by Mia Rose
He grasped his dick with his hand and gently tugged on it making it harder with every stroke. He imagined Noelle handcuffing him to the root of the tree as she brushed her nipples across his lips. He parted his lips and sucked on one tenderly, imagining her body gyrating against his. They were moving slowly as she warmed up. She tossed her hair to one side and grabbed his dick with her hands. After stroking it a few times, she plunged herself down on top of him. She rode him fast, never stopping or letting up. He could feel the wetness surrounding his rock-hard penis and he could feel the urge getting stronger and stronger. She circled her hips around and lifted herself up before landing on him again. That was all it took before he exploded. She rode him slowly until she could feel the last few pulses of his cock. Then she looked down at Declan and gave him a sweet kiss.
Declan opened his eyes and noticed that the water had started becoming a bit colder on his body. He finished washing up and then turned off the shower. He reached for a towel that hung on the rack and wiped himself down. He used it again to wipe away the condensation from the mirror. Looking at his reflection, Declan had a sudden desire to call Noelle and ask her to meet him.
Not now, he thought to himself, tonight.
“Sometimes a good hunt is all you need.”
Chapter 8
The Choice
“Too much to think about can be really hard.”
Noelle walked to the coffee shop in a haze. She had so much on her mind, between the discovery of her family’s roots to the decision she had made regarding herself and Declan’s relationship. Could she even call it that? A relationship requires more than just having sex and certainly killing and hurting people they care about doesn’t exactly help the cause. Noelle wondered how in the hell she got mixed up in this mess in the first place.
She reached for the handle of the door, but right when she was about to walk in, she saw Declan standing at the counter ordering his usual caffeinated beverage of choice. She stood there, staring at the back of him, taking in the soft ripple of his muscles underneath his t-shirt. She savored admiring the pull of the denim fabric of his jeans. She had already known the body underneath those clothes and she had loved it. The alpha in him made her feel wild and untamed.
Again, with that word, Noelle scorned herself for thinking that she ever “loved” him. It wasn’t possible, it couldn’t have been. They didn’t know each other as she imagined two people in love would —not to say that a favorite color and movie would really define love.
But what was his favorite thing to eat when he was sick? Wait, did he even get sick? Do werewolves come down with colds or —Noelle stopped her thoughts.
This is exactly what I mean, she thought to herself, I want a normal relationship where I don’t have to wonder about whether werewolves get colds or not.
She let go of the handle of the door and backed away slowly, walking back to her car. She heard the chime of the opening door behind her, but she didn’t dare turn around to see who was walking out.
“Noelle?” She heard him call her name, but she had to go. She could not trust herself around him yet. Or ever. “Noelle, wait!”
She turned the key in its ignition and started the car. She only just dared herself to look at him in the rearview mirror. He stood there, brows pulled together in confusion, holding his coffee in his hand. She pulled the car away from the curb leaving the man standing on the corner with her name resting on his lips.
Declan stared at the car as it pulled off into the traffic. He was positive that it was Noelle and he knew that she heard him calling her name.
Why the hell would she just ignore me? he wondered. He pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through his list of contacts until he reached “N.” He located her name and dialed the number. It rang once. Then twice. Then an automated message came on the line announcing that he had been sent to voicemail. He hung up and tried again. This time, he was sent to the voicemail after the first ring.
“Noelle,” Declan began his message, “Not too sure what’s going on. I know you saw me and just drove away? Please call me. I want to see you tonight, so… just call me.” He ended the call and then walked slowly back to the apartments creating different scenarios as to why she may have just left.
He settled on the fact that maybe she really hadn’t seen him, somehow. But in his heart, the truth started rearing its head and he stuffed it back down and kept walking forward.
Gabriel was already waiting in Declan’s office once he got back.
“Hey Gabe,” Declan sighed, “What’s up?”
Gabriel raised his eyebrows in concern, but whatever he was about to say, he decided against it and instead he said, “Our first training is starting in five minutes.”
“Shit,” groaned Declan, “I’ve got so much to do here.”
“Declan,” Gabriel sat down in the chair across from his alpha, “they need you now, more than ever. We are all still trying to heal from Cassidy’s —anyways, we need you to be there.”
Declan looked up at the man sitting in front of him and took in his red eyes and tired face. Gabriel had still been crying for Cassidy and meanwhile, Declan was madly obsessing over the woman who killed her.
“I’ll be there,” Declan said finally.
Gabriel stood up and with one final nod, then he walked out of Declan’s office. Declan tried to ignore the slump of his friend’s shoulders as he made his way down the stairs.
Declan rubbed his eyes and tried to organize a few papers before heading down to the basement for training. He got up from his desk and reached for his phone. Clicking it on, he found there were no new notifications. She hadn’t called back. She hadn’t sent a text or an email. Radio silence. He felt alone.
He dialed her number again and again it went straight to voicemail. He hung up and opened his messages. He typed out,“Meet me tonight at 11 pm at our spot in the woods. I’ll see you there.” He slammed his phone down on his desk and made his way down to the basement.
