Fated To The Alpha: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (13 page)

I grinned, getting his meaning completely. I threw my arm around his neck and kissed him deeply.

I bent and started kissing all over his chest. I moved up and down and forward and backward and side to side, not missing an inch of his flesh. He ran his fingers through my hair, caressing my scalp, and rubbing his other hand over my back. I started to move lower, coming down to his already stiff cock, grasping it in one hand and cradling his balls with the other as my mouth wrapped hungrily around the head.

I made slow, languid bobbing motions with my head, lifting my eyes to watch his expression as I did. I also kept humming softly around the stiff thing filling my mouth. “Mmm… mmm… mmm…”  He continued to stroke my hair, and then rolled his head back, grunting in appreciation.

I continued blowing him, enjoying the feel of his cock in my mouth, for as long as my pussy could stand to remain empty,. which that morning was not all that long. Pretty soon my cunt was dripping with anticipation, hungry to feel the thing between my lips parting my other lips again. I sat up, giving his shaft a few more soft strokes, as I climbed atop him, straddling his lap. I aimed him at my opening and lowered down.

I breathed hard as I started to ride him, his hands stroking up and down my hips. My hands felt up his rippling abs as I stared down at his eyes, which looked back at me lovingly. I worked my inner muscles, squeezing my pussy walls around his cock, hugging him inside my most intimate of places.

We spent a good long while with me riding him like that, going a little faster than we had gone the night before, but not by much. We were a bit more energized now, and I felt less in need of comforting than I had, but we still wanted to take our time and enjoy this. So we went slow but hard and deliberate, my hips churning on his lap with steady motions. But while my hip motions were steady and rhythmic, the motions of my head and upper body were more all over the place. When his hands came up to grope my boobs, my head rolled about, moaning loudly. Eventually, I did actually start moving faster, starting to get closer to an orgasm and working to get myself off. Jeremy grabbed my hips again, holding on for the ride as I neared my release, gradually going from slow, deliberate motions to starting to ride him like a bucking bronco.

When I came, my back arched and my head threw back, releasing a loud shriek of ecstasy. I was barely aware of his seed erupting up inside me as I became lost in the moment of my orgasm.

After I came down from my climax, I lay flat atop Jeremy’s chest, tenderly kissing and nibbling his neck. He softly stroked my back, moving his fingers up and down my spine, getting low, happy coos out of me.

“As much as I’d like to do otherwise,” he said, “we do have to step outside eventually.”

“Do we have to think about that now?” I whimpered. “I’m in a good mood.”

“We don’t have to do it now,” he said. “Just eventually.”

“‘Eventually’ can take its sweet time for all I care,” I said. “Right now I want to keep you here until I drain you of all your fluids!”

Jeremy groaned as if exasperated, but smiled while doing it. “Work, work, work,” he grinned, and kissed me.

CHAPTER SEVEN

We spent a couple weeks living like that, living among Jeremy’s pack, pretending I was someone I wasn’t. And for the most part, no one seemed to be the wiser. Most of the pack welcomed me as one of their own; as far as anyone was concerned, I may as well have been a Morgandorf now. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. It made me wonder if I would ever be welcomed back among my own.

For that matter, why did I have to carry any kind of a label at all? Why did I have to identify as Caldour or Morgandorf or anything like that? If I were completely honest with myself, this wayward Elena with no pack affiliation anymore felt more like me than my true identity. Who was Evelyn Godfrey of the Caldour pack anyway? That name felt like the name of a stranger.

So it took hardly any effort on my part at all to embrace my ruse. Especially when I had the likes of Tara and Andrea to make me feel right at home using it. My days would be spent wandering the village with Tara, getting to know the ins and outs of the place, swimming in the lake with Andrea and her friends, gathering herbs or hunting in the woods, exploring the surrounding forest, trading stories (slightly edited for content), and just generally being friends together, as much as I had with anyone from my own pack.

Andrea in particular became interested in learning more about my life with my old pack. As long as I didn’t mention any names, at least no real ones, I felt like I could be as honest as I wanted to be. I told her all about how my parents raised me, particularly about how controlling my dad was, since that seemed to be what interested her the most. She also wanted to know about things like my first time with a guy, how old I was, and what it was like, and all that. While she admitted she still didn’t think she was ready to try it for herself yet, she was still fascinated with the idea of it, and I could tell she was thinking long and hard about when she would be ready to let it happen for her.

I ran with Jeremy’s pack, I hunted and howled with them, I ate with them, sang with them, and traded stories and jokes with them. Even if I wasn’t a Morgandorf in name, I felt like I had a pack again.

