Wild Wolf Claiming

Chapter 5

Lily

My wolf nudged my thoughts, telling me I was wrong, that it wanted Kade. That he was the one for me. For us. God! I had a wolf in me. I shook my head in continued disbelief, but here I was, mostly naked in the middle of a serious wolf claiming ceremony.

“Explain to me again why this is happening to me,” I said to Alana. She understood. She’d known her whole life she was a shifter. She offered me a small smile.

“I don’t know your specifics, but wolf science says tonight is the first full moon since you’ve reached the Age of Ascension.”

I must have given her a funny look because she laughed.

“Have you been all hot and bothered the last few days?”

I nodded, blushing at how I’d made myself come in my sleep. Once, but it hadn’t been like this.

“The Age of Ascension is wolf-speak for the time the wolfy bits inside you come to life,” she continued. “You’ll be able to shift soon, but you’ll need a mate to help you control your wolf. The presence of a strong alpha is enough. But for women, it’s different. We will only submit to one male, and that’s generally our mate. You’re going to shift soon, Lily. You’re of the age to be claimed, to belong to someone, just as they will belong to you. Tonight, you’ll be mated to one of the single males, and that male has until sunrise to convince you to keep him. You can resist, a few have. Just last month in fact, when the alpha's daughter rejected the male who'd tried to claim her. It was the first time in two decades a male's claim has been denied.”

My eyebrows went up in surprise. I had no idea if it was good or bad, but at least I could say no, right?

“The male who claims you will have to woo you with his strength, his skill, and his touch. No words are allowed. Here, drink this.”

Alana held up a small cup, which I took from her with my bound hands.

“What is it?” I asked, sniffing it. It smelled like tea.

“An herbal concoction that the healers make.”

I put it to my lips, took a sip, then another. It was sweet, like sugared tea.

“It will guarantee that no child will result from the evening’s activities.”

Oh. My. God. Through all this insanity, I never considered a baby. I wasn’t on the pill or any other kind of birth control. I took a big swig, ensuring the liquid would work. Good. While I wanted kids, I didn’t want to make one tonight. With a stranger. No, even with Kade, I didn’t want to make a baby tonight. I needed to know him first. Not just my wolf, but me.

“You’ll spend the next few hours blindfolded and seduced by one of the hot hunks milling around.”

No big deal at all, right? Blindfolded, bound, mostly naked and then f****d. Yeah. No big deal.

I should have been terrified, but all I could do was wish Kade would hurry.

“Trust me, they can scent your heat, your arousal and they want you.” She glanced around the clearing, her calm assessment of the men present strangely reassuring. She knew these men, had grown up with them. “Kade will come for you, Lily. And he’ll treat you right. If any of these guys didn’t, they’d get taken down by the Accalia.”

“The Accalia?”

Alana smiled and there was mischief in her eyes. “Yes. Every pack has an alpha male that’s in charge. He is responsible for the pack’s protection and for keeping the males in line. But the Accalia is the matriarch. She’s part pack mother, part Supreme Court judge. Her word is law in all internal pack business, family business. She gives a banishment or execution order, and no one blinks.”

Holy s**t. Who was my Grandad’s Accalia?

My mother. I knew it with a certainty that made me proud and suddenly years of odd looks and awkward glances at the grocery store made a whole lot more sense. And since my mother’s death? I had no idea. “Shouldn’t the matriarch be the alpha’s mate?”

Alana laughed at that. “Not necessarily. Sometimes the alpha’s mate is too nice. I mean, seriously. Can you imagine yourself giving a kill order? Or banishing someone you’ve known all your life?”

No, I couldn’t. I tended to mend fences and put up with more bullshit than was strictly good for me. Hence a dating history with Robbie that had gone on a lot longer than it should have. “Who’s your Accalia?”

