I Am The Alpha

by A. J. Downey

  “Oh crap,” I whispered as a sudden thought struck me. I’m married. I’m married and my father-in-law killed my adoptive father in a conspiracy with my adopted twin brothers… This is so fucked. I sighed and raked my fingers back through my hair. My whole damned life is fucked up. I groaned and Chloe stirred quietly in her sleep but quickly settled back down. My whole life was fucked up and I’d fucked hers right along with it. Selfish bastard that I am, I’d wanted her, I’d taken her and now look what I’d done to her…

  I slumped in my chair and sulked for a while. I’m not afraid to admit it. I was sulking. I was in a shitty situation, partially of my own creation. But I needed to suck it up at the meeting tomorrow and pull out all the stops to win back some of the Pack, it was imperative. More than just my immediate friends would be there and I really needed to garner some more support from the rest of the–

  I hadn’t realized how tired I had really been. To fall asleep mid thought like that. When I woke I was slightly confused and a low groan slipped past my lips. My head lolled back against the chair and without realizing it my hands moved, landing on a bare pair of shoulders, swept by silky soft hair.

  “God I really must have been tired,” I moaned and Chloe hummed a quiet laugh, sending the most amazing vibrations through my hard cock as her mouth slid slowly up and down my length. I felt a rough spot on her skin beneath the fingers of my right hand and gently traced it, feeling the knife of guilt, of anxiety, twist in my gut a bit more.

  I opened my eyes and tilted my head forward, looking down at the much healed bite mark on her shoulder, feeling once again that stab as I realized that Markus was right. I couldn’t tell her anything, not right now. Not until my position was secure.

  My eyes slid to hers and most of these thoughts fled my mind entirely. I could feel the head of my dick push past the back of her throat and she swallowed me almost to the root before slowly backing off. Throughout it she never broke eye contact with me and I couldn’t help but feel a startling warmth and affection in her clear blue eyes. She was so fucking beautiful it slayed me.

  There was a quiet popping sound as she pulled my head from her mouth and ran her tongue along the underside of my cock. I moaned again, fingers tightening slightly on her shoulders.

  “Not that I’m complaining,” I gasped. “But what prompted this?”

  “Just something I’ve wanted to do,” she said in between small licks of my head. “So when I woke up and saw you sitting here, instead of lying there with me, I just had to take the opportunity as it was presented.” With that she slid me back into her mouth and winked. She took me in completely again, moaning slightly as she swallowed me.

  Her head bobbed slowly up and down, lips and tongue building an incredible pressure along every inch of me until I was fighting back the urge to hold her head still with my hands and shove my cock down her throat. I took my hands off her shoulders, gripping the arms of my chair tightly, so tightly the wood creaked and groaned beneath my grip.

  She hadn’t managed to pull my sweats down very far, just enough to get her mouth on me, but I lifted my hips and she yanked my pants the rest of the way to the floor leaving them bunched at my ankles. Her breasts rubbed against my legs, soft and heavy and it drove me almost as much to distraction as her lips and tongue.

  “Oh God, Chloe you have no idea how good that feels,” I groaned, my voice strained. Every muscle in my body was coiled tight, trembling as she pulled back and sucked hard at my head for a moment. She wrapped her hand around me, slowly stroking my length in a firm grip that had my hips bucking instinctively against her hand.

  She took her mouth off of me long enough to say, “That’s the general idea, Sugar,” throwing my words from our first time in my face and I couldn’t help but laugh which turned to a moan, my mouth dropping open and my head falling back against the chair again.

  “You need to lay on the bed, right now,” I hissed, desperate to plunge into her and she shook her head. Quite the trick with more than half my length in her mouth.

  She backed off, “Not a chance,” and plunged me back into her hot waiting mouth to continue her assault.

  I squeezed the chair arms even tighter and a loud splintering crack echoed under my right hand. “Why?” I grunted and she licked my head again before she grinned up at me.

  “Because I want to make you feel good right now. And it’s kind of fun seeing you like this,” she added with a grin.

