An intoxicating aroma of Jasmine and lavender with a hint of vanilla is enveloping Atlas. Nuzzling the soft silky skin that smells so divine, he burrows his head further into the crook of a delicate neck. Somewhere in-between a state of dreaming and awareness, his wolf urges him to take a leisurely lick of the creamy skin he's sniffing, hmmm tastes so good. Hands begin to roam on their own accord, a soft cupping of a voluptuous breast, moving down further to smooth across a swollen belly, loving the feel of the soft curves, he slowly caresses the round baby bump. Baby bump??! What the fuck??! Atlas stiffens, opening his eyes, he is fully pressed up against Rose, sniffing her neck like a drug addict and caressing her belly. His hard member is pressed into her soft round bottom. Horrified, he slowly and carefully peels himself away, extricating himself from the sleeping female. She was assaulted only days ago, and here he is groping her like a horny teen-wolf. As quietly as possible he moves off the bed. Sensing the subtle shift of the mattress, the she-wolf whimpers, rolling over toward the loss of heat and burrows. Halting his movements, he waits until Rose begins breathing deeply again, sleep once again taking hold. He tip-toes down the staircase and returns to the couch, where he should have slept last night, why was he sleeping in Rose's bed?
Rubbing his hands up and down against the back of his shaven head, a nervous tick he had developed, memories of last night come flooding back. He had woken in the middle of the night to the sounds of Rose screaming. Rushing up the stairs to her loft, he found her thrashing about in the bed screaming and crying.
"No stop! Stop! My baby, you're killing my baby!" Rose screamed. Her claws had involuntarily lengthened, and she had scratched up one of the pillows. Atlas was scared she would hurt herself. Climbing onto the bed, he grabbed her wrists, so she couldn't scratch herself. She immediately started fighting back, screaming "Get off me! Get off me!".
"Rose, it's me Atlas. Wake up, you're having a nightmare". Rose jolted awake, tears streaming down her face, hair sticking to her sweat soaked forehead. With wide fearful eyes, she stared at Atlas.
"They were on top of me, they were killing the baby!" Rose began shaking and shuddering. Atlas manoeuvred himself, so he was positioned behind her, crossing her arms across her chest and hugging her tightly from behind. Gently rocking her with his body, he whispered in her ear.
"You're safe, and the baby is sleeping snug in your womb. Uncle Bob is sound asleep in his bed. Jin is sleeping in the cot we set up in Bob's room, watching over him. I'm here, watching over all of us. I promise you; I will not let anything happen to anyone under this roof. No wolf will ever touch you that way again". Atlas continued to rock her, while whispering soothing words, until he felt her muscles relax and her body become soft in his arms. When he sensed her drifting back to sleep, he began loosening his grip on her to untangle himself. She jolted awake again.
"Don't go! Please don't go!" whimpering and clinging to Atlas's loosening arms "please just hold me a little longer" she pleaded.
"Ok, ok...shush...it's ok, I'll stay until you fall asleep" he soothed, gently rolling her onto her side, so she faced away from him, he snuggled in behind her and threw a protective arm around her chest. He would just lay with her until she falls asleep, then go back downstairs. As Rose slept, Atlas couldn't help but begin to relax too, he was so exhausted from all that had happened over the last few days. The queen-sized bed was so much more comfortable than the old couch he had been sleeping on. He decided to close his eyes, just for five minutes, then he would get up and go back downstairs. Falling into a deep sleep, he'd slept better than he had in the last five months, waking up to sporting the biggest hard on he'd had in five months. Luckily, he came to his senses when he did, goddess knows what would have happened if his wolf took hold.
His wolf? His wolf had taken the death of their mate the hardest. Afterall, they had mated in fur form, so the bond had begun between the wolves. More and more his wolf had been pressing Atlas to stay in the wild and retreat from the pack. But now? It was his wolf that urged Atlas to speak up when Rose had refused Alpha Knox's command, demanding they stay and protect her and the pup. His wolf was clearly interested in the female, and more concerning his wolf was acting like the pup belongs to them. Atlas decides to let his wolf out for a run, maybe that would calm his inner beast. Walking outside, the sun isn't up yet, the first rays lighting the tops of the pine trees. Shedding his clothing, he crouches low and let's the shift take over. Instead of running off into the woods, the grey wolf insists on circling the cabin, he can still detect the odour of the rogues they killed. He cocks his leg, urinating on any area he feels he needs to mark. This is his territory, and he wants all that venture near to know it. Bounding off into the woods, he's keen to hunt, he wants to present a fresh kill to the pregnant female.
