Rose

Lisa Giovanni’s POV

One week ago

I woke up and everything looked different. Sharper, the colors muted, but the detail was unbelievable. I took a breath in, and was overwhelmed by the smells I could pick out. My hearing was picking up everything, it was all all too much. I closed my eyes and put my head down on my… paws.

I looked at myself, my hands and arms were now covered with black and grey fur. My jaw dropped and my tongue started lolling out the side as I looked around. I was in a room, empty except for me and one big, wonderfully smelling and attractive male. He moved slowly towards me, I wasn’t scared, but I was intimidated a little. I could feel his power flowing into my body, and my body started to roll over for him. “Submit, he’s our MATE, he’s the ALPHA,” a strange female voice said in my head.

“Who are you?”

“Your wolf, silly. Look at him, isn’t he perfect? So big and strong.” He was that; he came over and put his teeth over my neck. I opened my neck to him. “Please don’t hurt me,” I thought.

“I could never hurt you, my love. By Luna, you are beautiful, my human and I are so lucky to have you.”

I looked in his eyes, I had seen them before, in a man who said he was my mate. “Ross, you look so handsome in your fur!” He chuffed and started to lick my face. I scrambled to my feet, feeling a little like Bambi until I learned to let my wolf have more control. As I stood there, Ross was rubbing his body down each side and sniffing at my butt, even taking a lick of my sex. I shivered as he inspected me, hoping he wasn’t disappointed. I already loved him so much as a man, could I love his wolf too? “We both do, Lisa. He is ours and we are his.”

“Care to run with me, my mate?” Ross was back at my head, licking my face. The door was opened and one of his Pack members stood aside as he led me out of the room.

I could see it was designed as a cell, with a strong door backed by sliding bolts. “You locked me in there, didn’t you?”

“I locked myself in, too. The change doesn’t always go as smoothly as it did with you. The mate or Alpha needs to be there when your wolf awakens, and if the human doesn’t accept her wolf, things can get violent quickly.” We exited the building, finding ourselves near the thick woods. I stopped and raised my nose, taking in the smells.

He yipped and trotted off into the trees, and I followed him. He gave me a crash course in being a wolf; how to track, run, and hunt. Then he led me to a shallow pool where we drank and I had my first experience with true doggie-style sex, and being knotted. “Is it really necessary to swell up inside me like that? I mean, it feels great, but now we’re stuck here and I’m waiting for a neighbor to come out with a hose or something.”

“It traps my seed inside you, helping with conception,” he said. ”You are starting your heat.”

“WAIT a minute. You told me you could smell it, that I wasn’t in my fertile phase.”

He looked away, a little embarrassed. “You weren’t then, you are now.”

I looked at our joined bodies, panicking a little. “So I might get… we might…”

“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, my wolf and yours decided they should just push things forward on their own,” he said apologetically.

I sought out my wolf in my head, as he had taught me during our runs. She wasn’t sorry, she was pleased with herself. “You dreamed of family, he is our male and we want his babies. Not every heat is successful, and we aren’t getting any younger. I couldn’t waste this chance,” she told me. I thought about it, everything I had against getting pregnant had fallen by the wayside. My career was over, I had a man who loved me, and I had a home and family. I leaned back, nuzzling into Ross’s neck. “So how long was I out?”

“Two days.”

“What did I miss?”

“Well, we aren’t going to Gila Pack now. They had to pull up Agent Luis’ trial to get it done before the human courts could interfere. He was torn apart by the families of the victims. Then, while Alpha Robert is in court fighting the Habeus Corpus motion, Rose shows up with a box containing all the pieces they were able to recover and basically said, ‘Here you go, enjoy.’ The Federal Judge was not pleased.”

I snorted, I could just see Rose doing something like that. “Now what?”

“Now I see you through your heat. I hope you like my cock, because it won’t be leaving you alone for a few more days.” He gave a few short strokes, and I could feel it swelling again. “Starting now.”

“Make a baby for me, Ross,” I said as his hips started to move again.

Three Days Ago

“That the last of it?” I looked over at Ross, he was pushing a suitcase into the back of his Jeep Cherokee.

“By Luna, I hope so. I didn’t think I had bought you so many clothes!”

“You didn’t. Blame your sister and her fashion sense.”

Just then, Patricia came out with her Gucci handbag and a big cooler, putting them in the back seat. It had been a big fight, but he eventually understood how important Rose was to me, and that I was going to do it with or without him. He caved when I talked Patricia into going along, telling her about the places she could visit in her mate search. Craig and Ella’s pack wasn’t big, but they had two close allies in Gila and Johnson Packs, both of which had hundreds of members.

She just needed to find that one.

We were going to drive a winding route to Santa Fe, moving from Pack to Pack we were allied with. Beta Ron was holding down the Pack while we were gone.

Present Day

Josh’s POV

”I’m heading out to get Carl Smith,” I said as I looked down at my phone. We were just finishing our first dinner together back in our refurbished Pack House, and it was great to be back. I looked around, everyone was excited to meet Black Diamond, the famous hacker who worked with me during the Were Wars. Together, we had swindled the Bank of America out of half a billion dollars.

