Fulfillment 02

Stephanie walks inside and waits, pacing, growling.

Randall looks at the Gates female. "What is your name?"

"C, C, Constance." She's shaking. "You want me to go in there and fight her?"

"Yes. Stephanie indicated she wanted to face you in the circle. Now, go."

Constance stands there, frozen. Randall shoves her within the boundaries.

"She's never fought anyone," one of the males says.

"Then this will be over quickly."

Stephanie snarls and leaps at her. Constance shrieks and runs, remaining in her human form. Catching her easily, Stephanie grabs her by the throat and lifts her off the ground; small trickles of blood form where claws pierce skin.

Then, the smell of urine and a noise of disgust. Stephanie tosses her to the side and stalks out of the circle.

Randall looks to his friend. "Calvin?"

Calvin strides in as Constance crawls out, sobbing. He hears Stephanie grumble, "Poor excuse for a female."

She turns, crosses her arms across her chest, and watches Calvin.

Emmett growls in the Gates male's ear, "Hold still," and locks his arms around his chest. Randall grabs his arm, pulls and twists slightly, resetting the head of the humerus back into its socket. The male rolls his shoulder, testing it.

Calvin crooks a finger. "Come, young one."

"Alright, old man, let's dance." He walks in, cocky, bouncing on his feet like a prizefighter. "The hell you aren't hitting that. That's one feisty female." He feints left, jumps back.

Calvin does not respond. A braggart. All talk. He'd watch a bit, just to be sure of his opponent, before making a move.

"C'mon. Watcha got, old man?" He shifts one way, shifts the other.

Calvin's eyes follow, but he stands loosely, comfortably.

"You ain't got nothin'." A snarl and the male launches himself at Calvin.

Calvin ducks and takes hold only enough to send the male spinning, then resumes his loose stance. "Try again, youngster."

"Robert!" Robert roars and goes for Cal again.

Calvin steps sideways and shoves him to the ground.

Robert rises, growling. "What is this? Stand and fight like a man!"

Calvin chuckles. "I have no need of another scar. You have yet to lay a finger on me. If this is what you call fighting, I can teach you a lesson."

Another roar from Robert, "Bastard!" and another charge.

Calvin pivots and, grabbing Robert's leg, pulls him to the ground and settles on his back, putting strong jaws around his neck. [Rage does you no good in a fight. Rage makes you blind and stupid. Submit.]

Robert roars and twists, tossing Calvin sideways, ripping bloody tracks into his own neck.

Calvin hops onto all fours, then lands on Robert's chest, the claws of one hand around his throat. The claws of the other hand lay over the top of his thigh. "Submit."

"What're you, some fucking deviant? Let go of my leg."

Randall calmly remarks, "He's got your femoral artery under those claws. One slice and you bleed out in two minutes, maybe less the way your blood's pumping. Submit."

Robert goes still and limp. "Fine."

Calvin waits a moment longer since he doesn't see capitulation in the younger male's eyes, then sighs, and stands. He was not Alpha and this was not a member of his pack.

Randall looks around the group as a number of wolves had come to watch the fight. "Anyone else?" Heads shake. "You four are leaving us now. One more outburst like this and the party ends and your Alphas will hear of it. Understood?" Heads nod.

"Cal, I can get you some clothing."

Calvin watches Stephanie begin to walk away. "In a minute, Randall." [Stephanie?]

Stephanie continues to walk away. Calvin heads after her. [Easy, Cal, she was just deprived of a good fight.]

[Not stupid, Randall..] He moves more quickly.

Randall watches briefly, then turns and heads for the outbuilding.

***

The ride is thrilling and she holds tightly to him. The bike travels sinuously, at high speed. Nathan takes tertiary roads, avoiding most of the traffic. The lights of oncoming traffic were somewhat hurtful to werewolf eyes. She held tightly to him, enjoying the feeling of his muscles under her arms, against her body. He smelled wonderfully male. She trusted him.

Beyond the feeling of the strong body before her, she felt the throb of the bike's engine.

She was wrapped around him again, this time by choice, not by chance.

He drives on, just enjoying having her with him. He wasn't sure just where he was headed, until he realized he was closing on home.

It was soon, probably too soon, but [Joanna, would you like to meet my parents?]

Her arms tightened around him. Yep, too soon. [You can say no.]

[No. No. That's OK.] He could feel her heart beating a bit more quickly. [I'm not dressed...]

[You're fine.] He pulls one hand off the bars and squeezes one of hers at his waist.

