Bound To My Mate Ch 13

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Joel and I left the den about midmorning. We were headed deep into pack lands to spend several days just being wolves. He designated his highest ranking Betas to run the pack in his absence.

Nate was being left in charge and on the surface he had the same unfazed facade. I knew from what Joel told me he hated this, though.

Nate enjoyed his position and the level of authority he usually had, but in his heart he needed an Alpha. No part of him felt comfortable playing this part when Joel stepped out. As we ran from the den, I saw Nate take a shuddering breath and start to issue orders to the Betas surrounding him.

I felt guilty about taking Joel away from the pack, especially now of all times. They were nervous enough with all the new technology being installed and the security changes. I knew they would all feel better if Joel was there.

'You're thinking very loudly about your human concerns, love,' I heard Joel say into my mind. 'Let the wolf out. The pack will survive without us for a few days. We are always available for them in case of emergency and they know that.'

I relaxed and felt the wolf's presence truly take over. For the first time in weeks I was completely comfortable and didn't feel like I should be somewhere else.

Initially, I paced myself to Joel's strides. The run was fun, but the pace was too slow. I bolted in front of Joel by a body's length and he voiced his displeasure at me.

'Unless you have somehow deduced where we are going you should follow me,' he called veering right subtly.

I followed him, in a fashion. What I really did was run circles around him and check out the forest as we moved through it. I wanted to touch every part of my land and Joel seemed to understand that. He didn't give me too much grief about my lack of decorum.

I recognized the stream when we stopped to take a break. After taking a long drink, I stopped and looked around.

'This is the first place I shifted,' I told him as we started out again.

'I wish I could have been with you for that,' he said ruefully.

'It wasn't very graceful,' I assured him, 'I became the wolf woman a little at a time. It was probably pretty funny looking at first.'

'The proper term would be 'hybrid', love. I've heard you describe it that way many times, but others may not understand what you mean,' he told me chuckling. 'By the way, you are beautiful. I can't imagine you looking any other way.'

If I could have blushed I would have, the way he thought about me really was flattering.

By afternoon we had made it to the spot he wanted us to be in. Human hunters were not allowed on pack land and this was the heart of the wilderness they held. It was essentially untouched, so it was the perfect place to just be ourselves.

This was an amazing place. A rocky mountain rose out of the forest and sat watching a winding river and decent sized lake. Years ago the this is where the den had been. Back then, the wolves had cut deep into the mountain and made the caves their home.

'Were you raised here?' I asked Joel padding through the interconnected cave system.

He walked in front of me as a wolf and let out a barking laugh. 'I'm not that old, love. The pack was living near where we do now when I was born.'

'Listen, it is not my fault you run like an old man,' I scolded him.

Joel turned to face me and I inched my way toward an exit in the cave system.

'You are kind of slow,' I projected, 'do you need some joint cream or something? Is there a werewolf equivalent of a walker you could use?'

He had had all the teasing he could take and lunged at me. Every part of me loved a good chase. I sprang out of the caves with Joel hot on my heels.

Unfortunately for me, Joel knew all my moves. I zipped in a zig zag pattern to lose him, but he wasn't fooled. He bowled me over and we tumbled down a grassy slope outside the old den.

As usual, I ended up pinned beneath his weight. I loved this position and felt the passion for him crank up. I could smell my desire and I knew he could, too. I wiggled my ass seductively beneath him, just to make sure he got the message.

'Do you want to see what else is here or are you just interested in sex?' he asked pushing his staff against me.

'SEX,' I barked at him.

He entered me slowly and grasped the back of my neck. 'You should be interesting when you enter estrus next year,' he said holding me still underneath him.

I needed him so badly. My paws dug into the ground as he started to pump into me. I held my body in offering to him and accepted his knot gratefully. Every part of me screamed for him, I wanted to be filled to overflowing.

It wasn't long before he exploded inside of me. That sensation pushed me over my own edge and I felt my body tighten around him. I felt sated as he howled his pleasure over the countryside.

