In The Eye Of The Moon

by Mara Lee

  “You have declared me rogue, is within my rights to call the challenge.”

  “Yes, tonight then. After the hunt.”

  Kristoff nodded his consent. It was done.

  Sheila was still totally in the dark. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Airek shook his head. “Now is not the time. We will discuss this later.”

  “But…”

  “No, I said later.”

  Sheila's eyes narrowed. Fury hazed her eyes. How dare he dismiss her so? “Oh, you are in such deep shit.” She muttered under her breath.

  Airek suddenly turned to her. “Why?”

  Sheila frowned; of course he had heard her, she was going to have to stop talking to herself. “I thought you didn't want to talk right now.”

  Airek was befuddled. His Lupe was a bundle of nerves, all of which were sensitive. He seemed unable to dodge any of her moods.

  “Ten o'clock?” Sira asked, suddenly.

  Sira's question brought Airek back to the business at hand. He nodded. “Ten o'clock.” He watched as each member of his Pack, save Kristoff, bowed low to him and his new Lupe. Once they were gone Airek turned back to Sheila. “You are upset with me.”

  “Yeah, Einstein, I am.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? You have to ask why? You all but tell me to shut up in front of your friends.”

  “Family,” Airek corrected.

  “Yeah, even worse,” Sheila said and walked away from him. “Domineering, exasperating, arrogant, ass…” She shrieked when Airek picked her up and easily slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “What the hell do you think you're doing? Let me go you big … you big bully!”

  Airek ignored her struggles and slapped her wriggling ass. He laughed when she sputtered angrily. He strode back into the cabin and deposited her none too gently on the old rocker in the corner of the room.

  Sheila saw red. “You are the most…” She gasped when she saw the look in Airek's shining silver eyes. “Absolutely not, no, no, you stay away from me you chauvinistic pig.”

  “I am not a pig,” Airek said, “I am a wolf.”

  Sheila swallowed; the lump in her throat was getting bigger.

  “And you, Sheila-mine, are a wolf's mate.” Airek stalked towards her and kept her captive with his gleaming eyes. “I believe we have time before the hunt, Lupe.”

  Sheila's heart began to race. She launched herself out of the chair and gasped when she saw Airek push towards her. She rushed behind the thick oak table and planted her hands firmly on the top, using the table as a barrier, flimsy as it was. “Don't you come near me, or, or…”

  “Or what, Lupe?” Airek asked with a smile on his devilishly handsome face. “You will melt in my arms, on my tongue, on my cock as you have done every time I've touched you?” Airek's voice was low, soft and smooth like freshly whipped cream

  Sheila shivered and could have slapped herself. She had to have more self-control than this. She saw Airek making his way around the table and like lightning, attempted to vault over the table. She was stopped midway; Airek grabbed her ankle and brought her down hard on the wooden surface. “Damn, that hurt,” she mumbled against the table.

  Airek smiled. “Are you prepared for your punishment, Lupe? Your actions were rash and you need a firm hand.” Sheila opened her mouth to speak and Airek covered it with his large hand. “Good, I am glad that we understand one another.” He released her mouth.

  “Why you son-of-a…” She didn't get to finish because suddenly her legs were immobile and she was too shocked to speak. Okay, what sort of craziness was this?

  Chapter Four

  Airek deftly clicked the locks in place. She looked beautiful, with her legs spread wide, chained and manacled to the table.

  Hysterical, shocked laughter bubbled up within Sheila. What sort of madman just had a table with chains and locks lying about, set up in his log cabin? Oh yeah, she forgot, she was at the mercy of Airek, Alpha Loopin of a wolf pack, that explained it all. Sheila struggled halfheartedly, but knew it was useless, the chains were no joke. And the locks were holding steady, more than steady.

  Airek reached forward to brush a strand of hair out of her face and grinned when she swatted at him with her free hands. “Yes, we must do something about that.” He grabbed her hand in a fierce grip and placed the manacle about it, locking it in place, then repeated his actions with her other hand. When she was spread out in an X on his table, he leaned back to survey his work. She was magnificent, a more beautiful woman would not be found anywhere on this earth. “Stunning,” he said.

