The Final Insult

Dear Readers,

Time has passed and many males have died, new things are set in motion.

Enjoy,

KemMyst

********

Three years later

"I don't like it."

"Mom..."

"I will not bring another man into your father's bed."

"Dad knew that we'd need to bring in new blood again. He told me I was going to have to send you out to bring a man back here. Would you rather it was Emily? Or Sandra and Shawna when they come of age?" She took a couple of deep breaths, tears stinging her eyes.

"No. Damn you, Callum." She had known this day would come. Temperance had already coaxed a male into the pack, and, while he was not particularly strong, she seemed to care for him and was pregnant.

She had tried desperately to think of a way to avoid the entire situation, but Devon was no longer here. "Alright, would you consider a compromise?"

"Such as?"

"The goal is to bring in new blood, to produce children not subject to this virus, correct?" Callum nodded, keeping a determined look on his face, although his mother's words stung. "I will go out into the world, when I am fertile, and coax men into having sex with me. If I don't become pregnant within two years", she took a deep breath, "I'll bring one back with me."

"One year." She looked at him, ready to argue, then dropped her head.

"Agreed."

He took her hands. "I'm not doing this to try to hurt you. The pack needs this from you."

"Callum, I've had ten children. There's already too much of my blood in this pack." He opened his mouth to rebut. "Don't worry. I will do as you ask." She stood, her back straight, and left the room. She went outside, into the early spring snows, and ran until she was too tired to think anymore. Her period was coming soon, that meant she had two weeks to prepare before returning to the human world, for the sole purpose of getting a man to impregnate her.

Beth cornered her later. She knew Anne well enough to know when something was wrong. She'd been different since Devon died, but this was more than that.

"I've gone back to being a whore again, Beth."

"You mean Callum means for you to bring in another man?"

"I'm as subject to the whims of the Alpha as anyone else. Besides, he threatened to send Emily, or Shawna and Sandra if I didn't. They're too naive about the outside world. The women don't choose there, it's the men. And too many of them are too much like Ian Matlin. They wouldn't be safe."

*****

In the smoke and noise and crowded conditions of the bar, he was hard pressed to smell anything. But his eyes kept returning to the woman in the corner, staring morosely at the drink in front of her. He'd seen her here a couple of times before, always alone, about every three or four weeks.

She looked to be in her mid thirties, long brown hair, brown eyes. She'd always come in alone. A couple of times he had seen her leave with one of the men and then she'd disappear again. He'd also seen her tell others to go to hell and leave her alone. He'd seen broken down women in a couple of bars he'd been to before, but she wasn't like that. She held herself tall, looking people in the eye, unashamed. But what had driven her to haunt the bar, seemingly looking for sex with random men?

*****

Well, here she was again, sitting with a drink, trying to entice some random healthy male into having sex with her. A woman alone in a bar. She felt like drinking herself into a state where she really wouldn't care what happened to her, but the scales would tip too much in the men's direction. While her change meant she was stronger than before, she'd still be hard pressed to hold out against some of the stronger men if they decided to try something. Even though she didn't like what she was doing, she wanted as much control of the situation as she could get. When half the patrons got drunk enough, they'd hit on her, some with friends egging them on to see if they could get her to agree to a grope in the backseat of their car. She picked up the beer, taking another drink, and looking at the regulars and some irregulars at the bar, at the pool table, and otherwise sitting around swilling themselves into oblivion.

He sat at one end of the bar. He seemed to keep to himself, not really mingling with any of the others, although they clapped him on the arm and made smalltalk from time to time. He was also one of the few that hadn't tried to get in her pants. His hair was a light brown, and wavy. He was on the tall side, with a broad chest and big arms.

Once, when she glanced at him, he was looking at her. His eyes were a startling grey color. There was something about him, the way he held himself, although he did seem a bit arrogant. As if he were better than the others.

He finally decided to see if Rick knew anything about her. Catching the bartender's eye, he motioned him over. "Want another one, Ethan?"

"No, Rick. Thanks. I was just wondering. Know anything about our mystery woman in the corner? She got a name?"

"Nope. Never heard a name. None of the guys have ever gotten one out of her."

