The Green Witch and the Alpha

Chapter 6: Samantha

“What do you mean he could smell your ‘scent’?’ Mimi asked, refilling her glass, “Like, he could smell your snatch?”

Mimi and Alex had invited themselves to my tiny house for dinner, showing up with wine and demanding to know what had happened during my chat with Ian and Moira. We were sprawled out on my bed now, drinking and talking.

After everything happened earlier, I had come home and smoked a little weed to ease my anxiety, and wrote down everything Ian mentioned about the mate bond and rejection so I could look it up later. I went over all that with Alex and Mimi, then shared how Moira’s spell showed the mate bond and how contrite Ian seemed when he apologized. They, of course, steered the conversation back to s*x; especially Mimi.

“Oooh, I bet werewolves are into primal s*x. You know, where people chase each other in the forest, catch somebody like prey, and then do it out in the open.” Mimi continued, “And what about knotting? Holy s**t! I have to know if werewolves really knot when they have s*x. Can we look that up?”

“Knotting? Like what dogs do? There’s no way. There’s no way, right?” Alex said, ever the rational one. “We gotta look this up. Sam, give me your laptop!”

“Alex! You’re supposed to be the voice of reason here.”

She just snatched the laptop from my hands, “You know you want the answer, too. I bet if I were to look at your browser history, there’d be all kinds of spicy searches from this afternoon.”

“Don’t bother,” I gave her a small smile. “I cleared it already. Couldn’t take the chance I’d forget to do it later, and one of you would find it after I died from hot, primal, werewolf sex.”

Mimi raised her glass in the air, “But what a way to go!”

Alex nudged me with her foot, “I’m about to use your computer to hack into the database the werewolf’s ruling council keeps. Are you cool with that?”

Mimi blurted out, "Alex, how do you even know that's a thing?"

Alex shrugged, "I know all sorts of things."

“Are they going to be able to trace it back to me?” I asked.

She continued typing without looking up, “No. I leave no crumbs.”

Alex was the coven’s resident IT expert, aka hacker. I had hoped she would offer to do something like this because I didn’t want to ask and end up owing her a favor.

“Okay, I’m in. Damn, their security on this site is so outdated. I almost feel bad about how easy this was.” Alex looked at me after a moment, “They have a section called, ‘Werewolf Physiology and Sexuality’. It looks like a pdf from a textbook.”

Mimi and I flanked Alex’s sides quickly.

“Knotting! Look up knotting first!” Mimi cried out, her eyes wild.

“Inside voice, Mimi, jeez,” Alex rubbed the ear on that side. “Here it is: ‘When werewolves copulate in human form, the bulbus glandis, aka the “knot”, is not present.’ Well, that was anticlimactic.”

“Thank Goddess for small favors,” I said, taking a sip of wine, “What else do you want to know, Mimi?”

“Why are you asking me? It’s your p***y that’s going to be pounded.” she answered. “Oh wait! What about stamina? Does it say anything about how long an Alpha werewolf can last?”

Alex hummed softly, “Actually, Sam, here’s a chapter on ‘Mating and Marking’. Didn’t you say Ian had mentioned that?”

“Yeah, he said if both mates are werewolves, they would typically mate and mark within a day or two. Mating is self-explanatory; marking is the part I want to know more about. I’m supposed to call him tomorrow and thought about asking him then.”

Alex went on, “So, the information in this book explains marking as a bite on the area between the base of the neck and the shoulder. Looks like it leaves a scar that lets other werewolves know you’re taken.”

“Seems kind of extreme. A wedding ring could do that.”

“There’s something else here,” Alex continued, “it mentions scent glands. After mates mark each other, it affects their scents, too. You definitely need to talk with Ian about this, and maybe their pack doctor. We’re supposed to start working with her on some naturopathic stuff. She’d know more about this.”

“That’s a good idea,” something occurred to me, “Alex, I bet there are some message boards or a server somewhere, where werewolves chat with each other about this and other stuff. Think you could find it?”

Alex c****d her eyebrow at me, “Sam, of course I can. I want to do it on my own equipment, though. It’ll be easier and more secure.”

“Cool, cool,” I said, “I want to know if they talk about witches on there, but I’m a little afraid of what they’re probably saying.”

Mimi piped in, “I can’t believe they thought we would steal their children. Nobody wants their little shits. Stupid fairytales and movies always portray witches so badly.”

