Chapter 16 16
Chapter 16 – Nature
“Mate!” Haze could sense her before I even heard her growl.
Out of the shadows of darkness, emerged the most beautiful wolf. It was her, my mate. Odessa had managed to sneak into pack territory and waltz right up to the pack house, though her timing was terrible.
I had just pulled Alina up with too much force causing her to stumble against me. I could imagine how this might look to her, especially after disappearing this morning without talking to her. Had she come to reject me?
Alina screamed and Kazimir appeared beside me. He looked stunned at the sudden appearance of the black female wolf, but quickly understood who she was. Alina was screaming for a gun and Olympia snarled in outrage at the ignorant human. I had to fight to hold back a laugh, the last thing I wanted was for Olympia to attack Alina in a possessive fit.
Alina was gibbering something about the wolf being vicious and needing to be put down. Haze was howling with excitement at the sight of his mate, and all I could think about was how beautiful her eyes were, even when she was angry.
I waited until Kazimir carried off the frantic human into the house. Her eyes shifted to me as she debated her attack. How cute.
“Vicious? You don’t look vicious to me,” my smile grew wider as I approached her.
Olympia took a step back and bared her teeth. She was still angry with me, and it made my blood pump with excitement. This was going to be fun.
“How dare that silly human suggest putting down such a beautiful creature,” I reached my hand out, wanting to stroke her head.
Olympia had other plans and snapped her teeth at my hand. She would have bitten me if I had been a fraction of a second too slow. I laughed at her spunk, and she lunged for my hand again. I spun around, pulling my hand back and narrowly missing her sharp teeth.
“Trying to mark me as yours already?” I teased.
Olympia let out a snort and I could have sworn the wolf rolled its eyes at me. My lips curled into a wider smile.
“You’re not jealous are you?” She growled at me the moment the question left my tongue.
“Of Kazimir’s human mate?” I asked and the wolf eyed me suspiciously.
“They recently met. She doesn’t know about our kind, and he hasn’t figured out what to do with her.” Her eyes looked down to the dirt and she sat on her hind legs. I could feel her sadness through the bond. Kazimir wasn’t the only one trying to figure out what to do with his mate.
“Did you come alone?” I asked as I tried to scent the air for others. She nodded her head. She had slipped by the patrols, I’d need to figure out the best patrol methods for our territory and set up a better schedule to ensure others didn’t sneak in. Particularly Russian assassins. She shouldn’t have been able to make it this deep into our territory without patrols catching it.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” the tension in my body relaxed as her heavenly scent filled my nose. She had come. Come all this way… for me. I couldn’t believe she was actually here.
“She came for us,” Haze reminded me.
“You really are so beautiful.” I reached my hand out again and this time she leaned her head into my touch.
“Not rabid at all, are you?” I joked and she let out a low growl.
I couldn’t stop touching her. I moved both of my hands through her fur, down her back, and to her hind legs. She let me run my fingers all over her and seemed to be enjoying it as much as I was.
Olympia rubbed herself against my legs and used her tail, where the scent gland was. She was marking me. Claiming me as hers and Haze was going crazy, begging to be released.
“Do you want to take a run with Haze?” I asked and she yipped with joy. This wolf wanted her mate as much as Haze wanted her.
It rained earlier and the ground was still soft, so I moved to a tree to shed my clothes and hang them on a branch. With my back to her, I reached back and pulled my shirt off. I could feel her eyes boring into my back.
I never really felt comfortable in my own skin with all the scars. It didn’t bother me in a fight cage because my scars intimidated my opponent. They silently told everyone I had experienced serious shit and survived, that I was tough and that I was a monster.
For years I only had sex in the dark or with my shirt on. My brand of kink allowed me to take complete control of every aspect in the bedroom. Dominating a submissive female and only allowing her to touch and see what I allowed her to touch and see. I had a feeling Odessa would be hard to tame, that she wouldn’t allow me to hide any part of myself. She had already seen my scars and didn’t even flinch.
