Pride Unleashed (a Wolf's Pride novel, book 2)

Pride Unleashed

Book 2 in the Wolf’s Pride trilogy

Cat Kalen

Published by Cat Kalen.

Copyright 2012 Cat Kalen

Edited by Denise McClain

Cover by Crocodesigns

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www.catkalen.com

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The night is
thick
,
dark
,
and ominous—
much like my current
disposition
.
All around me the
vineyard’s
nightlife falls
mute
,
the cacophony of familiar sounds muffled beneath the
heavy,
menacing
mood
.
Tension hovers
overhead like a
threatening
rain cloud
and my flesh tightens, waiting for the
sky to
crack
open and
fracture the silent night
.
E
ven the
crickets
s
tand down
,
their chorus hushed as they sit
watching,
waiting,
listening for the hammer to fall, or in this case, the silver to pierce.

It
unnerves me to
think that
the
n
octurnal
creature
s
surrounding the estate
—a
mansion where I’d
once
been imprisoned—instinctively k
now
that
I
, along with the pack of wolves at my back, are walking head first into danger and c
hances of survival are slim at best.

Not unless I can
deceive
him
.
Th
e
master.
A
coldblooded
human
who kept me under his
strict
control for
seventeen
long
years
.
The same man who
taught me to t
rick,
to
lur
e
,
to
embrac
e
my
primal side
in
an effort
to
hunt
the
ruthless
drug dealers
who dared to
cross him
.
But
I’ll have to put on my best
performance
yet if I want to fool
the
soulless
predator
who
uses
both
silver
and abuse
to
dominate
his
wolves
.

And they call
me
the monster.

The second
I surrender and
he slaps a collar
around my throat
,
I
know what I
’ll
have to do
—
convince
him
t
hat
I hadn’t run
away
from the compound and
had
only been
follow
ing
his
orders
to
hu
nt down a rogue wolf
.

But showing no emotion
in the face of
an enemy who is as cunning as he is
powerful
might
not be as easy as it once was.
Not after everything I’ve been through.
The fact that
I’ve changed while running
in
Olympic National Park with the rogue wolf in question
, however, is
a point in my
favor
.
The
master no longer knows all my
weaknesses
.

O
r any of my
strengths.

I angle my head to see Logan
,
the boy/wolf who
wound himself around my heart and
helped me learn so much about
the world,
and
about the girl
inside me
.
Whe
n my eyes lock on his,
my stomach punches into my throat
and I swallow a cry of anguish
.

Emotions crowd me because
I
realize
Logan’s fate
is in my hands
and I
know what will happen to him once I
turn
him over to
the
master
.
I must abandon him
li
ke he
’s nothing more than a
tick on my ruff
, l
ike
what happened between us in th
at
cave two week
s
ago during the full moon was nothing more than a diversionary tactic
.
Despite
our bond
,
I
understand
it’s the only way we can get inside
the fortified compound
, the only option we have
.
But it still doesn’t make
feeding him to the wolves
, so to speak, a
ny easier.

I smile at
my
new
mate
but
my expression
slips
when I turn away
.
The truth is I’m frightened.
Frightened
for
Logan
.
Frightened f
o
r
the pack of wolves
at our back
s
,
for
the pack
still trapped inside
—what will happen if I can’t get them out?
And I’m f
rightened f
o
r
Stone, the
a
lpha who
pretended to be
my
enemy but
who
risked his
very
life to save m
ine
.

I can only hope
that
the boy I’ve known since childhood
was able to u
se his
wit
and resourcefulness to stay alive.
But what if
I’m wrong?
What if the master kill
s
him
b
ecause of me
?

I
draw
in a sharp breath and work to desensitize.
I can’t let
panic
get the better of me.
Not now.
Not after I’
ve
co
me so far.

Keeping to the shadows and camouflaging ourselves in the
hostile
night, my
foot
steps s
low
as
we reach the long winding driveway leading up to my
former
master’s estate.
With my sight unhindered by the dark
ness
, I glance
past the
thick
iron gate
defend
ing
the perimeter
and take in the sprawling mansion
nestled at the foot of
M
ount
Sirren
.

On the south
ridge
of the mountain
, overlooking the
estate, f
ields
of
grapevines
provide a gorgeous backdrop to the
majestic
manor
.
As
I inhale the
familiar scents,
I
struggle to
tame
the wolf pacing restlessly inside me,
but
I can
’t
seem to
marshal
the
u
nease seep
ing
from my every pore
.

Even though
our
aim
is to get in and out as quickly as possible—no one wants to be inside
the compound
any longer than necessary—it’s still
a
risky plan,
dangerous,
and
the scars marring my body are a constant reminder that
disobedience comes with a price.
If I make one wrong move,
one small mistake
under
the
master’s watchful eye
,
not even
the
capable
a
lpha beside me
or th
e
pack
of werewolves
who
make up our small army will be able to
step in
and
stop
him
.

Something I
long ago
vowed
to
do.

My ears perk for sound, and
I
note that t
he
propane
-
fired
cannons
, a devi
c
e
used
t
o scar
e
birds from the vineyard
,
are quiet tonight
.
B
ut come tomorrow they’ll
b
last
again
.
At least they’d better
blast
,
because my
plan to get
the o
thers out alive hinges upon it.