“You saw the changing ceremony, Maryellen. Now we will greet our new pack members. I think it would be very acceptable if you went upstairs and joined my pack now. You can all meet after you have changed.””That sounds like a wonderful idea, Madam,” Dominick said grinning broadly. He scooped Maryellen up and slung her over his shoulder. She giggled and struggled slightly and her glasses slipped off her nose.”I need those,” she said reaching down. “I can’t see without them.””You won’t need them again,” Dominick told her, but he still took them when I handed them to him.”Why?” I heard her ask as Dominick strode purposefully away. I knew why. The change would heal her eyes. She would not need glasses anymore. Changing had wonderful benefits. I walked with Joel into the circle to check on everyone. My ears picked up the steady light breathing of the unconscious women. I moved to each of them and they were all fine, just knocked out temporarily by the change. Dia started to come around first. She turned her head to look at Will questioningly and he took her lips in a deep kiss.”She is there,” Will said in awe finally releasing his mate. The other girls slowly came to after Dia. April woke next stretching like a cat, despite the pole lodged between her thighs. June woke up last. She winced moving her leg and I was concerned.”Where does it hurt?” I asked her, touching over her previously injured leg.”My thigh, Madam,” she said pointing, “it’s not the break. I think it’s just a cramp.”Lucas reached down with his big hands and started to massage the area she had gestured to. Once the area loosened he sat her up like the other girls. All three sat facing out with their legs spread over their mates. The men whispered soothing words in their women’s ears. All except Will, who kept telling his mate to stop twisting on his lap.’Mate,’ Joel sent into my mind, ‘we must greet Dia first and then the other two girls. Once we are done, the pack will go, but not before.’I shifted the form of the wolf and approached Dia. She was being held with an arm across her chest by Will. I approached and my tongue flicked out to taste her intimately. She squirmed under my tongue and moaned. The wolf was there, Will had been right. It was the strangest thing to realize her scent had changed subtly, so I took a second taste. My tongue ran firmly over them this time and brushed her clit at the end. Dia visibly rippled around Will’s shaft and it was his turn to groan. Joel nudged me out of the way and took a taste. He was perfunctory about it, but Dia didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes were closed and her head was back on Will’s shoulder. She was in either heaven or hell. Joel and I moved to taste June and April. Both girls squirmed under our caress, but neither had the intense reaction Dia had had. I could scent the new wolf in each of them, too. Joel and I moved away from the altars to watch from the side as the pack greeted the new wolves. I stretched and shifted back to a human form, but Joel didn’t. Sitting in the grass just outside the circle, I watched the pack. The big black wolf was in my face and I tried to look around him. Joel just pushed in between my knees and stood facing me.”Do you want some attention, big boy?” I crooned stroking his head and neck. I knew he wanted me. We just couldn’t get stuck together before we greeted our newest pack members. Joel barked and licked my neck in response to the question.”Do you want to play?” I asked him scratching his ears. Joel walked forward and drug his tongue over my nipple. I knew what he wanted, but I couldn’t resist teasing him some.”Do you want to play fetch?” I asked continuing to ruffle his fur. “Do ya’, big boy?”‘Did you just ask me if I wanted to play fetch?’ Joel sent incredulously into my mind. Having realized that annoyed him. I kept it up.”Dat’s a good boy,” I said stroking his ears and grinning. “We’ll go get a nice stick for you to play with in the woods.”‘No, I’d rather not play fetch,’ Joel said sounding truly irritated.”Come on,” I said jumping up, “let’s go find a nice big stick for you to play with.”The wolf lunged at me and I side stepped. I started to run and he was on top of me. Honestly, I was laughing too hard to put up much of a fight. I fell to my knees and the wolf pushed me until I lay on my stomach.”Do you want a chew toy instead?” I managed to sputter out as the wolf’s jaws closed lightly around my neck. Low growling got my attention and I thought it was funnier than before. Joel was so irritated and I was not responding like he thought I should at all.”I’m not a chew toy, big boy. Has nobody ever played with you? How sad,” I giggled into the grass. Joel’s human hands flipped me and I continued to laugh until tears came out of my eyes.”How about I give you a chew toy instead?” Joel asked grabbing the back of my head. I wanted to continue to laugh but Joel’s mouth pressed hard against mine. He pushed his tongue between my lips and examined my teeth before withdrawing. As he kissed me the humor had faded and raw desire started to take it’s