Gabe's Lone Wolf (James Pack Book 6) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Gabe’s Lone Wolf

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Gabe’s Lone Wolf

  James Pack

  By Lacey Thorn

  Gabe’s Lone Wolf

  by

  Lacey Thorn

  Eliza…

  I’m a lone wolf. I’ve been on the run for years from the wolf pack I was born into, always managing to stay one step ahead. My former alpha won’t let me go unless I force him, which is exactly what I plan to do. With a little help from the James Pack.

  Gabe…

  She walked into my life, running from an obsessed alpha, and ran right into another. Me. I plan to show her she doesn’t need to run. I’m going to help her. Right after I mate her and make her mine.

  Copyright

  © 2021, Lacey Thorn

  Gabe’s Lone Wolf

  Cover Art by Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  Edited by Michele Paulin

  Electronic Format ISBN: 978-1-949795-70-7

  Published by: Lacey Thorn Publishing

  Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

  Dedication

  To Bas and Raina, the ones who started it all

  Chapter One

  ~ Eliza~

  Someone had betrayed me, and from the scent that carried in when the front door of the bar opened, my time was finally up. My past waited outside, and there was no way I’d allow them to drag me back to the pack I’d left in my dust years ago. I hadn’t belonged with them then, and I didn’t want to be among them now.

  I pushed away the beer I’d been enjoying and stood, dropping some bills on the tabletop before squaring my shoulders and heading toward the exit. I wouldn’t hide, and I sure as hell wouldn’t wait for my former pack mates to grow tired of waiting and head inside to trap me in a dark corner. There were too many humans, and despite the fact they were all strangers to me, I didn’t want to see their blood spilled.

  I inhaled the fresh air as I stepped through the exit and immediately scented the pack. No need to search them out. I knew they’d come to me as I headed across the shadowed lot to where my Jeep was parked. I would never make it to my car. I shouldn’t have parked so far from the bar, but I’d been under the impression I was safe. At least, temporarily. I’d been wrong.

  “Find what you’re looking for?” Cam Lockhart, the alpha of my former pack, stepped out from between two trucks and faced me, heavily muscled arms crossed over his wide chest. He was short, maybe an inch taller than my five-foot seven-inch frame, but he had me beat in sheer brute strength. He also had eighteen years on me.

  “Not yet.”

  He shook his head. “Wrong. It’s time to come home, Eliza. I’m done letting you run around. It’s time to take your place at my side, bear the future alpha.”

  Never going to fucking happen, but I wasn’t stupid enough to say that aloud. Not when I far too easily recalled how violent his temper could be.

  “Soon,” I lied instead, but he wasn’t buying it.

  Not that I expected him to. You’d think an alpha would take the hint when a girl ran instead of mating him. No. Cam took it as a challenge and wouldn’t let me fucking stay gone.

  “If I need to take you to the ground and mount you here to show you your place in this pack, I will,” he sneered, and I heard the chuckles of those who’d traveled with him though I couldn’t see them yet.

  Bullies and brutes. Just like their alpha. One guess why I ran. I mean, what teenage girl wouldn’t want to become the mate of a man like Cam? So romantic, right?

  “Seems a little crass even for you.”

  I could have bitten my tongue in two when anger darkened his face. I knew his moods better than anyone. I’d been forced to live inside his home from the time I was fourteen years old. Because he’d wanted me there. With my mom’s death, there was no one willing to stand up for me and refuse. Not my father, who’d fallen into the bottle and, as far as I knew, never found his way out. I was left at the mercy of a pack who didn’t care if their alpha planned to claim a child and force her to live in his home so he could groom and claim her. I ran from his home when I was seventeen because I knew he wouldn’t wait any longer to take me as his chosen mate. The claiming would have been public since Cam thought it was important for the pack to see I belonged to him and only him. His choice. Mine never mattered. Not to him. Not to anyone in our pack.

  “You’ve forgotten your place in this pack,” he snapped.

  I hadn’t. I knew exactly what awaited me if I went back there with him. I refused to be a brood mare for the alpha. His infatuation with me was sick and twisted and sent ripples of fear through me. I’d never survive a life where I was his mate. I’d die instead. By his hand or my own.

  “There’s no place for me there anymore. I left, and I’m not going back.” In sharp contrast to the frantic beating of my heart, I kept my voice steady and calm.

  “Wrong again, little wolf. You’re coming back, even if I have to tie you up and gag you for the extent of the journey.”

  More snickers echoed around us, and I saw two of his faithful edge closer to us. I eased backward, trying not to alert them I planned to turn and run. My only chance was getting to my vehicle before they caught me. I’d never outrun them on foot, as human or wolf. The only way I’d managed so far was by always staying a step ahead of them.

  “No.” I was close to losing the tenuous control I kept on my temper.

