Chapter 28
I’m tired. I spent four days stemming Georgie’s heat—four days with little food or sleep. Although we learn about heats at Sunday School, where we learn about all aspects of being a werewolf, it doesn’t cover what it’s like actually to go through it.
I woke up in bed with Georgie’s head on my chest and an arm and leg covering my body. I was surprised because I felt like I got a decent sleep in, but now I feel… tired.
I left Georgie asleep in bed as I walked down to the training rooms to see how everything was going. A She-wolf’s heat can last anywhere up to a couple of days to a week. So I don’t have to be back today, but I want to see how everything is running.
I walk past the beauty salon, which I noticed is completely gutted. Deltas are working on building the inside with walls and panelling. I didn’t get to have a good look at it, but I put that on my list of things to do. No, I want to see how Leyton’s gone with my role.
So I’m not surprised when I see him and Raven, my brother-in-law sitting in my office, heads looking at a phone screen.
“So this is what you guys do all day when I’m not here?” I ask. Leyton pushes the phone onto Rave and stands up.
“No! We’ve been busy!” he says.
“Sure you have,” I say, making Raven laugh.
“Come on man, you got to see this dude on reels. He’s a tall guy but his family are little! The things he does to his family are hilarious. See, look,” Raven tells me, shoving the phone in my face.
“Yeah, not now,” I say with a yawn.
“You look tired bro,” Leyton says.
“Really? Is that obvious?” I ask. I lean against the wall because my two chairs have been taken.
“I remember Rhiannon’s heats. Fun times,” Raven comments. I roll my eyes.
“I do not want to know about my sister’s sex life,” I tell them.
“I can’t wait till I meet my mate,” Leyton sighs.
“It’s very tiring,” I admit.
“Oh, come on, it’s every guy’s dream, right?” Leyton asks, looking from me to Raven. I shake my head, not wanting to say anything bad about Georgie’s heat out loud. Yes, I admit, I couldn’t wait to experience my first heat, but the lack of sleep gets too much. And to think Georgie will continue to go into heat every six months until she falls pregnant.
“Wait for your mate,” is all I say.
“Her heats over then?” Raven asks. I nod.
“Okay, well we’ve just monitored your teams and Rhiannon and I went through our old notes we made when you became commander,” Raven says. I nod. When I became commander my sister and Raven asked if they could help me set everything up and make some changes. Yes, I said yes. I’m not stupid. However, we were met with hurdles and didn’t get to implement many changes.
“How’d you go?” I ask. Leyton looks over at Raven before he speaks.
“Well, we spoke to the heads and seconds of each team. With Jed agreeing, they’re all getting their own offices on this floor,” Raven says.
“But it does mean that they’re going to cut into the boxing room to build a couple of conference rooms…” Leyton begins.
“What?” I ask.
“But don’t worry, we’ve moved the boxing room to the sparring room, and platforms are being built outside for sparring!” Raven says, standing up.
“And Jed approved all this?” I ask.
“Yup. And the elders agreed also,” Leyton says. The elders comprise of my parents and grandparents, the former Alpha couple and the former Gamma couple.
“It was Dad’s idea,” Raven admits. I whistle. The things that get done when you’re away.
“Well, you better show me then,” I tell them.
We walk into the old salon first, and Tyrus, one of the Delta’s team leaders, walks up to us.
“Commander! Welcome back to the world of the living!” the older gentleman greets.
“Hi, Tyrus. How are things going?” I ask. Tyrus grins and tells me all about their progress and the expected time of completion.
“This is what I signed up for,” he admits.
“Oh?” I ask.
“Yup. I grew up in one of the houses built when we hosted the winter solstice thirty years ago. My dad built it when he was a Delta. I’ve always wanted to give back,” Tyrus grins.
“Well, thank you,” I nod. He smiled before returning to whatever it was he was doing. The next stop is the old boxing room, where two conference rooms are being built. They almost look complete.
