by Raven Willow
“Your opponent will use this move to get you on the ground and take advantage of it, how do you respond?” Alistair made a move to step over her, simulating the scenario. She rolled over to her side just enough to get away from him and grabbed her stick up, just as he taught her.
“Well done, love. In the midst of all this, what do you also do?”
“Assess my surroundings; use whatever I can to bring my opponent down.” Riona recited his teachings.
“Anything can be a weapon if used properly. In the event your weapon is damaged, I want you to grab up whatever you can find to defend yourself. And when your opponent is down, you run, you run as fast as you can. Take advantage of the wolf, you will reach safety quicker. Follow the water and you will find civilization. Chances are you will not be followed amongst a crowd.”
Alistair continued the basic maneuvers with Riona.
“You speak as if we will not be here, on this mountain.” Riona ducked, using her stick in a classic cut-twirl motion.
Alistair sighed, lowering his weapon.
“I have not decided if I wish to move us yet, love.” Riona followed suit, tossing her stick down and sitting by him.
“Why would we leave? This is our home, and I grew up here.” Riona loved her home; it mattered not if it was the village or the pack.
“Man grows stronger here. I fear in the coming years, we will be outnumbered and overrun. We have young ones to think about, for we lost many in the past to the human weapons and traps.” Alistair closed his eyes and sighed.
“Tell me about those days. You never speak of them.” Riona touched his arm, wanting to provide comfort.
“They are not pleasant stories, my dove. Tales that these ears should not hear and fears I do not wish to burden you with.”
Riona sighed in annoyance.
“I am of this pack now, yes?”
“Of course.”
“And therefore I should be informed, knowledgeable of the history?”
“Yes, but—”
“No! No buts!” Riona sat up, crossing her arms. Alistair raised an eyebrow, silently warning her of yet another spanking. Her ass still bore the marks of her last swatting. She flushed when she thought of it.
“I only mean... as the mate of the alpha of this pack, I want to know. I want to know what happened in the past to help create a future. Our pups will grow up in the world we leave for them. But they should know where we came from.”
Alistair stared into her eyes, almost speechless. She knew what was right, and he was quickly learning she had no problems in calling out his habits of wanting to keep her in the dark for the sake of wanting her to feel safe.
Finally, Alistair opened up.
“I was younger then, not yet an alpha. Many of our kind would come back to us wounded or dead, with manmade weapons. They came with messages that we were not welcome. My uncle feared an invasion and moved us, but as time went on man would follow. One by one they would find the naïve ones, the small or the weak ones. I would lead search parties to find the missing. We would always find them barely alive, unable to make it back to the pack safely.
“Elspeth was among the children hurt during a hunt with my uncle’s beta. He was teaching them the skills they would need to defend themselves, but in the end, it did not save most of them.”
It was obvious now he was fighting back tears.
“The funeral pyre held that night was filled with the cries of the mothers. That sound will haunt me for the rest of my days. I promised myself that no harm would come to my future mate, or my pups.” He held a hand possessively over her stomach.
“I’m sorry.” Riona tilted his chin to her to give him a comforting kiss. She knew at times it was all that was needed when he was weary with painful memories.
“I understand why.” Riona suddenly felt bad for questioning him regarding a move of the pack. Now that she knew why, she was almost set to beg him to move them now.
“I will not decide until you undergo your first shift. I would not risk that happening on the road. You will be confused and if you lose control you will need to be restrained... which will only fuel the beast even more.” He hesitated, carefully stepping around his wording.
“I want you to be there with me. Only you.”
“That is the plan, sweetling.”
* * *
They lay on the ground together, looking up at the sky. It was cold, but in his embrace she felt warm. She didn’t care who came by them or who spied; Riona wanted to be with her mate.
“What are you doing there?” Alistair lifted his head to find Riona’s hand making its way down his abdomen into his waistband.
“Nothing, what could I possibly be doing?” Riona smirked mischievously.
“You are trying to seduce me.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you, you little brat.” He rolled over her, trapping her hands to the ground above her head. She stuck her tongue out at him and attempted to wriggle free.
“When did you become such a little cock-tease?”
Riona’s breasts heaved, purposely drawing his gaze there.
“When was it like you to try to resist my temptations?”
Riona grinned and managed to get one leg free, using it to roll him over to straddle him.
“Excellent move, though using your feminine wiles to distract me is cruel.” He relaxed, resting his head on his hands.
“Oh, stop speaking and just let me please you?” Riona began to unlace her bodice, releasing more and more cleavage.
“Why do you females wear such tight garments? It is simply not practical for an alpha mate of my pack.” Alistair reached up and tugged at her gown.
“They are fashionable.” She finally tugged the bodice off her form, leaving her in her loose undershirt with her layers of skirts.
“When you are with child, I will burn this.” He held up the corset; pretty as it was with its deep blue hue, it would not be feasible for very long.
“Many women in the village wore them when they were heavy with child.” Riona traced her fingers over his chest.
“This is not your village, dear one. This is my territory, my domain, where my rules apply.” He sat up, running his hands under her skirt. No stockings, as he had ordered Riona to do. He smiled.
