by Harry Nix
Alex came and it was almost a surprise. He hadn't felt the buildup, just the rush of it. There had been something about April's moans and gaps that had suddenly pulled him along. He did feel Juno, pulling at him, wrapping her legs around his body, trying to get him deeper, to take his seed. Then, she suddenly rolled away, April tipping off her and falling on the bed. For a moment April and Nia shoved at each other before Nia suddenly gave April a deep kiss and pulled her hair.
“Next time I'm going next,” Nia said. Soon they replicated the position again. Alex between April's legs licking away, Nia over her face. Juno lay beside them, still gasping for air, seeming somewhat stupefied, her cheeks pink in the golden light. Alex, for his part, felt that red wildness surging. He didn't want to give into it because he wanted to experience all of this, to feel every sensation. Soon he couldn't hold himself back again, and he plunged into April, the nymph letting out a loud moan somewhat muffled by Nia sitting over her mouth. This time it was more frenetic, the bed protesting as Alex pounded into her. Green and red shot around the room. Alex sometimes closed his eyes as the sparks hit him in the face. It wasn't long before April screamed, and Alex felt that rush again, gripping onto his mate. He stayed inside her, holding still, but it was only for a moment before he felt the urge to move again. Somehow April slipped away and then Nia was on her back, Alex looming over her. She grabbed at his arms.
“Now, now, now,” the werewolf chanted. Her pupils were dilated, her eyes deep and black. Alex slipped into her, feeling the connection of their bodies and their blood. There was some kind of deep harmony there, a rightness to what was happening. Nia moaned and Alex finally let the red wash over him.
22
Alex came to his senses sitting just outside the cave entrance, scratching in the dirt with a stick. He didn't quite know how much time had passed. He’d been delighted to discover, however, that the thrall, the red wave that had swamped over him hadn't been like the other times where he couldn't remember. He’d experienced it all, remembered it all, although he recognized he'd been under the control of something else. Putting it all together, he guessed that it had been maybe a week, and although he had memory of some meals and washing himself, mostly what he could recall were his three mates and the bed.
Alex moved and immediately regretted it as pain shot down his arm and across his back. He had healing cuts down both arms and a vague memory of Nia slashing away at him. Other memories crowded in of Juno and April. It seemed they had every kind of sex you could have: loving, soft, and gentle, sometimes angry, furious, and violent.
Alex remembered April tied to the bed and blindfolded, Juno between her legs while April opened her mouth as Alex came closer. The thought of it caused this faint echo of the surge in Alex's body but he knew it wasn't the thrall. It was gone.
Alex dropped the stick down to the dirt and managed to stand up, feeling like he had run several marathons and then been severely beaten afterward. He opened his spell screen and saw, unsurprisingly, the sex magic was filled to the top. So was nature and also pain. Natural was about half-full, his body using the magic to heal his wounds. The only one almost empty was death. There was a small fragment of it, however. Alex wasn't quite sure, but he had a memory of hunting a boar as well. Perhaps he’d drawn some death from it after he'd killed it before dragging it back to the cave so they could roast it over an open fire. Alex immediately cast healing flame and touched it to his arm, wincing as it jolted through him, first to his back, then down his arms, quickly patching up his wounds.
His stomach growled as the healing started. Looking down, Alex wasn't sure, but it seemed he’d lost a bit of weight, perhaps due to not eating properly and using far too many calories. After a few moments of healing, he experimentally moved his body and although there was a dull ache of the deep healing still to occur, he felt a lot better.
The day was quite warm and it was near midday. Alex stretched a few more times before going back into the cave.
Juno was sitting stark naked in a chair, holding a book in her hand, a lamp behind her illuminating it but she was staring into space, navel-gazing. April and Nia were on the bed in a tangle of sheets. Nia's red hair was tangled and wild, and April's was sticking up in all directions.
“Hey,” Juno said, blinking sleepily at Alex. She had scratches down her arms, too. Alex took a breath and smelled blood, A few droplets of it had been splattered on the sheets.
“You need a healing spell?” he asked Juno. She went to put the book on the arm of the chair, but missed her target and it fell to the ground, but she didn't seem to really notice.
