by M. L. Briers
“I guess being a stiff is good for something…”She teased, a smirk on her lips. He was on his feet in an instant with her still wrapped around his body and she gasped at the suddenness of his movements as he swept her through the cabin and into the bathroom.
“I had some very wicked thoughts about you while I was in the shower earlier, let’s see if I can remember exactly what they were…”He flicked on the spray and held her against the wall with his hips as he waited for the water to heat up.
“I had some thoughts of my own while I was in here, perhaps we should compare notes.”She pushed against his chest and squirmed out of his hold, putting her palms against his chest she pushed him backwards and the gleam in her eye told him that she certainly had something wicked in mind.
A moment later she was on her knees in front of him and the look in her eyes said she was going to devour him whole.
Macy pushed through the kitchen door and squeaked in shock as every face within the room turned towards her. Standing there in nothing more than one of Rudd’s large T-shirts, she was more than aware of the fact she didn’t have any damn underwear on in what she assumed was a room full of Lycans.
Rudd was standing in front of her in an instant, grinning down at her as she swayed back and forth on her feet, unsure whether to turn tail and run or freeze on the spot.
“Don’t run…”Rudd cautioned and she nodded her understanding.
“I remembered. But I’m feeling a little underdressed right now…”She hissed up at him and his grin just spread wider across his face.
“We’re used to a lot of naked around here…”He informed her and she looked at him as if he was insane.
“Well I’m not…”She hissed back and heard a ripple of laughter throughout the room.
“Come and meet some of our pack…”He went to turn away, but she reached up and gripped his shirt keeping him in place.
“I’m naked here…”She hissed again, peering around his body to the interested faces that peered back.
“No you’re not, besides they don’t bite…”He teased and she cocked an eyebrow at him and narrowed her eyes.
“Unlike you.”She hissed up at him again, forgetting that they all had super human hearing. “And they do bite.”She went to reach for the invisible mark he had placed into her skin, but he snagged her hand and lifted it with his own as he brushed the backs of his fingers against it. The sharp intake of breath between her lips was followed by a soft moan and she was uncaring of the next round of gentle chuckles that went through the room.
“But not you.” Rudd scented her arousal and growled down at her. The desire for her body flared within him. They may have mated, but the need was still rampant inside him. Only when they had bonded would it ease off, but Lycans had a very high sex drive and he would never tire of being inside her.
“Perhaps we should get started on this and you should get back to taking care of your mate, Alpha.”Janice offered with a large dose of amusement in her voice as people started to move, ready to leave the house and get to work on the place that would house Alma’s beast during her next change.
“Good idea.”Rudd growled out, at that exact moment in time he wasn’t caring of what he’d agreed too, he was barely paying attention to anyone but her, not taking his eyes from his mates as people started to file out of the cabin via the back door.
Rudd reached down and cupped her backside, lifting her easily against him as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
“I thought I was going to meet your pack.”She whispered as he brushed his lips against hers.
“We have a whole lifetime for that right now I want to be inside you.”His gentle growl made her lips tingle.
“Sounds like a plan, Alpha.”She chuckled, feeling the wall at her back and his hardness pressed against her sex through his jeans.
“I like the way you say that.”He didn’t give her a chance to repeat it, he had already claimed her lips.
Alma awoke to the warmth of his body curved around the length of hers. With a heavy arm wrapped around her waist and what she assumed was a tree trunk of a leg over hers she didn’t stand a hope in hell’s chance of escape even if she wanted one, which she didn’t.
For the first time since she had been bitten she felt peaceful, and for the first time in a very long time before that, she felt cared for, protected, and safe. And then she remembered that he was a Lycan and she wasn’t just a Fae anymore, she was a Werewolf and the slow rise of doom reared its ugly little head within her and her stomach clenched.
Rick felt her tense against him. Her emotions took a nose dive the moment she awoke to full consciousness and he wanted to know why.
“Easy love, nobody is going to hurt you.” He nuzzled against her neck, taking in her scent and soothing her with his presence.
“That’s not something that you can be certain about.”Alma physically managed to relax at the sound of his voice. Those deep dark tones were soothing to her mind and body, and yet the feeling of dread was still inside her.
“I’ll protect you with my life, you know that.”He hadn’t moved, not even a fingertip against her body, just the nuzzling, and she liked the nuzzling.
“And who is going to protect you from me?”Alma kept her tone as level as she could, but there was still a slight tremor to her voice as she spoke.
“You are, with your magic.”Rick offered. This time he did move, pulling back away from her back and rolling her in the bed so he could look down on her. His eyes feasted on his mates face, taking her in as his hand reached up to palm her cheek as she went to turn away. “Don’t hide from me, Alma, we have to be honest with each other. This concerns the both of us and if I’m to protect you then I have to know everything…”
“You can’t protect me, Rick. Your pack won’t let me see another full moon and now I’ve condemned you as well…”There was a catch to her voice as she spoke. She was close to losing that edge of control that she liked to pride herself on having and she didn’t want that to happen.
“How so?”Rick brushed his fingertips down her cheek, soothing that part of her that was tittering on the edge of despair.