"She ever pay with a credit card?"

"Nope. Always cash. And, at her age, never had a reason to card her. You thinking of giving her a try or something?"

"No. Just wondering. She just comes in here every so often and sometimes leaves with a guy. She's not even really trying to pick someone up. What do you suppose her deal is?"

"May be some random heiress out slumming. Who knows? If you find out, let me know, huh?"

"Sure, Rick. Hey, I will take another one after all. Make it two."

He took both beers over and asked if he could sit at her table. She looked at him rather closely, and agreed.

He tried talking to her. Her answers were short, noncommittal.

She looked at him a little more closely. "What are you, a police officer?"

He laughed, yelled over the crowd, "Hey, Rick, am I a cop?"

"You, Ethan? Yea, and I'm the pope."

She released an exasperated breath. "Look, not to be rude, but is there something you wanted?"

He sat there, talking to her, or trying to, through a couple of rounds of beers. She saw some men looking at her, probably friends of others she'd been with, but he didn't leave. "Look, I really need to you to go back to the bar."

"Why?"

"None of your affair." Still, he didn't leave. He had spoiled her hunt for the evening. Not that she was terribly disappointed, mind you, but Callum would begin to wonder if she were actually doing what she said she was.

She came back, the next night. When he turned to look at her, she caught his eye and glared at him from the corner. He watched, later, as she left the bar in the company of another man. He finished his beer and walked out into the night air.

Ethan heard the man's groans as she rode him in the front seat of his pickup truck. The windows were cracked in the warm air and he could smell sex. From the shadows near the back of the bar he watched as the man nuzzled at her neck, pawed her breasts, and pushed up inside her. Then he heard, "I'm gonna cum!" and the man made the groan signifying he was spraying her insides.

She stopped moving and her head turned. She seemed to be staring at him. But, she couldn't possibly see him back here in the shadows! After a few moments, she got off of the man, arranged her clothing, and got out of his truck, stuffing something in a pocket.

Was she just a whore? She didn't act like she needed the money. Or was it drugs? Had she actually seen him, watching her? Who was this woman? The wind shifted and, suddenly, he got a good whiff of her. My god, he'd never smelled anything like it! He'd smelled something good when he sat opposite her in the bar the last time, but you never knew where it was coming from inside the bar with the smoke and crush of bodies.

She disappeared again for another three weeks or so. When she did return, he waited until she had almost finished her first beer, then walked over to the table with two more and sat down.

She took the proffered beverage and took a drink. "Who are you?"

"The queen of England, and you?"

"The pope, no, wait, that's Rick." He shook his head. "I'm Ethan." He put out his hand.

She looked at it, thought a second, then took it. She pulled him a little closer over the table. "So, you like to watch, is that it?"

He pulled back. She had seen him. But how? "I'm just trying to figure you out."

"I'm not that interesting, quit trying."

"I'm just trying to be sociable."

"Not what I'm here for, go away."

"Alright then, shall we go outside?" She looked at him a little more closely, chugged the beer, and stood.

"Alright."

They went outside and he opened the door to his Blazer, helping her into the backseat. She closed her eyes and started thinking of Devon touching her.

He got in behind her. She had her eyes closed. She was wearing a button down shirt and a long skirt. The buttons were partly undone as an enticement of sorts, to expose the tops of her breasts. He started unbuttoning the shirt and pulled it open to reveal them. She was wearing some sort of device that supported them, holding them up higher, while revealing everything else. It didn't cover a thing. He cupped them, they were a little soft but nicely sized and he teased the nipples into rigidity. His mouth descended on one of them, sucking, while his hand pushed up the skirt to touch the softness between her thighs. He opened his eyes when he realized she wasn't wearing panties. Everything pointed to having sex quickly, with little fuss and fumbling. She was just starting to get wet as he stroked her and pushed a finger inside.

He picked up his head briefly, to ask the question, "How much?"

She glared at him, and pulled away, starting to pull her shirt back together. "I'm not a prostitute!"

He pulled her back. "OK. I'm sorry. It's just.,, What are you trying to do?"

"None of your business. Yes or no?"

