The Marshall’s Second fulfilled similar functions to the Beta did for the Alpha, but without the broad range of powers a Beta enjoyed. He was the right hand man of the Marshall, the one who enforced Pack or Pride law and helped see to the physical well being of its members. The Second, in many ways, had the ear of the Prides and Packs in ways the rest of the leaders didn’t, as he straddled the line between ordinary member and leader. Some Prides and Packs lumped the Second in with the rest of the leaders; such was the case in Halle, were Gabe had as much say as the Beta, Marshall and Omega. She never wanted to leave Halle.
The town was warm and inviting in a way her old Pack had never been. The Alpha of the Pumas, Dr. Max Cannon, was a hottie. His alpha female Emma, called a Curana by the Pumas, was a tough cookie with a heart of gold. She’d asked Gabe what Curana meant, and she’d been told it was an altered form of the word çuçuarana, the Portuguese word for cougar. The rest of the Pumas were, for the most part, really nice people. She felt at home here, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. She’d made friends and built a life for herself. She never wanted to go back to the Pack that had shoved her out so long ago.
But no matter how nice the Pride members were, they weren’t Wolves. They weren’t Pack, something she was reminded of every full moon since she’d been granted leave to stay.
She was still Outcast.
She made it to her car and changed into the clothes she’d left on the hood. The shift caused the cut to bleed even more freely until it closed, leaving a sore spot on the bottom of her foot she felt after she put her sneakers on. She dug her keys out of her pocket, eager to get back to her apartment and the caffeine her roommates would have waiting for her.
“Well. Look who it is.”
Tabby tensed at that hated voice, the one fly in the ointment of her happiness in Halle. He’d stayed downwind, or she would have noticed him approaching before now and moved a hell of a lot faster. “Gary.” She turned to find her nemesis and his two best friends standing naked behind her. They must have shifted and run from somewhere else. There was no other car here, and none of their clothes littered the ground.
“Outcast.”
She held back her Wolf’s growl with difficulty. She was terrified. This wasn’t the first time the other Wolves had confronted her, but this was the first time they’d managed to catch her alone. From the gleam in Gary’s eye, if she didn’t get away, she’d be in a world of hurt. “What do you want?”
Gary grinned, his fangs sharp, his eyes going from hazel to light brown. He rubbed his hand up and down his growing cock suggestively. The other two moved to flank her and she knew she was in deep shit.
As an Outcast, technically Tabby was fair game for any Wolf who wanted a bit of sport. So far, very few Wolves had made their way to Halle. Most of the shifters who attended the college were local themselves, and therefore part of the Halle Pride. She’d stayed out of the way of those who weren’t part of the Pride, especially the Wolves. She’d been terrified of what would happen if she approached them. The Alpha of the nearest Pack wouldn’t be any help. She’d seen him once from a distance, and he was large and scary looking. Rick Lowell had the coldest blue eyes she’d ever seen. Tabby was too afraid to approach him, to try to become a part of his Pack. He’d take one look at her and know she wasn’t worthy of a home.
Now she wished she’d been able to find the courage to ask. Maybe she might have to earn her way into his Pack. Maybe she would be safe from the advances of Wolves like Gary, but it would have meant leaving Halle and placing every aspect of her existence in the hands of someone else again. And that was the last thing Tabby wanted to do. At least here in Halle the Pumas were fairly laidback. She didn’t bother them, they didn’t bother her. They were friendly, but distant, and she liked it that way.
Tabby shivered. Three against one were not good odds. She had her keys in her hand, but the car was locked. If she hit the button to unlock it, they’d be on her before she could get the door open.
But there was the other button…
Bravado was the only way she could see out of this. She knew some of the Pumas had been out running the night before. With luck, one of them would wander by and stop Gary before he did what he so obviously wanted to do. “Fuck off, Gary!”
He glared at her shout. “You think anyone is gonna come and save you, Tabby ?”
He sneered the nickname, his idiot Pack brothers laughing like a group of hyenas. “You’re Outcast . Your ass is mine.” He took a step forward, his eyes shifting to brown.
Wolf’s eyes. Just what she’d been waiting for.
Tabby hit the panic button on her remote. The car horn began blaring, the lights flashing. The trio slapped their hands over their ears, their faces screwed up in pain, their sensitive ears assaulted by something that wouldn’t bother their human senses.
Taking advantage of their surprise, Tabby hit the button that unlocked the car door and scrambled for the handle.
“Stop her!”
She got the door open and herself inside before any of them reached her. She slammed the door on the fingers of one of Gary’s goons, his scream almost as loud as the alarm. He pulled his fingers free and she got the door shut, locking it before Gary could pull the driver’s side door open.
He began punching the glass. She flinched, but kept moving, sliding behind the steering wheel. She started the car, screaming when Gary’s third punch cracked the glass.
She took off, peeling out of the gravel-strewn parking lot, her tires kicking up stones. She fishtailed before getting the car under control, heading straight for the road back into Halle.
Back to safety.