As we lay in the grass I shifted back to a human form. A few moments later the fur receded from Joel and he wrapped his arms around me.

"What's estrus?" I asked stretching my body out. We were still joined and I liked to pull on him a little, it felt good.

"Once a year your body will prepare itself to become pregnant. It happens during the winter for us. My understanding of the human anatomy is vague, but I believe you are used to being fertile once a month. Am I correct?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, you are correct, but I can only get pregnant once a year?" I asked turning a little to look at him. "You know, it feels like I want to get pregnant now. And why will I not go into estrus until next year?"

"You can only get pregnant once a year and it probably won't happen this year. Your body is still too new to this. What was the other question you asked?" he said fiddling with a strand of my hair.

"It wasn't really a question, but I have this all consuming desire for you. It feels like I want to be pregnant," I told him.

"The wolf in you knows this is the right time of year for that. If you were in estrus this would be the perfect time for us to make pups. Your stress level is down and I am near. The instinct is correct and I'll be happy to alleviate the urge anytime you feel it," he said running his hands over the front of my body.

After we got unattached I went toward the lake. The clear water looking inviting. I felt dirty after the long run and the tussle afterward.

"Would it make any difference to tell you I love the smell of your skin the way it is now?" Joel asked watching me.

"You could get in with me and we could play in the water," I offered with a smile.

He might like the way I smelled, but I felt gross. I guess some things never change. After my bath I shifted and caught our afternoon meal. The taste of fresh meat was terrific. I had forgotten how amazing that first rabbit had tasted. Joel had let me do the hunting and he was right. Bringing him food made me feel better in a strange way.

'The wolf inside of you wants to provide for her pack. I haven't allowed you to do that at all. Although the meeting are essential to the pack's survival, you need to help meet their more basic needs. We will see to that when we get back,' Joel told me after we ate.

We slept that night by the water. I was comfortable outside, even with the chill still clinging to the air. I wondered if he wanted to be up in the old den.

'No, I like it outside, too. In the beginning we always slept outside. The den was mainly used to shelter the pups when they were young. We've given way to our human side quite a bit over the last couple of centuries. The comforts found in the den now would have been unheard of then,' Joel told me.

I snuggled down content to rest in the wild, if only for a few nights.

I woke up the next morning as the sun rose over the lake. I was still in my wolf form and stretched my paws out in front of me raising my tail in the air. Joel took that as an invitation to sniff and lick.

'Your scent calls to my beast,' he told me moving on top of me.

I was feeling that urge for him again, but I wanted to have some fun first. I opted to play hard to get and wiggled out from underneath him.

'I'm hungry,' I lied, 'maybe later.'

'No,' he growled playfully, 'now.'

I bolted away into the forest and Joel followed. We darted through the trees for several minutes until he managed to herd me up against a steep rock wall. I was caught, but this game wasn't over yet.

The wolf inside me wanted him to earn it, to make sure he was strong enough. I snapped my teeth at him and took an aggressive stance in front of the wall. He came at me like a wild beast. He seemed to understand what I needed.

We fought savagely for a moment before he pinned me. If he hadn't been crushing my tail I would have been wagging it I was so happy. He was most certainly worthy of taking what he wanted.

'Do you know what you make me feel, Elizabeth?' he pushed the question into my mind loudly.

'Desire, I hope,' I answered him, waiting impatiently for him to complete the mating.

I felt a sensation like riding an ocean wave for a moment. It was a weird feeling and I fought against it.

'Elizabeth, relax and I will show you,' he said sounding a little exasperated.

When the next wave came I didn't fight it. I felt Joel. It was like I was Joel. I could feel his heartbeat and the warmth of my back on his stomach. His need to be inside me was overwhelming. Once he moved to fill me I heard myself growl at the pleasure.

I wanted to feel him to control me completely, but I wasn't sure how to ask for more than he was already giving. My body was trapped to the ground beneath me. Joel's teeth grasped the scruff at the back of my neck and pulled lightly on it. My body shook with pleasure.

'When you open yourself to me and I open myself to you, I can sense your thoughts whether you are sending them or not,' he told me.