“All they have to do is lay down the carpet and then Rhiannon was hoping to purchase the furniture,” Raven admits. I smile.
“She has some good taste, I suppose,” looking at my brother-in-law.
We head outside next and see some additions to the platforms we already have out there.
“Dad suggested some next to each other at different levels. I think they’ll be quite popular,” Raven says. I nod in agreement. Already there are a team of young Deltas sparring on three connected platforms, each with a varying level.
“That one will have a couple more platforms added to it,” Leyton comments.
“I want to see the old sparring room,” I say. The old sparring room is as big as a gymnasium in size, but its floor is lined with mats. Anything from upper-strength training to staff wielding is practised here.
“I don’t know if I like this,” I admit. On the right-hand side of the room, where it was all mats, there were now two boxing rings and several punching bags.
“It’ll take some getting used to. This pack house is old, remember?” Raven says. I nod. I’ve visited Raven’s family pack, Skathi Pack. Skathi Pack is a northern pack, and its pack house is quite modern in comparison to ours. It’s about the same size, but the facilities a newer and at the time, were the latest.
“How do our older Delta’s feel about these changes?” I ask as we walk back to my office.
“They’re not as happy, but they are looking forward to the new facilities,” Raven shrugs.
“So they’re happy to get an office but not happy about the changes that may go with it?” I ask.
“That about sums it up,” Raven says.
“Oh, and you got this two days ago,” Leyton says, handing me a letter that was sitting on my desk. It has the Royal Council’s crest on the back seal. Fuck.
Quickly I open it up and read.
“What is it?” Raven asks.
“The Northern Rangers are coming in four weeks,” I reply, handing the letter to him.
“We should tell Alpha Jed,” Leyton suggests. I nod in agreement.
//\\///\\\//\\
On the way to Jed’s office, I mind-linked Georgie to see how she was and to tell her what I was doing. She told me she was fine and to go do what I needed to do.
As I approach Jed’s office, a familiar person walks out.
“Alaric! I’m so happy to see you!” she cries, walking over to me and clinging on to my arm.
“Don’t touch me,” I growl, shaking her off.
“Oh, Alaric! Silly! It’s just me, Dharia, your friend! Remember?” she laughs attempting to grab hold of me again.
“I said, don’t touch me!” I growl, putting some of my Beta power into the instruction. Dharia giggles again, noticing that she’s got an audience with Raven and Leyton, who were coming with me.
“But Alaric, we’re friends, like always, remember, silly!” she says, attempting to touch me again. I’m happy to see she stops twenty centimetres from me, my Beta order taking effect.
“No, Dharia. We were never friends. My friend would never have fed me a potion to make me fall in love with them, which you did. You gave me the potion knowing I’d met my second chance mate. You kept giving me the potion making me forget who my mate was to me. And still, after I had forgotten her, you kept feeding me that shit just so I wouldn’t remember. But she almost died, and I did remember who she was. It was like… fuck,” I say, stopping at my realisation. I recall Teresa’s death, and how I only noticed her on the battlefield just before she died. Dharia looks at me, scared about what I’m going to say next. I shake my head.
“You fucking bitch!” I yell. I take a step forward to punch her in the face but am held back by Leyton and Rave.
“You! Every time I had a girlfriend, you gave me a potion. Every time. During the territory war, you were giving me the potion. You knew, didn’t you?!” I yell.
“You fucking knew!”
“Alaric, son, you need to calm down,” my dad says. I hadn’t noticed he, Jed and my sister had walked out of the office. I shake my head.
“I think she knew, Dad,” I say, angry. Dad nods.
“Yes son, she knew,” he tries to appease.
“No! This fucking cunt knew all along! Dad, it was her fault!”
“Leyton, get Dharia out of our sight,” Rhiannon orders. Dharia complains but Leyton is bigger than her and manages to drag her away. I can’t think. I can’t believe the person I thought was my friend could do this to me.
“Dad, I need to see someone,” I say.
