by Rose Francis
When Rafe cut his motor, Cassie couldn’t see any discernible landmarks in the landscape within the illumination of his headlights. She followed everyone out to stand in the middle of a barren desert.
“This is it?” she asked, feeling rather disappointed.
“Just wait.”
Rafe took out an oil lamp and held it over the ground, looking down as he walked. Suddenly, he lifted his leg over a stone and stomped down. The ground below seemed to shutter, then the sound of cranking echoed through the quickly cooling air.
Just in front of Rafe, a circular hole opened in the ground. Two plates moved away from each other under the desert gravel, revealing a dark shaft.
“This is it,” said Rafe. He looped the lantern through his belt and made his way to the first rung of the iron ladder inside the shaft. “Wait here.”
He disappeared into the darkness underground. Cassie’s heart contracted, as she thought of something happening to him. If he didn’t return, what would become of her? She would be alone with a pack of wolves who did not see her as one of their own.
Her mind shifted to ideas of wandering the world alone, seeking revenge on Pyramid Corp and the Anu they served. In the middle of a vivid daydream of liberating a dome, an iron cage elevator cranked to the surface with Rafe inside.
He applied the break and instructed the pack to begin unloading the SUVs. Cassie fell into line with the rest, unpacking the car she’d ridden in. They had carried the weapons, which she was more than happy to spend some time inspecting as she brought them to rest near the elevator shaft.
The pack took turns loading supplies into the elevator. Cassie’s stock of guns and ammunition was the last load. Just as she and Clark finished packing the elevator with gear, headlights broke through the blackness of the desert.
She gripped the sword at her hip instinctively, but it was only Neil who hopped out of the familiar vehicle.
“Where’s Rafe?” he asked, approaching Cassie with a distasteful look on his face. She knew he didn’t approve of their mating. A lump sank in her stomach every time she was reminded.
“He’s down the shaft. This is the last load. Did you get the fuel?”
“Yes. We did.” His words were short and biting.
Cassie and Clark took the elevator down through the darkness. They had no light to guild their way, only the slow crank of the axle that suddenly came to a stop when they reached the bottom.
In the distance, down a curved hallway, Cassie could make out a faint light through an arched door. They carted wheeled gun safes and boxes of ammunition down the narrow tunnel, toward the light. Laughter echoed through the chamber as they grew near.
When she peered through the door, she could see the group in a low-ceilinged dining room that was open to a small kitchen space. She blinked under the fluorescent lights, already feeling claustrophobic.
“Neil brought the fuel,” said Cassie as she carted a gun safe into the dining room. “Are we really staying here? Now that the Anu aren’t following us, we could go back…”
“No. It isn’t safe. They know about our last location, and I doubt they would leave us alone,” Rafe said, turning to address her.
She shrugged and deposited the guns in a corner. Several of the hunters got up to help unpack the rest of the weapons, and Rafe went to the top to meet Neil.
Cassie helped Meredith and Steven cook a simple meal of pasta and home canned sauce. By the time the food was prepared, Rafe was back down in the bunker and disappeared into a back room with Neil.
She helped serve the group and took her plate to sit with Selina and Clark at a table with Meredith. The food and water was very welcomed after such a long day in the heat. Rafe came back into the dining room and sat with Neil and a few other hunters while they discussed something quietly in the corner. After everyone was done eating, Rafe stood to make an announcement to the group.
“We’ve found that the water filtration system is still working well. The solar panels and battery packs are going strong, obviously, or we wouldn’t have any light,” he said to a few laughs. “But we are low on food. Losing our friends on the road was a tragedy. We will have to scavenge and hunt the land. The hydroponic cultivation system cannot produce any sooner than three months from now. We brought our seeds, but we will have to wait. This is an inhospitable climate, which is a major reason I chose it. No one will come here. We will hunt at night. Every night. We cannot get lazy about it. Others will gather the native plants at dawn and dusk in human form. Cassie, you will be on gathering duty. All right everyone, now that we’re fed, I want you all to get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow night we start hunting, but we’ve had a long journey, so please relax and recuperate. We have two bottles of grain whiskey to share tonight, so help yourselves and remember to share.”
Rafe put the whiskey on the table in front of him to the sound of laughter and approval from the pack. People lined up with their cups to get their share of the libation, but Cassie stayed back in her chair.
“You don’t want to partake?” Rafe asked, leaning over her chair and speaking into her ear behind her.
“Not right now.”
“Come.”
He put out his hand, and she took it. He led her down another hallway past an open bunkroom with rows of beds, past the restrooms and the greenhouse, to a private bedroom where he shut the door.