Alana smiled. “My sister, Sonia. She’s only a few years older than me, but she’s mean as hell and doesn’t take any bullshit. I want to be like her when I grow up.” She winked at me and I smiled back. “Don’t worry. She’ll interview you tomorrow, when this is all done, just to make sure you’re okay and to welcome you into the pack. Choose Kade or someone else. It’s up to you. Whoever you choose will treat you right. Trust me, these guys want you. You smell like their favorite treat right now.”

I blushed at that. For wolves, scenting each other was hot. For me, not so much. At least it never had been, but I could still almost taste the scent of Kade’s skin on my tongue. I wanted to taste him for real.

“But how do I know if I really want them? Him. The One.” I licked my lips. “I mean, my ex is stalking me and I was drawn to him. My mate-meter is a little out of whack.”

“Don’t worry,” she soothed. “You’ll know. Your wolf knows.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but there wasn’t anything to be done.

“Yeah, but tied up?” I held my bound wrists up. “Blindfolded? This seems a little much, don’t you think?”

“A wolf mating is intense. You will submit, mind, body and soul to your new mate. Knowing your wrists are bound, that you can’t see, will remind your wolf of this submission. And she won’t surrender to just anyone. Trust me. She’s going to go wild. You’re going to need those.”

Submit to my new mate? Old fashioned, much?

The male murmurs stopped and the clearing became quiet. Alana lifted her chin, took on a serious bearing as she stepped behind me and placed a cool hand on my shoulder. "Kneel, Lily Windbourn, and choose a mate."

Choose a mate?

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Was that a joke? But any humor died on my lips when her hand prompted me to drop to my knees in the soft earth. I took a deep breath, glanced around one more time, looking for a suspiciously absent Kade in the clearing, before the black silk covered my eyes, blinding me to vanity. And everything else.

Alana whispered one last reassurance my ear, "He'll come for you. Don’t worry."

God, I hoped so. This wasn’t how I expected to lose my virginity, but if it had to be this way, in a forest clearing, I wanted it to be with Kade. But where was he?

I will die to protect you, kill to possess you. You’re mine and I’m yours.

His words gave me comfort, but what if he’d changed his mind?

I shuddered and tested the strength of the bonds around my hands. Not unbreakable, not for a werewolf like myself, but the submission they symbolized suddenly chafed. I didn't want any male but Kade touching me and I knew Robert was out there. I’d seen him milling about when I met with the alpha. He’d been like a shadow. Everywhere the women took me for preparation, he followed like a puppy.

But he was no cute, cuddly Labrador pup. He was big and hard and strong, and my wolf’s hackles raised at the thought of him touching me. I didn’t want him. I wanted Kade.

Alana said I had the power to reject any man who wanted to claim me. If someone besides Kade touched me, I could survive the night's seduction by rejecting whichever male was unlucky enough to try.

If they thought I was going to just roll over and spread my legs, they hadn’t met Lily Windbourn.

"Who would claim Lily Windbourn this night? Challengers, step forward." The command boomed through the small clearing and silence descended over the woods. Not even crickets chirped as the pack alpha, Warren, raised his voice to carry over the slight breeze.

Alana gave my shoulder one last squeeze and walked away, leaving me to face my fate and the males eager to tame me. There was movement and my heart pounded as I heard the preliminary sounds of fighting. The sound of fists striking flesh, bone. Grunts of pain, ragged breathing. I was glad I was on my knees, for I was suddenly scared. I couldn’t see, couldn’t defend myself. I cowered, trying to make myself as small as possible. My ears worked just fine as a group of males jostled, growled, and threatened each other. They were all fighting over me?

I wanted to roll my eyes, but the effect would've been completely lost behind the black silk. All I had to do was survive the night and choose Kade as my mate. Would I be allowed to tie him down and claim him? Would Kade allow me to be in control? I knew the Windbourn males were alpha through and through and I sensed it in him as well. But to dominate over a mate? I was eager to find out. If I could get through this ceremony.

The shuffling, growling and posturing noises died down and I held my breath. My heart pounded, my palms were damp.