Each.

Carl had been given special status as a Friend of the Packs at the first Wolfstock, in honor of his work in keeping Packs alive and afloat financially. It is easy to underestimate how critical guys like him were to survival. Imagine how much money your family spends on food a year, then imagine your family had a hundred, two hundred, even five hundred members, and all the adults lost their jobs and their ability to travel at the same time. Carl worked closely with Jimmy Erickson, who was the Johnson Pack wolf who oversaw logistics for the isolated Packs after losing his arm in the first attacks. Carl was critical, as he was still human and was a whiz with creating the false companies we used, and keeping law enforcement and military from discovering us. As a Friend of the Pack, he had a necklace he could wear that ensured safe passage through any Pack lands. Alphas were honor bound to keep him safe.

Unlike me, Carl wasn’t part of the amnesty agreement made at the end of the war between the Federal Government and the Packs. As such, he was still listed on the FBI Most Wanted list under his hacker name, but no one outside the Packs knew his true identity. He had been staying the last few years with a pack near Aspen, Colorado living the life of a ski bum. He had more money than he could use without attracting attention, and when I asked him to help, his reply was instant. He was bored, and he wanted to meet the woman I had taken as mine. “You haven’t taken her yet,” my wolf reminded me.

“Mom, can’t I go with him?” Charlotte tried her pouty face, which didn’t work well on Rose.

“You have homework to finish, school starts up again tomorrow and you all are going,” she said. “If you would have spent more time working and less time holding his hand on the way here, you might be done already.”

I leaned down and kissed her. “It’s all right, it’s just a run to the airport. Get your work done and maybe we can hit the pool before bedtime.” She smiled as I walked out to my SUV.

I wished once more she had the mate link, and I didn’t like texting while driving, so I put my mind off her as I pulled out of the driveway of our big estate and through the iron gates. I saw a man in his thirties, and a couple about the same age. The woman was holding with a girl of maybe four years old in her arms. They were all standing across the street looking at the house. “Jacob, something is going on out here. There’s a family scoping out the house.” I rolled down the window as I stopped near them. “Can I help you?” I took a good sniff, they were shifters, but not like us.

“I need to speak to your Alpha,” the first male said. “Jacob, Craig, Ella… a family is out here requesting to speak with you. They are shifters, cat shifters, but not panthers.”

“We’ll be there in a few minutes. Do they seem like a threat?”

“No, he seems desperate though.” I looked at them. “I have to go, but the Alphas will be here shortly. A word of warning, though; if you threaten them or their children, your end will be swift.”

“We come in peace and friendship,” the woman said. I waited until I saw Al and Jacob at the gates, then I drove off to the airport.

Traffic was light on a Sunday night, and I made good time. I drove to the hangar that Carl indicated in his text message, and I wasn’t waiting too long before the private jet taxied in and shut down. The stairs lowered, and a man came down the stairs. If I hadn’t gotten a pic from him, I never would have picked him to be a computer hacker. He was tall, about six-foot-five, with blonde hair down to his shoulders and frosted tips. His face was deeply tanned, and you could see the tan lines around where his goggles sat. He looked every bit the rich kid snowboard athlete that he now had as his persona. I gave him a bro-hug as he got to me. “Carl, great to finally meet you,” I said.

“You too, Josh. I have to say, I didn’t expect someone who looks like you to be meeting me.”

“What do you mean? I’m ripped!” I wasn’t muscular in the same way Gunny was, but I had low bodyfat and a six pack, with swimmer’s muscles. “What, you thought it would be some fat kid with coke bottle glasses?” He nodded. “Nice. I didn’t expect to see an X-Games athlete.”

We walked over and grabbed his bags after he put his laptop case in my car. He didn’t bring much, knowing the weather would be hot and he wouldn’t be able to leave the Pack House often. We spent a lot of time catching up and telling stories on the way home. “Thanks again for coming to help, Carl. Whoever it is that is behind all this, they are deeply rooted and powerful.”

“If they are rich, that’s even better,” he said. “I don’t need to do this, I like doing it. Well, that and snowboarding, banging chicks, and smoking weed. You should come my way sometime, it’s legal and it’s all over. Hell, in my town you can get an ounce delivered with your pizza if you know the right guy to call.” He told me a few stories about his adventures in the resort town, he was getting more ass than an airport toilet seat. His stoner persona and Jeff Spiccoli-like appearance kept anyone from even thinking he was a wanted computer hacker.

“Well, when we get there, I need to introduce you to the Alphas first.”

“They’re your leaders, right?”

“Exactly. Alpha Craig is a wolf, Alpha Ella is a black panther. They have the final say in things, and everyone in the Pack is sworn to obey them.”

“Sounds kind of cultish. I don’t know if I could live with some dude telling me what to do.” I couldn’t tell if he was ignorant or pretending, he lived on Pack lands, he had to know something. “Guys sending you commands right to your head? No thanks, I have enough voices to deal with already.”