  “Oh my god, you’re an evil, evil woman.”

  “And you love it,” she said with a smile that lit her up from the inside out. Before I could say anything else, she pursed her lips and pushed my head past them into her hot mouth. The pressure and heat forced another loud moan from me and I looked down, holding her eyes as she slowly bobbed her head up and down. With one hand she cupped my balls, massaging them gently as the other gripped my shaft beneath her lips, moving slowly, in time with her mouth.

  She started slowly, her hand and mouth taking several seconds to travel my length back and forth. It didn’t take her long to speed up considerably and the chair continued to suffer the abuse of my grip as my fingers tightened more and more with every passing second.

  Within a few minutes I was well past the point of no return. “I’m going to come,” I warned her breathlessly, but instead of pulling back she seemed to redouble her efforts. My breath burned in my throat, I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore as they slid closed completely against my will and I let out a loud, animalistic moan as that wave of pressure finally crested and spilled over.

  She stopped moving, holding my head between her lips as I came, each twitch sending another shot into her warm mouth which she swallowed almost greedily and with a loud crack the right arm of my chair ripped completely off in my hand.

  When I was finally able to catch my breath I dropped the useless chunk of wood and looked down at her sitting before me, licking her lips with a rather smug, rather pleased, expression on her face. Taking her hands I pulled her to her feet. I stood, and scooped her into my arms, twining her legs around my hips.

  “You,” I growled in a low tone, “are entirely more than I deserve!” I tossed her onto the bed and she let out a high squeal and laughed as she hit the mattress. Before she could attempt to escape I kicked my sweats away and followed her up onto the bed. Using my elbows to support my weight I settled above her and kissed her as gently as I could. She responded in kind, raising her leg to rub against my side as our lips and tongues gently caressed.

  I shifted my weight and slowly guided myself into her after several minutes of kissing her and feeling her naked body against mine brought me back to a full, nearly painful, erection. As I slid home she moaned quietly and her eyes drifted shut. I kissed along her throat, enjoying the same flush on her neck and chest that I saw that very first night, her fair skin admirably showing her arousal, as if my nose hadn’t already told me the same.

  I wanted to say it.

  With every slow thrust into her the words trembled in my mind.

  I love you.

  Three simple words with infinite reach and meaning under normal circumstances. Given our situation though, those three words meant far more than most would ever understand. I held them back though. Whispering in her ear how beautiful she was to me, how amazing she felt against me, around me… Our bodies fit perfectly together, her small frame melding against my larger build as her hips began to move to meet mine with every thrust. Her legs wrapped around my hips, heels digging into my ass, as if trying to pull me ever deeper inside her and I fucking loved it.

  When her orgasm hit, she cried out, her voice echoing loudly throughout my home and I joined her, growling in deep satisfaction, low in my chest as I emptied myself a second time inside her.

  “Is it because you’re wolf-kind?” she asked some time later. I was lying on my back in the bed, one hand behind my head while my other arm was wrapped around her as she pressed herself against my side.

  “What? I mean, is what because I�
��m wolf-kind?” I asked, a little drowsy.

  “Is sex with you so completely incredible because you’re wolf-kind? Like is that a normal thing for your people?”

  I chuckled quietly. “I couldn’t say, wolf-kind don’t tend to openly discuss the finer points of our physical relationships any more than normal humans do.”

  “So it’s just you then?” I turned my head and kissed her hair, just above her forehead.

  “Or it’s just you. You must bring out the best in me.”

  She snorted out a laugh and sat up. I immediately felt a sense of loss as she moved away from me, but shoved it away to admire her body as she reached into the air with her fingers laced together and stretched as far as she could. Not for the first time I worried she was too thin.

  “Okay,” I groaned. “You need to put some clothes on or I might not be able to control myself around you.” She gave me a smug smile and arched a single brow questioningly at me.

  “I’m hungry and I’m sure you have questions. Let’s get some food in us and sate that curiosity of yours as best we can, shall we?” I suggested.

