Protected by the Pack

by Jade Alters

  They'd only gone into the thick brush about five or six feet when he stopped and said, “These pieces look pretty dry. Will you be okay to let go of me for a few and I'll pick them up?”

  “I'll be fine,” I said, not wanting to let him go, but letting my head rule my libido once again. I watched as he bent down and scooped up an armful of the wood. The muscles in his arms rippled as he loaded them and when he stood back up, we were face to face and he was so close that I could feel his breath on my face.

  The desire for him completely overwhelmed me and I couldn't deny it a second longer. It owned me...I had to have him, right then and there. Strangely enough, I almost thought that I was able to smell his arousal as well.

  8

  Courtney

  “Clay?” My voice was breathless, like a woman in the throes of passion. I didn't know if it was the lust that consumed me at the moment, or fear of what I suddenly thought I knew.

  “Yeah?” His voice was deeper than usual too...throaty, sexy. I almost forgot what I was going to tell him and went for his lips.

  “I don't understand this...pull, but you feel it too, don't you?”

  “Yes, and I think maybe I've also figured out what it is they want with you.”

  Well that blew the mood, at least for the moment. I took a step back, out of that magnetic field that wanted to pull me in and said, “What? What do they want?”

  “A mate...a mother, perpetuation of the species.”

  “Excuse me?” I understood exactly what he said, I was just hoping I'd heard him wrong.

  “There was only one female at the tower when we were there. She was older...maybe in her sixties, and I didn't see any children, or pups.”

  I couldn't believe that anyone would think of me in terms of perpetuating any species. Even before all of this, I had never planned on getting married or having children. I was always very careful with my... “Oh my God!”

  “Don't panic. We'll figure this out.”

  I shook my head. “No...it's not that, I mean, it is but...Clay, before I left the states, the doctor took me off my birth control.”

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “I went in for my vaccinations, before I flew out. A few days later I got a rash on my face and I went back in. I thought it was a reaction to the vaccinations. He drew some blood...God, I'm so stupid.”

  “No you're not, Courtney. Whatever he told you, you believed because he was someone you were supposed to be able to trust.”

  “He told me that I had too much estrogen in my body and I needed to take a break from the pills. I thought it was a good time, actually. I figured I wouldn't be having sex while I was in Afghanistan, so I wouldn't need them anyways. I'm so stupid. I was just thinking maybe my hormonal imbalance was why I felt so...”

  “Horny?” he said, with a grin.

  He was trying to help lighten my load by making a joke, but I didn't want to smile. I wanted to cry as the real, hurtful realization began to take shape in my mind. My chest hurt and holding back the tears this time was going to be impossible. “My boss in Atlanta was an old army friend of my father's. My doctor...the same.”

  “He served with your father too?”

  I nodded as the tears began to slowly roll down my cheeks. Clay tossed the load of wood he had gathered aside and then reached out and wiped the tears off my face with his fingers. The touch of his skin against mine was like electricity, so strong it practically crackled in the air. My mood was back, in force. The desire was burning me up from the inside out.

  I was still trying to keep it in check though and I told him, “When I told the General, I had to find a doctor to get my vaccinations up to date before I flew out, he recommended this Dr. Adams. He said they served together years ago. It's the same thing he'd told me about my boss. He set me up, Clay. My own father. He sent me here to...” The tears were streaming down my face then like a dam had broken loose. “He sent me here to be an incubator.”

  Clay opened his arms and let me decide if I wanted to move into them or not. I could actually see the self-restraint he was showing on his face.

  It made me want him that much more, and I didn't need any time to decide.

  I needed to be held.

  I needed his warmth and understanding. I needed his touch. I felt broken, like nothing would ever be the same...or even okay, ever again, and it probably wouldn't be...so why shouldn't I give in to just a few minutes of pleasure before my world came crashing down.

  The instant I was wrapped up in his arms, the steady heat of his hands on my back and the rise and fall of his chest against mine began to calm me, like a sweet, comforting lullaby. I took a deep breath and then pulled myself back so that I could look up at his face.

  Despite everything, that desire in his eyes still burned hotly and it was that moment when I decided I was all in for this and there was no going back.

  I let my hands slide up his sides, underneath his shirt. I had read hundreds of books about men with hard, perfect bodies, but I'd never felt one like this with my own hands before.

  It was like touching satin that had been lain over smooth rock.

  The contrast was sexy and I let my fingers play across the taut, chiseled muscles in his chest and stomach. His little moans and gasps as I touched him only egged me on and I pushed that shirt all the way up to his armpits.

  Clay let go of my hips and pulled off his helmet, and his shirt. I pulled him forward a few steps. He looked confused at first, but when he realized we were underneath an opening in the trees where the moonlight cascaded down on top of us, he seemed to understand.

  I had to see him.

  While I continued my exploration of Clay's chest and back, he was doing an exploration of his own. He unbuttoned that big jacket I was wearing and pushed it back off my shoulders.

  I took my hands off him just long enough to let it fall off. It landed on the ground around my ankles and by the time it hit the dirt, Clay had my t-shirt pushed up as well. I pulled it off and watched his eyes widen as he got his first look at my breasts. They were still covered in my bra, but it was made mostly of lace and couldn't contain my hard nipples.

