Soul Mate by Roxie Ray

5

Liv

Ifelt like I was floating…a little bit like I’d had too much to drink, but I was still fully in control. And, I mean, I was pretty sure it was impossible for my wolf to even get drunk, but it was something I’d never felt before. It was a rush, but not adrenaline. It was intoxicating, but I wasn’t impaired. In fact, I’d never felt more in control, as if my wolf and I had become wholly one, and it didn’t require either one of us “giving up” the reins to control.

Cal still lay on the forest floor, blinking over at me where I sat, tail curled primly around my front feet. My brows lifted and my head tipped to one side; wolves weren’t quite capable of a smile, but I was sure I was pretty damn close. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what I was feeling, but I knew one thing.

I was happy.

Really, truly happy.

Despite everything that was going on, there was an undercurrent of joy, of wholeness, of happiness. So much had changed when Calum Meyers had bitten me…or maybe it was when I’d bitten him in return. At first, I hadn’t thought the order really mattered. A bite was a bite. I was grateful that a bond had blossomed between us, because not all pairs were lucky as we were. A bond wouldn’t form with just anyone, bite or not; if that was the case, it wouldn’t hurt so bad to lose your mate…or to be rejected by your mate.

The thought was easy to put aside; I wouldn’t demean myself to say it wasn’t hard (or near impossible), but I’d survived. We’d survived.

Cal was still staring at me and I tipped my head to one side, chuffing softly. He’d submitted; he’d acknowledged me as his alpha. There was no reason for him to stay sprawled on the leaf litter like that. When he just stared back, I curled my tail, thumping it against the ground a few times. After another few moments of staring, my mate finally got his paws beneath his bulk. He stood, shaking out his rich, chocolaty fur. His gold eyes danced in the sunbeams that filtered through the canopy.

He padded over, tail swaying lazily where it hung near his hocks. My mouth quirked and I stood, snaking forward to land a nip on one of his ears. If I could have laughed, I would have; instead, I could only chuff as I whirled on my hind paws, springing away from Cal and further into the woods.

I could practically hear the confusion and I barked, luminous and light-hearted. My paws felt like they were practically skipping above the earth. Even gravity couldn’t keep me down!

One ear twitched at the sound of breaking twigs and crunching behind me. I didn’t need to look to know my mate had finally given chase; I could feel the amusement radiating through our bond. I shifted a little more weight into my haunches and galloped forward, dashing further ahead of him. I didn’t know where I was going. It didn’t really matter. The burn in my legs felt amazing; the run was only improved by knowing that Calum was never more than a few lengths away from me. This was exactly what I needed: to run without borders or fences or walls, to run with the one person I held more dearly than any other. To be myself and to be loved for that.

It was glorious.

At some point,the trees gave way to a small clearing…well, I wasn’t even sure it could be technically classified as a clearing. It’s not like I went to school to be a biologist…or an ecologist…or whoever studied trees and forests. I slowed to a trot, tongue rolling out of my parted jaws as I looked around. It wasn’t a very large space, surrounded by trees on all sides. Light beamed down through the gap in the canopy, shimmering and dancing on top of a small pond hidden here in the middle of the woods.

I finally broke to a walk and then I halted, tipping my nose up to take a sniff. Cal pulled up next to me, mirroring my actions. I couldn’t smell anyone besides us — and maybe a single red squirrel, but even her scent wasn’t particularly strong. It was as if someone had created this tiny body of water just for us to find.

I stepped over to the shoreline, surprised by how cool the water felt as it lapped against my toes. The pond wasn’t very wide, but it seemed to slope off quickly. The bottom shelfed off into shadow quickly. We’d learned about these in high school, I was pretty sure. Kettles? Kettle ponds? There were several on Cape Cod. I remembered going on a field trip in the sixth grade…not long before The Incident. Before the night everything had gone wrong.

I wondered if Cal remembered that school outing, too.

Mind made up, I sat down on the shoreline, pine needles between my toes, and began to shift. I closed my eyes, focusing on the soft scent of pond water and the gentle sound of the breeze filtering through the branches all around instead of the crunch of bone or the awful shift of cartilage. When I opened my eyes and flexed my fingers, I didn’t even feel out of breath. A small smile crossed my lips; I was getting much better at shifting forms.

