Fated To The Alpha: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (21 page)

Andrea smiled, and stepped up to join us, forming a three-way hug. “Oh, okay, now this is happening,” Charlene said.

I finally pulled away when Jeremy came up behind me, placing his hand on my shoulder. I backed into his arms, and let Charlene and Andrea continue embracing—although I could see Charlene starting to feel a bit awkward about it. But as she was learning, an object of Andrea’s affections would not easily get away.

“Aww, isn’t this touching,” said a voice.

We all suddenly turned around to find an uninvited guest standing about ten feet away, looking at us with a cruel grin, surrounded by four wolves in their four-legged forms. We’d all been so worried about either Leon or my dad coming to find us here, none of us had stopped to worry about this one.

“Lucius!” I gasped. It didn’t take much to identify the wolves flanking him as his backup party of Brock, Regan, Riley and Ennis.

“What are you doing here?” Andrea demanded.

“Funny, I was about to ask you the same question. Unless I’m completely fucktarded, I thought I heard your dad tell you you were grounded for running off when he told you not to. I kinda wanted to know where you were running to… and it looks like I found out.”

Lucius began advancing on us, focused on Andrea. “Somebody’s been a very,
very
bad girl!” he said, before grabbing her by the wrist, eliciting a shriek from her. “I think your daddy’s gonna be interested to hear how you’ve been sneaking out to go palling around with Caldours!
Two
of them!”

“Let me go!” Andrea protested, struggling against him.

“You heard her!” Jeremy barked. “Get your hands off her!”

“You keep out of this, Caldour-lover!” Lucius snapped. “You’re not part of this pack anymore, or did you forget that part?”

Charlene lunged forward, roughly shoving Lucius away from Andrea, while growing out her teeth and turning her eyes a lupine yellow. “Back off, shithead!” she growled.

Lucius’s sly look turned one of rage, appalled at what had just happened. “No Caldour touches me and lives to talk about it!” he threatened. The wolves backing him up started to growl menacingly.

“You want a piece of me?” Charlene countered.

“Charlene, no!” I warned.

But Lucius made no reaction to me, focusing his fury on Charlene. “No,” he said, his teeth growing out and his voice deepening. “I don’t want a piece of you.  I want lots of pieces!”

Andrea rushed in front of him, holding up her hands to stop him. “Lucius, don’t!”  But he only shoved her aside, pushing her down onto the ground to clear his path. He marched forward, lowering down to the ground as he shifted to his four-legged form.

Charlene seemed fully willing to back up her bravado, even against the wall of not one but five sets of teeth bearing down on her.  And in fact she was already beginning to remove her clothes and trying to shift form. But as soon as her flesh and muscles started to change shape, the wound she had received from Jeremy to sell our story reasserted itself, and she stopped to grab her bandaged shoulder.

Given more time, I don’t doubt she could have still fought through the pain and changed shape; I’d seen her shift form with a fresh wound plenty of times. But Lucius was rushing at her, and he was rushing fast.

There wasn’t time for me to think about what I was doing. It all just happened in a flash. Before I knew what was happening, I had leapt forward, shifting form in mid-air, catching Lucius seconds before his teeth would have reached Charlene.

I didn’t even realize I’d bitten into him until I tasted blood in my mouth.

And it wasn’t until I was standing over him, with him lying on the ground looking up at me, that I realized I’d bitten into his throat.

I raised my head, blood dripping from my fangs, to look at Lucius’s entourage, who had stopped dead in their tracks. Below my paws, Lucius was squirming, gasping for breath as blood pooled around his neck. When I looked at the wound I’d given him, I could see he was beyond any hope of recovery. 

All I could do was finish him off.

In all my life, I had never killed another wolf before. I had never had any wish to.  And I had no wish to now. But the heavy reality before me was inescapable; there was no backing out of this now.

So I brought my head down and clamped my teeth onto his throat again, making a sharp jerking motion to squeeze out his last breath.

When I looked up again, Lucius’s followers were hurrying away, disappearing into the brush, making their way back to the Morgandorf village.

I sat back on my haunches, staring down at the bloody body of Lucius before me. Jeremy, Andrea and Charlene all stood around me, looking down at me wide-eyed in shock. “Evie…” Charlene breathed.

“What did you do?” Andrea quivered.

I slowly began backing away, shifting to my two-legged form and rising to my feet as I backed into Jeremy’s arms.  My hand came up to cover my mouth, which I found still wet, and I spit out the blood still on my lips. “I… I didn’t want… I was just trying…”

“He would’ve killed us,” Jeremy tried to reassure me. “You know that. You did what you had to do.”

He was probably right. Lucius definitely had murder in his eyes. My case wasn’t hard to argue here.

