Secret Worlds (359 page)

I continued the attack, ripping and biting and tearing away at any bit of skin I could get my teeth into. I needed to wear her down a little bit. Diana yelped and barked and started to run, leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

Oh, no, you don’t.

I kept right on her tail, nipping at it as she ran us into the pack.

And that’s when the most interesting turn of events happened. Seeing her cowardice like that seemed to enrage the other wolves. They too joined me in the chase, and in moments we had Diana pinned down. Her yelping cries were quickly silenced.

Overwhelming sense of pride filled me as I looked down on her still form. The other wolves who had surrounded me and aided me bowed their heads. It was clear to me that any prior questions of my leadership abilities or animosity about my becoming their Alpha Female were now gone. I’d earned their respect and my place in the pack.

A final yelp snatched me from my moment of victory. I turned to find my Aiden. He lay whimpering on the ground, his back leg at a painfully odd angle.

Micah lay on his back, unmoving.

Werewolves heal pretty darn fast, especially when they have vampires for physicians. Aiden’s leg had been broken in a few places, but he’d managed to emerge from the fight a winner.

I curled up next to my sleeping man and nuzzled his hand with my cold wet nose. He’d been unconscious for the better part a day while he healed, and I hadn’t been able to shift back without his help, but none of the inconvenience really mattered to me. I was just happy my man was alive and well and had solidified his role as Alpha.

He stirred and groaned.

I let out a soft grunt and nudged his hand with my nose.

Still groggy from sleep, his voice was dry and raspy. “Sorry, babe. I should have helped you earlier.”

Since I had no voice, I did the only thing I could think of to let him know I wasn’t mad. I stood and gave him the sloppiest and wettest lick I could, right across his face.

He squirmed and let out a groaning laugh. “All right, all right, I get it. Thanks for the payback. Come sit by me.”

I plopped my furry butt down next to him on the bed and placed a paw on his chest.

Aiden smiled and shook his head. “You won’t be top dog for long.” He ran his hand up through the fur under my neck and face, then found the spot behind my left ear and scratched.

Now I know why dogs love it so much: the feeling was divine. I leaned my head into his hand, hoping for more.

“I have to say, you make one fine wolf. But I miss my sexy little mate.” His hand moved from the heavenly spot behind my ear to my forehead. “Remember who you are, Fallon,” he commanded.

I did as I was told and pictured myself standing in front of a mirror. I saw my body as it has always been and held on to that image. As before, there was a jolt, like an electric current. I felt it run from the tip of my nose to the end of my tail. It sent a shudder through my body. Then, suddenly, I felt myself expanding. My legs lengthened, my paws elongated into fingers. Such an odd feeling; while everything seemed to be getting bigger, my face contracted. My snout retracted into a small upturned nose. My teeth shrank and so did my ears.

It took no time at all, and other than the feeling of my back cracking and my knuckles popping, the entire process was painless. I smiled and stretched, enjoying the feel of being back in my own body again.

“So, how do you feel?” Aiden asked.

“I should be asking you that,” I replied, happy to have my voice back again. “Your poor leg looked terrible.”

“I’m a big boy, I can take a few bumps and bruises.” He shrugged off my worry. So like a man!

“Well, if you’re all healed, Mr. Tough Guy, then I guess you don’t need me to nurse you back to health. I’ll just be going then. I could use a shower anyway.” I turned away, planning to hop up out of bed and let him watch me and my naked ass walk away, but he caught me before I could execute my devilish plan.

“Oh, nurse, I think I found some swelling you might want to have a look at.”

Aiden’s smile was wicked. He rolled onto his back and put his hands behind his head on the pillow. His eyes darted from my face down to the sheets. “It hurts so bad. Is there anything you can do to help me?”

I followed the trail down his partially covered torso where his
swelling
, though covered by sheets, was very prominent.

I’d never role-played before; it always seemed a little cheesy to me, though secretly I found it arousing, and could already feel the wetness between my legs. I smirked. Playing the sexy nurse could definitely be fun. I bit back the giggle fit I was about to have and put on my best business-like face. “Oh, you poor thing. I know just the procedure to help relieve that pressure. But I’ll have to examine it further before we begin.”

