by Mia Rose
She was not sure what to say to him, but she knew what she felt not only within herself, but also in his own eyes as he watched her. Declan sank to the ground before her and stared straight ahead into the trees. Noelle brought herself to her knees and observed him.
He’s in pain, I get that. I can help. At least for this moment.
She reached down to her bra and undid the clasp. She pulled one arm out followed by the next and let her bra fall to the ground.
Declan looked at her and asked, “What are you doing?”
Noelle stood up and tugged off her boots and then shimmied out of her leggings revealing her small red thong. She pressed down on Declan’s knees, straightening his legs out in front of him. She reached down to his waistband and undid the button and then lowered his zipper.
“Noelle,” Declan whispered. In the distance, Declan heard the rustling of leaves and suddenly felt like they were not alone, “Noelle, did you hear that?”
She pressed a finger to his lips and reached into his pants and unleashed him. She worked her hands up and down in a rhythmic motion, her eyes never straying from him. He fought with himself; part of him wanted this to stop because he knew it was wrong, but another part yearned for this moment.
Noelle looked at him as his arousal hardened beneath her touch and a small smile touched her lips. Without hesitation, she brought her lips down around him, circling her tongue around and with want. She teased him by nipping softly at the tender spots of his groin before bringing her mouth around him again and pressing herself as far down as she could. She looked at Declan and relished in his closed eyes and relaxed shoulders. She grabbed his hand and placed it on her ass and he began massaging it gently as she went up and down with her mouth, picking up speed.
His fingers trailed down further and found the spot beneath her underwear. She was already soaking wet as he slid a finger inside of her, plunging in and out matching the rhythmic motions of her mouth gliding up and down his horny penis. He took his hand and grabbed Noelle by the hair and tugged her up; she let out a small gasp of pleasure.
Declan ripped off her underwear and he forced her down on top of him. Noelle let out a moan and wrapped her arms around his neck, with her breasts rubbing against his t-shirt. With his hands on her hips, he guided her up and down steadily as he felt himself getting closer and closer.
“Declan,” Noelle whimpered, “Don’t stop.” Declan picked her up and threw her onto her back in the pile of leaves, and grass, and dirt beneath them. He pressed her legs into her chest and began plunging into her even harder and deeper. She cried out and he could feel the walls of her sex clenching tightly around him as the explosion of wetness surrounded him.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
She nodded at him and he pulled himself out of her and stroked himself until every last ounce had landed on the ground below.
Noelle looked at him and saw his eyes gleaming with lust. “You could go again, couldn’t you?” She laughed.
He smirked, tilting up one side of his mouth. “Werewolves don’t need too much recovery time.”
“Speak for yourself,” she sat up on her elbows, “some of us are just humans after all.”
She rested her head on his chest and although he was holding her in his arms, they could both feel the truth of her words hanging over them.
Before heading back to the apartments, Declan managed to hunt down and kill a small fawn and her mother. It wasn’t much, he realized, and definitely not enough to satiate all of the pack members. They would have to come up with a plan to decide who would eat what and when.
As he walked inside of his apartment, he noticed, not for the first time, the eerie silence that had fallen over the room. He walked into the shower and washed off the night with Noelle from his skin. As much as he wanted to be angry with himself for what he had done —again —he couldn’t find it within himself. For the first time in a while, he felt a semblance of what true happiness might feel like.
He pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before heading down to his office where Gabriel was already sitting there, waiting.
“Hey, Gabe.”
“Declan.” There was an iciness in Gabriel’s voice that Declan was beginning to get used to.
He realized it was probably just Gabriel’s way of dealing with Cassidy’s death.
“How was hunting?”
“Not great,” Declan explained, “there wasn’t much out there last night. I’m thinking it was probably still because of the smoke. I’m going to try somewhere else tonight when I go.”
“Maybe you can use some help after all.” Gabriel smiled, but his smile did not reach his eyes.
Declan cleared his throat, “Anyways, what I did manage to get last night will not be enough to feed the whole pack. We will need to come up with a plan to decide who is going to get what.”
“What were you thinking?”
“Well maybe we can do it by family. Enter everyone’s name into a lottery and whoever we pull out will get the food.”
“If you want the entire pack revolting against you, sure that’s a great plan.”
“Okay, Gabriel? What the hell is up with you? You’ve been such an asshole lately and I’m getting pretty fucking sick of it man. I’m doing my best over here.”
“Well you’re best isn’t good enough!” Gabriel yelled at Declan. “You’re best got Cassidy killed!”
People from outside the office stopped and stared at them from the open door. Declan stood up quickly nearly toppling over the desk and walked to the door, slamming it shut. This was the second time in two days that Gabriel had shouted at him in front of other pack members.
“Gabriel, do you honestly think that you could be a better alpha than me?” Declan sneered, revealing a mouth of teeth ready to tear into something, or somebody.
“Yes, I do.”
“Is this a challenge?”
