Rebecca and Zaire (Manchester Pack Book 1) Read online

  Rebecca and Zaire

  Manchester Pack Book One

  Christina Escue

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  More from Christina

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2020 Christina Escue

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without prior written permission of the copyright owner. This is a work of fiction.

  Chapter One

  Rebecca

  I walk around the lands my family has lived on for the past hundred years or so, and I sigh. As the daughter of the alpha, I have never had the freedom most of the pack members my age had, and I hate it. My informative years consisted of private tutors, security staff, and nannies, and now that I am eighteen, I am sick of it. Growing up here wasn’t bad before my mom was killed by rogues, but after, I was on lock-down for months. My father feared I’d be killed, and the pack would be left in chaos.

  Sighing, I turn to survey the large lake near my home. Before mom was murdered, she used to bring me here for picnics. We would sit beside the water and talk for hours. I was eight when she was killed, and for the past decade, all I’ve known is my father’s tyranny.

  I know he is just trying to keep me safe, but I’m not sure I can take it any longer. Sighing again, I turn from the lake. I need to get away, to run, but I know there are pack enforcers nearby, and if I take off, they’ll just follow me.

  “Rebecca,” I hear the voice of my betrothed say from my left, and I sigh again. Kael is the son of the pack’s beta, the man I am supposed to marry in less than a year, and I feel nothing for him aside for disgust. He is not who I want to spend the next hundred years or so with.

  “What do you want, Kael?” I ask, not taking my eyes off the trees I’d been watching. I have seen at least six of father’s enforcers, and I frown. There are more out there than usual, and I wonder what’s going on.

  “Your father sent me to find you,” he answers, and I finally look at him. With his dark hair and eyes, broad shoulders, and trim waist, he is the most sought-after male in the pack, and I want nothing more than to run as far and fast from him as I can.

  “Why?” I ask, looking back at the lake. “My father gave me permission to come to the lake today, and he has at least six enforcers prowling the trees, watching me.”

  “He wants you home,” Kael answers and I turn to face him again.

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  “I can’t tell you that, Rebecca,” he replies, and I narrow my eyes at him.

  “Can’t, or won’t?” I ask.

  “Both,” he tells me, then steps forward and reaches for my hand.

  When I growl softly, he drops his hand back to his side, but doesn’t step back.

  “Rebecca, we are to be married in ten months. You will have to let me touch you at some point.”

  “Maybe,” I answer and shrug. “But until the moment that happens, I do not want your filthy paws on me.”

  “You are the only female in the pack who doesn’t fall at my feet,” he mutters and tilts his head to look at me. “Why is that?”

  “Because I’m not interested in an egotistical, narcissistic, self-indulgent, man-whore such as yourself,” I shoot back. I can feel my wolf stirring inside me, and I take two deep breaths to calm her. Since reaching maturity two months ago, on the eve of my eighteenth birthday, I have been struggling to contain her. She’s stronger than the girl I am, and she wants out to take charge.

  “Tell me what you really think,” Kael mutters, but I can hear the humor in his voice. “It doesn’t matter what you think of me, nor what I think of you. Our father’s want us to wed, so we will.”

  “We shall see,” I tell him then turn toward the tree line. I allow my wolf to take charge, and I take off running. If my father wants to see me, then see me he will.

  I sense Kael behind me, and the urge to shift flashes through me. My wolf wants to be set free to run, but I hold her back. I keep her on a short leash, pun intended, because if I don’t, I know she will end up killing someone.

  I slow when I enter the grounds of the estate I’ve called home all my life, and I look around. There are more pack enforcers here than usual, too, and it makes me wonder what’s going on.

  Taking a deep breath, I run my fingers through my waist length, nearly white hair, and walk to the front door. As soon as I enter I’m greeted by the pack beta, Kael’s father, Lawton.

  “Thank God you’re back,” he says and looks up as Kael walks in. “Your father has been beside himself with worry.”

  “He knew where I was, and considering there were at least six enforcers on me the entire time I was gone, he knew I was fine,” I respond and look into Lawton’s mud brown eyes. Kael looks so much like his father one would believe he was pulled from Lawton’s ass rather than his mother’s vagina. “What’s going on?”

  “Your father will explain,” Lawton answers, and I nod. I know Lawton will never tell me anything if my father has ordered him not to.

  “Okay,” I respond and look at Kael, who is standing silently behind me. I frown at him, and look back at Lawton. “Is he in his office?”

  Lawton nods, and I stroll past him without another word. It’s a bratty move on my part, but everyone in the pack knows my father will kill them if they hurt me in any way. Father is the only one allowed to hurt me, and he does it often enough for everyone.

  I stop outside father’s office, and take a deep breath before knocking softly. He already knows I’m out here, but I know better than to just open the door and walk in.

  “Enter,” he says, and I open the door and slip inside, then close it securely behind me.

