Pack of Her Own, page 19
For the first time in…ever, I regretted the time it took to get from the diner to my house. Sure, it was only ten minutes, but with my libido roaring, it felt like the longest ten minutes of my life.
Even my wolf was riled up, but not in the usual way. There was no danger, no worry, only a desperate sense of needing to be close to Natalie and to have her with us. She wanted Natalie as much as I did, and as much as that scared me, I couldn’t argue against it.
“So, Dr. Maru gave me some interesting news.” Natalie’s voice in the car made me jump a little. I realized I’d fallen too deep into my own thoughts and was barely paying attention to the road, never mind anything else.
“Oh? Do tell,” I said, smooth and suave as always.
“Yeah, so I—um—I guess I don’t need to take my meds anymore.”
Panic shot through me at the words. “What do you mean? Is something wrong? Did something happen?” If something bad had happened to her, I’d be able to smell it, wouldn’t I? If something had changed? I just wanted her to be herself, the beautiful woman that I was enjoying getting to know. Why would she need to stop her meds if they were working so wonderfully for her before?
I watched her shake her head in my periphery. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. She thinks that her blood somehow…changed my body chemistry. Like I’m producing the right hormones and everything now instead of having to supplement.” I felt her hand on my arm and covered it with my own. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
I started to shake my head but stopped. The truth was I was worried for a second. Worried that something had gone wrong. “I’m sorry,” I said, and truly I was for reacting the way I did immediately. “I know how important your medications are for you and who you are. I was scared that something was going to take that away.” I slowed the Jeep down before I drove past my turnoff. “Especially because it was me who told Hikaru to give you her blood. If that’s the reason you couldn’t…”
“No, Wren,” she said. “It’s not your fault, and I would never blame you anyways. You did what you had to in order to make sure I survived. I’d never fault you for that. But this is a bit of uncharted territory. No one could have predicted that her blood would do this to me, so I’m not even certain what’s going to happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if it’s maybe temporary or permanent, if I’ll have to continue to supplement with my meds, or it I can stop taking them altogether. Things like that. Dr. Maru took more blood and we’re going to work together on this over the next little bit.”
I parked the Jeep in front of my house. Neither of us moved as I cut the engine.
“I thought it was important that you know,” she added quietly.
“Why?” I asked, honestly curious.
“Because you’re important to me. And you accept and support me in all of my transition goodness.” She looked down at her feet, her voice going soft, timid. “Is it bad that I told you?”
I took her hand in mine and pressed it to my lips for a quick kiss. I put my other hand beneath her chin, raising it until I could see her face and look her in the eye. “No,” I said, “it’s definitely not bad that you told me. I want to know everything about you, Natalie. I want to be here for you in everything, whether it has to do with your transition or not. I think you are an amazing, beautiful, strong young woman who knows what she wants and is so damned courageous.”
She blinked several times, and I could see tears welling up in her eyes.
“How can you think that? You barely even know me.”
I wiped away a tear with my thumb and smiled at her. “I know enough. I know you helped to save someone you didn’t know. I know you stood up to monstrous people when you had no idea what was going on. And I know you accepted me for who and what I am with barely a word of concern.” I leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on her lips. Her eyes closed and her breath hitched as she opened for me, but I didn’t take the kiss deeper. “I think you’re amazing, Natalie Donovan. I think you’re perfect.”
Except that you’re human.
I didn’t say that part. I was still trying to figure out what that meant for us. I pushed away Kendra’s voice in my head, warning me about humans and making her my mate, and focused on the present. I wanted nothing but the beautiful woman in my arms, and from the way she looked at me, the way she pressed her lips against mine, it was safe to say that all she wanted was me.
* * *
The day had passed into night by the time I woke, cuddled under the covers with a beautiful woman on my arm. Her lips puckered slightly, eyelids fluttering in slumber. The world felt right, being here with her. Like this was where we were supposed to be.
And it scared the hell out of me.
Watching her for a long moment, I couldn’t bring myself to wake her up. She was peaceful, content, and I didn’t want her to awaken into my crazy inhuman world.
Slowly, I pulled my body out from under her. A sigh escaped her lips as she nestled into the pillow that was still warm with our scents, but she didn’t awaken.
I padded away from the bed, then headed downstairs. The book Kendra had let me take sat on the kitchen island, waiting to be looked at. I tried to have a staring contest with it. It was two minutes before I blinked, losing to something with no eyes.
“Focus,” I whispered. All this mate stuff had to get pushed to the side. Heather needed help and she was a part of my pack. My responsibility.
For the first time, that idea didn’t make me want to throw up.
My eyes flitted over page after page. Apex Alphas, Omega Wolves, Territory Bonds, Turning a Human. I paused on those pages. It was so tempting, but I shook my head. I couldn’t look at that, not yet. It wasn’t even something I was sure Natalie wanted to consider. Would she want to be like me?