That didn’t make me feel any less sick.

“Oh my god, they’re gonna tell everyone in the pack what happened here! They’re all gonna be looking for us now! They’re gonna find us, and they’re gonna… what are they gonna do?”

“Not all of us,” I choked. “Just me.  They’re gonna be hunting me.
Everyone’s
gonna be looking for me now!”

Jeremy breathed hard. “She’s right.  We can’t stay here.”

“Well, I can’t go back!” Andrea cried, visibly panicking. “Not now! Not after this! They’re gonna tell everyone I was here with you guys! They’re gonna know I was here for this, and my dad… I can’t even think about what he’s gonna do to me!”

“No!” I said, rushing forward to take hold of her shoulders. “This isn’t on you! Not for a second! This is all me! You didn’t have anything to do with this! Your dad will understand that! I mean, he’s your dad! What can he do to you?”

“Your dad locked you in a basement,” she pointed out.

I couldn’t argue with that.

“Andrea,” Jeremy said, stepping toward her, “you’re fourteen.  You’re too young to run away. You need a pack. And… regardless of what just happened here, you still have one. Ricardo won’t send you away or do anything to hurt you. You’re still his only daughter.”

“It’s bad enough they’re gonna be hunting me for what I just did,” I said. “We don’t need him hunting you, too. And if you run away with us, Ricardo will move Heaven and Earth to find you.”

Andrea looked all kinds of distressed. I could see her teenage mind struggling to grasp what to do. I knew because it was exactly how I felt.

“But they’re gonna want to know where you are,” Andrea said. “They’re gonna want me to tell ‘em!”

I nodded. She was absolutely right. “So you can’t know,” I said. “We have to disappear. We can’t ever come back.”

Those words felt like stones in my chest. This was never how I wanted things to go. I wanted to make peace between our packs. I wanted my family to be able to interact with Jeremy’s without them trying to kill each other. I wanted to have a life with him that my friends and family could still be part of.

I could no longer see any hope of that. The only way for us to have any semblance of a life now was to sever all previous ties; to disappear into the woods and never look back.

Andrea looked on the verge of collapse. She suddenly came flying at me, enveloping me in her embrace as her tears started to fall freely. “Please don’t make me go back there!” she cried. “If you go, I’ll never see you again!”

“And if you go with us, you’ll never see your family again,” I said. “Is that what you want?”

Her lip quivered, but she shook her head.

“I’m sorry it happened this way,” I said. “I’m gonna miss you so much!”

Andrea hugged me harder, wetting my belly with her tears.

Charlene came up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, Andie,” she said. “We should get back where we each belong.”

Andrea let go of me briefly, before she latched onto Jeremy, hugging the hell out of him for a moment. And then she finally turned away, her face positively streaked with her tears.  And then she let Charlene guide her away by the shoulder, looking back at us right up until she disappeared into the woods. Then I was left alone with Jeremy again. Him and the body of Lucius.

At which point I finally let go of the bile I’d been holding back. I dropped to my knees, doubled over and puked.

THE FINAL
CHAPTER

Jeremy and I ran almost all night. We actively sought out every source of water we could swim across to lose our scent trails, finally coming to a stop around the crack of dawn up near the top of a cliff. We curled up together to get a few hours of sleep before we determined to set out again.

I think it was around midday when I woke up again, while Jeremy was still sleeping next to me. I didn’t see fit to wake him yet; I sat up, looking off into the distance, seeing the expansive view over the nearby cliff. If I’d been on vacation, I might have been taken in by the beautiful view. As it was, all I could do was barely appreciate the miniscule comfort it offered me.

I had killed someone.

It was like my brain didn’t know how to deal with that. I couldn’t stop picturing the image of Lucius lying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood, his dead eyes staring up at me. And obviously, it was still having a similar effect on me physically. My skin felt flushed, and I was breaking out in goose bumps. My heart was racing, and I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.

Maybe I should wake up Jeremy, I decided. Maybe a little comfort from him would go a long way.

I turned to look at him still lying there. And I stared at him for a moment. I looked at the shape of his hard pecs and rippling abs. I looked at his strong arms, and the biceps in them. I looked at the shape of his face, and his lips, which begged me to kiss them. I looked at his dick, hanging there, calling for me to take it in my hands, caress it, show my love to it…

What the hell? A second ago I was overwhelmed with guilt, and now all of a sudden I was horny? And I didn’t mean just like typical, everyday horny, like I got whenever I would curl up with him in his bed. This was like I wanted to jump on him and ride him like a bull at a rodeo.

And still my heart was racing, and my skin felt hot and prickly.

Oh, fuck.

I forced myself to look away as it hit me what was going on. I got up and hurried over to a tree, which I planted myself against as I tried in vain to catch my breath. 