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Waking to the scent of pine and spice, Lily inhales deeply, she recognises Atlas's scent. Sitting up and stretching out her arms, Lily feels oddly well rested. She remembers having an awful nightmare during the night, and then Atlas laying with her until she fell asleep. Falling into a deep sleep after that, making her feel much better this morning. Wrapping herself in a shawl and slipping on her ugg boots, Lily makes her way downstairs into the kitchen. Jin is in the kitchen cooking breakfast, the smell of bacon, eggs and hash browns hits her, and her stomach growls loudly in response. In the last few days she's hardly eaten, having no appetite after her ordeal. But after her sleep, she's famished now. Jin looks at her with an appraising eye.
"You need to eat more, it's not good for pregnant females to be hungry. Go sit, I'll bring the food" Jin instructs her. Lily sets the table for three people, and then helps Jin bring over the breakfast dishes. Noticing the empty table setting she asks "where is Atlas?"
"I saw his wolf run towards the woods, don't expect him back soon" Jin replies as he heaps plenty of food onto Lily's plate.
"Oh?" Lily forks some of the scrambled eggs into her mouth and moans. It tastes so good.
"He likes to spend time in wolf form" Jin explains. Before Lily can probe Jin further, their sensitive wolf hearing picks up the sounds of grunting coming from Bob's room, he must be awake. Lily stands up to go attend to her uncle.
"No you sit, finish your breakfast, I'll look after him. You spend too much time caring for Uncle. Look after the baby now. Visit uncle later" Jin instructs. Lily smiles at Jin calling Bob "uncle". She noticed that Redwood pack members were referring to Bob as "Old Bob", but now Atlas and Jin were beginning to call him "Uncle Bob", and Jin seems to just defer to him as "Uncle". She guessed that was her influence.
After inhaling her breakfast, Lily had the urge to bathe in the hot tub. Uncle Bob had constructed a round cedar hot tub, heated by wood fire, at the edge of the lake. She understood, from her nightmare last night, that she was extremely traumatised over the assault. Rubbing her hand over her baby bump, she didn't want her pregnancy to be marred by this horrible experience. Deciding to bathe and cleanse not only her body, but her soul, hoping to rid herself of her trauma. Not only for herself, but for her baby, she wants to try and make her pregnancy a positive experience. She'd had enough sadness to date, she didn't want anymore.
Collecting up her bathing bag, she heads to the lake, where the hot tub is situated. Uncle Bob has rigged up an old hand pitcher pump, to draw water from the lake to fill the tub. Lily pumps the hand crank up and down, filling the tub with water, and lights the fire on the connected wood burner to heat the water. The round cedar tub is not huge, but it could easily fit three people, more than enough room for Lily to stretch out and soak her tired muscles. She mixes in some hand made lavender oil into the water, so it will smell nice and help her relax. Shedding her robe, she climbs the wooden steps and lowers herself into the warm water. She groans, it feels so good. Only now realising how truly tense she was, as her muscles slowly relax in the soaking warm water.
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Clutching the large hare in his mouth, the grey wolf trots back towards the cabin. His wolf is proud he has managed to secure a meal for the female, proving he can provide for her and the pup. As he nears the lakefront, he catches her scent, he turns and heads toward the direction of the aroma. As the cedar hot tub comes into view, he can see the female lying back in the water, her beautiful full breasts and swollen belly bobbing up and down on the waterline. He drops the hare and growls, what is she doing out here alone and unprotected? Without thinking, Atlas shifts back, and stomps up the wooden steps, jumping into the hot tub with Rose. Rose startles, straightening up, and then quickly lowering herself in the water, so only her head is visible.
"Atlas what are you doing?" She asks, as she folds her arms over her chest, trying to hide her nudity.
"Why are you out here alone? It's not safe to go wandering by yourself, you should have waited for me!" he growls out.
"I wanted to bathe, and you weren't around to ask. You skipped breakfast. Jin told me not to expect you back anytime soon, as you prefer being in wolf form".
Atlas is surprised at Jin's comment. Is that what the pack thinks, that he prefers staying as a wolf? Realising it has been true this last five months, he had been remaining in fur form for days on end, and he had been sorely tempted to go into the wild permanently. Looking at Rose, he notices the angry bruising around her neck, where Stan strangled her. It was red and swollen before, but now it has turned a deep angry purple. A growl rips from his throat, he wishes he could dig up the rogue scumbags and kill them all over again.