Every few topics seemed to be written in a different hand, like the journal had been passed around for a number of Alphas to fill in their thoughts and knowledge. Other topics seemed to have arguments going on right there on the page, when one Alpha disagreed with another. It was almost a comical look at how our history was expected to be passed down. Talk about archaic.
Then I found the pages about the pack bond. I’d heard of that bond before. My old Alpha would only bond with the dominants in the pack. He treated it like a special reward, one the submissives couldn’t reach. Instead, the submissives were controlled by the dominants, usually by being forced to take on a mate bond. It was those kinds of archaic practices that made me not want a pack. But now that I had one, I had to look into doing things my own way. With Heather now, I thought I could do that. I could handle a pack bond with her. One person, maybe two, just to start. Maybe I could be an Alpha.
A tear rolled down, startling me. I wiped it away angrily. This was stupid, getting worked up about all of this. I was just doing what was right. Helping people who deserved it. That’s all. That’s what this was.
At the thought of Heather, I could feel something in my gut stir. It was similar to the feeling Natalie gave me, but softer, less intense.
Duh. This was the pack bond. Feeling her, I focused on that sensation until it became almost like a tether between us. Then I pulled on it.
The effect was almost instantaneous. I felt Heather jerk awake, her confusion traveling back down the tether. I eased up, trying to send apologetic feelings to her. No idea if it worked or not. Either way, I could still sense her, and a few minutes later, she was moving, coming closer to my house.
Moments later, there was a soft knock on the door, and I went to open it. Heather stood on the step, eyes downcast, her head tilted to the side to show her neck in submission.
“You called, Alpha?”
I ran a hand through my hair and growled. “You don’t need to grovel to me. You know that.”
She looked up, sheepish. “It’s habit, sorry. I never met a dominant wolf who didn’t enjoy seeing their submissive wolves being submissive.”
“You know I’m not like that.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. That’s the way it is in a lot of packs. Submissive wolves are treated like crap if they don’t fall in line with what the dominants want.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “This is why I wanted nothing to do with a pack. Ever.”
“Well, too late now.” She glanced behind her at the sedan I’d lent her. “Unless you want me to go, that is.”
“No, no. It’s just too much crap in too short a time, you know?”
“It can’t help that you met your mate too.”
I threw my hands in the air. “Does everyone know about this? Was there a freaking Google Meet about it? A Facebook event?”
I returned to my seat in the kitchen, Heather following me as she laughed softly. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen a wolf going through heat for their mate.”
I waved a hand. “We are not talking about that right now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She looked around the kitchen. “If you don’t want to talk about that, then why did you call for me?”
With a long sigh, I explained my mistake—my testing of the bond between us. I told her how it felt different than Natalie’s, and maybe we could use the pack bond to figure out how to break her wolf out of the chains holding it.
She stared into the distance as I finished. Like she was trying not to have too much faith that we could figure something out.
“Heather,” I began, “I am going to find a way to help you. I promised before, and I don’t break promises.”
Her shrug was nonchalant, but I could see the war of emotions in her eyes. “No biggie. Honestly. I’ve lived with it so long, it’s like second nature.”
“You say that, but I can sense how you really feel.” I grinned. “The pack bond doesn’t lie.”
Groaning, she stood and started pacing between the kitchen and living room.
“I just don’t want to get my hopes up, okay? I’ve had people telling me for years that they would help me figure this all out. That they would help free my wolf. And guess what? My wolf is still locked away deep inside me. I’ve never even had a chance to meet her, you know? I’ve never shifted, never felt the wind in my fur, my paws running across the ground. I missed out on all that because my mother wanted to punish my father!”
I settled a hand on her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out. I won’t stop until we get it fixed. Okay?”
She sniffled. “I didn’t even know, you know? That I was a wolf. For the longest time all I felt was like something was missing, being kept from me. Like the life I was living was somehow…wrong.” She shook her head.
“We’ll make it right. I promise you that.”
I pulled her in close, her head pressing into my shoulder. She shook several times, sniffling into my shirt. It didn’t matter. Tears and snot washed out of clothing just fine.
Someone cleared their throat and we leapt apart. Natalie was standing at the bottom of the stairs, a small smile playing on her lips. “Am I interrupting something?”
It took everything inside me not to throw her over my shoulder and take her back upstairs.
“Sorry, Nat,” I said, “didn’t mean to wake you.”
“We were just going over some research,” Heather added, “and trying to fix me.”
Natalie nodded sagely, a finger to her lips as she moved into the kitchen and took my vacated stool. “I remember you saying that your mother hired a witch to lock your wolf away, right?” Heather nodded as I wondered where my mate was going with this. “Well, have you ever considered going to another witch to try to break the curse?”
The silence that filled the room sat heavily on us. I glanced at Heather. She glanced at me, too many emotions crossing her face.
Natalie gave us that little smile again. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“Fuck. I didn’t even think about that.”
“I mean, it might work. If we find someone strong enough,” Heather added.
