Fated to the Alpha by Jasmine White
THE FINAL CHAPTER
Jeremy and I ran almost all night. We actively sought out every source of water we could swim across to lose our scent trails, finally coming to a stop around the crack of dawn up near the top of a cliff. We curled up together to get a few hours of sleep before we determined to set out again.
I think it was around midday when I woke up again, while Jeremy was still sleeping next to me. I didn’t see fit to wake him yet; I sat up, looking off into the distance, seeing the expansive view over the nearby cliff. If I’d been on vacation, I might have been taken in by the beautiful view. As it was, all I could do was barely appreciate the miniscule comfort it offered me.
I had killed someone.
It was like my brain didn’t know how to deal with that. I couldn’t stop picturing the image of Lucius lying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood, his dead eyes staring up at me. And obviously, it was still having a similar effect on me physically. My skin felt flushed, and I was breaking out in goose bumps. My heart was racing, and I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.
Maybe I should wake up Jeremy, I decided. Maybe a little comfort from him would go a long way.
I turned to look at him still lying there. And I stared at him for a moment. I looked at the shape of his hard pecs and rippling abs. I looked at his strong arms, and the biceps in them. I looked at the shape of his face, and his lips, which begged me to kiss them. I looked at his dick, hanging there, calling for me to take it in my hands, caress it, show my love to it…
What the hell? A second ago I was overwhelmed with guilt, and now all of a sudden I was horny? And I didn’t mean just like typical, everyday horny, like I got whenever I would curl up with him in his bed. This was like I wanted to jump on him and ride him like a bull at a rodeo.
And still my heart was racing, and my skin felt hot and prickly.
Oh, fuck.
I forced myself to look away as it hit me what was going on. I got up and hurried over to a tree, which I planted myself against as I tried in vain to catch my breath.
I heard Jeremy starting to grunt as he woke up. “Evelyn?” he asked, seeing me leaning against the tree, panting. “Are you okay?”
“Please, don’t make me look at you,” I pleaded. “If I do, I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself!”
“What do you mean?”
I took a few panting breaths before I answered, “I’m in heat.”
I heard him getting up to his feet. “For real?”
“With everything going on, I completely lost track of my biological calendar!” I panted.
“So you don’t want to…”
“Oh, I want to!” I nodded, barely stopping myself from turning my head to look at him. “I want to like you wouldn’t believe!”
“But you don’t want to want to because…”
“Because if we do, you’ll most likely knock me up!”
There was a long pause, during which I continued fighting to stop myself from turning around and jumping him. I could just feel his presence, even from several feet away, and it was all I could do not to maul him.
And then he started to laugh.
I finally actually turned around and looked at him again, forgetting about my struggle as my lust was momentarily tempered. “What?” I demanded.
“This is perfect!” he said. “It’s just what we need!”
“What are you talking about?”
“If anything can bring the two packs together, this can,” he said. “A pup born of both packs!”
I blinked, staring at him. “You’re serious!”
“Isn’t that what you want?” he said, coming ever closer, causing my pulse to speed up. “You wanted us to have pups together, didn’t you? And if it’s both of ours, then it’s a child that both packs can love! Is there anything better to bring them together?”
If I hadn’t been panting with lust at that point, I might have started to cry happy little tears. “You still haven’t given up hope?”
“Would I be the guy you fell in love with if I did?”
No. He really wouldn’t have.
And once I realized that, I stopped trying to fight the urges stampeding through me.
I sprang up into his arms, throwing my arms and legs around him, and kissing him like I’d never kissed him before. He carried me back over to the spot where we’d just woken up, and lowered me back down to the ground, laying me out on my back. “You’re sure you’re ready for this?”
Oh, come on, I’d just let go of all my hesitation! I didn’t want to pick it up again now! “Don’t talk,” I commanded. “Let’s just fuck!”
We wasted little time on foreplay. I didn’t have the patience for it. I was hot and bothered and ready to go. Oh, Jeremy tried. He started out kissing my neck and collar, feeling up my boobs and fingering my slit. But when he felt how wet I was already—not to mention the way I kept impatiently fidgeting beneath him—I think he figured out that I didn’t need warming up.
So he knelt over me, taking me into his arms and slid inside me almost too easily. Almost immediately, I captured him in my legs, holding him deep inside me as he started to thrust. I pulled at him with my legs, urging his thrusts on, almost using him as a masturbatory tool, even from beneath him. My arms came up to embrace—no, ensnare him, pulling him down onto my chest.