I stood and walked around to his side of the bed, bent over, and folded the sheet back. That man couldn’t have been any harder—and seeing his throbbing cock quickened my pulse too. I had to fight back the smile again. I gave him a thorough examination, taking him into my hands and gently stroked his hard length. “Just as I suspected. We’re going to have to reduce that swelling soon, or that thing might pop.”

He looked at me with pleading eyes. “Please, nurse, do whatever you need to do.”

As silly as it was, I was really beginning to get into this naughty nurse routine.

“You just lie back and let me take care of things.” I continued to stroke him, tenderly squeezing on each upstroke, and leaned over to give him a kiss. “I need to check your breathing as well,” I whispered, before sucking his bottom lip into my mouth.

He moaned as I worked my magic. His hips rose with each of my strokes and I could hear his heartbeat picking up speed. My heart, too, beat to the primal rhythm of passion, and my body ached to be touched as well. As if he’d read my mind, he brought his hand down between my legs for a little examination of his own.

I panted into his mouth as he slicked his finger through my wet folds. I tightened my grip and picked up the pace as well, stroking him harder and faster. He kissed me, tenderly at first, but as I slowly worked him into a frenzy, his animal aggression showed. When he nipped at my lips I knew he was getting close. I backed off and released my grip on him.

He whimpered.

“Your swelling appears to be worse than expected. We’re going to have to move to a more powerful procedure.”

“Please,” was all he could say.

I grinned ear to ear and hopped up on the bed and hovered over him. I loved hearing a man say that in the throes of passion. It added fuel to my own fire. I was hot and ready too, my body aching for him to complete me. And complete me he did.

He clutched my hips and pulled me down, spearing me. Together we let out sounds of pent-up frustration.

We were truly mates, made for each other. Together we were perfect. I felt it all the way down to my core.

I ground into him and clenched my muscles as I swirled and rocked my hips. I knew he loved this little move. His grip tightened on my hips as his eyes rolled back into his head.

It wouldn’t be long now. His
swelling
would definitely be gone … soon.

Aiden’s hips rose with me as I rode him all the way home.

We both needed a little rest and recuperation after, but I was confident that the patient would survive to see another day.

“Rise and shine, you party animals.” Brady came to rouse us before the sun had even shown itself.

“Go away, I command it,” I groaned.

“You’re not officially an Alpha yet,” Brady snickered at me. “One final task remains before Aiden can take on the role as true Alpha, and you as his mate.”

“What more do we need to do? I turned, didn’t I? We’re good. Now let us sleep.”

Aiden grumbled and pulled the pillow over his head. I wished I’d thought of that.

“Besides, he still needs to heal.”

“Aiden’s healed plenty. At least, that’s the way it sounded last night.”

Blood rushed to my face. I hadn’t realized we’d been that loud.

“C’mon, you two.” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together like a villain with a plan. “You don’t want to miss your own wedding!”

“Wedding? Is this some kind of joke?”

“Okay, not a
wedding
wedding, but the wolf version of it. You two need to be officially mated.” Brady grinned. “Now get up. I’ve got the pack assembled, and they’re putting everything together as we speak.”

I nudged Aiden. “You’re his Alpha. Make him go away.”

Aiden groaned and peeked out from under the pillow. “Unfortunately, he’s right. I just wish he’d be right about this at a later time, like perhaps sundown.”

“Why wait? Besides, we want to take care of this issue now, don’t we?” Brady was a little too chipper about this whole thing.

“Have I mentioned how much I hate you right now?” I asked and rolled out of the bed. “Fine. What do you want me to do?”

I had to hand it to Brady—though I was still naked from the night before, he made no attempt to comment on it; in fact, he respectfully turned away to avoid looking at me
au natural
.

“Can you turn by yourself?” Brady asked.

I shrugged. “Haven’t tried yet.”

“Better have Aiden turn you then, and we can head out to Mating Hill.”

The more he talked about it, the cheesier it sounded. But I knew he was serious. These wolves had a damn ceremony for everything.

“And what am I supposed to do at mating hill?” I eyed Brady suspiciously.