No sooner had the door closed than his mouth was on her neck, his nostrils sucking in the scent of her body. She tingled with anticipation. Rafe took her hand and led her to a table where another bottle of whiskey sat with two shot glasses.
He poured two shots and smiled at her as she sat in the folding chair across from him.
“It’s good to be alpha,” he said, handing her a glass.
She smiled and picked it up. He clinked his glass into the brim of hers and winked. She took a sip, and a warm, stinging flood ran down her throat and into her stomach, both alarming and relaxing her body at once. She sighed and leaned back.
“How long do you think we’ll be here?” she asked. “This place sucks.”
“I’m not sure. We can survive here indefinitely if need be. Everything is different now that you are with us.”
“Why?”
“Because you can see into The Program. You can get information from the fourth dimension. You can learn why the Anu are here and how to stop them.”
“We should just blow them up.”
“I like your enthusiasm, but it isn’t that simple. We need a strategic plan. We need to fully understand our enemy.”
“How do we do that?” she asked, looking into her shot glass.
“First, we will delve more deeply into The Program.”
Cassie took another gulp of her whiskey, her throat now numb to the sting. It settled in her stomach like a lead weight. Going into The Program was always risky and strange. She still didn’t understand it, and she suspected Rafe didn’t either. Going there with Circe was the safest she’d ever felt, without the terminal or the drugs.
Circe had powers Cassie did not. She didn’t know if she could learn them, but having the power to go inside The Program, to the higher dimension, would make her more effective in battling the Anu and Pyramid Corp. She would find a way to fight them, and win.
Cassie drained her glass and slammed it down on the table with too much force. A clanking sound echoed through the room.
“All done?” asked Rafe with a gleam in his eye.
“You didn’t have to get me drunk to do me, you know.” She smirked.
“That wasn’t the reason. You need to relax. Come.”
He stood and took her hand, leading her to the queen-sized bed against the concrete wall. He sat down on the bed, and Cassie stood between his knees, looking down into his gleaming amber eyes. He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and grinned up at her. She smiled back, letting a long breath slowly escape her lungs. He was right. She did need to relax.
“Take off your clothes,” he said, watching
her intently.
An electric current ran up her legs and over her entire body, making her shiver. She gripped the hem of her shirt and brought it up over her head, revealing her plump breasts cupped in a plain white bra. After kicking off her boots, she unlatched her belt and unbuttoned her cargo pants to let them fall over her rounded hips to the ground. She stepped out of her pants and stood in front of Rafe in her underthings, her hair cascading around her shoulders.
“Go open that door,” he said, smacking her ass and squeezing as she turned to look. She stuck her tongue out at him and continued to the door. On the other side, she found a bathroom with a tub full of bubbly, warm water. She gasped and immediately slipped out of her bra and panties to step into the luxurious water.
It smelled of lilacs and loosened her tightly clenched muscles as she lay back against the warm, white porcelain. Rafe entered the room and watched her luxuriating under the bubbles. He pulled off his shirt and took out a bottle of sweet-smelling shampoo. His fingers kneaded her scalp and washed away the dust of the road. She sank under the water and rinsed the soap from her hair. When she emerged, bubbles clung to her skin.
Rafe retrieved a washcloth from a shelf and dipped it into the tub. He ran it over her breasts and down between her legs, washing her. Soon the washcloth dropped away, and his fingers began working through her swollen folds. She still felt sore from last night, but his deft hands drew out her pleasure so quickly, the pain seemed only an afterthought. While one hand played with the firm mound between her legs, the other massaged her breasts and pinched at her nipples.
Cassie thrust her head back, letting her legs fall open and arching her back to take in as much of him as possible. His mouth fell on hers, and his fingers sought her opening, pushing gently inside, to a gush of her desire.
He pressed his expert fingers inside as their tongues lashed. Her body radiated need. She moaned under his mouth as the climax broke suddenly, throbbing under his fingers.
He tore off the rest of his clothing and joined her in the bathtub. They sat facing each other, kissing and touching gently until Cassie withdrew and stood before him, bubbles clinging to her hourglass curves. Her body still throbbed with pleasure.
“You need your hair washed too.”
She took the bottle and massaged the shampoo into his hair as he grasped her ass and gazed up into her eyes. She rinsed his hair until the soap ran out.
Cassie sat down in the water facing Rafe, smiling wickedly. She’d never had a man’s member in her hands, and she wanted to touch him the way he had touched her. She reached under the bubbles and found him, firm and solid, waiting for her.