I was so hot I was able to orgasm after only the first five minutes, and was well on my way to another within minutes after that. After the first twenty minutes, by which point I had rolled us over to put myself on top at least three times, I’d managed to get myself off at least five times. And I was a long way from done.
Even after he finally released his seed inside me, I wasn’t even close to sated. Once he pulled out, I bent over and took him into my mouth, sucking him like a hungry Hoover. I actually found myself getting impatient at how long it took to get him back up to full hardness; hell, why couldn’t he just keep going after firing off? Why did we have to stop?
But I eventually got him back up for more and what would end up being our all-day marathon continued.
We did it in every position conceivable. Each time he got off, we took a short break, during which he would ask if I was done yet. To which I would answer him by taking him into my mouth and sucking him back to hardness. I don’t doubt after a while I was starting to seriously wear him out. But like a trooper, he kept up with my out-of-control libido for as long as it took to satisfy it.
By the time it started to get dark again, I decided I was finally spent. Jeremy let out a big breath when I told him that, which sounded like relief. I curled up against him, tenderly stroking his face. “Poor guy,” I said. “I really put you through the ringer today, didn’t I?”
“I didn’t know you had that kind of energy in that little body,” he said.
“Well, you’ve got some kind of stamina to keep up with me,” I said. Then I kissed him tenderly. “Thank you for this.”
He cradled me in his arms, staring at my face. “I love you, Evelyn,” he said.
I think that was the first time I’d heard him say it out loud.
I lovingly kissed him a few more times before we curled up and went back to sleep, resting off our day’s exertion, while I took one hand and cradled my belly, thinking about what we had just created. In every sense.
*
We got up well into the night hours, and made the decision to start making our way back the way we came. The idea of returning once again was not an easy choice to make. After all, which pack did we go to? The one I had just escaped from, that wanted to force us apart? Or the one that banished us, that I had just killed a member of?
We weren’t going to come up with the answer all at once, so we hoped it would come to us on the way. We stopped to hunt for some food, catching a few raccoons to eat on the way, which gave us some more time to think. And still a decision continued to elude us.
But then around dawn, we heard a howl come from the direction of the Morgandorf village. And I could recognize the howl, too.
It was Leon.
If he was in the Morgandorf village, this had to mean trouble. We started hurrying in that direction, confident now that the decision had been made for us. And whatever was happening there, we were also confident that we had to get to it fast.
We finally came to a stop on top of a hill overlooking the village, where through the trees we could see the confrontation going down. And it was massive. It looked like nearly the entire Caldour pack had come out in force to face their enemy, and nearly the entire Morgandorf pack stood at attention facing them back.
And what’s more, it sounded like they were talking about me.
“You can search all you want,” Ricardo was saying. “She’s not here. The sooner you realize that and move on, the easier it’ll be for all of us.”
“Don’t try to confuse us!” That was my dad speaking. “We know how you all brainwashed her! You turned her into… into one of you! You got her to turn against her own pack, and now you’re hiding her!”
“That girl was never one of us!” one of the Morgandorfs said. “She was a liar! A fake!”
“And now she’s killed one of ours!” Ricardo added. “If anything, I’d say she’s proven herself a true Caldour. She’s as much an enemy of the Morgandorf pack now as any of you!”
“Don’t fall for it, Leon!” one of the Caldours said.
“Even if she’s not here, I say we tear this whole place apart, just to be sure!”
Several of the Morgandorfs growled in response, some of them shifting to their four-legged forms, preparing to meet an attack.
That’s when Charlene stepped forward, taking Leon by the arm. “Leon, please, this has gone far enough!”
Leon only shoved her aside. “Not yet.”
Both packs stood their grounds, staring the other down. Left and right they started shifting to their four-legged forms, preparing to charge. Leon and Ricardo stood meeting each other’s gaze as both their features started taking lupine shape, adding to the ferocity of their scowls.
And so, before this could go any further, I made my presence known. I reared my head back and howled, calling for everyone to stop. And seconds later, Jeremy’s voice joined me, our song bringing the two sides to a momentary stop.
We came running down the hill, moving in between the two packs, stopping right in the path between Leon and Ricardo. We each shifted back to our two-legged forms, as I faced my pack, and Jeremy faced his.
