Alphas Divided Complete Series (11 page)

Chapter 18

Emma woke hours later, the warm bulk of Elam's body against her back, his arm wrapped around her and his hand resting over her naked breast. She found it a very new and distracting sensation.

She was amazed to realize that she wanted him, yet again. She felt like a newborn babe- except that she wasn't waking every few hours to feed, but to fuck.

Her muscles were tight and sore, so she stretched them as well as she could, still being pinned by Elam.

She knew her stirrings had woken him though, when his hand started wandering over her body, exploring her curves and retracing paths his mouth had already made quite a few times during the long night.

"Mine." He muttered the words into her hair, his thick voice sounding sleepy, proud and aroused all at once.

She smiled a feline smile at the word he'd called her. Mine. She liked it. A lot.

She knew she should probably bristle at the implied ownership, but she reveled in it instead. She already loved being his, and she thought it was surreal that he was also hers.

"Ready to go again, mine?"

She laughed at the eagerness in his voice, and asked him, "How do you do it, Elam? I know I'm in heat, but how can you keep up with me, again and again?"

"One of the perks of being part animal, my sweet. Roll this way, Em. I want to kiss you before I take you again. Or before you take me. You were quite the aggressor last time. I feel your restlessness beginning again. Maybe we should wrestle for the right to be on top."

She rolled against him, facing him and snuggling into the warmth of his body. She kissed each of his closed eyelids before pressing another kiss against his lips.

She felt his mouth smile against hers as he woke up a little more. He pulled her tighter with one arm as she teased his mouth with her tongue.

"I can't decide what I want just yet. I'm torn between sliding down under these blankets and waking you good and proper, with my mouth, or pursuing that wrestling idea of yours and letting you pin me down and fuck me. Then there is this third option that is just starting to surface- food. I'm starving Elam. I want a huge, fat, steak. No salad, no sides, just a big 'ole chunk of meat. Have you ever been to the fair? You know how people walk around with those turkey legs, just ripping chunks of meat off as they walk? I want one of those, only bigger. Think I could walk around carrying a big 'ole cow leg? Is that done? Or is it unbecoming for an Alpha's mate to wander around in front of the pack doing something as uncivilized as that?"

"Worked up an appetite, did we? As your mate, it is my job to keep you both well fed and well fucked. Seems I'm failing on the keeping you fed part, aren't I?"

Elam said those words with a teasing laugh, and opened his eyes to tease Emma some more, but instead of crinkling in aroused laughter, his sleep heavy eyes took one look at her and widened in shock.

She gazed back at him, confused, but before she knew it he had rolled her over, pinning her to the bed. He had her wrists pinned above her head, straddling her hips, and staring down at her with an odd look on his face.

"Mmmm, it's going to be like that, is it Elam? Just flip me over and take me? You are afraid I'll give you a run for your money if we wrestle for it, aren't you. I've gotta admit- it's kind of hot. What are you going to do with me now, Mine?"

"Emma, your eyes..."

"What's wrong with my eyes?"

"They are red rimmed."

"Well, I'm not all that surprised. Are you? I mean I didn't exactly sleep well last night, ya know."

"No, not tired red. Shifter red. Emma, how do you feel? Do you feel different?"

"I'm sore as all hell, does that count?"

"This cow leg you want to eat, what is your gut reaction to imagining eating it raw?"

"Hell, right now I'd take it. I'm
starving,
Elam."

"You're
shifting,
Emma."

"What? No. I'm just in heat."

"Yeah, like a half-human shifter. You're in heat. You've been claimed with my bite. But it's more than that. The red ring to your eyes right now, the hunger for meat that doesn't necessarily have to be cooked. I think if I push you, just a little, your wolf will take over. I think you can shift, Em."

Fear filled her eyes, chasing away the teasing arousal. She started to fight him, to thrash and buck under him as he pinned her still.

"Emma, stop. Relax. Emma it is a natural thing for our kind. I told you it was possible. Your mom was a shifter. You've watched people shift for weeks now. It's ok."

"No! I don't want to. I've never... How would I even? And damn, it looks like it hurts, to boot. I don't want my body to rearrange itself. I like my body just fine as it is, thank you very much! Hell, I just got used to this heat thing, that's enough! I can't be..."

Her words were jumbled and chaotic, driven by fear and panic.

"It doesn't hurt."

"What?"

"Shifting. It doesn't hurt, I promise."

Her struggles stopped. She lay still, tilting her head to look hard at him, confused. Her panic and fear were still there, but hearing him just nonchalantly, factually state that it didn't hurt got her attention. Her curiosity about what it felt like took over long enough for her to relax a little.

"How can it not hurt? It looks like it would be awfully painful. Excruciatingly painful."

"It isn't. It's somewhat awkward at first, until you get the hang of it, but there is no pain. At all. It's...freeing, actually. You just kind of...grow. You get bigger, stronger. Everything gets enhanced. The smells, the sights. Running is amazing, and jumping! Jumping is crazy!"

"But that's after, right? Once you are all animal."

"Yeah, but it happens so fast. The in-between isn't anything, really. It's like a sneeze. You get this urge, and then you just...explode with it. Then it's done. There's really nothing to it, if you can shift. If you can't, no amount of trying will make you. But if you can, it's nothing, really Em. If there is anything bad at all, it's when you switch back to human."

"Why? How so? Does that hurt?"

"No, it's just not as liberating. It's more like shrinking. You're all confined and limited again. It's like being stuffed back into a box. It doesn't hurt either, but... Have you ever spent a lot of time on a boat? Or a train? When you get off, you almost have to re-learn to walk right, just for a bit? It's like that. Just odd."

