Ash Tail Pack

by T. Cobbin

  Raven sat up, pulling the sheet along with her to stay covered. “Take them to the community hall, and place a guard on them. We will be there soon,” she told Jasmine. Once the door had closed Duke started to ask why, but Raven must have anticipated his question, and she answered before he could say anything. “He was talked into it. He and his mate wanted desperately to have pups, that’s all.”

  She’s defending him?

  “What?”

  “Listen to their feelings, Duke. He is swamped with guilt, and she is too. I don’t think he will harm anyone else. If we accept them back, they will settle down, have a family of their own, and their guilt shows me they will be more than willing participants to this pack.”

  While searching for both Buddy and his mate’s feeling, Duke also dug around and picked up Raven’s too. He knew his mate had a big heart, but to willingly allow this male and his mate back into the pack… He knew she was right, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

  Duke climbed out of bed, his cock still rock hard. Looking down at his sex, he growled low and looked over toward Raven again. “You think they can wait a bit?” His lips lifted in a smile.

  Raven cocked her head and rolled her eyes. “Do all men think with their second head?”

  Duke jumped back onto the bed, ripped the sheet from his mate’s body, and had Raven under him in seconds. Lifting one of her legs up and over his waist, he found her hot, tight pussy that was slick with her dew. With a press of his shaft at her entrance, the head of his cock dipped inside.

  “Tell me it’s tiny,” he challenged, pressing deeper inside her.

  “It’s tiny,” she echoed, trying to hide her smile.

  He slipped inside her cunt a little more. He could feel her walls stretching to accommodate him. “Say it again.”

  “It’s…tiny…” She groaned.

  He thrust deep, embedding himself fully inside her. “Was that you groaning because I’m bigger than you think or because I’m too small for you? It doesn’t sound like you aren’t enjoying this.” He withdrew until only the tip of his penis was inside her. He hissed when she tightened her vagina walls around him, but held still, determined to receive an answer before he went any further. Torture yourself much? “Raven?”

  “Move,” she demanded.

  “What’s your answer, princess?” Everything inside him just wanted to enter in one swift move, to thrust deep and forget waiting for the stupid answer. It suddenly seemed so ridiculous to want her reply.

  Raven wiggled underneath him, her feet slapped against his lower back, trying to get him to move. She paused to stare up at him with a most deadly look and then sighed. “Okay, okay. Fuck me with your huge, enormous cock.”

  His only reply was a grunt after he fucked into her, until he was again embedded inside his mate so deeply he swore he could feel the top of her cervix.

  “Yes. Again.”

  Duke slammed inside Raven over and over, his cock sliding against her fluttering walls. He loved her sexy groans each time he surged. Moving his hands down her body, he cupped each of her butt cheeks and adjusted himself so he began to hit the bunch of sensitive nerves inside her. Her skin flushed, her eyes glazed over, and her walls clamped around his cock even tighter.

  A few more jerky thrusts and they both reached that place they were after. Euphoria. “Duke!” she screamed, coming around his swelling girth as he spurted deep inside her once again.

  * * * *

  After showering and getting dressed, Raven and Duke arrived at the community hall, nearly an hour after Jasmine had informed them what was going on. When they walked into the hall Buddy and his mate both stood from their seats. The building itself was big enough to hold all of the pack. Although the hall was mainly used for weddings and important meetings, it was also used for various things like pups playtimes—well, it had been when there were some pups—and coffee mornings where the pack got together.

  “Jasmine.” Raven nodded to their new beta as they neared her. “Any trouble?”

  “Not in the slightest. I’m a bit disappointed to be honest.” She growled, sending a glare in the direction of the couple.

  “Thank you.” Raven sighed and walked toward the waiting ex-pack members.

  Buddy dropped to his knees, his head bowed and his hands clasped in front of him. Raven looked down at him and then to his mate. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she had a defeated look on her face. “Thank you for seeing us,” she said softly, her voice tinged with grief.

  “What brings you back to pack land?” Raven asked, holding her shoulders straight with her head held high.