“I got it,” she said and summoned up her own healing spell, touching the wound on her arm. At the sound of them talking, Nia and April had stirred, both sitting up on the bed, completely naked.
“What the hell was that?” Nia finally said. Juno wandered over to her and touched the healing spell to her back and then did the same to April.
April's clothes had been shredded as had Alex's. Nia gave her clothes to April because she could be in hybrid form and when they ran back it would be as a wolf. They didn't talk much as they ate some of the packaged food. Although Alex was hungry, he could tell he was well and truly sick of eating something out of a can and craved fresh food.
The cave itself was in shambles. In their sex-mad state, they hadn't bothered to really do much cleaning. By silent agreement, they decided they would come back, as they were eager to get back to the village to have proper hot showers, and clean clothes. Finally, they emerged from the cave. As soon as they were outside, Nia grabbed Alex’s arm.
“Alex, smoke!” she shouted, pointing in the direction of the village. Alex looked to Juno and April, but Juno just waved her arms at him.
“Run, run, we’ll catch up,” the witch urged. He felt a moment of indecision, but Nia was already taking off, having transformed into a wolf and the pull of it dragged at him, so he let it take him, sprinting away from his two mates and soon catching up to Nia.
He smelled the smoke well before he saw the fire. He also heard the screams and the occasional gunshot. Despite the fact they were sprinting through the forest and in wolf form, Nia managed to get Alex's attention.
“Don't. Go. Wild,” she said, carefully sounding out the words.
Alex huffed in agreement although he wasn't sure if he was able to keep that promise.
The smoke spiraling up above the village was now thick and black, and seemed to be coming from everywhere. Soon, Alex and Nia burst from the trees, and Alex felt a pain in his chest at the devastation before him. Everything was on fire.
There were mages, at least fifty of them, over on one side of the village, hurling fireballs and fighting werewolves. There was another group closer to Alex and Nia, maybe twenty or so, flanking the werewolves, throwing fireballs, and erupting great gouts of flame. Alex took a moment to take in the scene. His pack was down there, fighting viciously, most them over near the smaller group, slashing at them with claws and ripping off heads. Alex saw a number of dead weredogs that had very obviously been the first wave of the attack. He was about to sprint down the hill when Nia suddenly shifted to hybrid form and dug her claws into his shoulder to stop him, forcing him to shift as well.
“It's too many. We need to retreat and save who we can,” Nia said. Alex turned his head back to the village and the fighting, but then Nia grabbed him.
“Listen to me Alex. Save who you can, go to the cave, and escape,” she repeated.
Perhaps it was only because it had been the tail end of the thrall that her words got through. The wild rage that someone would attack his pack was somewhat muted.
“Okay,” Alex finally said and shifted to his wolf form before bounding down the hill. He crashed into three mages from behind, crushing them to the ground, tearing one's head off. The twenty mages on this side were now down to ten, but those ten were exacting their price, fireballs going everywhere, flames bursting out from their hands.
Alex shifted to hybrid form
and saw that his pack had seen him. Despite the fighting, a few of them let out howls, joyful sounds, over the flames that were crackling in the smoke that lay heavy on the air.
“Retreat! Alex roared and pointed at the forest.
Alex had felt the pull of other werewolves many times, the power of it that had sometimes shifted him involuntarily. Now, as he roared, a furious alpha, the sound of his voice carried command in it. As one, the werewolves around him sprinted towards the forest. A few helped grab the injured and carried them, but they left their dead behind.
Alex sprinted through the village until he came to the fifty or so mages and the remainder of his pack. He roared the command to retreat again and they did, taking the injured and running.
Alex realized that Nia was beside him, and suddenly he was on the ground as she pulled him down as at least six fireballs shot past where he'd been standing. They hit a cabin that had already been alight and disintegrated it. There was a crack and an enormous explosion as a gas tank on the other side of the village exploded. Alex felt the pressure of it. It was almost painful.