“Evelyn!” my dad gasped. “We thought you were…”
“Everyone, please!” I called. “This all has to stop!”
“Not while they’re still here!” Leon declared.
“You don’t speak for us!” Ricardo commanded. “You never did!”
I looked around at all the faces around me. Faces I knew and loved. Family I had grown up with on the Caldour side. Friends I had made on the Morgandorf side. “I have something to tell you all!” I called. “I went into heat yesterday. Jeremy and I are going to have a pup.”
Several gasps went up all around us.
“A pup of both Morgandorf and Caldour blood,” Jeremy said. “Something to unite us both.”
“No!” my dad growled, pushing his way through the pack to advance on me. “No, no, no, NOOOO! You’ve betrayed me in enough ways, but this…! This is unconscionable! My grandchild is supposed to be the future leader of the Caldour pack! You are not going to—”
“Rene, shut up!”
Everyone whirled around to the sound of my mom’s voice as she emerged. “There are bigger things at stake here than your childish pride! Our daughter has made her choice! Have the goddamn decency to respect that!”
Dad looked at her in shock, as if he didn’t know how to deal with his wife standing up to him.
“Evie?” I heard Andrea’s voice call. I turned to see her running past the crowd of her pack.
Ricardo turned and pointed. “Get her back to her room!” he commanded.
“No!” Jeremy shouted. “Let her stay! Let everyone stay! This concerns all of you!”
“You’re pregnant?” Andrea probed.
I smiled at her, and nodded. “I don’t want my pup to live with both sides of its family fighting and killing each other!” I said. “My pup should be able to live in peace, without worrying about pack allegiances, or being attacked! Isn’t that what all of you want? What do all of you want for your pups? We’ve all been brought up on this feud, taught to hate each other, and we’ve kept fighting for all this time! How much longer are we going to keep passing on this legacy of hate?”
“You’re an idealistic girl, Evelyn,” Ricardo said. “But ideals can’t undo the past. They won’t bring back the lives that have been taken!”
“Neither will taking more lives!” Jeremy said. “But maybe they can prevent more death.”
“This is funny, coming from you!” Brock snapped. “Lucius is dead because of you!”
“Lucius is dead because he attacked us!” I said. “The last thing I wanted was to kill him, but I acted to save someone else’s life.” Then I looked up and pointed to Charlene. “Hers.”
The whole Caldour pack turned to stare at Charlene, who looked around at them uncomfortably. “Oh, come on, do you have to put me on the spot like this?”
“Everyone here,” I called, “I know you all. Old Tobias, you used to bounce me on your knee and sing songs to me when I was little! Jana, remember the party when we were thirteen, when you dared me to go up and kiss Tucker?” Then I turned to the Morgandorfs. “Tara, you were one of the first friends I made in the Morgandorf pack. I was afraid no one in your pack would accept me, but you came right up and made me feel at home.” Then I paused, as Andrea stepped up to the front of the Morgandorf crowd. “And Andrea…”
I turned to the Caldours suddenly, pointing at the teenage girl before me. “Is that the face of your enemy? This little girl? Even after the Morgandorfs found me out and banished me, she stayed on my side all the way! The daughter of the Morgandorf alpha, and she doesn’t even have any conception of hate! Why should she have to be involved in a war?”
“She’s right,” Charlene said, finally stepping forward to join us.
“Charlene?” Leon said, startled.
“I was just like all of you,” she said. “I always judged the Morgandorfs based on the stories I’d heard. All this crap that we’ve passed around for years to demonize each other. But look at them! All of you, look at the other side!”
“They’re all just like you!” I said. “They have families! Homes! Pups! This forest is more than big enough for us all! What do we have to fight over?”
And all around me, it looked like I was actually having an effect. Everyone seemed to be stopping to think, and were busy talking amongst each other.
“We don’t expect you all to start liking each other,” Jeremy said. “We’re not naïve enough to think it’ll be that simple. But can’t this pup be a start?”
Most of the hostile faces that had been present a minute ago had begun to vanish. Everyone was looking more thoughtful now.
Most of them, anyway.
“All right, that’s enough!” Dad said, stepping up to me. “We’re done with this drivel! You’re going to come back home with me where—”
“Rene!” Leon commanded. Then he paused, and said, “Give it up. It’s over.”