  They pressed through the lace and each breath I took caused the swell that showed over the top of all that lace, to move up and then down, slowly.

  Clay growled, literally.

  Suddenly his hands were on my face and he was pulling me up into a kiss. The kiss was passionate, hard, urgent. His tongue slid into my mouth and probed every dark, wet crevice. My tongue pushed back and the two danced and wrestled together in both of our mouths.

  Clay moved one hand to cover one of my breasts and slid the other up my back to release my bra. Once he did and my breasts fell loose against him, he groaned into my mouth.

  Finally he broke the kiss so that we could both take a breath and then without letting go of the breast in his hand, he stepped back to get a better look at me. Like I said, I was no virgin, but I wasn't overly experienced either. I'd only been with a few men in my lifetime and his inspection of my body made me slightly nervous.

  “You're so beautiful,” he whispered. Those three words washed over me and doused my anxiety, just like that. It was my turn to reach for his face. I put my hands on either side, grasping onto his granite jaw and pull him back down to my mouth. While I kissed him, his busy hands massaged, caressed and explored my body, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. “Courtney?” he said, in a breathless whisper.

  “Yes?” My voice was raspy and thick with lust.

  “It's been a really long time since I've been with a woman.”

  “I haven't been with anyone in a while either.”

  “No...I mean, a lifetime ago, essentially. I haven't been with a woman since I was changed. I want you so bad...but I don't think I can be gentle and I'm almost positive this first time will be quick.” While he was talking, he kept touching and I felt one hand sliding down into the front of my baggy pants and the other one untying the rope I was using to hold them up
. I'd thrown my underwear away after my first bath in the creek so when he made it to the spot between my legs, his hand was touching the swollen lips of my soaked pussy. We gasped almost in unison and I flexed my hips and opened my legs wider. He got the rope untied and as soon as he did, the pants fell down around my ankles.

  “I don't care,” I was finally able to say. “I don't care if it's a minute or an hour Clay...I can't control this feeling any longer.” That was all he needed to hear. His lips were back on mine and his fingers got busy, exploring the soft folds between my legs, making me moan into his mouth and push my body into his even harder.

  Not a wisp of air would have been able to force its way between us now. Clay had one arm around me, grasping my butt and he let two of his fingers slide up inside of me. My gasp was almost a scream at that point, especially when he pushed them all the way up inside of me and then pulled them out and still with his mouth against mine, he whispered,

  “I need to taste you. For three days I imagined what you would taste like.” He brought his fingers up to where our lips were still almost joined and rubbed them against his bottom lip first before opening his mouth and sliding them inside. He closed his eyes and made a face like he was in ecstasy, just from tasting me.

  I was so excited that I could feel the moisture rolling slowly down my thighs. He brought his fingers out of his mouth and ran them slowly along my own lips...and then dove back in for another hungry kiss.

  This time he sucked and bit at my lips and sucked my tongue into his mouth. His fingers moved faster and harder inside of me and I could already feel myself getting perilously close to the edge of that orgasmic cliff I'd been dangling from since the second I lay eyes on him. This time when he pulled out of the kiss, he grabbed me by both hips and spun me around. He moved me so quickly that a wave of dizziness assaulted me and if not for his tight grip on me, I might have fallen on my knees.

  “Put your hands out Courtney and grab that tree.” I did as he told me, pressing my palms into the rough bark of the Juniper tree. I heard the zipper of his pants and then felt him brush against my bare butt as he moved to push them down. I had already seen him naked once, when he shifted for me. I braced myself when I felt the thick head of his cock press against my opening. I wasn't kidding when I said it had been a long time, and I knew it was going to be a tight fit.

  With a loud growl and then a grunt, Clay pushed his big cock into me about halfway. I gasped and dug my fingers into the bark of the tree.

  “You okay?” I nodded and he reached up and began to play with my nipples while advancing more of himself into me. He went as far as he could...until he bottomed out inside of me and then his hands were back on my hips and he was plunging into me and pulling back and then thrusting in again.

  At first it was slow and rhythmic, but I could hear his breathing becoming more ragged and I could feel his hands tightening on me almost to the point of pain. Simultaneously he began moving faster and thrusting harder.

  The sheer force of his big body had me pressed into the tree. The bark was rough against the side of my face...but, I didn't care. I could be scarred for life, however long or short that might be. Clay felt amazing inside of me and if he wanted to do what he was doing until I died, that would be okay too.

  Clay let his hands run up and down my sides, stopping to grip my breasts and squeeze them. He lowered his mouth to the side of my neck and licked and sucked and nibbled at the sensitive flesh there. I wondered what would happen if he really bit me.

  Would I change too?

  It was an almost erotic thought, the idea of him sinking his teeth into me while his hard, throbbing cock was inside of me. I pictured it, his sexy lips and tongue, saturated with my blood. Clay was licking it off his lips in my mind and unbelievably, the idea was making me hotter and wetter.

  “Bite me,” I gasped, and regretted it as soon as I did. Clay froze, no longer thrusting himself into me or nibbling at my flesh. His hand was still on my breast, but even that had stopped moving. At last he said,

  “Courtney, you don't know what you're asking.”