Once he got there, he found fifteen other pack members waiting patiently for their training to start. They all looked up at him expectantly as he walked to the middle of the room.
“Alright people, this is our first official training in a while, so we might go a little slower to cover the basics. Once I feel like we are comfortable with moving into the more difficult stuff, we’ll move on, but not until we’ve mastered the essentials.”
The pack nodded and looked around, clearly anxious to get started. They organized the group into a circle and Declan announced that they would be fighting one-on-one in their wolf forms. He would call out the names of the two members who would need to meet in the center of the circle.
“Gabriel and I will go first,” Declan announced.
The rest of the group snickered quietly, recalling the last time that the two of them had fought. Declan looked over at Gabriel who was staring off into the distance, not even aware of the rest of the room.
“Gabe?”
Gabriel turned to face Declan and the expression on his face told Declan that he was in no state to combat with anyone.
“On second thought,” Declan said, “I won’t be combatting with Gabriel, he will be the judge and calling us out on our techniques. Places we can improve. Sound good?” Gabriel nodded and stood up from his chair. He joined the circle of pack members as requested.
“So, who are you going to challenge?” Brady called out.
Declan looked over at the boy who had requested to be his new beta and smiled, “You.”
Brady’s face went white and his body froze. Declan stepped into the center of the circle and prompted Brady to step in. The rest of the members were cheering and shouting Brady’s name. Finally, the boy stepped into the circle and faced Declan.
“Don’t worry,” Declan said, “I’ll go easy on you.”
“You, um,” Brady’s voice cracked and the rest of the group laughed. He coughed to clear his throat and said, “You don’t have to do that.”
De
clan nodded and the two men shook hands. They took a step back and the transformation began as their skin starting peeling back. The snapping of bones echoed throughout the room and claws took over their fingernails, while sharp teeth emerged from their gums. Two wolves circled each other waiting for Gabriel to officially call the start to the training. Declan smiled and Brady let out a low growl.
“Begin!” Gabriel yelled out.
Brady lunged at Declan without a second’s hesitation. Declan noted how swiftly he moved because of his smaller body. As soon as he landed on Declan’s back, Declan leaned down on his front paws and threw his body upward, throwing Brady off. Brady was smaller, so he was faster, but he did not have the force needed to trap Declan.
“Brady,” Gabriel called out, “you’ll never be able to pin him down, he’s too strong for that. You need to think of another way to attack him.”
Brady nodded and watched Declan as he moved steadily in a circle. Declan ran toward Brady and Brady assumed that he was going to lunge at him, so he dipped in the opposite direction. Declan anticipated his move however, and slammed his huge paw into Brady’s chest. Brady was thrown back by the force but quickly recovered. He ran toward Declan and opened his jaws, going straight for Declan’s throat. Declan dodged his mouth and took the opportunity to wipe his back legs out from under him, slamming him to the ground.
Brady struggled to his feet once more and Declan let out a fierce laugh, “You still want more?” Brady growled, revealing his threatening smile.
“Last round,” Gabriel announced.
Brady circled around Declan and waited for him to attack. Declan watched the smaller wolf and decided to end this once and for all. He ripped forward into a sprint and as soon as he was within inches of Brady, Brady ducked down low and threw his head up. He aimed at hitting Declan straight in the jaw. Declan let out a yelp and tottered sideways. Brady didn’t wait, he lunged toward Declan and landed on his side, causing him to fall over. Brady now laid on top of Declan and put his mouth right to Declan’s throat. Declan looked at the wolf with wide eyes. Brady looked up at Gabriel and Declan took the opportunity to push Brady off him and pin him to the ground. He used force by putting his own teeth against Brady’s throat. He stood like that for almost a minute, his eyes never leaving Brady’s.
“Finished!” Gabriel called out, “Declan wins!” The rest of the group started clapping as the wolves turned back into their human forms.
“So,” Declan said, “what did we learn from that?”
Pack members started screaming out answers all at once about using speed and watching your opponent and all sorts of other things.
“Don’t stop until they’re dead,” Gabriel said quietly. You could have heard a pin drop as the rest of the chatter died out; everyone’s gaze fell on Gabriel.
“Exactly,” Declan said, “we never give in to victory because the minute we look away, we lose.” Declan looked over at Brady and slapped him on the back, “That was really good, Brady. You definitely had me!”
Brady smiled and stepped back into the circle. The next two men stepped forward as per Gabriel’s command and then their fight began. Declan was happy for the distraction because, for the first time in a while, he didn’t have Noelle, or Cassidy, or the overall well-being of the pack on his mind.
Noelle looked down at her phone and read the message for the hundredth time. She wanted to delete it and forget that she’d ever sent it, but it was the first time that he’d initiated trying to meet up.
Maybe we could find a way to make it work?
Maybe she could tell him the truth about her family and they could work on a way to call a truce. She shook the thought from her head as she pulled into the parking lot of the library.