“Oh, no. Not that!” he said, clearly understanding my tone. “You will officially accept each other as mates in front of the pack. That’s all. Sniffing, nuzzling, that sort of thing. No doggy style, that’s for later.” He winked.

“And I have to be a wolf for this?”

“Yep. At least for the start of it. Now hop to it.” He walked over to Aiden and yanked away his pillow. “Turn her, and let’s get to it.”

My second transformation went so much faster and felt almost natural, though the sensation of being in my new furry body was still quite novel.

“Damn! You’re a little fox.” Brady laughed.

I growled, being unable to speak my insulting retort.

Aiden laughed. “You do look like a fox, babe. It’s a good thing. You’ll be unique among the pack. Easy to spot and distinguish. See for yourself.” He pointed me to the adjoining bathroom and its floor to ceiling mirror.

Turning around a few times, I inspected every inch of my new furry body. Though I had the size of a wolf, my colors were completely different than those of my pack. They all resembled black to gray wolves in some fashion, whereas I was a burnt-red wolf that faded down to a dusty cream color at my paws. The only black on me was a few accents, like the tips of my ears and the end of my tail. I really did look like a fox. And I liked it.

“Ok, enough mirror time, foxy lady. Let’s get you mated!” Brady patted his leg. “C’mon, girl.”

I pinned my ears back and growled.

“Sorry, I had to do it. Let’s go.”

I turned back to Aiden. I wanted to say something, but lacked the voice.

“I know, babe. I love you too. Go. I’ll see you out there.”

Since being introduced to the supernatural world, life had been one stressful event after another. The past few weeks hadn’t been any easier either: worrying about whether or not to become a wolf, then finally doing it. I was ready for things to calm down and get back to some sense of normalcy, whatever that was.

I followed Brady to what he had lovingly called “Mating Hill.” It was a small hill just behind the cabins that surrounded the wolf preserve. Other members of the pack were gathering, some in their wolf form, and others in their human form. They appeared to be setting up for the ceremony.

Though the hour was still very early, the sun still had not shown itself on the horizon, the pack seemed happy to be accomplishing their tasks.

Brady led me to the back of the crowd forming near the top of the hill and told me to “stay.” I was beginning to tire of his dog jokes, and if he didn’t quit them soon, I’d have to take a bite out of his ass.

But stay I did, and waited for Aiden to arrive.

His entrance to the hill was met with immediate attention. He strolled in as a human, wearing only a pair of loose-fitting jeans.

The rest of the pack reverently bowed their heads as he passed them on his wait to the top of the hill.

When he reached the top, he turned and faced the crowd. “Many of you took issue with my choice of mate. You raised concern that she was not nor would ever be one of us. Today she stands among you, a wolf, just like me and just like you. Would you like to meet her?”

The assembled crowd looked around, but it did not take them long to spot me. I stuck out like a sore thumb, the fiery red she-wolf.

Aiden waved me forward and I slowly took my spot next to him on the hill.

“She is one of us. She is part of us. She is pack!” His voice filled with such pride it made me smile.

“If there is any among you who challenge this, let them come forward.”

My heart sped at his words. I turned and looked at the crowd, waiting as the seconds ticked by, hoping no one would oppose me.

After the moment passed and no one made challenge, Aiden spoke again. “Then, as she is pack, and an eligible female, I take her as my mate.”

There was a moment of silence as Aiden looked out among the crowd.

“Again I ask. If there are any among you who challenge this, let them come forward.”

Beautiful silence gave me more relief than I can describe. Not a single wolf gave even the slightest hint of opposition.

Without another word, Aiden dropped his pants and began shifting. A moment later, my tall, dark, and handsome gray wolf stood next to me. Shoulder to shoulder, we looked out over the hill to the pack below us.

The sun crept above the horizon, turning the sky a pale blue. As much as I hated being up this early, I had to admit Brady was right to choose this as our time. It was beautiful and would remain a wonderful memory for years to come.

Brady took over addressing the crowd. “Aiden and Fallon have come here today to be mated. You as their pack bear witness to their commitment as Alphas and mates.”