He turns a couple of corners and pulls in to the enclave of the Severn pack. Joanna looks around as he drives in. There are a couple of brick walls to either side of the driveway, funneling them into the center of the compound. She never really considered what other pack compounds looked like. There were several lanes, each having a few houses on them.

At the center was the largest of them, three stories tall. There was also what looked like a community center and something else that looked like a large gymnasium. A couple of barracks type buildings.

Nathan pulls in front of a small house off to one side of the main house.

[What is this?]

[My house.]

[Nathan, I'm not... I'm not ready for this.]

Nathan dismounts the bike. "Sweetie, this is just where I'm parking the bike. My parents live over there." He points to a house nearby, closer to the main house.

He takes her hand and waits for her to get off the bike. He then takes both her hands in his. "Joanna. Let me make my intentions clear. I really like being with you. I want to spend more time with you. I'd like you to meet my family. I'd like to get to know you better. I won't force anything, or push you to do something you don't want to. If we grow closer, I'd be happy. If we find we don't like each other so much, we'll move on. Will you trust me?"

She looks into his blue eyes, swallows, and nods. "Yes."

He smiles, tips up her chin, and kisses her. His hands slide around her waist as hers climb up his back. He pulls her shirt up a little, so that he can touch her bare skin. They've barely begun when someone whistles, long and low.

They break apart, embarrassed. He turns. "Kyle. You're interrupting. I was trying to make her more comfortable." He takes her hand, twining his fingers in hers.

"Is that what they call it, brother?"

Nathan closes his eyes and sighs. "Joanna, this is my older brother, Kyle. Kyle, Joanna."

Kyle steps up, takes Joanna's free hand, and presses a kiss to it. "Ah. The Wyeth Alpha daughter. A pleasure." He chuckles as a growl rumbles in Nathan's chest. "Easy, stud. Kendra'd have my nuts if she thought I was messing with your mate."

"Kyle." There's warning in his voice, his name stretched out to two syllables.

Kyle grins at her. "I'll warn Mom. You'll probably want to give her 10 minutes before you show up. Unless you were planning on something else?"

"Kyle!"

He puts his hands up. "Going, brother, going." He backs away, then turns, whistling as he walks between a couple of the houses.

Nathan puts his hand over his face. Idiot.

A heavy sigh. "Kyle's a pest. He enjoys tormenting me. I'm sorry. My other brothers aren't like that."

"Kendra is his mate?"

"Yeah. She's been pushing females at me. For some reason she really wants to see me mated. I wanted to avoid them, so much for that. Are you alright?"

Her face is screwed up, like she's eaten something distasteful. "Joanna?"

She bursts into laughter. After gasping for breath, she says [Wanna mess with him?]

[What did you have in mind?]

[Where do they live?]

***

Stephanie is grinding her teeth and growling as Calvin closes on her.

He puts a hand on her shoulder and she whirls, snarling, leaving three deep gouges across his abdomen. He sucks in a deep breath at the pain and fights himself to keep from striking back, shredding the bark on a nearby tree instead.

"Oh! Selene! Calvin!" She drops to her knees and closes her eyes, baring her throat.

He looks down at her, breathing deeply. He saw her fear, her resignation. She expected to die for this; she accepted it.

He heard her breath hitch and saw a single tear leak down her face.

He reaches down to her. She flinches and a small, strangled cry escapes her lips.

He hauls her up by the shoulders and she hangs there, limp, head hanging off to one side.

"Stephanie. Look at me." His voice is calm, even.

She opens moist eyes. The jade color sparkles at him but her disappointment pierces his heart.

She smells his blood, feels the wetness of it against her belly.

She looks into his green eyes, unsure of the emotion she saw there. But his voice. She'd heard that kind of flat, calm tone before. She couldn't believe her life was going to end this way and couldn't understand why he hadn't killed her yet.

Just trying to prolong her pain. She was, however, surprised at her tears and ashamed she wasn't doing a better job facing her death.

He slid an arm around her body and put a hand around her neck, tilting it upright. At least she was looking him in the eye. But her voice broke as she said, "Do it."

He crushes her to him and kisses her.

She said 'Do it', so he did.

He pulls her against him and kisses her.

She stopped breathing and went rigid. He watches her eyes go wide.

She starts to struggle, pushing against him.

It hurts and he releases her. She backs away, hand over her mouth, chest heaving. She clenches her fists and yells at him, "What do you want?"

He smiles, licking his lips.

She growls, chest still heaving. "Males want nothing else. You bring nothing but pain. Leave me alone."

