Shadow Of The Wolf

A/N:

Many thanks to my wonderful editor Lunarosa for her tireless help. Changes had been made from the original submission that hopefully enriched the story more.

-BD

Prologue

The chirping sounds of the birds in the trees and the smell of the verdant forest carried on the fresh breeze. The ancient trees towered over her as she walked through the faintly visible deer path, and she felt safe in the midst of the hushed stillness of the primeval and remote place. She could hear the faint rustling of small animals in the underbrush frolicking and foraging for food. The place was teeming with life, but the one being she was looking for was noticeably absent. She hurried excitedly along the faint trail, hoping that she would find her elusive quarry. The sparkling lake water beckoned through the breaks in the trees. She trudged through the sweet-smelling knee-high grass, not caring as it lashed at her naked form, and shielded her eyes with her hand from the sun to search the other end of the lake.

"He's not coming," she thought forlornly, shoulders drooping with disappointment. Sighing, she slumped down and sat on the ground, pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around both legs as she rocked to and fro in an effort to comfort herself.

The faint yipping sound reached her first and then the howling of several wolves ripped through the air and echoed across the vast stillness of the forest. Raising her head, she alertly scanned the surrounding area. On her right, just at the edge of the tree line, she saw several pairs of glowing eyes staring at her, revealing a pack of wolves that had found her.

The biggest of them stepped forward. Its luxurious black fur glistened under the sun. Intelligent emerald eyes glowed with challenge as it cocked its head at her and stalked silently forward. She sat frozen, waiting with baited breath to see what the wolf would do next. Treading silently, it reached her and started sniffing delicately at her folded hands. As the enormous wolf continued to lock eyes with her, boldly, it slowly licked and nudged her hands. The other wolves faded back into the trees.

"I thought you'd abandoned me," she softly told the wolf. "You're usually waiting for me here." She lifted her hands and ruffled and caressed him behind his ears. The majestic wolf preened under her hands. Suddenly, he nudged her strongly onto her back and started licking her stomach with his slightly rough tongue.

"Hey! Stop that!" she laughed. His tongue was like a torture device that tickled her endlessly. She was laughing hard as she tried to push his head away from her. "No more, please!" She cried breathlessly, as the big wolf licked her belly button and sides.

Sprawling helplessly on her back, she wrestled with him. She tried to gently push him away with her feet and legs, which centered the wolfbetween her legs as he moved to resist. The wolf paused in his licking while she took a huge breath to recover. The wolf put his paws beside her head and growled low in his chest. She was so startled that she looked at him directly. And right before her astonished eyes, the wolf morphed into a man-wolf being. His whole body grew and elongated into a huge muscular shape of a man, but his head retained the ears and muzzle of a wolf. His fingers were tipped with lethal looking claws and his mouth was full of razor-sharp looking teeth. He was massive in appearance and dwarfed her as she lay underneath him. She was quite perplexed to realize that she was not alarmed or afraid of this monstrous being on top of her. Somehow she recognized that he would never harm or hurt her.

Locking his eyes with hers, he slowly sniffed his way down to her open sex. She knew she should push him away and stand up, but she lay there unmoving, waiting for what he would do next. His mesmerizing emerald eyes glowed with unearthly light and compelled her to submit to him.

Slowly, his tongue came out and leisurely lapped at her cunt lips. She hissed in pleasure. Her brain tried to make her limbs to move,to kick out and dislodge the wolf-man that was now feasting on her open pussy! In her mind she was screaming; "No! No! This is so wrong! It can't be happening," but she couldn't seem to open her mouth and say the words aloud. All she managed to utter were helpless moans punctuated with blissful sighs.

The wolf-man kept his eyes locked on her as he continued to voraciously eat her cream. After she had cum many times, he stopped and straddled her body. He licked, nipped, and lapped at her torso. He lavished her breasts with the same meticulous attention as he did her pussy. She was so sated, all she could do was attempt to move her head to the side to avoid his tongue as he sought her lips.