“But she—”
“I said, give it up! She’s beyond your authority now.”
Dad actually looked… the only word I can think to describe it is “helpless.”
“Come on, everyone,” my mom said to the Caldour pack. “Let’s go home.”
They all started turning and walking away. Not a drop of blood had been spilled.
On the other side, the Morgandorfs started heading back to their homes. Only Andrea stayed behind, rushing forward to embrace me.
I turned my head to see Charlene having also hung behind. “I wouldn’t have believed it, but that actually worked!”
“It’s just a start,” Jeremy said. “We’re not going to end generations of hate in one day.”
“But we got them to not fight,” I said. “I’d call that a win. And I don’t think we’ll need to worry about them hunting us anymore.”
“But where will you go now?” Charlene asked. “Even if you come back home, I don’t think Jeremy will be very welcome there. Or you with the Morgandorfs. Where will you live?”
I smiled down at Andrea, stroking her hair. “Wherever we want.”
*
EPILOGUE
The pups were starting to play a little rough. It had been amusing at first, watching them jump and tumble around with that squeaky little rubber alien with the big googly eyes, but now two of them had the squeak toy in their jaws and were playing a little tug-o-war with it, threatening to tear it in two, while the third was eagerly coming up to snatch it away from both of them.
It was at that point that I decided to step in and mediate the game. “Hey, now,” I said, getting up from my lawn chair and stepping over to them. “If you can’t play nice, I’m going to have to take your toys away. No more fighting,” I said as I knelt down and took hold of the little green thing in their jaws, which they calmly released and let me take, looking up at me with meek eyes. “What did I tell you all?”
At that question, the three little furry, four-legged creatures before me rose up, shifting into their two-legged forms and standing before me with humbled looks. “Fighting is bad,” said the seven-year-old girl with the little brown curls. “Fighting gets people hurt.”
“That’s right, Lana,” I nodded. “And what do people who fight get?”
“No dessert,” said all three of them in the same monotone expression.
“That’s right!” I said, pointing a finger at them. “So what are you all going to do now?”
“Play nice,” they drawled.
“Very good,” I smiled. “Maybe we should get some more toys out for each of you, so you don’t have to fight over them. Is that okay?”
The kids smiled and nodded. “I want my bouncy ball, mommy!” said little four-year-old Amy.
“I’m gonna get my super soaker!” said five-year-old Barry.
I was about to tell him not to shoot his sisters with it, but decided a little water play wouldn’t hurt anyone. “Sure, have fun,” I said.
I sat back down in the lawn chair next to Jeremy, as the kids went to fetch their toys. “You sure about that?” he said. “You remember what he did the last time you let him play with that.”
“What’s the matter?” I smirked. “Afraid of a little splash?”
I lifted my head and sniffed the air, as I detected Andrea’s scent approaching, moments before I saw her step around the corner. “Hi guys,” she said.
“Hey, everybody, look who’s here!” I told the kids. The girls immediately ran cheering for her, while Barry hung back for a moment. Andrea ducked down and picked up the happy, squealing Amy, while Lana came up and hugged her leg.
“You on spring break already?” Jeremy asked. “And you come back here of all places?”
“You think there’s any pace I’d rather be?” she smiled, bouncing the giggling Amy in her arms.
“Hey, Auntie Andie!” Barry said, suddenly stepping up with his super soaker in hand, and shooting her with a face-full of water. Andrea sputtered and shook her head.
I chuckled at her expense. “There just might be,” I said.
Andrea glared playfully at Barry. “You’re asking for it, buster!” she warned, letting Amy down. “Now I’m gonna have to CHASE YOU!”
The pups screamed with delight as Andrea went running after them. I watched with a big smile, as Jeremy reached out for my hand. “You still wishing your dad could see this?”
I sighed, letting my smile fade. “I haven’t spoken to him since the day he said I wasn’t his daughter anymore. And I’m not counting on that changing any time soon.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve given up?” he said. “We never would’ve made peace between the packs if you ever did that before.”
I thought about it briefly, before saying, “Maybe I haven’t totally forgiven him yet, either.”
“Maybe it’s time to try,” he suggested. “The least you can do is give him a call.”
Jeremy always did have a big heart. That’s what I loved about him.
It took me a while to get the nerve, but I did eventually get up from the chair. I walked inside the house, found my phone, and taking a breath, dialed my dad’s number.
* * *
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