He pushed his knot home and I was aware for the first time the strong stimulation that gave him. When I pulled against it the pleasure bordered on pain it was so intense. I made a mental note to stop doing that.

'The pleasure is worth the slight pain,' he growled pumping faster inside of me.

After we were both sated our stomachs were rumbling for food. Joel hunted with me this time and helped me. We caught a much larger meal together than what I would have alone.

'That's the benefit of living in a pack,' he told me happily tearing away at his part of the breakfast. 'We can do more together than we can alone.'

As we cleaned our muzzles off after the meal I asked Joel more about the strange mental connection.

'You can open yourself to me, I can open myself to you, or we can be equal partners and share a connection. It's what you did accidentally when Emily made her admission to you in the forest. I did not open myself to you then; I just listened,' he explained.

'Sneaky,' I told him, 'why haven't you showed me this before now?' I asked.

'I have neglected you, Elizabeth, and I am sorry. There is so much I know you still do not understand. I will use our time together to teach you what I can,' he said as I stretched out in the long grass for a nap.

'Oh, no you don't,' he laughed. 'You need to be up and learning.'

'Fine,' I said following him into the trees. Suddenly I had a thought, 'Can I do this with anybody or just you?'

'You are an Alpha,' he told me as we ran. 'You could push into anybody's head in our pack if you wanted to and they allowed it. If you allow it, they could also push into yours. I have allowed them to do that to me before when I needed to share strategy with them.'

'I think I'll just stick to talking to them like this when we are wolves. I'm barely used to shoving my thoughts on someone, I can't imagine having them in my head,' I shuddered.

Joel barked a laugh and I swear he shook his head as we ran along.

'You aren't forcing yourself on anyone, love,' he chastised. 'Be forewarned, you don't have to let them know everything you know and the same goes for them. The connection is only as open and honest as the two parties choose to make it.'

I stopped running and shifted into a human form, "This is how I'm used to talking," I told him, "speaking with my mouth and gesturing with my hands. The way you all do it is weird to me."

The large black wolf paced toward me and I heard his voice in my head. 'You are a werewolf, you will get used to it, but you have to practice. Now, shift and run with me. I want to spend time with my glorious white wolf.'

Joel's voice was sultry purr and I couldn't deny him. Shifting, I bounded ahead and made him catch me.

We spent our days and nights as wolves. I blended with my inner beast quickly and soon understood this freedom is what she needed. There was so much more to this new part of me that I hadn't even begun to explore.

Joel and I sat by the lake in our human forms and talked late one afternoon. He was very open with me about the wolf.

"I've been pushing her down all day most days," I finally told Joel, "I thought I should only act like a wolf in the woods."

"The wolf will prefer the woods, but she can experience your daily life in the den. You will be happy surrounded by the pack, no matter what's going on," he answered me. "Letting her lead during the day will only serve to make you stronger. Open your mind to that part of yourself and use the best of every part you have."

Our time passed much too quickly. I loved every minute of it. We hunted, explored, and fucked to our hearts' content. When the time to leave came I was sad.

It struck me this was the most amount of time Joel and I had ever spent alone together. We melded together so well it surprised me. We hadn't had anything like a honeymoon or even much of a real date. Our relationship just plowed into existence out of thin air, but it did feel solid.

As we ran back toward the den I contemplated our relationship. Joel seemed lost in his own thoughts. It was comfortable silence between us.

Suddenly Joel came to a screeching halt. I followed suit and watched him. He was eyeing the ground around us suspiciously. His ears and tail were up in warning. I watched as he bared his fangs and a low growl rose in his chest.

I tried to understand what was upsetting him. It was just us in the middle of an empty clearing. I had to stop thinking with my human mind and allow the wolf lead. I was missing something crucial.

Letting my animal instincts flow, I concentrated on the area around us. I started to see what Joel was seeing, a group had been here. There were fresh tracks in the ground, some were human others weren't. They seemed to lead into the clearing, cluster, and then go toward the den. There was no scent to indicate anyone had been here, though.