“I’ll take you,” Dad nods.
Teresa’s death keeps replaying in my head, especially her last words. I’m numb, just going through the motions as Dad and I walk to the car and drive over to Chloe’s.
I’m going through the motions as I knock on her door and wait for her to open up.
Chloe is adjusting her top while holding Natalie over her shoulder.
“Um, hi,” she greets, pulling the door slightly ajar.
“Chloe, can we come in?” my dad asks.
“Um, sure, come in,” she says, stepping aside to give us room. Natalie burps just as we step inside, making my father laugh.
“How can I help you?” Chloe asks, leading us to the living room which is overrun by baby toys and paraphernalia.
“Why don’t I take the baby while you two chat,” Dad offers. Dad smiles when Chloe hesitates.
“Babies love me, I promise,” Dad tells her. I watch as Chloe passes baby Natalie over to dad, Natalie looking up at my father before cooing and closing her eyes.
“See, told you babies love me,” Dad says.
“Um. Would you like to go to the sunroom?” Chloe asks. I nod and follow her quietly to her sunroom.
Chloe’s sunroom has a two-seater wicker sofa and two wicker armchairs. Behind the sofa is a shelf, filled with pot-plants and a photo of her and Teresa.
“Do you miss her?” I ask.
“Sometimes. I wish she could have met Natalie, but it wasn’t meant to be,” Chloe replies. I nod.
“She was a good friend to you,” I say.
“She was. Alaric, are you okay?” I look at Chloe, who is sitting on an armchair, watching me.
“Chloe, did I meet Teresa before the war?” I ask. It’s a question I don’t want to ask because I don’t want to know the answer. I’ve always believed that I met Teresa first just before she lay dying in my arms. Everything I know about my first mate I’ve learnt through her best friend or her parents.
“You don’t remember?” Chloe asks. I shake my head.
Chloe doesn’t say anything, instead looking at the shelf behind me.
“I remember I moved to this pack about two weeks after I met Logan. Teresa moved in with us about a month later,” Chloe says. I nod, I know this. Chloe is from Little Rock, so the move here wasn’t very far.
“Silver Forest is bigger than Little Rock, and Logan took us both out to see the area. We went to the Food Hall one day for lunch. You were there,” Chloe says. My heart drops.
“Teresa was scared about meeting you for the first time. But I encouraged her to walk over to you and say hello. You ended up having lunch together,” Chloe smiles, remembering. I don’t remember that.
“She was so happy. You asked her to meet for breakfast the following day, and man she was excited. Anyway, Logan and I dropped her off at the food court the next day, only to have her mind-link me twenty minutes later to pick her up. You apparently, refused to acknowledge her. Dharia was there and told her to fuck off. She was so upset. The next day, Alpha Jed called a pack meeting about the war, and the rest is all history,” Chloe says. I nod, recalling the days before the war. I don’t remember meeting Teresa. I do know Dharia had started bringing me shakes though.
“It makes sense,” I murmur. The way Chloe and Logan treated me after Teresa’s death. And Teresa’s last words, I always thought they were about us not meeting each other beforehand, not that I had met her.
“The last thing she said to me, before she died was, ‘It’s okay, Alaric.’ I always thought it was about us not having time with each other. But she was referring to me ignoring her. I don’t remember her at all before that time. At all,” I explain.
“I recently found out that Dharia had made a love potion. She’s been feeding me it for years.” I continue.
“How did you find out?”
“When Geor-Evie was in hospital. Rhiannon told me off for accepting food from Dharia and not my mate, and I realised then something must have been wrong with the drink. I had Lisa and the hospital analyse the contents. It was tainted with a love potion. When I found that out, I had Jed contact the High Priestess of Silva Ignus. I believe Dharia’s been poisoning me for years. I remember her offering me protein shakes over the years, even before I met Teresa. Whenever I had a girlfriend or liked someone. Suddenly we’d break up or I’d have girls yell at me about using them. Even Leyton and Kiran would give me dirty looks. But I never noticed anything wrong until Dharia did the same thing to Evie and me.”
