Wolverton - Julie Steimle (fb2 epub reader .TXT) 📗

murmured, as the voices in his head (which sounded like Mrs. Blithe telling him to get out now) were drowned out by the thunder of their tandem hearts. Rick heaved her onto the bed and immediately gave into passion, ignoring all the consequences.

He lost sense of time from thereon. And somewhere along the way he passed out.

The sun was setting when Rick finally woke. He didn’t know how long he had lain there. Daisy was underneath him, breathing softly. He hoped he wasn’t crushing her. To make sure, he sat up.

“Finally,” she whispered.

He gazed down at her to make sure she was ok, but she was gazing fondly on him, looking so delicious in the waning light.

Then she kissed his lips and pulled herself into sitting position. “You really wore yourself out.” But then she leaned up closer and whispered, “It was even better than last night.”

Rick blushed, understanding what he had done. And though the rationale that he couldn’t possibly get her more pregnant was a stupid one, it was the notion that had nudged him over to give in to his desires for her. And though he had not intended to be the kind of man to give up his virginity in lust, his mind had settled on the idea that he had already messed up and gotten her pregnant, and that he might as well enjoy what he could since he couldn’t make it any worse. Besides, his body craved hers completely. Even now, he felt like making love to her again, though he was extremely tired and sore.

She kissed him once more. “Hey. You’re not regretting it already, are you?”

Ashamed of himself, Rick also didn’t want to tell her he did still hold regrets. Though their time together had been mind-blowing and his body wanted to do it again and again with her, utterly intoxicated by her smell— that really wasn’t the kind of person he wanted to be. He had wanted save himself for marriage. Werewolves had very few holy things to cling to, and that had been his. So that part of him, that feeling of loss of purity, was weeping. 

“Uh…?” He then met her eyes. Overwhelmed with hunger for her, addicted to her, he kissed her. Then he climbed on top of her, kissing her with more passion.

Laughing, she gently pushed him back. “No, no… We can’t start again. We’ll miss the hunt.”

Breathlessly pulling off, Rick nodded. That was right. The hunt. They had to do that first. Then they would have the rest of the night. And maybe the day after. And the day after that.

“Let’s get dressed,” she said.

Get dressed, his mind throbbed with her command. Then go to the hunt and undress all over again. He nodded. He could do that. They had the whole night after anyway. He just wanted her. He would do anything she said to get that.

She gave him his pants back, and his shirt. The original ones. He was glad to have his wallet also. It was mildly annoying that kept losing it.

But when they walked out of the house together, holding hands, he awoke to the comprehension that he was basically declaring to the pack that he had accepted Daisy as his mate. And he knew what that meant for them. He was now part of the pack.

Kurt watched them with dumbfounded eyes, shaking his head while muttering, “Totally whipped.”

Wilk greeted them both with strong hugs, grinning at Rick and beaming at his sister. Rick wondered about his… well, he guessed they would be in-laws soon enough. Not yet. But not far in the future. He still wanted Daisy to be able to go to school and possibly study veterinary medicine if that was really her desire. Maybe they could hire a nanny to help care for their baby while they were in classes. The nanny would have to be a werewolf of course, as he could not imagine a human stranger handling a wolf pup around the full moon. His other regret, though, was that Eve would definitely not ever be his girlfriend. He had really liked her too. But that dream was gone as Daisy was now his future.

“I see you made up your mind,” Mac said when he saw Rick, nodding approvingly at Daisy, then at Wilk.

His mind? As Mac walked off, Rick found himself unable to answer that. Where was his mind in all this? It was more like the wolf in him decided everything for him. His human side was still in protest, internally weeping. But it was getting quieter and quieter, as the wolf within overwhelmed his senses.

“I’ll make it work,” Rick finally said, as really that was his only choice. He had to make it work. He wanted Daisy with every bit of his passion, and that was all that there was to it.

When they reached the bonfire square, they separated for the hunt. But not until after several kisses and insistent urging on Daisy’s part for him to go the men’s areas so she could join the ladies. When he joined the men, he was on autopilot. He undressed without any of his former embarrassment with barely a thought to it. Wolves didn’t wear clothes anyway, he rationalized. His head was buzzing with excitement, his blood pulsing hotly through him, and he was hardly able to restrain himself from running out to find Daisy so they could just keep making love. Wilk strode past him, chuckling as Rick antsily paced.

“Whoa there,” Wilk said as Rick’s eyes looked to the door. “Keep it in. I know you want her, but we have the hunt first.”

Yes, he needed to hunt. Rick nodded. Of course he did. And yes, he needed to make a kill that night. It was very necessary as the wolf in him called for the fresh meat. But all that was in his head was Daisy. He wanted Daisy the most.

