by Tasha Black
The cool scent of water greeted her as she felt Ophelia’s pull hum in her bones.
She was close.
The muddy bank of the creek sucked at her paws as she skidded to a halt in front of a large silver wolf. Before her eyes, the wolf morphed upward into a woman.
Ophelia.
Ainsley didn’t shift. She wasn’t sure what was required but she was secure in the knowledge that the other alpha would make her wishes known.
Ophelia towered above her like a statue, her pale skin glowing in the moonlight. A huge scar rent the skin over her left breast.
Ainsley thought of the scar on her own shoulder. A souvenir from her first fight as alpha. The small amount of silver in Clive’s bullet had nearly killed her. Who had been crazy enough to do something like that to Ophelia?
She stared up at the woman, the alpha’s alpha, with open admiration.
What Ophelia looked like told Ainsley almost nothing in comparison to how she smelled. The spicy scent of Cressida, and the woodsy smell of Javier covered her. Ophelia also smelled like meat, and an irksome, cloying perfume. Why would any wolf wear such silly, smelly stuff?
A purplish musk of satisfaction emanated from Ophelia’s pores, telling Ainsley that her superior had enjoyed the packmates she had offered her.
Ainsley’s chest puffed out in pride.
“Rise, Ainsley,” Ophelia commanded, her contralto voice bouncing off the trees.
Ainsley rose out of her dawn-colored wolf and stood before Ophelia, naked.
And that was when she realized where they were.
Ophelia had called her to the special place where she and Erik had played as children. The place where they had drawn Ainsley’s alpha.
Furious, Ainsley tried to push her anger down.
“What have you been doing, Ainsley Connor?” Ophelia asked.
Shit.
“Tending to some pack business,” Ainsley said. “You enjoyed my gift?”
“I did.” Ophelia’s lip quirked up. “But was there really no one left to mate with the alpha of Tarker’s Hollow?”
Ainsley racked her brain for a reason why she wouldn’t mate during the full moon. A reason that wouldn’t make her less an alpha in Ophelia’s eyes.
“Listen, Ainsley.” The older woman put her arm around Ainsley’s shoulder and began to walk her along the path of the creek. “I know you have a mate, a favorite. And I admire that you sent him away in the middle of the full moon, by the way. He was quite flustered. He barely said goodbye, he was so concerned with following your orders to the letter.”
Ainsley’s heart dropped at the mention of her mate. He had left on his own. Not because he thought Ainsley wasn’t brave enough to stand up to Ophelia, but because he knew she wasn’t strong enough to send him away.
Erik was gone. He was really gone.
“As the alpha,” Ophelia continued. “You can’t deny yourself. You mate with whomever you want, whenever you want. That’s the way it is done.”
“I don’t want to mate with anyone else right now,” Ainsley replied as lightly as she could.
“Yes, you do,” Ophelia replied.
Ainsley’s whole body ached with a wordless longing. Trembling, she clung to the thought of Erik. His dark eyes through long lashes, his kind smile.
“It’s not right,” Ainsley said.
“You’re an anomaly, Ainsley. And that’s the problem here. You really don’t know how this works, because you’re not really a wolf. Not yet.”
“Of course I’m a wolf!”
“Alright then, smart girl, how do you think you left things today with your beta?”
“What?”
“I’m sure you’re familiar with J. D. MacGregor - the man who served your father faithfully and who has attended you with infinite patience and respect during your precarious tenure as alpha. How do you think he felt when you left him in your front yard to pace the grass with the omegas?”
“I--”
“You didn’t think about it. Right?”
Ainsley nodded, tears prickling her eyes. How could she walk away from MacGregor that way, without deference for his position in the pack? If she had thought about it, she would have invited him in. Though of course, she wouldn’t have slept with him.
Ophelia stopped walking and turned Ainsley brusquely to face her.
“Wrong! You didn’t need to think about it, Ainsley. Bringing him into the house for show and not fucking him would be as bad as leaving him on the lawn. We are wolves. We are not people.”
Ainsley was nearly cowed, but a tiny core of strength allowed her to pipe up.
“But, Ophelia, we are people most of the time.”
Ophelia smiled a bitter smile.
“So, Ainsley, when you became the alpha of this pack, were you elected by a majority?”
“No, of course not.”
“How did you accomplish that most impressive feat?”
“Mating with Erik.”
“Mating with Erik.” Ophelia nodded, and took a few more steps along the creek bed. “And what about Cressida Crow? She’s a powerful wolf in her way, but an unlikely friend for an alpha. What happened to make her your closest female packmate?”
Ainsley colored, but Ophelia didn’t look back at her, or force her to acknowledge what they both knew - that Ainsley had succumbed to her wolf and had an unexpected interlude with the girl who had been her rival for Erik’s attention until that moment.
“On the other hand, you tried to use your head with Clive Warren. He was a loose cannon, but also a promising young male - an increasingly rare commodity in Tarker’s Hollow. What happened there?”
“You know what happened.”
