by Sam Crescent
“Yes, I do.”
“Tonight a member from the Eagle pack came into my town at your oldest daughter’s behest, claiming I’d hand over some of my pack women. I take it you know about the laws of the town and who and what we are?” Micah questioned the two oldest.
Both nodded.
“Good. When I learned about this, the leader grabbed Charlotte and threatened to take her. She doesn’t know who we are and, by our very laws, was unprotected.”
Doreen sobbed and leaned on her husband’s shoulder. “I told you we should have said something. We shouldn’t have kept her in the dark.”
“Right you are. Because of the situation I was placed in, I’ve now mated with your daughter.” Silence met his statement.
“What do you mean?”
“Charlotte Griffin is now my queen and, as such, is the female leader of the Rock Wood pack.”
“That’s not possible. She’s human, and she’s only twenty. Too young to be a queen,” Frank argued.
Micah held up his hand. “I’m more than willing to give her time, as much as I can, to grow accustomed to what has happened to her. But I must warn you, when the time comes, I will take her and make her my own.”
“What happens until then?” Doreen seemed to accept his response.
“She lives her life. Finishes college and, until she’s ready, finds a job. I want access to all of her information. As of now, I’m her sole guardian.” With each word he said, Micah sensed the strings holding him to Charlotte tighten.
“You can’t be agreeing to this,” Frank said to his wife.
“What other choice do we have? The decision has been made. We’re lucky Micah didn’t kill her or let this other man take her. At least now she’ll have some form of a normal life.”
Micah watched the conflicting emotions on Charlotte’s parents’ faces. He was surprised Doreen had accepted her daughter’s fate. Because of that one act, he respected her far more than Frank.
“This is unfair.” Frank cursed and stood up from his chair, going to the back of the kitchen. Cade and his other two bodyguards blocked his path. “What? I’m not even allowed out of my own fucking house?”
“Watch your language.” Doreen was the strongest in their partnership, so Micah addressed the alpha of the house. “I’ve come regarding another matter”
“What else do you need to discuss?”
“Kim cannot go unpunished. She brought another alpha to my door and a pack of his strongest men into my town. They could have caused all manner of damage.”
“I said I was sorry—”
Doreen stopped Kim from saying another word by raising her hand in the air.
“If I let this slide, it means other townspeople could bring more danger here. I can’t let that happen.”
“I understand. What are you planning to do?” Doreen asked.
“She must be banished from Rock Wood. I don’t want her stepping foot in my town again.”
“This is scandalous,” Frank yelled, coming closer to Micah. “First you’re taking one of my daughters to mate her, and don’t get me started on how sick that is, and the next, you want me to get rid of my own daughter?”
“I suggest you calm down,” Micah ordered the irate man in front of him.
“Don’t you dare tell me what to do in my own house.” Frank pointed a finger at Micah.
The simple move was all it took for him to snap. Faster than any human could detect, he had Frank locked down in a chokehold, bent over the dinner table.
“In my world, I’d have the person in Kim’s position killed to make an example of her. Be thankful I’m only banishing the little bitch. Do you understand?” When Frank didn’t respond, Micah applied more pressure.
“I said, do you understand?”
Frank jerked his head in a nod.
“I want Kim gone by tomorrow morning. I’ll be by to check.” Micah walked out of the room and glanced up the stairs one final time. He inhaled a lungful of air, the scent of Charlotte distracting him.
Cade stood waiting until Micah built up the strength to turn away and leave his mate behind. Micah got into the car, and it felt like he was being kicked in the gut as the car pulled away from the house Driving away from the woman he needed more than the full moon was wrong.
“I hate to say this to you, sir, but you sure know how to pick ’em,” Jordan, the man driving, said to him.
Micah didn’t bother to respond.
“Do you think she’ll come to you?” Cade asked.
“I’ve got no choice but to hope. Either she comes to me, or I’ll have to go to her. The need within me will only be contained for so long. She’ll come to me, or I’ll have no choice but to go to her and claim her. Charlotte has become part of me. I pray she’ll accept me before then.” Micah stopped talking. He didn’t need to voice his concerns aloud. They all knew the result of claiming if the mate hadn’t already started relations. On the way back to his bar, Micah cursed his werewolf form, the full moon, and the claiming he knew he’d have to do.
Chapter Four
Two years later...
On the last day of college, Charlotte had mixed emotions. She was happy she’d passed all of her exams but saddened her sister wouldn’t be able to make her final ceremony. For the past two years, Kim had written to her off and on about her travels—Italy, Spain, Romania, Egypt, all wonderful places Charlotte had only ever read about, let alone thought of visiting.
Charlotte thought back to the morning after Kim had taken her to that bar on the edge of Rock Wood. When she’d woken up the following morning to see her mom and dad standing over her panicked, she’d been in shock. The events from the night Kim took her to that bar on the edge of town were still fuzzy. One face kept coming back to her—short dark hair and eyes as gray as the moon, a handsome man, but one who excited her. And yet, at the same time, she sensed fear inside her whenever she thought of him.
