Chapter 6: Chapter Six

Leo had to stifle the urge to send lunch to Della every day of the week. The primal satisfaction of knowing that at least one of her basic needs was being met was deep and powerful and ran through him for hours after their conversation over her burger. That, however, might come across as a little creepy, he told himself, so he settled for scouring pack territory for the restaurant he was going to get the next meal from. A few days from now would be perfectly fine, he told himself. That wasn't creepy, right? To send your new sort-of girlfriend lunch every couple of days, when you couldn't see each other?

And he was absolutely chafing at the bit to see her again. He'd thought—he'd told himself—he'd be able to handle it, the infrequency of their meetings, as long as he knew he'd get to see her again soon. But it had only been a few days, and though they texted every day, his wolf was howling with the need to touch her, to… to claim her. Their car park kiss, spectacular though it had been, had far from calmed his desire for her, the opposite, in fact. Every night he dreamed of the way she'd shuddered and shaken for his touch, imagined what would have happened if he'd let her undo his pants and wrap those pretty little hands around his swollen length. Imagined marking the front of her pretty blue flirt of a dress to punish it for making him so fucking hard. Pictured wrapping her legs around his waist and taking her up against the side of her car, thrusting into her gorgeous body until she was gasping and moaning and screaming his name for the whole damn city to hear.

It wasn't exactly making him pleasant to be around, this raging unfulfilled need. When Emmett and Raj showed up for their scheduled weekly sport-watching-and-beer-drinking session, which it was his turn to host, the thunderous expression on his face when he answered the door was so fierce, it caused them to exchange a look of concern. Didn't stop them from coming into his house, though, which might have been preferable. He wasn't particularly good company now, when his every second thought was of Della. He'd thought about canceling but didn't want to disappoint Em and Raj. Now it was looking like maybe he should have.

"Geez, what happened to you?" Emmett asked, leading the way into the kitchen to the fridge where he knew from experience the beer would be. "You look about ready to start a fight, man. And I know for a fact James still has you delivering his messages, so if that isn't enough violence for you, it must be something big."

"Is it your mate?" Raj asked with a touch of sympathy, accepting a beer from Emmett, and removing the cap with his teeth.

"Nothing," Leo snapped, "and she's not my mate."

"You wouldn't mind if I asked her out, then?" Raj added. "She's smokin' hot, and if she smells as good as you say…"

In half a second, Leo had the larger wolf pinned against the kitchen wall, Raj's greater strength and bulk seemingly failing him. "Try it, and I'll feed you your own fuckin' claws," Leo growled, feeling his own fingernails elongate along with his canines.

Raj raised both his hands in surrender. "Joking, Leo. I was joking. How would I even know what she looks like?"

With a snarl, Leo released his friend from the wall and stalked back across the kitchen to accept the beer Emmett wordlessly held out to him, trying to control his breathing. Neither of his friends spoke as he got himself under control, finishing the first beer in a few rough gulps and gesturing for a second. Slowly, his adrenaline rush receded, and his teeth and claws returned to their normal state.

Leo and Raj blinked at each other for a long moment before the bigger wolf took a swig of the beer he'd somehow managed to hold on to and asked without malice, "What the fuck was that, man?"

Leo had no answer for him. "I don't know," he admitted.

"I'm not going to say the M-word again," Emmett said from where he was still standing next to the fridge. "But I honestly think it's an option worth considering, Leo. Especially if the idea of her with someone else sets you off like that. I've never seen you get all possessive like that over a female. You're usually the most easy-going guy around."

"I don't understand it," Leo said in a low voice. It was hard, even to his best friends, to make this admission of weakness. "She's just… I don't know. It's like my wolf's instincts are constantly trying to take over with her. I just want to know all the time that she's safe, and all her needs are being met, and—" He ground his teeth together. "I want her so goddamn badly, you can't even imagine it. I feel like a heroin addict or something. Reading a text from her is enough to get me hard."

"I get you, man," Em ventured. "We were all pups once, we remember it."

"It's worse than that," Leo said. "Five times, ten times worse than when I was going through the first change and trying to learn to control my instincts. I get one fuckin' breath of her scent and everything in me just roars into overdrive to have her, claim her, provide for her. I didn't realize how bad it was until we went to dinner, but my wolf is—my wolf is fucking obsessed with this woman."

"So, you didn't…" Raj raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"No, we fucking didn't," Leo snapped.

"Maybe it'll get better once you have," Em suggested. "The wolf will feel more comfortable and stop being so desperate to make a claim on her."

"But what about the rest of it?" Leo asked. "You think after I've had her, this need to fulfill every wish and requirement she has is going to get better? I can't even imagine that." He clenched his fists, trying to control his wolf, who was all but howling at the idea of finally having Della beneath him. "But she only wants something casual. Says she doesn't have time for anything else. How am I supposed to keep it casual when I have this shit roiling around inside me? James told me to fucking get her out of my system', and I swear to the gods that was my plan to start with. But I don't even know if that's possible anymore. And it's not like I can bring her into the pack as my m—" He caught himself. He'd almost called her his mate. "As my partner," he finished lamely. "She's a witch. She's not one of us. It would all be different if she was pack."