  “Bastard,” Sheila spit out.

  Airek gave her a wolfish grin. “Actually, my parents were happily married.” He leaned over and bit her gently on her breast. He laughed when she shut her eyes tight, for she couldn't suppress the involuntary shiver that took hold of her body, or the hardening of her rose-tinted nipples. “Mmmmm, like that, don't you.” Airek took the pebbled bud in his mouth and sucked, and when she moaned deep in her throat, he tugged harder, caressing the fullness of her breast with his large hand.

  Sheila pulled at the manacles desperately. She wanted to dig her hands in his lush silver hair, she wanted to wrap her lips around his cock, she wanted—she wanted … damn but it didn't matter, she couldn't friggin' move. Tears of sexual frustration begin to run down her cheeks. Her fingers flexed and she felt liquid pool between her thighs.

  Airek drew his long hair over his shoulder and shook it free to fall like a shimmering silver waterfall down his body. Sheila's belly quaked in anticipation.

  Airek trailed his hair down Sheila's chest, circling her full, thrusting breasts with the silken strands. He smiled when she cried out and continued his journey down her body, tickling, teasing each patch of her exposed skin with his long tresses. When he reached her quivering pussy he blew gently on the auburn curls, separating them with his hot breath. He took in the downy soft folds and flicked his tongue out to lap up the drops of moisture that were gathering there. Sheila's cries grew louder, her breath shaky with longing. Airek ignored her body's “please” and left her begging pussy, moving down her legs, lingering at her knees, kissing the sensitive skin on the underside and kneading the firm flesh of her beautiful thighs.

  Sheila was out of her mind with want. He was torturing her, producing glorious sensations throughout her body and not fulfilling her aching desperation to have him. She thrust her hips, as well as she could, up towards him and almost cried when he ignored her. She felt his rough tongue lapping at the sensitive skin on the underside of her knees and went taut against the chains and manacles. Her body was pulsing and beating furiously. “Airek, Airek I need you.” She began to fight in earnest against her binds. “Fuck me, Airek, please.”

  Airek smiled against her skin. He drew his hair up both of her feet, tickling the pads. He then rubbed his face against her hot thigh, breathing heavily against her sweat-and-salt skin. His Lupe was on the brink; she took her punishment ever so well.

  “Airek … Airek…” Sheila chanted. She could not bear anymore. Her body was so highly sensitized she feared it would shatter into a million monstrous pieces.

  Airek inserted one thick finger into her pussy; he was instantly encompassed within scalding wetness. Oh yes, his Lupe was primed. “What? What is it that you desire my beautiful, willful Lupe?”

  Sheila panted heavily. Her pussy clenched around his finger, begging for something more substantial to fill it. “You, I need your cock inside of me, now.”

  Airek nodded slowly and grinned at her. He inserted another finger into her and relished her biting cries. “But this is not about what you want, Sheila-mine, this is about punishment. You are being punished for your insolence and petulance.”

  Sheila nodded her head jerkily. “Yes, yes fine, anything, please then, punish me.”

  It was music to Airek's ears. His passionate Lupe was begging for punishment. With lighting speed Airek retrieved his minitrix—a small leather whip w
ith an elaborate silver-buckled handle to help its user's grip. He saw Sheila's eyes widen. It was the fear of the unknown, but his Lupe's desire spoke past her fear. “Tell me again what you need.”

  Sheila stared at the minitrix with awe and a touch of fear. She had never come across such a thing before. She gasped when Airek feathered the whip across her bare belly. She shivered in anticipation. She wanted this. “I need punishment,” she whispered. Airek remained still, whip in hand. Sheila swallowed and forced her words loud. “I need punishment, Airek, please.”

  It was all Airek needed to hear. He raised the whip up and brought it down with controlled measure against her bare thighs. Both heard the crack and saw the blush that rose on her skin. Airek's cock was nigh to bursting, his balls tight and his heart thudding against his chest. “Beautiful,” Airek whispered, bringing the minitrix down once more.

  Sheila jerked and groaned. The whip scored her skin like a firm slap and drew forth a myriad of shivers and tremors from her heaving body. It was the most delicious and forbidden of sensations. She was gushing, flowing like a river from its high, peaked source. She needed more; her eyes pleaded with Airek while her body jerked against its captivity.