“No corset, no stockings; will you soon have me running freely naked?” Riona giggled as his fingers tickled her sensitive skin along her inner thighs.
“I would enjoy that, but no. I only want you comfortable, free to move about as males do. You females do not have it easy when it comes to these... garments.” He tossed the corset away.
“They would deem that improper in the village.”
Alistair opened his mouth to chastise her again, but she stopped him.
“But I do not live there anymore. I live here now.” She pressed her hand against his chest, guiding him to the ground.
“And if my mate wishes it, then I wear them no longer.” She took her ribbon holding her hair up and pulled it free, letting it cascade down.
“Gods, where did you come from?” He held her hips as she felt his member grow beneath her. Riona smiled and in moments, she was left topless with only one layer of skirt covering her, draping over Alistair’s hips as she still straddled him.
“Those were long lessons today. I want to help you relax properly, mate.” Riona leaned down, pressing her lips to his while he ran his warm hands up her back. A thin layer of sweat covered her skin and he felt it prickle beneath his fingers. She came close to a shift when aroused, but had not made her full transformation yet.
Riona’s hand disappeared under her skirt, raising her hips so she could sink down on his cock. She let out a moan laced with need and lust.
“Fuck, sweetheart.” Alistair gripped her hips and controlled the movements, showing her he still ruled her even though he was the one on his back.
“That’s it, fuck me. Come now, sweetheart, you can do it.”
Riona braced her hands on his
thighs and bounced up and down, a new kind of pleasure overwhelming her.
“Ohhhh, Gods...”
“Yesss, scream for them, love. They see you; they see you taking your pleasure.” Alistair raised a hand under her skirt, using his thumb to rub her clit. She nearly closed her thighs up, making him stop.
“Do not avoid the pleasure, keep those thighs open and keep riding your mate, love, or I will grab those hips and make you ride my face.” Riona gaped at his comment.
“Surely you would not!”
“I can and I will, eventually. You will put your thighs right here and I will tongue fuck that little pussy.”
Hearing those words stirred something in her. It was so naughty, so why did she want it so badly now?
Her need made her ride him harder, grabbing one breast and squeezing.
“Mmm, you like that thought, don’t you? Being made to take my tongue while you try to squirm away, but you aren’t strong enough, are you? You can’t wriggle away from me.” He rubbed her clit harder, unrelenting as she threw her head back, hair whipping around and her locket bouncing between her breasts.
“Is this mine? My pussy?”
“Oh, Gods, yes... yess, it’s yours!” Riona grabbed his hand, making him finger her clit harder as she rode him faster.
“Take your pleasure, sweetheart, go on now. Come for me.” He wasn’t caring for his pleasure in this moment. It looked as if all he wanted was to watch her ride her orgasm as long as she could, and collapse on top of him with his cock still buried inside her, which is exactly what Riona did.
“I love you. Gods, I love you!” Riona screamed as she surrendered to her impending climax, arching her back. She felt her pussy contract around him, knowing she could do this forever, and knowing she had never loved anyone else more in her life.
“I love you, mate.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cinead growled as he paced back and forth, unable to place where that noise was coming from. A woman moaning. He both loathed and loved that sound. He preferred hearing it with his hand wrapped around the little cunt’s throat. It sounded familiar. Much like the sounds he heard when he came upon Alistair and the woman in the lake.
He snarled; surely the fool did not bring her to the woods alone, knowing he was out there?
Just as stupid as I remember.
He ran toward that sweet sound, wanting to just get another look at the female that he would make his. Even if it was not yet time to come for her, it didn’t mean he couldn’t watch. Maybe she was alone, pleasuring herself in the woods without her mate. He smirked at the thought of being able to just pluck her up and run away with her, right under Alistair’s nose.
Cinead stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted signs of a trap. Disturbed soil about two meters wide stood in his way, along with varying other signs of traps he could see when he strained his wolf eyes to look farther across the mountain. Clever, the alpha must have surrounded the perimeter to keep him out. No matter, if he concentrated hard enough, he could see even farther beyond the trees and brush, and what he saw only stirred him more.
His woman, the woman he was meant to have was riding the alpha, breasts free with a gold locket between them. One more way he showed her he owned her, he guessed.
She bounced on him, crying out her love for him, how good it felt to ride him hard. He wrinkled his nose. No woman of his would take control of him in such a way. She would lie on her back and open her legs and take his cock obediently. The woman would learn once he mastered her. Nothing a beating with his belt couldn’t train her to do.
But watching her come undone, her hair flowing free as she let out a guttural cry, it was almost enough to make him shift so he could jerk his cock to the sight. Cinead enjoyed the looks of her body, her breasts would please him. He would be sure to mark them up often, leaving his bites all over her body so Alistair would never even want to touch her again. She would be so used up by the time he located her he would reject her, and she would crawl right back to Cinead and sob in his arms. Assuming he didn’t kill Alistair first.
Cinead imagined the scenario in his head, the woman slowly walking to him and crying for her lost mate, and the only comfort she would have would be Cinead. He would hold her; make her see he was all she had left in this world until she birthed his pups.
