Cry Wolf (39 page)

Damien grinned, his smile lupine. “You want to fight me, pup? You’ve wanted to fight me proper since I stepped on your territory. Well, this is my territory, son, and you have a right to challenge your alpha when you join a pack, if that’s what you want. Even you do, you slinking traitor,” Damien directed to Ahmir.

Ahmir shook his head, saying nothing.

“Then show me your belly and bare your neck, wolf,” Damien said. “Submit to your alpha.”

“I thought I wasn’t going to be in your pack,” Ahmir said.

“Not this pack,” Damien explained. “I am alpha of alphas for fourteen packs over three states. You have a right to challenge me for that position or for a position in this pack. But you reject your wolf, fine specimen though it is, so all you
really
bring to a fight is this man I see before me—this meek, self-hating man who wouldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag if he thought he belonged there.”

Ahmir glanced up with a flash of anger in his dark eyes, gone too fast for most people to notice it. Kelly thought it was a good omen.

“The wolf, when it overtakes you, is too reckless, too driven by its baser needs because you don’t embrace it. Your size would ultimately buckle under my will, because I accept what I am. Hell, I fucking love it,” Damien said, spreading his arms, presenting just himself, the leader, the alpha.

His pack around them chuckled.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Ahmir said.

“Then show me your submission, wolf, and do it fast.”

Ahmir glanced at Malcolm, who was sinking into a crouch with his claws sliding out, then at Kelly. She nodded at him. Fur shivered over her body, but she stayed in her human form for now, although she had unbuttoned her blouse and shrugged it off to offer her skin to the cool air.

She hummed in appreciation as Ahmir transformed, the change as ponderous as his wolf skin. He towered over them in his dark grey pelt, with brown eyes so dark that they could have been black. He rolled to his side and presented his vulnerability to the alpha. He was a class-A omega wolf, no doubt. Kelly hoped that Damien would be kind and either keep him or put him with an understanding alpha. It would be too easy for Ahmir to hate what he was even more with the wrong kind of leader that treated omegas like crap.

“Good boy,” Damien murmured, placing a hand against the wolf’s throat, unfazed by the fact that he was holding down a giant werewolf with large, sharp teeth so near his hand. He whispered in Ahmir’s perked ear, “You’ll learn. Now get back in line. Turn back if you want.”

Ahmir yanked himself out of his werewolf form and shuffled to the edge of the circle to stand next to Leon and Kelly. Leon was the only other member of the pack who didn’t seem to regard him with obvious disdain, although Leon had an excellent reason to resent Ahmir for his contribution to Salvation.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Malcolm said, echoing Ahmir’s words, but his demeanour belied his statement.

“Maybe you don’t want to fight for alpha,” Damien said, grinning toothily, “but I’m perfectly willing to just fight if you’re going to fight for real this time.”

Malcolm pulled his shirt over his head and removed his jeans, discarding everything carelessly to the side. Then he and Damien circled each other, drawing closer each pass like a slow whirlpool.

“You offered me and Ahmir a chance to be alpha if we beat you, but you didn’t do that to Kelly,” Malcolm said.

Jada snorted. “She’s a bitch.”

“Bitches fight to be head bitch,” Damien said. “And she already told me she doesn’t want the job. She has no position to fight for.”

“And if she
were
to challenge for alpha?” Malcolm asked.

“Not interested, Malcolm,” Kelly said.

“Bitches don’t get to be alpha,” Jada said. “Any idiot knows that.”

Damien shook his head. “She’d be the first femme alpha in over an age if that was what she wanted. I defy anyone to defy her if she decided to fight for it. But she’s not going to do that, is she?”

“And if I do, try to hit me over the head before I see it coming,” Kelly said.

“But she
will
keep me honest,” Damien said with a smirk.

“Better believe it,” Kelly replied.

Malcolm struck at Damien with half-transformed arms, corded with muscle and darkly furred, although not as dark as Ahmir. Damien knocked Malcolm’s arms away then fell forward to hit the ground with his front paws.

Kelly was reminded of her first night introducing Malcolm to the pleasure of the wolf. If Damien’s easy gait and wolf grin was any indication, perhaps Malcolm would be introduced to a similar kind of pleasure tonight.

Kelly licked her lips, shed the rest of her clothes and settled down on the moss, brushing leaves away. Ahmir looked down at her then at the rest of the pack, some of whom had reclined like her to enjoy the show. An in-pack clash was as entertaining as any modern progeny of gladiator fights—better, because at the end of it the wounds healed much faster and blood would be racing, skin hot, the spectators aroused by the spectacle. As Ahmir settled near her, she put a hand on his shoulder then fixed her full attention on the two wolves in the centre.

