by Jessica Ryan
“You were telling the truth,” Paige said, as she began to feel lightheaded. The last thing she remembered was the wolf whining as she fell backwards, passing clean out.
Chapter 9
Travis watched as his new friend hit the ground hard. With a sharp whine he rushed over to her, trying to wake her up. He began to lick her face, trying to bring her back to the world of the living. The salty smell of blood began to assault his keen smell as he sniffed around the girl. His eyes caught the sight of red liquid seeping out from the back of her head. Travis nosed her over and began to lick the wound, trying to clean it up. It wasn’t very bad, just a small nick; she wouldn’t even require stitches.
She groaned and shuddered, seeming to finally regain consciousness. He sat back on his haunches as the girl began to stir and open her eyes. She looked over at him, her eyes still cloudy. Finally recognition took hold and she sat up quickly, backing away from him.
“Don’t come any closer!” she shrieked. “Please don’t kill me!”
Travis cocked his head to the side and continued to stare at her as she freaked out. He had neglected to tell her you couldn’t just shift freely; you had to wait at least thirty minutes between shifts. He whined and spun around in a circle, pointing at the blood with his nose.
She stared at him, her eyes still wide with fear. Finally she began to understand what he was pointing out. “I’m bleeding?”
Travis barked and wagged his tail in agreement.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked warily.
Travis whined and shook his head back and forth. She nodded in understanding.
“So werewolves and vampires are real?” she asked.
Again Travis barked in agreement. He whined again and walked up behind her, sniffing at the wound on the back of her head. Her pretty blonde hair was streaked with crimson and it was beginning to drip down to her neck.
She got up and walked to the sink, her hand holding the wound on the back of her head. Travis followed her still whining about the blood.
“Can you turn back into a man and help me?” she asked.
Travis shook his head again, slobber flying from his mouth. Sometimes it was hard to remain dignified when your mouth produced excessive saliva. Still, he was the regal king of a pack now.
“Will you be able to turn into a man anytime soon?” she asked.
Travis nodded his head and barked.
Paige rolled her eyes and turned back to the sink trying to wash her head. He wasn’t sure why she was trying to do this in the kitchen sink when there was a bathroom with a tub right down the hall. It took a minute, but she finally came to her senses and started walking down the hall towards the bathroom. He followed behind her, but she slammed the door in his face. He sat down outside the bathroom, waiting patiently for her to return. He could hear the shower coming on and could smell the sting of rubbing alcohol from within.
The alcohol smell was too strong for him to bear after several minutes so he got up and walked back to where his clothes were. The pressboard subfloor of the mobile home groaned and creaked under his massive frame as he walked through her home.
He sniffed her furniture, loving the sweet smell she had left behind. In his human form he didn’t find a lot of attraction to this woman, but the wolf part of his brain had taken over. It knew there was a female in the house and it was drawn to her. He began to feel attraction for this woman taking over, this was his female and other males better beware. He considered pissing on something, marking his territory, but the human part of his brain leapt forward to remind him that would probably be a bad idea at this juncture. Still, other males needed to know she was his.
Of course she would have his scent after he mated with her, then other males would know she was taken. He didn’t smell another man on her right now and he had heard her tell someone she was single now. She was right there for the taking. With her wide hips she could probably produce an entire litter for him to propagate the pack again. Surely there were other males and females in the area coming of age that needed a pack to gravitate to.
He found himself lost in these thoughts as she exited the bathroom wearing nothing but a bra and panties. Travis whined as he saw her nearly naked and spun around in a circle. He was getting excited, but he had to wait until he changed back to human form.
“This has been quite the two days,” she said, flopping down onto the couch and covering her face. Travis walked over and laid his head in her lap, looking up at her with his big orange eyes. “This is kind of weird when I know you’re going to turn back into a man.”
Travis ignored her and left his head there as she leaned back and began to zone out. Time passed as they both stayed locked in their spot. After a half hour he began to feel the change taking hold of his body again. He twisted and cracked as his body transformed back into the confines of a man.
Now he was on his knees, naked in front of this woman. He looked up at her, hoping his attraction to her would go away when he changed back to human form, but he found himself still hopelessly drawn to her. His wolf had claimed her and his human side was doing the same. Just staring at her nearly naked form was arousing him. Her breasts were plump and juicy; he very much wanted to hold one in his hand while his tongue found its way around the other. Her legs were thick and long, perfectly smooth for him to run his hands up and down. He felt a tingle in his penis as he thought about them wrapped completely around him.
I must have her, he thought as he felt his erection begin to grow. She is completely different than any female I have ever been with, but it is wonderful. I love this body.
“Are you ok?” Paige asked as she looked down at him. He was still between her legs, hungrily eyeing her vagina, which was hidden by a thin layer of cotton.
