Gamma's Energy Attracts

Part 2

Caly’s POV

Since Colin is babysitting, my husband and I are going for an after-dinner run. It's late October already, though many leaves have already fallen and the Moon is out earlier, this past week has brought us an Indian summer. There's a balmy warm breeze stirring through the forest tonight, soft bursts of rustling leaves can be heard.

“Let's head down to the stream," Stavros tells me as we are about to shift. "I love watching you swim."

"You know I love to swim. I hope the water is warm enough," I tell him as I fold my clothes and tuck them into a tree hole. "You just want me to go skinny dipping." That wolf has used every excuse on the planet to see me naked, in fact, he’s eyeing me right now.

"Yep. For all the memories we have down there. My favourite memory of you is down in that water.” 

“Oh?" I’m curious to know which memory is his fondest.

"After our first real date when Athena forced you to shift back, you were screaming like she tried to drown you. You held on to me so tightly I just wanted to tell you how much I wanted to be with you and make you Mine. It's when I realized how truly beautiful you are, inside and out. I thought I was so lucky to have a Water Goddess like you. That night lit a fire in me, I had to have you."

"But you didn't get to have me that night," I playfully remind him. I went into heat and he just held me and kissed me until the wave of pain was over. I tease him further by shifting quickly and taking off at full speed, zig-zagging through the trees. 

'The squirrels are in their holes or nests asleep at this hour,' my wolf pouts at me.

'Be thankful for what we got,' I remind her gently. Athena adored chasing squirrels, but the forest at Blood Pact was in her words, 'Critter deficient' and my Mate had said the hunting had dried up by the time he took over as Alpha. The summer after my Luna ceremony marked the first new signs of life on our territory. One morning when we took our pups out to sit in the fresh air, Athena turned off my vision and leant me her advanced hearing, whispering for me to listen.  I heard the unmistakable sounds of chirping birds and chattering squirrels or maybe chipmunks from the trees. I felt my whole world was full of tiny miracles.

That fall, Julia had to do a science project for school and she was not at all looking forward to it, the only subjects she actually enjoys are the reading portion of English (definitely not the book reports) and Art. When she told me she would love to see real forest creatures, I felt it was a huge cosmic coincidence I couldn't ignore, so I helped her research forest conservation. Julia herself got the younger kids at our primary school interested in protecting our forest. She was very good with the young pups, she read them stories to make it fun, they got their hands dirty making suet balls for the wild birdies and rolled salt wheels out to the far edge of the forest. I’m trying to encourage her to take Early Pup Education in college, but she keeps telling me she’s done with school after this year.

Crap! I forgot to write the conservation article for the Pack newsletter. I should forward it to Moon’s Heart, too. My mind continues to wander over Pack members and my never-ending to-do list as Athena takes the helm. I tend to ignore what she does with her Mate Zeus, they are like National Geo-extra-graphic. I hadn’t realized they had finished until I was drowning in cold water. I come up gasping for air and let out a frustrated growl, that b***h did it again. Stavros has me pulled into his chest, he looks down at our position and his eyes go from Blue to Midnight.

‘It's your own fault, thinking about work while I am trying to spend time with my Mate. I'm just recreating the Alpha’s sweetest memories! You should help him finish off his fantasies.’ My wolf howls with laughter. 

I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him in for a kiss. We start softly pressing our cold wet lips together but soon he wants to d*minate the kiss, nipping my bottom lip and thr*sting his tongue into my mouth. He brings me up out of the water, guiding my thighs to wrap around his waist. I feel his manhood stiffen nestled right outside my core. I break the kiss to catch my breath.

“Lean back,” He softly growls. I look over my shoulder at the dark water. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” He fists a handful of my hair and pulls me backwards until my shoulders touch the water. He runs his hand through the length of my hair, causing it to fan out, floating on the surface of the water. I gently move my arms to make gentle waves, loving the cool water on my back. “That’s right. relax Little Water Goddess.” 

With one hand holding me up by the @ss, he uses the other to scoop water up in his cupped palm and releases over each of my bre*sts, my n*pples pulling taut as the breeze touches them. He teases them with his firm grip palming them, in between little pinches and twists. My breaths come faster, anticipating what comes next. He slides his hand in between where our bodies join to rub small circles over my cl*t with his thumb. I let out a soft breathy moan.

“Does my Water Goddess like that?” he says softly, but he’s wearing a c*cky smile.