Gabriel stood up from his chair and pulled his shoulders back to make up for the difference in height between him and Declan. Even though Declan was bigger and taller, Gabriel had been putting in a lot more effort in training lately and he was certain that he would win.
“Yes.”
Declan opened the door to the office and said, “I’ll see you tonight, then.”
Gabriel nodded and walked out of the office, feeling the most alive that he had felt since before Cassidy had died. Tonight, would be the night they would determine who truly belonged as the real “Alpha” of the pack.
After their tryst in the woods, Noelle drove home and quietly made her way into the shower to wash off any evidence of the woods from her. She wrapped her towel around her and opened the door to find her cousin, Megan, standing there waiting for her.
“You sure take a lot of showers,” she said caustically.
“Maybe you should think about taking one every now and again,” Noelle answered and pushed her out of the way.
“That’s a nice little bruise you’ve got around your neck, Noelle. Maybe you’ve been keeping secrets?”
Shit, Noelle cursed to herself. How will I get out of this one?
“You know what, Megan? What I do and who I do anything with is none of your business. As your mother said earlier, you are all here as our guests. So, do yourself a favor and don’t overstay your welcome.”
Her cousin huffed and then asked, “Well, I was only bothering you to ask if you found anything out. He was my favorite uncle, so you know, I want to do something if I can.”
Suddenly, Noelle felt bad about how she had been treating her cousin. She remembered when she was first starting out in this and recalled her own excitement and desire to anything and everything. She could still remember how disappointed she would feel when her parents would make her sit out and force her to watch from the sidelines.
“Look, I may have found something tonight, but my dad is being released tomorrow. Once everyone is here, we can talk as a group and come up with something. How does that sound?”
Megan
smiled eagerly, “What did you find?”
“I think,” said Noelle, “that they might be headed east.”
“They are leaving?”
“I guess that’s what we will have to find out.”
Her cousin walked away and her mind thought of Declan.
“They could both feel the truth of her words hanging above them.”
Chapter 6
The Calling
“Our family, however, we are the true descendants.”
The pack members stood around anxiously in an imperfect circle. Declan had never been directly challenged Alpha before, despite the many disagreements between him and Gabriel. The basement of the apartments was not the best place to do this, either, but it’s wasn’t like they had many options.
Declan watched the faces of each of his members pass between himself and Gabriel. He secretly wondered who every wolf was rooting for in their heads. Maybe we should just do a vote, he thought sarcastically, because that works so well in the human world when trying to choose leaders.
“Okay,” Declan announced, “as you all already know, we are gathered here because Gabriel has directly challenged my role as Alpha. Here is how this will go. We will fight and there will be no assistance whatsoever from outside members. We will be fighting in our wolf forms and nothing is off limits. Whoever wins will be the true alpha of the pack. Does everyone understand?”
The room erupted with cheers and hollering. Secretly, every wolf in here wanted in on the fight, not because they wanted to be alpha but because they wanted some action. It had been too long since they all had the chance to do a real hunt.
Declan nodded and said to Gabriel, “Okay, Gabe. Let’s do this.”
They both stood up and began transforming into their true wolf forms. Their skin tore off of their bodies, revealing thick fur. Sharp claws erupted from their hands which turned into paws. Declan released a howl that shook the entire room and Gabriel gave a wide smile revealing his sharp teeth.
“Let’s see who the alpha really is,” said Declan.
With that, Gabriel lunged toward Declan, but Declan moved swiftly to the side so that Gabriel landed with a hard thump. He growled and turned toward Declan once more. Again, he reared up and ran to Declan and again Declan ducked out of the way.
“Are you planning to run the whole time or are you going to fight?”
“See, Gabriel, one thing you learn when you’re a real alpha is that it’s not always about attacking, it’s about strategy.”
Declan lunged forward and swiped at Gabriel’s muzzle revealing large scratches on his nose. The blood trickled into Gabriel’s mouth and he ran his tongue along the open wound. This only infuriated him more.
Gabriel began ran at Declan and he reared up again preparing to pounce. Declan moved to the side, but this time Gabriel was prepared for his move, and he lunged at him pinning his shoulders to the ground.
“Strategy? Interesting. Is that what you called it the night that Cassidy was murdered?”
Declan let out a snarl and put all of his effort in throwing off his opponent. Gabriel was thrown to the side, but before Declan could pin him down, Gabriel was already on his feet again.
“Is that what this is about, Gabriel?” Declan sneered, “You’re upset because she is gone and you never got the chance to try and steal her from me… so you’re trying to steal this from me instead!”
Gabriel stood frozen in his place. Declan’s words had the exact effect he was hoping for as he took the opportunity to run at him and swipe at his back, causing Gabriel to yelp in pain. Declan forced him over and pinned him to the ground with his body on top of Gabriel’s. He pulled back his black-lined lips and revealed his ferocious smile.
“I could easily rip out your throat right here and right now, Gabriel.”
“So why don’t you do it? It’s not like you care about any of us?”
“Don’t tempt me,” Declan growled under his breath.