I heard Jeremy starting to grunt as he woke up. “Evelyn?” he asked, seeing me leaning against the tree, panting. “Are you okay?”

“Please, don’t make me look at you,” I pleaded. “If I do, I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself!”

“What do you mean?”

I took a few panting breaths before I answered, “I’m in heat.”

I heard him getting up to his feet. “For real?”

“With everything going on, I completely lost track of my biological calendar!” I panted.

“So you don’t want to…”

“Oh, I want to!” I nodded, barely stopping myself from turning my head to look at him.  “I want to like you wouldn’t believe!”

“But you don’t want to want to because…”

“Because if we do, you’ll most likely knock me up!”

There was a long pause, during which I continued fighting to stop myself from turning around and jumping him. I could just feel his presence, even from several feet away, and it was all I could do not to maul him.

And then he started to laugh.

I finally actually turned around and looked at him again, forgetting about my struggle as my lust was momentarily tempered. “What?” I demanded.

“This is perfect!” he said. “It’s just what we need!”

“What are you talking about?”

“If anything can bring the two packs together, this can,” he said. “A pup born of both packs!”

I blinked, staring at him. “You’re serious!”

“Isn’t that what you want?” he said, coming ever closer, causing my pulse to speed up. “You wanted us to have pups together, didn’t you? And if it’s both of ours, then it’s a child that both packs can love! Is there anything better to bring them together?”

If I hadn’t been panting with lust at that point, I might have started to cry happy little tears. “You still haven’t given up hope?”

“Would I be the guy you fell in love with if I did?”

No. He really wouldn’t have.

And once I realized that, I stopped trying to fight the urges stampeding through me.

I sprang up into his arms, throwing my arms and legs around him, and kissing him like I’d never kissed him before. He carried me back over to the spot where we’d just woken up, and lowered me back down to the ground, laying me out on my back. “You’re sure you’re ready for this?”

Oh, come on, I’d just let go of all my hesitation! I didn’t want to pick it up again now! “Don’t talk,” I commanded. “Let’s just fuck!”

We wasted little time on foreplay. I didn’t have the patience for it. I was hot and bothered and ready to go. Oh, Jeremy tried. He started out kissing my neck and collar, feeling up my boobs and fingering my slit. But when he felt how wet I was already—not to mention the way I kept impatiently fidgeting beneath him—I think he figured out that I didn’t need warming up.

So he knelt over me, taking me into his arms and slid inside me almost too easily. Almost immediately, I captured him in my legs, holding him deep inside me as he started to thrust. I pulled at him with my legs, urging his thrusts on, almost using him as a masturbatory tool, even from beneath him. My arms came up to embrace—no,
ensnare
him, pulling him down onto my chest.

I was so hot I was able to orgasm after only the first five minutes, and was well on my way to another within minutes after that. After the first twenty minutes, by which point I had rolled us over to put myself on top at least three times, I’d managed to get myself off at least five times. And I was a long way from done.

Even after he finally released his seed inside me, I wasn’t even close to sated. Once he pulled out, I bent over and took him into my mouth, sucking him like a hungry Hoover. I actually found myself getting impatient at how long it took to get him back up to full hardness; hell, why couldn’t he just keep going after firing off? Why did we have to stop?

But I eventually got him back up for more and what would end up being our all-day marathon continued.

We did it in every position conceivable. Each time he got off, we took a short break, during which he would ask if I was done yet. To which I would answer him by taking him into my mouth and sucking him back to hardness. I don’t doubt after a while I was starting to seriously wear him out. But like a trooper, he kept up with my out-of-control libido for as long as it took to satisfy it.

By the time it started to get dark again, I decided I was finally spent. Jeremy let out a big breath when I told him that, which sounded like relief. I curled up against him, tenderly stroking his face. “Poor guy,” I said. “I really put you through the ringer today, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t know you had that kind of energy in that little body,” he said.

“Well, you’ve got some kind of stamina to keep up with me,” I said. Then I kissed him tenderly.  “Thank you for this.”

He cradled me in his arms, staring at my face. “I love you, Evelyn,” he said.

I think that was the first time I’d heard him say it out loud.

I lovingly kissed him a few more times before we curled up and went back to sleep, resting off our day’s exertion, while I took one hand and cradled my belly, thinking about what we had just created. In every sense.

*

We got up well into the night hours, and made the decision to start making our way back the way we came. The idea of returning once again was not an easy choice to make. After all, which pack did we go to? The one I had just escaped from, that wanted to force us apart? Or the one that banished us, that I had just killed a member of?

We weren’t going to come up with the answer all at once, so we hoped it would come to us on the way. We stopped to hunt for some food, catching a few raccoons to eat on the way, which gave us some more time to think. And still a decision continued to elude us.