When they lined up, Wilk went through the same chanting as the night before. The same instructions. The same as everything from the night before. But the song for the procession outside was different as they marched in parade to the bonfire. Feeling the passion of the moment, sensing the moon overhead, Rick found himself walking almost in a trance to the gigantic blaze where he soon stood side-by-side with the he-wolves across the she-wolves. Daisy looked so beautiful in the firelight, shining like an ethereal creature who had come down from the moon just to be his.

They released the deer. He saw it this time. A beautiful doe. It ran off into the dark grass. A couple others were then released, but Rick noticed one deer dodged away in an odd direction, as if something in the dark in that spot was more dangerous than they were. It caught his attention. Rick stared in that direction as the call to look at the moon came. He didn’t lift his eyes to the moon though, enraptured on that spot He noticed in the grass in the area where the deer had avoided, something glinting off the firelight. As the other wolves howled and changed, Rick felt his senses come alive. He could smell it.

Clove oil.

The Real Hunt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

 

“Get down!” Rick shouted, dodging from human into wolf form. “He’s got a gun!”

A loud crack split the air. Wood just over Rick-the-wolf's head splintered.

“Who’s got a gun?” yowled Kurt-the-wolf, skittering behind the fire to him.

“The hunter! He’s right over there!”

Almost immediately, the pack stared. Then, altogether, they converged on the place where Rick had pointed. In the dark, he could see flashes of gunfire, loud cracks splitting his ears. A log in the fire in front of Rick-the-wolf fractured, and tumbled out of the blaze. Rick-the-wolf dodged. A stinging sensation scraped through the top of his foreleg.

The hunter took several shots at the wolves charging at him, backing away for safety. Wolves yipped in pain, several limping away. Two fell. But the hunter soon toppled over with a cry of terror as the wolves reached him then tore into him as they would any animal.

Rick-the-wolf watched in horror, staggering back as the screams of the hunter filled his ears. His eyes on the darkness, he could see everything. And worse, he knew that hunter, and there was no way he could save him.

“Calm down,” hissed one of the she-wolves who had stayed out of the melee. “We have to defend the pack.”

Nodding his wolf head, Rick-the-wolf understood that, but the man’s screams in his ears were worse than the sound of gunshots.

His eyes whipped away from the scene. He didn’t want to watch anymore. He wanted it to stop. In panic, he rushed over to the watching elders and called out, “This should not be the kill on the full moon.”

One of the elder wolves shared a look with those in attendance. He then howled out.

All the attacking wolves stopped, lifting their heads to see what reason the elder was calling.

“Let him die there. You should be hunting deer,” the elder said. “Not man.”

The wolves in the center of the fray looked angry, savagely impassioned. 

Rick-the-wolf jumped up and pulled into human shape. “Don’t become man-eaters, I beg you. Don’t sacrifice what was good about you because of me.”

“This is not about you!” growled out one of the wolves, which Rick guessed to be Mr. Blithe. His face was covered in his fair share of human blood. Venomous in his hate, he looked like he would bite out Rick’s jugular next.

Stomping over to him, bare and defenseless, Rick shouted, “He came here to get me! He didn’t even know you were here.”

“Are you sure he—?” Wilk’s voice came from a gray wolf, also bloody.

“I know him,” Rick said. Then he crossed the grass in his bare feet to the mauled hunter who was soaked in his own blood, barely breathing, “He has tried to kill me a number of times in the past.”

“Then he should definitely die,” Farkas-the-red-wolf shouted out.

Staring at the dying hunter, Rick grieved. He shook his head. “I don’t want you to become killers.”

Daisy rushed up to him, struggling in her return to human form. When she managed it, she put her arms around Rick, holding him close. “It’s ok. We’re protecting you.”

He shook his head, crying. “No more. Please.”

Elder Varu’s voice called over the air. “Clear out the hunter from our grounds. Wilk. Start the ceremony again.”

“But the deer…” Wilk gestured out into the darkness with his snout.

“They’re getting farther away,” another one called.

Elder Varu howled to silence them. Then he barked, “Eyes to the moon, children. And go hunt.”

Everyone raised their eyes up to the moon. Daisy directed Rick’s chin skyward so he could see as well. He wiped his eyes of tears and stared. The effect was almost instantaneous. He howled with all his might at the gray cratered orb overhead, overtaken by everything that was wolf in him. Growing a snout, sprouting hair, and growing a tail, he collapsed to four feet again. Those who were not already wolves twisted into shape and grew fur once more.

One of the other wolves led the hunt. Daisy stayed alongside Rick and urged him along until his instincts kicked in once more. Then he overcame her and charged