by Claire Ryann
Daelan's breath was harsh, his hands wrapped in her hair, his face buried against her neck. Somewhere through the haze she was fighting her way through she felt the sharp edge of his teeth pressing against her skin and then suddenly he turned his head. His grip tightened on her hips and with a rough grunt she felt the heat of his seed releasing inside her just as she tumbled over the edge of her own climax.
11
Daelan lay spent on top of her, still clutching her tightly in his arms as if she might evaporate out from under him.
That was close. Way too close.
Rescuing her from her shower curtain prison, having to unwrap her naked body like a holiday present, had been challenging but the scent of her own cunt on her fingers as they brushed across his beard had pulled his wolf to the surface despite all his best efforts. There'd been no holding it back after that.
Haley's body was phenomenal. Soft and lush, all curves and swells against his hard angles. She felt like heaven against him and even now, panting and spent, he could feel his cock twitching within her, already eager for a second round.
There was no second guessing himself now though. He knew for sure. She was his. Haley was the one he'd been made for and feeling her clenching around him and calling his name begged the wolf to claim her. Pulling its teeth off her flesh had taken all the restraint Daelan had in him.
He scolded the inner beast for taking advantage of the moment. The wolf knew its mate and had no concern for petty human bullshit like pack politics and the ethics of werewolves. The wolf only knew that now that she'd arrived, he needed her at his side.
Daelan had caught his breath, he turned back to face Haley and kissed her softly.
"I'd have tied myself up sooner if I knew you were into that," she giggled in a sleepy voice.
Her face was lovely. Her hair was all soft nutmeg curls laying around her head in a halo, her skin was creamy and smooth with a mole on her cheek just below her right eye. He smiled as he watched her fight the call of sleep. He lifted his hand and let his finger trace her profile. Starting between her eyes at the bridge of her nose and lightly drawing over the pert snub down to the bow of her upper lip.
She giggled at his touch, "that tickles," she whispered.
He kissed her again but she wasn't paying attention now. Her lips parted slightly and the light brown lashes bordering her eye lids danced softly against her cheek as she dozed.
Daelan pulled himself from her body, missing her immediately.
He knew she'd be awake before he got back but he had to go. He slipped out the back door into the snow, cleared the railing with silent paws and headed for home.
***
Even cutting cross-country in as straight a line as his wolf and the terrain allowed, it was unlikely he would make it back to Haley before the next morning. He'd scribbled a short note before he left so she wouldn't panic and hoped he had an explanation to give her by the time he returned.
With luck, the truth would be good enough.
The thing was, in nearly 2 centuries that he could remember watching pack life around him, and for the last 30 years that he'd been Alpha, he couldn't remember any member of the pack ever taking a human mate.
It wasn't that it was unheard of, but the pack was old. They had kept to themselves for centuries, moving south from the Alaskan range and finally staking out their territory in the mountains that would eventually be named the Cascades in the area that was now northern Washington State.
He'd been born after the pack had settled in its current location, when the United States was still a new country far to the east of their home.
He hadn't even left the den till he was an old man by human standards. His father had led the pack by ancient traditions. The elders that helped raise him were firm believers that humans were to be avoided at all costs.
Daelan still remembered the fates of the very few humans who had trespassed into the pack's territory, whether accidentally or not.
Most had disappeared, their shredded remains providing food for scavengers deep in the forest. A careful few had been invited to join the pack and that didn't always work out well.
That was over a hundred years ago, when men-- and women-- could disappear into the mountains without question. No one came looking for those people and the pack stayed hidden.
Human civilization encroached on their territory a little at a time. By modern standards, the den was still off the map. By Pack standards, they were being smothered by humans by the 1950s.
He remembered sitting in on meetings in the main hall of the big house when the entire pack still lived under one roof. The elders and his father arguing over the pack's future. Moving north seemed reasonable, but by this time humans had drawn lines across the map. The US/Canada border already cut through the northern tip of their territory. They were an isolated village that had so far gone unnoticed by civilization. As wolves, they were free to wander the land as their ancestors had, but as men and women, they had no citizenship. No birth certificates, drivers licenses, or passports. They were ghosts.
As long as they didn't try to modernize the den, or cross any borders, they could blend in well enough. Some of them better than others.
It had been a stressful time for his father as the alpha at the time. It had been a stressful time for all of them.
In the end, they had reluctantly followed his father's wisdom. The pack would stay. Their land was recorded with the necessary entities as their property. In the eyes of the country that had formed around them, they owned something of great value. Whether they liked it or not, the time was coming when it would no longer be feasible for a large pack of shifters to live without learning the ways of modern civilization.
That's when his father sent him to school.
12
Daelan's feet froze in the snow. A sound betrayed the fact that he suddenly had company. His wolf raised its head and sniffed the brisk air.
Kenyon. One of his best men but lazy about his stealth.
Daelan considered his next move. The wolves were naturally adept at communicating, but wolves rarely needed to explain themselves or share complicated concepts. Shifting and calling the search party out to gather to him made the most sense.
