Pack punished, p.1
Pack Punished, page 1
part #3 of Thrown to the Wolves Series
© 2022 J. Kearston
All rights reserved
No part of this work may be duplicated, reproduced, or transferred by any means, without the written approval of the author. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual people (living or dead), places, or events is purely coincidental.
Please note: This series is meant for adults and portrays darker situations such as descriptive, graphic scenes of blood and violence (including torture, but at the hands of our main characters, not to them), sexual scenes, and heavily deals with the topic of mental instability. While I would love for you to read my work, never do so at the risk of your mental health.
*Cover by Nichole Witholder at Rainy Day Artwork*
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Pack Punished | Thrown to the Wolves Book 3
Chapter 1 | Reid
Chapter 2 | Sabrina
Chapter 3 | Sabrina
Chapter 4 | Slade
Chapter 5 | Cinjin
Chapter 6 | Boden
Chapter 7 | Sabrina
Chapter 8 | Sabrina
Chapter 9 | Damian
Chapter 10 | Hunter
Chapter 11 | Sabrina
Chapter 12 | Sabrina
Chapter 13 | Sabrina
Chapter 14 | Kaige
Chapter 15 | Sabrina
Chapter 16 | Sabrina
Chapter 17 | Sabrina
All shall be revealed in the epic conclusion, Pack Possessed! | mybook.to/PackPossessed | And you can join my monthly newsletter here - | https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/j0u7n4
Pack Punished
Thrown to the Wolves Book 3
Chapter 1
Reid
The storm’s turned the ground into a muddy mess, water pooling around me as I lay stretched out on my stomach on the hill overlooking the back of the decimated Alodia mansion, currently engulfed in flames. Swiping water off of my glasses, I line up my next shot, saving Kaige from getting his head torn off by one of those lycan abominations. Though we’ve only been dealing with this hell for a little over an hour, with the way adrenaline’s flooded my body, keeping me constantly on edge, it feels like days.
There are finally more corpses than active threats, but still, I can’t breathe. I keep waiting for them to rise from the dead, struggling to wrap my head around the fact that all of these broken humans were mindless beasts moments ago. If it weren’t for the fact that I witnessed the transition with my own eyes, killed several of the lycans myself, I never would have believed that these things existed.
Now, if we slip for even a moment, if I blink at the wrong time, some of us might not walk away from this. And rather than let us protect her, Sabrina’s in the thick of it, fighting for my brothers as hard as they are for her. Of course she is. Why would she trust us to handle things when we’ve proven time and time again that we’re going to let her down?
A dark blur rushes past my scope, Slade tackling the monster straddling Boden’s back, its teeth sunk into his shoulder. They go tumbling out of sight around the far side of the building, out of range for me to do anything about it, so I focus my efforts on scanning the yard for my next target. Flashes of lightning help illuminate what the chemical fire doesn’t, but the toxic smoke overlaying everything in a dark haze is thick enough that it’s making everything far more difficult than it already is.
Out of nowhere, this bright orange splash of color flies across the dark landscape, darting between bodies. Zeroing in on it through my scope, I track the small fox weaving around the battlefield. And as a violent lurching in my chest steals the breath from my lungs, I know. Wild animals run away from danger; not straight towards a fire surrounded by lethal predators. Which means this fox is something other.
Someone like us.
My shot misses by millimeters, and it darts to the side immediately, leaping over a lifeless body. Firing again, the recoil never comes, the gun clicking empty. Cursing, I quickly reach into my pocket, but I’m met with emptiness, the ground around me littered with several empty boxes of ammunition.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Pulling out my phone, I run down the short list of potentials to warn the others while seeking the fox out again. Neither Kaige nor Hunter are picking up, and the rest are currently using necks as chew toys, so there’s no point even attempting to call them. I could try shouting and pray someone will hear me, but it’ll tip off the-
My stomach sinks as I finally spot the fox again, scaling a pile of rubble and heading directly for what remains of the wrap-around balcony on the second story, like a man on a mission. The balcony that Sabrina’s currently dragging Hunter out of the burning house onto, the white coat of her hellhound streaked with ash and wavering on her feet, on the verge of collapse.