  The woman looked down toward Buddy as if waiting for the man to speak.

  What is her name? Come on, Raven, think! Belinda? Yeah, that’s it. It was then Raven remembered the meek, red-haired girl who used to sit in the back of her class. She never said much and was quite the loner. She was picked on a lot too. Raven remembered once that she, herself, had punched one of the girls who’d been picking on Belinda one day. Raven hated bullies.

  Searching through their emotions and the scents around her, it was clear that both felt a lot of fear. Which was understandable of course. But also, guilt played a major part for Buddy. Duke moved closer behind her, giving her added strength to not just accept the man back into the pack. They’d chatted a bit while walking there, and they had both gone over what the couple was feeling then. Raven knew they were there to ask forgiveness, or at least Buddy was. It also felt like if he didn’t receive it, he was willing to walk away from his mate and leave her behind so she could stay with the pack and have an honorable life.

  Lone wolf shifters found it hard being on their own. Madness often crept up on them pretty fast, leaving them to be put down before they attacked anyone. For some inexplicable reason, they often came home for it to be done.

  “Please.” Buddy spoke, his chin still resting on his chest. “I’m sorry, Alphas. I come to not just ask forgiveness, but for permission to come home. I know I was not in my right mind to be part of Timmy’s plan.” His voice broke, and the grief that poured from him was almost heart wrenching. He finally lifted his head, and Raven watched tears fall down his face. “My mate had nothing to do with any of this, and she shouldn’t be punished for something she had no idea of. If you say no, I will leave without causing a fuss, but please, let Belinda stay. She didn’t do anything wrong. Please—”

  “No, Buddy.” Belinda knelt beside her mate and clasped her hands over his. “You promised we would come home and ask to return. You said you were going to do whatever punishment they asked. You didn’t say anything about leaving me behind.” Tears now fell down Belinda’s cheeks, her face becoming paler by the second.

  Before either of them could speak again, Raven spoke up. “Did you mean to rape me too?” She knew the answer to this before he even looked up at her with a horrified expression.

  “Goddess, no. I... We…” He sighed deeply, his chin falling again to rest on his chest. “I cannot say sorry enough. For some bad reason, I followed a man who had a stupid idea. I wouldn’t have taken part, but he kept telling me it was the only way we could have pups.” He looked toward Belinda. “We want a family so badly. I made a bad decision, a really, really bad one. And all it did was hurt my mate and you.” Buddy looked up at Raven, sorrow and truth in his eyes. “Don’t punish her. If you allow me to come home, I vow I will work until my dying day to pay the debt to you, and your mate.”

  Raven had a thought and looked toward Duke. His lips lifted and he gave a small nod as if he’d read her thoughts.

  “You’re a carpenter, right?” she asked.

  Buddy had never really been good at reading and writing, but one thing Raven had been told through the many emails Duke had sent her, was that the male had a creative knack with wood. In fact... Raven looked up toward the small stage in the community hall that had been built not long ago. The old one had rotted away over the years, and her father had brought in Buddy to make a new one. It was fanta
stic work from what Raven could make out.

  Buddy looked up at her, confusion written over his features. “Yes.”

  “Good, I know a way you can pay off your penance. But be warned.” She moved forward and shoved her face an inch from Buddy’s. “You ever harm anyone again, or be part of something stupid like following another dick like Timmy, and I’ll have you out of this pack as fast as your tail can wag. Capiche?”

  Buddy nodded, repeating, “Yes, Alpha” a few times.

  “Go home,” Duke ordered the pair, pulling Raven against his chest. “Your mother will be glad to see you.”

  Raven watched with slight amusement as Buddy paled.

  “Come see me tomorrow morning and I’ll tell you what you’ll be doing,” Duke said.

  Buddy stood, and he and his mate walked toward the exit. Belinda kept nudging him and whispering angrily. Buddy seemed to sigh and turned back toward them. Raven didn’t miss Jasmine taking a step toward Belinda. If Buddy attacked, Raven knew her beta would kill Belinda instantly.