  Airek drew the length of the whip up her legs, pausing at her mound to tease its folds with the textured leather. She whimpered and Airek could see her juices, glistening, gleaming. With one hand he wrapped her long hair around his fingers, inhaling her scent of musk, perfume and heady want, the other ministered the whip against her flushed skin. When Sheila's body held the fine, tapered, rosy tinted marks of his whip he lay the minitrix down, and ran his hand in a long, wide stroke across her pussy lips.

  Sheila's body jerked, her pelvis desperately thrusting as far as her bonds would allow. Her body was screaming and her inner pussy muscles clenching and tautening. Each vein seemed to pulse and vibrate as a bright light filled her head and wracking waves of incredible sensation shot through her. She screamed a long, loud admission of her obtained pleasure and sank, limp, against her manacles.

  Airek clenched his teeth. His need was so great. But this had not been about his need; this had been about his Lupe. Sheila had such intense desires, but even she did not know the extent of them, as of yet. She was just in the first change, and had yet to discover all that she was capable of. Airek bent down and blew gently, soothingly on the red marks that streaked her pale skin. She shivered.

  “My passionate Lupe,” Airek murmured.

  Airek shook Sheila gently. She groaned and turned on her side. He smiled and shook her again, this time caressing her breast lightly. Sheila's eyes popped open.

  “Don't you ever stop,” she muttered.

  Airek laughed. “It's time to wake up, we must prepare for the hunt.”

  Sheila shook her head. “No hunt for me, wolf boy. Remember, I don't kill Bambi.”

  “I thought we had dealt with this issue,” his tone was softly challenging.

  Sheila swallowed. “Uh, I, well…”

  Airek laughed. His Lupe was losing the ability to speak. He bit her ear and slapped her on her rump. “Come on, get up, you will not be disappointed.”

  Sheila grumbled but got out of the bed. She massaged her wrists gently; they were lightly red from where the manacles had clutched her flesh.

  “It does not hurt, does it?”

  Sheila coughed. “No.”

  Airek gave her a sensuous smile. “Not at all?”

  Sheila blushed. “Only a good hurt.”

  “Yes, I see.” Airek felt satisfaction flood through him. His Lupe had experienced her first bonding pleasure and ached for more. He saw everything mirrored in her emerald eyes, her want, her need, her desperate cry for her mate. There could be no secrets between them, they were a wolf pair and they mated for life.

  “Airek.”

  “Yes, Sheila-mine?”

  “Must I go tonight, really?” Her voice was plaintive.

  Airek sighed. He ran a hand down her fiery hair. “Yes, Lupe, you must go.”

  Sheila's nose wrinkled. The thought of chasing after a poor, defenseless deer made her nauseous. But it didn't seem like she had a choice here. “Fine, but this entire hunting thing is barbaric.”

  Airek snorted. “Not barbaric, part of nature, Lupe, as we are. We are all tied to this earth. We hunt; it is our nature to do so.” He caressed her cheek. “Soon you will face the change and see what it is like to know your very soul.”

  “I can't be like you,” Sheila said.

  “Why not?”

  “I just can't, I can't be a … a…”

  Airek frowned. “A wolf? Even now, facing all that you have faced you can doubt your destiny?”

  Sheila snorted. “Listen, up to a couple of days ago I was Sheila McKay, rejected singer, starving artist. Now, you just want me to believe that I'm going to be a wolf?”

  Airek knew that there would be hazards and complications that resulted from taking a human woman as mate. He had been warned by fellow alphas that the journey would be particularly rough. Most female mates were born wolf, or partly wolf. The transition to Lupe was therefore an easy one. For his Lupe, no such easy transition existed. Sheila McKay was more human than wolf. She had a wolf's soul, indeed, but her instincts were still human, they would not break easily. Airek had not expected easy, in truth he loved a challenge. And Sheila McKay was a definite challenge.

  “Yoo hoo, are you listening to me?”

  Airek turned back to his impatient Lupe. “Every word, I am listening to every word. Have you been listening to me?”

