Chapter 43 - Healing the Broken Alpha

Lenora

My wolf spirit was usually fairly quiet and reserved, but since we had come to stay with River, she was becoming increasingly active and…well, forceful. When it came to River, she was especially over-protective and possessive. If another female so much as looked at him, she had hackles raised, growling so loud in my head that I couldn't think straight. If we got separated from him for any length of time she got restless and irritated.

But meeting the man in the woods had really messed her up. I felt her terror, but then she also felt a strange attraction, a fascination, a frustration… It was hard to put words to the swirling emotions. I think she was confused by his concealed scent, and maybe his unlikely physical resemblance to River had added to her befuddlement.

“Could the man have been a relative of yours?” I asked, once we were back in the Alpha suite.

River shucked off his jacket and lowered himself onto the couch. He’d been especially quiet and moody since we had left his uncle’s place. I suppose I should be used to his moods by now, but it still made me feel anxious when he regarded me with that cold, masked expression. It was like he had shut a door, keeping me firmly on the outside.

He brushed his hair back with one hand. “A relative?” He shook his head. “Our family line is pretty well documented, all the way back to my great-great grandfather. As far as I know I don’t have any homeless long lost third cousins running around the territory.” There was something in his tone that I didn’t like, something sort of dismissive and derogatory, like I was a fool for even suggesting it.

But he hadn’t seen the man, so he didn’t know.

My wolf was practically writhing in my head, so much so that I lifted both hands to hold my temples.

“Just forget about it.” River suggested. “I’ll get the report from Zachary. There’s nothing you need to worry about.”

I slowly dropped my hands, staring at him.

He was kind of being an a.sshole. I should probably just walk away, go change into my pajamas for the night, and slide into the bed, alone. He could sleep on his side, and I would sleep on mine, like two strangers forced to share a blanket.

He was behaving in such an unattractive manner, and yet…

My eyes trailed down from his mussed hair to the strong line of his stubbled jaw, to the corded column of his neck. My wolf growled with appreciation, and I felt a familiar heat gathering in my core. He had reached up to undo the first few buttons of his shirt, baring just enough of his chest to make me lick my lips in appreciation. I continued lower, to his narrow waist, lingering on his belt buckle too long.

“Lenora…” He had noticed my tense appraisal. There was a warning in his voice. “Not tonight.”

My wolf snarled so viciously in response that it actually escaped from my throat, earning me a surprised look and a raised eyebrow from River. He shifted, pretending to be unaffected, but I could see that his body was responding. I trembled for a moment, torn between the human desire to flee from him, and my wolf’s demand that we go to him.

I took a step closer, and saw something flicker in his eyes, like a spark being fanned into a small fire. I felt a warm flush creeping over my whole body.

“Lenora…”

I continued to stalk closer, and I swear I could smell his vanilla-sandalwood scent growing stronger and more musky, even though that shouldn’t have been possible. He was just a human, after all.

Even though I was still in my human form, my wolf spirit was quickly taking control of my motor neurons. My eyesight sharpened and felt my gums itching as my fangs elongated. I moved differently, with a longer stride, keeping my center of gravity lower to the ground. I circled slightly, so that I was approaching his flank instead of straight on.

With every step closer, the heat was growing more unbearable. I began to tug my shirt off over my head, even so, my breasts felt swollen and extra sensitive. The brush of my own fingers as I stripped off the shirt made them ache. River’s green eyes were following my movements. They grew darker and darker as I came closer. By the time I leaned down, placing one hand on either side of his shoulders, they were almost black.

My breath came heavily, like I had run a great distance instead of just crossing the room. I kept him pinned to the couch and tipped my head to one side.

He was no longer protesting. And he made no attempt to escape from the cage of my arms, even though he could have easily shoved me aside.

He didn’t. He couldn’t.

My wolf growled, and the noise rumbled out of my throat. I slowly settled myself over his lap, and cupped my hands around his face. My thumbs stroked over the stubble of his jaw, and I stared at his lips like I’d never seen them before.

How could a man’s lips be so appealing? So firm and so…delicious. I lowered my head to trail my tongue along the fuller bottom portion.

He always made me feel so bold, so fearless, so alive.

His hands slid up my back, his palms feeling unnaturally cool against my heated skin. He lifted his head to capture my mouth, and my wolf purred with contentment.

He finally broke the liplock so that we could both suck in a much needed breath. I rested my forehead against his.

“What are you doing, Lenora?” He asked, his voice low and rumbling, his warm breath fanning my face.