Finally, I sit down and bury my head in my hands.
“What brought this all up now?” Chloe asks.
“Dharia’s back, She tried to tell me she was my friend. And I told her she was not. Then I realised if she had caused me to forget about Evie, then maybe she had done it about Teresa too,” I explain. Chloe nods.
“The thing is, I think, no, I know, I love Evie more than I ever did Teresa. Is that bad?” I ask.
“No. I was surprised when I saw you with Evie. She’s great, you know. I like her. But I don’t want you to hurt her.”
“I won’t. She’s everything to me. She doesn’t feel the same way about me, though.”
“I think she’s scared. Before I knew about you two, we spoke about fate. Do you know she hates fate? She hates that fate got her rejected. I think she’s scared you’re not going to choose her. But I believe in fate. I think you’re meant to be together. And I think you need to tell her about seeing Dharia today.”
“Do I have to?” I whine.
“You know the answer to that,” Chloe scolds.
We talk a little more, with me asking about motherhood, before Dad and I finally have to go and say goodbye.
“Next time, bring Evie, okay?” Chloe says as we walk out the door.
“I will,” I promise.
“Did you get all the answers you were looking for?” Dad asks as we drive back to the pack house.
“Yes.”
“And are you happy?”
“No.”
I tell Dad all that I’ve learned and all of my fears I have about Dharia being back in the picture.
“Well, she’s got a job as a housekeeper for the pack house. She wanted to be a Delta again but Jed refused. We need someone we can trust to protect our people,” Dad tells me.
//\\///\\\//\\
I sit in our room, waiting for Georgie to return from the pack library. She wasn’t here when I got home, and when I linked her, she told me she was at the library choosing books to borrow.
I look around the room and scan our space. This room fits both of us, but it’s snug, and I want my apartment to be our residence when we’re staying at the pack house. I have to broach this subject with her as well as seeing Dharia today. The former seems easier than the latter, but both topics I’m wary about.
I smile when I hear the door click open and Georgie enters the room. She grins when she sees me.
“What did you do, empty the place?” I ask when I see her bag full of books. Georgie sighs.
“I know. I couldn’t pick. They were all good. How was your day?” she asks, placing her books one by one on the coffee table.
“I bumped into Dharia today,” I say, ripping the band-aid off.
“Oh. How was that?”
“It was… enlightening,” I reply, taking her hand and placing it in mine. I want to reassure her everything is good between us.
“Seeing her after everything made me realise a few things,” I say.
“Like what?”
“Like, she’s not my friend. She never was my friend. She broke up a lot of the relationships I had in the past with girls. She’s the reason I lost Teresa, and she’s the reason I almost lost you.”
“Oh.”
“But you know what else I realised today?” I ask. Georgie shakes her head.
“I visited Chloe today to confirm my suspicions about Dharia when I met Teresa. It’s always devastated me that I never got much time with Teresa. It turns out I met her before the war, not near the end,” I admit. It’s hard to admit, that I was the one that ultimately pushed my mate away and then she died before I got any time with her.
“And then I realised that although I thought I loved Teresa, which I did, I love you more,” I admit. Georgie looks at me and smiles.
“I think that’s why the potion Dharia gave me with you didn’t work as well, because I love you more than I ever did Teresa. Georgie, you mean far more to me than she did, and I probably suck at telling you this, but I love you, I really love you.”
I watch her eyes to see how she’s going to react. I feel like a weight has lifted off me admitting this, but did I do the right thing?
“I love you, too,” Georgie finally says, easing my heart. She climbs onto my lap and wraps her arms around my neck. I bury my face in her hair, her honeysuckle scent calming me down.
“There’s another thing,” I say.
“Hmm?”
“I want us to move out of this suite and into mine. I’ve had it cleansed, and it’s bigger than this place… so, what do you think?
“You don’t like this place?” Georgie asks.
