The Struggle: Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 2 Read online

  The Struggle

  Hollow Crest Wolf Pack

  Book 2

  By C.C. Masters

  Dedication:

  Dedicated to everyone who has supported me along this journey! Special thanks goes out to the Seaside Wolf Pack on Facebook for always keeping me inspired and motivated.

  Thank you to my awesome beta readers, who helped get this book ready for public viewing.

  Copyright 2018 by C.C. Masters.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters are fictional, the places are fictional, and the events are fictional.

  The Struggle

  Need to catch up?

  Prologue

  Baracus

  Chapter 1

  Lori

  Chapter 2

  Lori

  Chapter 3

  Lori

  Chapter 4

  Lori

  Chapter 5

  Lori

  Chapter 6

  Baracus

  Chapter 7

  Lori

  Chapter 8

  Lori

  Chapter 9

  Lori

  Chapter 10

  Lori

  Chapter 11

  Lori

  Chapter 12

  Grayson

  Chapter 13

  Lori

  Chapter 14

  Baracus

  Chapter 15

  Wyatt

  Chapter 16

  Lori

  Chapter 17

  Lori

  Chapter 18

  Lori

  Chapter 19

  Corey

  Chapter 20

  Lori

  Chapter 21

  Corey

  Chapter 22

  Lori

  Chapter 23

  Lori

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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  Books by C.C. Masters

  Need to catch up?

  Here’s what happened so far:

  Lori and her mom attempted to flee from her cruel pack the night before her eighteenth birthday. Lori made it out, but her mom sacrificed her life to make sure Lori could escape to freedom.

  Lori thinks that her pack master, second in command, and two other high ranking males were killed in the fight for her freedom. But what Lori doesn’t know is that Baracus, her old pack master, survived his injuries and is now out for her blood. He wants revenge for the permanent damage that cost him everything - his home, his pack, and his life as he knew it.

  Lori meets Grayson, Kannon, Wyatt, and Corey in the small town of Hollow Crest. They form a small pack together, and she discovers that they made a deal with a mysterious university for the right to call Hollow Crest their home. The guys purchased an old firehouse to transform into a mechanic shop, but not everyone in the town is happy with their presence in Hollow Crest.

  Lori strikes a deal with Hollow Crest university to get a new identity and free herself from her old pack. But she has no idea that Baracus isn’t going to let her go that easily. And Lori is about to find out that a deal that sounds too good to be true usually is.

  Prologue

  Baracus

  I kept my breathing shallow as I walked through the darkness to the pre-arranged meeting place. Ever since I was shot a couple of weeks ago, I was unable to take a deep breath. The bullet had pierced my lung and left me drowning in my own blood. I had laid unconscious for days while my body healed – but I hadn’t been restored quite right. The injury had left me unable to walk faster than the ambling pace of an old man. It had also left me unable to fight or run with my pack.

  I had awoken from my healing sleep to find my pack in shambles and the Stone Creek Pack sniffing around our territory. Losing the most powerful wolves in my pack had left us open for attack, and my weakness was the final nail in our coffin. My own pack had turned on me and let the alpha of the Stone Creek Wolf Pack waltz right into our territory.

  I snarled when I thought about how I had been pushed aside and forced to pledge my loyalty to another alpha if I wanted to keep my life. My former collection of females now turned down their noses at me, unwilling to slake my needs without the promise of the favor of the pack master. My home was taken over by wolves from Stone Creek and I was banished to the outskirts of our territory in what could best be described as a shack.

  Rage filled me at the memory of the weakest wolves in the pack giving me looks of pity as they dropped off a collection of my personal belongings. Our new alpha didn’t want his home tainted by the remnants of the old regime.

  I looked up at the stars in the night sky and tried to get my temper under control. The urge to shift so I could run and hunt was almost too much to resist. But my deformed and dysfunctional lung affected me in even my wolf form. I was unable to find peace in any form.

  Footsteps crunched in the gravel as my contact walked up the driveway to my pitiful new home. “Looks like you had quite the reversal of fortune, Baracus.” His mocking voice carried through the night and I clenched my jaw in an effort not to respond. I wouldn’t be able to back up my words with action; he would easily have my face pressed into the dirt and my humiliation would be even worse.

  “Do you have the information?” I spat out.

  “I do,” he said thoughtfully as he looked me over. “But my price has increased since we last spoke.”

  I cursed at him. This asshole was going to try to extort me now?

  He smiled as if he found my anger amusing. “I need a little extra to ease my guilt over turning a sweet little girl over to you.”

  “That little bitch is anything but sweet,” I snarled. “She destroyed this entire pack. Ruined my life. She’s going to pay.”

  He shook his head in false sadness. “And that’s why I need extra. Twenty percent should do it.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “That’s ridiculous.”

