by T. Cobbin
Duke smiled. “Head high, and pretend you are confident, but remember that she will be feeling nervous too.”
Marcus nodded and then shifted into his wolf. He slipped off into the woods, his large paws silent on the ground. With one last smile, and hoping the male achieved his goal, Duke shifted back into his wolf and began his patrol.
The scents of the land drifted up Duke’s nose as he trotted along. The weather was nice. The woodland daffodils were dying off, and summer was just around the corner. He could hear the squirrels in the trees and the singing of the birds. Duke loved being his wolf, it brought him so much closer to nature. He couldn’t wait to bring his pup out there one day, a lad, or a daughter, just able to shift, and show him or her how things worked. One day his first born would be alpha, and would need to be shown the ropes.
A bush rustled not far from him. His ears perked up, and he paused. Crouching low, he scented the area. If he could smile in his wolf form, he would have. His mate must be feeling better. Her scent was no longer so intoxicating that it left him unable to think of anything other than sex, but any thought of Raven at all had him thinking about sex once again. She drove him mad, he couldn’t think of wanting anyone else but Raven. He had loved her for so long. The scent of the woods around him diminished slowly as he shifted to his human form.
Standing tall, he looked over toward the bush to see his naked mate hiding deep inside of it.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.
“Looking for my stomach.” She groaned. It was then the scent of sickness hit his nostrils. Oh, his poor Raven. Crouching down, he ran his fingers over the clammy skin on her cheek.
“Why did you come out, princess, if you were still feeling unwell?”
“Because I missed you, because I felt I should be out here with you on patrol, and because I stupidly thought I was feeling better.” She groaned again.
Duke hoisted his mate up into his arms. Her face looked even paler than before, and he didn’t like it. Pulling her close to his chest, Duke headed for home. He’d have to find someone to fill in for him, he wasn’t going to leave Raven again for a while. He loved his people and pack, but his mate came first. As he walked, he dotted kisses over her still clammy face.
“This sucks.” She moaned. “Why can’t men carry the pups?”
Duke chuckled. “If I were honest, I’d say it was because the goddess deemed you the stronger of the sexes, but don’t go spreading that around. A lot of male egos would be crushed.”
“I still think men should be the ones who get pregnant, or at least make it easier for us women.”
Duke brushed his lips across her forehead. “Shush now, princess, nearly home. I’ll get you a nice cold ginger ale and some crackers.”
“Ugh.”
* * * *
A few hours later Duke was standing on the porch of their cabin, looking out over the woodland surrounding them. Raven had promptly crashed out after a some crackers and a few sips of ginger ale.
Duke smiled as he gazed over their small community. He loved his home. Their village was nestled deep inside a wooded area in the heart of Wales. The area was dotted with enough cabins for their people to be comfortable. There were two schools, one for the smaller pups and one for the older ones. A watering hole where people gathered when the pups were asleep...well, when they had them. They had a large shop in the middle of the village, along with a post office. Anything the shop didn’t have was bought on the internet and picked up from various PO boxes in the nearest city by the pack’s post workers.
The pack, however, didn’t use money between themselves; they used time. For a bag of flour, you offered ten minutes of your time, and the more you bought, the more time you offered. However, money was needed to pay for a few luxuries that they couldn’t make or grow. In the beginning, several of the mature pack members—the ones who were trusted not to shift around the humans—would take their wares to the human markets and sell them. But nowadays the pack didn’t need to stray onto human land much. The internet provided them all with ways to sell their wares as well as buy anything they needed.
The pack wasn’t ultra-rich, but they made enough that they had phones and internet, and for the few luxuries they sought, like coffee. Even the elders kept themselves busy, making the death wraps and all kinds of medicines. It was rare for anyone to leave pack lands, bar to deliver post or bring goods in.
Their lands were safe; some kind of ancient magic kept them from prying eyes. Duke hated to think of what the world would think of their kind. Humans could be hateful at times when someone was different from them or they didn’t understand them. There were plenty of shifters out there in the world, but they all stayed hidden and away from prying eyes. Of course, on a few rare occasions, something was seen. There was a species of shifters the humans called Bigfoot, and after they’d accidently been caught on camera many years ago, they were now constantly hunted and spotted. But there was no real proof of their existence—yet—which kept them kinda safe-ish. Duke prayed the humans never discovered the Ash Tail Pack.
Chapter 9
Duke scented Jasmine coming through the woods before he saw her in her wolf form. The main fur color for the Ash Tails was a darkish color with a white tip, but for some reason Jasmine’s wolf was the opposite. She had a cream coat with a black tip. Jasmine had suffered some cruel taunts for a while after her first shift. But it had been Raven who’d put them all to shame and stuck up for the girl. It also helped that the elders predicted a bright future for the female. Here she was now a proud beta.
Duke wondered though what else was ahead for his beta. Jasmine had a small problem; she didn’t smile or interact with anyone unless she had to. She seemed indifferent to everyone. However, with his newfound Alpha powers, Duke knew she cared for the pack very much. It was why he and Raven had chosen her as their beta. She was firm but fair.