  “Kael said you wanted to see me, father,” I say as I stop in front of his large, mahogany desk.

  “Yes,” he responds, not looking up from the papers he’s looking at. “There was a rogue wolf spotted on the North side of the territory. You are confined to the estate until it is located and eliminated.”

  “How long do you think that will take?” I ask. I’m supposed to leave for college this week, and I know if there is a rogue on the loose, father will never let me leave.

  “As long as it takes,” he answers and finally looks up at me. “The enforcers will be hunting around the clock until the rogue is captured. Until that happens, you will not leave the estate.”

  His alpha timbre, the one that makes every wolf in the pack bow at his feet, doesn’t faze me at all. He knows it, and he hates it, but there’s nothing he can do to change it. As his only living heir, I should be the one taking over the pack when he steps down, but that will not happen. The Douglas Falls pack will never be led by a female.

  “I leave for college on Friday,” I say, and he rises to his feet.

  “You will not leave
the estate,” he commands, and walks around his desk. “If you disobey me, I will have you locked inside the house, and guards placed at every exit point.”

  “Yes, father,” I respond, and my wolf growls. She hates when I submit to him, but I have no other option. If I ever want to be allowed out of the house again, I cannot fight him on this.

  “You may go,” he says and nods toward the door. “I will see you at dinner.”

  “Yes, father,” I say again then turn to walk from the room.

  Once I’m in the hall, I run up the stairs, and head straight to my room. I look around for a second, as tears fill my eyes my wolf howls in my head.

  “Shh,” I tell her softly as my mind starts to churn. “I’m trying to think.”

  Leave, she whispers in my head and I shake it to silence her.

  “We can’t,” I tell her, and she growls.

  We can, she counters, and plays out her plan in my head. Once she’s finished, I am smiling. Her plan just may work, and if it doesn’t, I will be no worse off than I am now.

  Four hours later, I’m sitting in the window seat in my bedroom, watching the sliver of the moon rise higher in the sky. I’d had dinner with my father and the pack council earlier tonight, and lost my appetite after the first five minutes of their conversation.

  They’d been planning my future, again, and my wolf nearly sprang free before I could stop her. Apparently, my wedding colors are going to be blue and red, which are the colors of the pack crest, and Kael and I are going to be married in the garden of the estate. The wedding was being planned for the Saturday after my nineteenth birthday, and the alphas from every pack in the state were to be invited.

  Shaking my head, I tug my thoughts away from the dinner conversation, and back to the plan my wolf and I devised earlier. If everything goes as we hope, I will be miles from here before anyone even notices I’m gone.

  Rising from my window, I glance at my watch and smile.

  “Time to blow this popsicle stand,” I say, and my wolf snickers in my head. I am certain she thinks I’m a dork, and that’s okay. She’s part of me, and dork or not, she’s stuck with me.

  Chuckling at the sound she makes, I grab my bag and walk to the other window in my bedroom. This one overlooks one of the two gardens, and seeing as this one is completely enclosed by a large wall, there aren’t any enforcers roaming this part of the estate.

  Taking a deep breath, I raise the window and poke my head out. When I don’t see anyone in the yard, I toss my bag out and watch as it lands just behind the bushes below my window.

  I duck my head back in and snag the black beanie from my dresser, then look around the bedroom. I am leaving everything behind except the substantial amount of cash I’ve stashed over the years, a few changes of clothes, and the necklace I always wear. It is the only thing I have of my mother’s, and there is no way in hell I am leaving it behind.

  I wipe a lone tear from my eye, and shake my head. If I stay here, I will be following my father’s orders until I marry Kael, then I will be following his orders for the rest of my very long existence.

  “Goodbye, father,” I whisper to the room then pull the black beanie over my hair. I peek out the window again, and seeing the garden still empty, I climb out to the ledge, and inhale deeply then step into the night.

  Landing silently on my feet, I dash behind the bushes and duck down.

  I poke my head out and scan the garden again. Nothing moves, so I grab my bag and dash as fast as I can across the expanse of the garden. If I get caught now, I know my father will beat the hell out of me before locking me in the windowless panic room off from his office.

  Pushing those thoughts from my head, I let my wolf senses out and reach the wall within seconds.

  Sighing, I scan the area again before dashing to the only place in the wall I know I can get through.

  A couple of years ago a tornado blew through and knocked several trees down. The wall was damaged, and my father had it repaired, but the work was shitty, and the bricks in the middle of the repaired patch didn’t stay in place. I discovered this about a year ago, and decided not to tell anyone about it.

  I never knew why I didn’t tell father, or Lawton, but now I am thankful I kept my mouth shut.

  Pushing the bricks, I open the hole in the wall and poke my head out. Not seeing or smelling anyone close, I push my pack through then shimmy into the small opening. It’s a damn good thing I’ve always been petite, or I would never fit through this opening.