  She laughed but moved to comply, dressing again in one of my tee shirts. She almost disappeared in the thing she was so tiny, but I thought it looked so hot on her.

  I pushed the thought aside though and pulled on a pair of sweats myself and led the way back to the kitchen. A glance at the clock told me it was nearly noon so I threw together a light stir fry while she sat at the table and watched, a small smile curving her lips.

  “What?” I asked as I set a plate in front of her.

  She laughed again and waved one hand in a dismissive gesture. “It’s nothing,” she said. “It’s just interesting seeing you in your natural environment.” She laughed again at the confused look I gave her but I shrugged it off and served myself a plate.

  She stuck her tongue out at me and asked, “Don’t you watch Animal Planet?” I smiled and shook my head, “National Geographic?” she asked innocently. I laughed, ignoring her playful jibes.

  “So,” I said as I sat down across from her. “Questions?”

  She thought about it for a moment, eating quietly with no trace of the humor she’d been so filled with just moments before and I felt a pang at the thought that I had helped bring her down from her joyful mood.

  “Okay, first of all, I’ve got to ask. Why weren’t you in bed with me this morning?” she fixed me with a worried and somber gaze, insecurity wrapping her like a cloak. I knelt by her chair and sighed.

  “You’re fine,” I told her, “I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to wake you with all my fidgeting, so I got up and puttered around downstairs, when I came back you were sleeping so peaceful I just wanted to sit and watch you for a minute. I just fell asleep.” I cupped her face, fingers curving around to the back of her neck and drew her down so I could kiss her forehead. Her eyes drifted shut and she nodded faintly against my lips.

  She looked at me and I smiled, feeling like a total tool for lying to her, for breaking my promise. I got up and returned to my seat and we ate for a few minutes in silence.

  “Okay, so how does this wolf-kind thing work?” she asked.

  Not a vague question at all. I swallowed the food in my mouth and gave her a look. “How so?”

  “Well, to start with, where does it come from? How do you guys change? What started it? Was it like a curse or something or…” She trailed off with a helpless shrug and I nodded, finally getting her question.

  “You mean origins? How did the species start?”

  She nodded, I frowned, and thought about that for a minute. Honestly that was a difficult question.

  “There isn’t much that’s known, really. I mean with proof to back it up at least. There are myths and legends about people that could change into animals in almost every culture. In Greek mythology there was a story about a man who invited the Gods to dinner but he served them human flesh and Zeus cursed him for it. His name was Lycaon, or something like that. So theoretically he would have been the first werewolf.

  “Stories exist everywhere, but they’re mostly just that, stories. Every story, every myth, has a little truth in it though, at least according to common understanding. The little I know, however, describes things more spiritually.”

  “Spiritually?”

  “Yep, spiritually,” I said with a nod. “As the story goes our ability to change into the wolf is because of a link to a wolf spirit. Like a guardian. I don’t get it. I didn’t much study it. It’s almost like a religious belief system to some wolf-kind, but I never cared much one way or the other why. We can, the biology is what it is and knowing why won’t make any difference in it.” I shrugged, feeling somewhat lacking in my explanation but not knowing what else I could really tell her.

  “If you really want to learn more you could ask Markus about it. He’s the resident expert amongst the people I know on the subject of our origins as wolf-kind. He’s kind of a history buff.”

  “I think I’ll do that. He’s going to be at this meeting tonight, right?”

  “Yeah, as Arbiter he’s required to attend any gathering such as this. Even informal ones where conversation will include matters that would affect the Pack as a whole.”

  She raised another eyebrow at me. “And yes, people do, at times, lie about what a gathering is for so he doesn’t attend every single such meeting,” I admitted, “But in our case we’re trying to keep things as transparent and above board as we possibly can. It wouldn’t do for an Alpha candidate to be seen behaving in an underhanded manner.”

  “Think that’s stopped either of the twins?”

  “Touché.”

  As I was cleaning up the dishes there was a loud pounding on the door downstairs and Chloe jumped in her seat.

