Torrent (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 4)

by Olivia Stephens

  “Brothers and Sisters,” Ashton’s voice booms out over the clearing, “today has been a momentous day for us. We have banded together,” here Ashton nods towards the other Alphas, “and we have defeated the enemy that sought to destroy us.” Exclamations of victory go up among the Lycans and Ashton waits until they settle down again before continuing. “But that isn’t the only reason that today will go down in history. It’s also the day that Sofie Braun, became a Lycan.” Sofie cringes at being the center of attention as all eyes turn to her. “It is the day that the white wolf has returned to us. So, Brothers and Sister, raise your glasses to Sofie, to her strength, to her brains and to her courage in the face of the most dangerous enemy we have ever faced.” Ashton raises his bottle to the skies. “To Sofie, my mate and Pack Mother.”

  “To Sofie!” The words are repeated around the bonfire by every were as they raise their drinks, toasting their new leader.

  EPILOGUE

  It was only a couple of months since the events in Beaumont had come to a head, culminating in Luke’s arrest and the disbanding of the Humans First Brigade. They were deemed to be unconstitutional and therefore illegal. Some had gone underground and started off their own Anti-Lycan groups, others had just faded away, never to be heard of again.

  Werewolves were officially out of the closet and there was no crowbarring them back in. It was a new world, where Lycans and humans were going to have to learn to live together. It was a time of transition on both sides, each trying to figure out how they fit into this changed perception of what we always thought we knew. But, right now, Sofie and Ashton are less concerned about how they fit into the big bad world and more concerned about how they fit against each other. Sofie and Ashton are making love.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you, running girl.” Ashton nips at her earlobe as he whispers the words.

  Sofie moans softly as he traps her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, twisting the erect bud gently. Her breath is coming in short pants now, her excitement building. Ashton trails kisses down her neck, looking at her like she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

  She locks eyes with him, reaching up and pulling his mouth back down to hers. “I want you inside of me.” She reaches down between them, rubbing his hardness, feeling the weight of him,

  They keep their eyes focused on each other as she guides him into her silky entrance. Ashton enters her, achingly slowly, stretching out the moment until he’s completely buried inside of her, up to the hilt. Sofie arches her back up to meet him, wanting to take everything he has to give her.

  “God, Sofie, you drive me crazy.” Ashton lifts his head up, like he’s looking to the sky for strength, to gather some control.

  “The feeling’s mutual.” Sofie squirms underneath him, wrapping her legs around his waist to allow him even deeper inside of her and she’s rewarded by a groan from Ashton that seems to come from the very core of him.

  He starts to move, easing in and out of her, gaining momentum and strength as he sinks inside of her, letting her take all of him, needing her to. He traps her mouth in his, kissing her, his tongue mimicking his cock as he enters her again and again. Sofie digs her fingernails into Ashton’s hips, pulling him tighter against her as she strains against him, wanting to feel everything, all of him.

  Ashton dips his head, kissing the tops of her breasts, sucking on her nipples, wanting to devour every inch of her. Sofie surrenders herself to the heat that’s building between her legs. Her breath catches as Ashton moves his hips faster, pounding into her, like he knows exactly how close she is. It had always been this way with them, as if they were connected by something neither of them could explain. Their bodies were so in tune with one another, they anticipated each other’s needs, wants, even things that they didn’t even know they needed.

  “Baby, I’m close,” Sofie’s voice in his ear is a whisper as Ashton’s body took her to another level, another plain of existence where all that remained was pleasure.

  Ashton watches her in awe as her excitement plays across her face. As she moans into him with each thrust, he gets the unquenchable urge to devour her. He wants to take everything she will give him and it will never be enough.

  His arms crush her against his hard body, as his hips move in time with hers. He can feel how hot and wet she is and the tremors around him tell him that she’s close. “Come for me, baby.” He rubs the tight bud as he drives into her and it’s exactly what she needs to push her over the edge.

  Sofie cries out his name as the ride the wave of ecstasy together. Ashton’s body shakes as he pours inside of her, the tremors of his orgasm, making him feel more alive than ever. He had lived for years without her, but he hadn’t known what it meant to be truly alive until he found her. It had made him wonder how he had tolerated a life without her.

  Sofie stretches luxuriously as Ashton slips out of her, gathering her to him, one arm around her slim waist, the other absently stroking the soft skin of her back. He smiles as he feels himself drifting off to sleep. He feels happy and satisfied and fulfilled and those three words could all be exchanged for one: Sofie.

  “I spoke to Darwin today.” Sofie snuggles in to Ashton’s embrace, wishing that she could bury herself even deeper into his arms. She knows that no matter how surrounded by him she was, it would never be enough.

  “How’s he doing?” Ashton’s voice is half-muffled by sleep. It was something he always playfully complained about, that she would want to start a conversation with him as soon as he was about to fall asleep. He joked that whatever her brain ran on, they should bottle it and sell it, it’d last longer than Energizer batteries.