  “You’re my property. You’ll do as you’re damn well told. Now, get your ass over here and greet your alpha properly.”

  My temper snapped.

  “You’re not my fucking alpha!” I snarled and turned, running for my only chance at staying free.

  Cam roared as he came after me. Then we were both startled when my Jeep fired up and barreled toward us. It came to a jarring halt inches from where I stood, creating a solid barrier between me and Cam.

  “What the hell?” I wasn’t sure if those words had come from my lips or if I’d merely thought them while Cam voiced them. Either way, it didn’t matter. The passenger door was shoved wide, and I got my first glimpse of the man behind the wheel of my Wrangler. I caught a glance at a strong forearm with some raised scarring before it disappeared back into the vehicle. I was still processing what was happening when the stranger’s growl broke my momentary paralysis.

  “Get in!” The command was fired from a deep voice, and I jumped inside, pulling the door shut as my tires squealed on the asphalt. Some might say better the danger you knew then the unknown, but I’d take my chances with the lone wolf rather than Cam and whoever he’d brought along. I wasn’t stupid though, so I remained vigilant.

  “Looks like you walked out just in time,” he stated as I kept careful watch of his every move. He was far too comfortable behind the wheel of my ride.

&nb
sp; “Who are you, and what the hell are you doing in my Jeep? Are you working with them?”

  That didn’t make sense. Why would he drive me away from them if he was working with Cam and the shifters with him? Unless it was some sort of sick trap, which would make complete sense if not for the intelligence it would take to come up with such an idea. Cam had brute strength in spades. Intellect was another story.

  “Lucky for you, I don’t.” The guy spared me a glance then immediately turned back to the road. “Also lucky for you, I decided to check your Jeep for trackers. I found two by the way. You’re welcome.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that. They had to be fresh. I’d just pulled one from the inner wheel well a few days ago. I had no idea who the hell kept putting them on. If Cam or one of his goons ever got that close, they wouldn’t waste time with a tracker.

  “Before you stole it? Thank you.”

  I’m sure he didn’t miss the sarcasm dripping from my mouth. I glanced back, searching the road behind us.

  “Are they following?”

  “Not yet, and I wasn’t stealing it. I was looking for you.” His gaze flicked from the road to briefly meet mine again. “I know who you are, Eliza Blackwood. About your pack and the alpha you’re on the run from. What I don’t know is, how you keep trusting the wrong people.”

  “Including yourself in that group?” I asked as I eased my body closer to the door.

  He snorted then took a sharp left, jerking me toward him and making me regret not reaching for my seatbelt when I’d first taken my seat.

  “No, I’m going to help you get free of that alpha back there for good.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because it’s the right thing to do,” he offered softly, and I wondered if he was thinking of someone else for a moment.

  “I appreciate the offer, but I’m good.”

  He snorted again. “I was back there in the parking lot where they were prepared to take you. They would have. If I hadn’t been there, you’d be naked and mounted in that parking lot while his boys watched and cheered.”

  He growled with disgust, letting me know his thoughts on that scenario mirrored my own.

  “Who are you?” I asked again.

  “There’s something I need your help with, and I have information that will help you.”

  I shrugged, noting once again he’d omitted telling me who he was.

  “So how does this work then? You help me, then I help you?”

  And what type of information did he want? I found it hard to believe that I knew anything he didn’t. Hell, he knew my name and about the pack and alpha I was running from. I knew nothing about him. Except for the fact he was far too comfortable behind the wheel of my ride.

  “One lone wolf to another?” he suggested, moving his hand off the wheel and flicking his fingers back and forth between us.

  My gaze snagged on the scars that ran up the back of his hand and disappeared beneath the cuff of his shirt. What had he survived to walk away with twisted tissue like that? They made me think of a woman I’d seen who’d survived being set on fire.

  As if reading my concern, he tugged his sleeve down before moving his hand back to steering, covering the scarring from my sight but not my mind. There was pain there. Based on the damage left behind, I’d guess it was unspeakable in nature. But I had the impression it was more emotional than anything physical he might have endured.

  “You can’t help me. I wish you could.”

  The last was voiced so low I almost didn’t catch it.

  “We could join forces. I’ll watch your back. You watch mine.”

  Where the hell had that offer come from? Thankfully, he laughed. It was deep and rich and made me wish I felt even a spark of heat for the man beside me. I had the impression he might need a friend as much as I did right now.

  “We’re not headed in the same direction,” he informed me.

  “We could,” I offered, but he shook his head.

  “You keep finding the wrong packs. You need to head south. Rigton County. The James Pack is there. Bastion James. He’ll protect you.”

  I was curious if he was a part of the James Pack. I’d never seen them, but the stories that circulated among other packs were enough to make me leery. They were the biggest, baddest wolf pack out there. The thought of running to them for help was almost scarier than the prospect of facing Cam and his posse on my own.

  “Your pack?” I asked.