“Yes, I do. But do you? Ainsley, you’re a smart girl, but you’re missing the forest for the trees here. You are a wolf, all the time, even when you’re not shaped like one. And life is easier for you when you act like a wolf.” Ophelia’s eyes sparkled like obsidian in the moonlight. “Hell, it’s more fun too.”
Desperately, Ainsley tried to hear the sound of Erik’s laughter but it was too late. She was in the thrall of the alpha before her.
“I’m not asking you to sleep with another wolf tonight,” Ophelia continued. “But I’m telling you that you must stop this over-complicated human thinking.” She raised her arms in a joint-popping stretch, letting the pale moonlight bathe her ample breasts.
“Let’s just run,” said Ophelia. “You’ll look at this the right way when you stop listening to your brain and start answering to your wolf.”
With that, Ophelia melted back into her lupine form and disappeared into the trees in a flash of silver fur.
Ainsley was a flame-colored wolf before she finished a breath. Now that she was closer to the rich scent of the soil and warmed by silken fur, other problems did seem to fade.
Filled with a burst of moon drunk energy, Ainsley bounded into the trees to catch her leader. When she caught up to Ophelia, perhaps she would nip playfully at her heels to see what would happen.
Ophelia liked her, it was easy to know that when Ainsley was a wolf. She could almost taste the tomato-red smell of Ophelia’s pleasure at teaching her.
Chapter 15
Grace stood before Julian, trembling with desire.
Why had he stopped kissing her?
She would have liked to kiss him all night, maybe even all year.
He’d said he wanted her. Badly. The memory of his words washed over her, warming her from the inside. She searched his blue eyes for a clue about what she had done wrong.
“That business with the egg,” he demanded. “Was that enough?”
His words didn’t even make sense. What business?
Oh.
“No, that wasn’t enough,” she whispered.
The magic wasn’t the source of her desire.
She didn’t know exactly why she wanted him - needed him. She had never felt this way about anyone before. It couldn’t be love, because she didn’t know him, and what she did
know, she mostly didn’t like. But it sure felt the way love was supposed to feel.
“Good girl,” he said again.
Every cell in her body bubbled over with joy, though she was a strong woman, and had never wanted anyone to call her ‘good girl’ before.
“Do you have another bedroom?” he asked.
She ought to have thought he was presumptuous, asking a question like that when they were only kissing and she was supposed to be making pancakes. Instead she felt sweet relief.
Until she remembered that her bed was full of canines.
“No, that’s the only one,” she replied.
He smiled and she figured he must have heard the regret in her voice.
“Come on,” he told her, “I have an idea!”
He took her hand and led her into the living room.
Gazing at the sofa, he muttered, “Disponat vobis.”
The sofa unfurled like it was stretching after a long nap. Branches grew out of its back, and before Grace’s eyes it morphed into a bed with a railing made of living trees.
“Succendunt ignem,” he said to the fireplace.
To Grace’s wonder, a small fire appeared in it. She stepped forward to look at it. The flames danced merrily, and the air in the room was already getting toasty.
She sensed him moving behind her, then felt his hand on her arm and his warm breath in her ear.
“Is this okay? I’ll turn it back into a sofa in the morning.”
“It’s beautiful,” she told him.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered, and ran his hand down her arm. Her skin tingled in its wake.
He wrapped his other arm around her waist and held her that way for a long time as they stood together, gazing into the magic fire.
Julian slid one hand up her chest to curl around her neck. His hand was warm and though the position was unusual, Grace didn’t feel threatened. She could feel her own pulse against his hand. Or maybe it was his pulse.
“You’re brave and you’re beautiful. And you have such incredible restraint. I’m going to enjoy stripping that away from you, my love,” he whispered. And though his words were smooth, his voice was harsh with desire.
The hair on the back of Grace’s neck lifted and she stopped breathing.
Since she was a teenager, she had tormented herself about why boys never made her feel anything. Was she the ice queen the boys called her?
Then she’d had the magic. Its side effects made her realize that, yes, she did like boys. Just not any of the ones she’d met - not without the magic, at least.
In college she’d had what looked like a serious boyfriend. They were exclusive, she lost her virginity to him, they shared interests. But she wasn’t really shattered when he broke up with her after spring break of their senior year. He was going to medical school and she was headed back to Tarker’s Hollow.
Landon was another guy who seemed like a good choice. He was nice and about her age, and he had an interesting job. But even after the magic induced session they’d had, she was left feeling nothing.
And now here she was with Julian. A man she had never really trusted. A man who insulted her at every turn.
His hand was literally wrapped around her neck.
She should feel scared, she should feel offended, she should feel creeped out, or at the very least annoyed.
Instead she felt gloriously alive.
Time seemed to slow down as Julian pressed the fingers of his left hand to her throat and slid his right hand up to caress her belly.
“So tense, my angel, so tight. I know what you need,” he whispered.
Grace closed her eyes and tried not to whimper. The anticipation wasn’t building, it was rocketing, exploding. Her sex was suddenly too swollen, her nipples too hard. Out of nowhere she was on the edge of desperation. And she feared his touch as much as she hungered for it.