“Now you’ve known your mate you’ll go rogue when they end me.”He saw the pain in her eyes, heard the remorse in her voice and wanted nothing more than to comfort her.
“If my pack won’t accept you then we’ll leave. They won’t stop us from going…”Rick assured her, but she didn’t want to be assured…
“So I’ve done the next best thing to sending you rogue, I’ve taken away your pack, your identity…”She went to turn away from him but he wouldn’t allow it.
“Hey, you are my pack now.”Rick growled down at her. Her emotions might have been in a state of flux, but he was so assured. He dipped his head towards her and nuzzled against her neck again, taking in her scent and revelling in the knowledge that he’d found his one true mate. “You’re all I need to get by.”He growled gently against her ear and felt her body relax against his.
The sound of the hammering on his front door made his head snap up and his eyes focus on the bedroom door as he listened to the sounds around him. Her heart was racing within her, fast and furious, as her emotions rushed towards panic.
“Stay here.”He growled out. Tossing back the covers and stalking across the room as she pulled herself up in the bed and wrapped the covers around her.
“Rick, don’t.”She wanted to help him. Her magic rose up within her, bubbling just below the surface as she scrambled out of the bed, taking the sheet with her, she wrapped it around her body and followed him out of the door. If they’d come for her she could protect herself, but at what cost? This was his pack, his family, could she really justify hurting any one of them?
Rick heard just the one heartbeat on the other side of the door, although there was more of his pack outside. He knew that heartbeat, he’d listened for it intently over the years as pack brothers running together, relying on each other during the hunt…
He s
natched open the door and found his Alpha standing there. The quick flick of Rudd’s eyes from him into the cabin and finding his mate wasn’t lost on Rick. He’d expected as much.
“I need to talk to your mate.”Rudd had scented the air the moment the door was pulled open. He could scent the Fae in the air, but not the Werewolf in her, which was unusual. What he couldn’t scent was their mating, and he wondered at it.
Rick didn’t move for a long moment. His dark eyes were locked on Rudd, taking in the stance of his Alpha, the look on his face, the tension within the man’s body, and when he was certain that there was no cause to worry for his mate’s safety, he stepped aside and motioned for the alpha to enter.
Alma was wary as she stood proudly defiant. If this was her death sentence then she would hear it. No matter what her mate had said, if his pack wanted her dead then Rick stood little chance of doing anything about it.
“Hello, Alma…”Rudd and Rick were almost the same size height wise, and both were as broad as an outhouse, but the Alpha was certainly more imposing, maybe because he wasn’t her mate, maybe because he had that Alpha-ness about him, either way she didn’t feel as secure in his presence as she would have liked.
Rudd could sense little from her. He knew Fae well enough to know that she had probably put her shields up against him, and he was alright with that act of defence, except he needed to know if her words were true or not. He needed to be able to sense any deceit from her for his packs sake.
“Drop your shields…”It wasn’t a request and for a long moment Alma considered it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Alpha wasn’t being particularly threatening, even if his stance had Alpha written all over it, but the fact that Rick was circling around the Alpha towards her made her realise that her mate’s protectiveness might cause more of a problem than her shields ever would, so she dropped them.
“Tell me how you managed to keep control over your beast and if you can replicate that during the next full moon.”Rudd wasn’t idling with small talk. He wanted answers from her before coming to any final decision on her fate. While he wanted to keep her from harm for Rick’s sake, he wouldn’t compromise the safety of the pack.
Rick was at her side, his body angled towards Rudd, ready to put himself in between them if things went wrong.
“It’s a variation on a grounding spell. I anchored my mind to a charm that I inserted beneath my skin…”Out of the corner of her eye she saw her Mate’s head turn towards her, but kept her eyes locked on the Alpha.
“Your skin?”Rudd thought he had misheard her explanation. But her hand bunched the sheet she was wearing wrapped around her and she dragged the material up to her lower thigh. Her fingertip traced over the small bump in her otherwise smooth skin.
“There’s no mark, like you I healed quickly. Now that the charm is there I can use it as an anchor every full moon to keep my mind when I transform, at least in theory…”Alma wasn’t about to sugar coat it. The spell had worked this time, but maybe next time it wouldn’t, not if the beasts will to control her was stronger, but in theory it should work every time.
Rudd took a long step backwards and turned away from her, considering what she was telling him. There wasn’t deceit within her, at least none he could sense and she could have lied about the spell working every time, but she didn’t, both were good signs…
“We’re prepared to leave the pack, go our own way…”Rick bit out. He more than understood Rudd’s dilemma, it was something he would never have wanted to make himself.
Rudd turned back towards them, his eyes quickly taking in his mate before he turned to his friend.
“The pack has decided that if Alma will agree to being chained away during her change…”Rick’s eyes flashed with anger. His whole stance changed in an instant. His hands clenched tightly at his sides and his head went down as he growled his disgust at the thought of his mate being chained up.
“Rick…”Alma bit out. She could feel the testosterone level climbing in the room as the Alpha met the challenge of his beta.
“Chain her…?”Rick roared at the indignity of it, but Alma kept a cool head.