And unlike before, no there were no expectations put on me. Everyone accepted that I was with the guy I wanted already, and no one was trying to pressure me to marry someone else. I didn’t have my dad expecting me to fulfill his ambitions for him, or a slick alpha claiming me as his. If anything, the alpha here seemed like a better father figure than my own dad.

The only thing that did anything to crack my happy illusion was the ever-looming presence of Lucius hovering about, always watching me. So far, nothing had happened; he obviously hadn’t mentioned anything to Ricardo or anyone else. Maybe because he couldn’t prove anything. He knew I’d shown up that night, and he knew he attacked me and that Jeremy fought him off, but that didn’t necessarily follow that I was a Caldour.

But I could tell he was suspicious; it was all over his face whenever I saw him. And whenever I did see him, his eyes were always on me, carefully watching my moves. I would be huddled over some little project that Andrea and her friends were guiding me in, and I would get a cold shiver down my spine, and lift my head to see his hard-lined face watching me from across the way. I would be going for a dip in the lake, and when my head came up above the surface, there he would be back atop the hill, paying attention to nothing but me. I would be on a hunt with some others, chasing down a deer and catching its neck in my jaws, and as we all started to feast on the kill I would catch his scent, and find him lurking about among the trees. Any time I felt like I was enjoying a pleasant day, just doing simple things with good company, sooner or later he would always be there, casting his shadow over me.

I kept wondering, why didn’t he just make a move already? If he suspected I was a Caldour, why wasn’t he trying to prove it?

Maybe he was just trying to stalk me until the psychological pressure got me to crack. I wasn’t completely prepared to say it wouldn’t work, either.

I confided in Jeremy one night while we were curled up in his bed, his arms around my naked body, his fingers lazily strumming my hair while my head nestled in the crook of his neck. “I don’t think I can take much more of Lucius lurking around spying on me,” I said. “Part of me wishes he would just rat me out and get it over with.”

“You know he’s not going to do that as long as he can’t prove anything,” Jeremy tried to reassure me.

“I know,” I grimaced. “I have a terrible feeling he’s gonna do something much worse.”

“Something worse?” he said. “Like what?”

Frowning, I brought a hand up to my shoulder, which still sported the evidence of what Lucius had already done to me. “He’s already scarred me once,” I said. “Something tells me he doesn’t plan to stop there.”

“He can plan all he wants,” Jeremy said, “but I’ll rip his throat out before I let him lay a paw on you.”

“You know you can’t watch me twenty-four hours a day,” I said. And then almost under my breath I added, “Unlike him.”

“Hey, don’t be so sure of that,” he said. “You want to know something about that night of the attack?”

“What?”

“The whole time the attack was happening, it never occurred to me that you might show up. I was just trying to hang back and avoid the fray. But then I got some kind of… spine tingle, I guess you could call it. And then I just sort of knew to move to the edge of the village, and I found you with Lucius’s jaws attached to you. I don’t know how, but it was like I just knew the moment it happened.”

“So what, you’re saying you’re psychic or something?”

“Maybe when it comes to you and trouble,” he said. “I’m betting if Lucius tries anything with you again, I’ll know. And then I’ll rip him apart.”

I rolled my eyes slightly, grinning. “You say the sweetest things to me,” I smiled, and then kissed him.

We made love tenderly that night, which made me feel better and safer like it always did. For a time, I was able to feel reassured again.

And then the next day came.

*

For the most part, it was a day like any other. We joined Tara and some others for some breakfast. Maggie came along and started whispering very suggestive things to Jeremy, even going so far as to blow lightly on the back of his neck before I shooed her away. Everyone around us had a bit of a laugh at Jeremy’s discomfort. After that, I joined Andrea for a little run and a few more friendly games with her friends. I got lunch with her, and then rejoined Jeremy later in the afternoon. Everything seemed to be fine.

And then, around the early evening, we heard the howl.

Any wolf would recognize it. It was a howl of distress, calling for help. As everyone turned in its direction, about a dozen members of the pack immediately started running for the tree line, stripping their clothes off and shifting to their four-legged forms. Impulsively, I started going with them, and I heard Jeremy following close behind.

We reached a clearing in the middle of the woods, where four wolves were keeping guard around two others currently in their two-legged forms. One of the two was a guy named Russell, who lay on the ground, gasping for breath, while his packmate named Shane knelt over him, pressing his hands over the bloody wound in Russell’s neck.

One of the rescue party named Daniel shifted to his two-legged form to ask, “What happened here?”

“It was the damn Caldours!” Shane spat. “Surprise attack!  They came out of nowhere! We didn’t even smell them coming until they were right on us!”

Another one named Beverly shifted to two legs and hurried to take hold of Russell’s ankles. “Someone help me carry him!” she said. “Let’s get him back to the village, quick!”