  “I don’t have a pack.”

  That made two of us.

  “Why would an alpha I’ve never met offer me protection?” I demanded.

  I’d met several packs since I’d been on my own. Some ignored me, knowing I was only passing through. Some tried to capture me for the reward Cam offered for my safe return, though I’d learned safe meant different things to different people. Some planned to kill me outright, seeing me as a threat simply because an alpha was hunting me. Some merely wanted to fuck me to see what was so special about me that an alpha would spend so much time and effort hunting me down. The fact I was unwilling offered no deterrent at all.

  “James is different. His whole pack is made up of alpha bastards and lone wolves. Like you.” His gaze met mine again briefly. “Their pack is often referred to as the Alpha Pack. They’re like a brotherhood. They’ll protect you. Stand with you.”

  “Why?” I demanded again.

  What was it about this alpha pack that would make them help me? If anything, knowing it was a pack of alpha males had everything inside me screaming to keep my distance. My experience with alphas wasn’t pleasant. Thus the running and staying gone. I wouldn’t be anyone’s pawn ever again.

  “Because it’s who they are.”

  He pulled my Jeep onto a dirt lane that was little more than a rutted path and slid it into park. He turned in the seat and faced me, one arm braced atop the steering wheel, the other along the headrest.

  “The alpha’s mate is a woman named Raina Byrd. Raina James now. She’ll stand beside you.”

  “How do you know the James Pack?” Because it was evident he knew Raina Byrd. His expression said he knew her well.

  “Everyone knows the James Pack. I’m willing to bet even you’ve heard of it.”

  Of course, I had. Several times. Usually spoken of with fear. They were a legend of epic proportions. That reinforced my doubt as to who and what they really were. I’d be best served to keep my distance from them. Obviously, the man at my side didn’t share my skepticism.

  “What makes you so sure they’ll help me?” I asked again, demanding a better answer this time.

  “In another life, I knew Bastion James and his mate. If you ask them for help, tell them why Cam is chasing you, they’ll protect you.”

  I wanted to ask what other life he was talking to, but it seemed an intimate question to ask a stranger. Even one who’d broken into my Jeep and saved my ass from a life as Cam’s property.

  “Hell, I’m not even sure why Cam’s still after me. He should have given up years ago.”

  Mystery man shook his head. “You’re a beautiful woman, Eliza, but I don’t think you’re fishing for compliments. We both know your alpha is obsessed with you, and an obsession like the one he has, it doesn’t fade away. It only grows stronger. Especially when it’s denied.”

  “He knows we’re not mates.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything to some wolves. They don’t believe in true mates. Your alpha seems to be one of those.”

  “It means something to me,” I growled. “Besides, there are plenty of female wolves who’d be willing to mate him. Why me? And, no, I’m not fishing for a compliment. I can’t change my face.” Or my body, which tended to be on the curvier side.

  “You’re a virgin. One he spent years grooming to be the mate he wanted.”

  I tried not to react to his blunt statement. How did he know what Cam had done? How much did he know? Who the hell was this guy? I opened my mouth to demand answers to the last question, but
he spoke first.

  “He took you as a prize when you were far too young to be thought of in the way he obviously did. He’s a bastard for demanding you, for doing his best to groom you to be who he wanted. Your whole fucking pack should be shot for allowing it to happen. Men like him should never hold the rank of alpha.”

  “Who are you?” I demanded. “How do you know any of this?”

  “He won’t stop hunting you until he’s forced to.”

  Did he think I wasn’t aware of that? My temper edged closer to the snapping point.

  “You think I can’t force him to stop?”

  He shook his head, not remotely concerned with the growl that spilled from my lips.

  “Not alone. But with the James Pack standing with you, he won’t have a choice. There’s nothing demeaning about asking for help.”

  “Yet, you won’t accept mine.”

  He smiled, but there was sadness in his gaze. “You’ve already helped me more than you know.”

  Wait? What? How? Had he been running from something back there that had him stealing my wheels?

  “Are you in trouble?”

  I glanced out the back window of my Jeep, fully expecting to see someone barreling toward us.

  “Let’s focus on you and getting you away from Lockhart permanently. I’m not sure how he holds his rank when he seems to be more brawn than brain, but he won’t stand a chance against the James Pack. I promise you that. Go to them.”

  “Come with me?”

  The words were out of my mouth before I’d even finished thinking them. Maybe, my wolf was picking up on unspoken signals I hadn’t fully processed yet. All I knew was something told me he needed the James Pack as much as I did.

  That sadness briefly filled his gaze again then his eyelids dropped, effectively hiding his thoughts from me. “Places to go. People to see.”

  “Make the James Pack one of those places. Make Bastion James one of those people. Take me there, then you can go your own way if that’s what you want. You obviously know them while I only have rumor to go on. And the word of a stranger.”