avoid that.

My life wasn’t easy growing up with her. Whatever wolf had sired me must have moved on quickly. It was a common theme in my mother’s life. I remember inadvertently calling one of her bedmates dad when I was younger. They’d both laughed before my mother slapped me upside the head and told me to get to my room and be quiet.

Things with her had remained that way, with strange men wandering in and out of her bedroom and our home. Until I hit my teens and starting growing breasts and curves of my own. Once eyes had started slipping toward me, Mom had taken her lovers elsewhere.

What I hadn’t known then was she hadn’t made that choice willingly. Our alpha, Rowan Byrd, had overheard some guys talking and set down the law for my mother. Whatever he’d said had worked like magic. I’d been left mostly on my own and had loved every minute of it. Then Rowan had died. Slowly but surely, she’d slipped back into her old patterns. Apparently, his threats were meaningless now that he was no longer here to enforce them.

I blew out a breath as I tapped my fingers on the handlebars of my bike. I’d already cut the engine, but the impulse to kick start it and drive away was strong. Problem was, I had stuff inside I needed. Stuff like the money I’d stockpiled so I could find my own place and move out. I’d managed to hide away quite a bit. And I needed it. That money was my ticket out. Our pack was barely limping along, and our elders were wooing the James Pack, hoping they’d take us in. It made me nervous as hell. I’d heard the rumors about them. The brutality. The take-no-prisoners mentality. A wolf pack of all alphas. If that didn’t scare you a little bit, then you were just plain stupid. I was a lot of things. Stupid wasn’t one of them.

“Fuck this,” I muttered under my breath and swung my leg over the bike. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

I moved slow and easy, opening my senses to try to get a bead on who she’d brought home with her. The house was quiet though, making me hope they’d done whatever booze, sex, and drugs they were going to then had passed the hell out. The one thing you could always count on from Donna Cameron was that she knew how to have a good time. The more the merrier. What she and the deviant ilk she hung around with couldn’t seem to understand was that I was nothing like her.

Surprisingly enough, I was still a virgin at twenty-three. Not that I hadn’t tried my hand at the art of seduction. I mean I did grow up watching a pro operate. My mistake was trying to seduce the alpha. I’d had quite the crush on Rowan Byrd. After all, he was the stuff that fueled little girl’s dreams of happily-ever-after. He was big, strong, and stepped in to play my hero when I most needed one. How could I not think I was in love with him? Rowan had been smart, though. Hello, he’d been the alpha. He’d quietly set me down and told me I was worth more than a quick roll with a man who didn’t love me. Even more, he’d made me believe it. He’d been the best alpha, which was most likely why it had nearly destroyed our pack when we’d lost him. In some ways it had.

I eased the screen door open and slipped quietly into the kitchen. No need to turn on a light. My mother and I had lived in the same house all my life. I knew every inch of it. Trying to remain as stealthy as I could, I hastened down the hallway, making a beeline for my room. I’d grab my bag, get my money out of my hiding spot, and be gone before sunrise. Hell, I seriously doubted many would even note my absence. I’d become too good at clinging to the shadows.

Once in my room, I moved quickly, gathering everything I needed and tossing it in my bag. Once I had everything else, I dropped to my knees and half crawled under the bed to grasp the loose board where I’d hidden my money. My fingers just brushed the seam when I felt rough hands gripping my hips and jerking me back. Stars exploded behind my eyes as my head banged against the frame.

“Now, that’s an ass I’d like to fuck.”

Fuck! How had I not picked up on Benji being here? The quiet must have lulled me into a false sense of security. That and my desire to get in and out as quickly as possible. I smelled the alcohol fumes wafting from him even though I was still partway under the bed. His grip was hard but clumsy. He pressed his weight down on me, grinding his hips against my ass in a lewd act that had vomit climbing up the back of my throat. Fuck, no! This wasn’t happening. I had to get out from under this bed so I had a fighting chance.

I bucked, snarling and clawing at him, as I tried to slither my way out from under him and the bed.

“Oh, yeah, baby. I like to play rough.”

I reached back and raked my nails down what I could reach. Fortunately for me, it was his face. His grip loosened just a bit, and I managed to push back so my head was free of the bedframe. He regained his senses far too quickly.

He wrapped his fist in my braid and slammed my head against the floor. There went those stars again. The side of my T-shirt shredded under his claws, and his bruising touch clamped down on my ribcage. Bastard. I bucked again, forcing my way onto my hands and knees, which made him groan. I knew what he was envisioning. Not. Going. To. Happen.

Just as he went to move into place behind me again, I twisted my body, rolling and lifting my legs high. I kicked with all my might, catching him by surprise and sending him flying across the room. There was a loud crack as his head connected with the corner of my dresser. I sat stunned as he slid down to lie unmoving on the floor. A large rend split the edge of the wood where he’d connected, and it fell at a slant.

Was he dead? Had I killed him? My body shook, and though my head urged me to move closer and check, my muscles refused to cooperate. That was when I noticed the trickle of blood running down his face. What would the elders do to me if I’d killed Benji? What would the James Pack do if it were left in their hands? What if I got to them first and told my side? I’d heard they were ruthless but just. It might be the only shot I had.

“What have you done?”

My mother’s screech from the door broke my momentary paralysis. I scrambled away from Benji, my body already feeling the aftereffects of the earlier scuffle. I glanced toward the mirror as I came to my feet. One of my eyes was blackening up nicely. I didn’t remember taking a hit there, but it could have happened when he’d slammed my face into the floor. My shirt hung on me, and I saw the beginning of more bruises along my side where he’d caught me. I quickly stripped off the remnants of garment and jerked on another shirt.

“What have you done?” my mother asked again as she practically flew across the room toward Benji. “Benji? Benji, honey, are you okay?”

“Where’s the blood coming from? What did you do, Rebbie?”

I ignored her as I moved to the other side of the bed and once again slid under to get the money I needed to get the hell away from here—from her and men like Benji, who would never allow me to be anything other than my mother’s daughter. I quickly jerked the board aside and stuck my hand in, patting every inch and coming up empty.

“No!” The whimper left my lip without my consent as I felt desperately around the hole again. Where was my money? There was no way it was gone. No way. Every fucking dime was gone. I moved the bed, fueled by desperation and fear.

“Where is it?” What was a roar in my head, was a choked whisper leaving my lips.

My mother ignored me, still focused on Benji and trying to staunch the flow of blood. It broke something inside me to see her fawn over a man who’d tried to rape me while she’d brushed off every injury I’d ever had as a child.

“Mom.” When she didn’t respond I walked over and nudged her with my foot. “Where is it?”

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