Chapter 12 - Alanis #2
His control snapped. He withdrew enough to roll her again on her back, and then slammed back inside, driving her into the mattress with the force of his thrusts. His body covered hers completely, surrounding her, overwhelming her in the best possible way.
“Mine,” he growled in her ear. “You belong to me, Alanis. Say it.”
“Yours,” she sobbed, too far gone to think of what she was agreeing to. “I’m yours, Rael.”
She could feel it as his knot began to inflate. She felt him growing inside her, binding them together. The feeling was so intense and animal-like, pushing her to another orgasm.
It was not like the previous ones she had. This was deeper and more intense than anything she’d ever felt. It began at her very center and spread out in waves, causing her entire body to shake in pleasure.
Rael followed, his cock throbbing as he spilled inside of her. “Shit. Fuck.”
Rael rolled on his side, pulling Alanis along, while he spooned her from behind.
“Holy fuck,” he panted against her neck. “That was…”
“Intense,” Alanis completed with a hoarse voice.
“Yeah.” He wrapped his arms around her. “You okay?”
She felt sore, tired, worn out, but totally content. The heat had come down to a manageable degree, no longer the scalding urgency it had been.
“I am good,” she replied. “Really good.”
She knew his knot would take at least twenty minutes to go down. She had heard of this, but to feel it was quite another thing—this sense of being completely owned, of being part of him in the most natural manner.
It is nothing but biology, she thought to herself. Just the connection and the warmth that make you feel the things that are nonexistent.
Rael gently caressed her hip, belly and thigh. “I meant what I said,” he mumbled. “About your body. You’re perfect, Alanis. Absolutely perfect.”
“You don’t need to…”
“It’s the truth.” He kissed her on the shoulder. “I love the way you feel. I love touching you, and I love that you are mine.”
The possessiveness in his voice should have irritated her and sounded all her warning bells concerning independence and not being dependent on anybody. Rather, it gave her a sense of warmth and protection that she’d never felt before.
“Rael…”
“Sleep. We’ll talk later. Now, rest. You need it.”
Sighing, her eyes fluttered closed. She was tired from the heat and the sex, and the sense of safety in his arms was too great to resist.
***
It was darker in the forest than she had thought.
Alanis ran through the trees, her bare feet on wet leaves, branches snipping at her clothing and flesh. Cruel laughter from behind filled the forest.
“Oh, come on,” they said. “We just want to play, come back.”
Alanis’s foot caught a root, which threw her forward, the shock forcing the air out of her lungs. She tried to crawl up, but too many hands held her down.
“Look at her,” someone snickered. “Sixteen years and cannot shift. Useless.”
“Not entirely useless,” another voice replied, laughing. “The defective ones are preferred by the buyers. They pay more for those who cannot shift.”
“No, no,” she pleaded, struggling with the hands that held her. “No, please…”
“Would have been a good idea to consider that before you turned out wrong and useless. If you get sold, at least you’ll serve a purpose, in a way.”
The hands pulled her further into the wood, toward the clearing where she had witnessed they had the others—the girls who had not shifted and who were waiting to be sold. She tried harder, screaming, but to no avail. She was deprived of a voice; she had been robbed of it by fear and—
“Alanis! Alanis, wake up!”
She jerked awake with a gasp, her heart racing and her body covered with sweat. She did not know where she was. The room was dark and unfamiliar, and there were hands on her shoulders.
“It’s me, Alanis, it’s Rael. You are safe. You are in my house, and you are safe.”
His voice cut through the panic, making her come to her senses. She blinked, her eyes getting accustomed to the darkness, and she saw his face above her, looking concerned and worried.
“Rael,” her voice broke into sobs.
He pulled her into his arms. “Shh, I got you. You're okay.”
“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I did not mean to—”
“Stop apologizing,” he gently stroked her hair, all the way down her back. “It was just a nightmare.”
She clung to him, inhaling his scent—pine and wood. Her breath slowed, and her sobs slowly turned into hiccups.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked softly.
She nibbled on her lips. Maybe talking about it would lighten her burden.
“It was about my previous pack,” she said in a hoarse voice. “Caldwell Pack—where I grew up.”
Rael didn’t say a word. He just waited for her to continue.
“I told you I was shiftless. But what I didn’t tell you was what that meant in the Caldwell pack.
Being shiftless was... the worst thing you could be.
Better to be an omega, better to be weak.
It was like you were something that the moon goddess had forgotten. ”
Rael drew in a deep breath, still holding her.
“The bullying started when I was a child, six or seven years old. I was teased by other children who would call me names. The adults never interfered. They said it would make me tougher when I left the pack.” She laughed mirthlessly. “Like there was going to be a life outside the pack.”
“What do you mean?” Rael asked tightly.
Alanis drew back a bit so she could read his face as it was illuminated through the dim light that came in through the window.
“In Caldwell, you were sold by the time you turned sixteen. The Alpha had contacts with... buyers. Little girls who could not shift or fight back were sold.”
His face grew dark, his jaw clenched, and his grip around her tightened almost painfully.
“They sold kids to traffickers?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I heard of it when I was fifteen. I overheard some of the pack adults discussing the next shipment and how much they would get from the three girls who were turning sixteen that month. That was when I knew I would be one of the next shipments.”
“What did you do?”
“I ran. It was the eve of my sixteenth birthday. I packed a bag and ran. I walked for two days.”
“Through woods and highways, and slept in ditches. I did not have a plan or a destination. I just knew that I could not get sold.”
Rael raised his hand and caressed her face with his thumb. “You were so brave.”
“I was a sixteen-year-old girl, with no survival skills, no money, and no idea how to survive in the human world. I thought I was going to die out there.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No. I got lucky.” She recalled that gas station and how lucky she was to meet Deva. But she could not tell him about the Lumen yet. “I came across some…people who helped me.”
“Who taught me that being shiftless did not mean that I was worthless.”
It was not the entire truth, but it was enough.
Rael was silent for a while. Alanis could literally see him processing everything she just told him.
When he finally spoke, his voice was choked with emotion.
“I will find them—your old pack. I will kill every one of them who abused you, tried to sell you, and tried to make you believe that you were worthless. I will make them pay.”
A normal person would have been scared by the violence in his voice. But it helped Alanis feel safe and cherished.
“They disappeared. I tried looking for them after a couple of years, but there is no trace of them.”
“We will find them, no matter what it takes,” Rael swore. “I promise.”
Alanis stared at him, her heart swelling with something she couldn’t name.
This man, this Alpha who had purchased her at an auction, who had compelled her into a relationship that she did not desire, who had turned her life upside down, was offering to help her hunt down her demons and make them pay.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why do you care so much?”
“Because you’re mine. Because—” he hesitated. “Because I cannot imagine them living after everything they did to you.”
“Rael…” The words got stuck in her throat. So, she did the only thing she could think of. She kissed him, softly. Rael returned the kiss just as softly while he gently caressed her back.
When they finally broke apart, she leaned her forehead against his.
“Thanks for listening to everything.”
“Always,” he murmured. “Here for you whenever you need me.”
They both went back to bed and this time, when Rael pulled Alanis to his chest, it was less possessive and more reassuring. His hand stroked through her hair and Alanis started to feel the fear of the nightmare dissipate.