Was this why they had started fighting?
Two hot men willing to fight to the death over you? Again, one of those things that was a lot different in reality from imagination.
Although, she’d responded.
Cass carefully let those thoughts in, lest they heat her up and consume her mind again. She’d thrust herself between the two Alphas and then… well… between her legs had started throbbing. She could still feel it, an uncomfortable dampness that had nothing to do with being soaked in mud.
Care to explain that?
she questioned herself silently.
They’re hot. It was the moment. They were fighting. It was the stress and the tiredness and the moment and I got overwhelmed.
Echoing behind all that in letters that could reach to the sky:
THEY’RE WEREWOLVES!
Cass spent the next half hour bouncing that thought around before, unexpectedly, the drowse she had going pulled her under into sleep.
*
Cass awoke, her face and mouth full of fur and blinked in the strong sunlight glaring down on her. Although it was Fall, the season was still throwing up some Summer days it must have stored up. What was a cold morning had turned into a hot afternoon.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes, feeling she could sleep forever. Although Nia was soft and padded with fur, her butt was numb and she could feel the stretch in her legs from sitting astride her.
They were descending into a valley, Nia following a winding rocky path. It looked spectacular. Trees dressed in shades of red and yellow set off against dark green and brown. Even the rocks looked polished and beautiful. Cass saw something metallic shimmer in the trees. Something human and out of place in this garden of Eden.
As they descended, Cass felt her serenity wash away and anxiety start to replace it. Shapes were moving amongst the trees. Humans and wolves. As she watched, a naked female emerged from some hidden entrance and shifted into a wolf before disappearing into the forest. Two more followed her.
Cass knew a pack could be as little as an Alpha and two to three females and as many as fifty to seventy. They rarely got any larger than that, there being some natural limit. Some were one Alpha and all female and others would have a mixture of beta males and females. This one looked all female. She’d already counted at least ten werewolves and the idea she might soon be surrounded by possibly fifty of them turned her insides to ice.
She looked around, hoping to see Edon but couldn’t find him. Already down near the den, werewolves were gathering, looking up the hill at her. There was no way she was riding a werewolf down the hill into
that
.
“Um, Nia… can we stop? I need to get off.”
Nia halted and knelt down so Cass could dismount. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Nia shifted and Cass found herself touching not fur, but skin
.
Cass turned, taking in the beauty before her. Nia had long brunette hair and green eyes. Her nose was dusted with freckles and her skin was tinged with caramel. She was completely naked of course and had the kind of sleek body only good genetics could provide. Before Cass could say a word, Nia flung her arms around her in a hug that toppled both of them to the ground.
“I am so happy you’re here!”
Nia kissed her on the cheek and pulled Cass close to her, oblivious to the fact they were laying in the dirt. Cass couldn’t help but smile, although the experience of being tackled by a girl with the body of a Greek goddess was an unusual one.
“Help her up Nia.”
Cass and Nia turned to see Edon standing on a rock looking down at them with a glimmer of a smile.
“I like her a lot. We’re going to be friends,” Nia said to Edon as she leapt up and then pulled Cass off the ground with no effort. Although Nia in human form was slightly shorter than Cass, she was far stronger.
“Could you take her backpack to the den please?”
“Right away!”
Nia leapt away from Cass, picked up her backpack and jumped down the hillside, shifting as she went. When she landed, she had it between her teeth. Cass smiled at the easy command Edon had as Alpha and how Nia wanted so much to please him.
With Nia running down the hill, Cass could now concentrate on the Alpha. Despite him being less intimidating than Rey, she still felt small and uncertain. He’d asked her if she knew what coming to the den meant and she’d said yes but now she was on the cusp of it, she wasn’t so sure.
Her reasoning had been a long string of
perhaps
.
Perhaps I can meet the Alpha, perhaps we like each other, perhaps he courts me, perhaps it leads somewhere, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…
With the den so close and werewolves milling around, staring at her, she realized she’d soon be flung into the midst of them and she didn’t know what happened next. Could she still leave? Would there be werewolves in the pack who didn’t like her?
Although humans and werewolves had been mating for centuries, there was very little written about internal pack dynamics. The women who mated with the Alphas tended to keep their own counsel and not go off seeking book deals. A lot of what she’d read was guessing masquerading as truth.
As if he could read her mind and sense her uncertainty, Edon jumped down off the rock and approached her. He held out his hand and she put her hand in his, feeling the heat of his skin, the roughness of his palm.
“You may leave if you wish. Say it and I will send a wolf to escort you back to Hinton.”
Cass felt fear and desire battling within her. It wasn’t just sexual desire, although there were hints of that rising up, produced by the nearness of Edon. It was the desire to be wild. The desire to leap from the high place. The desire to jump and figure out how to fly on the way down.
“I don’t want to leave yet,” Cass said and then regretted appending
yet
to her reply. She was feeling scared and confused and her anxiety levels were peaking up at about a million but under all that was the whisper of serenity from the past. The feeling of
rightness
. Cass knew if she left now, she’d regret it the rest of her life.
“Come,” Edon said and led the way to the den.
They walked in silence down the path, Cass being especially careful to avoid any rocks that might trip her up. She wasn’t quite sure how introductions went in werewolf packs but tumbling down the hill and landing on your butt probably wasn’t a good way to start. Concentrating on the trip down was made all the more difficult by the Alpha. Even in a loose-fitting shirt, she could see the broadness of his shoulders. The sunlight caught the color of his hair, seeming to set it ablaze. He was barefoot, moving with grace down the path and her thoughts kept bouncing between how well he must dance and how good he must be in bed.
