That sleep was the final recovery I needed. I felt fully alive, tingling with pent up energy after doing nothing but eating and resting for so many days. My pulse was quickening, my thoughts racing with ideas, all of them naughty and involving Ivan. When Ivans hands trailing softly over my naked skin, his surprise at realising I had woken up before him and stripped off was exquisite. Not knowing where his hand would gently brush next made those fireworks extra sensitive. It took everything I had not to make a noise. To just enjoy his roaming. Rolling over my legs parted and I could feel how wet I'd become just through his touches. As his clothes hit the floor with a soft flump I sat up and shuffled away, vanishing from his sight in the dark. "Hey, where are you going?" he called softly, as I heard him leaning back onto the bed, the squashy mattress absorbing his huge body. It was my turn to delicately touch him in the dark. First I trailed a finger up his shins making him grunt.
Marked. Claimed by Cherish and it’s about time. I should have done it that first morning in the woods after she had shifted. But then it would have been in the wrong spot. Its position, close to my heart, is exactly where it belongs. Even the scar is less rough than the previous one.We chat away into the early hours of the morning. She seems to think I can't make her pass out in pleasure which makes me chuckle inwardly. I know full well I can. I'm just choosing to hold back that last percentage so I don't ejaculate into an unconscious woman like a psychopath.She makes me laugh with silly jokes and puns, the way she can visualise what we need to achieve at Cragstone is inspiring. Now I can see clearly too and know exactly what I want.I don't want to fight anymore. I want to avoid war at all costs. I'm never coming that close to losing her again. I want to have children with her. Start a family of little, gorgeous mouse-foxes and bask in the glow of love. I've seen enough blood and
As much as I am floating on air right now about Ivan there is an awful lot to be done before the Full Moon and our Ceremony. Huge trunks have arrived with jewels, clothing, gold and stacks of paper and pens. Everyone needs recording, every person's declaration will eventually need logging so we can keep a record of families, mates and social change. Everytime I think of Ivan my mark tingles. It is like having a little piece of him with me at all times, warming my soul and making Halo whoop for joy. I wondered why I was lingering around the kitchen and then realised they were peeling apples, even my subconscious craves him at all times. However, everywhere I turn I see more tasks stacking up. How many people have ever started a pack from scratch before, it’s going to be impossible. Luckily nearly everyone is coming to us. The population of the south all want to be part of this first inaugural festival. The town square is never going to be big enough for the thousands that are going t
Finally after days of manic preparation and everyone involved being close to exhaustion the full moon was almost upon us. The town square, a collection of wooden buildings and cobbled streets with a traditional well in the middle was a throbbing sea of people. The crowds were enormous. Luckily we had Jackson, his huge voice guided the proceedings as Ivan and I had to sit there like statues. There was a full ritual to be followed for starting a Pack. Ivan had to offer his blood into a dish, a small nick made into his wrist which he tried not to wince at. The blood flowed quickly, splattering into the bowl with a sound that sent both of us spinning back into the world of the Cage and its violence. Somehow the whole place smelt of apples, it turns out that apple orchards surround the town of Cragstone. /Meant to be/ purred Halo, the apple-scented man we adored having his scent amplified wherever we went during harvest season. With the bowl the town elders were brought forward and aske
Thank the heavens for Cherish because my mind has just been blown. Did I, or did I not just see an entire tree emerge out of a well, growing and expanding to the size of an ancient, centuries old landmark? I'm meant to know what's going on but I'm as dumbstruck as every tiny child gasping and pointing, not quite daring to touch the tree. I have never seen such a demonstration of the Moon Goddess, it has never been refrred to in any of the history books. It was beyond breathtaking. I may need to question every single person here to make sure I haven’t hallucinated the whole thing. As Cherish clears her throat my eyes are drawn to her. In her deep emerald green gown, her hair plaited and twisted into an intricately regal style. She kept insisting I had changed, grown more stately in my manner but she didn’t realise she had done the same. Our mate-bond could have suffered as we both rapidly evolve into these new roles but we have stuck together, kept close and honest and here we are.
Jackson approached, glasses of wine in hand, “what a night Alpha Ivan, Luna Cherish,” although I almost spilt my drink as Cherish squealed and grabbed at my sleeve. “Look, look here comes Penelope!” “Where is her brunette friend?” Jackson murmured and I had to shrug my shoulders in ignorance. All of us on the podium watched as the pretty blonde in the navy dressed weaved her way past man after man. “You know she hasn’t said a word since we rescued her,” Jackson muttered worriedly. “Just wait,” Cherished breathed, her hand on her heart. I don’t know if she knew but we all studied Kharkov as she stepped ever closer towards him. He didn’t look to be enjoying himself, his eyes to the sky, uncomfortably moving from left to right. As Penelope approached her eyes were fixed on him, not on any of the other men she was not connecting with. His huge shoulders made him stand out in the line-up. We heard more squeals of “Mate!” from the other row but nothing was distracting Penelope now. The c
I found Violent having a little cry in one of the inns. She was being comforted by Martha, stroking her brown hair softly. I had missed her travelling down the other line of dancers, so caught up in watching Penelope’s bond with Kharkov. so many young woman around her had found a mate and she had felt useless. “Has the Moon Goddess just decided I am too fucked up to deserve a mate?” Violet sobbed into Martha’s lap, the mint green darkening with damp patches of tears. “Hush dear there was a whole line of men you did not dance with tonight.” “I don’t know why I got my hopes up. I stayed away from that line because some of the men there were ones who used to visit the hellhole we were caged in.” I let out a soft gasp at the realisation. Maybe I did have rose-tinted glasses regarding mate-bonds and love. Perhaps being endlessly bound to another soul for eternity is not the happy experience I have known so far. There is always the chance one's mate could be a poor character, a brute or
Eight weeks have flown by. We are almost in a routine. There are established meetings, briefings and we are slowly learning as much as we can about our new home. Another full moon has passed around our huge apple tree at the centre of Cragstone. We have plans in place to rotate the full moon dances from town to town so everywhere benefits from the limelighht. It gives us a chance to make contact with all of the south and central regions too. Right now we have left our lovely packhouse at Cragstone behind and are in the deepest south of the region. We have come so far south some areas had not even heard of the newly formed pack though they knew of the Cage and Ivan the Inferno. Now we travelled, not just as the Battalion but with ecstatic village elders from every major town we found no resistance. People seemed nostalgic to be part of a pack again, even those that may have left due to upset or bad behaviour in their youth. It was a pack of second chances. But behind closed doors J