It also meant being naked in several feet of fresh snow. He'd carelessly left his clothing back at the cabin, not taking time to consider that he might need it before he arrived at his own home.
"Ho!" A deep voice called from a hidden place among the pines, "Day-- where you been, man?" Lowell was tromping through the snow in his direction at a brisk pace.
"You know where he's been," Kenyon chimed in as he appeared from behind a large boulder, "he's been up at the old cabin with a lady."
Kenyon reached out his hand, holding it high and flat long enough for Lowell to slap it with his own. The two men broke out in laughter as they approached the white wolf that stood staring at them.
"Com'on man," Kenyon chided his alpha, "shift and spill."
"Yeah man," Lowell chimed in, "You gonna give us the skinny on the plush chick or do we have to fill in the details on our own?"
The wolf growled, raising his lip in a warning snarl.
"Ooooh! Looks like you touched a nerve, there, Low!"
Lowell put up his hands in mock surrender toward the wolf that was glaring at him, but he did take a step back, "Hey man, it's lonely out here."
"And cold," Ken threw in.
"We're just trying to get some details to keep us warm at night," Lowell said.
Daelan couldn't very well stand there in his wolf snarling at these two jokers all day. Steeling himself for the ribbing he was about to take, he pulled himself into his man and stood naked in the snow.
"Oh shit, dude," Ken laughed, "you are some serious naked."
Lowell whistled, "Day, I don't know if you know this or not, but most of us have learned how to shift with our clothes on by this age."
Ken scrunched up his nose and inhaled, "and you smell like human pu--"
"Fuck man," Low said as he watched Kenyon wipe the thin stream of red off his face where the scratch was already healing, "chill out, he was just teasing you cuz," he nodded at Daelan's nakedness, "you been holed up with the human chick for like 2 days now."
"I know why he's smarting off," Daelan growled, "and I told him to knock it off."
"OK, OK," Lowell's surrender was real this time, "Rek just wanted us to check up on you is all."
"That storm was a big one and there's supposed to be another one heading in tonight," Ken was all maturity and focus suddenly.
"If you knew where I was, why is Rek sending you after me?" Daelan demanded.
Both of his men shrugged.
"He probably wants you to come home and get Leena off his back," Ken's humor returned.
Lowell chuckled, "Yeah, without the Alpha home to flirt with you know she had to go after someone else."
Daelan's face stretched into a smile with the men, "Poor Rek, she's gotta be driving him crazy. Has she tried cooking for him yet?"
Lowell and Kenyon both laughed and nodded.
Daelan joined their laughter with a shake of his head, "Oh man, then he really is hurting. That girl can't boil water."
Daelan unconsciously turned back the way he'd come, leading his men back on his trail toward the cabin while they chatted and caught up. Even as a trio of men trudging through the deep snow, they made good time and soon they found themselves standing in the woods within sight of the cabin.
"So you gonna chill with the girl for a few more days then?" Lowell wanted to make sure he had his information right before he headed back to the den with the Alpha's orders.
Daelan stared thoughtfully at the cabin before nodding.
Ken leaned close to Daelan and sniffed.
Daelan pulled back and eyed the younger man suspiciously. He watched Ken cast a glance at Lowell and then Lowell stepped forward and sniffed at Daelan too.
"What the fuck are you two doing?" Daelan wanted to know.
"It's just," Ken sniffed his alpha again, "you smell different."
Daelan was not interested in listening to them talk about Haley like she was a cheap one night stand. She was going to be their-- Daelan cut his thought short. After all, he didn't really know that for sure yet.
"Yeah, I know, I smell like Haley."
Kenyon shook his head, "No besides that, you smell different."
Lowell's eyes widened. He looked at Daelan and then at the cabin and then back.
"Hoe. Lee. Shit." He said slowly, "Day? You know what you smell like?"
Daelan was hoping he wasn't actually going to say it out loud, that Low wasn't fool enough to put it out on the air where none of them would be able to ignore it.
"You smell mated, man."
Lowell's voice was a whisper, awed and slightly frightened.
Daelan's gut sank and his pulse picked up. Those were the words he didn't want to hear. If Lowell and Kenyon could detect the slight change in his pheromone patterns, the elders would know as soon as he reached the den's perimeter.
His shoulders dropped and he turned pleading eyes to his men, "I don't know how the pack is going to take it," he said quietly.
"So we're getting a new mom?" Ken's voice rose excitedly and he had already taken a step toward the cabin when Daelan's hand landed firmly on his shoulder, pulling him to a sudden stop.
"Oh shit," Ken's eyes went wide as his alpha spun him away from the cabin, "She doesn't know, does she?"
"What do you mean, how the pack will take it?" Lowell's eyes were leveled on his alpha.
Daelan rubbed his neck, "Have you ever known a member of the pack to take a human mate?" He watched recognition dawn first in Lowell's eyes and then in Ken's. "Yeah, me either."
He looked nervously back at the cabin, "What if the pack won't take her? What if the elders decide," he ground his teeth with a tense jaw while he struggled to keep his voice calm, "what if they decide she's a liability?"