"You're hurt. Come here Rose, let me have a look at you. I want to see all your injuries" noticing the she-wolf hesitating he continues "don't worry I'm a professional". Rose laughs at him.
"A professional what? You're not a doctor?" she has a cute little smile on her face, that makes his heart ache. How he wants to see her smile more.
"I'm just a professional, I won't hurt you, come here" he coaxes her to him. Gently gripping her jawline, he tilts her head back so he can see all the bruising. He lets go of her jaw, and runs his fingers through her hair, feeling her scalp. He finds the large bump to the side of her head, where she was smashed into the ground. He presses it gently and she hisses. Turning her around, so she's facing away from him, he gently brushes her hair over her shoulder, he can see more bruises and some nasty gashes on her back.
"That's why I wanted to bathe, my body is sore, and the hot water feels so good. I also wanted to rid myself of..." she pauses her sentence. Atlas starts gently massaging her shoulders.
"Rid yourself of what?"
"I just wanted to cleanse myself. Mind, body and soul. I don't want the assault to define me. I want my baby to feel only peace and love, even before he or she is born" a little sob escapes Rose, and Atlas sees her quickly wipe a tear from her eye.
"Hey, I'm sorry I growled at you. Just lean back against me, let me ease the tension" he says as he continues to gently massage her shoulders. Rose leans back against him, and he feels her relaxing as he kneads her sore muscles. She lets out an involuntary moan, which makes his cock twitch, lengthening and pressing against her soft backside. Rose stiffens at the feel of his thickening rod.
She begins pulling away from him and turns to face him.
"Umm...Atlas maybe this isn't such a good idea. I don't want to disrespect your mate. I already feel bad for keeping you from her. In fact, I wanted to know what she would like as a present? I want to make up a thank you hamper and send it back with the next supply run. After all, you said she was the one who sent you to me? Uncle Bob and I owe her a debt of gratitude".
Atlas stills at the mention of his mate, he realises Rose thinks his mate is still alive.
"Rose, my mate passed away. I no longer have a mate. You are not disrespecting her...in fact...this might sound strange...but I think she wanted me to find you".
"How do you mean?"
"The night before I came to you, I had a dream, but it was more like a vision. My mate's wolf guided me here". Atlas didn't want to go into details of the horrific images of his nightmare, Rose didn't need to know that "that's why Jin says I prefer my wolf form. It's true, since the death of my mate, I have been experiencing a kind of depression, and haven't wanted to be part of pack life. More and more I was sleeping in the woods and staying away from the pack. But..I don't feel that way anymore, my wolf...well he feels the need to be around you. He's become very protective of you and your pup". Rose's expression seems to soften at his confession.
"I know what it feels like to lose a mate. I actually went through a similar type depression. I wasn't able to shift, because of my pregnancy, but I also didn't want to interact with anyone. I'm really sorry for your loss Atlas. Here, why don't you let me soothe you, you must also feel tense". Lily scoots around behind Atlas and begins to massage his shoulders the way he was doing with her. Oh goddess this is what heaven feels like, Atlas allows himself to finally relax in the warm soothing water, the smell of lavender mixing with Rose's sweet scent. Her delicate hands shift up to his scalp and she begins massaging his head. Atlas's eyes roll to the back of his head, and his wolf has his tongue hanging out and panting in his mind, he's loving every minute of this.
"I'll wash your scalp" she says, reaching for the shampoo bottle on the wooden ledge, attached to the tub. Squirting some shampoo into her hands, she massages it into his scalp. "Your hair is growing out a bit, I can razor it again for you if you like". Leaning back against Rose, feeling her soft breasts pressed against his back and her hands gently massaging his scalp, Atlas looks across the water and he contemplates letting Rose shave his head. Does he want to shave his head again? Is he still in mourning? The last five months he has run the full gamut of emotions, from anger to despair. Why had the goddess forsaken him? Why had his mate been taken from him, before he even had time to know her? How could he ever feel closure, when he had so many unanswered questions? Looking across the lake at the breath-taking scenery, listening to the sounds of the bird's chirping, he relaxes into the heavenly feel of Lily's hands massaging his scalp and deeply exhales. He feels like he's been holding his breath for the last five months, and can only now finally breathe again. Right now, soaking is this tub with what must be the sweetest female he's ever known, he feels at peace.
"I don't think I'm going to shave my head anymore. It's time to let my hair grow out".
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