Pursuit of Happiness 03

She's a little grumpy when they wake the next morning but generally in a better frame of mind. As they walk into the dining room, she spots Joanna and shoots Emmett a question, [What are we gonna get her for her birthday?]

[Who? Oh, Joanna? We've got time to decide.]

"Hey, Lyssa. How are you?"

"Good, Jo. Want to work on the party some more this morning?"

The response comes quickly. "Yes. Dad says we might want to invite Tucker's unmated, too."

"We've already got about 40 coming. Where are we gonna put them all?"

"It'll be warm enough outside. And some of us will double up."

Emmett leaves the two of them to sit near Ariel and takes a seat beside Roland and Erich.

"What happened last night, Em? We were looking forward to you two in a match."

"A bunch of things came up, all at once. We just needed to talk about some things."

"Did you have an enjoyable, conversation?"

"Erich, I swear, if you don't find a female.."

"You used to think the same way."

"I don't think so."

Emmett and Erich leave the den to approach a pig farmer about supplying them with some of their meat.

Lyssa and Joanna start talking about the food she wants at her party and they discuss some of the decorations.

Lyssa stands and begins pacing. Joanna watches her. "Hey, Lyssa?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you and Emmett OK?"

"Um, yeah."

"You don't seem OK."

Lyssa turns and looks at her. And inhales deeply. Deep reddish brown fur begins to sprout on her arms.

"Oh, no." [Emmett?]

Lyssa heads for the door. Joanna drops everything to follow her. [Emmett!]

[Dad. Where's Emmett?]

[Gone for a few hours. What's wrong?]

[Lyssa's gone into heat again!]

Outside the room, Lyssa sniffs, turns, and runs, heading for the den's command center, where her mate should be.

Joanna pads behind as they approach one of the other pack males.

"Thomas!" He turns, startled and somewhat fearful. "She's gone into estrus. Emmett's not here. We need to keep her from taking the place apart."

"What do you suggest?"

Thomas blocks her path and she growls at him. Joanna thinks for a second. "The bunker!"

"OK, how do we get her there?" Lyssa is trying to evade him, to pass by, growling almost continuously.

Joanna puts a hand on Lyssa's arm. Lyssa's head whips around and she snarls at Joanna. "You're gonna hafta grab her."

[Wade. Natalie. Need to knock Lyssa out for a bit. We're in the main hallway.]

"Thomas, now! Help me!" Lyssa has pushed past him and is striding down the hall.

Thomas swallows, shifts to the intermediate form and grabs her by her upper arms, stopping forward motion.

[Joanna? What's going on?]

[Natalie. Lyssa's in estrus and Emmett's not here.]

Lyssa howls, struggling in Thomas' grip. [Hurry!]

[Coming.]

Roland and Randall emerge at the frustrated howl and see Thomas holding a struggling, snarling wolf woman. "Help me hold her!"

Roland moves forward as she howls her displeasure again.

"Natalie's coming with a sedative."

Lyssa looks at the male coming toward her. Not her mate, but strong and virile. He'd do. She breaks Thomas' hold and knocks Roland down, straddling him. She sniffs his neck and rips open his shirt.

Thomas pulls her off, to another frustrated howl.

Natalie rounds the corner and heads for the assembled group, pushing through the curious. "Hold her."

The males press her against the wall as Natalie approaches with the syringe.

Lyssa struggles, growls, snarls. As she feels the sting of the needle, she screams, "EMM[MME]ETTT[TT!]."

Joanna, unsteady herself, catches Natalie. Randall rocks backward on his heels. Thomas and Roland wince and cringe, knees buckling.

Lyssa pants and growls, pulling away.

Randall grabs the syringe, plunges the needle into her upper arm, and finishes administering the drug.

Lyssa staggers, drops to her knees. The heaving of her chest slows, although she continues growling, and crawling toward Roland.

As Natalie regains her senses, Joanna asks, "Why isn't she out?"

"I thought the dose I would normally give anyone else might kill her. Does she need to be out?"