He sucked in a breath and moaned as she began to stroke him. She gripped his shaft and moved her hand gently up and down over his smooth skin. Rafe made a rumbling noise deep in his throat, and his eyes turned black and focused on her as his breathing accelerated.
“Enough of this,” he growled. He stood swiftly from the water and scooped her in his arms, stepping out of the bathtub and depositing her wet body under the blankets of the bed.
Before she knew what was happening, he was on top of her, growling in her ear and hard between her legs. With one sure thrust, he was inside her. A long moan welled up from deep within her and echoed over the concrete walls.
Her nipples pricked as her swollen breasts pressed against his hard chest. His hips thrust sure and hard into her as he held his hand just over her hairline. He used his other hand to position her body, gripping her ass to allow his manhood to reach deeper.
The alcohol she’d drunk made her languid and compliant, letting her body relax into his hardness. Sharp little moans peppered her breathing as his powerful body worked her softness. Flesh on flesh moved in a hot, passionate rhythm like stormy waves on the ocean.
Cassie’s body burst open, and the waves of Rafe’s thrusts turned into the waves of her orgasm. But it did not subside after the initial shock; it continued to overflow, pouring out of her at Rafe’s insistent command.
He flicked his tongue inside her mouth and squeezed her heavy breasts, keeping her arousal ever present before he accelerated his momentum, thrusting quick and hard into her core. She gasped and moaned at his increased hardness. He pounded into her, and she opened to him until his body erupted and flowed deep inside her.
He tensed and then relaxed over her. They were both breathless when he rolled off of her and onto his back. As he caught his breath, he pulled her into him. She could smell the scent of his musk and inhaled him deeply, relaxing into his damp chest.
He kissed the top of her head, and they lay there, sated, in each other’s embrace.
END BOOK ONE
***
Thank you for reading Marked By The Alpha Wolf (Book One).
Book Two is available now HERE.
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Braving Darkness Series:
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The World Burns
By Boyd Craven
-Many thanks to Jenn for helping me tweak my cover to perfection!
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 1 –
Blake never had much money, but living frugal was second nature to the guy who did odd jobs for everyone in town, and wrote a blog about living off the grid. Most of the work he did was handyman work. None of it was licensed or inspected, but good work that would pass. The folks who paid him didn’t care about a piece of paper and knew quality when they saw it. Blake loved spending all his free time blogging or outdoors, the bottomlands of Kentucky where he lived is where he spent most of his time. Fishing, hunting and growing a big vegetable garden made for a quiet and solitary lifestyle, and he didn’t need much in the way of an income.
He’d inherited ten acres from his grandpa that had an old barn full of 100 years of assorted junk, where he built his small homestead. At first he had a camper trailer on site, but as money came in little by little he started to build a simple home for himself. Being a jack of all trades and master of none, he was easily able to get the materials he needed to purchase and equipment out there to dig and hand pour a basement and then spend the next two years building the house. He’d worked as many jobs as he could find, including a paper route to get all the materials he needed purchased. He finally finished the house of his dreams.
There never was a Mrs. out there, not many ladies would like to live so far away from town and the only electricity he had was from the 24 volt Unisolar roofing he’d bought on the cheap. He used it to power his well and two small chest freezers. One of the
freezers was actually converted into a small fridge, and took a lot less energy. He’d found the conversion kit on Amazon of all places for around $50.00 made by Johnson Controls. He put those in another portion of the basement where it was cooler, hoping that it would take less energy that way. The internet was taken care of by a wireless air card and his laptop, or his cell phone. The most expensive part of his house, was the big deep cycle batteries. Blake kept them and the charge controller stored in a special room in the basement so they’d never freeze or get stolen.
The day he moved out of his camper and into the house was a joyous day and although Blake could use the propane wall heater he’d used in the camper, a little pot bellied stove to heat and cook on was installed. With two years living through the mild Kentucky winters in a camper, he was more than ready for a little bit of comfort and set about to find furniture to fit the house. Wondering where to look first, he was startled by his Cell phone breaking the silence.
“Hello? Blake’s handyman service,” he asked, not recognizing the number.
“Hi Blake, this is Pastor Duncan. We have a leaky pipe here at the church, and I can’t figure things out.”
“Ahhh Hi Pastor, I’ll be right over.”
“Thanks Blake,” he said and hung up the phone, furniture shopping would have to wait.
Getting into his almost used up 70’s Dodge D truck, he prayed the old beast would turn over. The old diesel engine needed some serious work, and he hadn’t had the time to do it, as it’d all gone into finishing the house. After a couple tries, the truck belched a dark cloud and rumbled as it idled.