But then around dawn, we heard a howl come from the direction of the Morgandorf village. And I could recognize the howl, too.

It was Leon.

If he was in the Morgandorf village, this had to mean trouble. We started hurrying in that direction, confident now that the decision had been made for us. And whatever was happening there, we were also confident that we had to get to it fast.

We finally came to a stop on top of a hill overlooking the village, where through the trees we could see the confrontation going down. And it was massive. It looked like nearly the entire Caldour pack had come out in force to face their enemy, and nearly the entire Morgandorf pack stood at attention facing them back.

And what’s more, it sounded like they were talking about me.

“You can search all you want,” Ricardo was saying. “She’s not here. The sooner you realize that and move on, the easier it’ll be for all of us.”

“Don’t try to confuse us!” That was my dad speaking. “We know how you all brainwashed her! You turned her into… into one of you! You got her to turn against her own pack, and now you’re hiding her!”

“That girl was never one of us!” one of the Morgandorfs said. “She was a liar!  A fake!”

“And now she’s killed one of ours!” Ricardo added.  “If anything, I’d say she’s proven herself a true Caldour. She’s as much an enemy of the Morgandorf pack now as any of you!”

“Don’t fall for it, Leon!” one of the Caldours said.

“Even if she’s not here, I say we tear this whole place apart, just to be sure!”

Several of the Morgandorfs growled in response, some of them shifting to their four-legged forms, preparing to meet an attack.

That’s when Charlene stepped forward, taking Leon by the arm. “Leon, please, this has gone far enough!”

Leon only shoved her aside. “Not yet.”

Both packs stood their grounds, staring the other down. Left and right they started shifting to their four-legged forms, preparing to charge. Leon and Ricardo stood meeting each other’s gaze as both their features started taking lupine shape, adding to the ferocity of their scowls.

And so, before this could go any further, I made my presence known. I reared my head back and howled, calling for everyone to stop. And seconds later, Jeremy’s voice joined me, our song bringing the two sides to a momentary stop.

We came running down the hill, moving in between the two packs, stopping right in the path between Leon and Ricardo. We each shifted back to our two-legged forms, as I faced my pack, and Jeremy faced his.

“Evelyn!” my dad gasped. “We thought you were…”

“Everyone, please!” I called. “This all has to stop!”

“Not while they’re still here!” Leon declared.

“You don’t speak for us!” Ricardo commanded. “You never did!”

I looked around at all the faces around me. Faces I knew and loved. Family I had grown up with on the Caldour side. Friends I had made on the Morgandorf side. “I have something to tell you all!” I called. “I went into heat yesterday.  Jeremy and I are going to have a pup.”

Several gasps went up all around us.

“A pup of both Morgandorf and Caldour blood,” Jeremy said. “Something to unite us both.”

“No!” my dad growled, pushing his way through the pack to advance on me. “No, no, no, NOOOO! You’ve betrayed me in enough ways, but this…!  This is unconscionable! My grandchild is supposed to be the future leader of the Caldour pack! You are not going to—”

“Rene, shut up!”

Everyone whirled around to the sound of my mom’s voice as she emerged. “There are bigger things at stake here than your childish pride! Our daughter has made her choice! Have the goddamn decency to respect that!”

Dad looked at her in shock, as if he didn’t know how to deal with his wife standing up to him.

“Evie?” I heard Andrea’s voice call. I turned to see her running past the crowd of her pack. 

Ricardo turned and pointed. “Get her back to her room!” he commanded.

“No!” Jeremy shouted. “Let her stay!  Let everyone stay! This concerns all of you!”

“You’re pregnant?” Andrea probed.

I smiled at her, and nodded. “I don’t want my pup to live with both sides of its family fighting and killing each other!” I said. “My pup should be able to live in peace, without worrying about pack allegiances, or being attacked! Isn’t that what all of you want? What do all of you want for your pups? We’ve all been brought up on this feud, taught to hate each other, and we’ve kept fighting for all this time! How much longer are we going to keep passing on this legacy of hate?”

“You’re an idealistic girl, Evelyn,” Ricardo said. “But ideals can’t undo the past. They won’t bring back the lives that have been taken!”

“Neither will taking more lives!” Jeremy said. “But maybe they can prevent more death.”

“This is funny, coming from you!” Brock snapped. “Lucius is dead because of you!”

“Lucius is dead because he attacked us!” I said. “The last thing I wanted was to kill him, but I acted to save someone else’s life.” Then I looked up and pointed to Charlene. “Hers.”

The whole Caldour pack turned to stare at Charlene, who looked around at them uncomfortably. “Oh, come on, do you have to put me on the spot like this?”