Undying: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Crystal Lake Pack Book 2) Read online

  “Where would we go? We’ve been here for nearly a hundred years. This is our land now, our home. No alpha worth their fangs would turn tail and run from an enemy. We fight.”

  Addie held back from snipping back at her, because none of this was her fault, but it was so hard to comprehend, difficult to understand why the pack would rather die than move and possibly save lives. If shifters were dying out, wasn’t every life worth it?

  “Plus, the human world is…strange to most of us. We’re mostly out of the times here, you know. I think, as a whole, there’s maybe five cell phones in town, including the one I’m sure you brought.”

  Crap. Speaking of phones—Addie felt around her backside, in her jacket’s pockets—she’d left her phone in her room. She had to call her mother as soon as she was able to. She was going to kill her doubly, now. Addie would’ve made the comment about how she could hardly function without her phone, but after spending a few days here, she was already proving herself wrong. She hadn’t gone on social media for days.

  It was…kind of freeing, not having the cloud over her shoulder, not seeing what her ex-friends were up to in their stories and their posts.

  Then again, she had to deal with life and death situations, not to mention a crazy death priest, plus deal with the attraction to multiple people at the same time, but…well. Those were all things she’d have to get used to, since she was staying here. Part of the pack. Both a shifter and not a shifter.

  “The human world is normal to me,” Addie finally said, shrugging. “All this shifter stuff is what’s weird. To be honest, I’m still caught up in the multiple mates thing.”

  Her last remark caused Caitlin to laugh. “It’s not as strange as it might sound to you. When you’re bonded with another, they care for you, and they know you’ll also be with others. There’s no jealousy. I’m sure you’ll find it freeing, once it happens.”

  Addie was not so certain about that. She’d never been with anyone before—now she knew it was because she just wasn’t attracted to humans the way she was to shifters—but it made her very self-conscious. Worried when, if she’d only had one boyfriend before, she would have worried a heck of a lot less. What if she did something wrong? What if she said something in the middle of you-know-what and completely ruined the moment? What if…

  Okay, there were a lot of what-ifs that raced through her head in that moment.

  Her worry must’ve been obvious, for Caitlin let out a feminine laugh, light and fluttery. “You’ll be fine. If you ever need someone to talk to about it, I’m usually available. The pack doesn’t let me do anything since I’m so close,” she referred to her very pregnant state.

  Addie nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” She really, really did, even if Caitlin was just doing it to be nice, or if Forest or some other shifter had told her to. It was still comforting to know someone would be there to listen if she ever needed it.

  “Now go on,” Caitlin said. “I’m going to head back to town. Have to pee, and doing it in the woods is impossible when you have all this weight. It’s a lot easier to sit down. You know, pregnancy sucks.” She smiled, rubbing her round belly with such love and adoration it kind of made Addie sick.

  She was so not ready for that.

  Caitlin turned and starting walking away, going back the way they came—although she did more waddling than walking, with her huge belly. Her long, curly hair swayed with each step, its black lengths bouncing.

  A nice woman, someone Addie instantly liked. Talking with her, even for such a short time, made everything seem more real. What if Clay came back and she was his next victim? What if he decided Addie was no longer the key to unlocking the beast, but Caitlin’s unborn child was?

  Addie would not let Clay hurt anyone else. She’d do whatever it took to stop him.

  Where was her magical, old wizened tutor? The one there always was in the movies to help guide the hero? Not like she was the hero here, but…

  Damn it. She was the frigging hero.

  Chapter Four

  Addie waited until Caitlin was out of sight before turning and heading past the last line of trees and into the clearing. It looked so different without the cabin, both less menacing and more foreboding. The cabin itself had been nothing special, just a one room building, less than three hundred square feet, but it was one she would never forget.

  All the blood. All the lives lost inside it. The fire that roared with a red flame, kept alight with Clay’s death magic. Terrible memories that would haunt her dreams, years down the road. That was assuming she lived through this. If Clay had his way, she wouldn’t.

  An invisible energy pulled at her, tickling her skin. Addie knew enough now to know it was the residual magic. Every spell Clay had used to keep the cabin hidden, every spell he’d used inside it, even the one for the barrier that masked the cabin’s location from the pack, lingered. Not strong enough to do anything; more like a footprint. A footprint saying magic was here. It was the first time she’d ever felt anything like it.

  Had she never run into magic in her life before the floating book, or was she only now detecting things because she knew the truth? Because she was able to kind of harness her own power?

  A crew of shifters worked along the rows of handmade crosses, using shovels to break the ground and then their hands once they were deep enough, probably not to hurt the bodies more. Respect for the dead. Once they dug them up, they placed them on a makeshift stretcher—two thick sticks tied with some cloth—and carried them out and away from here.

  The sun shone hot overhead, beating down on her hair. All this sun exposure was not good for the pink strands between her brown, but there was little she could do. Maybe she could call her mother and have her send her some more dye after all this.

  Did they even get mail here? They had to. Stupid question.

  Addie spotted Forest kneeling over the most recently dug-up body. Going up to him while he was leaning over a decaying, dried corpse was not what she wanted. Then again, why was she even here? It wasn’t like she was going to tell him hey, decided I want to get railed by the three wolves you’ve chosen as my mates, so good choice with them.