I glanced over at Cal, smiling when I realized he’d shifted, too. I patted the spot on the forest floor next to me, chucking as he made a face. “It’s only pine needles,” I laughed, gathering my knees up and wrapping my arms around them.

“I don’t need any pine needles in my junk,” he grumbled, but he padded over and settled down next to me anyways, our shoulders bumping. “Besides, what if there are bugs or some shit?”

I snorted. I’d been accused of being a city girl before, but it seemed like my mate might have been even more of a city boy. “If you get a bug on your leg, I’ll make sure to rescue you,” I assured him, patting his thigh.

He leaned over to kiss my cheek. “Oh, my alpha! Brave alpha, whatever would I do without you?” he teased, a smile threatened to pull up his lips.

I rolled my eyes and gave him a gentle shove; still, it felt good to be acknowledged like that. Pride swelled in my chest. I was an alpha; even if I was only his alpha, I would be satisfied.

I wasn’t though, and that was something we had to deal with. Humming thoughtfully, I glanced out at the calm surface of the tiny pond. “What do you think of the other wolves?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, studying my face. “Which ones?”

That was a fair question. There were a lot of wolves that had shown up between Danny’s rogues, random rogues who’d heard what was going on, and the alphas from up and down the East Coast. I sighed. “All of them, I guess. How do you think we’re going to get to work them together?” When he just frowned at me, I was forced to elaborate. “I mean, that’s a lot of alpha pride in a really small place. Some of those wolves have been in charge of their packs for decades. How are we going to get them all to do the same thing?”

Cal wrinkled his nose, turning to look at the water. “I dunno. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Like, if anyone had asked, I wouldn’t have recommended bringing all these wolves along. Danny’s rogues are one thing, but…” He trailed off, shrugging one shoulder. I understood. No one had asked, they’d just shown up. I was pretty sure they were all trying to help, but that didn’t exactly make it easier to organize. Maybe if I wasn’t so angry with the prince or the princess, I could have asked them for advice, but… Meh.

“But what?”

He looked back at me. “You’re the alpha, Liv. They already referenced you as the Queen of the Packs, so they have some idea.”

I wanted to look away, but his gaze arrested me. Even still, I could feel the heat prickling at my cheeks. The back of my neck. “Cal…” I warned, shaking my head. Queen of the Packs. It sounded like absolute nonsense, but if that’s all it was, it would have been much easier to just shrug off. It stuck with me, because I knew there was some truth in it.

“You’ll have to make them submit.”

“Maybe,” I said, getting to my feet. I’d had enough of this conversation; I stepped into the water and yelped. “Cold!”

Before Cal could even stand up, I jumped in, spreading out my arms to try and make the biggest splash I possibly could. Even with the water in my ears, I heard him yell, stomping into the water after me to get his revenge. Had he forgotten I was on the high school swim team?

I surfaced with a laugh, quickly paddling away from him. “Catch me if you can, wolf!” I cooed, waggling my fingers at him.

Cal fixed me with a heated look and my insides twisted; I didn’t want to be caught, almost as much as I absolutely did.

We fooledaround in the pond until our skin started to wrinkle; in the middle of the woods with nothing to wear, we had few choices. I think we managed to race back home even faster than we had run through the woods in the first place. All I could think of was Cal’s hands on my skin, and I was pretty confident he was thinking of the same thing.

I barely skidded to a stop in front of our cottage with Cal on my heels, both of us scratching at the wood as we pushed the door in and tumbled inside. Someone managed to shove the door shut with their rump before we were shifting again, back to our human forms. No sooner did I feel the scratchy carpet against my skin than I felt Cal’s fingers wrapping around my ankle, dragging me closer across the floor.

He captured me in a hungry kiss as he grappled for purchase, hand on my knee, my thigh, my hip as he kept pulling me against his body. Heat zipped down my spine, pooling in my belly, and I tangled my slender fingers into his curly hair. “Cal,” I murmured, unable to keep the bubble of laughter down. “Cal, the bed.”