I hung the shirt up on a branch and kicked off my shoes. Olympia let out an eager yip and I turned to face her. “Naughty little wolf, have you come to watch me get naked?”
She spun in a circle but kept her eyes on me. I pulled my sweats down, placed them in the tree, and shifted into my wolf. Haze immediately started licking her face and she returned the wet kisses. She reared up on her back legs and placed her front paws on his back, sniffing and nuzzling his neck.
Haze took advantage of the opportunity to nuzzle her underbelly, a highly sensitive area for a wolf.
“Easy there boy, we’re just going for a run,” I reminded him.
Olympia and Haze continued to circle each other and rub their fur together. It was strangely intimate and felt completely normal at the same time. Haze held nothing back when it came to his mate.
“Hello? Run, remember?” I tried again.
Olympia yipped and darted into the woods. Haze followed behind and watched as her tail whipped around, teasing him. They jumped over muddy puddles and through the damp forest. Haze kept bumping the top of his head against her hind quarters and she nipped at his tail. I wondered what Odessa would think about their flirting.
When they reached the top of a lookout point, they nuzzled into each other and continued sniffing like horny teenagers. Olympia’s eyes were darker now, Odessa had released control to her wolf and Haze kept trying to block me out. His nose finally made its way under her tail and arousal surged through the mate bond from both of them.
In a wild euphoric carnal daze, Haze reared up on his hind legs against a submissive Olympia and mounted her. The pull was inescapable, and I wondered if she was going into heat. He continued on his mission to own his mate as the Moon Goddess intended and mate with her. Haze ignored my attempts to seize control or reason with him as they continued to do what was natural to them.
“Claim mate,” Haze insisted as he bit down on her neck. He needed me to willingly mark her for the mate mark to remain permanent. Now that our wolves had mated, it would be detrimental to them if either one of the human sides rejected the other.
“We should have waited,” I growled at him as the wolves lay side by side in their after bliss.
“I have waited! Every time you screwed someone else, I waited,” he snarled back at me. “She is our mate.” Olympia smelled like home, and Haze rubbed his face in her fur. A twinge of jealousy flared inside of me, it was so easy for them.
I was sure Odessa would blame me for this. Haze had nipped down on Olympia’s neck, which was sure to leave a claim mark on her for a short while. I didn’t want to do anything without her consent, and I knew she would probably hand my ass to me after this. I half hoped she was going into heat, so I could blame Haze’s inability to control himself on it. If she was going into heat, every unmated wolf in the vicinity would try to mate with her.
“It’s not heat,” Odessa’s voice came through the mind link, clear as a bell.
“You can hear me?” I asked. How long had she been listening to my thoughts?
“I’ve been listening since your wolf told you to mark me,” she answered. “Now that we’ve mated, the bond allows us to mind link.”
She eyed me intently and I knew she was listening for my thoughts. Try not to think. Keep your mind clear, I reminded myself.
“What are you trying to hide that you don’t want to think about?” She asked.
Fuck! How does the wall work again? I needed to figure it out and quick.
“Why are you trying to block me out with the wall? Look, if you don’t want me around I’ll go!” She turned tail and bolted through the forest.
“Odessa!” I called out in the mind link and chased after her. “Mate!” Haze called to Olympia.
She was fast! Even faster than Kazimir. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me and caught up to her. Haze jumped and she collapsed beneath us, both of us panting for air.
“Don’t go,” I said through the mind link.
“Why not? Need I remind you, it was you who left without a word this morning.”
The apology was threatening to burst from my chest. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her, fuck I wanted her. It was that I wasn’t good enough for her. There was a darkness inside of me.
“I’m your mate. Your other half. Why are you hiding yourself from me?” She demanded.
“I’m not an ordinary wolf or an honorable Alpha. Hell, I don’t even know what I’m doing here. There are things about me you won’t like.”
“What kind of things?” She asked.
“Things you won’t like, and I can’t change.”