  “I, umm… You need to be warned. A-another reason w-we came back,” he said, stammering a little. He blew out a breath, his cheeks puffing outward for a moment. “We couldn’t stay with Timmy on the outside, I think he’s gone mad. He…umm…he didn’t stop talking about his plan, about why he should be alpha. He vowed he’d get there one day, even if he had to kill you and Duke.”

  “Thanks,” Duke replied, pulling Raven closer to him. She could feel his hidden anger like an unexploded bomb.

  “I’m sorry again,” Buddy said before turning and placing an arm around his mate and walking out of the hall.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Raven saw Jasmine shift from one foot to the other. Her emotions were underlying anger as well.

  Chapter 8

  “Well, it seems we have made an enemy. Oh, the woes of being an alpha,” Raven jested, trying to add a little humor to the people’s moods around her.

  She was angry herself. How dare Timmy be angry that she didn’t want to mate him, and that Duke hadn’t allowed the stupid male to rape her and get away with it. She had to admit to herself that she felt dread at the thought of being someone’s target. Did her father feel this way when he made an enemy? Come to think of it, had he ever made one? Curling into Duke’s chest, Raven allowed things to sink in and her thoughts to calm.

  “Alphas?” Jasmine finally asked, breaking their silence.

  Taking a deep breath, Raven looked up at Duke then turned to Jasmine. “Increase the patrols, and if there is any sign of Timmy or Frank, let us know. They are to be immediately taken into custody. Both Duke and I will take our turn in patrolling too.”

  “But—”

  “No, Jasmine.” Raven halted the female before she went any further. “I know it’s the beta’s job to make sure her alphas are guarded at times like this, but we wouldn’t be alphas if we couldn’t look after ourselves. Set up the enforcers’ meeting for...say an hour,” Raven said, looking at her watch. It wasn’t often a shifter wore anything like jewelry, because wearing it made shifting difficult. But Raven had picked the bad habit up by wearing a watch when she’d been in the human world.

  Jasmine looked like she was going to disagree again, but she backed down, lowered her head, and turned and walked out of the hall.

  “You sure about this?” Duke asked, his hands on Raven’s waist, pulling her closer to his body. She realized then just how tall he was; she had to lift her head to look up at him.

  “Alphas together, right?” she asked simply, knowing he would understand. He’d been beta long enough to know an alpha never backed down from a fight.

  “Together,” he echoed, and pressed his lips to hers.

  “We have an hour,” she whispered seductively.

  “Mmm. I would love to ravish you, princess, but to stand in a room smelling of sex while talking to all our enforcers wouldn’t exactly put their mind on their job.” He chuckled. He looked down at her with amused filled eyes.

  Bollocks! Why did he have to be right?

  “Then what do we do for an hour?” She pouted. She could really go for another round with her man right now.

  “Let’s go for a run. Maybe visit a few people and talk to them about our new project?”

  Raven couldn’t help feeling disappointed, but she nodded and moved away from the heat of Duke’s body. She found herself spun back and into his arms, looking up into his sparkling green eyes.

  “Nothing will stop me from fucking you silly after the meeting, princess.” His mouth covered hers, kissing her so deeply her toes curled. Breathlessly, they parted, and she couldn’t help the smile creeping over her lips.

  “Promises, promises.” She shoved at his chest and walked toward the hall exit.

  An animalistic growl echoed behind her. Oh, she was going to be screwed later, good and proper, in the most primal way ever. She could feel it. Her lady parts clenched at the thought.

  * * * *

  A couple of hours later, after being taken against a wall and properly ravished, Raven lay in her mate’s arms. The meeting with the enforcers had gone well. When she and Duke had informed them that they too would be taking part in the patrols, the amount of pride coming off her fellow pack members made her feel quite special. Her place as alpha female so far had been greeted well.

  She had also noticed her heat was now a mere memory; the uncomfortableness of it and her aroma had all but drifted away. She wondered just how good of a parent she’d be, then her thoughts wandered to her own mother.

