by Helen Scott
“Yes, Roman, yes!” I cried out, my pussy clenching in response to his words.
Roman snarled a feral growl in my ear as his body jerked against my own, and I felt his cock twitch and spurt inside me.
He quickly pulled out and pulled my jeans up. “You’re going to smell like my mate for the rest of the day. Do you understand? You’re not going to wipe any of that away. I want to be decorating your panties, jeans, and thighs.” His hand roughly did up my jeans before he pushed me to the ground and pressed against the sides of my mouth. I opened willingly for him, taking his cock into my mouth as far as I could and tasting both of us on my tongue.
“Fuck, Nina. I don’t know how gentle I can be right now.”
I pushed him away and looked up at him. Roman was leaning against the tree with one hand bracing himself as his other wound its way through my hair. He was my all-star, my everlasting lover. I knew what he needed, so I said, “Fuck my mouth, Roman. I want you to come down my throat.”
His nostrils flared, and I knew that I’d just given him the permission that he needed. His hand that had been in my hair twisted it tightly, until the tiniest movement had my head moving exactly where he wanted it to. When he thrust into my mouth again, he held me steady as he pushed against the back of my throat, staying there for just a second before pulling out again.
After a few shallower thrusts, he repeated the process. Before long, my eyes were watering from the effort of not only keeping my mouth open but not gagging on him, though I suspected that he wouldn’t mind. Tracks of moisture descended my cheeks as he took my mouth over and over again.
“Look at me, Nina. Show me how much you can take,” he growled out.
I knew he was close, his voice held that rough, rumbly quality to it that it only ever had right before he came. My gaze flicked up to him, the angle making my eyes water even more as he pushed deeper into my throat than before. I breathed through my nose and blinked at him. He pulled out, and I gagged slightly, barely having time to take a full breath before he was pushing against the back of my throat once more.
His hand in my hair grew tighter, and I wriggled my tongue against the underside of his cock. He pushed forward even more, until finally, my nose was pressed against his groin. I couldn’t breathe and desperately wanted to gag, but I held steady, staring up at Roman. There was something about me giving over complete control that we were both enjoying. I was sure if I hadn’t had my jeans on, there would’ve been a puddle of my juices under me.
He pulled back once more and I felt his hand flex in my hair as he pushed back in, going just as deep as before, but this time, his hand pressed against the back of my head, pushing my nose and lips even further against him. I blinked up at him once more, my eyes watering and the moisture coating my cheeks. Unable to hold off anymore, I gagged, an unpleasant feeling when there was a cock in the way, but apparently, that was what he’d been needing as he lost himself down my throat. He was so far back that I barely even tasted him, just a faint hint of salty goodness. He jerked and pressed against me, a growl rumbling through him as spurt after spurt went down my throat. If this was his second round, then I could only imagine what he’d unloaded in my pussy a few minutes ago.
Finally, he pulled out, a look of shame passing over his face. He turned away and tucked himself back into his boxers and jeans as I pushed to my feet, using the tree for balance.
“What’s wrong, Roman?” I carefully rested my hand against his shoulder, and he flinched like I’d slapped him.
“I’m sorry, Nina. I lost control to my wolf. It doesn’t happen often, but his appetites in the bedroom are rougher than most people enjoy. I never should have started anything with you today, knowing how close to the surface he was. I hope you’ll forgive me and trust me again one day.”
His words were like a bucket of cold water over me. Before he could walk away, I grabbed his hand and shoved it between my legs. “Does this feel like I wasn’t having a good time to you?”
He turned back to me, and his fingers brushed more firmly against the wet fabric. I was fairly sure that if I sat on a solid surface in that moment, I’d leave a wet mark behind when I stood up again.
Roman’s eyes studied me curiously. “You enjoyed that?”
I nodded, my cheeks flaming as I now felt more than a little awkward. “I did. I know I’m a little fucked up,” I said with a shrug.
