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“I don’t know. Alpha Esca sent warriors to our Pack, they should be there now. We’re going to find this Pack and figure out what is going on. Whoever killed her won’t be alive long enough to enjoy the reward,” I promised.
“I’ll see what we can do from this end. Now, you need some sleep. I’ll see you for breakfast.” He got up and kissed me, then I let him out and locked the door. The shower was calling my name.
Alpha Stan’s POV
“We found them, Alpha.” Beta Peter came into he room, one of his men carrying a laptop. Beta Fergus, the leader of the group Alpha Esca had sent, was right behind him. They set the computer on my desk, the tracker was showing a position near Soudan, Minnesota and Lake Vermillion. “The Vermillion Pack. The Alpha is a man named Sven Hirkkel, his mate is Linnea.”
“I know him, he’s been Alpha there since before my father was Alpha here. His wife lost their first child, and it left her unable to bear children. He’s a good man, though. Quiet and runs his Pack well.” I was shocked to think a man my father and I respected so much might be the one who killed her. “Hang on, I’m going to ask my father to join us.” He responded he would be there in ten minutes, so I spent the time getting updated on how the Highlands wolves were fitting in to our own. We would work together to take down whoever killed her.
My father David came through the door, wearing a T-shirt and shorts he’d gotten out of the bins on the front porch. Since my mother died and he stepped down from the Alpha position, he’d lived alone in a cabin on a lake, rarely getting involved in Pack affairs. He was still in good shape for a man in his sixties, and his eyes were clear and alert. I introduced him and gave him a quick update on what we knew so far. “I’ve known Sven for over four decades, I can’t believe he’d kill a human for money. Mates are sacred to him, and if she was there with Beta John, it doesn’t make sense.”
“I know. Still, his Pack is the last known location for John and Jessie. I’d like to find out what is going on without bloodshed, if possible. Do you think you could arrange to meet him and talk?”NôvelDrama.Org © 2024.
He nodded. “Of course, a good bottle of Irish Whiskey and I’ll have him talking.”
“You leave as soon as possible, then. I’ll send the warriors with you, they can stay just off Pack lands while you figure out what is going on. If it is them, will you have an issue with us killing the Alpha and anyone else involved?”
He just got up and stared into my eyes, his shoulders going back. “Son, if he killed her for money I’ll kill him myself.” I gave him a hug and they all walked out the door.
Tomorrow I would have answers.
******
Jessie’s POV
You know how they warn you never to run from a wild animal, because it triggers the predator instinct in them?
They are right.
I took my head start, rushing through the woods back towards the cabin. The island wasn’t that big so it wasn’t a long run. When I heard John’s wolf howl, I knew it was on. He was much larger than me, so I put my head down and ran hard through the trees. I could hear him crashing through the underbrush, his big paws thudding on the ground as he got closer. I saw the cabin as I broke out of the trees and thought I was in the clear.
I underestimated how much his wolf wanted me.
I was nearly to the steps when I was tripped up, rolling on the grass and leaves to a stop. He was on me before I could get up, his body over mine, his jaws holding the back of my neck into the ground. His musk was strong and my wolf loved the smell and the dominance, the strength and power of her mate. I felt myself open and prepare for him as our Wolfys did what Wolfys will do. He didn’t let go of my neck, he shuffled forward as I raised my hips and moved my tail out of the way. I felt his maleness poke around, then find the right place and his hips drove home in a single powerful thrust.
He howled in triumph as I grunted, feeling my body being filled by my mate. He let go of my neck, hooking his front legs around my hips he started to pound me hard as I lay there. My wolf was loving it, and I had to admit it was hot as hell and I was loving it too. Sex in this form was a little different than as a human, but it felt amazing. I was whining and growling as he continued his assault on me. Something was changing, though; it felt like I was being stretched inside. I whined at the pain as it worked back towards my opening, then forward again. “What is that,” I asked.
“My knot,” he said. His strokes got shorter, he was still fully in me but he explained that the base of his wolf cock was swelling to trap itself in me. Whatever it was, it rubbed my insides delightfully. He continued to pound me until he came with a howl, filling me with his seed as I exploded in pleasure around him. We fell on our sides, him still locked in me.
I tried to move but it wouldn’t. “Can you let me go?”