“Yes,” A million times yes! He slides his c*ck between my wet folds, it doesn’t take long to push me over the edge. As my org*sm hits he digs his fingers into my hips, positioning me so he can guide himself in and feel my walls fluttering around him. He growls out his happiness as he starts with slow thr*sts so I can recover from my high. It’s not really in his nature to go soft and sweet, so soon the only sound is the water slapping as he drives into me. I bite my lip so I don’t scream out and alert every patrol wolf in the vicinity to what their Alpha is doing to me.

“C*m for me, Sweetheart.” His sexy voice triggers me as I clamp down on him. He groans loud enough for half the forest to hear, and my cheeks feel flush, no matter how cold the water is. He pulls me back into his arms and cuddles me to his chest, nuzzling his nose against my neck. 

After a few minutes, he releases me, I head for the shore. When I am almost completely out of the water he slaps my @ss, being wet made it sting even more. “Excuse you! What was that for?” I shoot him a look over my shoulder.

“You know better than to keep all your s*xy moans from me. Did you really think I wouldn’t tell the wolves patrolling to stay away from our spot?” I don’t doubt that he did, but I’m still not going to howl the forest down. It’s bad enough they all probably know what we were doing! I feel half the Pack is aware of how much of a beast their Alpha is and exactly how often he gets laid.

I shift and take the direct route back to where we left our clothes, I’m guessing with my internal clock that it must be close to the pup’s bedtime, I didn’t bring my phone. As soon as I am dressed Stav lifts me up, I wrap myself around him, knowing he will be running us up the stairs. I long ago quit arguing when he wanted to carry me, in his mind, I need to conserve my energy for later tonight. 

We find poor Colin asleep on the couch in between both my pups, half his body covered in a pink kitty blanket and being lounged on by my daughter, and the other half covered by a blue puppy blanket, my son curled up against his side. I tap Stav’s chest and hold out my hand, he hands me his phone and I take the umpteenth photo of my kids sleeping.

"Is Caroline working the overnight?" I ask Stav in a whisper as I pull Atlas into my arms, draping his blanket loosely, he hates to feel restricted.

"Yeah," he says as he turns off the TV and lifts Carissa, swaddling her up in her blanket the way she likes. We don't need to say anything else to each other. Colin sleeps much better these days. He doesn't need my movie nights as often, his wolf is secure now that all the wolves he feels he needs to protect are safely tucked under the Packhouse roof. His heart is full and he spends most nights beside his treasure, his Mate. However, it’s only 8:30 and Caroline is working, if I wake him now, he will have had just enough sleep that he will prowl around all damn night. I am just going to get out his favourite blanket before he feels the loss of heat, my kids are tiny infernos.

I tuck in Colin and Stav is making me a cup of camomile tea and looking for a snack in the fridge. “You want a sandwich?” He asks, and I shake my head No. “You sure? I’m not done with you yet,” he says suggestively.

“Save me one, I might need it afterwards,” I say cheekily and stir a spoonful of sugar into my tea. I bump my hip against his and head for our bedroom, swaying my hips as I walk. I give him a look over my shoulder and I just know I won’t be getting much sleep tonight.

*****

“You look tired, my Queen. Is the Alpha overworking you?” Theressa scrutinizes my weary appearance at breakfast time. “Do I need to have a word with him?” I’m sure the word she would have with him would be ‘Punch’. I shake my head and giggle. I pour some cream and sugar into the coffee someone has already poured for me.

“It was a long hard night for Caly. Don’t worry, Terr, I took good care of her,” my Mate announces to my shock, and I almost spit out my coffee. Almost, Athena holds my lips tight, not wanting to waste it. I give a harsh cough because choking is never good, Athena reaches for my coffee mug for another drink. She’s trying to solve all our problems with coffee, as per usual.

When I recover, I change the topic, “What’s everyone’s plan for today?”

“I gotta video call with Drew and Darren. I need to see if they are ready to set a date for the Grand Opening, I will probably look into flights. I need three weeks to put in the final security systems.” Drew and Darren are Brothers and contractors who run our construction business. For the past few years, they have been away more than they have been home, personally overseeing the werewolf-friendly hotels we’ve been building across Europe. Right now they are finishing a project in southern Italy. That’s right up Terri’s alley, her family was from there. 