Before I even register making the decision, I’m shoving myself upright, sprinting down the hill with my feet skidding on the wet grass and mud. Scanning the bodies ahead of me, I ignore the naked ones; those would be the lycans that shifted back upon their deaths, like the one that mauled Sabrina not so long ago. We thought she was exaggerating, watching a dying man shift into a wolf in slow motion with fear and adrenaline coursing through her veins, not that he was an actual monster.
We are, though. Monsters for expecting her to accept what we are and then not giving credit to her claim like it was impossible. For being so self-absorbed in our misery that we never considered there were worse fates out there than the one we were living.
Searching for those that remained human during the fight, I frantically look for whatever gun they had on them when they were killed. I’m too far away, never going to make it in time before that fox reaches her, but I’m a damn good shot. I can do this, save her before it’s too late, before I lose her, if I can just get my hands on a weapon. One bullet and an opening, that’s all I need. I won’t miss a second time; I can't. I can’t go back to a life without her in it.
Sliding to my knees in the mud, I shove a dismembered arm off of the gun peeking out from beneath it, only to find part of it smashed. Growling in frustration, I move to the next, but when I check the magazine, it’s empty.
Risking a glance up, I watch the orange blur leap towards the balcony, scrabbling up the ledge between the gaps in the railing. The oppressive weight of the invisible clock counting down makes each breath harder to draw in than the last, my panicked thoughts blurring into a useless jumble as I scramble for another plan. When the next strike of lightning comes, the flash glinting off of a metal sliver in the loose fist of the body in front of me, my internal screaming cuts off abruptly. Hope surges through me as I stumble forward, prying the corpse’s fingers open, but it’s not a gun.
It’s a syringe.
With a trembling hand, I reach for it, heart thundering in my chest. It’s not capped, but there’s no blood on the needle, as if he were struck down before he could inject himself. A small bead of clear liquid is pooled on the tip already, the plunger partially depressed in the fall.
About to be sick even contemplating it, I look past the sea of bodies between me and the house, still far too much distance to have a hope of making it in time. And then what? I have no weapon. How am I even supposed to climb up there? I’ll need to run into a burning house and pray a staircase is still intact, or that I can find one of the others before it's too late.
A blurred human figure forms through the smoke as the fox begins to shift and my heart plummets into my stomach. I'm out of time, and out of options. Taking a deep breath, I snatch up the syringe and drive the needle into the vein in my neck.
It doesn’t matter what happens to me at this point. If I lose Sabrina, there’s no life waiting for me that’s worth living.
Chapter 2
Sabrina
Staring straight at the monster that’s only a few feet away now, bloody handprints trailing behind him as he stalks closer with his teeth bared, I swallow. “...Reid?”
Hunter loosens his grip around my waist, gritting his teeth as he grabs onto the handrail to pull himself upright. “Get ready.”
My heart plummets into my stomach. “I’m not shooting Reid.”
“Sabrina!” he snaps. The lycan prowling closer stills, muscles tensing as he releases a warning growl. “That thing isn’t Reid; not anymore. You didn’t survive everything else tonight only to give up now. You’re going to get your ass up, grab that fucking gun, and keep the damn promise that you made to your mates. You’re going to walk out of this place in one piece; no matter what it takes.”
My mouth feels full of ash, eyes burning from more than the smoke rapidly thickening around us. “I can’t.”
“You can, because you have people that need you to.” He releases another grunt as his other half hammers at him from within, desperately trying to mend his legs, only to break the bones again so he can finally shift. “I need you to, okay? So get up, and get ready to run.”
Body trembling and lightheaded, I slowly rise to my feet. Hunter’s ragged shirt is thoroughly soaked and clinging to my body at this point, barely covering my ass as the storm rages on relentlessly around us. Blood-stained water drips down my bare legs, following the path of my scars, and each red drop that joins the growing puddle beneath me makes my ears ring, but I breathe through it. Scanning the ground behind Reid through the gap between his arms and legs, I search for the gun, but once I meet the unseeing eyes of Jonathan’s severed head, black spots flare in my peripherals.