“You don’t know what I will and won’t like if you don’t let me in,” she said just as a rustling approached us.
“Alpha,” Orion spoke to me through the mind link and his hulking dark gray wolf appeared. “We picked up an unfamiliar scent, and it seems to have changed…”
He sniffed the air, and I knew he was now scenting the change in Odessa’s scent. Something about the way he was trying to take in her sweet aroma made Haze jealous. Now that we’ve mated, her scent will also carry mine and let the others know she belongs to me.
“Forgive me,” Orion lowered his head, excitement pulsing through his aura. “We haven’t had a Luna in so long.”
“Did you run all this way or leave a car at the outskirts of the territory?” I asked Odessa through the link.
“I left the car southeast of here, where my brother parked the jeep when we were rescued.”
“Orion, my mate left her vehicle at the edge of our southeastern territory. Please have the nearest patrol drive it to the pack house.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Orion disappeared into the woods, and I turned my attention back to her.
“We should get back to the pack house, it’s going to start raining again.” “I’m going home,” she sounded a little deflated.
“Like hell you are. I’m not explaining this to your brother,” I chuckled. She had come all this away, and with a simple flick of her tail, seduced my wolf. Haze had claimed her, and my warrior recognized her as my Luna.
We made our way back to the tree with my clothing. I shifted first and slipped on my sweats. I held my shirt out to her, and Olympia took it in her mouth, trotting behind a bush.
“Are you kidding me?” I laughed. We just mated and she was being modest.
“Our wolves mated, not us. Besides, not everyone is comfortable flaunting their junk around in front of strangers,” she stepped out in my shirt, and what a gorgeously messy vision she was. I tried to keep my thoughts void of all the dirty little things I could do to her and I watched as her eyes trailed down my torso, stopping at my manhood. “You’re not wearing underwear.”
“Easier access for you,” I winked.
“That’s so inappropriate,” she crossed her arms over her chest.
I lowered my mouth to her ear and let my hand slip just under the hem of the shirt, brushing her mid-thigh. “Say’s the one who’s also not wearing any.” Electricity shot through both of us and visions of her writhing under me came to mind. She looked away as blush crept up her neck. I didn’t need to wonder if she was reading my thoughts through the mate bond again, I knew she was.
We entered through the kitchen door and found Alina and Kazimir seated with Ninos. Everyone stopped and looked at us.
“Did you kill that beast?” Alina asked.
“Wolves tend to get aggressive when someone with blond hair is near. I think it has something to do with their color perceptions and yellow,” I told her.
“Aren’t wolves colorblind like dogs?” She asked.
“No. Wolves have some color receptors in their eyes. They’re not dogs,” Ninos replied as he looked from Odessa to me. I could see Kazimir taking deep breaths, trying to understand what happened.
“Odessa, this is Kazimir, Alina, and Ninos. Everyone, this is Odessa, she slipped in a puddle of mud, and her clothes got covered. If you’ll excuse us,” I said as I reached for Odessa’s elbow and guided her to the stairs in the front foyer.
“What’s the hurry?” Odessa asked through the mind link as we rushed up the stairs.
“Human, remember.”
“Right. I need my bag, it’s in the car.”
“I’ll bring it up when your car gets here. Do we need to call your brother?” I asked Odessa, dreading the answer.
“Probably, but no one will notice I’m gone for another day or two.”
“Great, I’m looking forward to it.” “Where are we going?”
“To the Alpha quarters. It’s on the third floor.”
She turned her head to look at me. “I’m not sharing a bed with you,” challenge flickered in her eyes.
“Fine, then I’ll share a bed with you,” I said in a low voice. “We’re just getting to know each other.”
“Did you get a whiff of yourself?” I brought our lips close. “We’ve already mated.” I inhaled deeply, the scent of her mixed with mine was making my cock hard with need. And what I needed was to find a shower, pronto. I led her to the empty guest room next to my bedroom.
She reached for the door, stepped inside, and turned to give me a smirk. “Enjoy that shower.”