chapter 27. THE MALE, THE WOLF, AND THE MOUNTAIN LION.

After Alfred woke up, and the two alphas recovered from the shock and the excitement of seeing the man awake, Wolfaraine went ahead to dismiss Degar.

"I want to speak with him alone." He said.

"Of course," Degar inclined his head before turning towards the door.

"Get the conference hall ready for the tournament tomorrow. Send your sentinel to the Elephant's Clan to know if it's Rodarh or Onaries that is going to be at the three-day fiesta with us. I will see you tomorrow, Degar."

"I will do as you said."

"Oh, and Degar?"

"Yes, Alpha King?"

"Tell Maximus, your Head Sentinel, that his wife has conceived. Her scent has taken on a distinctive smell of citrus."

"Really!?" Degar's eyes widened to saucers. Maximus's only daughter is six years old. He and his mate, Nini, has been trying for five years now. "I know it's not wise to question your sense of smell...but are you really sure...?"

A wry smile crossed Wolfariane's face, "Since Maximus himself hasn't smelled it, I guess she just freshly conceived. Citrus in her sense means the child is barely a week old. Three weeks from now, when her scent takes on an ample smell of lavender, he will know that her scent has altered. His mate is with child. Send my congratulations to him."

"Your sense of smell," Degar awed, shaking his head in disbelief. Then a huge smile took over his features. "You really are born to be Alpha King. I will inform Maximus once I get back to the clan."

Wolfaraine heard the front door close before he faced the man lying on the bed, looking around in bewilderment. The smile on his face disappeared, his features going blank.

"Am I in...hell or in...heaven? My best guess...is hell but then again...hell is not supposed to have...a bed." Alfred's voice was hoarse from months of un-use. "You are not dead." He responded, moving closer to stand beside the man.

"I'm not?" Disbelief echoed in his voice, "I was very...sure I died. I... felt life drain...out of me."

"You are in Naturiah. My world. I've been treating you for the past ten weeks. It is a miracle that you are finally awake." Wolfaraine allowed him time to process the information.

The disbelief on his tired face changed to surprise. "Oh, my God. But why...why would you do that for me?" He asked, at last, utterly perplexed.

"Your family is taking your death too hard. I could not stand by and watch the woman I love being eaten alive with misery over your death, so I just decided to try. The ring and my blood have never raised the dead before. Like I said, a miracle."

Alfred watched the unsmiling, intimating face of the man who saved his life. There were a lot of feelings coursing through him, the greatest of them was gratitude. He has done absolutely nothing to deserve his kindness. It made his eyes water.

"I...I don't know how to t-thank you. I feel so a-ashamed right now." He swallowed hard, "Thank you very much."

"I can smell your guilt, your remorse, and your gratitude. Your sincere gratitude is enough for me. I already forgave you for the part you played in my horrific past, and I forgive you for the part you play in my nightmares. But the past already happened, we cannot let it keep getting in the way of our present and the future."

Wolfaraine lowered himself on the chair directly opposite the bed, leaning back to relax on it.

"Everyone deserves a second chance. Your daughter gave me one. I am giving you one too. Your wife loves you very much, she has taken your death the hardest way. Make things right for your family. Be there for them as always, and this time around, be completely honest with them so that nothing will ever taint the love your family has."

A tear fell from Alfred's eyes. He nodded his head vigorously. "Thank you very much. I will regret working for those monsters for the rest of my life, the guilt will always stay with me. But thank you for giving me this second chance again."

Wolfaraine nodded curtly. Silence descended upon them.

"There's something I've always wanted to know about." Alfred broke the silence, his eyes filled with remorse, "What about your...s-sister? I know she...didn't die back there like the others b-but she did not...t-turn back for the rest of the time spent there, even with all the injections we used t-to try and force her. How is she now?"

His savior's eyes darkened, the frown on his face became even more profound and his hands fisted on his sides. They fisted so hard, he saw them vibrate.

"I...I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry for asking." Alfred averted his eyes, "I'm sorry for everything."

Wolfaraine was raging, but his turmoil wasn't directed at Alfred. The thoughts of his sister and what she went through always have this effect on him.

He recalled Ismena's voice telling him that if he ever became so worked up, he should take deep breaths and count from one to twenty backward.

