The Struggle: Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 2 Read online

  Tears filled my eyes and I stopped listening. I jerked my arm away from Grayson when I saw pity fill his eyes. “Wyatt’s going to ask her to leave,” he said quietly. “He’s just trying not to make a scene. That might make things worse.”

  “Make things worse?” I repeated back to him. I shook my head and tried not to have an emotional breakdown. “It’s one thing to have kids at school gossip about me, but this is affecting your business now.”

  “I don’t care,” Grayson said stubbornly. “If they have a problem with you then we don’t want them as customers.”

  “Are you going to ban the whole town?” I asked angrily. “There is literally no one out there that would believe me over him.”

  “We do,” Corey said softly from across the room.

  I scoffed. “How are we going to pay our bills if no one will come here because they hate me?”

  “Hey,” Grayson said gently. “We’ll figure this out.”

  “No,” I said flatly. “We won’t.” I stomped angrily towards the door but paused when I heard Corey’s voice.

  “If you try to run, we’ll find you.”

  I paused for a moment but didn’t turn around. “I’m going to see what we can make for dinner. I’ll help Wyatt with the paperwork after all the customers leave.” I didn’t wait to hear an answer before slamming the door behind me.

  Chapter 19

  Corey

  “Shit,” I said softly.

  “Yeah,” Grayson rubbed a hand over his face and I could see that the stress was getting to him. This wasn’t the first customer that stated that they had a problem with Lori, but it was the first one that she had heard. I didn’t understand how anyone could hate her. Me? Yeah, I could understand that. I hated myself on my best days.

  But Lori was smart, kind, pretty, and had a good heart. If this had been any other town she would have been the town sweetheart. But Hollow Crest was fucked up in all kinds of ways.

  “We can’t stay here,” I grumbled. “Not with how they treat Lori.”

  “I know,” Grayson snapped at me. My first instinct was to snap back, but I held it in. I was getting a little better at that every day. The hate and anger that had consumed every moment of my life was slowing fading away. Grayson was the calm rock that held our pack together. If he was close to snapping then things weren’t good.

  “Wyatt tried to look into selling this place,” Grayson said a little more quietly.

  “And?”

  Grayson shook his head and didn’t answer.

  “Fuck.”

  “Yeah.”

  “The tools are worth money.” I looked around the garage at what we had accumulated in our short time here.

  Grayson let out a breath. “They’re worth what other people are willing to pay for them.”

  “Try eBay?” I suggested.

  Grayson laughed bitterly. “We made a mistake thinking something like this could work.”

  I let out a breath. “And what other options do we have? You know there’s no other pack out there that would be willing to take in four lone male wolves, even if we bring a female with us.”

  “Offering Lori to another pack isn’t an option,” Grayson growled.

  I rolled my eyes. “Obviously. But you know she’s going to come with us regardless of where we go.”

  “That’s the problem,” Grayson spat out in frustration.

  I stood up to challenge him. “Lori is never a problem.”

  Grayson shook his head. “Of course she’s not the problem. But finding a place where we can keep her safe is.”

  “She’s not safe here,” I insisted. “Not with Baracus after her.”

  Grayson sighed. “And she’s definitely not safe at the university.”

  “Moving back there was never an option,” I told him stiffly.

  “I used every connection and lead I could find to get us here,” Grayson said in defeat. “I don’t know of anywhere else we could go.”

  “The lamia aren’t going to let us go easily. We’re either going to have to sneak our way out or fight our way out,” I told him.

  “There’s too many to fight,” Grayson admitted. “We’re going to have to find a way to convince them that we’re more trouble than we’re worth.”

  I held his gaze. “The easiest way for them to get rid of us quietly is a bullet in the head. Do you really think they’ll just let us walk away with everything that we’ve seen and heard?”

  Grayson turned to meet my eyes. “I have to believe that there is a way out of here.”

  I tossed my wrench back into the open drawer of the tool chest. “Whatever, at least we’ll all die together.”

