Chapter 3 #2
“Yeah, and you missed the whole thing. Your koro tried to wake you, but you were out cold,” Van laughs. “And then your mom had arranged for you to stay the night at ours, so Dad ended up carrying you all the way back. You were drooling on his shoulder.”
“I bet he loved that,” I say sarcastically.
“There may have been the odd snarky comment about humans.”
“That sounds about right.”
Weston, Van’s father, has always been a difficult character, at least when it comes to me.
Now that I know the full extent of what Van and Weston were battling through during Van’s teenage years, I can understand much more clearly why Weston had the response to me that he did when I was around in the later years.
Even before Van and I got together we were friends, and neither Van nor Weston’s wolves were exactly rational when it came to each other at the time.
I’ve witnessed the level of responsibility that alphas take on and the emotional toll that it has on them first-hand, and I feel like I can excuse Van’s dad a little more for being such a grump all the time.
Van tosses a final log on the fire. “I think that should do it for now; even when it dies down a bit it’ll hold heat, and by then you’ll be running anyway.”
I blush at the casual reference to our plans for later this evening.
It’s easier to indulge in some of our kinks down here on this property, which is far more remote and therefore feels more private than our home on Motuwai.
At least down here, Van doesn’t have to tune out the howls from his pack members during the full moon.
The next few minutes pass in companionable silence, the crackle of the fire and the evening calls of birds settling in to roost for the night the only noise around us.
Van strips off his pants, tossing them on an empty chair.
“It must be time,” I say quietly, eyeing his hands.
They’re always the first to change, and I can see the start of it now, his nails beginning to elongate into pointed black claws.
He nods quickly, looking out to the horizon. Our view is not quite at sea level, and as the edge of the moon — already partially obscured by the start of the eclipse — begins to appear, Van changes.
I’ve watched it take place over two dozen times now, but it never ceases to amaze me how Van can go from looking like a man one minute, to a towering werewolf in the next, his hands doubling in size, skin turning a dark charcoal grey, fur sprouting, his entire body stretching and changing, face morphing, all sharp teeth and shining eyes.
A growl rumbles from deep within his chest, one that most would find menacing, but I simply tip my head back to look him in the eye.
“There’s my cuddly teddy bear,” I say, grinning as his growl grows louder, dark lips pulling back in a snarl that I know is all bark and no bite.
“I dare you to say that again,” he growls, his voice a deep rumble that goes straight to my clit.
“Or what? What are you going to do Evander, eat me?” I tease. “I’d quite like that if I’m being completely honest.”
“I know you would,” he retorts with a huffed snort. “I thought you wanted to watch the eclipse first before the main course. Here I am being good for once and holding myself back and not burying my face in your cunt the moment I transform, and you’re all…”
“All what?”
He rumbles again, crouching down in front of me. “I can smell how you’re feeling Ellie. Even if we didn’t have the bond, I can tell what you want.”
I shrug, because there’s no point denying any of it.
I’m sure there’s a large portion of people that think I’m a freak for finding my husband attractive in his werewolf form, but I don’t care.
Nothing is quite like the raw energy that he exudes when he’s like this, and fucking him in this form is a thrill I happily partake in every month.
He’s still Van after all; the werewolf that always exists inside him simply at the surface, bringing out his more primal side.
“We’ve got twenty minutes before the full eclipse… That’s the only part I care about seeing.”
Van stares just long enough for me to grow nervous under his wolfish gaze, his pupils shining in the low light.
When he lunges at me I let out a shriek — the only thing I manage to do before I’m scooped up and laid back, my skirt flipped over my face and my underwear dying a quick death beneath his werewolf claws.
His breath is hot over my inner thighs, the sharp drag of his teeth making me gasp, and when his wide tongue licks over me all I can do is moan and spread my legs wider for him.
He’s less of a dirty talker in this form, but what he lacks in words he more than makes up for with skilled enthusiasm.
I stare down at the huge wolf between my legs, the glow of the fire flickering over the both of us, feeling the bite of his clawed hands on my ass and revelling in the way his satisfied growls seem to reverberate within me.
He never lets up, the heat of his tongue on my clit a constant rhythm, teeth a stark white in the fading light, and when his gaze locks on mine that’s all it takes to make me come, his tongue spearing my cunt a moment later so that he can fuck me through it.
By the time the blood moon — the totality of the lunar eclipse — sits low in the sky, my voice is hoarse and my body feels boneless. Van picks me up with a gentleness that would shock many, cradling me in his arms as he settles back on the ground.
This isn’t the first lunar eclipse I’ve seen, but it’s by far the most beautiful, the red moon framed from below by the dark silhouettes of the ancient maunga, the Milky Way already bright in the clear sky despite how early it is in the night.
“This feels like one of those core memory moments,” I say as I press my cheek to Van’s fur.
He rumbles in agreement, squeezing me tight.
When the eclipse is over and the moon is shining brightly as if nothing remarkable ever happened, Van’s muzzle nudges my ear.
“Do you still feel like running?” he asks, and I shiver in response.
“Of course.” I push myself up until I’m kneeling beside him. He is huge. I’m so used to seeing him in all his forms, but every now and then the true size difference between us hits me. “I wore my sneakers for it and everything,” I say.
His left ear twitches in a way that I’ve learned to read as amusement. “I noticed. You were whacking me in the back with them half an hour ago.”
“Yeah, well, I take no responsibility for my lower limbs when you do that to me.” I pick up one of his huge hands, bringing it to my face so I can kiss his palm before lifting it until it covers his eye.
He huffs out a laugh as I do the same with his other one.
“You have to give me a head start,” I whisper. “No peeking.”
“You think this’ll slow me down?”
“Not at all, but I can pretend. Let me have my delusions.” I plant a kiss on the top of his muzzle. “You can be scary tonight. I wanna meet the big bad wolf.”
“You better start running, then. I’ll count to a hundred.”
“Slowly. In te reo.”
I stand, backing away as Van laughs, the sound curling through me.
“Alright then. Tahi, rua…”
I turn around and start sprinting as fast as I can.