“The knot ties us together, it won’t go down for a half hour or so. If you keep moving and wiggling like that, we’ll just start over again.” It was his wolf’s way to make sure his seed stayed in and increase the chance of conception.
My wolf was all in favor of this, but I realized with horror that I was not on birth control and my last period was over three weeks ago. “I’m at my fertile point in my cycle,” I told him.
“My wolf knew that, it’s why he was so insistent on taking and knotting you,” John said. “He knew there was a better shot at conception in this form. He just didn’t tell me until now.”
“I could get pregnant,” I said nervously. My wolf was satisfied, my brain was panicking. “I’m twenty-one and was a virgin until yesterday, I’m not married, I’m on the run… how can I get pregnant?”
He started to groom my neck and head, relaxing me. “You’re mated, that is a stronger bond than marriage. If you want a ring and a church, I’ll give you that too. If we have a baby, I’d be over the moon. I’d love to have a little boy or girl running around with your eyes.”
My wolf was all for it, and deep down I knew I wanted children, I wanted a family with John, a house and a yard and a baby in my arms. I just wasn’t planning on it being so soon. “It’s too late to change it now, and it’s not like we can run to the drugstore for a morning-after pill,” I said. His wolf growled at me. “Not that I would use one, my wolf thinks the same way. I’m scared, John. Don’t leave me, I don’t want to be alone and pregnant like my mother was.”
“You’ll never be alone, Jessie. Yevgheny wasn’t your mother’s mate, they didn’t have the bond that we have. He raped her, probably assuming she was on birth control.” He licked at my face as I relaxed on the grass. “You have more than just me; we are in the St. Croix Pack now. I switched my allegiance to them when I came over to protect you so I could mind link with them, and as my mate you also become part of the Pack. We support, help and defend each other. You will never be alone, and I will never leave you.”
“They were like my family before we mated,” I said. “Patrick was like a brother to me, his parents were so nice to me after I was hurt.”
“They knew who you were to me, and they promised to protect you until I could make you mine. They knew you had no one else and they wanted to help. They accepted you as family back then,” he said.
“Will I get pregnant?”
“I don’t know. You smelled fertile, but you aren’t in heat. Werewolf females normally go into heat once a year for about a week, that is the only they are fertile and the couple goes into isolation for a week of constant sex. Even with all of that, most cycles don’t result in conception. The question is, would it be a good thing for you if you did get pregnant?”
“I’m not ready, it scares the hell out of me.”
“You’d be an amazing mother, Jessie.” My wolf agreed. “We will know in a week or so, if your scent changes.”
His knot had finally reduced and he disengaged from me, our combined fluids soaking my legs and into the grass. “Ugh, I need a shower.”
“How about a quick swim? You should learn how to swim in this form,” he said. He stood up, licking at my legs as I rolled onto my stomach. He turned and ran across the lawn to the dock. Taking a leap from the end, he landed with a huge splash in the water and paddled until he was watching me. “Your turn.”
I gathered my courage and started to move, my insides aching a little still. I broke into a run, leaping from the dock and making it most of the way to where he was before crashing into the water. The COLD water of fall. The temperature shocked me a little as I kicked back to the surface. I let my wolf have control, she moved my legs until my head was above water again. It only took a few moments before I was following John around, quickly getting used to the temperature. The fur helped, in human form it would be freezing.
We paddled around in the deeper water, then climbed out on the gravel and rocks until we were back on the grass. He shook his fur, sending water everywhere before he started trotting for the cabin. It took me a few tries to figure out how to shake my body like that. By the time I got to the cabin, he had shifted to human form with a towel around his waist. He dried my fur with one towel he brought. “Feel like shifting back and taking a shower?” I nodded. “It might hurt, but nothing like the first time you shifted. Each time you do it, your body adapts to the changes and it becomes faster and hurts less. In a day or two, with practice, it won’t hurt much at all and will happen in under a second,” he said.
“How do I shift back?”
“Imagine yourself as a human, skin, two legs, hands, and want to be that way. Your wolf will relinquish control and allow the change, just like you gave the wolf control when you shifted to this form.” I sat there, eyes closed and imagined being in my normal body again. I felt stabbing pains and heard the sounds of bones breaking and rearranging, but it wasn’t as loud or painful as before. When I opened my eyes, I was looking at my skin and my hands. The cool fall air was blowing over it, making me shiver. “Good job, my love,” he said as he held out a hand to me.