The growl in Malcolm’s chest started as a low, rolling vibration, but it ripped from his throat in a snarl when he reared up and closed his teeth where Damien’s shoulder would have been if he hadn’t already darted away. Damien snapped at Malcolm’s front right leg, drawing blood. Damien’s dense musculature was surprisingly manoeuvrable, almost fluid as he moved, yanking Malcolm’s tail before Malcolm could even turn around. Damien was a surprisingly casual werewolf in his human skin, but when he slipped into wolf skin, his intensity captured every eye.

Malcolm used his larger size to slam into Damien. They clashed in a growling, snarling, biting, clawing mass. The battle was about drawing blood but not killing, so blood stained fur where they bit down, but the wounds were superficial. Kelly licked the air, tasting the blood as surely as she could smell it. She caressed her stomach up to her breast, massaging it lightly, tantalising the pierced tip and turning the cold metal warm.

Eventually, though, it ended as all of them—Malcolm included—could have expected, with Malcolm on his back and Damien’s teeth shaking the ruff of his neck. Malcolm squirmed, but he didn’t wriggle from Damien’s grasp. As Damien changed back to his human skin, Malcolm followed the lead of his alpha.

“Do you yield?” Damien asked roughly, kneeling over Malcolm’s prone form.

Malcolm panted, but he stared up at Damien and nodded. “I yield.”

“Do you want more than to yield to me?” Damien asked.

Kelly grinned and stretched out her legs, reaching to touch her toes in a stretch as luxurious as any wolf’s.

Malcolm swallowed, gaze moving from Damien’s eyes to his mouth. “Yes,” he whispered.

Damien trailed nails that turned into claws down Malcolm’s chest, over his abdomen, making the muscles twitch. Then he took Malcolm’s full erection in hand. “I should think so,” Damien said.

Malcolm met him halfway, thrusting into his hand and sitting up to meet his kiss. Damien closed his sharp teeth on Malcolm’s lower lip. Malcolm moaned, giving in completely.

Then Damien seemed to devour him. He pushed Malcolm forcefully back against the ground, straddling Malcolm’s thighs as he roughly pumped Malcolm’s cock, no lubrication but the pre-cum that welled at the tip. Malcolm’s breath hitched, his face flushing. He clutched at Damien’s shoulders as though to keep himself from drowning.

“Isn’t that—?” Ahmir began. He was turned on and looked mortified by it.

Kelly slapped the back of his head. She didn’t hit hard, but it effectively silenced him just from surprise.

“Shut up,” Kelly said. “It’s perfectly natural. God. Enjoy yourself a little.”

Kelly got up and plopped back down on the other side of Leon as Damien slid forward and brought their cocks together. Malcolm replaced Damien’s hand, his long fingers better served to stimulate both of them. Damien stroked his face. They angled their mouths over the other’s, and they sometimes darted their tongues out to taste lip, tongue, tooth, heavy breathing, but they weren’t quite kissing.

“I’m sorry about Landon,” Kelly said to Leon, who also wasn’t entirely indifferent to the display before him.

“Thanks,” he said. He didn’t look at her, but when he leant back, his fingers brushed where hers rested on the ground.

Kelly inclined her head, acknowledging him. That was all he wanted, and he withdrew, leaning against the tree behind him as he watched the two men in the centre.

Damien pressed two fingers against Malcolm’s mouth. Malcolm opened for them, closing his eyes as he slid his mouth down their dark length. A stab of arousal made Kelly hum. She slid her hands over her thighs. She remembered taking Damien’s cock in her mouth in the sanctuary woods, and she imagined Malcolm in her place. Her envy was surpassed only by how beautiful Malcolm looked in her fantasy.

When Damien pulled his thoroughly sucked fingers from Malcolm’s mouth, Malcolm moaned in protest and bucked his hips. Damien clenched his teeth as Malcolm’s hand tightened around them. Damien adjusted his position, folding his legs underneath him between Malcolm’s thighs and forcing Malcolm to spread his legs to accommodate him. Damien pressed his slicked fingers over the perineum and swirled deliberately against the hole.

“Fuck,” Malcolm swore, his rhythm becoming erratic over the erections in his hand. He released them as Damien penetrated him, both fingers at once to stretch the flesh. Malcolm groaned shamelessly as Damien thrust his fingers in, curling his fingers as though beckoning Malcolm’s pleasure.