  “Yes,” I said, surprising myself. “I do. I want you to bite me. They plan to use me to mate with other wolves Clay...do you want that? I read somewhere that wolves mate for life, is that true? Wouldn't you rather we walk into this place stronger thanks to our mating, than weak and unprepared? Bite me, Clay!” He groaned and let go of my breast. He reached up and grabbed a handful of my hair. Pulling my neck backward so that he could see my face. He looked into my eyes and said,

  “If I bite you, there will be no going back. Do you understand that, Courtney?” I understood...and I was afraid. But this is what they planned for me anyways, I was sure of it. I'd much rather the change came from Clay and I was on the verge of begging him.

  “I understand Clay. I want this. Mate me. Bite me. Make me yours. Do it, Clay...” He was drilling into me again and my words were coming out attached to each ragged breath. “Yes! Don't stop, Clay. Mark me, change me, make me yours!”

  “I honestly haven't been a wolf long enough to know exactly how this works. Maybe I'm not even enough of a wolf to make you change, or make you my mate for life. I've never changed anyone.”

  “Do it anyways. Let's find out.” That seemed to be what he needed to hear. He sunk his sharp canines into my neck and that pierce of my skin sent a rush of pain through my body and settled deep in my gut. I cried out, loudly and he started to pull away. I reached back and held his head to my neck instead of letting him go.

  The pain subsided as quickly as it came and was replaced by a feeling of euphoria...almost a sexual euphoria. I didn't want him to stop. He licked at my neck for a long time and then suddenly and without warning he howled and pushed me into the tree. He entered me again, deep, throbbing, hard as steel, and with three or four more thrusts, he emptied his seed into me.

  I felt the warm, liquid flow and we rocked against each other for a while before I finally peeled my hands off the tree and turned to face him. He had his eyes closed still and his body was jerking softly, like tiny little convulsions were assaulting him all at once.

  When Clay opened his green eyes, he was looking at me unlike any man had ever looked at me before. His eyes were glowing, but not with the wolf. It was a light...maybe a ray of hope for the future, and that future was focused on me.

  9

  Clay

  After we recovered, we dressed and I insisted on carrying her back to camp. I'd forgotten the firewood and I didn't want to stop touching her just yet. I had never felt about anyone or anything the way I felt about her, times a thousand now. I never imagined, and even less so since I was turned, that I'd want to be with only one woman, forever. But that was what I was feeling for Courtney, and it was a good feeling, the best that I'd ever had.

  We weren't raised with wolves, or elders or a pack, so everything the five of us had done since we were changed had been with very little information from the scientists at the tower, and pure instinct.

  I knew the second I was inside of her that she was mine in every way, forever...and I would kill for her in a heartbeat, and I would die for her in that same heartbeat. We'd found a small fire burning in a pit outside the cave when we returned.

  Two large rabbits were cooking on a homemade spigot and it smelled delicious. Someone had gotten tired of waiting for us to come back and I was sure I was going to hear it. I sat Courtney down on the rocks near the fire, brushed my lips against her forehead and went inside the cave to find my team and face the music.

  “You fucked her,” Manny said, as soon as I walked in.

  “I claimed her,” I said, taking offense at Manny's vulgarity. That word attached to Courtney seemed obscene, although in my recent past, it would have been exactly the way I would have described it. But everything was different now and I had to make my team understand that. Manny wasn't done with me yet.

  “Who are you, that you get to lay claim to the only woman around? And is it even...I don't know,
legal, or whatever the fuck you call the laws of nature? She's human.”

  “She was human, she's not any longer.”

  “Did you see her change?” Titan asked, softly. He looked sad, Manny angry...and Will, wouldn't even look at me.

  “No, but I bit her. I drew blood.”

  “And we're not shifters by birth!” Manny snapped at him. “So we don't know how someone, a human, will react to our bite.” The real truth was, I didn't care if the bite changed her or not. Woman, wolf or both, she was mine. I felt that deeper than I'd ever felt anything.

  “So we'll see if she changes. If not...so be it. I chose her as my mate.” For the first time since we had been changed, Manny bared his teeth at me. None of us had ever fought each other. We were best friends, brothers, comrades in this confusing, frightening life we'd been forced to live. I felt the hair rise on the back of my neck and I could feel the wolf inside of me scratching to get out. I fought it, trying to tamp it down, ignore it. I didn't want to fight my brother. Titan saw what was happening and he stepped in between us. Facing Manny, he said,

  “This won't accomplish anything.”

  “It will if I win,” Manny said. “I can take her for myself.”

  “She's not a fresh kill to be passed around to the strongest wolf,” Titan said. “She was free to give herself to anyone of us. She chose Clay.”

  “Or maybe not,” Manny said. “Let's hear her side. Maybe he forced himself on her.”

  My wolf wouldn't be stilled much longer. I could feel the rumble of the growl rolling up into my throat and my senses began to grow even more clear, the way they did right before I changed. “Screw you,” I spat at my friend. “She chose me just like Titan said, you can ask her yourself. But if you lay a hand on her Manny...”