by Raven Willow
The first swat came without warning, making Riona yelp. “Ow! That hurt!”
“It’s supposed to hurt, my dear. And that one was for being a bossy little mate.”
Another swat came down on her ass.
“That was for thinking you could tell me what to do, instead of being nice and polite.”
Riona yelped again, trying to reach back and deflect his blows.
“Do you want more, mate? Because I will give you more.” Alistair grinned like a madman; her arousal was evident. She couldn’t possibly deny him when she was quite literally dripping onto the bed.
“Noooo... I can’t!”
She tried squirming away, which earned her another smack.
“Now now, mate, none of that.” Alistair grabbed her ankles and gently pulled her back to him. “You say you can’t, yet you have taken my hand very well so far. Such a nice rosy red. I think ten more ought to teach my mate, yes?”
Alistair leaned over and smoothed her hair back. He wanted to see her face when she took his punishment. Seeing her embarrassment seemed to rouse him further.
“Yes, Alistair.”
He must have sensed her apprehension, because he took several moments to soothe and comfort her. Pulling her close, he rocked both their bodies as he reached for her new locket. It clutched in his hand while he regulated his breathing.
“My sweet little girl...” He brushed his lips against her ear before he brought his hand down ten more times. The pain intermingled with the satisfaction of being overpowered. Riona never imagined she could enjoy such an act. To her own surprise, she only whimpered and flinched with each slap, obediently taking it.
“I surrender, Alistair.” He saw a lone tear trail down her cheek, and immediately picked up his mate to cradle her in his arms.
“I know, sweetheart. I know.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Several full moons had passed. Alistair saw a fascinating change in his mate that could only be seen once in a lifetime. A human integrated into wolf society, slowly but smoothly. She was blossoming from the shy little girl he took in the forest to a beautiful fiery she-wolf. With each passing day, his wolf grew to love her more and more. His natural human eyes followed her wherever she went, while his wolf eyes fixed on her and everything around her. They scanned every possible way an intruder could sneak up and take Riona. One way or another, Alistair’s mate was never too far from his sight. This was much to the chagrin of Ceardach, who constantly needed to repeat himself to his alpha.
“Alistair, have you heard me at all?” His beta punched him on the shoulder but couldn’t help but laugh. He was like a pup again, smitten by his woman.
“I’m listening intently.” This he said while still not taking his eyes off Riona, who was hanging freshly washed clothes with Ailith on the clothesline.
“What did I say then?”
“You caught a piece of red fur in the trap you set on the east end of the mountain.”
Ceardach raised his eyebrows.
“An alpha always listens.”
Alistair took out his newly sharpened blade, thanks to Riona, and began tossing it in the air.
“I haven’t forgotten, Ceardach. He’s haunted my dreams nearly every night... ever since I brought my mate home.”
“I know... you’ve grown weary. When is the last time you’ve fed? Had a proper hunt? We used to roam the mountain all day.”
Alistair shook his head.
He couldn’t bring himself to hunt all day now. The nightmares were growing worse, more gruesome. Elspeth couldn’t explain it, just that his fears were manifesting themselves in the form of dreams. Cinead always did have a way of making you afraid. Exposing your weaknesses to get what he wanted.
“Riona is not a weakness, brother.”
Ceardach’s voice penetrated his mind.
“She is your strength.”
Alistair smiled; of course she was. Riona made him a better man. She was always the missing piece in his life. She looked up and met his eyes from across the bonfire burning in the center of the clearing. He knew she could feel his heart leap when her eyes flashed amber in the flames, or was it her wolf tempting him? Either way, he growled when she turned her back to hang a dress.
“Do not look away from me, girl.”
Immediately, she turned to him and smirked, but made sure he had a view of her backside when she bent over to pick up another shirt. Alistair chuckled and toyed with his knife in his fingers.
“What if I just used this to slice right through that gown and take you here in front of all the pack to see, you little tease? They would all see who owns you.”
He could feel the heat rise to her cheeks and the hardness of his manhood correlated with the prickle Riona felt between her legs. By now he could smell it, and he was ready to have her.
“Not such a tease now, are you?”
Riona bit her lip and attempted to continue her chore innocently, like her essence wasn’t dripping down her leg as they spoke.
“Look at me, Riona.”
She obeyed, looking like in that moment she would crawl to him on her hands and knees if he beckoned her to do so.
“Not such a bad idea, is it, little one? To have you crawl here to me, your alpha. Display how much you want me?”
Of course she would do it. It was a full moon after all. He could smell the heady scents of mixed arousal from all in the pack. The females who were sitting on the laps of their mates were now straddling them, enveloping them with the curtains of their long hair. One male playfully chasing his female had her pinned to the ground now. Even Ailith and Murdock he could see were emerging from their cottage, having just put their little ones to bed. He grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up in his arms. Ailith would likely be given another child on this night. The thought turned his attention to his Riona, who still innocently stared at him. He pointed to the ground.
“Get on your hands and knees, sweetheart.”