  As she was lost in her own thoughts, Forest stood, nodding once to the men around the stretcher. They picked up the body, carrying it away from the clearing, marching back to the town. Addie had no idea what they were doing with the bodies, but it had to be more respectful than the way Clay used them and dumped them in unmarked graves, save for those hideous, ungainly crosses.

  He’d heard her, probably heard her approach for a while, now. Forest did not turn to face her as he wiped his forearm on his forehead, muttering, “You should not be here.” His shirt was covered in sweat, the cotton material hugging his muscles in ways she definitely shouldn’t notice.

  Forest was older than her by at least ten years. He was supposed to be her mother’s mate, but he was born years after her, and by the time he was of age, Sarah had already run off with Addie’s father. Sure, he was drop-dead gorgeous, lick-able in every way possible, but still. Addie needed to do her best not to think of him like that.

  He was an authority figure. The alpha.

  Addie averted her eyes from his shoulders—which seemed awfully square and wide, suddenly—instead gazing at the gravesite. “I don’t think any of us should be here,” she spoke quietly. Magic remained. Clay could return. It was dangerous to be here, and it didn’t take a know-it-all to realize it.

  Forest moved to pick up the shovel resting a few feet beside him. As he did so, he shot her a look, his blue eyes cloudy. “I will not leave anyone here,” he said, straightening out. “They will come home and get the funeral they deserve.” He finally turned to her, towering over her because he was basically a giant. “You should go back to town, Addie.”

  She could not stare into his intense gaze for long. Just like the magic around her, something lingered in his stare, but unlike the magic, it was something she could not name.

  Addie could fee
l the gazes of the other shifters, men of various ages, all probably wondering why she was here. Some of them looked a bit more wolfish than others, but they were all thick, huge, and muscular in the way their kind was. She ignored them, focusing on the shovel in Forest’s hand. A hand that gripped the shovel so tightly, his knuckles were turning white.

  He had to feel intense loss here. Being around so many shifters who’d lost their lives while under his rule had to be tough. Addie couldn’t guess what he felt, whether or not he blamed himself for all of it. She would, if she was in his position. She was the worst self-blamer around.

  “I’m not going back to town,” she said, head bobbing at the shovel he held. “I want to help.” Yes, helping dig up bodies sounded much more appealing than telling Forest she was okay with the arrangement between her and her three intended mates.

  Probably not a joke she should’ve made, even if it was only to herself.

  This situation was serious, the bodies they dug up real. This was not a time for any sort of joke.

  Forest studied her, his gaze still a bit too hard, a bit too penetrating, as if he could see into her mind. “No,” he said, turning away from her. “Go back to town.” He practically growled out the four words, an order from an alpha to a packmate who was supposed to follow his word like law.

  “I won’t,” Addie said. Her stubborn words caused everyone to stop what they were doing and stare at her. “I’m going to help, whether you like it or not.” Though there were nearly a dozen others hard at work, she added, “You need help.”

  He was about to order her off again—she could tell by the tensing of the vein in his forehead—but he stopped himself. “Fine. You’ll help me.” Forest turned and started walking, dodging the holes that were already dug up, moving around the pairs digging.

  There was one hole already half-dug, not deep enough to have pulled a body out yet, but Forest didn’t stop before it. He kept going, passing numerous crosses and graves. Addie didn’t question him, didn’t say a single word as she watched him stop at the final cross in the row they stood in and drop to his knees, slowly lowering his nose to the ground.

  He inhaled a deep lungful before standing and saying, “This one.”

  Well, if he wanted to creep her out, he definitely had it down pat. Addie bit the inside of her cheek, wondering if it was too late to turn around and go back to town. Seeing a partially decomposed body on a stretcher ten feet away was a far cry from digging it up herself and touching it with her bare hands.

  Shouldn’t they have gloves on? Or masks? Or something?

  “Let me loosen the dirt first, take off the top layer,” Forest said, more informing her of the plan than asking her if she was sure she wanted to do this.

  Addie nodded. It was way too late to turn back now.

  She stood back, shrugging off her jean jacket as she watched him go at it with the shovel. Her jacket had seen so much lately, she’d hate to get it even dirtier. Addie set it aside, past the boundaries of the graves, rolling her shoulders, which were now bare in her tank top, and little chilly to boot. Once she started working though, she knew she’d sweat.

  Within a few minutes, Forest had the grass dug up, along with the next foot or so of dirt. The rest would be up to their hands, so as to not further dismember the body below. He knelt on one side of the hole while Addie positioned herself on the other.

  Forest stuck his hands in the hole first, and she saw his arm muscles seemed to bulge more, the veins popping. She wasn’t so much in awe of his physique—even though it was something to stare at—than she was stunned at the claws that grew on his fingers. They looked like wolf claws. The rest of him didn’t seem to turn even a little.

  “You can,” she paused, unaware of how to say it or what it was called, “shift a little?” There had to be a better word, or a phrase. Shifting a little did not inspire fear or awe, not like those claws did. They could rip out anyone’s throat easily.

