The Pack's Hacker (by Cooper) novel Chapter 25

Jude

Oh, this woman and her caramel apple taste. I can’t help myself, I growl softly as I deepen the kiss and her sweet, delicious scent begins filling the space in the car. If I were a different kind of man, I’d take full advantage of someone sweet and innocent like Wendy. But I’m not, and I’m not in this for one night. I meant what I said to her. I’m hoping that we’re mates and I’m thrilled that she’s hoping for the same thing.

When I finally drag my lips away from hers, I lean my forehead against hers.

“How many more months until you turn eighteen?” I ask her.

She giggles sweetly. “Two and a half.”

“Two and a half. Well, between now and then, think about what you might want to do if we are mates …” I begin.

“Stay on campus,” she says immediately.

I open my eyes and look at her. “You’ve been giving this some thought?”

She bites her bottom lips and nods.

I growl again, kissing her quickly before sitting back.

“Two and a half months,” I growl quietly.

When we get back to Yorick and Cyra’s pack, Luna Yara and Yorick come out to greet us. They both make sure that Wendy is okay, then turn to me. Luna Yara hugs me, thanking me for bringing Wendy home. Then I confirm with Alpha Yorick that my invitation still stands.

“Of course,” he says. “We’re glad to have you.”

“Thank you,” I say, then turn to Wendy.

“I’m going to go find Hijack and Yana and see if they need any help.”

“Hijack and Yana are done!” Yana says in a singsong voice as she skips out of the packhouse.

“Hijack and Phisher,” Hijack corrects, grinning when Yana growls.

“Really, Hijack? Can’t I have a better name?” she asks him.

He grins at her. “How about Tyro?”

She frowns and looks at me. “It means novice,” I tell her.

“What? No way!”

“Rogue?”

“What am I, an X-Men? No,” she says. 1

“If I thought you were one of the X-Men, I’d probably call you Juggernaut, the way you come blasting into every situation. Since you’re not, Phisher, it is,” he says, grinning at her again.

Yana growls at him again. “Are you here tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“You. Me. Sparring field. I’ll show you that I deserve a better name,” she says confidently. 1

I glance at Wendy. No matter how good Yana is, and I’ve sparred with her before, for her age she’s pretty good. But she has not been trained in elite fighting. Not yet anyway. That will change now that Striker has done a year at the Academy and will continue training to remain on the elite fighting teams. I’m sure that training will come into the sparring training in his pack, just like rogue training is part of Alpha Quirin’s training, and classical sparring is part of Alpha Connor’s.

“Maybe you should be thankful that you have a codename at such a young age, Yana,” Wendy says to her.

“Nope! I’m going to prove that I’m worthy of a new and improved name.”

I can tell by the look on Hijack’s face that he’s already thinking of names that will aggravate Yana. Interesting, even with women our age, women he’s interested in taking to bed, I’ve never seen him tease someone like this. Maybe it’s the Hill effect. I loved teasing Wendy before we started dating. I still do; I just tease her differently now. 1

“Why don’t I show you to your rooms. Dinner isn’t for another couple of hours. It will be outside by the pool. We’ll have music, dancing, and drinking. Now that I know my pack is safe, I’m feeling much more festive,” Yorick says.

“Thanks, Yorrie,” Wendy says.

“Yeah, thanks, Yorrie,” Yana says.

“Let me grab my bags,” I say, getting them from the trunk and grabbing Wendy’s too.

As I follow Yorick into his packhouse, I look around and see many people from the Academy and from the elite squads. It’s nice to know that so many of these squad members know each other and get along.

Since I have some time, I set up my computer and pull up the link that Hijack sent from the prison. He and Tracker have already started watching parts of the video surveillance from the last several months. Hijack set it up that each time one of us logs in and watches, he forwards the data for all of us so we’re not watching the same film over and over again. However, we still have a way to tag a place if we want the others to look it up.

When there’s a knock on my door, I minimize the prison screen.

“Come in.”

I’m not surprised when it’s Wendy. “How do you like your room?” she asks, looking around as if making sure it has everything I need.

“Do your parents let you drink?” I ask.

“At parties like this, yes,” she says.

“Then, let’s get a drink and walk around. We can say hello to everyone before the food comes out and then, I want you to save me a dance,” I tell her.

“Save you a dance? How many people do you think will be dancing with me tonight?” she asks.

“Your father is here, your brothers are here, Quirin is here, Henry is here, I’m guessing Hijack will want a dance, although he doesn’t usually dance, and there are any number of Alphas here tonight. So yes, I want you to save me a dance,” I say. “I will.”

After dinner, it’s exactly as I expected. Her father snags her first, and then Wendy is whisked away by all of the men in her family. While she’s dancing with them, I dance with her sisters, getting the third degree from Yvonne about my intentions with Wendy, and getting pegged with questions about cool codenames from Yana. I dance with Cyra and Cyrus, since she is holding their son, and Luna Piper, who thought I knew about her escapades with Henry by the river. I make a mental note to ask Wendy about that.

Then, finally, I am able to snag Wendy when a slow song comes on. We slow dance around the dancing area. She leans her head on my shoulder, and I lean my head against hers.

“This is nice,” she says.

“It is. Did you have a good time tonight?” I ask her.

“I did. I really love being with my family,” she says.

“That’s how I know you’re going to love my family. They are very similar to yours.”

When the song ends, Wendy smiles at me. “Would you walk me to my room? After everything that’s happened and sleeping out in the field, I’m tired and ready for a good night’s sleep in my own bed.”

“I’d love to. Do you want to say goodnight to anyone?” I ask.

She quickly goes around saying goodnight to her family. I wave and then lead her upstairs to her bedroom. I kiss her goodnight, then make sure she’s in her room before making my way back to my room.

Unlike Wendy, I did sleep last night, so rather than going straight to bed, I boot up the video and begin watching what feels like endless hours of video at the prison. It isn’t until right before I decide to call it quits that I find the first hint of Arden, Stellan, and Leo getting together.

I watch as they sit in the dining hall and talk about how they came to be in prison. That’s how the names of the Hills come up. That’s also when Leo brings up Wendy, that she’s underage, and would be an easy target to get back at the Hills.

I flag this section of the video, watching it several more times, before finally calling it a night early in the morning. I found the start, but there will be more. I could see it in Arden’s eyes. He wants revenge and he thinks that Wendy is the way to get it.