Cass squelched those thoughts as they approached the den. It would be no good to be flushed and turned on when she first met the pack. Oh god, could they smell that?
She didn’t get to finish that thought.
There were at least twenty werewolves gathered, some in human form and others in wolf and every one of them was staring at her. Before anyone could speak, there was a low growl from the tree line and Rey emerged, padding toward them.
The calmness Edon had given her vanished in an instant. She felt like she was back on that creek bank again, moments from death.
*
Being Alpha with Rey had never been an easy task for Edon but over the last few months it had become almost impossible. They still had to hunt and defend their territory and Rey was good at that but now they were in new phase where diplomacy did more than killing everyone and claiming their females.
Rey seemed to take special pleasure in defying Edon and him stalking out of the trees growling was just another example in a long line of the fracture that had grown between them.
But Edon knew how to stir Rey up too. He ignored him.
“This is Cass Green. She will be staying here and is under the protection of our pack.”
Many of the werewolves smiled, especially those who favored Edon as Alpha. He saw Vara flicker an eyebrow at him. She would have much to say to him the moment she could get him alone. He ignored her too.
“Say hello to her.”
The pack moved in, Nia bounding in first to hug Cass again. No one would ever get in Rey’s path but nevertheless they surrounded Cass and Edon saw with satisfaction he stopped and sat down to watch rather than barge through them.
Edon knew Rey hadn’t agreed to his proposal. He knew Cass also had no idea about it either. But he was proceeding with the plan anyway. She would stay in the den for a few nights and this would give Rey time to calm down and think rationally. He would realize allowing Cass to choose was the wisest course.
In the back of his mind Edon knew Cass might decide to return to Hinton but he thought there was a slim chance of that. He’d smelt her fear, her uncertainty but underneath that he’d caught the scent of her arousal and desire. He thought she wanted to be Pack Mate, even if she never said it aloud.
The only challenge now was to ensure she chose him and not Rey.
*
The werewolves gathered around her, touching her and saying their names and Cass almost burst out laughing at the strangeness of it all. Rey had sat to watch them and suddenly she was surrounded by naked girls. It was the biggest, warmest and nakediest group hug ever.
After a moment, an older female with golden hair shooed everyone away and instructed Nia to take Cass to her room. Nia leapt for joy and grabbed Cass’ hand, pulling her through an opening carved into a limestone wall.
Inside it was so dark Cass could barely see anything. She clutched Nia’s hand as she was pulled down the passageway and then let out a noise as her foot collided with a rough wall.
“Oh, sorry! You can’t see can you? It turns here.”
Nia slowed, maneuvering Cass around a bend that seemed a right angle. Around the bend it was lighter and they headed toward a bright opening. They emerged in a large cavern lit from carved holes in the rock ceiling. It was a natural amphitheatre and as the werewolves followed them in, Cass saw it was perfect for them. There were shelves and ledges spread around the area where they could sit and rest and three fire-pits, one still smoldering with coals, giving off a dull warmth. On the far side of the cavern were three tunnels that led off further into the mountain.
Nia pulled Cass across the room, barely giving her time to take it in. She saw a few wolves collapse on the ledges and immediately fall asleep. They must have woken up just to greet her.
They entered the middle tunnel, this one much lighter and wound their way along it. At various points the tunnel split off and Cass knew she’d be hopelessly lost if she tried to navigate them on her own.
Soon they arrived at a doorway covered with stitched animal pelts. Nia pushed them aside and pulled Cass in with her.
A bed sat against the back wall. It was covered in pillows, blankets and furry animal pelts, including a large sheepskin. Cass let go of Nia’s hand and walked over to touch it.
“Wow, this is beautiful,” Cass said, running her hand through the white wool.
“Yes, that werewolf displeased our Alpha but he does make a good rug.”
Cass turned around to see Nia looking at her, unable to keep a straight face.
“I will get you some food,” Nia said and vanished out the doorway.
Cass shook her head, smiling, and walked over to a window that was covered by a curtain of stitched pelts. She pushed it aside and saw the room was fairly high above the valley. In the dark tunnel, she felt they were walking up a gentle slope but she hadn’t expected this.
Next to the window was a shelf carved into the wall. Four delicate water glasses inlaid with gold sat on it. She picked one up and turned it in her hands, admiring the beauty of it. So fragile and something she certainly didn’t expect to find in a werewolf den.
Behind her she heard the door pelt move and she turned, expecting to see Nia.
“That was quick-”
The black werewolf filled the doorway.
*
Leaving Cass in Nia’s care, Edon walked to his room, Vara following close behind him. He pushed open the stitched pelts and then held them aside so she could enter.
“So, you two went out and found a Pack Mate? Was that planned?”
“Why, it is good to see you too Vara. I am doing very well myself,” Edon answered, a smile playing on his lips.
He looked up at the golden-haired werewolf standing there with her hands on her hips and nearly burst out laughing. She was older than both he and Rey and had in fact been part of Rey’s father’s pack before it had burst apart at the seams. Shortly after starting the Arctos pack, they had gathered the remnants of that destroyed pack and Vara had been one of the first females to join them. She was one of Edon’s most trusted advisors and although he was her Alpha, she spoke to him bluntly and without fear.
“Yes, yes, good to see you. What happened Edon?” Vara waved her hands at him and then crossed her arms under her breasts.
Edon hadn’t told anyone about the girl he and Rey had rescued and the strange feelings she’d ignited in both of them. So he started at the beginning, a decade ago and coming upon Carcer of the Turo pack, about to kill a human drinking water from the creek. He told her about the fight and the rescue - and then the thirty miles they had trekked, following her scent but how it came to nothing.