There was some trepidation he could sense in her body. But as she looked around, she could see and hear the growing number of the pack beginning to take their own pleasures. When she reluctantly met his eyes again, she expressed her concern with a look that read, “Here, in front of all?”
Alistair responded to her apprehension he felt.
“Nothing compared to what Ailith and Murdock over there look like they will do any minute now.”
She looked over to their friend, who was beginning to trail her hand down her mate’s breeches. Riona looked away, probably not wanting to see something she thought should be private. Yes, the restrictive rules of that little village he stole her from. Such stipulations did not apply among his people.
But looking around, it seemed that privacy was beyond the realm of possibility on this night.
Riona dropped to her knees. The earth was cold. It was the beginning of autumn; the chill in the air reminded him. Her nipples jutted out underneath her gown, a gown Alistair bought her. She was wearing the fur-lined boots he had brought back with it. They both smelled like her when each night he took the opportunity to look at her body.
Being enveloped in her scent, everyone in the throes of their rapture, it was almost enough to scoop her up and carry her inside to ravage her. But his rational side allowed him to stay where he was and enjoy the sight.
He wanted to be near her, he had to touch her. Burying his face in the crook of her neck and breathing in the honeysuckle was all Alistair desired.
Her ass was held high in the air, the tops of her breasts on display for Alistair. He crooked his finger, signaling her to crawl right between his knees.
When she reached him, she braced her hands on his thighs, slightly spreading them as she rose up to touch his lips with her own. They soon found their way to his face, tangling in his beard.
Fuck, she was so warm, so small. He easily picked her up onto his lap, cradling her as she peppered his face with soft kisses, yet clutching his shirt like she couldn’t let go.
> I will never let you go.
The moans of women and the grunts of men filled the small home of the pack, but he wouldn’t take her here. Her ritual was long over, and no man would look upon her naked body again. In a flash, he lifted her up, carrying her back to their home unbeknownst to anyone else.
Let them have their fun, he thought. This was a night for pleasure, to express their lust under the eyes of the goddess.
He practically kicked the door open to gain entry to their bedroom. He didn’t want to just lay her down and claim her roughly. Alistair wanted to make love to his mate. To bury his face between her legs and make her come undone with his tongue was something he wanted her to experience in the warmth of his furs, instead of the first time in his haste to claim her.
The room would be dark and quiet, making her only able to focus on his ministrations. He gently set her down when he noticed the fabric of her gown was slightly slipping down her shoulders.
Little minx must have undone her ribbons when she had me distracted on my lap.
“You couldn’t wait, could you, little one?” He unfastened his shirt and the strap attached that held his knife.
“No.” She shook her head as she raised her hands to stop his own from undoing his belt. “May I?”
He raised an eyebrow, surprised at her initiative. “Are you sure?” Alistair cocked his head.
“I... want to please you.”
“You do, sweetheart, you always do.”
“No, I want to please you... a different way. I want to use... my, um...” Riona started to kneel before him, and he finally understood.
“Riona, you do not have to do this.” He held out his hand, but she shook her head.
“Please? You can teach me! I want to learn.” Riona bit her lip nervously, but the smell of her arousal told the truth.
“Mm, you know I cannot refuse you.”
Riona grinned and pushed Alistair slightly back into the wall to lean against. The gods only knew what her companions in the village must have told her about pleasuring a man in this way. The thrill of being able to coach his new little mate excited him.
“Easy, girl, you don’t know your own strength.” His hands found their way to her hair while she made quick work of his breeches, pulling them down just so until his cock bobbed out directly in front of her lips.
“What did your friends in the village tell you of sucking a man’s cock, Riona?”
“I... put my mouth over it and... move my head back and forth?” She looked up at him, as if she may not have been correct.
Oh, this would be fun.
“Good girl, but you must go slow at first. Cannot have you biting me, now can I?” Alistair winked at his mate. Lightening the mood would ease her. She was still an innocent in certain areas of pleasure.
“Put your lips over me, sweetheart, yes, like that.”
Riona obliged, tasting the salt of his seed on the tip of his cock. He sensed her conception about how big he was, and how it would ever fit inside her. Alistair giggled to himself, unable to hide how much he enjoyed being able to tap into her mind, much to his mate’s dismay.
“Because you were made for it, Riona.”
She looked up at him and he tapped his forehead, reminding her she didn’t have to keep her thoughts to herself.
“Is that good?” She enclosed her lips around him again, taking him in slowly. The rouge he had brought for her left little stains on his cock, making the blood rush there.
“Ohh, yes, little one, yes...”
He tried to keep himself from grunting too loud as not to scare his mate. But by the gods, her warm little mouth was quickly making his knees buckle. He could see how she had her ass pushed out with her breasts brushing up against his thighs. Next time she got on her knees for him, she would be naked, and he would be lying on the bed while she straddled him. Her pussy would rub up against his legs and he would have her take as much of him as she could, but not tonight. Tonight, he would gently guide her.
“Oh, sweetheart, you say you’ve never done this before, but that tongue tells such a different story. Fuck!”