Confusion set in as he did not smell arousal coming from her. How could she not be aroused with her alpha naked in front her?
I must wait for the right time, he realized. She is not thinking about sex right now. If she is receptive she will be more willing to accept me as her mate.
He had seen Jacob play the delicate game of mating many times. If you tried to mount a female before she was ready then she could turn and attack you, biting at you and running you away. Sometimes it soured the female on ever mating with you, even when they were in heat. Paige was the only one in the human world he’d revealed his secret to and she was going to help him get his revenge, he had to play this game carefully.
“I’m sorry I zoned out after the transformation,” he said, turning away from her to hide his erection as he stood up. “Let me grab my clothes.”
“You’re a strange guy,” she said. “Or wolf, what do you prefer?”
“Either or,” he said laughing, walking back to the pile that was his clothes. “I prefer my wolf form to my human form more than anything, but that’s because I’ve spent my entire life around other wolves.”
“Do you still prefer it?” she asked. He could feel her eyes burning into his back, checking out his muscular body as he got dressed. She was attracted to him, he knew this to be true, but attraction didn’t mean anything if she wouldn’t act on it.
“Well of course,” he said, turning back towards her as he finished dressing. “There’s just so much freedom in being a wolf, you’d never understand.”
“Well won’t I turn into one if you bite me?” she asked. He couldn’t tell if she was serious or not.
“Where would you get such an insane idea?” he asked.
“In movies people turn into werewolves after being bitten,” she said as if it was a known fact.
“That’s not how it works,” he said. “You’re either born a wolf or not. You can’t become one like you can a vampire.”
“So how do you make new wolves?” she asked.
“You mate with a human and produce wolf babies,” he said.
“With humans?” she asked.
“You can try with a werewolf, but most f
emale wolves are sterile. They generally help care of the human woman’s pups, but they cannot have their own babies. It is very rare that a female wolf produces children.”
“What was your mother?” she asked, getting personal.
Normally Travis would’ve ignored such questions and changed the subject; it was none of her business. The growing connection he felt compelled him to answer. “She was human. She didn’t know my father was a werewolf. On my twelfth birthday I made my first change and she lost her mind. Luckily Jacob knew about me and he showed up to take me to live with the pack.”
“Did it hurt?” she asked.
“My first transformation? A little, but overall it was exhilarating,” he said.
“No, losing your mother like that,” she said.
Travis looked at the ground, feeling the familiar sting of heartache in his chest. He tried to push his mother from his mind; the pain was too much. “Yes it did. It still does to be honest. I haven’t seen her since that day fourteen years ago. She was all too willing to let Jacob take me away on his motorcycle. I didn’t understand at first. I cried a lot because I missed my mom, but eventually the sadness turned to anger and I began to take it out on the weaker males. You’re either born to be an alpha or you’re not. I was born to be an alpha, so I was bigger and stronger than the other children.”
“Did you ever stop hurting the other boys?” she asked.
“Yes,” Travis said, walking around and sitting down next to her on the couch. “Jacob helped me deal with my anger; made me realize it’s not my mother’s fault.”
“How can it not be?” Paige asked, suddenly getting shrill. “She abandoned you! Let a stranger take you away!”
“My mother did not understand me. Humans fear what they do not understand. I am not angry with her. The only thing I feel in my heart is pity.”
Paige stared at him for a long time, tears welling up in her eyes. “That’s just so sad. I don’t know what I would do if my parents rejected me like that.”
“Where are your parents?” he asked.
“They moved to Florida,” she said. “I guess they abandoned me in a way. I’ve been lost ever since they left. Billy is all I have out here, but I hate living here. My parents moved away to escape this place, but they left me trapped here too. I’m not a country person, but I’m alone out here. I have no friends and now no boyfriend. All I have is work and my home.”
“I have nobody either,” Travis said, looking down at the couch. He took one of Paige’s dainty hands into his oversized paw and looked her in the eyes. “I’m actually glad I met you.”
She smiled, the tears beginning to subside. “I’m glad I hit you with my car.”
Together they shared a hearty laugh over her joke, both of them crying by the time it was over.
“Would you ever want to meet your mom now that you’re grown up?” she asked him.
Travis considered the question for a minute. “I never thought about it. I’m an alpha male, I have duties now. It may sound harsh to you, but I have more important things to do than seek out a human that doesn’t want to know me.”
“You’re very arrogant aren’t you?” Paige asked.
“A pack would never follow me if I didn’t believe in myself,” he said with a cocky smile.
“It’s kind of off-putting,” she said.
“That is not my concern,” he said. “I cannot worry about the feelings of others at this juncture.”
“This juncture,” she said, appearing to turn something over in her head. “What are you going to do now?”