She turns and stalks off.

He watches her leave, and groans, feeling the pain of his injuries again. Sighing, Calvin turns and walks toward the house.

Calvin enters the Med ward, "Healer?"

The male he fought, Robert, has had the cuts in his neck treated and is being led out by Emmett and Alex.

Robert bares his teeth at Calvin. Calvin smiles back, showing his teeth.

[Randall. Calvin has received further injury.] "Calvin, is there a problem?", Emmett asks.

"Perhaps. But it is my own."

***

Stephanie bolts for the woods, wanting only to distance herself from the entire situation. It was the last night for the unmated. If she stayed away long enough, he'd leave and would have no excuse to return.

Her only thought now was to run until she tired, so she could fall asleep.

And so, the brown wolf ran deeper into the pack lands, farther from the house.

She knew he could track her, if he wanted to, but hoped he wouldn't. She was nothing but an Omega but, as former Alpha, he still had a high status. He could do as he pleased, within reason, on Wyeth land.

Her Alpha held to pack laws but did not allow mistreatment of the young and weak. Then again, she was neither young nor weak and shouldn't need his protection.

Ah, but she'd watched Calvin fight. He was good. He was very good.

She could delay it, but she would be overpowered if he wished to hurt or restrain her.

But, he hadn't. Her claws had bit deeply and she knew she had hurt him badly, and he hadn't retaliated. Hadn't asked for her throat, or for anything, except...

That look. Sex. He wanted to fuck her.

After she'd gotten away, after Wallace, the previous Alpha Wyeth, had taken her in, she vowed no male would touch her again.

He'd kissed her.

She'd clawed him and he'd kissed her.

How seriously fucked up was that?

He could have thrown her down and raped her. Would her Alpha have done anything if he had? Calvin was his friend, after all.

But, he didn't. He just, just kissed her. She didn't understand; was he trying to seduce her?

It wouldn't happen. Males were opportunists, inherently untrustworthy.

It was probably just a consequence of the gathering and all the rutting going on.

Yes. Stay away until he left and it would fade. She was just a novelty to him, after all.

***

Her voice is raised. "No, Nathan. No! Take me home."

"Joanna, please, I just wanted to introduce you to my parents."

"If your brother is any indication of what your family is like I don't want anything to do with you!"

The door to the nearest house flies open as he reaches for her. "Joanna..."

She shoves him. "No! Take me home!" [Sorry.]

A woman with dark hair and dark eyes steps out. "Nathan. What's going on?"

"Nothing until your mate decided to get involved."

"I let Nathan take me out of our range and Kyle said.."

A growl rises from her throat. "Kyle? What did the fool say now?"

Kyle comes around the corner to face his angry mate. "Kendra, hon, I didn't say anything."

"Then why is she demanding to be taken home? What did you do?"

The older couple behind them watch in dismay. His mother speaks, "Nathan. Is this the Wyeth daughter?"

"Yes, Mom. This is Joanna. Joanna Wyeth, my parents, Juliet and Jonathon Severn."

Juliet puts a hand out. "Come, love, I'll take you home if you want to go, but how about some tea first?"

Jonathon raises an eyebrow at his youngest son, who smirks and nods towards Kyle and Kendra, currently in a loud and animated conversation.

A knowing nod and he turns to Joanna. "Please, Joanna, let us disabuse you of your opinion."

"OK." Joanna, flanked by Nathan, allows herself to be led around the corner to their house.

[What did he do, Nate?]

[The first thing he did was touch her. He kissed her hand then suggested I was gonna take her to bed instead of bringing her to meet you.] Nathan is getting agitated.

[Who suggested the response?]

[She did.] Jonathon laughs, deep and hearty, as they enter the house. He speaks quietly, "Good for you, Joanna."

The Severn family sits with their guest, taking quietly. Juliet brings out tea and cookies. Nathan sits beside her, holding her hand and giving it little squeezes every so often.

Joanna watches his parents, seeing little touches, smiles between them, something in their eyes as they looked at each other. It was obvious they loved each other.

After about an hour, Nathan says, "I probably should get her home. Ready, Jo?"

"Sure, it was nice meeting you. Thank you for the tea."

[A lovely girl, Nate.]

The Severn couple stands and walk them to the front door. "Good evening, Joanna. It was nice to meet you and we hope to see you again."

He puts her back on the bike, takes her face in both hands, says [You can breathe, now.] and kisses her. Nathan strokes her cheeks with his thumbs, his fingers in her hair. "They like you."