There were flames everywhere now and as Alex got to his feet, he saw they'd been utterly defeated. With Nia close behind him, he ran, desperately dodging attacks, and searching for any werewolves who are still alive, but he found none. Soon he emerged on the far side of the village and had no choice but to follow the rest of his pack up into the forest.
The fire mages were too powerful. The flames themselves fed their magic. Alex could see that now and faintly sense the pull of it. He'd cast a single fireball at a mage, but it been utterly useless. The mage laughed as he swatted it away with one hand. Although a few had guns, most were casting spells and using wands.
As Alex and Nia ran away from the village, Alex felt pain bloom in his back and he cursed himself for letting his shield spell expire. His shield ring had been long exhausted, and in the gap between one spell and the next, he’d been shot. The burning pain told him it was silver, and without thinking of what he was doing, he cast Purify on himself, charging it with the very pain it was producing. The bullet burst out of his back, taking a chunk of flesh with it, but Alex was long past caring. That cold and hard part of him, the one that had decided against babies, was taking over. He'd been split between two sides—the village and the wildness distant from Baxter—and then the civilization. Now, some unknown number of his pack were dead and the village destroyed. It seemed the fire mages had made his decision for him.
It wasn't long before they caught up with his pack and his heart broke to see the size of it after a quick count. There are only fifteen werewolves left. Alex shifted to hybrid form and immediately crashed into Jeremiah, who surprisingly gave him an enormous hug. He and Jacob had survived, although not without injuries.
“Where are the children?” Alex asked, having a tough time keeping the quaver out of his voice.
“Esme and Lydia took them but they're not back yet,” Jeremiah said. Alex looked past him seeing various werewolves were using the healing flame rings but then Jeremiah moved in front of him again, blocking his view. He had Alex by the shoulders, holding on to him so tightly his claws were almost cutting into his skin.
“You must stay, you cannot go wild. Come with me,” he said.
He pulled Alex for a step or two then let him go, rushing into the cave. Alex followed, the fear that had been churning in his stomach threatening to overwhelm him. As soon as he got inside, he saw April on the bed, soaked in blood. There was a werewolf nearby. He was using the final charge of the healing flame ring, pressing it against her stomach. The flame came and went but seemed to do little for the enormous gashes and wounds.
Alex rushed forward, shoving past Jeremiah, and cast healing flame, charging it with everything he could. The fire that leaped out from his finger was a good two feet long and he shoved it against April's body. April screamed as the wounds on her torso finally knitted together. Her leg had been slashed so deeply, Alex could see the bone. A mix of red and grey light flashed through the wound. Pain and sex magic charged through the spell stitching the flesh up. After a moment it was done. The worst of April's wounds healed, and she collapsed back on the bed, gasping. Then she grabbed Alex's wrist.
“Couldn't stop them. They took Juno,” she said before she passed out.
Alex let out a roar. The rage leaped up and then he suddenly found himself on the ground, Jeremiah above him, punching him in the face.
“You. Need. To. Stay.” Jeremiah grunted, each punch punctuated with a word. Alex finally managed to get his hands up to block the next blow. Jeremiah let him go and helped haul him up off the ground. They were still in the cave, near the ruins of a chair that it appeared Jeremiah had smashed Alex through.
Alex stepped back from Jeremiah, his heart pounding, and spat some blood and a few teeth onto the floor.
“There’s a trail. We can choose to follow it, or you can stay here and help heal your pack,” Jeremiah said.
Alex saw all the healing flame rings had been exhausted. April was still unconscious. He walked outside and he saw with shock the six children gathered near the cave entrance. On the ground in front of them, Esme was cradling Lydia. She had an enormous wound on her chest, her fur bloody and matted. The blood that was seeping out was slow now, and Lydia was hardly breathing. Alex knew he could leave and follow the trail. Perhaps he would find those who had taken Juno but Lydia, and perhaps others, would die. Some part of him also knew it could be a trap to lure him away from his pack, and the smaller more rational part of him said that if they'd taken Juno, rather than killing her, that they meant to keep as a hostage. All these thoughts came and went in an instant and then he made his decision. He cast healing flame, charging it up with his mana and rushed over to Lydia, pressing it against her body.
The pack came first.
About the Author
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Harry
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