Terri loves travelling, and I know she’s still hoping to find the wolf she’s supposed to spend her life with. She is the youngest of the Blood Pact’s three amigos at 26, but that’s really quite old for finding a Mate. She’s starting to make spinster jokes and dodging her Nonna who is fixated on making wedding plans. At this rate, Terri’s going to find her Mate, and Nonna will have the wedding the next day. I shouldn’t talk, I upgraded my own Luna ceremony into a wedding just three days prior. 

“You should take Nonna to the Opening, she misses home,” I tell her. Nonna Mary has lots of family still in Italy. She can harass those relatives about Mates and Babies for a while, and take the pressure off Terri. I’ll find some way to hide the price of tickets into my budget, Stav will be none the wiser. Not that he would say anything to me.

Mary has a rare story for our Pack, just as interesting as Theressa’s backstory. Everyone here is either a descendant of the original Pack that escaped Europe hundreds of years ago or is married to one. Mary’s only daughter found her Mate, an American on a vacation, and he brought her home to Blood Pact. After Terri was born, Mary was given permission to visit on our territory and made the trip once a year to see her grandpup. Terri’s parents passed away when she was just a toddler, and her Nonna came to take her back to Italy. Stavros Senior refused to let her abscond with a member of his Pack. She couldn’t challenge such a nasty beast so she stayed. Her Husband Gregory immediately flew to join her. They were under the Alpha’s harsh scrutiny constantly, that’s how a common Omega ended up on the radar of the Alpha and Beta’s sons, my Stav and Colin.

From there, Terri made her own impression. She grew up with a bit of a chip on her shoulder, indignant that her Nonna was forced to stay in such a harsh environment. Her anger was further spurred on by the blatant sexism shown by the leadership at the time. She was out to prove she could be the baddest B*tch on the block, at age 9 inserting herself into the juvenile males training, boys 12-16. Stav and Colin also trained with these bigger boys for over a year at that point, to ‘toughen them up’ for their future roles.

A while later the Alpha decided to ‘test’ Stav and Colin, making them fight the strongest two males, bulky sixteen-year-olds who had trained for four years and were about to be brought into the adult warrior training. Young men who already had their wolves! Stav was forced to fight former Gamma Marcus and lost. It was meant to humiliate him and it did.

Terri piped up saying she wanted a piece of Marcus. Colin tried to talk her out of it as Stav seethed with rage. Stavros Senior enjoyed the spectacle and told Marcus to “Knock her skinny ass out. We don’t need any girls to fight our battles for us!”

I would love to say she beat Marc, but she was 9 and Marc had already reached his adult height of around 6’9”. In the end, she was knocked unconscious for 14 hours, but not before she broke 3 fingers on his left hand. Stav and Colin were impressed, and they all became close friends. Soon they were training with a purpose, to overthrow Stavros Senior and his preferred warrior, Marcus.

“They better be making their projected targets,” Stav says sternly, bringing me back to the present time. While the brothers are effective at their jobs, they are hardly two of Stav’s favourite Pack members. He can’t mention them without disdain. “I thought maybe we could take a trip up ourselves, like a mini-honeymoon,” he tries to act like it’s no big deal, testing my reaction. We have never taken an actual vacation together.

“I can think of a million reasons to stay right here. Who’s going to watch our pups?!” I start with the most obvious. 

“We have the most reliable Beta couple on the planet, Caly. Caroline and Colin can stay in the guest room here, the kids will be asleep in their own beds each night. We also have a whole Pack full of willing babysitters to help out. Your Beta Cyril can babysit Lincoln and Moon’s Heart, he’s old enough now. We can go for half a week, please?” his eyes are pleading with me. 

“I suppose I could think about it,” I say non-committedly.  His eyes light up with excitement and I cave under those soulful blue eyes. I’ll have to figure out all the logistics of this, so I can relax and enjoy the trip.

“I’ll do whatever you need me to do. What do you have planned for today, Little Mate?” 

“Video calls,” I roll my eyes up into my skull, I have far too many wolves to talk with today. “First off, I have my web designer at Blackheart Media.” I was pleased with how well the website was doing. I had contributors all over the country continuously adding to make a valuable resource for Lunas and others involved in running their Packs. I didn’t even need to charge a membership fee, the site supported itself with advertisers.  I did a few workshops for Lunas whenever we were naturally gathered for meetings. The only part that didn’t get off the ground was my personal consulting, I no longer had any urge to farm myself out to other Packs. I had two Packs, a proper Mate and a family now.

