***
“All set?” Philip asked as he got to the group of men waiting at the edge of the woods.
“All’s set, Alpha,” Stan responded as he pulled off his t-shirt. “The pup-watchers are with the pups in the recreational room.”
The pup-watchers were the sitters of the pack who kept watch over the pups whenever the others had to go for runs, hunts, or battles. Anyone who had not attained the age of fifteen and therefore hadn’t had their first shift yet was classified as a pup. One would be a fool to think that pup-watchers were weak and soft. On the contrary, they could be the most vicious members of the pack if anyone messed with the pups.
“Great. All sentinels at post?” Philip asked.
“Sure.”
“Give the signal for the hunters to…” Philip paused, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Sweet, he thought as he opened his eyes and focused on the person giving off that delicious scent. His mate. “Give them the signal to start moving out.” Philip completed giving the instructions with his eyes on Troy who was walking towards him with Gloria.
“Pete, you take the west. George, you have the east.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Pete and George responded in unison. “Troy, you good?” Pete asked Troy as the other men took turns greeting Gloria.
“I’m good Pete, thanks. Hey, George.”
“Hiya, T. Sup?”
“I’m good.” Troy grinned. A grin that disappeared to be replaced with sheer desire as soon as his eyes met Philip’s.
Troy had to stifle his groan of frustration as he began to move towards Philip. He knew the guy was his mate and all but…did he really have to feel for that kind of sexual closeness anytime he was around Philip? His body clamored for Philip’s touch, yearned and ached for things that he’d never felt for in his life before seeing Philip. It scared the shit out of him.
The night before, he hadn’t gone soft even once during Philip’s visit. It had been hell. And he was even more surprised that in spite of the fact that they were in the midst of people at that very moment, he was actually getting a boner. He blamed that sexy swag that Philip had…always oozing so much confidence, pizzazz, and sexual magnetism which never failed to make him lightheaded with lust.
And that special look Philip gave him whenever he thought he wasn’t watching…with eyes filled with such possessiveness, hunger, and warmth… It always left him weak. To think he’d been brought up to see same-sex relations as unacceptable, Troy thought. He wondered what the warlocks would say if they saw him now, with no control over his body whenever Philip was around… Well, he was never going to find out, thanks to his massacring pack.
“Hey,” Philip said in his low sexy voice, drawing a tiny moan out of Troy.
“Hi,” Troy said softly, blushing a brilliant red. “Stop staring.” He muttered, breaking eye contact with Philip.
“You look good.” Philip husked, taking in Troy’s sexy pullover hoodie, Capri jogger pants that looked so good on him, and ankle-high trainers.
“I’m in ordinary joggers and hoodie,” Troy mumbled as he shuffled a foot in the sand. “When you look at me like that…” He stopped talking but Philip had a good idea how his mate was feeling that very moment.
“How about trying to think pure thoughts?” Philip murmured.
“Shit…” Troy groaned, his gaze moving back to Philip’s. “You sneaky asshole. I thought I told you to get out of my…”
“I’m not in your head, Troy.” Philip chuckled. When Troy had learnt that he could read his thoughts, he’d angrily called him every nasty name he knew and demanded he got out of his head, which Philip had done without protest. “I don’t need to be linked to you to know that you want me. I can smell it on you.” Philip said huskily as his heated gaze slowly shifted from Troy’s eyes to his lips. He wanted to taste those luscious lips so bad.
A low moan tore out of Troy as he unconsciously took a step closer to Philip. “You’re not helping.” He whispered shakily. “Philip, don’t…” He groaned when Philip reached out and placed a hand on his hip. Troy shuddered at the delicious feeling that slithered down his spine.
“You make me so damn hot,” Philip murmured, the heat in his eyes intensifying. He was so close to boycotting the run and taking his mate back to his suite to smash the fuck out of that sweet arse. But as alpha, he had to run with the pack so… Philip let out a low growl as he combed his fingers through his hair in frustration. “You need to control yourself otherwise I won’t be responsible for what happens.”
“But I don’t know how to…” Troy groaned. “I’m sure you’ve made someone cast a spell on me or something. ‘Cause this is too much.”
Philip watched Troy for a moment, silently agreeing with his mate. It was too much, he thought. He wanted Troy. And he wasn’t surprised at how fiercely he wanted the boy. After all, he was his mate. What surprised him, however, was the intensity of lust that he felt from Troy all the time. It blew his mind sometimes. The only logical conclusion Philip could come to was that his mate was highly sexed.
“You’re a piece of work.” Philip shook his head in bemusement as he drew Troy’s pullover down to cover the blatant bulge in his jogger pants. He knew his mate would be mortified to notice that he actually had a dick-print as a result of his erection. He wasn’t used to the werewolf’s legendary indifference to nudity, and pride in the blatant display of arousal. “Don’t move,” Philip instructed as he moved to where Gloria stood, talking to the men. “Hello, Mama G.” He gave the elder a warm hug. “Are we good?” Philip murmured.
“Yes, we’re good.” Gloria gazed up at Philip with eyes filled with mirth. “What you did…coming over to the house at that time to see to Travis…Impressive.” She said under her breath. “When are you going to start training him?”
“I honestly haven’t thought of that, Mama G.” Philip sighed. “I just want to get the pending explosion with the council out of the way first and complete the entire mating ritual. I’ll train him after.”
“Why push his training to the end?” Gloria frowned. “You know that to complete the mating ceremony, Trav would have to fight someone.”
“Shit, I forgot.” Philip groaned.
As part of the mating ceremony for an alpha and his mate, the mate was expected to pick any warrior of their choice to fight. They could even pick the alpha himself. After the fight…in which the mate was usually allowed to win, the alpha would declare his mate the winner and then present him or her to the High Priestess for blessings from Luna.
“Well, although that fight is just a formality, I wouldn’t want my son to look weak in front of everyone,” Gloria said sternly. “He needs to be trained before the ceremony, Philip.”