Now both the other men were watching the cabin in thoughtful silence.
"Yeah but you're gonna tell her, right?" Ken finally asked. "Like, she's the one for you, yeah?"
Ken's eyes turned wistful as he looked back at Daelan, "What's it feel like?"
"Yeah, did you know right away?" Lowell wanted to know.
"Or did you have to wait till you fuuuuhhh--" Ken coughed and rethought his wording, "did you not until you were like, with her?"
The men were all close in age, as their kind went and despite Daelan's rise to leadership several decades ago, he still enjoyed a casual camaraderie with the boys he'd grown up with. It was obvious that after so many years of crass language between them, Kenyon was having trouble finding words fitting of the woman who might become the pack's new alpha female.
Daelan would laugh if he wasn't so concerned at the moment. Ken had always needed a little extra guidance to keep him focused. Just wait till it was his mate the guys were talking about like a common hook up from a trip to town. Then they'd get to see who was tolerant of the guys' choice of words.
"She was just some eye candy that I found renting the old cabin," Daelan said by way of answer, "till I touched her." His brow furrowed, "Or smelled her. Like up close, her scent was just different."
He turned back to his men with a pained expression, "I tried to leave her behind. I didn't want to do anything that would put her at risk."
"Hey," Lowell stepped forward and gave Daelan's back a firm pat, "we get it, man."
Ken shot one more glance at the cabin and then said, "You know we got your back, right, Day? We're all in the same boat in a way, you know? None of us have mates."
"Yeah, it could have been any one of us," Lowell said gravely.
"Any one of you isn't the alpha of this pack," Daelan said, "Any one of you doesn't have to explain to the council that he intends to bring a human into the den. Any one of you isn't wondering if he'll have to choose between his fate and his home." Daelan's voice grew more forceful with each sentence.
"Or worse." He added quietly.
"You don't really think they'd hurt her, do you?" Lowell asked.
Daelan's eyes burned with anger at the idea but Lowell was giving voice to Daelan's deepest fear, "You remember how we used to deal with human trespassers, don't you?" he asked.
Ken sucked in a sharp breath, "Oh man," he worried, "oh man, they wouldn't do that to your mate though, right?"
"You're the motherfucking alpha of the pack, Day," Lowell reminded him, "can't you just say 'this is how it is and fuck off?' "
Daelan shook his head slowly, "you know it's not that easy. Being Alpha makes me the leader, but I'm not the supreme overlord. I have to confer to the council and it's mostly old-timers. Remember when my father put us in school?"
Ken and Lowell both nodded solemnly.
"Yeah, that was a helluva fight," Lowell smiled, "I thought the pack was going to split up and I was never going to see my nan again."
"But it worked out," Ken pointed out, ever the optimist, "and now you're Alpha. The pack has come a long way since then."
"And mate, man, that's like fate. Outta your hands. They can't fuck with your mate."
Daelan hoped they were right, but they were talking about werewolves after all. They weren't eager to change their ways and Daelan had already challenged their traditions to the point that there was a lot of tension between him and the council.
The last thing he needed to do was bring home a human and introduce her as his mate.
The guys were right about one thing, none of them had any idea what the policy was on that.
Clouds were obliterating the sky above them. Daelan knew his friends needed to get on their way.
A sound came from the cabin and all ears perked toward it.
"Sounds like somebody misses you," Ken smirked.
"Yeah, beside, yo
u gotta get back inside and put on some clothes."
"Or stand by the fire, if your mate sees you like that," Ken cast a disparaging glance at Daelan's naked nether regions, "she is not going to be impressed."
Lowell laughed, "Yeah, you're starting to look a little cold, if ya know what I mean."
Daelan scowled at the jokesters and motioned toward the den, "Go back, let Rek know what's up but don't go blabbing all over the den about this. I'm gonna need some time to consider my plan."
Three men shifted at once, grateful to leave the human skin behind and turn thick fur to the approaching storm.
Daelan's white wolf followed the others for a distance before a few barks saw them off on their way and he was free to turn back.
The wolf hurried across the snow, its eyes fixed on the cabin. Its mind shutting out the worries of its human side and thinking only of its mate waiting warm and soft for him to return.
13
Haley saw the note, a simple "gone for a hike" scrawled across a receipt from the little gas station in town where she usually bought hot coffee on her way to work.
She hadn't thought much of it until she'd found his flannel shirt still laying across the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table.
Then his boots sitting beside the door.
Then his pants still in a heap on the floor beside the bed.
Memories of how they'd end up there flooded her and she felt her blood heat. The day had turned out better than she'd planned. She'd woke from her nap and found the bed cold beside her. Her body felt empty without him and she'd been hoping to track him down and try for another round.
Only to find the cabin strangely vacant.
She had shrugged, considering the possibility that he had spare clothes in his truck. He had spent all morning clearing out a path through the snow to reach the outside, after all. But after making herself something to eat, adding wood to the fire, and reading a book and half by its light since the power was still out, she'd begun to worry.
The sky was getting dark and wind was beginning to howl through the trees outside. Haley was starting to worry.