“I have the weekly meeting with all the ranked at Moon’s Heart. Then, Tucker and Luna Anne, I have to discuss their Mating Ball. That will probably take all the rest of my day, Luna Anne is hard to keep on task, and frigging Tucker never replaced his Activity Director. We are hoping it is well attended this year, I mean nothing screams Mating more than a rich, good-looking single Alpha. This year we have two.” Tucker will draw in the she-wolves, and then more males will want to come. I’m sure Tucker’s playboy partier image will help, too. Most young wolves enjoy a good keg party, and even if you don’t find your Fated Mate. “We have almost a dozen people going from Blood Pact and I’m trying to talk Julia into going this year.” She’s 19, nearly 20 now, but she wasn’t ready last year, and it was held at an allied Pack we didn’t have close ties with. She’s already been to Blue Moon’s Bite, so I am hoping that relaxes her some. 

“By the way, Tucker is going to require either the Alpha or Beta of each attending Pack to come. You and I both need to go this year, technically I am going as Alpha of Moon’s Heart since Lincoln will be joining the festivities.” I inform my Mate. Wolves have no trouble respecting the Mate Bond, but fights break out with those left unmated and looking for a hook-up, there’s plenty of that at these shindigs. Werewolves are s*xual creatures, what else can I say?

“I’ll take you ladies dress shopping this weekend!” Terri says excitedly. Uggh, shopping. She can just take Julia.

“I’m sure I have a….” Terri waves a butter knife threateningly in my direction, effectively cutting me off.

“You will go dress shopping, you will let Aggie doll you all up, end of discussion!” She hisses out. I roll my eyes and nod my head, you have to pick your battles with Terri. It’s better I go shopping anyway. Terri will use that forceful attitude of hers on Julia and I can’t imagine her wearing a mini skirt or a full leather outfit. Julia will need a more modest second opinion from me.

Time for a change of topic, “What are you boys up to today?”

“Budgets. Then I need to convince Stav to go downtown and visit our businesses. He should realize by now that him making an appearance now and again keeps the wolves motivated.” Colin says dryly, giving Stav the side-eye. Stavros grunts looking perturbed already.

“Try to be nice, Stav. There’s a difference between scared for their lives and motivated.” He has made leaps and bounds in becoming an Alpha who his wolves respect, not just one they fear. I need to remind him of this occasionally. 

“I don’t need to chokeslam the idiots, growling is sufficient.” He says with a smirk. Okay. We still need to work on his delivery, I guess.

I hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet, the pups join us in the kitchen. I hug and kiss both of them, and make up a big plate for Atlas while I wait to see what Carrissa is going to do. Atlas crawls into the chair between me and Stav, he sits on his knees because he refuses to use a booster seat and begins to wolf down his food, using only his hands. Carrissa sits on her Dad’s lap and I hand her a fork, she’ll just eat off Stav’s plate most mornings, she’s not as hungry when she first wakes up. She sits on her booster seat the rest of the time.  Nothing teaches you more about individuality than having two kids who came from the same place but are polar opposites.

My phone starts to ring and Carrissa answers it, recognizing the ringtone. “Hi, Grampy Dee.” She says sweetly into the phone, she’s talking to Alpha Darius of Artemis, he took care of me while I lived with his Pack, and he and Kat are the only Grandparents my kids know. She tells him about making pictures yesterday at the Den Mother’s. She tries to hand the phone to Atlas, but he’s too focused on eating, and just calls out “Hi, Grampy!” Atlas is a man of few words. 

“Put Mommy on the phone, Little One,” I hear Darius tell her, and Carrissa hands me the phone. We exchange pleasantries before he asks if the pups are going to the Den Mother’s today. I hadn’t decided yet, I do all my video calls from home so unless something needs my full attention, I just distract them with toys. “Calypso, I have some Elder’s Council business to discuss with you. It might be best if the pups didn’t hear such grown-up talk.” That sounds ominous. My heart starts to pound a little faster, and Athena’s attention is peaked, I see her ears twitching.

“Let me get finished with breakfast. I’ll get the kids ready and send them out with Conner. I’ll call you back within the hour.” 

“Would you let Theressa know? I could use her help as well, might as well do it all at once,” Darius says thoughtfully.

Terri raises an eyebrow and nods silently. “She’s already here. I’ll talk with you soon.”

“Looks like we are postponing our trip downtown,” Colin says as he shoots Stav with a look. 

I wonder what the hell is going on now?