Chapter 33: F*** the Pain Away

Harlow

“Are you serious?” Cyrus asked, shocked.

“Tank and Butch both agree,” Blayze said. “It was a mistake to strip you of your patch in the first place. It wasn’t fair to treat you that way, especially standing between you and Harlow.”

I was so relieved to hear this. I’d felt so guilty about Cyrus losing his patch.

“Thanks, Blayze,” Cyrus said.

“So is that a yes? Are we good?” Blayze asked.

Blayze reached into his pocket and held a new VP patch up, extending it to Cyrus.

“Yeah, we’re good.”

Blayze and Cyrus gave each other another quick hug. I saw Arlene wipe a tear from her eye.

“Aww, my boys,” she said with a smile.

The warm feelings in the room subsided, however as the holy elder, Jedediah Goode, asked people to gather around into some kind of prayer circle. Bonnie entered and stood near me, watching this display suspiciously.

“Everyone, please join me in prayer,” Goode said. Several people from both packs tilted their heads back and closed their eyes. “Selene, the sacred Goddess of the Moon, thank you for all you’ve provided. While we may not always understand your intentions, we know that you are our shelter from the storm, even during the most turbulent times. Despite the blasphemers among us who would openly defy your will.”

That last part got my attention. It sounded like an underhanded insult.

“It is our hope that this newly forged alliance between the packs will usher in a reign of leadership from a single voice to hold our people together,” Goode continued. “Please look over our blessed Alpha Rollins as he guides us all.”

And there it was. The holy elder was using this “prayer” as an excuse to directly attack Bonnie’s authority as Alpha. Bonnie just stood there, head held high, but I could see there was pain in her eyes.

“That’s enough, Goode,” Blayze’s voice boomed. “I am one of two Alphas here, and the other deserves the same respect you show me.”

Jedediah Goode held out his arms and smiled. “Why, of course! Let us all pray for the Goddess to bless both of our leaders with the same guidance.”

Blayze walked to Bonnie’s side as others continued in prayer.

“Are you okay?” I heard him whisper.

“Yeah, I...” Bonnie seemed lost for words.

“You wanna get outta here?” He tilted his head toward the stairs. “Talk somewhere quieter?”

She nodded, and they quietly walked away.

Bonnie

Blayze and I entered his childhood bedroom. A place I’d spent the night multiple times as a teenager. I wasn’t surprised to see that it looked the same. Arlene had even left the posters of scantily-clad female action stars on the walls.

“It still smells like weed in here,” I said.

“There’s a reason for that.” Blayze went to the bedside table and brought out a familiar tin box.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“I keep it here so I don’t have to hide it at the clubhouse for Butch and Mac to find.” As soon as he said Mac’s name, his eyes grew sad. “I can’t believe that crazy son of a b*tch took a silver bullet for Dax. They hadn’t spoken since Mexico.”

“Mac shouldn’t have died,” I said, taking a seat on Blayze’s bed. “None of them should have.”

He sat beside me. From the tin box, he pulled out a small bag of pot and some rolling papers. He extended the weed and papers to me.

I laughed a little. “I haven’t gotten high in years.”

“Then I’ll roll.” We were quiet for several seconds as he rolled the joint. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“You mean the fact that we were missing in action and wolves from both packs died because of it?”

“A hunter came to our town, Bonnie. A hunter killed our people. Not us. Not you.”

“Doesn’t mean we’re not responsible for their safety. We screwed up,” I said.

“I take responsibility,” he said, meeting my eyes. “But I was kind of thinking that what happened between us was one of the good things that came from all the crazy sh*t in the past couple of weeks.”

He held up a perfectly rolled joint and a lighter. I lit it, and we passed it back and forth several times.

“Remember when your mom caught us getting high in your old tree fort?” I asked.

“Remember when she caught us f*cking in her car?” he responded.

I laughed way louder than I intended. By now, the joint was nothing but a tiny roach, and Blayze placed it back in the tin box. My body was relaxed, but my mind wouldn’t stop harping on the fact that I hadn’t been there when my pack needed me.

I needed to quiet the voice in my head telling me all things I’d done wrong. Blayze looked torn up, too. That’s why I leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. It was familiar and comforting, just like it had been a couple of nights before. He placed both hands on either side of my face. I’d always loved the feel of his hands, and I moved them down to cup my breasts.

Before long, we were nearly naked. Blayze unhooked my bra while I reached down his boxers and grabbed his shaft. He let out a moan. I stood and pulled him over to the dresser, turning my back to him.

I met his gaze in the reflection of the mirror, then I got close to his ear and whispered, “F*ck me.”

I gasped as he penetrated me. Then he pushed me down so that I was bent over the dresser. I’d only ever allowed Blayze to be this rough. Despite my being an Alpha, I didn’t mind him taking his turn to be domineering in the bedroom. It allowed me to feel like I didn’t always have to be the one in control. And right now, I didn’t want to be.

“Pull my hair,” I told him. He obliged and added a couple of hard slaps to my a** for good measure.

Then, he pulled me back up so that he could whisper in my ear.

“I want you on the bed,” he said.

So we turned, and he tried to push me onto my back on the mattress.

“From behind,” I insisted and crawled onto my hands and knees. Blayze did as I asked and roughly thrust back into me.

“Spank me again,” I ordered, and he used one hand to hit my a**. Hard. I let out a yelp at the impact. “Again,” I said.

“How do you ask nicely?” he growled, placing his hand on my throat.

“Please,” I panted. Blayze slapped my a** again and again until it tingled with pain and pleasure.

I buried my face into the pillow to muffle my cries. A hot wave began to fill my body from my core, and soon I was screaming as I tightened around him. He grabbed a handful of my hair and let out a deep groan as he came.

Afterward, we lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling, where there was a poster of an actress dressed as a half-naked superhero.

“I’ve always hated that poster,” I said.

He let out a laugh and placed his hand on top of mine. I’d needed this. At least for a little while, my mind was on something other than the sadness and guilt.

Just then, the bedroom door burst open.

“Is someone smoking pot—” It was Arlene.

“Mom!” Blayze sat up. “Get out!”

“You’re in my house,” she said. She wasn’t even embarrassed.

“It’s my room!”

“You don’t live here anymore,” she replied.

“Just close the door! Jeez!”

With an eye-roll, Arlene left, closing the door behind her. Blayze and I looked at one another and burst out laughing.

“How does she always manage to bust us?” he said.

“Beats me. We should probably get back downstairs.”

Harlow

After the awkward prayer session, Cyrus and I headed to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of drinks from the well-stocked fridge.

“I can’t believe what that guy said about Bonnie,” I said.

“Goode’s never been keen on the idea of a female Alpha,” Cyrus replied.

“Think there are more like him?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” He took a drink. “Change is hard for some.”

“I just worry that this alliance is only temporary. That it will all go to hell the minute something goes wrong.”

“Well, I’m going to do everything I can to keep that from happening.” He leaned down and kissed me.

When we pulled apart, I saw Stella walking our way. She wore a modest, knee-length black dress. The bullet wound on her leg had almost completely healed. Only a faint scar remained. She looked from me to Cyrus, then back to me.

“Hey, Harlow. Sorry to interrupt. Can we talk?” she asked.