She gives a tired smile. "Alright, let's get you home."

***

Randall walks in as Natalie works on stitching Calvin's abdominal wounds and Wade sets few stitches in his arm. [Ah, Cal, did you have to go after her?]

[Yes. And I approached her from behind.]

Randall arches an eyebrow at him. "Not stupid, Cal?"

Calvin smiles, shaking his head. "Oh, I know better but," a sigh, "I wanted some time with her tonight. If I've not completely screwed up this time, I'd like a chance to come back and visit."

"Care to elaborate on the 'screwing up'?"

"I kissed her."

"Before or after she clawed you?"

"After. After she offered me her throat."

Randall shakes his head and exhales. "She's damaged, Cal."

"I know, Randall. Your father spoke to me about her after he brought her into the pack."

"She has no interest in and little use for males. She doesn't trust us."

"In all the time she's been here, has anyone mistreated her?"

Randall stops. "No. Are you implying something, old friend?"

"She's been accepted into the pack; she doesn't leave but rarely; she's been around Wyeth males for decades. Randall, unless she were isolating herself completely, she's developed a trust that no one here will harm her. She must feel some level of safety."

Randall mulls this over. "Safe? Comfortable? She's guarded. I'm not sure she'll ever feel safe."

The stitching completed, Wade and Natalie step back. "Thank you, healers."

Randall throws a pair of sweatpants at him. "Here. What did she say to you?"

"Males only want sex and only cause pain. And to leave her be."

"I think that might be wise. I should speak to her."

Calvin lays a hand on Randall's arm. "No. Don't. My injuries are my fault."

They are quiet as they regain the dining hall. "Do you know how to overcome your fear, old friend?"

Randall sighs. "Exposure in low doses, increasing in frequency or intensity."

Cal smiles. "Exactly. Unless she asks you to keep me away, and I'm betting she won't since she won't want to appear weak, I ask that you let me spend time here."

"Of all the females, Cal. What is it about her?"

"The same thing that called me to Sabine. Her eyes."

There are no further incidents that evening and their guests begin to depart as the moon climbs into the night sky, hidden behind clouds, a ghostly circle of light.

A passing shower has most running for cars.

The drunken male snorts and wakes in the clearing, thinking he must have passed out while taking a leak. Although there was the smell of a female. Had he had sex with one of them?

Oh, Luna, had he passed out in the middle? He'd never live it down. [Jonas!]

Joanna was returned to her room, with another kiss and a promise to return.

Madeline left Erich with a deep and long kiss and an understanding of future connections.

Calvin reluctantly bid his friends goodbye and drove home.

Stephanie growls up at the weeping sky and heads back to the house.

Lyssa collapses in to a chair. It was done.

The Wyeth pack cleans up after their guests, breathes a collective sigh of relief, and heads for their respective beds.

Samuel ventures out while Cassie and the pup sleep.

*****

Saturday dawns cloudy still and the pack wakes to normalcy, save for one thing - the Ross wolf that remained guarded and chained in the back building.

Erich woke alone in his bed and found he missed the small warm soft presence that had been Madeline. He was going to have to petition the Tucker Alpha to bring her into Wyeth, even if only for a week or so.

Stephanie woke in the woman's quarters cranky and out of sorts. She headed immediately to the training room.

Emmett woke to Lyssa's hair in his face, her head on his chest. And he listened. To her breathing, to the beat of her heart. They were close to being two years mated. His mate. He tightens his arm around her.

The fingers on his chest move and her middle finger circles his nipple. "When was the last time there was an unmated gathering?"

"About six years ago."

"Did you go to it?"

"Yes. Like the rest, I kept looking for my mate," Lyssa flicks that nipple and he jerks, "searching for her in Wyeth and the other packs." Lyssa now pinches his nipple and he gasps. "Happily, I also looked outside of the packs."

"So, how many gatherings did you attend?" Her hand works slowly down his chest.

His mind is firmly focussed on that hand. But she had asked him a question. "All of them."

She strokes across his stomach and he groans. "How many is that?"

"I'm not sure. Eight or nine." He wills her hand to move lower as she runs her fingers through the line of hair that travels from his navel to the nest of dark grey hair at the base of his cock. It twitches and starts to fill.

"So, two or three females a gathering. You've had sex with a couple dozen females."

Her fingers circle in that line of hair. It was probably about three dozen, total, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

He reaches up to cup her face as she strokes his swollen cock. "I've only ever slept with one female that I love."