Her parents sat in the seats in front of the podium. The college in Rock Wood always celebrated the yearly event. Charlotte was thankful all she had to do was grab her certificate and walk down the fight of stairs opposite the stage. She stood waiting for her name to be called. The people behind her snickered. Closing herself off from the cruelty of their words, she made her way up onto the stage, shook the Dean’s hand, and glanced out at the audience.
Charlotte smiled at her parents and thanked the Dean before walking off the stage. As she made her way across the field, she glanced back. Along the back row behind all the parents stood a long line of men. They looked fierce and deadly, each wearing a leather jacket emblazoned with a wolf and the words Rock Wood Pack.
Frowning, she gazed at all the men’s faces, coming to settle on the one at the far end. She recognized him, but she had no idea where she’s seen him before. Across the distance, his eyes sparked gray, and his hair was as dark as night.
Charlotte gasped as he turned to her, staring back at her.
A pulse built inside her body. Scared as the first wave of arousal poured through her, Charlotte turned away from his temptation and stormed away, going back into the college to get out of the sunshine.
She went straight to the bathroom and splashed cold water over her heated cheeks. Her hands were shaking, and her neck ached. Gazing in the mirror, she cupped her neck and winced.
What the hell was wrong with her?
Charlotte couldn’t think about what was going on. In a few weeks, she’d be out of here, and she wouldn’t have to think of a single person living in Rock Wood. She’d be free to do what she wanted.
Once she was properly cooled off, she went back out onto the field.
Looking at the back row, she saw all the men. She’d have to pass them to get to her parents down the center of the aisle.
Taking a breath, she walked over to them, shocked as they all tensed when she grew near.
They blocked the path down to her seat. Tapping one of the men on the shoulder, she gasped and pulled back. The touch felt like a burn
.
“I’m sorry, could I get past?” she asked. The man turned, and she was startled by the intensity of his gaze. The heat returned to her cheeks. It was him, the man from her dreams.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
“You’re blocking the path. I want to get back to my mom,” she explained, the pulse beating rapidly in her neck. Her fingers touched the ache on her neck once again, wincing from the burn.
Charlotte noted the other men had turned to gaze at her. Not used to so much physical attention, her eyes dropped to the ground.
One, the man she dreamed about, put a finger beneath her chin and tilted her head back.
“Never, ever, drop your head,” he ordered.
“I–I–I’m sorry,” she stuttered.
He dropped his hand away and let her past. Charlotte couldn’t help but take a glimpse back at the man who’d intrigued her.
* * * *
“Let her go,” Cade said to Micah with a hand on his arm.
He watched her leave, satisfied when she turned back to glance at him.
Micah allowed his men to hold him back. Making a scene in front of so many humans would be disastrous. He stayed for the duration of the graduation ceremony.
“Your scent is strong. Only a foolish man would go anywhere near her,” Jordan said as they made their way over to their bikes and cars.
“Exactly, but the world is full of fools,” Micah told him. The memories of him were more like dreams to Charlotte. She wasn’t completely clear what had happened the night he’d made her his mate. Like most humans, she’d blocked the pain out.
He followed a good distance behind her parents’ truck and kept out of sight while she made her way indoors. Doreen acknowledged him as he passed, and he thanked the lord daily Charlotte had a strong female to protect her.
The women in his pack grew tired of his lack of attention. He refused every woman’s advance, and because of this, a bitterness had wormed its way into his pack. He sensed it as he pulled up in front of his bar with the rest of his men.
Since the mating, he wanted no one but Charlotte, and he wouldn’t malign his chances with him stinking of another woman when she finally came to him. No one ever knew what the future held.
Chapter Five
Two years later...
Micah stared at the woman before him, naked and spread on his bed. He smelled her arousal, and his cock answered the call of the sexual release he sought. Her slit was bare, and her cream leaked out of her pussy, spreading onto her outer lips.
He licked his lips and bent his head to taste her cream. The nights of the full moon his pack women would try and offer themselves to help him to slake his lust, each one trying to eradicate the scent of his true mate. Throughout the years, the impulses within him had grown stronger, sending him almost into insanity. However, he still hadn’t taken another female. This morsel in front of him was getting harder to ignore. Maybe he should give in and take this little woman until he couldn’t think of his mate’s name for a few minutes.
“Please, fuck me, Micah.” She moaned out loud when he fucked her with three fingers inside her cunt.
“Not Micah. Alpha. That’s what I am. Use it,” he demanded. No woman would call him Micah in his bed. That right was reserved for one woman.
Growling in frustration as Charlotte appeared in his mind once more, he pulled away from the woman. Taking hold of a nearby lamp, he threw it across the room, enjoying the sound as it smashed on the floor.
“Get out!” he yelled.
“What?” she asked, dazed by lust and fear.
“Get the fuck out. You’re not my mate. Get the fuck out of my room.” Micah turned his back on her and only released a breath when he heard the door close.
Shaking his head at his actions, he went and picked up the lamp. Cade knocked and opened the door. He was the only man who dared enter his chambers after a woman left.