He was his friend, and he beheaded him like it was nothing. Hunter’s right
Ears ringing, I can’t make out Hunter’s next words as I’m rooted to the spot, unable to look away from that damned, vacant stare. He sounds muted, distant. A chill settles into my bones despite the inferno ravaging the house beside us, all of the fire that fueled me earlier completely and utterly snuffed out. My wolf’s gone silent, thoroughly exhausted and burned out.
I’m alone, always alone.
Jonathan betrayed us, the entire friendship a lie so that he could keep tabs on me and Reid. Reid pulled away from me, and Slade lost his purpose, pack, and home in one fell swoop because of me. And now I’m going to get Hunter killed since no matter how hard I try, I can’t help but destroy everything that I touch.
“Now!” Hunter whips a chunk of rubble at the monster in front of us, who immediately lunges at him with a snarl.
Ducking my head, I use the opening to dart past, sliding to my knees on the wet cement and skinning them open. Snatching up the gun, I turn, desperately attempting to flip the switch in my brain that lets me dissociate so that I don’t have to feel anything, but it’s broken. I’m broken, and I’m only now realizing how badly.
I’ve spent all of these years piecing myself together so that I could masquerade as a semi-functional human, when in reality, I’m not even a wolf. Not really. A wolf can’t incinerate a person, or switch personalities as easily as flipping channels on a TV. I’m a monster, far more so than the one in front of me.
Hunter’s pinned down beneath him, and the only thing keeping him from getting his face bitten off is the forearm he has wedged against Reid’s throat. Lifting the gun with trembling hands, I aim at Reid’s exposed back and take a deep breath. With his back to me, it’s the perfect opening, and if I stay in his blind spot-
His blind spot. He knows one threat slipped behind him, and he’s still choosing to leave himself vulnerable. A predator running solely on instinct wouldn’t make that mistake.
Rather than fire, I drop the gun, sprint forward, and take the most literal leap of faith I’ve ever made in my life. Wrapping my arms around Reid’s throat above and below where Hunter’s arm is pressing into his trachea, I lock my ankles over his stomach so that he can’t shake me off. Hunter’s right; I swore to do whatever was necessary to make it out of here in one piece, and if I lose Reid, I’ll be breaking my promise. If we walk away tonight with a single person less than we came with, a piece of me will die here with them.
Shoving all of the horrors threatening to crush me aside long enough to focus, I take a slow, deep inhale.
“What in the actual fuck are you doing!?” Hunter pants before crying out when Reid’s claws swipe down his chest. “Son of a bitch!” Gritting his teeth as he grabs Reid’s wrist, Hunter manages to restrain one hand, only for the other to tear down his side and paint the ground with his blood.
But even though he’s still snapping his teeth at Hunter and trying to tear him apart, Reid never once flinched or took a swipe at me when I landed on his back. He still hasn’t, even though I’m weakening him, and there’s no way he doesn’t feel what I’m doing. This drug just takes a person’s wolf and gives it roid-rage, makes it feral and mutated enough to partially shift. It allows their baser half to take over its host for a short time, but it’s still their wolf doing it. That's why none of Alodia’s men that injected themselves turned on each other, only focused on attacking us.
Reid knows me, and so does his other half. Even if his wolf is so far gone that it’s running on the most primal instincts, a part of him recognizes me as pack, as a female wolf. He has no interest in hurting me, only in protecting me. First from Jonathan, and now from Hunter, who Reid hates even on the best of days, so it’s not much of a surprise that his other half is capitalizing on an opportunity to try to kill him.
“You psychotic fucking woman, I swear, you get off on trying to get yourself killed!” One of Hunter’s legs has healed enough to regain some use out of it, and he’s using his foot to push into Reid’s stomach, helping to keep him at bay. “You couldn’t have at least tossed me the gun if you couldn’t shoot him so I could?”