He looked at her again, taking in the smell of her in the enclosed space of the SUV, smelling the beginnings of her arousal. Now that he had her here, there was no choice. "Yes."

She closed her eyes again as he pulled open her shirt, shoved up her skirt, and touched her. Her hands went to his jeans, pulling open the button and unzipping the fly. She stroked him lightly, through his underwear, as he licked and nibbled at her breasts, while working a couple of fingers inside her. She worked his pants and underwear down over his hips and took his shaft in her hands, working it into full hardness. There was nothing tentative about her actions; she knew exactly what she's doing, how to ready him. Her eyes opened again briefly when she realized he was uncut. That was somewhat unusual for this day and age.

Then she moved over and straddled his hips, as he guided himself into her readied sheath. "Oh, that's nice!" She cracked an eye at him, and, with her hands on his shoulders, commenced the pistoning of him within her. He stroked her back, he suckled on a breast, then nuzzled her neck, he cupped her ass, helping her ride him. In the heat of an early summer night, their bodies both filmed with sweat. He took her hips to move her faster and harder onto him, shifting his own hips to meet her on the downstroke. Just before he was ready to explode, he grabbed her waist, but the slickness of her body made him lose his grip as she came down one more time. He lodged his knot in her and released his load.

Her eyes opend wide at the sensation, and she looked at him, disconcerted. "Um.." Then, she took a decided sniff of him. He tossed out the explanation he'd devised. "The doctor says I have a varicose vein there. It's gonna take a little bit before the swelling goes down."

He could swear she smelled him again as she closed her eyes, waiting for him to deflate. She made no comment, no disparaging remark, but he swore he felt her trembling.

He'd always been so careful with the human females he'd been with. Stopping them before they managed to come all the way down and he tied with them. They'd always taken the explanation at face value; some of them weren't very smart. And there hadn't been many.

It was a few minutes before he slid out of her and she gave him a rather studied look as she pulled her shirt together and got off of him. She climbed out of the truck as he sat there, a bit stunned, with his pants around his ankles, looking at her.

She turned to leave and he had the presence of mind to call to her, trying to pull up his jeans as she walked away. In the dampness of the night, they were stubbornly resisting him. "Hey! What's your name..."

She looked back briefly and he heard her last word to him before she got into a dark colored pickup truck and rode off. "Anne."

She spent the next couple of weeks worried and distracted. She ransacked her old journals, looking for something specific. When she finally found it, her mood dropped and she went off by herself for a while. The older children were worried and tried to draw her out, but she wouldn't tell them what happened.

Finally, five weeks after she had come back from her last visit to town, she grabbed Alana and they go to the Medical lab. Anne got up on the table and looked to her daughter. "Get it out of me."

"Mom, what is it? What's wrong? What are you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter, just get this thing out of me!"

"Are you pregnant?"

"Yes. And I want it gone."

"I'm getting Callum."

"No! Don't tell him!" Alana looked at her mother with sympathy and headed out the door. "Alana, get back here!"

Alana returned with her brother and Beth. "I don't know; she just went nuts."

Anne was rifling through the Medical instruments and was holding a scalpel in one hand. Callum wrestled it from her grip. "Mom, what are you doing?"

"I want it out of me, now!"

"What are you talking about, why?

"It's a Matlin! I won't have it inside me!"

"What? How do you know it's a Matlin? Were you attacked?" She shook her head. "How in the world could they have found you?"

"He was a wolf. He had a knot; we were tied. He said his name was Ethan. It's the only one it could be. Ethan Matlin left his pack over twenty years ago and I managed to get with his... his... I won't give birth to a Matlin! Get it out!"

After extracting a promise that she wouldn't do anything rash for a moment, the three of them went outside, closing the door, to discuss the situation. Beth tried to explain why it was so horrible for their mother. The children had heard the story before, but not all the details.

"Anne had a couple of run-ins with Ian. She doesn't just hate him; she reviles him."

"He's dead."

"Yes, but anything associated with him is also tainted in her eyes. That means anyone in his pack, whether they deserve it or not. You saw how she struggled with letting Alicia and her baby into the pack."

