Chapter 227

#Chapter 227 – She-wolf “Oh, you’re on top,” he says, ignoring my unbuttoning and sitting up again. He folds his legs beneath me so that I’m now seated comfortably in his lap, my legs wrapped around his waist. “How convenient for you…”

I smile coyly as he runs his hands up my thighs, stopping at my waist to untuck the shirt from my pants and then pressing one warm hand against the bare skin of my back, pulling me more tightly against the proud length of him that I can feel beneath me, between my legs.

I moan a little, closing my eyes as I flex my hips, bringing myself even closer to him, feeling him slide his other hand up the length of my back, coming around the side of my ribs to cup my breast in the palm of his hand. I feel my n*****s harden instantly at the feel of his hands on me.

God – it’s been so long since we’ve been like this – since we’ve had the energy to focus on each other –

And even now, again weak, we don’t have the energy. But – it doesn’t seem that we care –

Victor fastens his mouth to mine then and I moan again, wrapping my arms around his neck, wanting to close to him, wanting to feel his skin against mine. Victor echoes my sound, moving both of his hands to pull at the edges of my shirt, desperate to get it off of me, to get to my skin beneath –

I pull back from him, giving him the room he needs to pull it upwards, opening my eyes to look at him, to savor every beautiful line of his face –

But then, I shriek at what I see behind him.

He reacts immediately, a snarl ripping from his mouth, a protective arm going immediately around my waist as he spins, ready to take on whatever it is I’m staring at behind us.

“Victor,” I whisper, my eyes going wide and my body going perfectly still.

A wolf, standing in the grove along with us, gnarled and ancient, her fur matted but her eyes light and alive. And, behind her, a moonlit path that definitely wasn’t there a moment ago.

Wordless, we both stare at the wolf, who meets each of our gazes, her tongue hanging happily from her nearly-toothless mouth. Then, decisively, she turns and trots away from us down the path.

The message is clear.

“Time to go,” Victor sighs, his body trembling from whiplash of emotions we both just experienced in the last sixty seconds – desire, fear, and then…obligation. I can feel his anxiety, his surprise, but I know that – like me – the fear of this wolf came only from the surprise of her abrupt appearance.

Neither of us are truly afraid of her. Merely what she represents.

Victor begins to push me from his lap so he can stand up, but I stop him with a word in his mind. Wait.

And then I kiss him, quickly, passionately, letting him know that whatever happens next…

I know, he tells me. And that’s all I need.

Together, Victor and I stand up and follow the wolf further into the woods, Victor re-buttoning his shirt as we go.

It’s a short distance that we travel this time. Thus far on our journey the magic has been drawing us further and deeper into the woods, making us traverse great distances as we searched our hearts and discovered our truths. This time, though, we walk perhaps only a hundred feet or so – perhaps because we’re already where we need to be.

No, a grizzled old voice comes into my mind. I blink, shocked, and look at Victor. His expression tells me that he heard it as well. My tired old bones just don’t want to take me very far. We hear a cheerful cackle echoing in our minds as we step into…

Well, can it be called a clearing? It’s more like…well, it’s more like a strange woodland patio. The circle of empty ground that we walk onto has been patted flat with generations of padding feet. Ringing the entire area are not…well, they’re not chairs, but they’re collections of wood twisted and bent to create soft clear places at their center, precisely the kind of thing you’d like to sit on.

Our eyes, however, are on the wolf, who crosses to the far side of a fire pit sunk into the ground at the center of the clearing. There’s a bright flash and then she’s before us.

She. Her.

The woman we were sent to find.

I couldn’t tell you how I know it, but I’m sort of done asking questions about the mysteries of this place.

I simply accept it for the truth it is. It’s her.

“Welcome,” she says, giving us a warm smile and snapping her fingers, causing a roaring flame to burst to life in the firepit. I jump as it flares up, but Victor stands still behind me, putting his hands on my arms to steady me. I’m grateful for his solidity as my mind tries to comprehend all of the new details of this strange place.

“Do you mind?” the woman asks, gesturing towards the fire. “I know that it is not a cold night, but my old bones,” she shakes her head, “they do take a chill.”

“Not at all,” Victor murmurs, and I laugh a little inwardly to see him falling back on his cultured manners in this very wild place. The old woman smirks at him, and I can tell that she’s thinking the same.

She gestures towards the chairs around the fire, inviting us to sit, so, awkwardly, we do. Victor keeps a hand on my elbow as we make our way over to a wooden sculpture large enough to hold both of us.

“So,” the woman says, curling herself into her own seat, which looks more like a nest than a chair. “My friends have been telling me that you’ve been looking for me.”

“Your friends?” I ask, curious. She smiles and then snaps again, the air bursting suddenly with light as a million of those magic golden motes make themselves visible to us. I laugh a little to see them, still awed by their beauty and their presence.

“Yes,” she says, looking around at them and waving her hand at the ones that come too close to her face. “Pests, as much as friends. But they tell me the goings-on of this place. They’ve told me all about you, and your boys.” She smiles, then, leaning forward and cupping her chin in her hand. “Not that I haven’t been aware of you for a while.”

“Please,” Victor says, leaning forward, “can you explain it to us? We had two people in our lives tell us to come and find you now – but we have no idea what could be so important about us to bring us to your attention –“

“Do you not, boy?” the woman says, smirking at him again. I feel Victor go a little stiff next to me at the diminutive term and do my best to hide my smile, though I know she sees it when her eyes flick to me. I don’t know how old she is, but looking at her I get the feeling of being in the presence of something ancient. To her, perhaps even the oldest amongst us is a boy.

Victor shuts his mouth, sitting back on his seat and putting his arm around me.

“Oh, come on,” the woman says, laughing her little funny laugh, her eyes squinting almost shut as she smiles at us. “Two clever wolves like you – and with those special boys – you have not figured out the truth of it?”

“I think,” I say quietly, looking up at Victor. “That we have discovered that we are something…special.” I return my gaze to her. “But we don’t have a word for it. Or any idea of what it means.”

“Certainly,” she says, fixing her gaze on Victor in particular. “After all, is it not rare for an Alpha to find himself two mates in his lifetime?”

His arm tightens around me as my mouth opens into a little o.

Two mates? Mates?

A man with two mates in his lifetime is the stuff of fairy tales – but –

“Really?” I breathe, looking between Victor and the woman, my heart soaring. “He’s – he’s my mate?”

She nods subtly then, her eyes on me, taking pleasure in my clear joy. “Bit of bad luck for his other one, though – don’t you think? She didn’t stand much of a chance against his astral mate.”