“Nobody is shooting Reid, and nobody’s dying. So instead of bitching, maybe make yourself useful! You’ve already got your hands all over him, so siphon and use some of that energy to heal yourself before you bleed out, you stubborn idiot.”
A snapping of bone makes me wince, and by the howl of rage and pain, I’m betting it was Reid’s wrist. Seconds later, Hunter rushes out, “Don’t, you’re going to make yourself sick. The feral energy is toxic in these things; had me puking in the bushes when I tried earlier. And hate to break it to ‘ya, but Damian’s the only one that can pull off that trick.”
Fighting back a wave of nausea, I refuse to stop. “Then you can’t complain when it takes me longer to bring him down, so have fun trying not to die while I concentrate.”
With a slew of curses, he begins helping, and immediately, there's a noticeable difference. What before was a massive onslaught on my system lessens considerably, making it easier for me to breathe through the pain rapidly spreading throughout my body. The desire to vomit is coupled with a splitting migraine that has a small whimper slipping out with the next crack of thunder, and my limbs tremble with fevered chills. When Reid’s movements become sluggish, I tighten my hold, pulling harder.
Can’t touch her, she’s mine. The words are barely discernible; guttural, like spoken through a mouth full of glass shards.
Snippets of images flit through my mind so fast that I don’t have time to understand half of them. Faceless, blurred figures, a sea of limbs, and blood turning the soil to mud so thick, it sucks me down like quicksand. The sights and thoughts are muddled, but the sudden shock of anguished panic is a punch to the gut so hard, I lose my grip.
I hear the wet thud from the impact of the back of my head on the cement as much as I feel it, but can’t muster the energy to even lift my hand to check the damage. Pressure suffocates me like a weighted blanket, leaving me gasping for air in short bursts, but the only thing I receive in the attempt is a deluge of rain attempting to drown me. The fire in my veins is a muted version of the pain Damian put me through when he freed my wolf, and that’s my only saving grace.
I’ve felt pain of such magnitude that I don’t have any doubt that I’ll survive this. It’s agonizing, but nothing that I can’t endure, because I know it won’t last forever. Having that knowledge makes it bearable, allows me to trick myself into thinking ‘two more minutes and it’ll be over.’
A hand wraps around my ankle, and I use the connection to ground me, to keep from mentally spiraling and completely losing myself in my head. If that hand isn’t dragging me to death’s doorstep, it’s a sign that things are okay, because someone doesn’t need it to fight. So I simply concentrate on trying to breathe through the tight pressure in my chest without drowning, and as time ticks by, the pain lessens to a more manageable level.
My head is foggy, from both the possible concussion, and the fever raging through my body, but I tentatively open my eyes. When the world stops spinning, I sit up, nearly falling as everything lurches to the side.
“Better?” Hunter asks as he steadies me, quietly panting.
Blinking several times, all three of him finally merge into one, and after another thirty seconds, he stays that way. He’s leaning back against the railing near my feet, face flushed, and his normally dark green eyes blown completely to solid black. Chest heaving like he ran a mile, Hunter repeats himself, and I risk a small nod that I immediately regret.
Grabbing my upper arm, he catches me before I fall backward again, dragging me to his side. Between the railing and him, I’m able to stay upright, blinking a few more times to right my vision as I attempt to make sense of what I’m seeing. The blow to the head must have been worse than I thought, my brain sluggish and struggling to process, but things finally begin to compute.
Reid. Fuck, what if we took too much, if we...
I can’t bring myself to finish the thought, the rush of anxiety helping me fight through my bleary vision. Nameless faces litter the balcony, red water pooling everywhere and traveling in tiny rivers off of the ledge, as well as into the hole blown in the siding of the house, staining the wreckage of what used to be a bedroom. And amongst it all, a short distance away, is the person I’m searching for. Face down and unconscious, Reid lies there, his reddish-brown hair darkened by the rain, but no less distinguishable in the unmoving crowd. And most importantly? Only on his head, his naked body blessedly human once more.