  Sheila nodded. “Uh-huh, you told me I'm going to be a wolf.”

  “You have experienced the first cycle of change. When you were burning with fever the first night I brought you here, you felt the change.”

  “No, I felt like I had a really bad case of the flu.”

  “Indeed, the symptoms can feel much like the flu.” He shrugged and regarded her through solemn eyes. “The next cycle of change will be more painful. You will experience cramps of a large magnitude and your fever will return. Your body will feel stretched and pulled and you will flux in weight. All this shall occur in the eye of the moon.”

  “Which is?”

  “When the moon is full.”

  “A full moon?” Sheila asked. Could this be more clichéd? “I thought you said you weren't a werewolf.”

  “I am not, and neither are you. But the change into true Lupe form comes with the moon cycles. The next cycle is the full moon.”

  “Like, I'm going to sprout fur all over my body by the full moon?” Sheila's voice was disbelieving.

  Airek sighed; his Lupe truly did not grasp what it meant to be a Loopin—yet. But she would by the full moon. “You are not going to sprout fur.”

  “So, no 'Teen Wolf',” Sheila said. She rolled her eyes when Airek stared at her blankly. Whew, he really didn't know pop culture references. It was like he had been … Sheila began to laugh nervously, raised by wolves.

  “You are laughing at my expense.”

  Sheila began to shake her head no, and then changed her mind. It was probably not a smart idea to lie to a wolf. “Well, perhaps I'm laughing at you, a little.”

  “Why?”

  Sheila ran a hand through her disheveled hair. Where to begin? “Airek, I mean this is all pretty unbelievable. I've had a lot to process in the last couple of days. I guess the comic routine is a defense mechanism.” She remembered he still didn't get her jokes. “I get a little flustered when I am faced with how, uh, how real this all is. I truly thought I was having some hallucination when this madness all started. Now I know I'm not hallucinating but that doesn't mean this is any easier on me.” She paced steadily across the floor, her bare feet silent against the rough wood. “Can you cut me a little slack here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Sheila smacked her hand against her forehead. “That's what I mean, exactly. You don't know the movies, books or even sayings that I'm referencing. It just sort of boggles my mind.”
/>
  Airek stood behind Sheila, kneading the huge knots in her shoulders and brushed her hair out of her face. “We have many different ways, Sheila-mine. You should have been brought to us when you were young, but you weren't. You were raised by humans and thus this has been a difficult transition on you.”

  Sheila spun around. “What are you talking about? I should have been brought to you? Why should I have been brought to you?”

  From the expression on his face, it was plain Airek wished he hadn't brought the subject up. “Your mother was a Kathleen McKay?”

  Now Sheila was getting freaked out. “Yeah, my mother's name was Kathleen McKay. How… how did you know that?” Sheila saw the dark glint in Airek's silver eyes and shivered. Something was going on here; he knew something. She backed away and clenched her hands into fists. “What is going on here? You know something, something about me.”

  Airek took a deep breath. “Your mother was Lupe.” He ignored Sheila's wild shake of her head and continued. “She was the born mate of Connel the Alpha of a Loopin Pack in Scotland. Your mother was originally from Scotland, was she not?”

  Sheila nodded mutely.

  “Connel was a fine man but a poor Alpha. He could not control his Pack, he did not have the necessary,” Airek searched for the right word, “disposition. He could not tolerate punishment and therefore was challenged many times over. He was very much envied, for your mother was a beautiful woman.” Airek narrowed his eyes. “But an Alpha mates for life. Your mother could only be Connel's, as Connel could only be Kathleen's. Connel underestimated one of his enemies, an upstart in his Pack. This rogue pup challenged Connel and ultimately,” Airek's eyes were sad, “defeated him. Your mother fled. She would not stay in a Pack where Connel was no longer the Alpha. She would not stay amongst his murderers.”

  Sheila would not believe this. Her mother could not possibly have been a wolf. Not once in her life had Sheila seen her mother 'change'. She had never seen her howl at the moon or hunt a deer and she had never, never seen evidence of beast in her mother's eyes. Her mother had been a kind, gentle soul. And her light had been extinguished much too soon. Kathleen McKay had been no wolf.