“That was more than a little weird,” I agreed, “and it’s something I want to discuss with Ian. He just deflected when Moira mentioned it. Maybe we can find more info on the council’s database or some message boards later.”

Alex closed the laptop and looked at me, pensive, “Sam, how are you feeling about this? Are you truly open to the thought of being with Ian? Werewolves seem pretty hardcore about their mates. Sounds like you'll be locked down for life.”

“True. He seemed really intense,” Mimi said. “And that kiss…damn, that was hot. I can’t believe you slapped him.”

She looked at me and grinned mischievously, “But also, the slap was hot, too, and I’m pretty sure he agreed. His aura was full of arousal. If that’s what the foreplay is like, I can’t wait to hear about how hot the s*x is with him.”

“Wait, what? I didn’t get that from him at all. He seemed angry and the look on his face...he looked like he wanted to eat me alive.”

Mimi and Alex looked at me and raised their eyebrows, like they were waiting for me to figure something out.

Oh.

“Oh, my gawd Samantha, are you blushing?” Mimi said. She was enjoying this way too much.

“I’m just…a little embarrassed I didn’t catch it at the time. I even asked Ian about it later and he just said he was surprised, but now that I think about it,” I paused, “He licked his lips when he said that.”

Alex started cackling, then Mimi and I lost it and started laughing, too.

“Oh wow, that is rich,” Mimi said, as she caught her breath. “Sam, don’t worry about it too much. I noticed because I was an outside observer, and you were probably in a panic from having some strange man fall out of the sky and grabbing you like that. Did you see that jump from the porch? He was a man on a mission.”

“You want to know the truth?” I confessed. “There was definitely panic, because I was just walking, minding my own business, when some dude appeared and put his hands and mouth on me without even a ‘Hello’, but also…it was very, very hot. My brain went all fuzzy and I swear it felt like I was floating.”

“Then why did you slap him?” Alex asked.

“Because the oxygen returned to my brain, and it pissed me off that he did that without asking for my consent, let alone my freaking name. Plus, he looked a little too pleased with himself.”

“Well, they all had that air of overconfidence when we saw them by the greenhouse,” Alex said.

“Speaking of…Mimi, Mr. Man-Bun, aka Ian, is off-limits to you and your box of toys tonight. Stick to dirty thoughts of Mr. #1, whose name is either Dave or Connor.”

Mimi made a weird face, “No thank you. That guy seemed like an ass. When Moira introduced them on the porch, his energy was so negative, and a little…I don’t know how to describe it. He definitely hated being here today.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt something was off,” Alex added. “He looked at us like we were something on the bottom of his shoe. The other guy, the blonde one, felt less hostile. He didn’t seem comfortable, though.”

“Neither of them wanted to come inside the house to cool off and they turned down the offer of something cold to drink.”

Mimi sighed and shook her head, “They only entered the house when Ian came in after his talk with Moira. Have you had a chance to check in with her yet?”

“No, but she texted earlier and wanted me to come chat with her before I call Ian tomorrow. I’ll probably head over in a few minutes.”

Alex stood up and stretched, “I can’t believe you met your actual soulmate. Do you know how lucky you are? There’s no guesswork, you never have to doubt whether he really cares for you; it sounds like a guaranteed happily-ever-after.”

Mimi snickered, “I can’t believe you met your soulmate wearing that space cats shirt.”

“Shut up. He didn’t notice my shirt anyway,” I took a breath before saying the next part. All the talk about s*x with a hot werewolf was fun, but Alex had touched on the complicated part.

“I think it’s going to be a really complex situation. Think about how uncomfortable his Beta and Gamma were here. There’s a whole community of werewolves who apparently feel the same way about us, and we’re the good guys! We grow plants and make things to help people. Plus, I don't know anything about him. What does being fated mates even mean? What if we’re not actually compatible in the long-term?”

“Didn’t he tell you he'd move at your pace? Take the time you need to figure that part out,” Alex suggested.

“And for the love of whatever deity you work with, have some fun!” Mimi said, putting her arm around me. “He’s really, really good looking, he’s got money, he’s obviously smart if he’s running multiple businesses, and the way he looks at you…”

She didn’t even finish that sentence, just sighed and smiled.

“Okay Mimi, let’s go so Sam can go talk to Moira,” Alex opened the door to leave then pointed at me. “We expect to hear a whole rundown later of what she tells you, Sam.”

I wished them a good night, then started walking to the main house to speak with Moira. I was exhausted and overwhelmed, but knew I wouldn’t sleep until hearing what she had to say about it.