“I agree.”Alma rushed out. Hell, it was the beast within her that would be chained, not her, and it would give her peace of mind that she wouldn’t hurt anyone…
“She cannot be allowed to roam free for fear she may harm a member of the pack or a human…”Rudd had heard Alma, but it made little difference to him while his beta was still poised to attack. His beast had risen to the challenge and was threatening to push forward should the need arise.
Rick growled out long and hard. To see his mate in chains would not sit well with him. He took a step forward and Rudd countered it.
“When you boys have finished grunting and growling. I agree.”Alma tried again, this time placing the palm of her hand against Rick’s shoulder, and the mate within him responded, his head turned slightly towards her. “Rick, I want this. I’m not dead, you’re not rogue, and we get a nice set of anklets as a present, it’s a win-win, so take the win.”She almost growled out herself.
“But to chain you…”He protested.
“Think about it, to chain a Lycans wolf would be a travesty, an indignity, a tragedy, but this is a Werewolf we’re talking about. They have no honour, no soul…”She was talking fast, she didn’t want this to escalate anymore than it already had and when his head snapped towards her, she could see the fire within his eyes.
“But you do…”Rick reminded her and saw the simple smile lay over her face.
“But unlike you, I’m not my wolf. It doesn’t belong to me, define me. I’m Fae and always will be.”Alma truly believed that, because she wanted no part of the beast within her. If she could find a way to banish it she would gladly endure any torture to be free of the burden, as it was, being chained was a simple price to pay to know she wouldn’t harm anybody.
Rick took a long look at his mate and understood her in a heartbeat. He slowly nodded that understanding to her before he turned back towards Rudd and took a long step back from the Alpha.
Rick dropped his eyes to the floor between them. His hands unclenched at his sides and his head twisted to the side, exposing his neck in submission for his Alpha’s will.
“It’s good to see your mate has the sense you weren’t born with.”Rudd’s beast stood down almost immediately. This was his best friend; to end him under any circumstance would kill a part deep within his soul that he would never get over.
“Bite me.”Rick growled out, but there was an amusement within his voice that couldn’t be denied.
“You’re not my type.”Rudd reached out and slapped him around the back of the head; Rick’s stand was forgiven and forgotten in a heartbeat.
Rudd looked to Alma, a small nod of his head in recognition for her stance here today and what she had agreed to do. “The pack are busy clearing ground for a cabin in the woods for you and Alma to retreat to during the full moon. It’ll have an anchor point within it for Alma’s restraints, but we will have everything you both need for the three days during Alma’s change…”Rudd explained and Rick’s eyes narrowed on him in disbelief.
“You knew she’d accept…”He ground out between clenched teeth and Rudd grinned back at him.
“You thought she wouldn’t?”Rudd shot back on a snort of amusement.
Rick wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her hip against his. He was more than grateful for his mate, and he was more than grateful to his pack.
“I don’t know what to say.”Rick admitted. He’d been lying awake next to her trying to figure out where they would go and how they would get by as she recovered from her change in his arms. Now he realised what a fool he was to doubt his Alpha or his family, and to even consider that they wouldn’t try to come up with a solution.
“We’re family, brother. No words are needed…”Rudd informed him and Alma couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“But thank you still works well.”Alma nu
dged him in the side with her elbow and he grunted as the pain shot through him. He needed no reminder that she was almost as strong as him in that moment in time.
“Welcome to the pack, Alma.”Rudd offered and she felt Rick’s arm tighten around her waist.
“Thanks. And I’ll try really hard not to eat anyone.”Alma teased on a small shrug as Rick turned to look at her in disbelief and Rudd chuckled. “What?”She asked innocently and Rick growled long and hard as he shook his head.
“Way to go to be assuring of your abilities to control your beast, love.”Rick ground out.
“Better to be safe than sorry, don’t you think?”Alma scoffed back at him and he turned to look at Rudd in the hopes his friend would step in and help him out.
“She has a point.”Rudd teased and Rick growled again.
“Seriously? Not funny.”Rick just couldn’t see the funny side of it. It was too soon for him to be totally over the fact that this may end well.
“Oh god, I have a mate with no sense of humour perhaps life isn’t worth living after all.”Alma went to walk away from him, but he held her firmly against him as he hissed long and hard at her. Rudd snorted his amusement as his beta gave her a look of pure disbelief.
“I have a sense of humour…”He growled down at her.
“Let’s send out a search party to see if we locate it then.”She offered up to him, and Rudd couldn’t help but snort his amusement, raising his hand to cover the grin on his face as Rick shot him a look of contempt.
“I don’t know what you’re sniggering at…”He growled at his Alpha, “it wasn’t even twenty four hours ago you’re mate pepper sprayed you.”Rick bit out and watched Rudd balked at the notion.
“My masculinity threatened her sensibilities…”Rudd offered, backing towards the cabin door. “And speaking of my mate, I have a need to be there when she wakes up.”Rudd offered turning on his heels and yanking the door open. Not only did he want to get back to Macy, but he wanted to give the mates some privacy of their own.