  Chapter 20

  Lori

  I snuck under the covers with Kannon and snuggled up to his back. I could tell he was awake when his breathing changed so I gave him a kiss on the shoulder. “Morning, birthday boy. Congrats on not being jailbait anymore.”

  Kannon chuckled. “Is that what you’ve been waiting for?” I stiffened up against him and started to pull away. “Wait.” Kannon held onto my arm that was still wrapped around him and twisted around. “I’m sorry, Lori. I was being a jerk.”

  I blushed and forced a smile on my face. “No, I’m being weird.” Kannon’s face looked stricken as I slid out of the bed and stood up. “I’m going to make bacon and sausage,” I announced cheerfully. “I already told the guys that we were letting you sleep in and they couldn’t eat without you.”

  Kannon searched my face and held his arm up. “Lori, talk to me for a minute.”

  I shrugged uncomfortably and took a small step backward. “I should get cooking before Grayson tries to eat it raw.”

  “Lori…” Kannon gave me sad puppy dog eyes and I couldn’t take it.

  “It’s nothing,” I said as I avoided his eyes. “You already know that I’m…inexperienced with stuff.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with you,” Kannon said gently. He reached for me and I let him tug me back to the bed with him. “I genuinely care about you, Lori. You know I would never hurt you.”

  I laid down on the bed with him and let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “I know.” I turned so that my back was to him and I didn’t have to see him looking at me.

  “I’m not asking for anything,” Kannon murmured into my hair. “I would never rush you.”

  “Kannon,” I whispered. “I really like you, I’m just nervous about what it means for all of us if we take the next step.”

  He ran a hand over my hip and rested it there. “You’re afraid of hurting the pack dynamic?”

  I curled my fingers around his. “Yeah, I’m not sure where I stand with any of you.”

  Kannon chuckled. “I’d wait a hundred years for you.”

  I elbowed him gently. “You wouldn’t.”

  Kannon backed up and tugged on my shoulder so that I was lying on my back and looking up at him. “I would.”

  “You feel that way now, but-”

  Kannon shook his head. “But nothing.” He lowered his lips to mine slowly, giving me the opportunity to pull away if I had wanted to. But I didn’t want to. His mouth met mine tentatively and I pulled his head down to mine. It was a sweet kiss, but before it could deepen into something more he pulled away. “Sorry, I forgot about morning breath. You just looked so sad and beautiful that I couldn’t resist.”

  I couldn’t hold back the smile that crossed my face. “That’s why I love you so much.”

  Kannon’s eyes widened and I realized what I had just said. I froze. I had just pushed past one of the unspoken boundaries that had always been between us. His eyes softened and I relaxed when I saw the love that shown through them. “I love you,” he murmured. “And I promise to give you many more kisses after I brush my teeth and I’m less disgusting.”

  I laughed and brushed his lips with mine again. “So we’re okay?”

  He grinned. “We’re more than okay, we’re in love.” He started peppering kisses down my neck and over
my shoulder and my blood heated in response. I threaded my fingers through his soft hair and he ran his hand under my shirt and along my back. Kannon pulled away to gaze into my eyes and I couldn’t stop the happy smile that spread over my face.

  My smile faded when I thought about the other guys. How would they feel if Kannon and I were kissing and declaring our love for one another right in front of them? Corey had been making so much progress, I was worried that he would shut back down. How would Grayson feel?

  “Don’t worry,” Kannon assured me with a knowing look in his eyes. “I’m not the only one who’s going to declare his love for you, I’m just the first.”

  My jaw dropped. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

  Kannon smiled. “I want you happy, and I want the wolves I consider my brothers to be happy. Why would it bother me that all of us were happy together? I would hate it if other females came in and tore us apart.”

  “I love the way you make complicated things seem so simple,” I told him with a shy smile.

  Kannon rubbed his face against my neck. “Haven’t you heard? I’m actually some kind of a genius.”