  He shrugged and waved a folder. “If you don’t want this…”

  I sucked in a breath to curse him out again, but it was too much for my lung. I wheezed as it seized up and I couldn’t take in enough air. He watched with a raised eyebrow while I choked and struggled to breathe.

  My anger towards him was only outweighed by my hatred for Lori and need for revenge. When I finally caught my breath I nodded in agreement. “It’s in the house.”

  He followed my slow pace back into the house but looked derisively at the piece of shit couch in my living room when I offered him a seat. “Suit yourself,” I growled as I went into the tiny box of a room that passed for a bedroom. Stone Creek had seized all the pack assets including bank accounts, but I’d always had kept some money hidden in case of an attempted coup. I pulled out more cash than I wanted to part with, but if it got my hand around that little bitch’s throat then it was well worth it.

  Chapter 1

  Lori

  I looked nervously at Kannon as we walked up to our new school. He reached for my hand with a reassuring smile and I gave it to him gratefully. Kannon was tall, lean, and super-smart. His sandy brown hair, hazel eyes, and fit form were just the attractive packaging that hid the sweet genius inside. The feel of Kannon’s hand in mine eased some of my anxiety from what we were about to face today. This school was small enough that there would be no hiding in the crowd for us. Everyone knew
each other here.

  Kannon and I had registered for our classes last week and had received a tour of the school. I had been a little surprised that it had gone so smoothly. No one had questioned the fake identification or the transcripts that the lamia had provided for me. It seemed almost too easy. I kept waiting for the charade to fail and someone to call us out on our lies.

  I followed Kannon through the crowded hallway towards the senior lockers. One perk of being a senior was that we got the luxury version of lockers- they were twice the size of the freshman lockers and on the newer side. Our linked hands got a few curious glances, but most people were too busy greeting their old friends to care about two new students passing by them. I hoped that would last and Kannon and I would be left in peace.

  We passed by Taylor but she carefully avoided my eyes as she laughed at something one of her friends said. Whatever. It hurt a little that she was going to pretend she had never met me before in her life, but I would rather be left alone than have to deal with drama. If she didn’t want to talk then it was fine with me.

  I had thought that Taylor and I had become friends over the summer while we worked together at her uncle’s ice cream shop, but that had quickly changed on my last day. Her uncle, Roger Reaven, had attempted to sexually assault me. I had fought him off when Taylor had walked in. She made it clear that she would protect her uncle in an attempt to salvage the reputation of her family, despite knowing the truth about him. Taylor was a pretty blond that seemed to be popular with the other students, so I doubt I would be able to make friends easily if she hated me.

  Kannon let go of my hand as we reached my locker. “You okay?”

  I shrugged and spun the lock to put in my combination. “Just nervous. I wish we had more classes together.” Kannon and I were taking AP calculus and a history class together but we were going to be separated for the rest of our classes. I wasn’t brave enough to try AP physics or the computer programming class he was in and he felt the same about fourth-year French and creative writing. We had also gotten stuck with different homerooms and gym classes.

  “It’ll be okay,” he assured me. “We just have to make it to lunch.”

  I gave him a smile. “Don’t be late to homeroom.”

  He glanced around to make sure no one was watching us before placing a quick kiss on my forehead. We had already been warned that PDA between students was frowned upon here. The warning bell rang to let us know that we only had two minutes to get to our homerooms and Kannon hurried down the hall to his locker.

  I grabbed the textbook and notebook that I would need for my first class of the day and shoved my backpack into the locker. This school was full of rules and they didn’t allow students to bring backpacks to class for ‘safety reasons.’ That would have been completely impractical at my last school, but this one was so small that I would be able to walk to my locker between each class.

  I sighed and picked up my speed to get to my homeroom. There were only twelve classrooms on the first floor and they were clearly numbered, so I had no problem getting there before the bell rang. I stood in front of the classroom for a moment to evaluate the situation. Most of the seats were already full with students talking loudly about what they did over summer break. The back had been the first to fill so the only empty desks were ones in the first two rows. I decided that a desk in the second row off to the left side of the classroom looked safe so I made my way over.

  Before I could even set my books down on top of the desk, a blond girl put her hand out to stop me. “Sorry,” she said snidely. “This seat’s saved.” Her brunette friend giggled and they both stared as I let out a breath of frustration. They ran their eyes over my thrift shop clothes and sneered at my braided hair and bare face. I knew that I wasn’t dressed like them but why did girls have to be so petty?

  Instead of being difficult and making new enemies, I just gave them a smile and walked away. There were now only two desks left in the front center of the room so I sighed in resignation and sat in one of them.

  I hated the feeling of having an entire room of students at my back where I couldn’t see them. I could hear whispers behind me, but did my best to tune them out. It irritated me that no one was willing to talk to me, but they were more than happy to talk about me. But I wasn’t going to make a scene by confronting them in my very first class. That would just give them even more to talk about. It would be better if they lost interest and I could fade into the background.