He leaned closer to me, pulling me into a hug and pressing his lips to my forehead in a reverent kiss. “I couldn’t be luckier having you for a mate. You’re so much more than I ever even dreamed of asking for.”
My heart squished in my chest at his words, and all I could manage with a husky voice was, “Ditto.”
We stood silently hugging each other for a moment as we each processed what had just happened and how we’d both responded to it. Eventually, we pulled apart, and Roman looked down at me with what were almost misty eyes.
“You know I was serious earlier. We’re supposed to be ready to go by the time they get back.”
“Yeah, you were supposed to be.” Blake’s grumpy voice came from a few feet away.
“Sorry, we, uh, got distracted,” I said, doing my best not to blush and feeling like I failed miserably.
“Yeah, I bet you did,” Micah said as he waggled his eyebrows up and down.
“I’ll have you screaming on my cock again soon enough. It’s not that I’m worried about, it’s the scents of other wolves. I think they’re from Jax’s pack, though they aren’t as familiar to me, they just vaguely smell like Jax. If I didn’t know better, I’d wonder if he was working with other packs to try and track you down. That’s not his style though, since that would be admitting weakness or maybe even failure on his part.” Blake did sound truly worried, as though he was doubting his own knowledge of Jax and how he would respond to the situation.
“If Jax has wolves around, whether they are of his pack or not, we shouldn’t take the road. We’ll be too obvious. We should go through the forest,” Roman said, sounding resigned to our fate.
“I thought you said Shadow Forest was dangerous? That there were wolves in there that would hurt us for crossing into their territory?” My stomach twisted with nerves at the idea of venturing into this territory I’d never even heard of before. What if we crossed some boundary and didn’t realize it?
“It is. It’s the most dangerous path we could take to get to the oracle, but if we’re on the road, we’ll be sitting ducks,” Roman replied as he packed the tent up.
The rest of us began packing our other items up, not that we had a lot, but still. I kicked some of the sandy dirt over the embers of the fire to put it out completely and made sure each pack had water and a protein bar readily accessible. It took less time than I thought it would, considering how long it had taken to get the tent set up, but then, I guessed we didn’t have to figure out as much when taking it down. I pulled my pack on and snapped the buckles in place, and the closer we came to leaving, the more uncertain I began to feel.
“What if we skirt the edge of the forest? We won’t be on the road and can keep to the shadows to avoid being seen, but it won’t be as risky,” I suggested. I didn’t want to go against the group or try and force us to do something that wasn’t safe, but I also didn’t feel safe going into the forest. I mean, why would we go into the territory of wolves that would kill us on sight to escape wolves that would only probably kill us on sight?
“We could try that, but I don’t think it will make us much safer than if we were walking down the road at that point. We can’t exactly blend with our surroundings.” Micah gestured to his red and yellow T-shirt, then to Blake’s T-shirt, which had a bright logo plastered across the front.
“Maybe we could just shove you two into the trees if we see any movement?” I teased, trying to make the situation not seem quite so dire.
“Right, because you’ll totally blend, won’t you?” Blake scoffed as his eyes looked up and down my frame.
The jeans wer
e a medium wash denim, so I knew he wasn’t talking about those. It was only as I looked down that I realized I was wearing a purple T-shirt. I’d been too concerned with covering myself when Roman dumped me out of the tent to actually pay attention to what I grabbed out of the pack to wear.
I’d never really thought of the color as bright before, but now that I was thinking of trying to hide in it, the thing may as well have been neon. To be clear, it wasn’t. I’d never been the kind of woman who felt like she could pull off actual neon colors, but this was one of the brighter pieces in my current, limited wardrobe.
“Fine, what if we stay within the line of trees so we aren’t visible from the road?” I asked.
“Then we may as well cut through Shadow Forest anyway since we’ll be on their territory.” Roman shrugged, which looked strained, given the pack he was wearing.