"Three warriors would make a claim this night. So be it." The alpha's powerful voice quieted the forest again. "Let their names be written in the archive."

Archive? It was almost medieval, this process. So formal. Why didn’t someone just toss me over his shoulder and carry me away? But these weren’t cavemen, they were shifters and it seemed they followed a whole bunch of strange customs to ensure everyone knew who a mate belonged to. Kade promised that if he claimed me tonight, there would be no doubt as to my mate. That even my Grandad would not be able to reach me.

There would be no challenge to a mating. Mates were sacred. Protected by all pack laws. His alpha, Warren, had confirmed it. I just had to trust Kade to come for me.

I heard the dutiful scratching of a pen, and then a pregnant silence that stressed my nerves to nearly breaking before the alpha spoke again. Three males were willing to fight each other for the right to touch me. Three! Goose bumps broke out over my flesh and I shivered in the cold night air. Anticipation, or dread? I wasn’t sure which.

One could be Kade, but how would I know him from the other two? How did I resist them when my skin ached to be touched, when my core throbbed with need and my entire body would melt in surrender at his first touch? My wolf was awake and prowling, hungry. So hungry, as if she’d been starved for decades and had a feast before her. She wanted to consume and be consumed.

"Wolves, you know the rules. Break them, and you will be executed. Foreign brothers, we will give no quarter to you should you step out of bounds."

My chest squeezed. Foreign brothers? Males from another pack were here, surely he was talking to Robbie. Others, too? Males who were about to touch me...unless. I straightened my shoulders and pictured Kade’s broad chest, perfect jaw and piercing amber eyes. It was his hooded gaze I imagined boring into my soul as the alpha finally addressed me directly.

"Lily Windbourn of the East Springs pack, we honor you this night. Three fine wolves would claim you as mate. They have the right to know if your heart still beats in your chest, or if it travels with another." Truth in all things. That was the pack way. The men had the right to know if the woman they attempted to claim was in love with another man. Didn't mean it would stop them, but they would know what they were up against.

I thought of Kade. I didn’t love him, did I? I hardly knew him. But I ached for him, wanted him to be my mate, to claim me. Did I need him? Crave him? Demand him? Absolutely.

Was that what love was? Did the need to belong to Kade mean I’d given him my heart? I hadn’t even known it had happened, but yes. My heart belonged to him.

I licked my lips. "No heart beats in my chest, alpha. It has been given away."

A murmuring wove over those in attendance. "And is the wolf you would prefer as mate here this night?"

I hung my head, ashamed and embarrassed by the truth. I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t scent him. I couldn’t even feel Kade nearby. "I don’t know."

A low growl sounded from one of the three who stood just a few feet before me. Great. Somebody loved a challenge. Even those who weren’t actually pack alpha behaved like alpha males.

Warren proceeded with the ceremony and addressed the warriors present. "Knowing her heart belongs to another, do you still wish to claim her?"

Could it be that easy? Would they walk away? Leave me to rip off the blindfold, tug off the bindings and go find Kade?

The alpha's sigh dashed that small hope. "So be it. Even with your heart given to another, two warriors remain and they claim the Right of Initiation."

Surely Kade was one of them. He promised he’d be with me, that he would be the one to claim me. He had to be one of them.

“What is the Right of Initiation?” I asked.

More whispers filled the open space. I wasn’t sure if it was because I spoke or because I didn’t know what it was.

“The two males offer initiation to their touch with single a kiss,” the alpha replied.

I raised my head, hope filling me, making me dizzy. One kiss. If I didn't respond to something so trivial, they'd walk away. No suffering through hours of lust and agony, denying the male any true pleasure. One kiss each. I could do that. I had to know Kade from a kiss, right?

But no. He’d never kissed me. And why was that? We’d been alone, touching. He said he wanted me. But why hadn’t he kissed me? I had no idea what he would feel like, taste like…

"Proceed," the alpha instructed.