“But if your wolf doesn’t want to come out…” I began.
“You can take care of that,” she was quick to point out. “If we can strengthen the pack bond between us, then you’ll be my Alpha properly. You can call my wolf to you, to make me shift.”
I glanced from her to my mate and back again. “Holy shit, I think we have a plan.”
Heather squealed and threw her arms around my neck, hugging tight. A second later, she was across the kitchen and pulling Natalie into the same hug.
“I know I’m not supposed to get my hopes up,” she sobbed into Natalie’s shoulder. “But this might actually work. I’ve never been this close before!”
“Shh,” Natalie soothed her, “it’s okay. We’ll see this through, okay? We’ll take care of you.” Her eyes caught mine over Heather’s head. “We’re both here for you, okay?”
My heart broke to see her fulfilling the roll of Lupa, the Alpha’s mate. The Alpha was strength and command, the Lupa was compassion and love. Together the pair would take care of the wolves in their pack. And my mate was already acting like the perfect choice.
Heather pulled back and Natalie gave her a pat on the back a few times before she stopped sniffling again.
“So,” she began quietly, turning to me. “Know any witches?”
I frowned. “Um, no. No, I don’t.”
“Me neither, to be fair,” Natalie added.
Heather shook her head. “Not me. Guess that means a road trip.”
Natalie smiled. “I’ll get the snacks.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Natalie
I awoke buried within Wren’s arms and snuggled in as close to her as I could. Her legs shifted, one thigh pressing between my legs in the perfect spot that made me gasp a little too loudly. Wren didn’t even open her eyes, but the smile that bloomed over her lips told me she was nowhere near as asleep as I’d assumed she was.
“Open for me,” she murmured in that voice that made me want to do whatever she said without question.
And I did. I lifted my legs apart, and her thigh entered the gap in the perfect angle that it hit the most sensitive part of my clit. I moaned into the pillow and Wren chuckled before twisting us both until I was on my back and she was atop me.
“Good morning,” I said.
“It certainly is.”
As her hand leisurely traveled down my body, I decided it was a wonderful idea to sleep naked in this giant bed with my gorgeous girlfriend. No underwear or clothing to get in the way of spontaneous morning fun-times. I stared up into those beautiful emerald eyes and rose up enough to capture her lips on mine.
Her powerful arms raised her over me as she stared down, a gleam in her eye and smile on her lips.
“Stay,” she commanded, then rolled off the bed to the side. I didn’t go to follow her, despite how much I wanted to, but I did watch as she started digging through her nightstand. A moment later she pulled out something dark with several straps and something that made my jaw drop.
“Wren?” I gasped and stared at the not large but still slightly intimidating dildo that she was affixing to the harness.
She paused, looking up at me. “Are you okay with this?”
I nodded vehemently. “Very, very much.”
“Have you done this before?”
“A couple of times…” I said, remembering too much of my life with Misty and the things she frowned upon.
Wren smiled, and it chased the bad memories out of my head. She handed me a small bottle of lube, then climbed back on top of me, pushing me up so I was sitting up. The dildo stood at attention over my chest, and I had to resist the urge to put my mouth on it.
“Lube me up,” Wren said, her voice a low growl that sent electric shivers to every part of my body. I did as she asked, using a generous amount of lube on the dildo, feeling it dripping off onto my stomach. “Good girl,” she said, then backed off me. “Now flip over, on your knees.”
I moved faster than I think I ever moved in my life, and a second later, I felt the tip of the dildo.
“Is this okay?” Wren asked from behind me, and my heart soared. I nodded enthusiastically, not trusting my words to come out as something coherent to human—or werewolf—ears.
The moan that slipped out of my mouth echoed through my head and the bedroom as she pushed inside me. I’d never felt anything like it before. Fingers wrapped in my hair and pulled my head back and I moaned again, panting like I had lost all control over every part of my body.
“Wren,” I gasped as I felt her hips touch my ass. “Please, Wren!”
She backed up and thrust again, building up speed as she went until I cried out and had to reach down with one hand, touching myself.
“Good girl,” Wren grunted, “touch yourself for me.”
I moaned and gasped as her fingers tightened in my hair again and pulled deliciously tight. “Oh fuck! Wren, please!”
“Please what?”
“Please! Bite me!”
Wren froze halfway into me. “What?”
“Bite me!” I begged her. “I’m your mate! Make me yours, please!”
I tried to look over my shoulder at her, but her grip tightened in my hair, and I gasped. She began moving again, filling me with the dildo as I continued to touch myself and I tried to find my words. She leaned against me, her breasts pressing against my back. Her mouth touched my shoulder, my neck, and planted soft bites in places I couldn’t see.
“Come for me,” she whispered in my ear, “do it now.”
And as if I were waiting for her permission, the orgasm that hit me had me seeing stars. I faltered, falling to the bed as Wren eased the dildo out and slid to the side. She rested a hand on my side, and I looked up at her, taking warmth in her soft smile.