place. Raking my nails down his back and wrapping my legs around him, I hoped he’d get the message.”Finally,” he muttered against my mouth, “I wondered if you would ever stop being annoying.””I was having fun,” I panted placing kisses along his jaw. My hand went down to wrap around the thick shaft between us. Joel groaned low in his chest as I stroked him.”That a big enough stick for you, love? I have an idea, go fetch,” he told me eyes twinkling. I pushed my mate onto his back and flipped my body so I straddled his face.”Fetch like this?” I asked nipping and licking him tip to base. “Or like this?” I asked taking him deeply into my throat.”Like that, love, just like that,” Joel roughly said as his fingers separated my wet folds. He used his tongue to tease the entrance to my womanhood and I dropped my hips down over him. He lapped and tasted the sticky fluids and then wrapped his lips around my clit. I moaned and sighed, slurping messily along his length. Enough, I wanted my mate inside of me, now. I felt the wash as the wolf pushed into my mind, demanding satisfaction. For some reason, she didn’t surface, though. She just rolled under my skin making me feel like I was prickling with the change.”No,” Joel said sounding muffled as he pinched the inside of my thigh. He sent the rest of his thought into my confused and passion laden mind. ‘The wolf can’t come out tonight. In honor of the women that took the wolves on the alter, no female shifts tonight. If it was male up there, the same would go for me.’ I rolled off my mate and sat panting in the grass. His taste was on my tongue and my body was on fire. My legs were sprawled all askew and I had no desire to close them; I wanted him between them.”I need you, now,” I said simply gazing at him laying propped up on his elbows. Joel rose slowly off the grass and came toward me. As I watched his muzzle grew and those ferocious teeth pushed down into his mouth. Within a moment the wolf stood in front of me, much like he had when I originally sat down. It struck me suddenly, this is what he had been trying to get me to do then.”You could have just told me,” I huffed turning around and getting to my hands and knees. The wolf was on me in an instant. The thick head of his cock probed my soft folds for only a moment before it was thrust home. I scrambled to keep my balance. His teeth closed lightly around his first mark, my mating bite, and he started to pump.’I want you,’ he sent to me, ‘I always want you, never forget that.’Pushing against a giant wolf, I had very little leverage. In this position, in this form I just took whatever Joel offered. When he pushed his knot home, I had screamed at the intense fullness of it. The wolf above me slowed his motion and licked my back. I felt a nuzzle at my ear as Joel’s voice crept into my mind.’Am I hurting you, mate?’ he asked.”No,” I answered him, “it’s just so much like this. I’d forgotten,” I told him.’I’ll go slower,’ he promised trying to control the wolf’s need.”Hardly,” I grunted pushing against him, “faster and harder, I want all of you.”The wolf took the invitation seriously and all talking was done. All around us the mated were doing what we were doing. From the middle of the circle I heard Dia, the wolf was over her on the altar. The other girls were panting and sweating at the intense overstimulation of the changing. It was a madhouse under the full moon. The air in the clearing was thick with the sounds of pleasure and the smell of arousal. Caught up in the intense moment my body clamped down on Joel. I cried out my completion and the wolf followed me rapidly. I lay panting in the grass with Joel when we were done. My eyes were drawn to the tree line. Movement in the bushes got my attention, but it was just a young couple playing chase around the circle.”There are warriors out there patrolling,” Joel whispered and kissed my ear. “The pack is safe. You can relax.””There are other things out there, though, besides us,” I said continuing to watch the edge of the forest.”Yes,” Joel told me, “and the warriors know to look out for all of them.””I don’t know,” I said softly. The fear curled in my belly. Rick had been right. Every nightmare fantasy I’d ever had could be lurking in those woods. I didn’t know what was real anymore. Joel wrapped me snuggly in his arms and rubbed his lips along my shoulder.”I will teach you,” he said, “and you will help teach the young women that are becoming family tonight.””There’s so much to tell them, so much I’m sure I don’t know,” I said staring off into the distance. Joel placed his hand on my cheek and forced me to look toward him. Soon I was staring into his gentle blue grey eyes. He leaned forward and I breathed him in.”You will learn, my love, but not tonight. This night is about celebration of beginnings within the family,”Joel said softly. So we lay outside the circle in the soft grass as the pack met and celebrated new life. There would be challenges and loss, but we didn’t worry about that right now. For tonight I rested beside my mate, bound to him in body and in spirit. THE END