“Tonight I’m going to visit your friend Dario,” he said. “He’s the only lead I have.”
“I’ll go with you,” Paige said, her eyes growing determined. “What else do I have to do?”
“You want to put yourself in danger?” he asked.
“I don’t think Dario is the guy you’re looking for,” she said. “I think we’ll be ok.”
“If you go down this path with me there is no backing out,” Travis said. “It’s going to be a tough road, very dangerous.”
“I understand that,” she said. “I want to see this through to the end.”
“Why have you taken an interest in me?” Travis asked. “You think I’m arrogant and you’re scared of what I am.”
“I’m not scared of you,” she said. “I think it’s pretty cool actually. It shocked me at first, but I’m digging it now. Why are you so interested in me?”
“I haven’t spent much time with humans since I moved to Bowshot. Jacob told me they would fear me and hate me if they knew what I was. You don’t appear to feel either of those feelings towards me. Plus I think you’re beautiful.”
“You what?” Paige asked. Her face turned red and she hid her eyes from Travis.
He laughed, liking the effect he was having on her. His compliment had been carefully calculated, drawing her closer to him. “I said I think you’re beautiful.”
“I thought you would be into somebody a bit more, ummm, sleek,” she said, giving him a puzzled look.
“It is true you do not look like werewolf females,” he said. “However, there’s something about your curves that I can’t get enough of. Plus you have stunning blue eyes and beautiful blonde hair. Not many wolves have hair so blonde.”
“You’re sweet,” she said, pulling him in close for a hug. “I’m glad we met too.”
Travis could feel his erection growing again, restricted by the tight jeans he was wearing. He knew now still wasn’t the time to make his move, he had to be patient. It was hard being so patient with a human though. He had claimed her as his mate-she just didn’t know it yet.
Chapter 10
Paige watched Travis as he got up from the couch and walked down the hallway to the bathroom. She found her eyes travelling down his wide back to the tight ass that was hidden just behind his jeans.
When he left the room she took a deep breath, feeling her face flush.
You can’t get involved with him, she thought. You hardly know him and this is a whole world you’re not going to want to be involved in. He’s probably going to kill someone tonight when he goes to Dario’s house. If not then he’ll kill someone when he finds the wererats. Do you want to be involved in murder?
Paige shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to make the voice in her head stop. It was raising very valid points, but she didn’t want to overthink this situation like she did everything else in her life. She was already in deep learning his secret-something humans were not meant to know unless they were allowed inside the pack.
While waiting for Travis she got up and walked around her living room. Her eyes lingering on the bare walls, old mismatched furniture and dirty floors. She had always wanted a complete living room set and beautiful pictures on the wall. Unfortunately her paychecks only afforded her enough to pay her bills, put food on the table and maybe afford a new DVD or clothes.
She sighed and buried her face in her hands, this wasn’t how she pictured her life turning out at all. She had big dreams to run off to college somewhere far away and marry a rich man.
“I was supposed to have a big house and three kids by now,” she said.
“What was that?” Travis asked from behind her.
She jumped, not realizing she had spoken those words out loud. “Nothing, it’s nothing.”
“Are you sure you’re ok with everything?” Travis asked. “I appreciate your hospitality, but I can do this on my own.”
“What else do I have to do?” Paige asked, realizing how true and sad that statement was. “I just have my ratty trailer and boring job to do, I don’t even have a boyfriend anymore.”
“He mated with another female, right?” Travis asked.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it mating,” she said, chuckling. She was going to have to get used to his words and mannerisms; he was a complete mixture of human and canine. “He was fucking some bitch.”
“I guess I don’t see the problem,” Travis said, scratching his head. “In my society the alpha mates with many females to produce a diverse litter and to populate the pack.”
Paige felt her heart sink, even if he wasn’t fully human he was just like every other man. “That’s not how things work in human society.”
“It’s not?” he asked. “I have read history books. All of your great leaders of history, like Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great had huge sexual appetites.”
“You’ve read history books?” she asked.
“Jacob kept many books on hand in his cottage. He didn’t want us to completely lose sight of humanity. When a pack isolates itself from humanity its members can become feral, dangerous. He did not want that to happen to us.”
“That’s interesting,” Paige said, thinking about his words. Jacob sounded like a good leader, someone that was doing his best to make sure his pack retained their human side, even if the human side was arrogant. Or was it the wolf side that was arrogant? “I wouldn’t exactly call your examples great men though. They were bloody conquerors that eradicated whole civilizations.”
“This is not a quality you find attractive in a man?” Travis asked. A sly smile appeared on his face. “I plan on eradicating an entire wererat civilization.”
“You really think you can defeat them all alone?” she asked. “What if they do that lunar thing you were talking about?”