  “It’s just Markus,” I reassured her. “We need to talk before we head to the meeting.”

  “I’ll go grab a shower and get dressed then.”

  I nodded, distracted a bit, as she slipped across the living room, through the door that would lead back up to my bedroom. Footsteps on the stairs leading down to my workshop told me who was there. I distinctly recognized Markus’ heavy step followed by Nora and Sharon. I didn’t immediately recognize the fourth until they crested the top of the stairs and came out into the kitchen.

  “Tell me again why it was that you insisted on setting up your house so your guests had to climb a flight of stairs to get to the living area?”

  “Losing strength in your old age?” I asked Nora’s twin. Brent laughed as he flipped me off. “It was keep the workspace downstairs or be concerned about getting my sculptures out of the building without cutting a hole in the roof or floor.”

  He shrugged and pulled the half gone case of beer from that early morning talk with Markus out of the fridge, he may look seventeen, but we all knew better. He tossed a can to everyone except Sharon who turned up her nose at it and they all cracked them open.

  Markus was in the middle of telling me who we expected to see at that night’s meeting when Sharon suddenly let out a shrill shriek that had my ears ringing and caused Nora to drop her beer entirely in favor of wrapping her arms around her head in a vain effort to block out the sound.

  We all looked to Sharon, took in the gob-smacked, horrified expression on her face and the direction her raised arm was pointing and turned to look at what had caused such an uncontrolled reaction from the normally reserved woman.

  Chloe had just rounded the corner into the kitchen, she was wearing a spaghetti strapped baby doll camisole over a pair of snug fitting jeans, a hooded sweatshirt dangling from her fingers. The bite on her shoulder stood out sharply against her skin. Still healing faster than it should have by human standards. It was a dark scab that looked a day or two old on the smooth pale canvas of her skin and easily visible, even to those without supernaturally enhanced senses.

  “Have you completely lost your fucking mind?” Sharon cried. I turned to her, a frown beginning to crease my brow. Just as I completed the tur
n, her hand struck. The slap landed solidly against my left cheek, so hard that I was thrown to the side and staggered to keep my feet under me.

  “Hey!” Chloe barked but we ignored her for the time being.

  “You’re looking to gain position as the Alpha of this Pack and you would go and claim a fucking Hunter’s bitch as your mate? Seriously? On the eve of the most important Pack meeting to get you there?” She pulled her arm back to slap me again and as she let fly a hand flashed into view and grabbed her upper arm, hooking her back like a performer on a vaudeville stage so hard, that she almost came off her feet entirely.

  She growled, the inhuman growl that tells someone when a wolf-kind is really annoyed and turned, her teeth bared in a vicious snarl to find herself face to chest with Markus.

  “You know exactly where you can shove that kind of bullshit Sharon. What happened to you is no excuse to take your anger out on a girl that hasn’t done nothing to deserve it. So if you can’t keep that in mind, then you are more than welcome to take your ass somewhere else. This Pack doesn’t need people like you in it if yer gonna harbor that kind of attitude. That’s a Hunter’s attitude, a different Pack’s attitude… not this one’s.”

  I blinked as Markus concluded his speech and I realized that Chloe was standing next to me, her mouth pursed into a grim flat line, hands balled into fists at her side. Her back was straight, shoulders back, proudly baring the mark on her skin for everyone to see. It definitely gave me a strong sense of pride for a moment before I had to fight back the overwhelming sense of guilt that still lurked behind everything else.

  “You have no idea how much trouble this is going to cause! You’re a fool William Reese. And I for one, don’t want a fool leading this Pack!” Sharon snarled. She glared at me for a moment before she yanked her arm out of Markus’ grip and stalked her way back down the stairs. Nora glanced up from where she was in the process of cleaning up the beer she had dropped and stuck her tongue out at the matronly woman’s retreating back.

  “That’s not going to go over well,” Markus muttered quietly, even though he knew damned well that everyone in the room would be able to hear him.