“Could we just start this way? The idea of the forest scares me,” I said, finally owning up to the real reason. “If we need to go that way, then we can, but I’d really like to see if we could make the tree line work first.”
“We can try, angel,” Roman said, all trace of the domineering wolf from earlier gone, and in his place, was the tender, loving mate I was used to.
“I think you’re the most unique wolf I’ve ever met,” Blake said quietly. “Definitely the only wolf I know of that’s scared of forests.”
He bumped my shoulder with his own to let me know he was kidding, but I still felt the need to defend myself, so I said, “It’s not all forests, just this one. Besides, if you remember correctly, I kicked your ass in a forest, didn’t I?”
“Only because I was distracted by how fucking sexy you are. Plus, you were taking on an adult male shifter in human form without the wolf even peeking from your eyes. I was fascinated. Still am.” Blake grabbed my ass and squeezed before walking past me.
“I kicked your behind fair and square. It’s not my fault you’ve gone soft because you’re a teacher,” I teased.
“I’ll show you how soft I’ve gone,” Blake replied with a growl and a wicked grin as he turned and grabbed himself through his jeans.
I swallowed thickly at the thought of what his hand was wrapped around and had to look away before I tried to jump him.
The dark chuckle that sounded from his direction let me know that he knew what I was doing and loved the effect he was having on me.
Without anyone actually agreeing to the plan, other than Roman, and without really talking about it, the four of us set off toward the tree line, winding our way around the edge of the forest as we climbed the mountain. Our goal was to reach the oracle before anyone else found us, and though it sounded easy, it might actually be quite hard, if the number of obstacles we’d already faced was anything to go by. Could we get there before our enemies tracked us down?
4
Nina
We’d been walking for hours when we stopped to take a break and have a snack. After all, it would be no good if we were starving and weak when we were attacked, and yes, I said when, because the knot in my stomach told me it wouldn’t be an if type of situation.
As we got ready to get on the move again, we all tried to help disperse our scents. We kicked at the dirt and leaves, anything we’d touched, trying to spread it out so it was harder to track down one specific scent, and also harder to figure out which direction we had gone. As we were leaving, each of us went off in a different direction before doubling back and all heading farther up the mountain. Would it stop someone from tracking us if they knew what they were doing? Unlikely. But it was better than doing nothing and giving them what would essentially be an arrow pointing in the direction we left. At least, that was the hope. Any extra time we could buy ourselves would be appreciated.
“So where did you go to school?” Blake asked as we were moving. We had all been chatting about nothing in particular, trying to stay quiet in case someone heard us, but it was boring and yet tense as hell.
“The school on the pack’s land. Girls’ classes eventually split off from boys’ classes, since the alpha at the time believed women didn’t need to know how to do much other than cook, clean, and spread their legs. Sam used to teach me what he’d learned at night though. After our parents were murdered, he knew my growth was up to him. What about you?”
“Public school,” Blake answered. That was a surprise, since most packs didn’t trust their kids enough to send them to public school. After all, that meant they had to be able to control their shifts and their emotions so they didn’t accidentally shift.
Before I could ask him about it, Micah added, “I went to pack school, similar to you, but we didn’t split boys and girls up.”
I nodded and looked over at Roman, waiting for him to answer.
He remained quiet, and it was only when I cleared my throat that he said, “I was homeschooled. Our pack didn’t have a school, and going to school with humans certainly wasn’t an option at the time.”
“Did your mom teach you?” I asked, genuinely curious.
Roman nodded, and I knew that was all I was going to get. None of them really talked about their childhood, which was generally fine with me, since I didn’t want to talk about mine either. This whole getting to know each other thing was nice though. Yes, I appreciated the physical aspect of the mate bond, but I wanted more. I wanted true mates, ones that I knew everything about and who knew everything about me. Was it a little selfish? Maybe. I may not have been on board with the bond in the beginning, but I sure as hell was now.
“What exactly happened with your parents?” Blake asked after we were all quiet for a moment.