He considered the possibility that she might already be with child by the time he took her. He growled at the thought of raising up another man’s pups. They would not be his. It crossed his mind to rid her of them before he placed his own within her, but he couldn’t deny the sick thrill he would get from making them believe him to be their true father as they grew. The look on the woman’s face every time he reasserted that notion would galvanize him. But he had no problem grabbing her up by the hair and dragging her back to their bed to affirm that that was how it would remain, or else she would pay dearly if she spoke the truth. He would then tear her dress and take her from behind, claiming her and asserting his complete and total control.
Cinead had enough of watching when the female came down from her high, letting her body fall on her mate’s as he held her close and kissed her forehead. If he focused his ears hard enough he could almost hear the words ‘I love you’ uttered between the two of them. He wanted to vomit at the notion.
Soon, I will come for you, little female.
You belong to me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Riona, Riona! Make a flower crown with me?”
Ailith’s daughter ran up to her, holding a handful of flowers and twine. Ailith herself was sat on a blanket nearby with her baby, who was in his harness playing with her hair. Elspeth came running back with an armful of herbs and plants, bending down to put some lavender in Isla’s hair.
“Will you, will you?”
Riona looked up at Alistair for permission and he nodded. She offered a smile and gave him a peck on the cheek before taking Isla’s hand as she led her to her little project. She sought silent permission now when leaving his side, and patiently waited for Alistair’s reply. The subtle act of submission pleased him greatly.
Alistair hailed for Ceardach, but he was nowhere to be seen.
He called to Murdock, who was in the middle of a wrestling match with another wolf.
“Brother, where is my beta?” He tried to hide his concern.
“He went on a hunt this morning, alpha. Checking the traps I assume, but he has not been back.” Murdock’s brows furrowed; it was already past noon. And Ceardach always stayed close.
“Eyes up. Watch for his scent or any sign of distress. He will call for help in the bond if he needs it.” Alistair patted Murdock on the shoulder and leaned in close.
“So much as even have an inkling that Cinead is close, you do not leave alone. You come find me; we round up the females and children and get them indoors. We take no chances. “
Murdock nodded promptly, going back to his match. Alistair looked to Riona with Isla and Ailith making innocent little flower crowns. All the women in the pack seemed to be gathered in one place in that moment, the picture of immaculate purity.
They were what the pack stood to lose as long as the threats of not only Cinead, but man itself existed.
The traps seemed to scare away hunters, thinking they would be intruding on another hunter’s game, but Cinead was smarter. Cinead didn’t care who or what he was intruding on.
“Alpha!”
Murdock’s booming voice startled Alistair from his thoughts, where he looked over to see Ceardach, limping through the entrance leading to his pack. His shoulder was bloodied and torn up, his arm hanging limp as he cradled it in the other. One eye was nearly swollen shut and his lip was split.
“Oh, Gods!” he heard Riona gasp as she sat up abruptly, wrapping her arms around Isla and Ailith.
“Help... please help...” Ceardach’s voice was hoarse, and Alistair realized he had finger-shaped bruises around his throat where it seemed like someone had held him in a vise grip. Right be
fore he would have stumbled to the ground, Alistair and Elspeth ran to him, carefully helping him toward Elspeth’s lodge.
“Everyone inside, now!”
His beta unintentionally would have led Cinead back to the safety of his pack. For all Alistair knew, they had mere moments before a red wolf’s attack could wipe out everyone.
Including Riona.
He caught a glimpse of her ushering other females indoors, like a proper alpha mate, he thought. She didn’t seem to show any fear, working out of pure survival. Riona looked him in the eye, narrowing her eyes. He knew she would care for them.
“Get inside, stay there, and let no one out, mate. If I see you even looking through a window, so help me.”
He spoke through her mind, and the curt nod told him she understood. Elspeth kicked the door to her home open, nearly losing her grip on Ceardach when his knees began to buckle.
“What happened, brother?”
“I went to reset the traps, bring back food, supplies. Something—ahhh!”
They positioned his body on a bed as Elspeth began cutting his clothing. Ugly gashes and bruises marred his torso with a massive bite to his shoulder. His knuckles were bloodied and torn up from fighting back.
He mustn’t have had time to complete a shift when Cinead surprised him. Alistair seethed.
“Just relax; these will never heal if I cannot cover them up.” Elspeth ran a cloth over his ribcage to reveal an even deeper wound. Some of the smaller scrapes were beginning to heal, but the larger ones would need salve and continuous care.
Ceardach seethed as Elspeth cleaned his wounds, using her tinctures and varying ointments to prevent infection. His fists clenched around the sheets when she pressed fresh gauzing material against the larger wounds.
“Fuck!”
Alistair held a cup to his beta’s mouth.
“Drink, brother, this will help. Come on now.” He sipped it between coughs until his body stopped writhing and he began to relax.
“This is barbaric... only a coward sneaks up on a fellow wolf.” Elspeth’s disgusted tone followed after she finally finished her work on Ceardach, letting him sleep.