  “Only some can partially shift,” Forest replied, his blue gaze flicking to her for only a second before returning to the hole as he dug. He must’ve thought she was scared of getting scratched, for he added, “Just keep your hands away from mine, and you’ll be fine.”

  Right. Because a scratch would mean she would connect with her inner wolf fully and be able to shift herself. Not in the plan anytime soon, at least not until Clay was dealt with. But, strangely, that wasn’t what Addie meant. She knew Forest wouldn’t scratch her, that he’d be careful around her.

  She…wasn’t sure what she meant. Maybe she was just thinking out loud. Maybe she was just in awe of the alpha. Nothing more. She definitely was not developing a crush on him. There were a million reasons why that would be a bad idea. No, a million and a half. Probably more. Her inner wolf was in heat or something, yearning to be claimed.

  Well, her inner wolf had another thing coming. She’d be waiting a while.

  Addie and Forest dug. Neither of them spoke another word, which was probably for the best. His voice was too deep, anyway. Too manly. How was she not supposed to develop a crush on the guy? He was sex on two legs. Realistically, so were her three intended, but Forest was a man. He was older. There were angles on his face the others didn’t have yet, a matureness that only came with age.

  God, she needed help ASAP, and not with the hole.

  It took them a while, and of course Addie mostly fumbled about because this was the first time in her life she’d ever dug through dirt—not to mention the fact she didn’t have claws—but it happened, just as she knew it would.

  They reached the body.

  Specifically, Addie was the one who reached the body first. Dried skin, almost like a mummy, because Clay sucked all the blood out of them before he got rid of them, to refuel his body.

  “Keep going,” Forest whispered, shifting his clawed hands back to normal, having earthed up part of a leg, all brown and hard. “We have to get every part out of the dirt so the body doesn’t fall apart when we pull it out.”

  Addie really wanted to turn and puke, but she swallowed the feeling back down and kept on digging away. Handful after handful, she slowly revealed a neck, a face…hair. Long hair. Though the eyes were sunken in, though the face had no lips, only shriveled skin and yellowed teeth, she knew. She didn’t need to see the rest of the body.

  It was a woman.

  Pausing in her digging, she flicked her eyes at Forest. He had unearthed most of her legs, focusing on the corpse with an intensity no one would be able to match. Her heart suddenly ached, but she pushed her feelings to the side and helped dig up the torso. The clothes she wore were dirty and torn, jean shorts and a ripped tube top. She had no shoes.

  Addie stood and backed away once she was completely dug up, allowing Forest to pull her up and out of the grave, holding the back of her head so it didn’t snap and break. It was the first time any of these bodies had seen daylight in a long while. She noticed the others had stopped what they were doing and were also watching Forest.

  Addie didn’t belong here. She shouldn’t be seeing this. This was far too intimate, too emotional. This meant more to everyone than she knew.

  “I’m sorry,” Addie whispered, taking a step back.

  Cradling the corpse to his body, Forest looked at her but said nothing. What was there to say?

  She bent and picked up her jacket, throwing it on as she hurried away. Addie felt the urge to cry, because she knew there was something she didn’t know, knew that corpse meant more to the pack than she could understand, but no tears came. She was tearless as she hiked her way through the woods.

  Death was not something she had to face growing up. Addie only had her mother. No extended family to speak of. Her father’s side, well, her mother had kept her from them for obvious reasons. She supposed she had family now, but it seemed like Henry was alone. No grandmother to speak of. And it was like everyone in the pack was related somehow, or pretended to be. Everyone was a sister or a brother, even if they weren’t by blood.


  She could have cousins around here, somewhere. Caitlin might even be her cousin.

  Did it matter, though? Either way, Addie didn’t know how to handle death. Funerals? Never been to one, ever—only seen some on TV and in the movies. She knew it might’ve been a childish way to look at the world, but she never prepared herself for it. She did what she could for the things she faced, like tests and avoiding her mother’s clients. How could she prepare herself for something that had never happened to her?

  Death was so final, the end-all of everything. Death was something everyone knew but couldn’t put into words. It was hard, painful, but it could offer release for some. Dead was dead; there was no coming back from it.

  Clay was…Clay was a different story.

  God, now Addie really regretted going to the clearing and finding Forest. She should’ve just let him be and taken a walk by herself. Maybe a nap. Even though it was the middle of the day, she was tired. So freaking tired she could probably curl up and sleep on a bed of rocks.

  A voice broke through the woods, and Addie looked up to see Dylan approaching, clutching his worn copy of Gone with the Wind to his side. He lifted a finger to his glasses, adjusting them. His cheeks were flushed, as if he’d been running.

  Addie was so startled at his sudden appearance, and so caught up in the flush in his cheeks and wondering how much redder he could get, she hardly heard a word he said. He was cute, his dirty blonde hair a bit longer than Maze’s, long enough to lay over the top of the rims on his glasses.

  He repeated himself, “Addie, there’s a situation at the house.”

  A situation so bad Dylan had to run to get her? Addie did not like the sound of it, but she knew she had no choice but to go. At least it would get her mind off of Forest, and the way he’d held the body. That had been a moment she should not have seen. Haunting was the only word for it.