He let up for a second before pressing down even harder on Gabriel’s torso causing him to whimper and gasp for breath.
“Another thing you learn as alpha is how to decide which members are not necessary to the survival of the group. Do you remember our little lacrosse star who got too full of himself? Do you remember how easily it was for me to rip his throat out?”
“Declan,” Gabriel gasped for air, “I…”
Declan pressed down harder on top of Gabriel and he scratched into the air fighting for air.
“Do you submit?” Gabriel nodded weakly as the blackness threatened to take over his vision.
Declan released the pressure from Gabriel’s body and watched as Gabriel sucked in a huge breath trying desperately to return the oxygen to rest of his body. Gabriel laid on the ground in defeat as his heart beat wildly in his chest, working overtime to restore normal blood flow.
Declan looked around at the room and let out a howl. The rest of the pack went to their knees and bowed to their leader.
Declan smiled and said, “I want everyone in this room to remember this moment if they ever begin to doubt who the alpha really is of this pack.”
Gabriel stood up weakly and transformed back into his human form. Bruises painted his chest darkly and his nose was still bleeding. Declan looked at him pointedly until Gabriel fell to his knees before the alpha.
Noelle laid in bed thinking about the night that she spent with Declan on replay. With all of the excitement of the day, from bringing her father home from the hospital, it seemed that at least for the moment, Megan had forgotten all about Noelle’s promise to share her plan with the group. She could hear dishes clanking around in the kitchen which could only mean one thing —Abigail was making dinner.
Noelle wanted to sneak out of the house, and she wanted to see Declan again, but she knew that would be impossible tonight. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed that she had not heard from him today. She decided it would be best to get out of bed and put on a brave face and help her mother.
She walked into the kitchen and saw her mom, face flushed, apron wrapped around her, standing over four pots on the stove.
“Mom,” Noelle called out, “do you need help?”
Her mother looked in Noelle’s direction and she smiled and nodded at her daughter. Ever since their fight and reconciliation in the hospital, things between her and her mom seemed better than ever.
“I’m making stuffed shells,” her mother started explaining what she needed Noelle to do.
“Mom, why don’t we just order a pizza and keep things simple?”
“I didn’t even think of that,” her mother replied laughing.
Noelle shook her head and felt a deep appreciation for her mother as she stared at the woman who was always going above and beyond to keep the family together. They worked together seamlessly until the dinner was complete with freshly-made garlic rolls. Then, a delicious Caesar salad, and enough stuffed shells to make sure everyone had seconds if they wanted.
They formed an assembly line in the kitchen grabbing paper plates and silverware, and filling them up before heading into the family room to sit down and eat. Noelle had to talk her mom out of setting up the dining room and using their fine china which only came out for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Everyone sat in silence at first enjoying their food, until her father said, “Well, I guess it must be good because no one has uttered a word!” The group laughed and her aunt stood up and collected plates from people who had already finished.
Noelle’s grandmother sat in the corner on the rocking chair, lovingly swaying back and forth. She was a notoriously quiet woman ever since the death of her husband six years before. She had her eyes closed and she was holding her hands delicately in her lap.
Noelle walked over to her and asked, “Nana, do you want any more?” Her grandmother shook her head slightly to gesture a no.
Noelle began to walk away, but her grandmother said, “Have you all any idea of how we started on this career path?”
&nb
sp; The entire room grew silent as they turned to face the source of the voice.
Noelle was the first to respond, “Our ancestors started this in order to protect humans.”
“Yes, Noelle, but have you ever wondered why?”
“What do you mean? If we didn’t do this, the werewolves would wreak havoc on the human race.”
“You think so? If that were truly the case, then why aren’t there people turning every single day? Why aren’t there more wolves out there? Why aren’t more humans aware of them?” Her grandmother’s crystal blue eyes burned with the question and Noelle could not think of an answer.
“Because,” Megan said, “they can’t give away their presence.”
“I think it’s time that you all learned a little something about your history. When you went through your training, they did not include this story because they feared it might change our perspective on things. We may become weak-minded and give in to certain —temptations.” All eyes were glued to the grandmother, but Noelle felt like her nana was talking straight to her.
“Back when this all began, there were two young people, deeply in love with each other. They were to be married in the following days, but something happened that changed their lives forever and this is what determined our own fates.”
Noelle felt a huge lump form in her throat as her mind drifted to the thought of Declan’s arms wrapped around her.
Her grandmother’s voice snapped her attention back, “The woman’s name was Noelise. That is who you are named after, Noelle. She was the one to be married and the night before her wedding, something tragic happened. They agreed to meet in the woods to do a secret ceremony away from the prying eyes of others, just a special moment for the two of them. She waited for him, but he never came. She became overwhelmed by doubt and started believing that he never loved her and that he had run away. She started running back to the village when she fell over something lying on the ground. Looking back at what it was, she found her lover on the ground, barely breathing with a bite mark the size of my fist on his neck.”