“I– I don’t know. My wolf… I need…”

He wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me down, so that his mouth could close over my marking spot. He sucked on it and I gasped, writhing beneath him.

“You can’t be in heat,” he mused, lifting his lips to nip the skin along my neck.

I hummed in some kind of agreement. A she-wolf didn’t go into heat without being marked.

He pushed the straps of my bra down my arms and freed my breasts. I leaned back on his lap to give him better access. I moaned when he pressed his palms against my tingling, oversensitive nipples. He lifted one globe and brought the peak higher, so he could stroke it with his tongue.

It felt different, exquisite, almost painful.

He kissed one side and then moved to the other. “Strange,” He murmured before he captured the other n.ipple. “I could almost swear they’re larger than before.”

When his teeth closed around them, I yelped and pushed his head away.

He raised head and looked at me, his eyes clouded with passion and surprise. “What’s wrong?”

I covered my breasts with my hands. “Nothing,” I said, my cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “Just a bit sore, that’s all. Um… it happens like that sometimes, before my cycle.”

“Oh,” He looked a bit relieved to know that he hadn’t actually hurt me. His lips curved into a smile. “I’ll be extra gentle…” He bent his head again, and this time used only his hot, wet tongue to tease me. His nimble fingers finished unhooking the clasp, freeing me from the restraining garment entirely.

Within moments the pain was forgotten, and he was turning me over on the couch. He peeled off my pants and then stripped off his own. He returned to kiss me as he his fingers delved under the elastic of my panties, parting my folds and dipping into my center.

“So beautiful,” he murmured against my lips, before he reared back, and ripped away my underwear like it was mere tissue paper. HIs thumb found my clit and rocked against it, causing my hips to jerk and roll. My eyes wanted to close, but I forced them to remain open. I wanted to see him, all of him. I wanted to watch his expression and his eyes, to see if in the throws of passion they revealed any of his deepest feelings.

He lifted my leg and draped it across the back of the couch, opening my core wider. Just before I shattered under his thumb, he plunged inside. My body was already growing used to it, since we had made love many times since he moved back into the big bed. My core stretched willingly around his invading shaft, and a heady moan escaped from my lips.

My wolf was growing frantic in my head again, frantic in a way I didn’t understand. I knew she was dying to mark him, and I didn’t blame her for that. I wasn’t sure that she could really comprehend the fact that River was unable to take our mark, that our venom could kill him. But her palpable anxiety seemed different this time.

When I looked into his eyes, it seemed like I saw the same desperation in their stormy green depths. His lips were parted slightly as he held my thighs and pushed into me, causing my body to rock deep into the couch cushions.

I met his urgency with my own, lifting my hips. I wanted to clasp hold of him, but the position kept him just out of my reach, except for his wrists, so I grabbed hold of him, locking him in the shackles of my fingers, pulling on his hands to communicate my need. I was so close, but completion eluded me.

Unexpectedly, River stopped thrusting and pulled his member out. I saw it, glistening with my fluids, just before he grabbed my hips and flipped me over from my back, to my front. Before I had quite gathered my wits, he was elevating my rear end. He slid a finger up and down my slit before he slid back inside, even deeper than before.

When he began to move, he was rougher than usual, almost like he was in a hurry to get to the finish line. He pushed my head down and wrapped his hands in my hair, tugging at my scalp with every push, grunting with satisfaction when his head crashed into my cervix.

Finally, my thighs began to quiver as my pleasure reached its crescendo peak. My cries were muffled by the couch cushions.

River swore and began to pump harder, “Oh f.uck, Nora…” I loved the way he used my nickname, and I tried to lift myself up, back onto all fours. I felt him go stiff, as he pushed into me a few more times, and then he roared with his own release. I could feel his member twitching deep inside, and the hot flood of his seed in my womb.

When he finished, he didn’t cuddle me as he usually did. He withdrew, and left me on the couch alone while he went to the bathroom to clean up. I knew I should go shower too, before I left an unsightly stain on the cushions.

However, I was feeling too limp to move, like all my bones and muscles had turned to liquid. I rolled over to my back and rested my head on the armrest, which wasn’t a particularly comfortable position. I stared out the window at the moon, which was in its waning stage, and put a hand over my throbbing breasts, which only seemed even more tender after our love making.

I gasped as I looked at the moon. The moon was waning, the full moon had already passed. As a werewolf, my whole life revolved around the lunar cycle.

And I always got my period on the full moon.