As she continued to peruse the magnificent creature, she shyly sneaked a quick look at his package. He was enormously erect! His cock pointed straight down and seemed to be targeting her open pussy. His cock was like a small trunk of a tree! At least it appeared that way to her inexperienced eyes. It was bigger than her wrist and probably longer than a ruler. No way could that monster fit in anyone's pussy, definitely not in her virginal one! She raised panicked eyes back to his amused ones. He appeared to be smirking at her as she heard his guttural word: "Mine!"

Suddenly, he plunged his monster cock into her weeping pussy as she screamed --

"Aaaahhhh!!" She bolted upright in her bed as her pussy continued to convulse in a tremendous climax. She laid back and panted until her breath evened out.

She got up and went to the bathroom. Splashing cold water on her face, she watched her reflection in the mirror by the sink. This was not the first time she'd had these dreams, but it was the first that she had sex with the creature who was man and wolf. Mostly they just played and frolicked around, he in his wolf form. It was just so bizarre that she dreamed of sex, when in real life she was what anyone would call a prude.

Something has to give,

she thought

. I cannot continue to have these weird dreams. Maybe Pam is right, and I need to get laid and get rid of this pesky virginity. Or maybe I'm just reading too many werewolf romance books, and my subconscious slotted it into my dreams. Time to lay off those paranormal romances, it's going to make me batty if I continue to have these dreams. Well I can't really complain much, he's one hot looking werewolf

. Yawning, she took one last look in the mirror and sauntered back to bed.

CHAPTER ONE

"I can't believe you've talked me into this one. This is just plain crazy." Alexandra Grant glared at her best friend, Pamela Wilkes, as she closed the passenger door of her friend's car. "Crashing parties when we were teenagers was fun, but this one screams of total irresponsibility. We can get into a lot of trouble for this."

"Get off it already, girl. I promise you'll enjoy yourself. A girl I work with told me that this guy throws such great and lavish parties. Besides, it's not actually crashing a party. My friend told me that this party has an open door policy. Anyone can come as long as they are with someone else who's been invited. Nobody will know that we're crashing it, so quit your worrying, and for once, have fun! Of course it doesn't hurt that there is a lot of gorgeous eye candy in attendance too. Besides, you promised me that you'd make an effort to look for a man tonight and end your vow of celibacy," Pamela said with a smirk, "and I for one am not going to let you renege on it."

"Is that all you can think about? Hooking up? Look at this place. We don't belong here at all." Alexandra looked at the imposing front of the mansion, with all its lights ablaze. She couldn't help but cringe at the possibility of things going bad. No one this rich throws a party and would just let anybody crash it. There would be security to keep that from happening, right? How could the two of them sneak in without anyone noticing? It seemed an impossible feat. "Besides," Alex continued, "this get-up you've given me is really uncomfortable and too revealing. They'll take one look at me and they'll throw us both out of the door."

She tugged down the hem of the miniscule red dress and her breast almost popped out of the deep neckline. Pamela had dressed her in everything Alex was wearing that night down to the thong and strappy high heel shoes on her feet, although she was not allowed a bra because according to her friend, it 'would ruin the line of the dress, for crying out loud!' If only she hadn't gotten drunk last week and agreed to this asinine proposal, she would be home relaxing and watching her favorite cable program,

Overhauling.

"Stop fidgeting, Alex! You look great. The dress looks decent, just a little bit on the sexy side. This is the first time in years since I've seen you in something resembling a dress. If I had your voluptuous figure, I would proudly display it. Working in that auto shop of yours robs you of any semblance of femininity. Wearing coveralls all day will not attract the attention of the opposite sex. Now, admit that you look wonderful."

Alexandra cast a dubious glance down at herself and glared at Pamela. "You're kidding, right?" 'Voluptuous' was such a misnomer. 'Chubby' was a more appropriate description for her. Sure, she had large breasts and curvy hips, but add that to her diminutive height --she stood barely five foot two inches barefoot-- and she couldn't believe she was the epitome of a desirable, sexy woman.

