Control

Duty

    I was standing in a valley covered in snow. The sun was at a high point in the sky and Dante was walking up to me.

“No, Dante! The sun!” I yelled looking for something to cover him, but he wasn’t on fire, wasn’t bursting into flames.

“Its ok, I’m here for you.” There was a softness to his voice that I hadn’t heard before. He reached up to caress my cheek. He lingered a hand on my cheek and pulled my face to his. His kiss was filled with passion and fury as he used his tongue to part my lips. His skin grazing mine made me feel like I was laying naked in the snow. His hand went under my shirt and came up to grope my breast, I let a moan escape my lips. Dante stopped kissing my a gave me a half smile, His hand plunged into my pants and began to explore.

“Dante…” I whispered.

“Shh… c*m for me…” He whispered in my ear as he inserted two fingers into my body. My noised became rapid and loud. Just as I was reaching my tipping point, Dante reared his head back and exposed his fangs. My brows furrowed together, confused. My core tightened and his hand went behind my head and grabbed a handful of my hair. He pulled my head back and as I screamed his name out, he plunged his teeth into my neck on my mating spot. The overwhelming sense of pain and pleasure caused me to scream out and jump.

I felt my body jerk and woke myself up. I was in my bed, the sun barely coming up over the horizon. Just a dream…what a tease, I moaned. I felt the overwhelming need to move, I put on some joggers and a sports bra and made my way downstairs. I heard a familiar voice coming from the kitchen and there was Brodie, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and making the kitchen crew laugh. His warm smile was infectious as he joked with the women and men. I watched him from around the corner, his smile was practically from ear to ear. Judging from the shorts and t shirt he was wearing, he must be planning to work out too. My gaze must’ve lingered on his lower half because I was startled when he approached me.

“Aye, Jade. Gaun fur a run?” He was still laughing and had a small amount of flour on his cheek.

“Oh, yes! I am, I should get going, I was just going to grab a water...” He held a bottle of water out to me.

“Care if I joyne yeh?” I reached up and brushed the flour off of his face and nodded towards the door.

With the sun still rising and not at the highest point, the weather felt wonderful. The birds were chirping and the breeze through the trees gave a nice relief. I had my headphones in and kept my steps to the pace of the music, almost all of the world was at gone. I knew Brodie was close, I could almost see him in my peripheral. After we broke through the tree line, we followed the trail up the mountain. Brodie picked up his pace and passed me, giving me a sly smile. I took the challenge and pushed passed him. This went back a forth a few times until I passed him again, thinking I had left him in the dust. Now at a jog, I saw something moving in and out of the woods on the side of the trail. There shouldn’t be any patrols up here right now. Is it a rogue? I saw it coming right towards me and stopped in my tracks just as the large auburn wolf jumped towards me. It went over my head and continued up the trail. Brodie! I smiled and dodged into the woods myself, I folded my clothes neatly in a stack and tucked them behind a tree.

Shifting is never an enjoyable experience. Your bones crack and reform, your face elongates, and hair emerges from every follicle. My inner wolf Zion was happy to finally emerge and I felt a pang of guilt in my gut. I have kept her cooped up and pushed away her thoughts. Zion stretched her front legs out and arched her back. Her hearing zoned in on Brodie, he was about a mile ahead of me now. Zion took off in his direction, finally catching up to him, she nipped playfully at his back legs. We raced up to the top of the mountain. The view expanded in every direction, evergreen trees and the overwhelming smell of pine, dirt, and freshwater. Most of this was mine. My pack expanded through the valleys and wrapped around the lake. These people, this land relied on me. I could feel a gaze on me and Brodie’s chocolate eyes were locked on me. I wondered if he ever felt the overwhelming weight of the world or if that was just an alpha thing. He stepped forward and nuzzled into my neck. Zion reacted by nuzzling back. I couldn’t restrain her, and I could feel the electricity running through her. She deserved the affection, she deserved love. I didn’t want to give Brodie the wrong idea though and backed up. Zion nipped at Brodie again and we were back off down the mountain.

We made it back to the pack house. Brodie didn’t bring up what happened on top of the mountain and I wasn’t going to mention it. He told me his wolf’s name was Ythan. We were laughing and cutting up when we walked up on the front porch and my father was waiting in a rocking chair. I waved Brodie off and sat next to him.

“How are you doing today?”

“Fine” He assured but his gaze was off to the mountains. We sat there in silence for a few moments before he started again. “Brodie has grown into a fine young man.”

“Yeah, he’s just as I remember.” I smiled to myself.

“He seems to be mighty fond of you.” Now he was looking at me, I stopped smiling, I knew what he was getting at. “You know he has a younger brother. Someone who could take over as Gamma.”

“Dad…”

“Jade, you’re not getting any younger. You need to produce an heir, or our lineage will stop.”

“I know, but…”

“You and Brodie have both experienced heart ache and its very possible that neither of you will get a second chance.”

“Dad, I’m not interested in…”

“Enough!” He raised his voice, forcing me to make eye contact with him. “I have already discussed this with Brodie. He has agreed to the arrangement, it is your duty to provide an heir for our pack.”

“You what? Dad!”

“Its arranged, Jade. End of discussion. Tonight after your mother’s memorial service, we will announce your engagement to the surrounding packs. A light in this very dim time.”

My mouth had dropped open and I stared at him in astonishment. He rose from the rocking chair and made his way inside. He stopped at the door and cut his eyes back to me.

“I’m sorry, Jade. This is not the life I wanted for you either, but even a half love is better than none. I will soon follow your mother and brother and I pray to the Goddess for you to not be alone. You need to go get cleaned up. The other packs will be arriving shortly.” My eyes stung as the tears began to emerge. I simply nodded and he left to go inside.

I wasn’t sure how long I had been sitting there, staring at the landscape, but I noticed the sun going to the west. It would be nightfall soon. I composed myself and made it upstairs to begin primping for tonight. I stood in the shower for as long as I could manage with the heat up as high as it would go. Not even the boiling water would burn through this feeling of being trapped. A thousand thoughts were racing through my head as I came out of the bathroom and settled on my bed. As I was sitting there, the one thing that kept resurfacing was Dante. This vampire for hire who had entered my life and continuously infiltrated my thoughts.

I looked over at the glass of ice water gathering condensation on my nightstand. The beads running down the side of the glass made me yearn for a similar caress. I needed a release from this tension in my mind and body. I took off my towel and laid back on the bed. I grabbed and ice cube from the glass and ran it down the side of my neck and in between my breasts, the prickly sensation caused me to have goosebumps. I brought the ice cube up and over my breast, circling my n****e. I closed my eyes and pictured Dante, just as I had dreamed him in the snow. I ran the ice cube down my torso and around my navel. Anticipation was gathering in my core and I could feel my center heating up. Sliding the ice cube in between my slit caused me to gasp and grasp at the bed sheets with my other hand. I imagined Dante teasing my nub and circled by bud until the cube all but melted. Imagining his hand on me, teasing me, had my body dripping and needing more. I pulled the slender toy out from my bed side drawer to finish the job. I had a feeling that Dante was not one to play around and immediately inserted the toy, the vibrations radiating from it made moans erupt from my chest.  

‘c*m for me’ I repeated in my head, remembering his words from my dreams. It didn’t take long before I reached my climax. “Dante…” I moaned softly, letting my worries float away with the whisper of his name.