Stan stepped outside the circle and I ran to him embracing him as hard as I could.
Easy, Baby. I’m fine.” He lowered his lips to mine kissing me sweetly. “I’m glad you’re here.” He turned us so we could watch the wardens restrain and then pick up James to carry him away.
It was the beginning of the problem solving Stan would have to do. Would I be at his side? I didn’t know if I could bear to be anywhere but with him. He’d said the decision was permanent, but maybe he’d give me some time to get used to things if we waited to mate.
“I hope this means you made up your mind?” Stan asked.
“I’m willing to move forward as long as we wait a little while to cement our mating.” I agreed.
“You still can’t give in? I want you to be mine but your still stuck halfway in and halfway out. It is a lot to move, have a new role in your life in addition to a new mate, and even a new lifestyle. Ten days, that’s what I’ll give you because if you haven’t adjusted and decided by then, you never will.” Stan decided. I heard what he said, but the main thing was he was giving me time.
“This will work out.” I murmured, but was I trying to reassure him or myself?
We headed to the alpha house to check things out and I was appalled when we stepped in the door. I would call the old alpha a hoarder, but it was all trash and dead carcasses. I thought he had slave labor but they hadn’t been cleaning. We walked through the mess to the bedroom only to find a young girl lying naked in the blankets. Taking a second look, she was older than I thought but underfed.
“Where’s alpha?” She asked her voice quivering.
“He lost the challenge.” I informed.
“Who won?” She asked. “Him.” She nodded at Stan. Her look was now calculating.
“I’m not interested.” Stan said. “Just go home.”
“This is my home. You won’t throw me out, will you?” She asked.
“Where’s your room?” I asked and she pointed down the hall. “Go there for now and tell any of the other females you see that we’re having a meeting in an hour.”
Stan glanced at me looking so overwhelmed that he was glad to let me handle anything I was willing to take on. The house was pathetic, but it was where the alpha lived so it needed to be fixed. In an hour I planned to organize the females so they could help clean this mess up. I couldn’t sleep in this house without at least getting the rubbish removed and making it smell better.
Once we checked out the whole house, and it was huge, we were terribly overwhelmed and discouraged. “I’m willing to let you take charge of the house if you want. I’ll do the other stuff.” Stan graciously offered.
“Yeah, I bet. I’ll get on it, but we’ll need some money for cleaning supplies, food, and other stuff.” I negotiated.
He pulled out a card and handed it to me. “There’s a limit on it.” He cautioned.
I had no intention of going hog wild. Now that we went back outside, I saw Megan and Reese outside waiting. “She tried, but the smell made her sick. Didn’t do anything good for me either. How did they live like that?” Reese asked.
“It’s worse than a pig’s sty.” I admitted.
“Get the kitchen clean and we’ll come back and help. I can cook for the pack. Today is important for all of you. I want to help you get started right.” Megan offered. I pulled her into an embrace. This female was so good and kind. I’d really been cheated by not getting to grow up with her as it should have been.
“Thank you, Sis. Give us two hours and we’ll be ready.” I suggested. She and Reese both looked doubtful, but I knew it was possible. There were a dozen females or more that could help.
I watched them leave, but they’d be back soon and I had a lot to do. Pulling out my phone, I made some lists to keep me straight. The females were gathering even though it was only an hour later and so I decided to begin.
“This is your pack house and I want you to be able to have pride in it. This is where it all begins. We are going to clean this up and make it the heart of the pack as it always should have been. No more will anyone tell you who to share your bodies with. You can work outside the pack and earn a proper wage. You can mate a male you want, raise your children in a good environment, and feel proud of your pack again. It all starts here with a commitment from each of you.”
“How will we live until we find a job?” A young girl asked.
“How were you getting by before?” I asked.
“Alpha took care of us. None of us have anything. We only got the clothes on our back and a room in the alpha house.” She explained.
“We’ll help you, but you have to help us too. Once we get this place cleaned up, we’ll cook some food. The first step is to take out the trash and we’ll burn it.” I knew the secret to such an overwhelming undertaking was to divide it into smaller jobs.
The mature females went to work on the kitchen. A few of the younger girls got put to work carrying trash out of the bedrooms with a teenager in charge. Two of the younger boys came with me. We drove to the nearest town, eight miles away and bought cleaning supplies. I also bought drinks and snacks to help keep them energized while they were working. I had two coolers for refrigerated foods and I bought other stuff for when Megan came to cook.
I knew there were many things we needed I just didn’t have room for so we headed back. When we got to the house, I was gratified to see everyone had been working hard. Setting up a break system, it would allow everyone ten minutes off to have a drink and a snack before getting back to work. Never had I seen anyone enjoy a soda, a bag of chips, and a snack cake like these people did.
Admittedly, most of these people were way too thin. I believed he’d used food to control most of them. They had become so dependent they didn’t know how to care for themselves. That made me wonder what shape the finances of the pack were in which was one worry I couldn’t handle now. It would be Stan’s concern.
Lazy, I wasn’t, so I got right in and started carrying trash out. The two teenage males that had gone to town with me now were in charge of the fire. They seemed to enjoy torching trash so that would be their job. It would be irresponsible to have such a large fire without someone watching it and they had to stir the fire up to keep it burning hot.