Jasmine shifted to her human form, confident with her nakedness, and walked toward the cabin.
“Morning, Jasmine. This afternoon coffee thing is becoming predictable since Raven became pregnant.” Duke stepped into the cabin, knowing Jasmine would follow. “If I didn’t know you, I’d say you were concerned about her.” He received a grunt in reply. “Anything new out there? Everything seems calm in here,” he said, pointing to his head, indicating the mental mantle he now shared with Raven, while adding a spoonful of instant coffee to a mug.
“Nothing new. Well, besides the Murphy female going into heat and finding three teenagers outside her place with their dicks in their hands.”
Duke groaned and rubbed a hand over his eyes. That wasn’t a pleasant image. He was automatically taken back to the first time Raven had gone into heat. It was torture being around her, but to help her father and some female enforcers he assisted as much as he could. He had felt angry every time he found a male lurking around her cabin. As far as he was concerned, even back then, she was his, and no one else should be near her at her most vulnerable time.
“Who did you send them to?” he asked.
Each craftsman was taking on teens or unmated males who needed their minds on something else besides sex, but they had limited space, and those were filling fast. With more females suddenly coming into heat, the situation was worse than he’d originally thought. He and Raven would have to come up with something else soon, or there was going to be trouble. The mated males weren’t going to put up with the scent of so much fresh male spent seed near their flowering mates.
“One to Buddy and two to Jase,” Jasmine replied.
Jase was another of the pack’s craftsmen. He blew glass for a living. He’d made quite a bit of money, but besides keeping a little for himself and buying the materials needed, he gave a lot back to the pack. Duke and Raven had a couple of pieces of his work in their living area.
“We’re going to have to get some of our enforcers to take some males under their paws, get them introduced to patrolling. We’re running out of space with the workies,” Duke s
aid.
Jasmine nodded and sat at the kitchen table, her coffee cup rolled between her palms. Duke didn’t have to sense her feelings, he could both see and smell it. Something was worrying his beta.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, leaning back against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I, umm… What happens when I go into heat? I mean, I scare all the males around me. Not one has seemed interested in me at all, and yet when I go into heat, they will all suddenly want me. How the hell do I handle that?”
Her question couldn’t have surprised him more. This woman who put all men at arm’s length, this female who placed the fear of the goddess into all his male enforcers, was asking about her heat?
“Your heat will pass eventually,” Raven said.
Both Duke and Jasmine turned their heads toward Raven, who was standing in the doorway.
“And during that time, we will keep the unwanted males away like we’re doing with the rest of the females. Just because you’re beta and protect the pack doesn’t mean we won’t protect you,” Raven said.
Duke smiled as he looked at his mate. Even with her hair disheveled, she looked sexy standing there in just one of his t-shirts. It made him wonder if she was wearing underwear. His cock jerked in his pants.
His gaze drifted up her body to her face. She looked better. There was a pink tinge in her cheeks, and the smile on her face gave her eyes an added sparkle. He followed her line of sight to see Jasmine and he received another surprise—she was smiling. That was only the fourth or fifth time he’d seen their beta smile.
“Thank you,” she said before her face returned to nonchalant. “I didn’t doubt that you would be there for me, I just…” She sighed. “I’ve always been the one to look after my family, to be the one who protects others. To be the one who needs some kind of looking after is new to me.” Jasmine had in fact had to look after three siblings for many years after their parents had been killed by a drunk driver. The only reason the couple had been off pack land was because they were post workers and were driving to pick up the pack’s parcels.
“Well, it doesn’t matter if you like it or not, we will be there to protect you.” Raven walked to the table and sat beside their beta and placed her hand on the woman’s. Jasmine’s emotions, although tightly held inside of her behind walls, bloomed a flowering inferno of pride and love.
“Thanks,” came the hoarse whisper from their beta.
Feeling she was uncomfortable with such affection, Duke changed the subject and turned the conversation back to the wanton, unmated males. “I was saying to Jasmine that we have to get some of our enforcers to take some males with them. Introduce them to patrolling.”
“Is it getting that bad out there?” Raven asked.
“Yep. Three more today when the Murphy female went into heat.”
He watched Raven try and hide a smile by biting down on her bottom lip and sucking it in. Visions of her sucking his cock deep into her mouth, between those plump lips, flooded Duke. If he opened his mouth, a long, lust-filled groan would slip out. Swallowing deeply, Duke shook his head and mentally reprimanded Raven for thinking the situation was funny.
“Oh, come on.” Raven giggled. “Please, I can’t be the only one who finds some of this amusing. We have men skulking in bushes, dicks in hands, outside the houses of our flowering women.”
Duke squeezed his eyes shut, really not wanting to see that image.
“It could be dangerous if the female is mated.” Jasmine spoke up.
Raven blew a breath out. A sign Duke had come to notice when she became frustrated that others thought a situation was incredibly serious, but she didn’t think it was that bad. Facing Duke, she asked, “So, you’re telling me that when I went into heat, your thoughts were of the men outside?”