I’ll find my answers here, she thought.
She walked into the building and the librarian looked up at her from behind her glasses. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“Actually, yes,” Noelle said, “Do you have a place where I can find any documents regarding a certain person from the past?” The librarian stared at her and pushed her glasses up on her nose.
“Have you tried a history book?” she said, smiling at her own joke.
Noelle looked at the small woman and said, “I have a name.”
“Okay.” The woman moved over to her ancient computer and tapped at the keys. “Spell it please.”
“N-O-E-L,” she said.
“Slow down, please.”
Noelle let out a groan and the woman peered at her, clearly unamused. “N-O-E-L-I-S-E.”
The woman tapped slowly at the keys and Noelle was tempted to just walk around the desk and type in the name herself.
“Last name?” the woman asked.
“H-O-L-L-O-W-A-Y.” Noelle paused dramatically between every letter so that the lady would not complain about her spelling it too quickly.
The woman pushed her glasses up her nose and said, “It says, ‘no results found.’”
Noelle’s shoulders slumped and she turned on her heel to walk out when the lady spoke again, “Wait, that was Holoway with one L, correct?”
Noelle looked at her in disbelief. “Two L’s!” she cried out.
“Ah,” the lady said, typing once again. “Here we go. It looks like we have a Noelise Holloway, with two L’s. There are records of correspondence —some old letters and such. We keep them on the Archive floor.”
The woman finally wrote down the information of where to access the information and handed the small piece of paper to Noelle. Noelle nodded her thanks and walked toward the elevator which would take her to the bottom floor in the basement. The one which kept all of the archived files.
The doors opened and Noelle was overwhelmed by the smell. She noticed the vast amount of dust covering the untouched boxes that no one ever bothered cleaning up. As she made her way further into the room, she found a man sitting behind his desk. He had an unwrapped sub sitting in front of him, with his computer playing some sort of movie. Noelle saw the trash can next to him filled with what looked like a week’s worth of food that was only half eaten.
Ah, she thought to herself, there’s the smell.
Noelle let out a small cough to announce her presence, but the man was so engrossed in his show that he didn’t even notice.
She walked closer to the desk and announced herself, “Hello.” The man nearly jumped out of his chair at her arrival. He quickly shut his laptop and let out a small laugh.
“Um, hi,” the man stuttered. Noelle noticed that he was fiddling with his zipper and she quickly realized what he had been watching. “I’m, uh, not used to —you know, not many people, uh, come here. Come down here, I mean. To the archives.”
Noelle stifled her laugh and nodded at the man who was clearly humiliated at being found in this state.
She put the small piece of paper on top of his desk and said, “I’m looking for these letters.”
“Okay,” the man nodded finally standing up from his seat, “follow me.”
He walked down a small aisle and it was so dark that Noelle could hardly make out the number on the boxes. The man pulled out a flashlight and directed the light on the boxes.
“I’m actually working on making these all digital files,” he explained, “you know, to keep up with the times.”
“Must be hard work,” Noelle said.
“Yeah, it keeps me really busy, you know?”
“I could tell,” Noelle said, and although she wasn’t able to fully see his face, she knew that his cheeks were probably burning from embarrassment.
He located the small box and handed it to her quickly. “Thanks,” she said, “is it okay if I take these home, to look at?”
“Well,” he said, “we’re not really allowed to let people take any of the archives from the library…” he trailed off.
Noelle smiled at him and said, “It will be our little secret.” Again, the man’s cheeks flared a bright red and he nodded at her as they returned to the brightness, again.
/> She walked to the elevator tucking the small box into her purse. She went back upstairs and made her way to the front doors.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” the woman called out from behind her desk.
“I did.” Noelle smiled at her. “Thank you.”
She walked back to her car and pulled out the small box from her purse. Inside, hundreds of envelopes waited to be opened containing letters from Noelise. There might even be other people who were involved in this.
Noelle replaced the box bag in her bag and took out her cell phone. The first thing she saw was the message from Declan. She closed her eyes and sighed. She thought for a moment. Finally, she pressed the button and watched the message disappear from her phone. She might have been able to delete the message, but she still had a lot of work to do to delete the memory of him from her mind.
She pulled out of the parking lot and made her way back home, nervously anticipating what the letters might have in store for her, now.
“Too much to think about can be really hard.”
Chapter 9
The Discovery
“I hate worrying.”
Declan checked his phone as soon as he was back in his office anticipating a message from Noelle. When he saw nothing on his screen, he tried calling her again. It went straight to voicemail. He was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of worry. His thoughts raced… maybe something had happened to her. Maybe someone in her family had found out about her and Declan.
He had to shake the thoughts from his head. He sat at his desk and decided that now would be as good a time as ever to take care of the piled-up paperwork before he left to hunt for food. He went through each piece of mail quickly, marking the things that needed immediate attention and then throwing out the trash. He caught himself glancing at his phone more than once, but nothing came of it.