My mate simply grumbled at me, palming at one of my breasts instead. His hand was warm against my skin and I couldn’t help but arch in to his touch. I’d been dreaming about it since we were paddling around the kettle pond; if I had gotten cold in the shaded pond, the chill had long since been warded off. Whatever goosebumps I had came only from the stimulation, from the way Cal pinched and plucked at one nipple, teasing the sensitive nub of flesh until I was just on the edge of begging for mercy — and then he’d switch to the other, lavishing each breast with an equal amount of attention.

I shivered and tried to inhale. He was distracting me. I dug the heel of my palm into his collarbone, peeling him away from where his teeth worried my pale skin. “Cal,” I murmured, trying to summon some of my command. “Cal, enough. I don’t want a rug burn on my ass. We are going to the bed.”

This time, the man looked up at me, his dark hair hanging over his eyes. He blinked once, like he was struggling to process what I was requesting…no, commanding. I crooned softly, rewarding his pause. “C’mon, wolf. Take me to bed.”

Apparently, that was the right thing to say. Before I could so much as blink, he had me in his arms and was on his feet, carrying me quickly across our tiny home like I was a hard-won prize. I squawked and giggled, flailing my limbs for effect before he deposited me our unmade bed, pulling the rumpled comforter out from under me.

I huffed in appreciation, dragging him closer. I wanted another kiss, but Cal had other ideas. He batted my hand away, spreading my thighs before dragging his thumb through my folds. My lower lips were thick with arousal, practically begging for more. Even the careless touch was greeted with slick and he groaned, making an almost wounded sound before he bowed his head low.

A moment later, I felt his tongue lapping at me, flat and wet and eager. “Oh, Cal,” I moaned, my head flopping back against our sheets. I let my legs fall further apart as he continued to lick at my pussy, as if he couldn’t get enough of the taste of me. That thought alone made me clench; I appreciated the attention, but I needed him. I needed him inside of me right now.

I reached down to grab a fistful of hair, jerking him off my cunt. Before he could argue, I rumbled. “Mount me, wolf.”

There was no arguing with that. Cal’s pupils were so blown, you could barely make out the color of them as he surged forward, capturing my lips in a near frantic kiss. I licked the taste of my slick from his lips, groaning softly as he slipped two fingers inside of me. The preparation was cursory at best, but there was something just so fucking hot about knowing I could drive him to this point, the point where he could barely think for wanting me so bad.

A moment later, he lined up against my entrance, the spongy head of his cock rubbing against outer folds. “Do it,” I growled.

In one slow, fluid motion, Cal pressed all the way inside, his groan mirroring my own once he was fully seated inside of me. When he didn’t start moving immediately, I began to squirm; anything to get some sort of friction. My mate growled, grabbing me by the hips; finally, he started to rut against me, favoring quick, powerful thrusts over a slow, lingering grind.

I slipped one hand between us, impatient and needy. I found my clit with practiced ease, pinching and rolling the sensitive bundle of nerves between my fingers. My inner walls clenched down around Cal’s erection; I wanted to feel every last inch of him as he slid out and fucked back in. The room was silent except for the slap of skin against skin and our sharp inhales, our breathy gasps.

“C’mon, Cal,” I groaned, working myself a little quicker. “I’m so close. I’m so close. I want to come on your dick, baby. Make me come on your dick.”

Maybe I should have tried being bossy a little sooner, but I was pretty damn positive my mate liked it. At least, his cock fucking twitched at my command and I answered with another moan. My arm was starting to hurt, I was so frenzied, but he was spilling inside of me a moment later and I was able to follow him over the ledge, gasping out his name as my orgasm rushed through me. My toes curled and my nerves sang; I gasped a breathless noise and gripped him close.

“Fuck,” I panted, a few moments later. “How is it possible this just keeps getting better?”

Cal shrugged, slipping out so he could flop on his side next to me, wrap an arm around me and pull me close against his chest. I snuggled up into him. “Maybe that’s what love does,” he murmured against my skin.

All I could do was smile.