The kitchen was finally debris free and I was tickled to find that when we got into the cabinets, they were full of everything a kitchen needed. It made me wonder at what point things had gone so terribly wrong. I checked out the appliances and while they were old, they all worked. The refrigerator was the newest of the major appliances, although it was hardly new, because they stored what was left of their kills in it. It was also the nastiest and hardest to clean. Grammie never raised a quitter so I soaped it down and left it to soak while I moved on.
Two females stayed to help scrub all the surfaces, clean the appliances, wash all the dishes, and clean out the cabinets. It was much better, but not finished when Megan and Reese came back. The smell had been drowned out with the lemony scent of cleaners so Megan was alright to stay. Reese escaped with a mumbled mention of looking for Stan.
“I can’t believe how much you got done. I wasn’t sure if you would have food or not so we brought some stuff. It’s already cooked just in case the appliances don’t work.” She eyed the fifties stove and freezer and the seventies fridge. The microwave was nearly brand new and I suspected the only thing they had used for cooking.
“Work goes fast when you get everyone working together. The snacks we bought helped too. Megan, the shape these people are in makes me want to cry. He abused them and starved them. They go wild over a soda or a snack cake. They only have the clothes on their back. There are only three vehicles here and they all belonged to James.” I explained.
“This is your chance to help them turn things around. It’s bigger than you and Stan, it’s about a whole community and what they need. I’m glad you’re staying. We’ll help no matter what you need. Reese said he would help some of them find jobs in town if they needed to. When the dust set
tles, it will all work out.” Megan assured.
“I’m so glad I have a sister like you.” I said and we hugged and cried as we began to cook the first meal that the pack would have with their new alpha.
“You have some nice dishes and pots.” Megan pointed out.
“Yeah, the ladies said some of James’ past mates had insisted on a fully supplied kitchen. They think he killed his mates when he grew tired of them. He hasn’t had one in ten years now and things went downhill after she died. Sandy thinks he missed her but it was too late to change things. Maybe it was the wolves’ goddess’ way of punishing him.”
“He deserved to be punished. The council will give those mates and pack members justice. He’ll do hard labor or he won’t eat. They don’t coddle criminals like some of the human prisons do. You saw the way he tried to force Stan to kill him? Wolf prisons are like the old human prisons with chain gangs.”
“No one deserves it more. I can’t manage to find any sympathy for that male and the more I find out, the more I see he deserves what he’s going to get.”
We continued to talk as we fixed food and filled the oven and the microwave. Pies sat on the counter waiting to go in when the other food came out. I still had so much cleaning to do and some of Stan’s furniture needed to be brought here so we had a bed for the night. The bed in the alpha’s bedroom was one I would never sleep in. I gave it to Sandy since she and her two children slept on the floor. Few of the pack members had any furniture at all. When something wore out, it hadn’t been replaced.
The sad thing was it would take weeks if not months to clean and replace what was needed to make this a decent home. There were other houses on the pack lands, but none of them had anyone living in them. James had locked them up and refused to let anyone live in them. There were at least a thousand acres here that belonged to the pack, yet they all lived in this house, tents, or cobbled together shelters near the pack house. It looked worse than a shanty town making me wonder how no one saw what was going on here. The pack was falling apart and no one saw or if they did, they hadn’t cared.
The food was done and the aroma had spread over the whole house. Some of the kids had gathered to beg for scraps like they did it all the time. Even some of the adults stood around like they were ready to grab whatever was available and run away with it. It was disheartening to see so many that had gone hungry for so long.
Megan and I decided to dish out the food and we began to put it on plates. People came and grabbed them quickly eating with their hands. “Guys, there is silverware right here.”
They lowered their heads in shame and grabbed a fork and commenced eating again. One of the children ate so fast he got sick and vomited. I had hoped for a supper where we all sat around and ate together, but that would be some time coming. Stan and Reese came in and brought some males with them. The females and kids immediately backed away so the males could eat first.
“Females and children get back in line. You are as important as anyone.” They looked at the males before they stepped back in line. I didn’t know where the other pack members were because we only had fifty here. It was a small pack but I had heard there were two hundred people in the pack. My eyes searched out Stan who looked lost in thought.
I had a feeling there was more bad news to go around. That was what I would find out later, right now I was busy and once everyone had a plate, Megan and I filled ours and sat by Stan and Reese to eat. When the meal was over, the pies were done and everyone would have dessert later. After that, I instructed everyone to put their plates on the counter by the sink. A dishwasher was a necessity, a commercial one at that. Stan helped me as we washed the dishes while Megan and Reese put up what little was leftover. The house was big, but if there were two hundred members, it would not be large enough for cooking and serving those meals.
Now, everyone had dessert. “So what bad news do you have?” I whispered to Stan.
“James wasn’t handling the finances well. The only thing he did was keep up the taxes on the land. The land is free and clear because it’s set up to where it can’t be borrowed against. The pack is nearly broke and there is no money coming in except what a group of the males gets for doing odd jobs. It’s a sad state he brought them too. If he’d been in charge any longer there wouldn’t have been a pack left.” Stan explained.
