THADAL
A wolf laid before me, sprawled on her side. Not just any wolf; my mate. Her fur was a dusted tawny color, with dark markings around her face and a slice of dark on her chest. Her chest rose and fell fast with exertion, body having finally given over to the stress and exhaustion. I ran my hand through her course fur and sighed.
Something still wasn't right. I could smell it on her. Why hadn't they let her shift?
One part of me dwelled on the secrets still festering between us, but the other part took pride on her will. Through the pain of a prolonged shift, she fought until her body couldn't go on. She had strength within her, and plenty of it.
My fingers buried into her fur, brushing over her soft underbelly, the delicate skin in the hollow of her jaw bone, her velvet ears that laid flat against her skull in defeat.
We sat there for a long time, the Sun had begun to drift toward his lover's son; the Sea. I ditched my clothing in a pile by her, not wanting to track down a shed and leave her unprotectef. The shift to my fur side was easy, painless, and quick as it always had been. It was always the shift back to skin that quaked me to the brink of my pain threshold.
Mate finally roused as a raven screeched overhead. I snapped my jaws at it before resting my head back on her shoulder. I couldn't stop taking in her scent, I was unbearably greedy for it. As her eyes blinked lazily open, I nosed her cheek and licked her muzzle. She made a light rumble in her chest, leaning back into me.
A whine escaped her lips as she nuzzled my face before getting up in a deep languid stretch. Her ass raised high into the air, chest to the forest floor. With a big yawn, she raised up and shook out her fur as I bit back the urge to dominate her right there.
Stepping over to her, I nudged her head with my nose, huffing against her cheek. As she turned to me, a bit unstable like a fawn on new legs, I rubbed into her. She toppled over with a yip, tongue lolling out as she wiggled onto her back, absorbing the scent of soil and mineral.
I growled at her gently to still, beginning my thorough process of scent transferring. I didn't want her to smell of anything but me. Climbing over the top of her, I rubbed my chest into her sides, belly, legs. Tongue licking across her face, nipping at her jaw, neck against neck. Growls were rumbling deep within me and I needed to stop soon or else we would be mated whether she wanted that or not.
With much effort, I pulled off of her. Facing my behind to her in an effort to not smell the sweet scent of our arousal that drifted on the air. When she whined and nudged my foot, I snapped at her in frustration.
Suddenly, she was on my back, staggering me sideways. I reared my head to nip at her legs but she pulled away, getting used to her wolf legs. Akesis was a lithe wolf, swiftly darting between my legs and away from my jaws.
Before I could grab her up, she took off running. We chased through the underbrush for hours on end, never tiring, never getting over the thrill of being with someone you love. The taste of salt and her was sharp on my tongue. It lingered long after we touched last.
It was exciting, powerful, and connecting to sprint through my home woods with her.
We didn't need our words to communicate, managing just fine with our actions. It was beautiful.
When the Luna rose high in the sky, she turned to me, hazel eyes finding mine in the soft lunar light.
Can we head back now? Her words echoed in my mind, startling me. I had forgotten about mindlinking, which we could do now because I had marked her. It was a sort of telepathy held between wolves, used for communicating. Typically images were passed back and forth, but words could be sometimes as well.
Pressing my nose into her cheek with a huff, I rubbed myself against her before reluctantly agreeing. I nudged her back towards the packhouse, miles North of our current position. With an easy trot, we headed back towards the hub. I was struck with the want to build out own house, seeing her prance along beside me. I wanted something that was all our own.
Eventually, we came across a clothing shed and began to shift back.
Akesis' low, pained whine turned into a groan as she turned back in slow agony. Her paws slowly peeled back to reveal fingers that clawed into the damp soil.
Fog began to roll into the woods, coiling around her body, concealing us from the calves down.
I remained in my fur until she was fully shifted back, even then I stayed in my fighting form. Waiting for her to control her labored breaths and search the shed.
"I'm okay." She murmured when I slid my tongue over her mark from behind. Soft hands reached back and touched my head. "Go ahead and shift."
It was just about as painful for me to shift back, my own growls of discomfort slowly becoming low grunts. I was mid-shift when he appeared.
"Everything alright?"
Akesis spun around from where she had been opening the shed with a yelp. Modesty kicked in and her arms sprawled over herself before I could move. My legs buckled beneath me as I snarled.
Vayne stood not far from my naked mate, eyes round in delight, pupils blown out nearly all black.
Shifting back to fur was easy, I slammed into my other form and stood before her. She slid behind me easily, hands grasping the fur of my flank. Holding me in place.
I roared at him, he was still standing there, staring. His spine folded in and he looked like a tree falling in slow motion. Splintering into a million fragments. His eyes would've been eaten by me had Akesis not been gripping onto me so tightly. Rooted in spot, I snarled and growled until he scampered away like the prey he had become.
Whipping around I nudged Akesis into the shed to grab some clothes and kept watch outside. My fury was untamed, boiling inside me, vibrating my body. A consistent growl was streaming from my curled lip.
No way in hell I was shifting back.
"It's alright, Tide." I turned as hands pressed into my ruff, stroking softly. "He's gone now, let's go." Her easy voice betrayed the way her body trembled fear, the scent of it permeating from her skin.
We walked back, her tight against my side, treading on two feet while I was on four. Ears pricked high, taking in every sound in our vicinity, nose tipped up to take in all the scents. I kept her right next to me, my skin was crawling, unnerved by that male. So much so, it had me simmering with rage that was barely held onto. The haze plumed in the back of my mind, but with her hand on me, I blinked it away.
Akesis had a tired slowness to her bare-footed step and I realized how long her day had been. She had learned so much about herself.