  “He’s good, I think he feels like he’s found his feet again.” After all the business had come to an end in Beaumont Darwin had gone back to DC. With Luke out of the picture he was acting as a consultant for Mrs Calambor who was taking over the business. By all accounts the woman had a brain on her that made Sofie question why the hell she had stayed with a man like Luke for as long as she did. “They’re moving the drillers out of the canyon, next month and then that’ll be the last that we’ll see of Shale Corp around here for a very long time.” When Sofie had shown Darwin the damage the drilling was doing to the local environment he had been appalled and assumed responsibility for dismantling the site. Shale was paying for environmentalists to come down to do what they could to help the ecosystem get back on its feet.

  “That’s better than nothing,” Ashton’s response is less than electrifying and she can almost hear him rolling his eyes.

  “They can’t undo all the damage that Luke did with a magic wand. But they want to do what they can. Besides, it sounds like the new boss is taking things in a new direction. Darwin said she’s talking about changing Shale’s focus to renewable energy.” Sofie can’t help but feel a little proud as she says it. She knows that it would have been Darwin’s idea. After everything that had happened, he didn’t want to run the risk of anything like Beaumont ever happening again. He wanted to work for a company that believed in saving the world, not just profiting from it.

  “Darwin’s a good man.” Ashton tightens his hold around her as if he can read her mind. He knows how much Darwin means to her. He’s the father she never really had.

  “Finn keeps on asking me when I’m going to pick up my stuff from the apartment.” Sofie lets the sentence hang in the air, waiting for Ashton to say something. They had argued about her going back to DC. She had insisted that she still had debts to pay, that the men she owed money to would find her no matter where she was.

  Ashton had pointed out that if the people that she owed money to had seen her change into a werewolf on live TV then it’s likely they wouldn’t be turning up to collect anything anytime soon. Besides, he had reminded her, she was pack now and if anyone tried to hurt her in any way then they’d have to deal with a bunch of angry werewolves. She was safe and it was a feeling that could never be overrated. She had never really had that security of a
family unit before. Even when her parents had been alive they weren’t close. This was the first time she felt like she was part of a family, a real one. She wasn’t an only child anymore and she would never be alone.

  When it became clear that Sofie wasn’t going to be heading back to DC anytime soon, Finn had moved into her place. It was bigger than his old apartment and with his new salary as tech wizard to the highest bidder, he could for once afford not to have a roommate. “He’s getting antsy about decorating.”

  “By decorating I’m guessing you mean installing his X-box.” Ashton kisses a line down her spine as she giggles against him.

  “I’m serious, Ash. All my stuff is there. I’d like to be get some of it back. At the moment I feel like I’m living in your house, it’d be nice to have some of my things around. And I can’t keep borrowing Lindsey’s clothes, she’s almost a foot shorter than me, I look like I raided my baby sister’s wardrobe!” Sofie wriggles against him as he tries to distract her with his kisses and caresses. Turning around so that she’s facing him and giving him her serious face.

  “Alright, alright. We’ll go to DC and pick up your stuff.” Ashton sighs like he’s just volunteered for a root canal.

  “Really? Really?” Sofie almost jumps up and down on the bed. “I know you hate the city, but I promise it’ll be a quick visit!” Sofie flings herself into his arms again. “Thank you, Ash, it really means a lot to me.”

  “How much exactly?” Ashton looks at her with a wicked gleam in his eye.

  “Well, I could show you if you want?” Sofie looks at him innocently, batting her eyelids and biting her bottom lip in the way that she knows makes him crazy. She kisses a line down his chest, shimmying down his body until she comes face to face with the hardness between his legs. She licks the tip, suckling on it gently, and then sets about showing him just how much the trip to DC means to her.

  Afterwards, as the moon starts to rise in the sky, they lie in each other’s arms. Sofie’s mind goes back to Darwin and Finn, how they’re rebuilding their lives and she wonders, not for the first time, what she’s going to do with hers.

  “What’s going on in that brain of yours?” Ashton strokes her caramel hair away from her forehead, looking at her knowingly.

  “I really wish you wouldn’t do that!” Sofie frowns at him, poking him in the chest with her index finger. “You promised that you were going to keep your Alpha voodoo out of my head.”

  Ashton lifts his hands up in surrender. “Baby, I don’t need to use my ‘Alpha voodoo’ to know that you’re worrying about something. It’s written all over your face.” He smiles at her as he strokes his thumb over her lips, marveling at how kissable they are.

  Sofie gives Ashton a look that tells him she believes him about as far as she could throw him, which incidentally was pretty far. She is stronger than any of the other female weres and most of the males, including Gus. He still hasn’t gotten over the fact that she beat him in arm wrestle a few weeks ago. He keeps telling everyone that he let her win, although no one believes him.

  “It’s nothing,” Sofie waves away his concern. “I’m just still trying to figure out what I’m going to do now. I’ve never not had a job, it’s kind of weird for me.” She shrugs not being able to describe it any other way.

  Ashton looks at her like she might be a little cuckoo. “Are you telling me that between all that you’re doing as Pack Mother, learning about the ways of the were from Gus, helping rebuild Linds’s bar and the store that you’re bored?”