“The way she ran out of here I thought you’d thrown it at her,” he said.
Micah grunted and put the pieces in the trash can, careful to not cut himself.
“The need within you is growing, I take it?” Cade asked.
He made sure all the sharp and large pieces were inside the trash can before standing and staring at his second-in-command.
“She said my name,” he gave as a response.
“That’s it? For the past two years you’ve done nothing but throw women out of here. I’m jealous. None of the females are lining up to be my fuck buddy. Each full moon brings about more and more violence. You can’t hold back any longer. For this pack and for your sanity, you’ve got to go to England and claim her.”
Micah roared. Over three months before, hearing the news of Charlotte getting engaged to a man and moving to England had almost destroyed him. She was only twenty-four, with her whole life ahead of her. Not only that, she was his.
He knew Doreen had tried to reason with her daughter. He’d stood in the kitchen while she tried to convince her daughter to return home. Since leaving college and Rock Wood, she hadn’t returned. Not for Christmas or birthdays. No special event brought her presence. A card and present came in the mail for her parents, but she didn’t visit in person. Charlotte remained absent from Rock Wood.
“She’s happy,” he began to argue.
“Fuck that. How do you know? Have you gone and seen her? Spoken to her?” Only Cade could argue with him this way.
“If I go to England, I’ll need to take some people with me. It would split our pack in half and make us vulnerable if Brandon decided to strike again,” Micah warned.
“I think more pack members would vote for you getting your mate than worrying over Brandon.”
Micah glanced down at his hard cock.
“And she’ll be the one to stop that thing from rearing its ugly head,” Cade joked.
Pulling on a dressing gown, Micah glared at him.
“What if she doesn’t want me?” he asked.
“Are you serious? You’re the fucking alpha. For all you know, she doesn’t understand what is happening to her body. The mating heat affects both of you, remember. She’ll feel the call of the wild.”
“Get the team together. We’ll leave first thing in the morning,” Micah ordered him and then left to go to the bathroom to wash the scent of the woman who wasn’t his mate off his body.
He turned the shower on to full heat. The hot water would wipe away any trace of sex. By the time he collected his mate, he wanted to be free from the women he’d had.
Would she welcome him?
Shit, he didn’t even know if she’d suffer with mating heat. Each woman was different. All of his pack females had one cycle a month where they either locked themselves away in their underground dungeon or spent three days wrapped around the body of their mate. Some of their women were consumed by lust, which built to a fever pitch over several days. Once the cycle was completed the woman could go back to normal with all of her hormones in check. Had she experienced this emotion with her new fiancé? Micah growled. Imagining another man with his hands all over his woman was enough to set his nerves on end. Slamming a fist against the wood door did nothing to appease his anger.
For two years, he’d spent his time visiting her parents, trying to find out every minute detail of her life. Was she happy or sad? Did she miss her life in Rock Wood?
Every day he didn’t see her, the need within him grew worse. All he wanted to do was see his mate.
The dreams at night were getting more desperate. He dreamed of Charlotte, naked, running with him through the woods. The nightmares were fueled by her lack of presence. He dreamed of running with her, his beast coming forward and attacking her. Killing his mate.
Charlotte was human, and no way could she survive any attack from the people of his pack.
Micah ran the hot water and wondered if it would be best to call the search off. Would it be best to leave her to the human life she’d been part of for so long?
Staring at his refle
ction in the mirror over the sink, he prayed for some answers. Micah wished for some mystical force that could tell him what he needed to know.
Nothing materialized. He only had the thumping of his heart and the pulse of his cock whenever he thought about her to keep him company. No amount of jacking off or watching porn would appease his lust.
He slammed a fist against the glass, happy to see his reflection shatter. No amount of thinking or planning would take him away from the simple conclusion to his problem.
It was time to claim his mate.
Chapter Six
Charlotte heaved as the sickness consumed her. Three days out of the month her body was struck by uncontrollable shivers. She didn’t want to tell Greg how her pussy would burn for the touch of a man. She felt the humiliation at the fact it wasn’t her fiancé’s hand she wanted, but the hands of a stranger she craved. She spent many nights dreaming about a man with dark hair and gray eyes that sparkled in the moonlight. Charlotte had no idea who the man was who plagued her thoughts and dreams.
His face had begun to turn into a nightmare she couldn’t escape. She’d wake up and find herself fingering herself to ease the ache. Nothing she did could bring her to climax. Twenty-four, and she hadn’t orgasmed once in her life.
She thought about the letter from Kim suggesting she’d find the solution to her problem back in Rock Wood. Charlotte snorted. All she’d find in Rock Wood was her parents, who were more like strangers, and townsfolk who boarded up their windows as if wolves would try and get in. No. She was safer here with Greg. The fiancé she never saw.
Greg. She sighed. He’d be coming around soon, and she wasn’t ready for the badgering he’d give her. They’d met, and he’d wooed her. Three months later she’d moved to England and bought a place where she could live.
She was engaged but didn’t want to share accommodation with the man she was planning on spending the rest of her life with.