“Oh, I will fuck you, pup,” Damien said. “You don’t deserve my cock tonight, but you’ll get it after you’ve earned it. And you’ll do whatever you can to earn it, won’t you? You’re a little better than the traitor, but you still have a lot to learn about being a wolf. However, they say acknowledging the problem is the first step, and I have to reward you for that. Come for me, pup, and I’ll mark you as mine.”

“Hell, yes,” Malcolm pleaded.

Damien gripped Malcolm’s leaking erection and focused all his intensity on jerking Malcolm off while finger-fucking him to something approaching ecstasy. All Malcolm’s fight was out of him now. His whole body tightened, with the exception of the skin around his eyes and brow, where the lines smoothed out as all tension melted out of him from the top down. Kelly thought it must have been a relief for Malcolm to finally fully submit to his alpha.

Malcolm’s cum splashed on his chest and stomach. A little bit even struck his chin. As Damien eased his fingers out, he leant down to lick that bit off, running his tongue over rough stubble.

“Now stay still,” Damien commanded, wiping his fingers on dried leaves, “and take what’s coming to you.”

“Why is he just taking it?” Ahmir asked, crawling over nearer to Kelly.

Leon rolled his eyes. His pale skin was flushed over the pronounced curve of his erection, and Leon didn’t care how close Ahmir got to it as he walked away. Ahmir reeled back, but he wisely swallowed any commentary on sexual virtue or lack thereof.

“Given that you just ‘take’ abuse all the time yourself, I think what you mean is, why does he like it?” Kelly said, also standing, so that Ahmir got a good view of the serpent on her hip and thigh staring serenely back at him.

He also was eye level with the thin thatch of hair framing the lips of her cunt. He would be able to smell how aroused she was from watching her alpha claim her submissive lover. She ran her claws over Ahmir’s scalp, through his thick, dark hair. He gazed up at her.

Before she continued the lesson, Kelly watched Damien roughly rub himself off, his eyelids heavy as he approached his climax. Malcolm, his large eyes glazed with pleasure, licked his lips as Damien’s ejaculate landed on his chest and stomach to mingle with his own. Damien grunted through each spurt then lowered himself back down to his hands and knees over Malcolm to bite his chin, his jaw, his lower lip. But there was no shortage of tenderness in that display.

“Welcome to the pack,” Damien said.

He offered Malcolm a hand and helped pull Malcolm to his feet. Malcolm’s torso was still stained with semen. Damien didn’t offer to clean it off, and Malcolm made no move to do so himself.

“You’ve picked a hell of a mate. I’m lucky she’s willing to share,” Damien said. “I think we’ll get on just fine.”

He clapped Malcolm on the shoulder to break the scene and to send him on his way with his blessing. The circle was still intact, but the members’ focus had since dissipated, turning to their various partners before they went back out to run the night through.

As Malcolm made his way back to Kelly, she gently guided Ahmir to her mound, giving him time to pull back or tell her to stop, but his nostrils flared. He licked his lips nervously and let her bring his mouth against her, just above her hood piercing.

“He likes it because it makes him feel like he belongs in a pack instead of being alone. He likes it because he trusts the ones he’s with to take care of him as thoroughly as he can take care of us.” She smiled at Malcolm and lifted her face for his kiss.

Malcolm pressed his lips against hers then stepped back as she leant down to lick the semen from his torso, making sure to be as thorough as possible. And the whole time, Ahmir just stayed still against her mound, his breath hot against her skin. However, he didn’t pull back, and when Kelly peeked into his mind, she sensed that he very much liked her scent and that he wanted to do something—to kiss, to lick, to sink himself into her slick, soft cunt—but he didn’t know whether it was allowed, whether he should, whether it was right.

After Kelly had eliminated any trace of claim on Malcolm’s skin, he lifted her head up to kiss her again. This time he would taste Damien and himself on her tongue. He smiled into her mouth then slipped behind her, wrapping an arm over her chest, over the filigree tattoo. He peered down her body at Ahmir, making no effort to stop her or the man at her feet.

“You, my dear boy, like many of the same things he does,” Kelly said, running the backs of her fingers over Ahmir’s cheek, “but you don’t trust yourself. And until you believe that you aren’t intrinsically evil or a failure, you’re not going to get a lot out of the life you’ve been dealt, no matter where you go or who you’re with. Think you can at least try to enjoy yourself for once?” Kelly asked.