Chapter 48

The morning sun was rising and filling the room with soft light. It was rare that Cassidy ever woke before James. She liked to sleep in and he was an early riser to make it in time to work with the warriors and go to training. It didn't matter how late they stood up exploring each other. James was usually up by the crack of dawn.

It had been three weeks since she had marked him. Two weeks since she started sleeping over in his bed. She still had not moved into his room, but she spent the night. Jett had joined the pack a couple of days after the kids were found skinned. The ceremony was a somber event but he was so happy to be part of a family again and after that, she had gone into training to bond with her own wolf and learn how to stay in control while sharing her mind. They even taught her how to shift. James had been incredibly patient with her and understanding through it all.

She and James had taken the time daily to get to know each other a little more. Cassidy had a few more night terrors and one night, she and James lay in bed together as she told him everything from start to finish that she knew from the time she woke up in that smoke filled room until Jaxson and Hunter surrounded them. James told her everything through his past as well and over the last few weeks their bond had become solid and strong as any mated pair could be.

Cassidy woke next to James. He was on his back, sleeping with a peaceful expression on his face. She was draped half over him, cuddled up against his side. She lay and watched him sleep for several minutes, her fingers stroking over the skin covering his collar bone and then moved up to trace the scarred outline of the bite she had given him on his neck.

She was falling for this man. He was a strong leader and in the last week she had been shadowing him a little, spending time with him through his days and getting a glimpse into his real life. James worked hard, harder than anyone she knew. He went with the warriors in the early morning until lunch. Training with his men and women. A few hours in the afternoon he would spend meeting with the rest of the pack for any issues and problems they needed to work out. A few hours in his office then the evening with his family for dinner.

They would go on a run together with either his brothers and the betas or it was just the two of them spending time together and she learning about her wolf. Every night they would shower together and then wear each other out in bed before falling asleep in the early morning hours.

Last night had been a little more intense than normal for them. At least for her that she knew. She had been on him every second they were alone the day before. She had found him while he was showering after coming back from training. She rode him in his office chair when he was supposed to be handling paperwork. Even their wolves had come together on their run out in the forest. She had been insatiable and once they were in bed they had came together several time they both fell asleep in exhausted slumber.

“What are you thinking about she-wolf?”

Cassidy startled, her eyes focusing and lifting to James’ face when he spoke. She was reminiscing over the early morning hours, daydreaming and had not even realized he had woken up. Smiling, Cassidy reached up and cupped his jaw, leaning upwards and giving him a slow lingering kiss. “How hot you are when you growl at me.” She said with a teasing grin that brightened into a smile when James growled up at her. She shrieked and then laughed, James quickly gaining the upper hand on her as he moved swiftly and switched positions. He had turned her until she was on her belly, his heavy body pinning her to the bed as he lowered his head down and teased the sensitive mark on her shoulder. She moaned and went lax under him, her reward another rumbling growl in her ear.

“I'm late Cass.” He stated, but still did not get off of her, his lips going back to her shoulder where she let out a shudder of a breath and stretched out underneath of him.

“You can be a little bit late. Your the Alpha.” She taunted him and arched her ass up into James, feeling his growing member against her soft rounded flesh.

The she-wolf was a temptation that he wasn't sure he was willing to pass up. She was acting out of character and he was noticing. She was allowing herself to be put into a submissive position which is one thing she hadn't done before. He rubbed his chin along the line of her shoulder and reached around her middle to cup her breast and give it a teasing squeeze with his hand. “Are you offering me breakfast in bed?” he asked with a wicked grin, freezing as there was a forceful knock on his bedroom door. James lifted his head and scowled, his green eyes going to the wooden barrier. “Go. AWAY!” he snapped.

“Alpha Black. You are needed. Urgently. The scouts have returned.” One of the older wolves said anxiously from the other side of the door. “We have the den.”

Cassidy and James both froze when it was announced that they had found a den. James quickly moved off of Cassidy and she followed, sitting on the edge of the bed while he pulled boxers on and went to the door, opening it just enough to look out. “Give me five minutes. Get them something to eat and send them up to my office.” He ordered and then shut the door in the mans face before heading to his closet to get dressed.

“What can I do to help out?” Cassidy asked, getting up from the bed and slipping into the pajamas she had thrown off the night before. She went to the closet to watch James while he dressed.

“If you want to help me, go get some clothes on and then come up to my office. It may be the last chance I have to spend any time with you for awhile.” He said flatly as he pulled on shoes.

Frowning, Cassidy moved out of his way when he exited the closet. “What do you mean you wont be able to spend time with me?” she asked, following him across the room to the door where James stopped and pulled her into his arms.

“I have to go on the hunt after we get a battle plan together. I may be gone days. Weeks. Even months. We can talk about it later. Hurry up.” He said, giving her a quick kiss, rubbing her arms affectionately before he left the room quickly.

Cassidy stood in the same spot for several long seconds, her heart racing and her wolf growling within her mind, agitated that he would think she was going to let him leave without her. He is ours her wolf whispered into her mind and Cassidy just rolled her eyes at the possessive beast and went across the hallway to get herself showered as fast as she could and then into some clothing. That had been the plan at least for Cassidy until she felt a warmth heating through her blood and the feeling as if a heavy weight was pressing down onto her lower belly. The sensation brought her to her knees and then she experienced the first rush of a heat now that her body had matured enough for it after her shift.

Jett had explained things the best he could for her what a true heat was like. The false he she had been put through months and months earlier in that budget hotel room suddenly paled in comparison to what came over her. There was no warning for it other that nearly twenty four hours of increased sexual attraction between her and James. There had been no aggression or moodiness to pave the way for what was to come. It all hit at once like a back handed slap to both Cassidy and her wolf. Pain and confusion were the first to settle in. It started with an extreme ache between her thighs to full on waves of sharp pain that had her doubled over on the floor until she simply lay down. With the pain, came the aggression. She was unable to control what was happening to her and as such, her wolf was not either. It brought fear which in turn brought about the aggression that had her growling in a dangerous low tone by the time James came to find her after the meeting a few hours past the two of them separating.

James was feeling off half way through the meeting and by the end of it he was getting anxious to go find Cassidy. He dismissed his men when they had come up with a plan and left his office like his ass was on fire, ignoring his beta and gamma when they wanted to talk to him more. He headed back to the bedrooms to find Cassidy and the moment he stepped into her room and shut the door, took a deep breath of her scent, he froze. The scent that greeted him was like a concentrate of Cassidy’s own but multiplied a thousand times and triggered everything within James he had been working to control since he had met her and took her into the interrogation room in the prison.

Lust filled James in reaction to the scent of Cassidy’s heat and he stalked through the bedroom, quickly stepping into the bathroom where he was met with the stressed out and pained eyes of his mate and her sudden loud aggressive growl. “Cass…” his voice was harsher than he meant it as he started to shed his clothing and approached her. “Come to me.” He tried to command her.