"And you think I can do it? Really? How? Just decide to?"

"Do you want to try?"

She looked at him for a long while, conflicting thoughts whirling through her head as he waited patiently for her decision.

"In for a penny, in for a pound, right? I'm mated, forever, to an Alpha wolf. Alpha blood runs through my veins, from mom. If you think it's possible, I might as well go all in."

"Oh, it's definitely possible. You're already
this close.
You have to be. Our eyes only get like that when we are on the verge of shifting. The timing is great. You are hungry, and horny. I just have to push you. It's easier that way. Telling you how won't work. Emotion drives it, at first. Until you learn to control it. Are you sure?"

"It really doesn't hurt?"

"No even a little."

"OK. Let's do this."

"Come on, then. Follow me."

He shifted in one smooth motion above her, still pinning her to the bed.

She hadn't expected that.

He released her, jumping off the bed and heading to the front door.

She looked around for her clothes, but when she heard his nose bump the lever handle on the front door, installed on all the cabins probably purely so they could be opened with a wolf's snout, she quickly pulled the top sheet off of the bed. She wrapped it around her toga-style as she headed out the door behind him, curiosity and surprise winning out over modesty.

She saw the flash of his tail disappear around a corner, and followed him as quickly as she could, being barefoot to his wolf paws.

She followed flashes of him, as he kept just out of her field of vision, until they reached a small clearing about a quarter mile away.

When she entered the clearing she realized their lesson was on hold. Something had happened in the few minutes it had taken her to catch up.

Elam was no longer in teaching mode, he was attacking two smaller wolves she hadn't seen around the camp.

She heard a warning, sinister growl roll out of Elam, and she jumped out of the way, behind a tree for protection.

He growled more, the ferocity of his sudden change making all the little hairs she possessed as a human stand on end.

His teeth were bared at the two, and he circled, keeping himself between her and them, she noticed.

The two smaller wolves faced Elam, teeth bared and growls just as insistent as Elam's. She pulled her eyes from Elam's wolf to really look at the other two.

They were tiny, really. Pups even. They were almost cute in their growling and threatening, if their eyes didn't glow so serious. Surely Elam would just scare them, sending them running back to their mother, who was probably looking for them already.

One little one lunged at Elam, and Elam responded with a snap of his sharp teeth that closed just an inch or so from the tiny aggressor.

Emma gasped at the direct attack.

She looked to see how the second one would react to his friend's lunge, but couldn't find him for a second.

There. There was the other little cub. He was widening an arc around Elam, using his friend's or brother's attack as a chance to get behind Elam and take him by surprise.

Elam must have been aware of the technique, cause he turned suddenly. Quick as anything he snapped again, biting the sneaky one on a shoulder before the little one could nip at Elam's hindquarters.

The bitten pup yelped, and drew back.

Elam turned to find the other one, facing him and growing as he took slow steps toward the unwounded one.

That one stood his ground, growling and snapping back toward Elam, until Elam got too close for comfort. With a defeated yelp, the unhurt one turned, bounding into the woods to escape. Or to go find it's mother, to come fight it's battles for them.

Once only the bitten one remained, Elam turned toward him.

Emma looked to where he had been, but only a small child lay in its place.

Probably only a year or two old, the now human shifter lay wounded on the wooded ground, shoulder bleeding into the dirt.

Emma assumed Elam would stop, all danger from two pups gone. But he didn't.

He stalked the wounded child like the toddler was still some kind of danger to him, or to her.

She'd heard some shifters could shift from birth, but this one was the youngest she'd personally seen. Why was Elam still slowly closing the gap, teeth bared and growls issuing a warning.

This injured child was no threat. And he seemed to also be defenseless now, as a human toddler.

What the hell had gotten into Elam? It was over, obviously. Why was he still stalking this child?

Before Elam could get any closer, Emma rushed over, placing herself between Elam and the now crying, wounded child. She spread her stance, facing off against her mate, thinking maybe the adrenaline rush of the initial attack was still clouding his judgment.

"Alright, Elam. It's over. Knock it off."

Elam didn't lift his eyes to hers, but stayed totally focused on the little one just behind her and between her legs.

"Elam! Stop! It's just a child. It's over."

Elam took another step toward them, his eyes glowing with predation and fixated on the defenseless toddler.

"Elam, I swear to all that is holy, no matter what your weird pack rules dictate, if you take one more step toward this baby you will have to deal with me!"

He didn't even seem to hear her. She started to panic. He was getting close, and she really had no defenses herself, but for the sheer bravado she'd just yelled at her mate.

He snarled at the child, lunging like he was going to shoot right between Emma's legs.

With a snarl of her own, Emma threw herself at Elam, protection of this injured child the only thing on her brain. She felt an odd moment of disorientation, shook her head some to clear it, and found herself on all fours, barking and snarling and lunging at the man she already somehow loved. But love or no, she'd be damned if she'd let him finish what these kids seemed to have started.

She was shocked when her lunge made Elam sit back on his haunches. He suddenly grinned at her in that way only canines can, tongue lolling, head cocked as she continued to guard this human from a no longer aggressive Elam.

As Elam kept sitting and grinning at her, a movement behind him caught Emma's attention.

The other cub, the one who had high-tailed it out of the clearing came back, followed by a larger wolf. This one Emma did recognize. She was one of the ones Emma had seen around the pack a few times.

The momma wolf paused, taking in the situation, before shifting into her human form and facing both Emma and Elam.