He counted backward from fifty. By the time he got to one, he was feeling better. Calmer.

"She hasn't recovered." he found himself speaking, "She is alive, but she has been in her wolf-form for the past eighteen years. I don't think she knows her way back. She might remain in the form for the rest of her life. It is heartbreaking to think about, but at least she is beginning to make progress in her condition."

"I'm so sorry," the older man breathed, his heart filled with sorrow.

"It's okay." Wolfaraine straightened, rising from the chair. "Just concentrate on getting well, Alfred. I am traveling tomorrow. When I get back, I will arrange for you to reunite with your family."

When he got to the door, he stopped and turned back. His eyes softened as he looked at the older man again. "I am glad that you are awake, Alfred."

The man was too emotional to get any word out so he nodded his head vigorously.

Wolfaraine gave him what came damn close to being a smile, before he turned and walked out of the door.

On his way back to his bedroom, he deviated and went to Nalaila's dungeon room.

With his sister's progress, he has become sure that his sister will never hurt innocent people, so he and Ismena are already working to get another room ready for her. One without bars and locks.

He has always hated seeing her behind these bars but his sense of duty to keep his people safe had always overrode his protectiveness of his sister. Guilt assailed him as he watched the rise and fall of her furry body as she sleeps.

Closing the door behind him, he walked soundlessly to one side of the room and lowered himself to the floor with his back pressing again the wall. He sat there, watching her sleep.

He lost himself in the thought of the past, the good part of the past, the time way before their captivity when Nalaila was all play, all smile and all...mortal form.

She will be twenty-nine next month. What will she look like as a twenty-eight-year-old female?

His sister was just a beautiful girl. If he could see her in mortal form, he'd bet that she will be a very beautiful woman now. Eyes as blue as the sky. Hair as dark as midnight.

The wolf whimpered in her sleep, drawing his mind back to the present. Its breathing stuttered before it settled back to sleep.

"I would take away the nightmares if I could, Aila. I would slay the bad-dream-dragon for you if only I could see it, honey. But I can't." he said aloud but in a low tone, "Sleep tight, Aila. I will watch over you."

And he did.

Hours passed. Time slipped away until only the silence of the night and the soft breathing of the wolf remained. By the time Wolfaraine went back to his bedroom, it was almost dawn.

He was emotionally and mentally exhausted as he opened the door of his bedroom and walked in. His step faltered when he saw the small, beautiful woman curled into a sleeping ball in the middle of his bed.

Did she wait for him? How long was she awake, waiting for him to get back?

A feeling of warmth spread over his chest as he stood there watching her beautiful face smoothened out in sleep. She looks even younger now almost childlike. Even in sleep, she was still the most gorgeous female he has ever seen in his life.

He went hard watching her. He stood there, rock-hard like granite, his erection standing proud, tenting up his pants, his sadness, and mental exhaustion were momentarily forgotten.

"Mine..." The wolf growled inside him, waking from slumber at the smell of their mate. Surprisingly, the cougar stretched out too, and purred like a big cat.

"Mine," It wasn't the first time the two predatory parts of him came on board with wanting to join the male in sleeping with their mate, together.

It wasn't the first time they both rose to the surface together with the need to join the male in mating with their woman. But, it was the first time the male did not do anything to suppress them.

For the first time, Wolfaraine allowed his animals to prowl the surface as he undressed and approached his mate...

Ismena woke to the strong, familiar hands roaming all over her body, he pressed kisses all over her neck before one of his hands rest over her belly and pulled her back so that her body molded perfectly with his naked body.

She smiled sleepily when she felt his hardness press against her ass.

Rolling over, she turned towards him. Instantly his lips took hers into a searing kiss. His mouth consumed her, he practically devoured hers until they shared the same breath.

There was something different today. His touch was rougher, more possessive. In jerky movements, he undressed her. She helped him to get her clothes out of the way until she was lying in his arms in just her panties.

His hand tugged on the red silk, he growled impatiently when the material held. Before she could offer to help him pull it off, he tugged hard and the sound of cloth ripping apart filled the air. He threw her torn panties over his shoulder, leaving her as naked as he is.

Tiny, little growls emitted from his throat, he rolled them again until she was on her back.