I laughed, the Alphas did get directive sometimes, but I didn’t mind because they were looking after the Pack. I explained how that worked, and he relaxed a little. “Now, under the Alphas are the Betas. They are in charge of different parts of Pack operations; security, the home, the children, education, whatever we need. They answer to the Alphas and others report to them.”

“What are you?”

“Technically I’m a Beta, because in the area of computers, I report directly to them. My mate Charlotte, her mother is former FBI, and her mate Gunny is a former Marine Sniper. Whatever you do, don’t hit on Charlotte.”

“What, Gunny will beat me up or something?”

“No, I will, and then he’ll let you heal and do it again. She’s MINE.” I told him about the mate bond and what it means to us, and the story of how I met Charlotte and was waiting for her to be of age so I could turn and fully mate her.

“That’s cool, bro. I mean, lots of chicks say they love me, but you never know if they just want you for your money.”

“None of that matters with your mate, Carl.” We were within range of home again. “Alphas, I’m ten minutes out with Carl. Everything all right?”

“It’s fine, Josh, we’ll catch you up later. We’re out by the pool, bring him back here for introductions,” Craig said.

“Do we need to get everyone to put clothes on,” Ella asked.

“No, I’ll warn him about this, unlike SOME people. I’ll make sure he’s cool with it. I’m sure he’s seen worse.” I closed the link and looked over at him. “Our home is huge, you’ll have plenty of room to move around. You’ll get a guest bedroom in the main house, there is a barn that is divided into a men’s and women’s dormitory for the unmated members and older children. You can’t go in the women’s dorm, other than that you’ll have free reign. We’ve got a gym with weights, a big theater, a man-cave like sports bar, and a HUGE pool.”

“That sounds cool, does it have a hot tub? I love a good soak before going to bed.”

“Yep, and a waterfall. I should warn you, though. As werewolves or werecats, we don’t have the hangups with nudity that humans have. The pool, unless human guests are over, it’s normally nude. It is considered rude to lounge about the house nude, but you’ll probably see people going to or from their rooms that way. It’s part of the whole shifter thing, clothes don’t survive the shift.”

“I think I’m going to like it here. Don’t worry, I’ve been to other packs, I have an idea what to expect.” he said as we wound through the streets towards the hill our home was on.

“It’s not an orgy, though. We have a lot of children and young teens, and the older ones are waiting for their mates. If you want to get laid, we’ll find a party or something.” We pulled up to the gates and were let through. I parked the car in the huge garage, and walked into the house. “Hi Marge, Mabel” I said to the older wolves who were still in the kitchen. “This is my buddy Carl.”

They paused their efforts in stocking the shelves and fridge with their shopping and shook his hand. “Welcome, Carl,” Marge said. “Are you hungry?”

“No Ma’am,” he said. “I ate on the plane.”

“Well, everyone is out back, and there’s a snack bar set up in the outdoor kitchen if you get the munchies,” Mabel said.

We took a detour to his room, leaving his bags on his bed, then went out the back of the house to the pool area. I saw the big table where the Alphas were sitting, they were watching the shallow end where most of the kids were playing before bedtime. Sunset was an hour ago, but the landscape underwater lights were on and it was still plenty warm. I gave Carl a moment to look around. “Pretty sweet, huh?”

“This is amazing, I’ve seen hotels that aren’t this nice.” He followed me to the table and I made the introductions, first with the Alphas, then with my parents and Charlotte’s parents. Everyone was happy to have him here, and did their best to make him feel welcome.

“Where’s Charlotte,” I asked.

“Down by the waterfall with the older kids, last I saw,” Dad said.

I led Carl to the locker room where we could store our clothes and shower afterwards. “You need a suit?”

“Not my first rodeo, Josh, but this is a much more family-oriented vibe than I’m used to.”

“Just keep your eyes above the shoulders and don’t creep anyone out,” I said as I finished putting my clothes in my locker. I took a quick shower, but he had already left so I went out to find him.

He was standing frozen by the side of the pool, staring at someone. I noticed in my peripheral vision he was starting to get hard. “Not cool, dude. I told you not to look below the shoulders.”

“My God, she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Who is she?”

He didn’t break his gaze, his mouth just stayed open as he stared. I followed his eyes across the pool to where a woman was half out of the water by the steps, her back slightly to us, her dark hair falling to her shoulders.

I grabbed his arm to turn him away, but he wouldn’t budge. “That’s MY SISTER, dammit! Quit perving on my sister!”

He said something about how perfect her ass was, and that was it. I used one of my martial arts moves and hip tossed him into the pool. He came to the surface, looking for Jane, but she wasn’t there anymore. She was running around the outside of the pool, pissed off as hell, and someone was going to get his ass kicked. “It’s all right, Jane. I told him not to stare at you like that,” I said proudly as she rushed up to me.

Instead of thanking me, she pushed my chest with both hands and knocked me into the pool. Confused, I came back up. “Don’t you DARE touch my mate again, Josh Spencer!”

Everyone in the Pack looked at her as she jumped into the pool, wrapping her arms and legs around Carl as they started to make out.