  Once through, I replace the bricks then pick up my pack and start running. I have nearly fifteen miles to cover before I’m off pack lands, and I know my wolf can cover it quicker than I can, but I’m too close to the estate to shift and let her take over.

  If any of the enforcers are near they will see my small, snow white wolf, and I will be caught before I even have a chance.

  I run at full speed for the next half an hour before I feel comfortable stopping. I duck behind a large cedar tree and drop my pack before letting my wolf spring free.

  Once the shift is complete, I pick up my pack and grip it between my teeth then I start running.

  An hour later I cross the border of my father’s land and I stop. Shifting back, I look at the only home I’d ever known, and tears fill my eyes. I may hate living under my father’s thumb, and I know leaving is the only way I will ever have control of my own life, but leaving the home I loved so much before mother was killed is breaking my heart just a little.

  Sighing, I turn from my father’s pack, from my pack, and toss my bag over my shoulder again. As I start running again, I realize I’m not running from something. I’m running toward something. I have no idea what that something is, but my wolf and I cannot wait to discover it.

  Chapter Two

  Zaire

  “What the fuck?” I ask as I walk into the cabin on the edge of pack lands.

  “I have no idea,” Nate responds as we look around the sparsely furnished cabin.

  “Something isn’t right,” I mutter before stepping back out onto the sagging porch and looking into the woods. “Do you smell that, Nate?”

  “Yeah,” he answers as he steps onto the porch beside me. “It’s definitely wolf, but whomever it is, is not part of our pack.”

  “No, and dad will be furious when he finds out,” I say and shake my head. My father has been alpha of the Manchester pack since before I was born, and he is ready to hand the reins over to me, but I am in no way ready for that responsibility. As an enforcer, I can keep the pack safe, without having to deal with all the bullshit that comes with being alpha.

  “You should call him,” Nate says, and I shake my head.

  “I’ll call in a few, but I want to see where that smell is coming from first,” I respond, and it’s Nate’s turn to shake his head. “What? I only smell one wolf, and I know one lonely little wolf won’t be a problem.”

  “Your father is going to kill me,” Nate says, and I chuckle.

  “Dad won’t kill you,” I assure him, and he narrows his eyes at me. “He may break your leg, though.”

  “Yeah,” Nate responds and sighs. “If we’re going, let’s go. I want to be home soon.”

  “Maggie have you on a short leash?” I ask and he growls.

  “Maggie’s due any day now, and I don’t like leaving her alone for too long.”

  “Then let’s follow this scent and see where it takes us,” I say, and he nods.

  We step off the porch and shift at the same time. I look at the pack beta and smile as his dark gray wolf shakes out his fur then turns his smoky eyes on me.

  Nate and I have been friends since I was born, and even though he is five years older than my twenty-three, he is my best friend.

  Nodding, we head into the woods side by side with our noses to the ground. Nate is the best tracker in the pack, and when dad asked him to be my beta, he leaped at the chance.

  As the scent grows stronger, I catch a whiff of another scent and my wolf stops in hi
s tracks.

  I shift back, and look around the area. I sniff deeply, and the smell of sweet red plums and molasses fills my nostrils.

  “Zaire, what’s wrong?” Nate asks after he shifts.

  “Do you smell that?” I ask, as I walk in the direction the sweet scent is coming from.

  “I smell another wolf, if that’s what you mean,” he answers, and I shake my head.

  “No,” I reply and inhale deeply. “It’s something more.”

  As I walk toward the smell, I see an opening in the trees. The sun is shining brightly on the ground, and I narrow my eyes.

  “There’s a wolf in that clearing,” Nate says and nods to the small, white wolf lying on its side.

  “There’s blood on it,” I mutter and take off running. This isn’t the wolf we’d scented back at the cabin, but it is the source of the scent that pulls at me.

  “Shit,” Nate spits out as he dashes toward the clearing beside me.

  When I skid to a halt, I look around the area and my wolf growls deep in my chest. I’m not sure what happened here, but I know this little thing didn’t cause this destruction.

  “The wolf we were tracking did this,” Nate states, and I snap my head toward him before focusing on the small, white wolf.

  “It’s a female,” I say as I kneel beside the unconscious wolf. “She’s breathing, and I can hear her heartbeat, but she’s injured pretty badly.”

  “Let’s get her back to the main house,” Nate says and looks around the area. When his eyes land on a small backpack, he walks over and picks it up. “And I think this may be hers.”

  “Bring it,” I tell him then gently lift the injured wolf into my arms. She’s small, and feels extremely fragile in my large arms, but she’s definitely a shifter. I can smell her human side tucked in beside her wolf.

  “Zaire,” Nate says as we make our way back to the cabin. “Your father is going to want to question her.”

  “I know,” I answer as I hold her protectively in my arms. “But not before she’s healed.”

  We run the rest of the way to the truck, and Nate opens the passenger door for me to slide inside. I keep the small female cradled in my arms as Nate shuts the door and dashes to the driver’s seat.