Then he rose above her body. His mouth dislodged from hers, and he began to trail kisses down her body-her neck, her chest, her belly, lower.

He grabbed her legs and spread them apart. A groan of satisfaction left his lips as he wedged himself between her legs.

Without warning, he spread her pussy lips apart and gave her cunt a long lick. The touch of his tongue was like a bolt of electricity searing her womb. Ismena gasped at the sensation, her body tightening, drowning in the pleasure that washed over her.

She threw her head back and jolted against his mouth, feeling his tongue circle her aching clit, his lips suckling at it. His hand spread the folds, his finger running through the fluid that wept from her body, caressing a path from her hidden entrance then lower, shockingly lower, to the tight pucker of her other hole.

Ismena jerked. Her eyes flew open. He has never touched her there before.

He growled in warning into her flesh, sending palpitation of ecstasy echoing over her body. She arched. His tongue stabbed into her vagina, his finger slid a forbidden inch into the lower entrance.

"Oh God, Wolfe." She gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into his muscles as her vagina tightened, desperate to hold his tongue in place as she gaped at the feel of his finger lodged just past the entrance of her ass.

It didn't hurt. She would have thought it would because no one has ever done anything like that to her before. He moved it, pulling free of her body's grip, his fingers moistening themselves in the juice that ran from her entrance, then returning to slide into the tight hole once again.

All the while, his tongue stabbed hard and fast inside her, driving her closer to completion, as his finger drove her closer to insanity.

She tossed wildly beneath him, panting in mindless ecstasy while bucking against him. Her hands were in his hair again, holding him close as she felt the bite of sensual pain in her ass, the thrust and drag of his tongue in her vagina.

Torturous need clawed at her insides, burning her alive as he fucked his tongue hard and fast inside her gripping channel. She came so hard that she thought she would die with the sensations of it.

"Oh, Hell," She gasped, burning, reaching, she screamed out at the agonizing pleasure and exploded into his mouth as his finger forged deep inside her ass an instant before her muscles clamped tight in orgasm. Fiery fingers of electricity sizzled her insides, as her hands gripped his hair tightly.

He eased his finger free of her pulsing hole, before rising quickly over her. He urged her body up and positioned her on her hands and knees. His body blanketed hers from behind and his shaft slammed inside her pussy.

They both cried out at the clawing, greedy lust that has taken over their body as he stretched her, and filled her. Death couldn't be as painful, as exquisite, as completely shattering, as the feel of his heavy erection separating her, forcing its way into the ever-shrinking depths of her pussy.

His thrusts were without rhythm, but they were hard and so fast that she couldn't match him no matter how hard she tried.

Everything inside her deteriorated around the desperate penetration, the hard, almost brutal stabs of his cock inside her gripping channel. He fucked her like a man gone mad, but even worse her body accepted it and screamed out for more.

She couldn't believe that was the voice she heard. Shattered screams. Pleas for more. Deeper, faster, oh God.

"Harder... Take me, Wolfe. fuck me harder..." Not her, she thought distantly. She wouldn't scream such words. She wouldn't plead so desperately.

Their bodies were frenzied, locked together in a dance of agonized pleasure. His hips drove his erection deep, thrusting hard and fast.

All of a sudden, she felt him grow bigger-way bigger-inside her, and white furs covered his arm wrapped around her middle. Distantly, she realized that he has half-shifted into the wolf form.

He was stretching her so much, she felt so full that her body shook. The line between pleasure and pain blurred so much, she was overwhelmed with the intense sensation of it. Yet she arched her back more, mindless in ecstasy.

"Mine!" He growled in a deep, rumble of a voice that reverberated through her body.

"Yours!" She panted.

Time dissolved around them as they lost themselves in the frenzied passion of being in each other's arms. When her eyes opened again, she noticed that the furs holding her has changed color to the tawny, silvery-grey of the mountain lion.

The cougar?

Spreading her legs wider, he slammed into her over and over again until her vagina walls quaked and rippled around his massive length.

His head lowered, his teeth gripping the sensitive area between shoulder and neck as she screamed out as she was shoved into a climax so intense that all she saw was darkness.

Her climax was blinding, it ripped through her body like a ravaging beast. She couldn't breathe, she could only convulse against him as his teeth bit into the sensitive skin even harder, adding a sharp, stinging pain to her pleasure and driving her into madness.