"I look like I'm a high-priced hooker. And you know I'm more comfortable just wearing jeans and a t-shirt." She gave a resigned sigh, "It's too late to do anything about it now so let's just get it over with. I'll give it a couple of hours, and if I don't find a man that truly revs up my engine then I'm out of here. If I don't find you by the time I'm ready to leave, I'll assume that you have found someone to hook up with and I'll just grab a cab home. Are we clear?"

"Crystal. But promise that you'll give it a fair shot." Pamela unwaveringly stared at her until she grudgingly nodded her head.

Alex didn't understand why her friend was so concerned about Alex's nonexistent sex life that she had resorted to dragging Alex here. Admittedly, she might be a little old at twenty-five to still be a virgin, but there was no help for it. Every time she went out on a date, she felt like she was in an emotional vacuum. No matter how hard she tried or how charming her date was, there was just no spark or any physical attraction to tempt Alex to finally get the deed done. She would not shortchange herself and settle for just a fuck. So what if she used her own fingers to get satisfaction? It got the job done. Besides, she was just too busy establishing her garage in a male-dominated field to put up with the hassle of a demanding man in her life.

Even as a little girl, she had always been fascinated with cars and engines. When she was old enough, she helped her dad tinker and restore his old 1971 MGB. In high school, she went to a special vocational school to learn auto mechanics and went to work at a small garage for two years, while hoarding her money to scrape up enough to start her own. Now, five years later, she had her own garage with three full-time mechanics on staff. She just didn't have the time to date nor did she have the inclination to have sex just because everyone was doing it. It was not that she was waiting for marriage, just that she wanted to have her first time with someone who would fully engage all of her senses. Alex wanted to experience that overwhelming attraction and instant lust, and not settle for a tepid and unremarkable encounter.

Pamela grabbed Alex's arm and pulled her towards the huge opened double doors of the mansion. As theyneared, Pamela turned to her and mumbled, "Do what I tell you, and we'll bypass the guy manning the door."

Alex glanced at the man by the door and almost ran back into the car. He was huge, with bulging muscles and a menacing scowl on his face. She turned to Pamela and quietly asked, "Are you sure we can get through? Let's just forget this and go home."

"Hush! He might hear you. Come on and let's join that group of people so he won't notice that we don't have an invitation."

They hurried to catch up with the group waiting for their turn to enter, and by sheer luck, one of the women in the party turned to look at them and smiled engagingly, so they smiled back and pretended they knew her. They sidled behind the woman, and as the group entered, they slipped by without the bouncer noticing them.

**********

"You'd better make sure everybody knows that this is the last time I'm going to put up with these endless parties," Rance de Montfort exclaimed. "I have had enough of the constant parade of available bitches for my consideration. I'm telling you, as I have told the Council countless times, that I don't need a mate to rule! I don't have any desire to tie myself down with just one woman; a variety of pussies will do for me for now." He continued to restlessly pace across his bedroom, and glowered at Damian, the other man in the room.

Rance knew that it was not Damian's fault, but he was damn tired of everyone throwing available bitches in his face. And he did mean 'bitches,' literally. As the ruling

Alpha Rex

of the werewolves in North America, they expected him, soon after he had reached his two hundredth year, to whelp an heir. All of his predecessors had found their destined mates during their second century of life, as was written on the ancient writings and promised by the Moon goddess Luna herself, and of course the council wanted him to follow after. The bunch of them were a pain in his ass most of the time; they were so set in their ways and could not seem to let go of the archaic notion that a strong

Alpha Rex

was a mated one.

Damian Beau watched his friend and

Alpha Rex

warily. Being his

Beta

and Prime Enforcer, he knew better than anybody else that Rance was primed to explode. The topic of finding a mate aggravated Rance. He could understand his friend's strong disgust at being forced to consider the idea. Ever since they were pups running wild together, Rance had always been popular with the bitches. They sought Rance out all the time, not just because of his station, but also because of his alluring, strong sexual magnetism for the opposite sex. Once Rance reached puberty, all he needed do was crook his finger and they came panting for his cock. It came as no surprise, then, that the werewolf Council's scheme to hunt for the

Alpha Rex's

mate through these organized parties was trying his patience. Every bitch in attendance was hopeful that she would be considered for the exalted position of

Alpha Regina

.