It was the question I’d been dreading, the one I would have done anything not to think about, even though it wasn’t fair to the memory of my parents. I swallowed back the tears that threatened to form, pushing the knot in my throat back down.
When I was certain I wouldn’t burst into tears, I took a deep breath and said, “They were wonderful parents, really, they were. They just wanted to stand up for what they believed was right. Our old alpha, Erik, had taken a mate. At the time, the woman… Well, you couldn’t really call her a woman, since she was only sixteen years old, but she was only a few years older than me. My parents couldn’t understand why the fates would have paired one so young with a man as old as our alpha. Plus, he was already supposed to have had a mate, but she died of a mysterious illness after a few years. Rumors were flying around the pack, people saying all kinds of things for years after that. Not that any of it was said to the alpha’s face, but you know how people are. Just because they shouldn’t say something doesn’t mean they won’t.
“Anyway, these rumors of the alpha killing his previous mate started circling, and he didn’t seem to mind at the time, since everyone was all the more terrified of him for being able to withstand the death of his mate and not lose it. When the rumors started circling about the young woman who was his next mate being forced into the mate bond, that he couldn’t abide, and he forbade anyone from saying such things, claiming we were flouting the will of the gods. It didn’t do much other than make the rumors be whispered instead of talked about freely.
“My parents couldn’t stand it though. I remember after one pack meeting, they came away furious because the alpha had manhandled his mate into sitting on his lap, and she’d been terrified the whole time. The whole room could scent it, and if they couldn’t scent it, then they could see it on her face. We were all expected to ignore it though, to go along with what the alpha wanted because he was the alpha and he knew best.
“It was after that meeting that my parents had had enough. They couldn’t stand the idea of a young woman similar to their daughter being trapped like that. So they confronted him at the next meeting.
“We were standing in the alpha’s hall. He sat on his chair like a throne, snarling as my father called him out, asking if the mating was forced. I remember realizing that I could see the wolf in the alpha’s eyes. When my father was done, silence reigned in the hall f
or a moment before the alpha exploded. He yelled about my father questioning him and the fates. Said that my father must be challenging him for the position of alpha.
“Of course, my father denied the challenge. The atmosphere in the hall got worse as the tension mounted, and I tried to hide behind my brother. The movement caught the alpha’s eye, and I knew in that moment that he’d made the decision as he stared at me. He stood and walked over to my father, shifting into his wolf at the last second and tearing my father’s throat out before turning and doing the same to my mother.
“He shifted back to human and walked two steps before turning to us. His eyes darted between my brother’s and my own. I’ll never forget what he said. ‘You know what happens to people who disobey their alphas, now don’t you, children?’ My brother nodded his head, then the alpha looked at me and I nodded as well, though I could barely see him through the tears.
“The way he looked at me… It was like his current mate had already failed and he was sizing me up. After all, my parents only had two children and we both survived to adulthood, so he knew I had strong genes. Looking back on it now, I believe he was upset because his mate still hadn’t birthed him an heir. He’d wanted to leave the pack to his son, something he’d spoken about a few times. He was so confident that he was going to have one as well—” I cut off abruptly as a thought occurred to me. “Do you think the oracle told him he’d have a son and that’s why he was so sure?”
“We can add it to the list of things to ask her,” Roman said quietly.
“You think Erik was going to try and force the mate bond with you?” Micah asked, sounding disgusted.
I glanced over at him and saw the quiet fury that was not only written on his face, but on Roman and Blake’s faces as well. “That’s what Sam suspected, though he seemed content to wait until I was a bit older. I don’t know if Sam had something to do with that, if he was feeding the alpha information that would slow down his interest in me, but for whatever reason, he seemed fine terrorizing his young mate, while the rest of the pack ostracized us. Sam and I were only kids, but no one would really help us, only Logan and Jaxon, and then they ended up betraying Sam anyway as soon as they had the opportunity.