“Damn. What can we do?” I asked.
“We need to see what James had left and get some work for our pack.” Stan suggested.
“Yeah, we also need to check out the other houses. There are several sitting empty and locked up.” I pointed out.
“I heard that too and wondered what was going on. The cabin near Howlington where Delane kept Megan didn’t look bad. Maybe we need to start there. It’s a two level four bedroom I think. It would hold a family, maybe two until we get more places ready.” Stan agreed.
“We can do that tomorrow, for now we need to get a bed for our room.” I insisted.
“Okay, I’ll get one of the males to help me get my bed and I’ll pack a bag with some clothes.”
“I guess I’ll see if the bedroom is empty yet and check out our bathroom.”
“Good luck with that, Baby.” Stan said before he leaned forward and gave me a sweet kiss. I watched him leave and I was filled with dread at the thought of cleaning that bathroom.
The alpha suite was in the first floor and the house had a total of three floors. It wasn’t unusual for a pack house. Some alphas lived in the main house while others had a separate house. I wasn’t a wolf, but witches kept an eye on the way things worked with other supernaturals. That didn’t make me an expert, but I had been to a pack house or two to provide witch services on behalf of the witches’ council. I’d been to vampire nests too.
When I entered the bathroom I was surprised that except for the toilet, the rest wasn’t bad. Getting to work, I had things looking good by the time Stan had returned with the bed. His bed was big and it took time to set it up. By the time they had it ready and I put sheet, pillows, and blankets on it, I was worn out. Stan looked tired too so we showered separately and we went to bed.
Stan wrapped his long lanky body around me and hugged me tight. “How did things go for you?” He asked.
“It could have been much worse considering the first impression when we walked in the door.”
“From what I saw, you had everyone doing their best.”
“Most of these rooms have no furniture. They’re all sleeping on the floor or outside on the ground. The kids are like beggars fighting over anything of value because they have nothing.” I could feel tears forming in my eyes.
“They had a good day, Rachel. The best day some of them have ever had. Making their lives better is a worthwhile cause, but it won’t happen in one day. Today was just the beginning. Think what we can do in a week, a month, or even a year.”
“You’re right, but I’m not very patient. It hurts to think what that alpha did to his own.”
“I know. Maybe I should try to distract and relax you?” Stan asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. I couldn’t help but giggle. “Hey, I’m trying to be seductive here.” He leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss but slowly pressed harder.
His tongue pressed against the seam of my lips insistently until they parted to grant him access. Stan explored my mouth and dueled with my tongue until I dueled back. His hands stroked my back and my shoulders and it felt good. I moved my hands to his chest and slid them up to his shoulders.
He made a sound a lot like a purr. My energy level was starting to rise. His mouth went to my neck as he kissed and licked his way down and my hands moved to his hair. It was thick and wavy so my hands loved running through it. Stan moved his head to my breasts as his hands moved my shirt up and over my head. Tossing it next to me on the bed, he then sucked a nipple into his mouth tugging on it firmly.
“Oh, goddess!” I exclaimed.
He moved to the other nipple giving it the same treatment. Next he worked his way down lower and
lower nipping and licking until his head finally centered between my thighs. Anticipation had me soaking wet as I felt his hot breath hitting my skin. A shiver ran over me and he growled.
His tongue darted out and licked me from gate to clit and I moaned. He did it again and again before his tongue settled on my clit worrying it for all he was worth. One finger slid into my channel and he began to stretch me for that massive cock he was hiding. I’d seen the tenting of his pants more than once so I knew it was a humdinger.
Stan added another finger and now I was riding the edge of a massive orgasm just waiting to fall into it. He added another finger and nipped my clit and it cut loose. I bit my lip to prevent my scream from being heard throughout the house. My body thrashed and bucked as the pleasure roiled over me. My mate moved up my body planting his big cock inside me. It was all I could do to take him and it pinched and burned due to his size.
Even without moving, it took me a bit to adjust to his size. When I did, I started to arch up against him. Stan withdrew almost fully before skidding back in and repeating the process over and over. Each time he moved faster and harder. It felt amazing and the tension built beautifully. I mewled and made sounds to encourage him.
I’d never felt so good or been loved so well as my climax started to build again. My legs moved around his waist to pull him in closer. My feet pressed into his ass in an attempt to find traction as I arched up to meet his every thrust.
Chapter 3
Complications
I hammered into Rachel as she clung to me with every fiber of her being. Never had I felt so close to anyone in my life. The need to bite and claim her burned in me. My gums itched as I fought my wolf who wanted to drop my fangs so they’d be ready to sink into the spot where her neck and her shoulder met. There was no doubt my wolf showed in my eyes with the golden glow of his power.
My mate was made of sterner stuff because she handled my thrusts without difficulty, even screaming for more. I obliged, wanting both of us to find that joyful feeling that right now was close enough to taste, but just out of reach. Rachel’s channel squeezed down on me and I thought her orgasm was starting but she was just excited. Changing the angle of my thrust, I hit a spot she really liked and finally her climax erupted.
Stanley (Red Wolf Book 2) Page 3