She swirled it around the head while her hand jerked the base of his cock.
“Are you sure you have never taken the cock of another man?” he joked.
“If I had, the man would not be alive to tell the tale, would he?”
“No, no, he would not.” Alistair took her chin and slowly guided her to her feet.
“I will claim this mouth properly when you are ready, but that is not what I want tonight.” Alistair trailed his fingers down Riona’s throat, tugging on her locket. He slid them further down to her chest between her ample breasts, letting a finger hook in the fabric of her gown.
“Take this off, love.” Alistair watched while Riona shrugged it off her shoulders down her arms but stopped when she reached her stomach.
“Will you?” Her big brown eyes begged for his hands, and they obliged.
Alistair kneeled as the dress revealed more and more of her body. Her tummy breathed in and out, just grazing his beard.
He looked up at her and wrapped his arms around both of her legs, pulling her tightly to him and pressing his mouth to her abdomen.
“Mine. This is all mine.” He ran his hands up and down the body that belonged to him rightfully, and soon the lives that would reside in it.
“Alistair... it’s a full moon.” Riona looked down at her mate paying particularly extra attention to her womb.
“I know what it means.” Her whisper was barely audible to human ears, but not to Alistair’s.
A full moon was the prime night to conceive pups, so said the ancestors. The moon smiles upon new life being created, they always said. More than anything, Alistair wanted to just lay her down and spend all night making sure his pups were placed within her. The image swirled in his head of his nightmares, the same swollen belly he would grow to love, bloody and devoid of his pups.
No. No, it cannot happen.
It won’t happen.
Not while I live.
“I know you’re afraid. I don’t ask what you dream of because I know you cannot bear for me to hear it. But I can feel your dread more and more with each night that passes. I know you fear something will happen to me... to us.” She brought a hand to her stomach.
Alistair dreaded talking of his fears, but she was still his mate. He wouldn’t have her keeping secrets from him, so he would return the same honesty.
“Yes... oh, Gods, Riona, I am sorry. I’m sorry I put you in danger. I’m sorry I thrusted you into this life. If I were a stronger man, I wouldn’t have come for you until I knew you would be safe here. But... I couldn’t, Riona. I just couldn’t—”
She cut him off by kneeling with him. Her body would have called to comfort him, to make him feel safe. He was an alpha, but not without feelings.
“Shhh, it’s okay. I’m okay. I do not care about the risks. That is true for anyone here in the pack as long as Cinead is still out there. And when he comes we will be ready. We will build more traps, more guards! I want it.”
Alistair looked up; her eyes told the truth, her body screamed for him to give her what only he could.
“I want it...” Riona wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him with the intensity he had longed for. Her tummy pressed against his as he instinctively hooked his hands beneath her thighs and lifted her onto his lap. Even then she was still so small in his grasp.
And in his grasp she would stay.
“You want it, my sweet girl?”
“Yessss...”
“You want my cock; you want to be filled by me.”
“Ohhh, Gods!”
He positioned her hips, thrusting into her wet heat without warning. Almost in synchrony, he could hear the sounds of pleasure just outside of the rest of his pack while he let his own mate be consumed by her own.
Alistair lowered them both to the rug beneath them, showing Riona how an alpha gives his mate his seed to bear.
&nbs
p; “Take it, take it all.”
They seemed to writhe on the floor for what could have been forever for all they knew. The sun could have risen and descended again and they wouldn’t have noticed.
All that mattered was the here and now, and what was to come.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Again.” Alistair circled as he took a sip of water from his canteen. Riona sat on the ground panting, tendrils of hair sticking to her forehead.
“Again? We have been at this for hours, I’m so tired.” She sat up, holding her sparring stick.
“I want you to have as much practice as you can, dear one. We must be ready for anything. The alpha mate does not only have to fret over her little garden and mend her mate’s torn shirts, as much as I do appreciate it.” He winked at her.
Riona sipped her own canteen, rolling her eyes.
“I am not my mama; she was a far better gardener than I.”
“I happen to enjoy the sight of the roses surrounding the cottage.” Alistair picked up his own sparring stick, ready for the last lesson of the day.
“And not at all because you have a habit of plucking the petals, sprinkling them over our bed to entice me?” Riona took her stance, feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent.
“If memory serves your mate correct, you writhed and screamed and wrapped those legs around me not letting me go for the rest of that afternoon.” Riona caught him off guard, swinging her stick toward his head, which Alistair avoided.
“Only after I straddled you and made you beg,” Riona teased back, deflecting his next blow by holding her stick straight out and stopping him.
“I believe the words you uttered were, ‘Please, Alistair, I’m nearly there, make me come! Oh, yes, yes—’” Alistair snickered as Riona charged and aimed for his side, which he avoided by spinning and scoring a point and lightly tapping her on the back with his stick.
“Dammit,” Riona mumbled.
“Control your emotions; never act rashly, even when they hit you with a low blow. Like this.” Alistair caught her by her calves, pulling his stick toward him and causing her to fall.