I lead her up to my room, her hand never leaving my flank. She stripped back down to nothing, causing a quiver to my entire body. Shirt pulled up, one hand grasping the hem and tugging it over her head in one easy stroke. Her hair pulled through the neck of the shirt last, spilling across her arched back like a waterfall. The shorts went next, one tug that sent them down to her ankles where she stepped out of them gingerly. A low noise escaped my throat, somewhere between a groan and a grunt. I coughed to clear it up but she didn't seem to notice. The female had practically dove beneath my sheets. Within moments, her deep breathing signified she was out. So easily she had forgotten about what had happened in the woods.
That wolf would be dead by morning.
With a grunt that I buried deep in my chest, the slow shift back began. My limbs popping, cracking, realigning. Fresh agony dragging cold fingers down my back, nails sinking down to the muscles and tearing them out. My back arched and I tore into my new skin. The consistent feeling or disorientation seeped across my conciousness. Taking a moment to regain my proper motor skills before I got up and rooted around for my shorts.
Sliding the itchy material on, I approached the female on my bed- our bed. Her bed? She looked so peaceful, buried in blankets and pillows. Her face was exposed between sheets and hair. Gentle breaths rose her chest up and down. One hand sprawled across the bed without a care.
Leaning down, I pressed one soft kiss to her forehead. And then I locked her in the room.
---
"Dad." I snarled, striding into his office where he sat with my grandfather. They were pouring over some papers and photographs. "Where is that wolf Vayne?'
"What are you talking about? He should be on patrols tonight."
"Yes, he was in the bush." I snarled, feeling my back ripple as if I were on the brink of a shift.
"What happened?"
I swallowed the heavy growl that tried to spill. "As I was shifting, Akesis was about to get clothes..." Clenched hand cracking the back of the chair I stood behind. It cannot sustain the strength of my nature. "Turned... He was standing there... Staring, at her."
Moments like these, you can see how alike my father is with his. Unlike my father and I, where I took after my mother more than him. Both their brows pitched in unison, shoulders bunching into tense forms.
"Vayne you said?" Dad asked. "The wolf that tried to offer up a delta position?"
I nodded.
"He's on patrol right now. We can meet with him at six. I don't believe it's the first time we'll have had this talk with him."
"What?" The ripple of my unstable skin had me gripping the chair harder.
"Easy, Ade." Grandfather laughed lightly, eyeing the chair I was mutilating.
"In the morning?" A snarl let out before I could help it and my father stood up abruptly.
"Calm yourself." He snarled, "You're a grown wolf, I know your control slips, but I am still your father. Still your Alpha."
Even then, I had trouble not attempting to keep eye contact with him. Everything in my nature screamed for me to take over, to dominate.
After a few breaths, feeling my connection to the Earth and Sea finally tether me to my skin. I shut my eyes, exhaled slow, and reopened them to look at the two males. "What then?"
"We interrogate. You'll see how something like this goes." Dad turned his gaze down to the work sprawled over his desk that was once his dad's. I moved closer to see what it was they were studying.
The pictures were that of what I had seen that morning. Akesis' supposed history and photos from the tribe in the East that had gone missing.
"I said not to bring this up again." Muttering low, unhappy with things that made her stressed.
"To her." Grandfather said, tapping his temple with one thick finger. "But Ade, the more I look at all this... The more I think your mate is this little female here." He points to the photo he showed mate earlier. The two females who looked so alike.
"Think about it, son. You don't think she's Romanov's pup do you?"
Blinking, slowly I shook my head. I hadn't really contemplated where she came from or why she had been at the presentation. Obviously she held importance, the wolves there surrounded her constantly. Faces all turned in her direction, she had this pull.
"Exactly. And this pack goes missing right around when she's a pup-"
"Not any further." I cut off my grandfather. "Let her settle."
His mouth opens and closes like that of a salmon out of Brine's river. I want to take Akesis down to the Sea and teach her how to catch fish the old way.
"Okay?"
"Fine." He grumbled, looking deflated.
"Sunrise. We're talking with the pervert wolf." I growled unhappily, stomping out of the office that would soon be mine.
I took my time wandering back to Akesis. Nerves embedded into my pores, gnawing at the layers of my skin, right down to the muscles. They bunched and seized in anticipation. My mate had me constantly burning with my internal primitive wants and needs.
Unlocking the door, I let myself back into the empty room I never used. Her clothes left a trail to the bed as they would for, mostly, the rest of our lives. The air was saturated with her smell.
Letting my clothes peel off one by one, I approached the side of the bed. It was a pretty big bed. It made her look tiny, but then I made it look even smaller. As I peeled back the blankets from opposite her sleeping shape, I noticed the softness of the fabric and the scent of her intertwined in the threads.
Slipping into the bed, I contemplated sleeping in my fur, like always. But I didn't. This was a moment I craved. Something new, raw. I felt like an addict, used to the drug that just didn't seem to cut it anymore. She was the hard stuff, the kind that will send you on a hard trip. The kind that you really reach for, that takes you in and never let's go.
My feet stretched all the way to the foot of the bed, nearly hanging off. The mattress dipped under my weight. I tried to settle into the bed, but it was too comfortable. It willed my eyes to lull shut, between her soft breaths, her smell, and eventually her touch. In a few minutes, she had begun to migrate. Our bodies slowly drifting together within sleep.
Taking her into my arms, I buried my nose into her neck, inhaling the hints of our forests and Sea on her flesh. I was fucking alive with the warmth of her, the feeling of her flesh on mine. Nothing was more perfect than this moment. I could forget about my control, her past... I could forget about it all.
For the first time in years, I fell asleep in my skin.
my update game is WEAK ! school/work/boyfriend = time stealers
tell me what you think about all these characters...
you guys are amazing, have a great friday. LS