  Raven had been ten when her mum had been killed. A pack member had been banished for hurting several females, but nearly a year later he returned, raving mad. He came across a small group of picnicking mothers and pups, which included the alpha female, and started attacking them. Some of the mothers gathered up the children and encircled them, keeping them safe. Pam, with the help of some of the other mothers, managed to get the raging wolf subdued before anyone was harmed. But not before receiving a fatal wound herself. By the time several enforcers and the alpha arrived, Pam was close to death.

  Raven’s father often told her stories about her mother, and his eyes always glazed over with unshed tears when he told her the last words her mum had said. I love you always. Take care of our girl.

  “Hey.” Duke raised his head to look down at her, a finger lifted her chin. “I feel your sadness. What are you thinking about?”

  “My mum. I was thinking about the day she was killed. I was also thinking about what kind of mother I would make. What if I’m terrible, what if—”

  “Stop,” Duke ordered, his voice firm. “You will make a brilliant mum. We will both make mistakes, no one is perfect. It’s not as if there is a book out there to tell us how to be the ideal parents. Not for shifters at least. We will learn as we go.” Love shone in his eyes as he looked down at her. Damn it. He was right again.

  “How did you get so…so…” She trailed off, trying to find the right words.

  “Perfect? Awesome? Right?” he offered with a cheeky smile.

  “In your dreams. Go to sleep, we have work to do early in the morning.” Raven curled up against Duke’s body, his arms encompassing her, holding her tight. The only thought she had as she drifted to sleep was how perfectly happy she felt right then and that nothing could be better.

  * * * *

  Duke watched a couple of the pack teenagers replace some rotten wood planks on a cabin’s stoop. Buddy was working just as hard alongside them.

  Project Heat was working well. Over the last few weeks several of the females in the pack had come into heat, which of course had sent some of the unmated males into a spin. The younger males, like the three he was watching now, had been given long, hard working tasks so that they went home tired and less frustrated. The older unmated males found themselves on long patrols, as far from the females’ homes as possible.

  Duke nodded acknowledgment to Buddy and shifted back to his wolf to begin his patrol. He’d just come to check to
see how things were going. Buddy had settled back into his home and pack with no disagreement or grumblings. And from what Duke had heard, Buddy had received a rather severe scolding from his mother for following a stupid male with a crazy ego bigger than his dick.

  Duke’s thoughts drifted to his mate. The elders had informed her that because the pack had no pups and hadn’t had for a while, that she and Duke were to expect a shorter pregnancy. Something to do with biology again. On the way back from the elder village Duke had admitted to Raven that he’d tuned a lot of their explanation out. Sometime later, both during and after some heated sex, he received a shorter explanation from Raven. Normal pregnancies were about nine months, but Raven could be pregnant as short as five months because it was the first pup born in many years.

  Meeting up with the wolf he was supposed to be taking over patrol from, Duke barked and nodded to the animal. With a replied bark, the wolf shifted along with Duke.

  “All is well, Alpha, not a sight or sound of anything, let alone any trouble.” Marcus had just turned twenty-one. He’d been in the same class as Raven at school. He was a remarkable enforcer. He also had his eye on a female he wanted to mate, but there was a slight problem; Marcus was incredibly shy with the opposite sex. Duke had been trying to help the male gain some confidence.

  “Any luck with Lucy last night?” Lucy was the pack’s infant pup teacher. She had a bright personality and was well liked amongst the mothers. Alas, she’d been out of work for a while now, but hopefully, within the next few years, her school would be full again.

  Marcus’s cheeks reddened. “I umm, I finally asked her out.”

  “And?” Duke could already guess his answer with the undulated excitement the male was feeling. Along with embarrassment and trepidation.

  “She said yes.” He beamed.

  Duke slapped a hand on the male’s naked shoulder. “Congratulations. I hope your date goes well. Now bugger off home and get some rest. When are you taking her out?”

  “Tomorrow night.” The male blushed again.