In between her vortex of ecstasy, she noticed that he was back in his male form again.

"You're so sweet, Ena. Take it, take me. Hell, too tight, so perfect. Too hot..." Wolfaraine was gasping, sweat dripping from his body as he drove her higher and higher.

Her channel was a vise of slippery, flexing, torturous pleasure. The muscles clamped on him, fighting to accept him, strangling his dick so hard that his orgasm slammed into him so unexpectedly.

He came with a hoarse shout. She felt the change in his shaft. A small thumb of flesh elongate till it grew tautly just under the head of his dick then the barb locked him deeply, stroking against the most sensitive area of her quaking pussy and shoving her into another mindless orgasm.

"Ohhhhh myyyyyy GaaaaWWRRRD!!!" She knelt there, sobbing and trembling from head to toe. She couldn't make out the words pouring out of her mouth, but she knew she is rambling.

Wolfaraine roared behind her as the knot took place-a guttural, primal roar that echoed throughout the room.

She felt the deep, heavy pulses of heated sperm shooting hard and hot inside her, so far up her cervix. Or where her cervix would have been if she had one.

His body collapsed on top of hers, his weight pressing her into the mattress. Their bodies were damp and locked together intimated, unable to separate.

They could have stayed that way for eternity and she wouldn't have protested. Her eyes were closed. The last violent pulse of her climax shuddered through her body, before the exhaustion captured her.

And that was when the burn began.

It was more intense. Like fire clawing through her womb-or where it would have been. It aches like a thread being weaved together. It hurts much more than it has ever done before.

She bit her lips to hold it in. But she only managed it for the first few seconds, cause with every passing second, the burn multiples.

"Oh, Jesus." A whimper tore from her throat. Instantly she slapped her hand against her mouth, curling into a ball with her other hand clutching tightly against her belly.

"Are you alright, honey?"

His voice sounded far away. Another whimper escaped her throat. It felt like her lower belly was thrown into a blazing fire. A fire that burns hotter with every passing second.

Her eyes watered, and she lost the battle. Throwing her head back, a scream tore from her throat as she doubled over.

"Ena? Honey, what's going on?"

He was close to her, but his concerned voice was distant in her roaring ears. She could almost hear the panic in his voice.

She tried to pull herself again from him but their body was still locked together in a knot.

The more she tugged, the more she hurt herself in a different place. So as fast as she began, she stopped trying to get free.

Instead, she molded her body tightly into his, curving into a protective ball while her lower belly burned like hell. Literally.

Wolfaraine held her to him, confused and concerned beyond measure. He had no idea what is going on with her but she seems to be in so much pain. He called out to her, but she does not seem to hear him.

She was sobbing, whimpering in her throat, tears rolling down her eyes, and tremors raking her body occasionally, making her jerk.

Did he hurt her when he shifted to the cougar? When he shifted to the wolf? Is it the knotting? Was he too rough?

So many questions he had no way to answer. So, he did what he could, holding her in a protective embrace, his whole body blanketing hers. "I'm sorry, baby. So sorry,"

"Wolfe..." She sounded scared. Hurt. Whimpering like a wounded thing. Her body jerked again.

"I'm right here, honey, I'm right here. I've got you. I've got it." He peppered kisses all over her hair, her sweaty forehead, her teary cheeks, and her eyes squeezed tightly short. "I've got you. I'm right here."

It was the longest two minutes of his life, filled with worry, sexual satisfaction, and guilt. He should never have allowed all part of him such active participation in claiming their mate if he knew that their combined release-the knot-would hurt her like this afterward.

It had to be that because there was no other explanation.

Finally, her body relaxed under his. She exhaled a loud breath before she settled into a deep, exhausted slumber.

The knot lasted for an hour. He would have slept it off already, but he chose to stay awake, keeping watch over her, listening to her labored breathing. He loved watching her sleep.

When the barb retreated, he pulled out of her as carefully, as gently as ever.

Then placed a tentative kiss on her forehead before he rose to his feet, pulled the coverlet over her, and walked out of the bedroom.

Hours after he left the bedroom, her newly regenerated fallopian tube housed a newly fertilized egg cell in her belly.

Ismena's scent altered. The slightest scent of citrus merged with her scent.