“Easy, darling.”
He pulled his hand across her midriff and slid it behind her. Then she felt his bladed hand slide between her buttocks, the tips of his fingers barely touching her sex from behind.
She tried not to mortify herself by angling against him, but it took all her control and she moaned softly.
Instantly, his hand tightened on her throat.
“Good girl,” he whispered again.
She felt his hand leave her posterior and nearly sighed in relief. But then he slipped his fingers under the hem of her t-shirt.
With a languidness that was almost unbearable, he splayed his hand across her abdomen. His skin was warm and dry against hers and she felt her insides clench.
His other hand released her neck, but she could still feel it there, its afterimage like a collar.
Julian turned her to face him. His lip turned up at one corner, another sign of his control - she was drowning in need and he was amused. He lifted her shirt over her head like she was a child.
For once, she had no dread about her body. She knew without looking that she was exactly right for him. So she stood proudly, offering what she had.
His sigh of delight told her he was pleased. She smiled up at him and his nostrils flared.
“Turn around,” he said gently.
She obeyed immediately and felt his warm hands unhooking her bra, smoothing the straps down her arms.
He nuzzled her neck from behind, sending tingles from her scalp to the tips of her toes.
His hands traveled down her body, slipping the tiny lace bra from around her wrists and then further still, pushing down the yoga pants to reveal the strip of lace that was the last thing covering Grace.
She shivered, waiting for him to touch her again.
“Come, darling,” he said, taking her hand. He led her to the bed.
It was both her sofa and not her sofa. The trees seemed so real, she wanted to touch the bark. They looked like real white birches. She tried hard not to ask how he had done it.
“Lie down,” he said softly.
She crawled forward and heard his breathing speed up at the sight of her.
When she reached the head of the bed, she let her fingers run along the railing of saplings. They were rough and real as far as she could tell.
Amazing.
She lay on her back and looked up at him - still fully clothed, white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, grey cords tight to his hips. He studied her calmly, but his eyes were hazy with lust. She wondered frantically when he would take his clothes off.
“Beautiful girl,” he breathed. “Can you lie still for me?”
Her body burned in response. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and struggled to be still.
“Good girl,” he whispered. “Do you want this, Grace?”
“Yes,” she whispered without having to think about it.
“You did magic tonight,” he said.
“But--”
“I’m not going to make love to you. Not until I know it’s what you want.”
Grace tried to tell herself she was crushed only because her body was yearning for him. But it was her heart that was aching. She closed her eyes and turned away from him.
“However, I can’t leave you like this either,” he continued.
Grace opened her eyes but kept her face averted. She was looking into the fire and she mentally begged it to make him change his mind.
Suddenly, there was warm heat on her breast. She turned and saw that he was nuzzling her, mouthing her without latching on. Her nipple stiffened to the point of pain before he snaked his tongue out to caress it.
She tossed her head back and looked into the branches of the trees, unable to watch him without losing control.
As soon as she had acclimated to the teasing sensation on one breast, his hand was on the other. The contrast between his warm, wet mouth and cool, dry hand made her feel almost deranged with desire.
When he raked his teeth against her nipple, she cried out and wantonly arched her back, pressing herself closer to his mouth.
“Hush, angel,” he soot
hed her, breaking all contact with her breasts and stroking her head.
He seemed to lose himself as soon as he touched her hair. He pressed close to her, and she felt the heat of his erection against her thigh as he buried his face in a pile of her hair.
Tentatively, she reached out with trembling fingers to caress him through his cords. He froze and she could feel the effort it took him not to crush himself against her hand. The same discipline she was showing right now, by not lifting her hips up and begging him to take her.
After only a few seconds, he pulled her hand away.
“I told you ‘no’,” he whispered darkly. “And now you’re going to be punished.”
Grace couldn’t explain the thrill that coursed through her at those words. It was an outrageous thing to say. Unless he was kidding. But she knew he wasn’t.
“Wrap your hands around that tree,” he indicated the sapling that was the center of the living rail.
She grasped the trunk of the tree between her hands.
“No, wrap your wrists around it, cross them,” he said.
She scooted up on the bed and stretched her hands over her head until they met on the other side of the tree. His eyes blazed the brilliant blue color of his magic and something tickled her wrists. The branches of the headboard shifted, knitting themselves together around her hands until she couldn’t withdraw them.
Her heart raced like a dear darting through the forest. She was helpless before him. But it was okay. She trusted Julian.
Didn’t she?
“Good girl. Now be still,” he admonished her.
He tugged her panties over her hips and slipped them down over her ankles. She wanted to look, but she couldn’t lift her head very far with her wrists bound by the branches. She had to settle for a view of her ceiling, and the top of Julian’s head.
He spread her legs wide. Instinctively, she wanted to press them shut again. She managed to stay open for him, hoping he would touch her.
“Mmm,” he sighed, parting her with his hands.
The cool air of the room on her clitoris made her draw in a quick breath. Moisture beaded on her sex as she opened and swelled for Julian, begging wordlessly for his touch.