He shook his head. His thoughts had been about nothing but ravishing his mate. Picking up the cup of coffee he’d made Raven, he strode toward her but stopped midway there. Fuck, how could he have forgotten? Pregnant, caffeine. Mentally, he reprimanded himself and turned back to make her a fruity tea she’d taken to drinking recently.
A chuckle sounded behind him. “You forgot again,” Raven sang.
He grunted in reply, mad at himself again.
Arms slipped around his waist, and a head rested between his shoulder blades. “I love you.”
Closing his eyes briefly, he breathed in the moment. Her body so close to his, her arms holding him tightly. Her sweet scent filled his senses. Turning in her arms, he looked down at her. “I didn’t think about anyone but you, but I’m not everyone. What if a male scents one of the other males around his female and goes into protective mode or something? We could end up with a death or a severe injury on our hands.”
A worried look drifted over her beautiful features. He couldn’t resist bending down and placing a light kiss on the crease of her frown that had appeared. He placed another on her lips before drawing back. Her tongue darted across her lips, leaving a wet trail. Duke groaned and molded his hands over her butt cheeks, making sure she could feel his hardness. Again, images of her sucking his cock between those lips filled his brain.
“You know, I read an article the other day that said male sperm is supposed to help with morning sickness,” he offered with a smile.
“Really? Shame it isn’t morning then.”
He heard Jasmine snort before the chair she was sitting in creaked across the floor.
“Time for me to leave. I’ll be close though. Howl if you need me.” With that she departed from the house.
“I saw her smile again,” he mused.
“Yes, she does that a lot when she thinks no one is looking. Now, big fella...” Raven looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. “Are you going to feed me?”
He wanted to feed her all right. His balls hurt and his shaft was reaching for the skies. “I’ll feed you. How about some sausages for tea?”
She crinkled her nose. “You had to go there?”
“Of course I did.” He laughed. “When you stop making me think about other men’s cocks in bushes, I might stop thinking about filling you with my own.”
Raven slapped his chest and snorted. “Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen.”
She was probably right about that. He could never stop thinking about fucking her.
“Let’s get some tea and then maybe, just maybe, I might suck that long, thick cock of yours.”
Oh goddess! With that vision in his head how was he supposed to cook sausages? Maybe they could have steak instead.
* * * *
During the next month, life in the pack settled down. The sorrow at losing their alpha diminished slowly, with the excitement of pups coming along. Raven’s morning sickness had faded away. Glancing at her body in the full-length bathroom mirror, she could already see her pup bump beginning to show.
The elders had been right. All the other females with pups were carrying normally, but Raven was progressing a lot faster in her pregnancy. However, her midwife seemed to think everything was fine, saying the only thing Raven had to do was eat more as she was losing weight rather than gaining it. Duke had noticed and mentioned to her that he disliked it. His exact words were, “Woman, eat more, you have more bones than bumps,” then he ran his hands over her waist and whispered in her ear that he loved her curves.
“Good morning, mate.” Duke strolled naked into the bathroom. His hair looked like he’d raked his fingers through it a few times. He looked like he’d just rolled out of bed. But instead, he’d just come home from a night patrol.
A tiny shiver drifted through her when he came to stand behind her, in front of the full-length mirror. He slid his hands up and across her skin and cupped her breasts. Nudging her head aside with his jaw, he placed his mouth over the sensitive place on her neck and sucked. Her nipples beaded between his fingers.
“Help me shower?” he asked between kisses.
“I just had one,” she complained.
His righ
t hand roamed over her swollen stomach, and down lower still, to her pussy. She was wet already; just being near Duke would do that. She opened her legs a little wider, adjusting to his hand. A single digit slipped over her clit and between her labia to circle around her opening.
“Wet, mmm.” He hummed against the pulse in her neck, his rumble matching her frantic heartbeat. He ringed just the outside of her inner core, taunting her. “I’ll just have to make you dirty again.”
The teasing digit inserted into her heated center until it was fully sheathed. He pulled out, and when he thrust in again, he included a second finger. She pushed her hips back against his groin, cushioning his hardness between her butt cheeks, while shoving her breasts out and into his molding fingers. He always knew what to do to make her nearly cum on the spot.
She was already so close and all he’d done was thrust his fingers inside her, just drifting past her g-spot a couple of times, and squeezed her nipples. Her breasts were so sensitive since she’d become pregnant. Each touch sent quivers through her body. A single pinch or twist was so much more than before. It felt like her breasts were connected to her clit.
When her legs became wobbly, she bent forward and leaned both hands on the sink. This just pushed her backside out and into Duke’s hard sex even more. She wriggled her hips, sliding his shaft up and down, causing him to groan.
“Woman, you drive me crazy.” He moved his fingers in and out of her faster. “In a moment, after you come, I’m going to thrust my cock inside you.” He pushed his fingers deep inside her and paused, emphasizing what he’d do to her. “I’m going to drive into you deeply, over and over.” His voice was deeper, gravelly. “Then after I make you come, and come again...” He licked behind her ear and placed a sucking kiss below it. “I’m going to rock my body faster and deeper into you and make you scream my name as I spread my seed inside you. If you weren’t already pregnant, you would be after I finish with you.”
Chapter 10
