“I can’t help but worry,” I said. “When I was five, I was living with my grandmother and my Mom. My biological father was the werewolf who got my Mom pregnant, and they didn’t know what I was. Leo was the one who found me and brought me into Pack life.” I snuggled back into him as I talked. “Mom was in the same situation as these wives are now. As a human, she would have to decide if she loved Brent enough to risk the coin flip of death. The attack took the choice from her, but I think she would have made it anyway. His love was that strong.”
“The lucky ones in this Pack are the ones who didn’t marry,” Nicholas replied. “I’m glad I didn’t allow myself to fall in love with a human. I’m finally seeing the wisdom of how our female wolves lived, rarely taking a mate, and only getting pregnant on random hookups they’d never see again. They are the ones who get to find their mates without entanglements, and experience what I have now.”
“I’ve been praying for the humans in our Pack,” I said. His arms on my body set my skin ablaze, and my desire for him was rising by the moment. I wanted him. “Let’s go inside for a bit and have some fun,” I said huskily.
“Let’s shift and run as wolves,” he said. “We haven’t done that yet.” He pulled my shirt off, setting it over a branch, then started to strip himself. A minute later, our clothes were hanging out, and we were rubbing our faces together as wolves. His wolf was slightly bigger than mine, the result of the Alpha mantle he now had. His glossy black fur was a contrast to my silver and white. “Our pups could have all kinds of interesting patterns,” I thought out loud to him.
“Blacktip reef sharks?”
I chuffed at the thought, then shook my head. It wasn’t the time for puppy dreaming. “I could use a good run,” I told him.
**************
“We can’t go off our property in the daytime, but there’s a good trail away from the neighbors.” He took off slowly, then as we warmed up, he accelerated to a sprint. He was in good shape, but I had no trouble pacing him. He took me down the trails, up and around the low hills and scrub, as we ran the property. I saw a creek on our right, and we followed it until it widened into a deep pool. Nicholas didn’t slow as we ran side by side. “Let’s swim,” he said, both of us leaping into the air at the edge of the pool and shifting in midair.
I didn’t know how deep it was, so I turned the jump into a shallow dive, landing a good five yards from the bank. The water was cold and deep, more than I could touch as I started to tread water. I shook my hair out and moved into Nicholas’ arms. “Nice,” I said.
“This was always my favorite spot as a kid,” he said as he pulled me towards a smooth rock below the surface, one he must have known about because you couldn’t see it. I ended up straddling his waist as he pulled me close. “I dreamed of this moment.”
“You dreamed of me?”
“I dreamed I’d get to show this place to the woman I loved, and I dreamed we would bring our children here to swim and play as wolves.” I moved forward, my arms pulling him close as my body molded to his. “This is better than a dream.”
The cold water couldn’t cool his arousal, and I could feel him swelling between our bodies. I wanted him just as much; shifting in his lap, I started rubbing my sex along his length, making him groan in pleasure. We kissed deeply as his hands cupped my ass, and he moved me up until his tip was at my entrance. “Please,” I asked.
The contrast between the cold water and his warm shaft made me hypersensitive to his movements. I moaned as the broad tip pushed inside; I wanted it all, but he was taking it slow. He eased me down, sometimes lifting me slightly before lowering me to take another inch. I wrapped my legs around his waist, trying to pull him further. Finally, I moaned into his mouth as he bottomed out. “So good,” he said.
“Take me,” I begged him. He started moving me up and down his shaft, making me feel every ridge, every vein along the way. “MORE!”
Holding me tight, he stood up, bringing our hips out of the water. He kept a grip on my ass, but now he started to pound up into me as I held on. “YEAH, TAKE ME,” I yelled out as I held on for dear life. I came hard, screaming my release to the wilderness, then came once more before he stopped. He pulled me off him, setting me on my feet and turning me around.
“Hold on to the rock,” he said.