  Our teacher was a very pregnant woman in her late twenties. She completely ignored all of the students who were talking in favor of playing a game on her cell phone. Whatever. It’s not like we were expected to learn anything in homeroom anyway. I stared down at my notebook and tried to pretend that I wasn’t incredibly uncomfortable sitting here by myself.

  I reached out for Kannon with our pack bond, but his homeroom must have been too far. I couldn’t sense him at all. My mother had been half human and unable to shift from her human form so I had inherited some of her weaknesses. I could shift into my wolf form and I had enough magic to be included in the pack bond, but I would always be one of the lowest wolves out there. Those more powerful than myself had an easier time shifting and could do it as often as they liked. I sometimes struggled to reach the tiny spark inside that would allow me to shift and had gotten stuck in one form or the other more than a few times.

  Kannon was one of the wolves that I had met when I came to Hollow Crest after escaping from my old pack. Corey, Grayson, and Wyatt had already graduated from high school and were a few years older than Kannon and I. They had left California and had settled here in Hollow Crest just a short time before I had arrived. The four of them had started a mechanic shop, Four Guys Auto, which is where the other three members of our pack currently were. Lucky them. I wish I was anywhere but here right now.

  Our pregnant teacher struggled to her feet and held up a hand to speak. Her words were completely drowned out by the jumble of excited students becoming reacquainted with their friends.

  “Hey!” A tall blond guy got to his feet and let out a loud whistle which got the attention of everyone in the room. “Mrs. Meyers is trying to talk,” he shouted over the din in a deep voice.

  Mrs. Myers smoothed her dress over her protruding belly. “Thank you, Noah,” she said in quietly. “I need everyone to take a seat so I can take roll before the announcements start.”

  Roll call was just as boring as it was in my old school. It sucked that I was in the front of the room so I couldn’t see everyone as they answered to their name unless I were to turn around and stare like a weirdo. It would have been nice to learn the names of some of the other students so I had a chance to get to know people. I kept my head down and avoided eye contact until it was my turn to answer to my name. I heard some shuffling and a whispered, “That’s her.” But I couldn’t make out who said it.

  I was surprised that this school didn’t do announcements over the loudspeaker as I had expected. Instead, there was a television in the front corner of the room. We had to watch a couple of students recap the daily news before the principal stepped in to give a standard welcome speech. Boring.

  Finally, the bell rang and I hurried to my first real class of the day. I already had my books in hand and I wanted to be one of the first students there so I could get a decent seat this time. A handful of students had beat me to my French class, but I gave a sigh of relief when I saw a desk in the back corner that was perfect for me. I slid into the seat and was surprised when the blond guy from earlier deliberately sat right next to me.

  “Hey,” he said with a friendly grin. “You’re Lorianne?”

  “Just Lori,” I murmured in surprise.

  “I’m Noah,” he said with a small wave. “You must have just moved here, I’ve never seen you before.” The classroom were slowly filling with students but there was no sign of the teacher yet. I looked out the corner of my eye at Noah, trying not to be too obvious. He was just as tall as Kannon, but with more mus
cle on his frame. His square jaw, bright blue eyes, and close-cropped blond hair screamed all-American to me. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he was the stereotypical high school quarterback.

  I decided I would do my best to be friendly. Noah was the first person to speak to me, so maybe I could make at least one new friend today? “Yeah, I came out here originally to go to a summer program at Hollow Crest University, but decided to move here for my last year of high school.”

  Noah’s eyebrows rose. “No one just moves out here. What do your parents do?”

  I chewed on my lip nervously. “Um, my parents both passed away, but I’m eighteen so I’m fine on my own.” Great. I was already demonstrating that I wasn’t a normal student. I had wanted to blend in, but I was just telling him all the things that made me different from the rest of them.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Noah said sympathetically. “It must be hard being on your own.”

  I nodded. “I thought it would help to go somewhere completely new, somewhere there weren’t memories lurking around every corner.” And now I just made myself sound depressed. Fantastic. It only took a few sentences for me to build the type of reputation that I didn’t want.

  Noah nodded but before he could speak again, our teacher glided into the room. “Good morning, class!” she said enthusiastically. “Don’t think I’m going to be easy on you because this is your first period of the day. I expect every one of you to be on time and ready to learn when you walk in my classroom.”

  There were a few groans around the room at her words, but I was surprised to hear a little bit of a Spanish accent behind her words. That was really impressive if she could speak three languages well enough to teach them. My last teacher had been a native French speaker who sometimes struggled with English, which could make classes interesting. It was great for learning the accent and immersing yourself in the language, but not so great when the teacher banned any English words from the classroom and I couldn’t figure out how to say something in French.