An Alpha's Commitment : an MMM Wolf-Shifter Romance (Leongatha Pack Tales, Book 2)

Chapter 11

ISCA

We start together, a huge pack loping through the forest. Talius leads, his dark head and ears visible as he bounds ahead, larger and stronger than the others. His powerful Alpha scent laces the air and even though we’re meters behind, it fills our nostrils: he is our Alpha and we follow him.

Over the uneven ground, twigs and stones, dead leaves, we run. Warm pads sinking into cool ground, connecting with the earth, at one with the nature that lives and breathes around us.

At one with each other.

Stride after stride after stride, we run on. The blood pounds in my ears, beating a tattoo in synch with the heartbeat of the moon. As in a dream, my paws brush over the damp soil, over the leaf litter and twigs, dodging branches and around rocks, the trees thinning out the further up the mountain we go, the moon casting slivers of light between the tree trunks as we race over the ground, higher and higher, the wind stronger up at these heights, howling through the branches. Trees flash past, a kaleidoscope of silhouettes in the night.

The mob ebbs and flows, closing in around me, hot bodies and sweat surrounding me, pounding over the damp earth, then drifting apart, cool air swirling around us briefly, before they close in again all fur and heat, lolling tongues and panting breaths. The rhythm of the packs’ paws drums a soft cadence in my head. There’s energy in this mob, excitement. Our wolf’s blood pulses with the pull of the moon, rushing through our veins like an aphrodisiac. It’s overwhelming, exhilarating. I haven”t felt this in so long, the collective psyche of the pack. Thoughts drift away, replaced by instinct: hunting, mating, self-preservation, the desire to run free over the bare earth…

My tongue lolls, the air rushing to fill my lungs, replacing what”s exhaled in great heaving gasps. My brain is lost to the wolf, running stride after stride, minute after minute, each paw touching the ground only briefly, there’s nothing but the earth beneath my paws, the ragged exhale of the wolves running near me…

As the night wears on, the pack spreads out, stragglers falling behind or turning back. The crush of bodies thins out around me, falling away or rushing ahead, every wolf manifesting their own personal response to the call of the moon.

The pungent scent of a young alpha, virile and aroused, envelopes me. My heart skips a beat, I stumble, my skin prickling, hackles rising.

He”s close.

From the corner of my eye I see him, a wolf with brown fur, a stranger with dark focused eyes - eyes fixed on me! All my hairs stand erect. He”s so close! He disappears behind me, his hot breath hitting my haunches. Is he urging me away from the pack? Irian presses closer to my flank, shutting him out. Over my rasping breaths, I hear the snort of annoyance behind us. Then the stranger appears at my other side, muzzle reaching for me, nostrils flaring, inhaling... and then grunting, he turns away, lips curling back, a low growl of dismay rumbling through the night.

My heart races, blood thundering in my ears. My hackles don”t go down, the sensitive hairs erect and alert.

Lower down the mountain, wolves howl.

Memory stirs. My heart stutters.Something snaps in my brain.

They’re coming!

I have to go faster, get away. I have to escape. They”re coming for me. I extend my stride, speeding up, running flat out now, ears flattened against my head, tail straight as an arrow. Faster, Faster! Heart pounding, chest heaving, vision blurring. Higher, higher! I have to go higher. Ears buzzing, cold air rushing over my face, my eyes stinging, drops of moisture leaking from the corners.

I veer away into the trees, avoiding the fallen boughs littering my path, aware my silver coat shines like a beacon in the moonlight, drawing my hunters after me. Branches slap my snout, scratch my face.

I’m alone, racing up the mountain, my heart pounds against my ribs, my heaving sides drag in painful gasps of freezing air. My chest constricts in an agonizing vise. My vision tunnels down to the narrow spot in front of me as I force myself to go harder, faster, each shadow, each dark shape a threat, perhaps an attacker, perhaps an ambush that I might not see until it’s too late.

I have to escape!

Suddenly a warm body presses up against my right flank. From the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of golden-brown fur keeping pace with me. At the same time a dark shadow looms over my other side, a large dark grey wolf running beside me, so close that our ribs rub as we breathe.

We breathe.

I breathe in. I breathe out. Scents permeate the fog in my brain. They hint of familiarity, of comfort. I breathe in. I breathe out.

I breathe slower, straining for those comforting scents. The pounding in my ears eases. The scents in my nostrils grow stronger. The brainfog whirls, breaking up, clearing. These… these are… these are mates. My mates. Yes. Keep me safe. Yes.

Clarity strikes: my Alpha is keeping me safe. I’m running with him, not from him.

The wolves beside me slow and I throttle back to stay with them. As my pace slows, something settles inside. Reassurance washes over me in a calming wave. My heart is still pounding but it”s slowing. The tight grip around my chest eases. My vision clears.

A little spark of lightness starts deep in my core, spluttering uncertainly, then growing stronger. Relief. The muscles of my legs feel weak, shaky, and I wobble, but I keep going, slower now. I take notice of the night, the darkness of the trees around us, the moon above, the way ahead of me and heat from my companions beside me.

Peace envelopes me and a different kind of awareness seeps through me.

I begin to feel a subtle joy in these solitary mountains, in the stark shapes of the trees silhouetted against the moon, the damp musty smell of the earth and the decaying vegetation. In the wind that howls in the treetops and swirls to ruffle the hair on my Alpha’s neck, his coat rippling in the ethereal light, the hairs pushed flat along his coat as he lopes beside me. In the one bright star shining in the south. In the hot gasps of air forming puffy clouds in the cool mountain air. My silvery coat gleams with the joy of running free beneath the full moon with my mates. I”m running with the moon and this time I”m not alone.

I”m not alone.

It”s just the three of us and we run for the joy of it, Talius leading, Irian and I close on his tail. When we reach a small clearing at the top of the mountain, Talius stops. Irian yips and rushes at him, darting away at the last minute. Talius gives chase. I watch. I can see Talius is letting him get away, it’s the game that counts, not the catching, so I join in, snapping, teasing, playing.

Later we race off through the trees, and as the moon shines down benevolently, we joyfully fulfil our primal need to mate.