I bent over, finding the surface below the water just before his big cock slammed into me from behind. I moaned in pleasure as he pounded into me, pushing me into an even stronger release. I could feel him building to his own, and that’s when I realized the problem.
We were unprotected.
“Wait,” I said, making him stop. I turned around, sinking to my knees. “Let me finish you this way.”
I took his throbbing member into my mouth, tasting my juices and the creek water. He was close to the edge, and I knew just how to push him over. I used a hand to start jacking his shaft at the base while I moved the tip around in my mouth. I could feel him tense, and his balls pulled up, and his cock swelled, a moment before the explosion came.
“YES,” he yelled as I took him deep into my throat, letting the pulses of his hot cum go right to my stomach. When I released him, he fell backward into the cold water. I licked my lips and watched as he floated on his back; this man was MINE, and I loved him.
I did have to be more careful about birth control, though. My human side wanted to wait until things settled down, while my wolf wanted it all now. Having a pup was the natural result of finding your mate, and her instincts drove her to get pregnant. It was for that reason that we hadn’t made love in wolf form yet, as I wasn’t on birth control, and you couldn’t put a condom on with your paws. If he had mounted me on our run, we’d be on the train to Pupsville before his knot disengaged.
I didn’t worry about that now, but I resolved to talk to Mom about other options. We relaxed for a few minutes in the water, letting our bodies recover.
“Alphas, lunch will be served soon,” Fiona sent to us.
“We’re coming, thank you,” Nicholas replied.
“We just did,” I laughed as I stood up.
My stomach growled, making him laugh too. “Let’s feed you before you waste away to nothing.” I could feel his eyes on me as I walked out. I wasn’t shy about my body; I was a swimsuit model, so I was used to people looking at me with lust in their eyes. This look was different; I could feel his emotions as we shook off the water. He couldn’t believe how blessed he was by our mating, and I felt the same. I wanted him all the time, and circumstances didn’t allow it. He could feel my regret at getting out. “Make the most of the time together, because that’s all we can do until we’re never apart.”
I had to agree. My modeling contract had been my big break, and I loved my work, but I hated that it would be taking me away from Nicholas and the home we’d build. We shifted and ran back to where our clothes were, getting back to the house right as the line was opening. The barbies were going, and thin steaks were coming off. “Line up and eat,” Fiona called out as she set buns and cut vegetables out.
Lunch was steak sandwiches, mine topped with mushrooms and ground horseradish, along with chips and dipping veggies. We took our food over to one of the outside tables, and I watched as the rest of the Pack lined up. Most of the jockeying for position was over, so it went smoothly. I could see everyone glancing towards the hot tub, where three people were in the grip of the fevers. Olivia and Leo were over there, and they would need to eat. I finished my food, washed up, and went to relieve them. “Go eat. Fiona can’t eat until you do,” I said.
“We’re charting their temperatures, next set is due in ten minutes,” Olivia said as she pointed to the infrared thermometer and clipboard. I looked as they walked over to the food line, and no one above a hundred and two yet. It would get a lot worse.
Nicholas and I stayed with the three for the rest of the night. There wasn’t the same sense of dread in the Pack as when Margaret was changing. Now, they knew it could be different than a painful death.
Hammer was the first to make it through, and his wolf was heavily muscled, with fur a mix of black, white, and sand. His dominance level was below ours, but not by much. He was a dominant Beta, perhaps as strong as a non-mantled Alpha blood, and a good match in power to Susan. The pair was easily strong enough to lead a Pack if they chose.
We had to revive Louise once after her heart stopped, but both of them made it through the change. Their wolves were a little below average size, fitting for their Omega level of dominance. Their husbands quickly claimed them as their own, taking them to a bedroom to rest.
We only had five hours of sleep before we had to get up to go to the airport. Nicholas was going with me to Perth, but then he would return to Port Lincoln to help with the tuna farming. We said our goodbyes, as the families were returning that day to their homes. I had contact information for everyone now, and I promised to keep in touch.