  I laughed and nipped at him when he rose his head to grin at me. “Go brush your teeth and get a shower,” I ordered. “I’ll have your birthday breakfast ready when you come down.”

  Kannon didn’t get out of bed until he tickled me so bad that I was howling for him to let me go. I pressed my hands against my aching ribs as he started to walk away but couldn’t resist teasing him a little more. “Hurry up and don’t be late.”

  He turned back and took a step towards me with an evil grin on his face like he was going to pin me down and tickle me some more. I did the only thing that I could. Squeal like a girl and run for the stairs.

  Grayson and Wyatt both had grins on their faces when I walked into the kitchen and Corey had a small smile at the corner of his mouth, which was basically the same thing. I smoothed my clothes down as if I hadn’t almost been tickled to death and opened up the fridge. “He’ll be down in a couple minutes to eat,” I announced to the room as I pulled out the bacon and sausage.

  Wyatt rubbed his hands together. “What mischief do we have in store for our youngest wolf today?”

  Grayson smiled. “I’m glad you asked.” He walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a white shopping bag. “The first order of the day is silly string.” He took out a blue can and shook it eagerly before passing the bag to Corey.

  I was glad to see the guys smiling. Stress levels had been high since Baracus had invaded our space. Wyatt had finagled our finances so that we could have a security system installed the very next day. We probably should have done that after the incident with Gus, but having a human sneak in the garage was a joke compared to the threat that Baracus posed. I felt a little more secure knowing that we would get a heads up if he tried to break in again, but I was guessing that he wouldn’t try the same thing twice. Now that we were aware of his presence and actively watching for him, he would have more of a challenge to catch us unaware. We definitely would not be allowing the witches to weaken us like that again. Corey pulled out a pink can and rolled his eyes. “This must be for Lori.”

  I giggled and plucked it out of his hands. I wouldn’t mind getting a little revenge after the tickle fest that I had just suffered through. I could still hear the water running through the pipes upstairs so I knew Kannon wouldn’t be able to hear us. “I need you guys to take him out for a little bit so I have time to bake him a cake.”

  “He likes chocolate,” Wyatt told me seriously.

  “I know,” I said with a smile. “And I am prepared to provide the most delicious chocolate cake that he has ever tasted.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’ll be because you’re the one who baked it for him,” Grayson told me with an affectionate smile.

  I blushed. Had Kannon been right? Was he just the first one in the pack to tell me how he really felt? I put my can of silly string on the counter and turned back to the stove while the guys plotted some more pranks for Kannon. I started the bacon sizzling in the pan but had enough time to hide around the corner before Kannon made it into the kitchen. He walked past the wall that we were all hiding behind so we used that moment to attack.

  Kannon was still pulling silly string out of his hair when Wyatt set the table and Corey carried the plate of bacon over to the table. “Birthday boy gets the first piece.” Kannon reached for a piece but Corey pulled the plate away with a laugh. He smirked at Kannon for a moment before bringing the plate back and letting him have some of the bacon. Kannon had a big grin on his face as he scooped bacon, eggs, and sausage onto his plate.

  “Is this what you guys usually do for your birthdays?” I asked curiously as we dug into our first meal of the day.

  Corey shrugged. “Yeah. What better way to show someone that you love them other than being an asshole to them?”

  Wyatt snorted. “You must love a lot of people.”

  Corey rolled his eyes but in good humor. “None more than you, bro.”

  I would have missed Wyatt’s glance towards me if I hadn’t been looking right at him. “We’ll see,” he murmured cryptically.

  “Any special requests for the day, Kannon?” Grayson asked with a grin.

  Kannon shook his head no. “As long as we’re all together, I don’t care what we do.”

  Wyatt cleared his throat. “We found a place not too far from here for paintball.”

  Kannon frowned. “How expensive is it?” He glanced over at me. “And are we sure it’s safe?”

  “Just as safe as anywhere else,” Wyatt pointed out. “We can’t stop living because a psycho likes to take pictures of us.” It was far more significant than that, but I didn’t want to be the one to put a damper on Kannon’s day.