"I don't need help finding my mate," Rance muttered.

"I am capable of doing it myself without the interference of those meddling fools. Did they forget that there is only one lifemate for us? No matter how many beautiful bitches they shove under my nose, if she's not my destined

Regina

, no force on earth will make me take her as mate."

Finding a mate was instinctual to wolves, but some just settled for a companionship/fuck buddy relationship. Of course, being part human, some aspired to be so highly connected to the ruling monarch through marriage. Thus, Rance continued to endure the endless parties and parade of every available bitches on the continent. It didn't help that it had been written in the Sacred Books that an

Alpha Rex

chosen by the Goddess would find his mate on the month of his two hundredth year; this was the reason the Council was obstinately set on hosting these events.

"You have to give them credit for the effort they've done. I believe they have invited the whole shifter world, and some mortals too. Nothing is to be left to chance that you won't find your mate in the month of your birth, as others before you have done. I suppose they are hopeful that you'll finally stop fucking all the available bitches and settle with just one," Damian smirked.

Rance glared at him and started walking toward the door.

"The problem with being surrounded with available, horny bitches is that I'm so hard all the time and I can't do anything about it without them thinking they'll be mated to me after the fuck." He paused with his hands on the doorknob and turned to Damian, "Let's just get this thing over with. See to it that no one sets foot inside my bedroom unless I expressly approve. I don't want any overzealous bitch finding her way in here. Is that clear?"

"Yes,

Alpha Rex

."

Rance opened the door and purposefully walked out the room. This would be the end of the Council butting into his personal life. He was through placating and giving in to them. After this night was over, he would throw everyone out of his home and enjoy relative peace without the endless bustle of activities and people demanding his constant attention.

*****

The minute Alex entered the enormous entrance hall, her eyes were riveted to a portrait hanging on one of the walls. It was not because of the sheer size of it, but the life-like appearance of the man and mesmerizing glint of his emerald eyes. In a trance, she closed the distance between her and the portrait.

Her reaction to the painting was visceral. Alex'sheart started pumping hard while her lungs labored to breathe. Her forehead was dotted with sweat, and dark spots started appearing before her eyes. Inexperienced as she was, she couldn't understand why immediately after that reaction, her vagina wettened and her clit throbbed in tandem with her heart. Her breasts got heavy and her nipples started tingling and became hardened nubs. It felt like her whole body was so sensitized that Alex was on the verge of an explosive orgasm, just by looking at the painting.

The man in the painting was very tall, probably six-five give or take an inch, and very muscularly built. Dressed in casual clothes of buttoned down shirt with sleeves folded, jeans, and boots, he leaned on a tree, while a wolf sat by his side on the grass. His shoulders and arms looked huge, and strained the sleeves of his shirt, even indolently posed as he was. His flowing sable hair whipped about his arresting chiseled face. The emerald green eyes seemed to stare directly into her soul and unearthed all of her secret dreams and desires. His lips were curved in a sensuous smile that made her think of satin sheets and wild moonlit sex. If the artist had done him justice and depicted it realistically, the bulge between his legs, although dormant, hinted that he was more than well-endowed in that area.

As she continued to stare raptly, she felt like she was standing on a precipice with a glimpse of her future just ahead. Alex had a feeling that she was somehow connected to him in a way that would totally change her life. She had never experienced so strong a reaction to any man before and it scared her a lot. Alex was a firm believer that there was someone meant for everyone, that is, if one was fortunate enough to find him or her in one's lifetime. She was afraid that this man, an image she wasn't even sure was real, was alive, could be him for her.

Alex's convictions stemmed from observing her parents' relationship. Even in a society where divorce and separation was commonplace, her parents epitomized true commitment to one's partner. Her Mom and Dad met at a company picnic where her Dad used to work. They were both dating other people at the time, but they fervently claimed that once their eyes met, they knew right away that destiny had found them. They were inseparable after that, and married three months later. They would be celebrating their twenty-seventh anniversary soon.