  “I know, it sounds crazy!” She admits that it does, it wasn’t even as if she had time right now for a job. “But…I sort of miss the rocks.” She bites her bottom lip waiting for Ashton to laugh at her, but he doesn’t.

  He gives her a grave look. “That is possibly the nerdiest thing that anyone has ever said to me.” He smiles at her and kisses her nose. “And that’s just one of the reasons that I love you.” He looks down at her as if he’s considering what he’s about to say. “I’ve been working on something, I was just waiting for the right time to show you. Maybe that’s now.” Ashton takes her hand and leads her off of the bed. “Will you come with me?”

  “Anywhere.” Sofie doesn’t even have to think about it. She already knows that she would follow him to the ends of the earth. Wherever he is, that’s where she wants to be.

  Night has fallen and as they slip out of the house, Sofie is struck again by the beauty of everything around her. She wonders if she’ll ever get used to the smell of the grass or the scent of the pine trees. She wonders if she ever wants to get used to it.

  “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Sofie looks at Ashton curiously, she can feel the tension radiating off of him. He’s nervous about something, but also excited.

  “I’ll show you. If you can keep up that is.” He flashes her his heart-stopping grin and, all of a sudden, it’s not her man that it’s in front of her anymore, it’s her wolf. He gives her a look as if to say ‘catch me if you can’ and lopes off in the direction of the town.

  “No fair, that’s cheating!” But Sofie wastes no more time shouting after him. If she has any chance of catching up to him she has to morph now, before he gets any further ahead of her.

  In a matter of seconds she had transformed, her white fur standing out against the blackness of the night. With the light of the moon it almost looks like she’s glowing. She runs after him, through the woods, chasing his golden form as they both do what they were born to do. She could never have predicted that becoming Lycan had been as natural to her as breathing. Not even Ashton could explain how it was possible that her first transformation hadn’t been painful or psychologically difficult. It was as if being were was what she was always supposed to be.

  A few months ago no one would ever have believed that this would be her life now, not even her. But so much had changed in so little time, she’d changed more than she could fathom. But perhaps the strangest thing of all was that she and Gus had become friends, actual friends. He had taken it upon himself to teach her the ways of the were. She got the impression that Ashton wished he was the one to teach her about herself, but he couldn’t deny that things were easier now that Sofie and Gus actually got along.

  There was still so much for her to learn, as Gus insisted on telling her, repeatedly. But she did know was enough to tell her that she was different from the rest of the pack. She was faster, than all of them except for Ashton and she was giving him a run for his money now. For the first time, she feels completely happy in her own skin, like this was the thing that had always been missing in her life.

  She woke up every morning with a sense of wonder. She could sense things she would never have new even existed when she was human; the sound of a caterpillar climbing the tree by the house, the smell of the dew on the grass at dusk. The more she could see and hear and scent, the more beautiful she saw the world. It was easy to understand why the Lycans were so united with nature. It was impossible to ignore, their senses made them as aware of Mother Nature as they were of their own selves.

  The first night she spent as a werewolf, Ashton had told her that she was special, more so than any of them could ever have known. She was a white wolf, the only were of her kind they had ever seen or were ever likely to again. But she didn’t feel special because she was a descendant of the wolf that had turned Lupo or because she was able to outrun anyone in the pack. She felt special because of the man that stands beside her and the secret she carries inside.

  She follows Ashton out of the trees and into the outskirts of Beaumont. The town still shows signs of what happened there. The anti-wolf graffiti is in the process of being covered up, but things will take a long time to go back to normal. None of them really knew what normal was anymore. Most of the people in the town had come out in support of the Lycans. After the battle that was waged at the drilling site, it hadn’t taken them long to realize that the wolves they were afraid of were the same people that they had grown up with, lived with, laugh
ed with, for years. It was going to be a slow process, but things were improving all the time.

  “Ash?” Sofie calls out as she morphs back into human form and slips into his furniture store. She was sure that she’d seen him disappear inside. She pads quietly through the store, taking in how much work they’d done to get it back up and running and how much was still left to be done. The Humans First Brigade had really done a number on the store, smashing everything they could find and covering the walls with obscene anti-wolf slurs. It still made her angry that anyone would do something like this, but that was something else that Gus was teaching her, to control her anger. She breathes deeply, remembering his lessons and finds her equilibrium again.

  “Back here! Thought you would have got here faster, sugar.” Ashton’s tone is mocking and Sofie picks up her pace, following the sound of his voice into the back room that had been his workshop.

  He stands in the middle of the space, showing her what he’s been doing in secret. Sofie can’t even speak as she looks around. The workshop has been divided into two parts. In one were all of Ashton’s tools, his new work-bench and all the equipment he had managed to salvage from when the store was raided. But it’s what’s on the other side that makes her breath catch in her throat. In the other half of the room is a desk, a state of the art microscope, a bureau filled with geological field tools, books and everything she could possibly need to carry on with her research.

  She walks around the space, touching everything, as if she wants to check that it’s real, her mind reeling. “How did you get all of this?” She knows from experience that nothing that she has seen is cheap.