Several more of the party shifted as well, gathering around Russell to lift him up, never letting the pressure off his wound as they carried him back to the village with us.

All of the pack was gathered to greet us when we got back, seeing us carrying Russell with hands stained red covering his neck. “Somebody get Leonard,” Shane shouted, calling for the village doctor. They handed him off, carrying Russell away to the infirmary.

Ricardo and Laura were quick on the scene, seeing the blood on the hands of Shane and the others who carried him. “How bad is he?” Ricardo asked.

“I was afraid the Caldours might have taken his whole head off,” Shane said, shaking his head. “I could swear they were laughing when they did it, too. More like jackals than wolves,” he added, his voice dripping with venom.

“That settles it,” someone said. “We were stupid enough not to hit them back when they invaded our village before. Now they do this! How much more do we stand for?”

“We gotta go to them!” someone else shouted. “Show those Caldour bastards who’s boss!”

Several of the pack roared in agreement. It was just like before my own pack launched their attack. The whole pack was crying out for blood, and if something wasn’t done to stop them, they would get it. The last thing I wanted was to see another full-on battle.

“Now hold on, everyone!” Jeremy called, stepping into the middle of the crowd. “We should be more focused on helping Russell than getting revenge. What’s more important to us: our packmate alive, or our neighbors dead?”

“You really want to let them get away with this?” somebody spat.

“Is this attack really any different than the things we’ve done to them?” Jeremy asked.

I tried to throw in my two cents, stepping up by Jeremy’s side. “This isn’t what I wanted when I came to this pack,” I said. “I wanted to find a safe place to live, and you all promised you’d give me that. Is this how you’re going to do it?  By dragging me into a war?”

“If we don’t do something, none of us will be safe,” someone else said. “Those Caldours would kill us all if they could!”

“Is violence the only way to keep us safe?” I asked everyone. “There’s got to be other options!”

“You’re awfully soft on the Caldours,” said a voice. Turning to its source, I found Lucius stepping forward, regarding me suspiciously as always, with the subtle hint of a grin on his face. “Why is that, I wonder?”

I looked back at Lucius, not answering at first. I knew he was baiting me. I didn’t want to say anything that I thought might incriminate me.

Fortunately I had Jeremy there to come to my rescue. “Can you blame her for not wanting her new friends, which a lot of you are to her now, to fight and kill, or be killed in a bloody war?”

Tara stepped forward, trying to be as frankly nurturing as she could. “Elena, I wish it was that simple. I wish we could just sit down and talk this out with the Caldours…”

“Well why can’t we?” I asked.

“You don’t understand,” she said. “It’s just not that simple.”

“Yes it is!” someone interjected. “It’s perfectly simple! They’re filthy Caldours! They only understand blood! We gotta speak to them in their language!”

Ignoring her less tactful packmate, Tara went on, “There’s just too much bad blood between us. This conflict isn’t going to go away just by talking it out.”

“And who’d want to share breath with those Caldour scum anyway?” said someone else.

“All right, everyone, let’s settle down,” Ricardo said. “Elena, I get what you’re worried about. I wouldn’t wish for a war either. But making peace with the Caldours isn’t an easy prospect.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to keep waging war!” I insisted. “Where does it end if we do?”

Ricardo paused, and finally said. “We’ll leave it up to Russell. If he lives, we’ll hold back from any retaliation. But if he dies, then we make the Caldours pay!”

Several groans went up at that decision. “That’s my order!” Ricardo barked. “Jeremy was right about one thing. Our priority right now is making sure our packmate lives, and as long as he still does, that’ll stay our priority. No vendettas without my approval! Is that understood?”

The pack generally seemed to accept Ricardo’s command, but they didn’t look like they were very happy with it. The assembled throng started dispersing, going back to whatever business they had, but several of them were whispering among themselves, and I could tell what they were saying was not nice.

I was relieved at least that Ricardo had stopped them from going for blood immediately, but I knew it was far from a lasting solution. And the fact that it all hinged on Russell pulling through was all the more reason to hope for his recovery. But there had to be something more I could do than just wait and hope.

Jeremy put a hand on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go see him—”

But I was already marching toward Ricardo and Laura, who no longer had anyone standing around them. “Ricardo,” I said, “isn’t there anything else we can do to end this? I didn’t leave my old pack just to see my new one and another one slaughter each other.”

Ricardo sighed. “Elena, I wish it were that easy. But I can only lead my pack where they want to go. And if what they all want is to fight, what can I really do to stop them?”

“Maybe there’s something
we
can do,” Jeremy said. “We all keep telling ourselves there’s no hope of peace with the Caldours, but when was the last time anyone tried?”

“I don’t think anyone here wants to,” Laura said. “There’s too much hate to set aside.”