“No, I do…”
“It’s okay, we can do that,” Georgie giggles.
“Really?” I ask.
“Aha”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
I respond to that by pulling her closer for a kiss. Our tongues wrestle as we deepen our kiss and my cock twitches to attention. Kissing Georgie, having her in my arms, feels like home. And I never want to leave.
I move my hands from her back and roam her body, getting to the hem of her plain t-shirt and spreading my hands across her skin. I feel the material of her bra over her breasts, wiping my thumbs across her hardening nipples before roaming down towards her jean-clad pussy and rubbing my hand on it, making her moan.
“I want to see how wet you are, take this off,” I order. Georgie moves and stands before me as I slouch back into the seat and watch her give me a private strip show. My cock is pressing hard against my jeans and I unzip myself for more freedom.
“Yes baby, like that,” I grin. Pulling my pants down, I unsheathe my cock, wrapping my hand on the shaft and pumping it as I watch Georgie pull her panties down her long, taut legs. Her pussy is glistening with her juices, and I can’t wait to taste her.
After she steps out of her panties, I pull her forward and kiss her just above her hairline.
“Leg up, baby, I want better access,” I tell her. She does what I ask, and I reward her by kissing her clit. She moans and I smile. With one hand on her hip, and the other cupping her butt, I pull her hips towards my mouth and lick the juices off her wet cunt, paying extra attention to her clit. I place my lips on that bundle of nerves and suck, eliciting a scream from her mouth.
My fingernails scrape against her but-cheeks as I suck, and I make lines in her skin going up and down. I edge my fingers towards her crack, tracing the sensitive skin there before pushing my finger into her puckered hole. Georgie screams as I do this, her cheeks tensing, making me chuckle. Slowly I push more of my finger in as I attack her pussy. She chants my name and pulls at my hair.
“Fuck Alaric!” she yells, her body tensing. I feel her inside muscles push me out of her arse hole as she gushes in her orgasm. Fuck. My face is wet with her juices, but I don’t care. She tastes great.
Quickly, I wipe my face with the back of my arm and look up at her satisfied face. She looks tired, but I’m not finished with her yet.
“My turn,” I tell her. Georgie begins to move down, but I shake my head.
“I want you to ride me,” I say, pumping my cock with my fist. Georgie replaces my hand with her own, and I groan, her touch sending an explosion of fireworks through my body, making me want to come then and there.
“Baby,” I cry, making her grin. She pushes me back onto the couch and straddles me, wiping her pussy against my hard cock. As she makes a pass, I buck my hips forward and try to enter her, but my cock rolls out of the way. Georgie groans and makes another pass, rubbing up against me.
“I want inside you, now!” I growl. She just laughs and keeps teasing me with her pussy.
“Georgie!” I yell, producing another giggle. Fuck. I rock my hips upward, but each time she moves, avoiding me altogether.
“Georgie!” I growl. Suddenly she sides down the head of my cock, slowly descending until our hips are joined.
“Fuck,” I growl, leaning back into the couch as I enjoy every moment her tight pussy clamps on my cock. Don’t come, don’t come, I chant. I want to enjoy every second of this.
Georgie begins to move, sliding up and down my cock, and I groan, chanting my words in my head.
“Fuck!” I groan. I place my hands on her hips, drawing lines on her body with my fingers as she bounces on me. She slides down my length and begins rocking on me, backwards and forwards, moaning as she rides my dick. I open my eyes and am met with the view of her bra-wrapped breasts. Greedily I pull the material of one down and lick her nipple before clamping on with my mouth, She moans, tossing her hair as I let go, her scent enveloping me once more.
Fuck. I’m going to come, I’m going to come. I grab hold of her hips and thrust upwards as my orgasm explodes through me. Georgie bounces on me two more times before collapsing on top of me. I wrap my arms around her body, pulling her closer and nuzzling into her neck as our breathing settles.
She’s mine. My home. My person. My world. Mine.