"Nick was there the whole time after she ran away from us, and I've some other viewpoints from some of the others. But she never really said what happened before the men arrived. Three of the Matlin males had her surrounded and she was on the ground. When our men got there, they shifted the attention and she got back with Devon and the others. You know how fast she is." Callum and Alana nodded. "Anyway, they started back from the Matlin range; she had gotten that far away with you. She was tired, probably a combination of her pregnancy, the run, and the adrenaline. Devon sent Kevin back for the truck and ended up carrying her since she was slowing them down. They'd made it most of the way back when Ian returned for her with seven of his pack. Devon put her down to make a final stand and pushed her to go home. She wouldn't leave. It probably would have made it harder to fight them since they'd have to worry about her as well but, luckily, Kevin arrived in time with the truck."

"There was an attempt, a little later, by the Matlins to come in and get her. But, we had put things in place to make it harder for anyone who tried to attack us."

"After you were born, Devon reported to the council that she had died. Ian wanted her that badly and Devon was not going to let her go. I've been told she trails a scent that has the men lusting after her." She indicated Alana. "We can't smell it, because we're female, I think. I don't think you can smell it because you're her son."

"Later that spring or early summer, your mother and Valerie were outside with the four of you. Ian came back into our range with four others. She ordered Valerie in with Wesley and tried to get the three of you back into the compound, but you were too small. From what she told us, they surrounded her and she concentrated on keeping you alive. They started attacking her, throwing her off balance and one of them knocked her down. Ian got behind her, knocked her down, and mounted her." Alana gasped.

Callum looked at her. "Right here? In our compound?"

"That's how obsessed he was with her. Devon and the others came out and he knocked them over. Ian picked up Joy and took off. Devon went after him. Anne fought off one of the other males and got you back to the compound, where Jen and I grabbed the two of you. She made sure you were alright, then went after Ian and Devon and Joy."

"She told us the rest of the story while your father was unconscious and she was nursing you. She found the two of them, facing off, not out of the McKenna range yet. She was getting ready to give herself up to Ian, to trade for your sister, when Ian dropped her. Devon tackled him and they fought. As Anne was starting to bring Joy back something happened and Devon ended up on the ground, with Ian's teeth at his throat. She launched herself at them, knocked him over, and ripped his throat out. She told us that, if she had gone with him, that she'd figure out a way to kill him before the month was out. And I believe she would have."

A deep breath, collecting her thoughts. "When Ian took his three human females, he reported at the next council meeting that he had already had several matings with them. They wouldn't have gotten comfortable with their situation that quickly. He was raping them, regularly. They also reported a death about 3 months in. I can only assume one of them wasn't any fun any more or fought back and made him mad or, maybe, he hurt her so badly she died."

"That's what your mother was facing. Ian Matlin was a monster; could his sons be any different?" Her two older children looked at the ground. "There're other things in your mother's past than only contribute to her bad opinion of the Matlins." Beth's breath hitched a little. "She told me, after Marshall attacked me, that she had been raped by a friend when she was in college. And Marshall hurt her too."

"On top of that, and as much as you aren't going to want to believe it, your father.. No, the word seems too strong. It was after she was taken, before you were born. She wasn't willing, but she did submit. I expect it was only because we were in lockdown and she couldn't get away. She ran as soon as she got the chance."

"Your mother's been hurt by men far more times than any woman has any right to be. She has good reason to hate men. But, she loved your father, and loves all of you."

Callum and Alana were stunned. Callum looked like someone just killed his puppy.

"How do we get her through this? I won't let her get rid of it, even if it is Ethan Matlin's baby."

Beth swallowed. "She would do better, I think, if she were mated. But that won't happen anytime soon since she's still mourning your father. She's just as likely to fight you about it since it's supposed to be her choice and she didn't even have that the first time. Hopefully she'll feel better about it when the baby moves. She was very protective of you when you were born, wouldn't let anyone near you, or touch you, for days. You've seen how she was with Devon and Bev when they were babies. We can only hope that the maternal instinct kicks in when it's born. If not, you'll probably have to see if one of the others can nurse it. I don't know. I'm really not sure how we can help her. It's really up to her."