"True," Raj interjected. "Pretty much any of our females would be keen as hell to let the Beta work out those urges on her, casual or not."

"Raj," Emmett said with the ease of long practice. "Shut up. You're not helping."

"He's right, though," Leo said. "Part of me wishes she was one of us, but then she wouldn't be… her. And that's who I want." He swallowed another slug of beer and was surprised to find that it drained the bottle. He set it on the bench behind him. "Look, Raj, I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to go off at you like that. Just don't talk about her like that, yeah?"

"Sure," Raj said easily, striding across the room to clap Leo on the shoulder. "Now how about we take a break from the talk and watch the game? Get your mind off it?"

They brought beers through to the living room and settled in for the remainder of the match. Leo found himself wishing it didn't take so much for a werewolf to get drunk—he could have done with the release as well as the distraction. He tried to fix his attention on the game on the TV, but he kept finding his thoughts returning to that scent he was so primally, profoundly drawn to, to the way one half of her mouth lifted before the other when she smiled, the way she gasped in arousal when he gave free rein to the dirty words that were always dying to come out when she was around. To the way she moaned and shuddered when she came for him.

That recollection sparked a response so intense, he locked himself in the bathroom doing the breathing exercises they taught the pups to get themselves under control when they were fighting to regulate their shifts, missing the end of the game in the process. The next one had almost started before he deemed it safe to come out again, that he wouldn't morph into the same furious ball of unsatisfied need at the first provocation. He did better in the second game, possibly partially thanks to the beer he was drinking like water, fast enough that it was giving him a slight buzz. He saw Em and Raj exchange a glance when he reached for another—how many was he up to now? Nineteen? Twenty? Wisely, neither of them said anything.

They said their goodbyes with claps on the shoulder and Em offering, "Give me a ring if you want to talk, bro. I promise I won't even mention the M word."

"I might do," Leo said noncommittally, knowing he probably wouldn't. He'd felt stupid enough discussing it face-to-face in his own kitchen; he struggled to picture a situation where he was comfortable taking his friend up on his offer.

Once they'd left, he placed the myriad bottles into the recycling bin and put the living room back to rights, then sank into an easy chair, his head in his hands. Despite his near-frantic consumption over the course of the evening, his werewolf metabolism meant he had barely enough of a buzz to prevent him from being confident driving. Years ago, as barely more than pups, he and Raj and Emmett had experimented to see how much they could drink before actually getting drunk. Even back then, not yet fully grown, each of them had had to consume straight spirits the way Leo had been drinking beer tonight to get properly intoxicated. They'd been prepared—kind of excited, even—for the experiences other species talked about, vomiting, maybe even passing out, the works. But all that had happened to Leo was waking up with a slight headache the next day. Sometimes the inability to become drunk was a blessing—it meant he could drink at a normal rate for hours without feeling it. Other times, like tonight, it would have been a blessing to have been able to switch off his brain, even just for a few hours. To turn off the thoughts of Della that had now been plaguing him, stealing his focus, for days.

Knowing it wasn't a wise decision but fully prepared to blame his inadequate beer buzz, Leo dug his phone out of his pocket and typed in a message to her. Thinking of you tonight.

Every night, he wanted to add, but mentally growled at himself. Casual. Keep it casual.

He started getting ready to go to bed when his phone buzzed with a reply. He nearly hurdled the bed in his eagerness to read what she'd sent.

I was actually just debating sending you something similar, she'd written, with a small smiley face after the words. How has your night been?

It was good, Leo typed. I had some friends over to watch the game. You'll be pleased to hear one of the warlocks won Man of the Match in the first game. You?

I'll admit I don't really follow much sport, Della replied almost immediately. I was just finishing up some council stuff. One of the pages I needed took ages to load, so I had a chance to have a quick chat with one of my friends. I'm getting ready for bed now.

A moment later another message came through. Do you guys get excited if the award goes to a werewolf?

There's a sense of species solidarity, Leo admitted, trying not to think about her in bed. He neglected to mention the celebratory shots that usually followed. Youth Council stuff or Council of Witches stuff?

A bit of both, Della replied. I called it a night when my eyes started blurring. You can only look at a screen for so many hours of the day.

One good thing about being Beta is that once I'm home at the end of the day, I can usually switch off, Leo typed. Late night calls don't come often. He didn't mention the fact that when they did, it usually meant James wanted someone to be taught a lesson, and often a violent one. For a moment, shame roiled in his chest.

That sounds like the dream, Della replied. I'm falling asleep as I'm typing. I'm going to turn in now.

Me too, Leo said, though the idea that she was lying in bed talking to him had been enough to set his heart pounding all over again. His cock stirred at the image. Sleep well, he added.

Sweet dreams, she sent back, with a winking face afterwards.

You too, he couldn't stop himself from replying. And he had a strong feeling that his would be of her.