Her Pack

Nathaniel

I woke up early Saturday morning with a smile on my face, feeling the similar happiness radiating from my wolf as we recalled the recent July 4th celebration and what happened after. Having my mate fully in my arms and in my bed again felt too good to be true.

I knew then that I wanted to finally tell her the truth about my kind and ask her and Aiden to move in soon because I can't stand to be apart from them anymore and hoped I could do it soon.

With that determination I rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of gym shorts and a wife beater before jogging downstairs to the kitchen and grabbing a quick breakfast sandwich. "Going to stalk your mate again?" Ryder teased as he popped up next to me and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to make sure she is safe on her morning run yes." I replied as we headed out on to the back patio. "Let us come with you! We need a good run." Lacey and Liam popped up and I saw Jade and Hunter a few steps behind. "Yea that's fine, just don't get close to her."

"Of course we won't." Liam grinned as he and his twin darted towards the trees, Ryder hot on their heels. "Have fun." Jade smiled as she pecked Hunter on the cheek before glancing to me. "If anything happens to my best friend you have to answer to me." she threatened jokingly and I laughed as I waved her off. "I know I know."

"Be back soon." Hunter murmured and kissed her before we jogged after the others. We quickly undressed and tied our clothes to an ankle before shifting and all meeting in the middle. We jostled around playfully before I set off at a steady lope on the familiar route towards Ivy's home.

Nearly twenty minutes later we were nearing the lake she always loves to go to when a distant scream split the air. We all immediately paused and scanned our surroundings when another scream and a jolt of pain through one of my forelegs made me stumble in shock. 'Mate!' my wolf immediately surged forwards and I realized those screams of terror belonged to Ivy.

I immediately began sprinting towards the source, my pack on my heels. 'Nate? What's going on?' Ryder questioned as we raced through the trees and I growled lowly. 'That was Ivy, she's hurt.' I broadcasted to them and heard varying gasps. 'Nate, you need to slow down.' Hunter's level voice spoke and I growled in return. 'No! I felt her pain, she needs me!' I exclaimed and he suddenly tackled me to the side.

I immediately rose with a vicious growl, letting my wolf come forth as we were ready to tear him apart if he stopped us from reaching our mate. He quickly bared his throat in submission and lowered his stance but spoke firmly through the mind link. 'I'm sorry but you need to listen to me! If she is being attacked and we go running blindly in there it could get her killed!' I paused then and my wolf receded a bit, pacing and growling with anger and worry.

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath before gazing at him intently. 'You're right I apologize. Lets go.' I ran a few more paces before pausing at the edge of the trees to the clearing with the lake, baring my teeth with a silent growl as the scent of a rogue washed over us. I spotted it immediately as it paced the edge of the lake, snarling and lunging into the water where Ivy was barely treading water towards the center with a pained grimace.

My wolf whined at the sight of our injured and struggling mate and refocused on the rogue with bloodlust as I slid silently from the trees with my pack behind me. 'Fan out and surround it, the rogue dies here.' I snarled a command to the others and they silently obeyed, fully focused on saving their future Luna.

I watched my mate's eyes widen at the sight of us as she struggled to keep her head above water before giving a small cry of pain and I was unable to stop the vicious snarl that left my mouth as the rogue growled and jumped at her eagerly. I felt a thrill of satisfaction when he whirled and froze with fear, hunching down and flattening his ears when he realized he was surrounded.

I noticed its right eye was closed and bleeding and my wolf surged forwards with fury as Ivy had clearly had to injure it to get it off of her. The rogue growled lowly at us but it was nothing compared to the snarls pouring out of my own muzzle as I bared my canines fiercely.

The rogue suddenly tried to make a break for it but Liam and Lacey jumped together as one, cutting off his escape with snarls and lunges that drove him back. As we steadily closed in the rogue spun wildly with snapping jaws, trying to keep us back when suddenly I recognized him as the one that had injured me years before. 'He's mine.' I growled to the other and lunged with a snarl.

We rolled and over and under with fierce snarls as we snapped at each other as I quickly gained the upper hand, pinning the rogue and lunging at his throat. Its jaws closed over me foreleg and I gave a short yelp but pushed through the pain, snarling as I dug my teeth in and ripped out its throat.

My wolf pushed forth suddenly and he thrashed its body side to side for a few moments before turning and kicking dirt over the rogue with a satisfied huff before returning to the others. They all brushed against me with whines of concern and licked at my chin, sniffing my injury worriedly but our eyes were focused Ivy.

We brushed them off and padded to the edge of the lake, lying down and whining as I maintained eye contact with her. Ivy slowly swam over almost in a daze as she pulled herself out of the water and flopped on to the shore tiredly. "Fuck this is bad." she muttered while examining the deep puncture wounds and clearly broken arm with a wince.

I gave a low whine of concern and she slowly turned to look at me as I practically crawled closer, hoping not to scare her. "Thank you for saving me." she murmured while holding out her uninjured hand and I eagerly pressed my forehead into it. She grinned and scratched behind my ears and I pushed my head into her lap, sniffing at her injured arm with another whine as it looked like she was losing a lot of blood.

"I need to go to the hospital." she mumbled, trying to stand but was clearly dizzy as she fell back on the ground and cursed again. "I can't... Aiden... Nathan..." she muttered while panting, trying to get up but only falling back down again. I immediately pushed my wolf away and shifted back to my human form, not caring about anything else as I leaned over my mate worriedly.

"Nathan... wolves... So... tired." she mumbled incoherently before fully passing out as our friends crowded around, sniffing her with concern. "Back off guys! Get back to the pack house, we need a doctor right now!" I growled as they jumped back with whines of worry. "GO!"

Ryder and Liam took off into the woods while Lacey and Hunter stayed behind. 'You know I can't leave you out here alone after that.' Hunter spoke through the mind link and I just nodded once, glancing at Lacey who began to shift back, yanking on the shorts and tank top that were tied to her leg when she was done.

"Shift back to your wolf Nate, give her to me." she said and held her arms out and my wolf immediately surged forwards with a snarl. "MINE!" he practically roared and she paused with her hands up. "Nate listen to me. I know she's injured and your wolf is losing it, but the fastest way to get back is in wolf form so if you shift I know your fatass is big enough to carry us both. I can hold her so we can get back as fast as possible and get her some help." she explained with a cheeky smile but immediately returned to a serious expression.

After a moment I snarled but forced myself to hand Ivy over to Lacey carefully. I took the shirt from around my leg and shredded it, tying it tightly on the upper part of her injured arm to help slow the bleeding before shifting back into my wolf. I laid down and Hunter carefully helped position them on my back, Lacey behind Ivy with her arms caging her in, fists clenched in my fur to keep her steady.

I ignored the pain in my foreleg, lunging forwards into the trees and running faster than I ever had before, my paws barely skimming the ground as I raced home. The trip that could usually take about thirty minutes only took about ten as I slid to a stop at the small hospital next to the pack house specifically for pack use, letting Lacey carefully hop off with my mate.

I instantly shifted back, yanking on a pair of shorts and taking my mate back into my arms carefully before rushing inside and yelling for a pack doctor.

----------

A/N: Welcome to the second book! Hope you are excited to continue the story! Don't forget to comment and vote if you are enjoying it so far!