  You only turn eighteen once,” Grayson grumbled. “We can make it work.” I saw Kannon hesitate for another moment before his face lit up. “Lori, I’m guessing you’ve never gone before?”

  I shook my head. “I was actually going to stay behind,” I told him. “I wanted to make you a cake.”

  “Nope,” he said firmly. “We all go, or none of us go.” Kannon leaned closer to me. “I know you don’t really want to stay behind in the kitchen while we all go off and have fun.”

  I looked down. “Not really, but I know you would do it for me.”

  “That settles it,” Grayson announced. “We all go to paintball and we’ll pick up a cake for Kannon on the way home.”

  “And steak?” Kannon asked hopefully.

  “You got it,” Wyatt told him with a slap on the back.

  “You cooked breakfast, Lori,” Grayson announced. “So the rest of us will clean up before we go.”

  I gave him a relieved smile. It was good to know that the guys weren’t down with forcing me into the traditional female role of cooking and cleaning for them. I was also happy to be getting out of Hollow Crest, even if it was only for a short time.

  Kannon grabbed my hand. “Let’s go find some paintball-worthy clothing for you.” I laughed at his enthusiasm but raced to the stairs right alongside him.

  The day went by faster than I would have liked. The guys went easy on me during paintball but everyone had a lot of fun. As stressed out as we all had been, it was great to have just one day where we could forget all of our troubles. None of us were ready to see the day end after dinner, so even though we had spent half the day running around and shooting each other, we still had enough energy for a pack run.

  It had been hotly contested as to whether or not it was safe. Finally, we had all agreed that we would go somewhere that we’d never run before and not to our usual, predictable spot. We also agreed that we would wait at our destination for a half hour to make sure that no one followed us before we shifted. Our noses would be even more sensitive in wolf form, so we should be able to sense danger before it came near us.

  We left the firehouse while it was still light and made it to our destination while the sun was on its way down
. Grayson parked the SUV at the edge of a lake far from any humans and we watched the sun go down. Kannon put his arm around me to pull me closer and I leaned my head on his shoulder. “Happy birthday,” I murmured.

  “Best birthday ever,” he told me before giving the top of my head a kiss. I saw Grayson watching us and as soon as he realized I saw he looked away. But he was too late to hide the guilty look in his eyes. I knew this wasn’t what he had hoped Kannon’s eighteen birthday would be like. I wondered what my life would have been like if I had met these guys five years ago. Before their pack had been taken over and before they had lost their families and homes. What had their hopes and dreams looked like then? Right now, we were all just trying to survive, days like today were few and far between.

  Corey stood up from where he had been leaning against the side of the SUV. “Are we ready?”

  I went to the front of the car to undress and shift while the other guys stayed in the back for privacy. Once my four paws hit the ground I shook out my coat and stretched. It felt so good to be in my wolf form, I couldn’t wait to stretch out my legs and run as a pack. Wolves weren’t meant to stay in human form for as long as we did. We might look human, but a part of us was always wolf. We needed freedom and space to run.

  Kannon was the first to run towards me and we greeted each other with happy tail wagging and rubbing our muzzles. Wyatt rounded the corner next with Corey chasing after him. They fell to the ground wrestling, but it was happy and playful, not vicious. Grayson trotted out last and Kannon and I wagged our tails hopefully. We were both ready for our pack master to lead us on a run. Gray watched the twins wrestle with amusement in his eyes, probably not wanting to break the moment since it had been so long since the twins acted like brothers who loved each other.

  The twins felt us staring and broke apart, ready for our run. Grayson spun around and burst into a sprint, leading us towards the woods. Kannon and I followed with happy yips but the twins passed us quickly. I was easily the smallest of the pack because I was female and not as full-blooded as the rest of them. Kannon was still a little gangly compared to the other guys, but he wouldn’t reach his full size for a couple years. Wolves aged a little differently from humans.