I understood with striking clarity. Something was attacking the den under the cover of that potion. The wolves would not sense the intruders coming due to the magic. The new security was still in the trial phase and not fully operational. The pack was potentially in grave danger.

Joel's voice boomed into my mind. From the way he was speaking he was talking to every member of the pack at once. Anyone in their wolf form would hear him.

'The den is under attack. Warriors to their posts, now. Omegas, women, and children to the secure area. Do this without alerting the invaders.'

I heard answers to his summons that were directed to both of us. The pack had heard and they were mobilized. What they would do next was rote memorized by every pack member, including me.

Announcements were made in the den that there was a water main break in the basement, everyone was needed downstairs to help. The pack knew this was a signal that danger was in the den. Now the entire pack was getting ready.

With the announcement made, the groups Joel wanted downstairs went to the secure room and were counted. The Warriors took up positions and prepared to launch a counter attack when Joel ordered. I felt their preparations sift through my mind.

We bolted toward the den on nearly silent feet. Those mysterious tracks went all the way to the back doors. Whoever it was had made it to our home and family.

The pack's warriors were on full alert. The security team had not found where the attackers were inside the den. The warriors were carefully perusing all the hallways trying to find where the intruders were.

Patrols outside had found several sets of the scentless tracks outside and followed them back to their origination. There were four groups of vans at the outskirts of pack lands. They were waiting on Joel's word to question and contain the occupants.

Joel and I approached home cautiously, but tried to give off the air nothing was wrong.

Anthony met us in his wolf form at the front door when we circled around. He was trying to look casual, but the hair on the back of his neck was standing up. He was ready for anything.

'Go with her to the secure holding area,' I heard Joel order Anthony through our connected minds.

I didn't want to go and Joel looked hard at me. The flood of emotion I got told me this was not the time to argue. Joel was worried about his family and he didn't want me to get hurt.

If there had been time I would have told Joel I belonged beside him in time of crisis. I didn't need to be hidden away. This just wasn't a good time to explain that.

I followed Anthony into the main hall and Joel bolted toward the security station. He kept his connection to he open, so I heard everything he did. In an effort not to bombard him with stimuli I just listened, but didn't let him hear me.

The house was silent, no one was left upstairs. As we passed a hallway deep in the den. I saw a figure dart from one Omega's room to another. No one should be down there, all the Omegas should be in the secure area.

We had been moments away from entering the secure area when I veered off. Anthony followed me down the hall quietly telling me we shouldn't be here. He was upset with me. It was annoying and I was tempted to pretend I hadn't heard him.

'Alpha Latro wants you in the holding area, Madam,' he repeated quietly. 'Please, let the pack's warriors do the search.'

'Just let me see who this is,' I said nudging the door open with my nose.

Two hybrids were inside with two unconscious female Omegas draped over their shoulders. The males had no scent and looked alarmed to see me. Threatening noises started to emanate from deep within both of them.

A human man was standing in the one corner of the room. He saw me and threw a liquid toward me chanting a spell. I dodged the liquid with my usual speed, but Anthony hadn't seen it coming and it hit him full in the face.

I heard the thud as Anthony dropped unconscious to the ground. I listened intently and still heard his steady heart beat; he wasn't dead. I turned my attention back to the room and it was empty. A window was open and I could see the wolves and the man running from the den in separate directions.

As I leapt out the window, I opened my connection to Joel back up. I told him what had happened. I was keeping a sightline to the wolves with our females.

'Stay in the den,' he ordered me, but my feet never stopped moving.

I heard him sending a team to go after me.

My wolf didn't like ignoring her mate, the Alpha male, but she would just have to get over it. There was no way I was letting them hurt my Omegas.

I caught up to the wolf men quickly. Making a play to take out the slower one, I was bowled over by a wolf attacking from the left. Righting myself, I was suddenly facing five growling wolves as I watched my Omegas disappear into the forest.

No one ever expected my speed, so I used that to my advantage. I dodged and dipped avoiding the interference and caught back up to the kidnappers. Now I had five wolves on my tail and two in front of me.