Lyssa looks dazed, drugged, and is still crawling.

Randall looks at Thomas. "Thank you, Thomas. Take her to the bunker and stand guard until Emmett returns or someone comes to relieve you."

"Of course, Alpha Wyeth."

"I'm going, too, Dad."

"Alright, just don't go in with her."

Emmett drives off the road and into the ditch.

As the car comes to an abrupt halt, Erich exclaims, "Selene!" and Emmett breathes, "Lyssa. We have to get back to the den."

Emmett climbs out of the car as passing farmer stops. "You boys alright?"

"Yes, sir."

"Deer?"

"Uh.. huh." Erich comes out to stand beside Emmett, the two looking at the car.

"Let me get my tractor and I'll get you towed out of there."

Emmett grinds his teeth. "Thank you. We'd appreciate that."

[Why don't we just push it out?]

[Too many humans about. We'll have to wait.]

It takes 15 minutes for the farmer to return with his tractor and another ten for him to pull the car out.

Emmett paces, clenching his fists and trying not to growl in frustration. Erich calls the Wyeth den and reassures Emmett that Lyssa was not injured but in estrus. [I need to get home.]

[Soon, Em. Soon.]

The farmer unhooks the car and Emmett offers him money. "No son, no money. Just do a good deed for someone else. Drive safe."

"Thank you, sir. I will." They shake hands, Emmett using care so as not to crush the man's hand.

Emmett growls as Erich slides into the driver's seat. [I'm driving.]

[No, you're not. You'll speed, or worse. She's safe. We'll get there.]

Frustrated, unhappy, Emmett sits in the passenger seat, growling. "Faster, Erich."

"We get stopped by the police or thrown in a jail and you won't get to her. I know it's eating at you. Why don't you call home? See how she is?"

"I know how she is, dammit! Needing me and I'm not there." Grey fur sprouts on his arms as he grips the dash. "Needing a male. And I'm not there."

"Alright, don't take the car apart, either." A growl is his response. "You know Randall will keep her safe."

Thomas stands guard outside the bunker. The door is braced to keep Lyssa from getting out. She had reached for his cock as he carried her there. He was still aroused by her touch and her scent.

At this point, with her mate absent, she would settle for almost any male. That was probably why Joanna had walked here with him. She knew that Lyssa would jump him in her current state, given the chance.

This was a test. Hopefully, if he served well, he could regain the Alpha's good graces.

"Why me?"

"You were just lucky enough to be there, Thomas."

Sabine's green eyes open and she struggles to rise.

Sharilyn helps her up to a seated position, shoving pillows behind her back. "Madam Alpha. Good day to you. I'll get the Alpha."

"Did you hear that?" Her voice is weak and raspy.

"Yes, ma'am. I don't know who it was."

Her mate, Calvin Ross, strides into the room, his voice soft. "Ah, my mate, you're awake."

[Someone called, and woke me.]

[That was a female of the Wyeth pack, my love. Evidently, in some distress and calling for her mate. She sent to me last night, from their den. We were testing her range.]

[Needing her mate. So far. So strong.]

[Yes, love. Very strong. Here, eat.]

Calvin spoons a rich broth into her mouth. "The Wyeth pack is having a mixer of the unmated."

[Oh?]

"Their daughter reaches her maturation day soon."

[Anna?]

"I believe it's Joanna, love."

She nods, closing her eyes. [I remember my party...]

Sabine drifts off to sleep again and Calvin closes his eyes and bows his head.

After a few moments, he sets the bowl on the tray, rises, kisses his mate, and walks out.

The male carrying her had hurt her before, but he was still male. Without her mate to satisfy her needs, this male would suffice, so she had grabbed him.

She felt his penis start to fill and stiffen under her hand, and whimpered.

But, before she could expose it, he tossed her into a dark room and closed the door.

Lyssa howled her frustration and, unsteady because of the drug, shoved at the door. It opened a fraction, and slammed closed. It didn't budge the next time.

Disoriented, she stopped for a time, sitting on the floor.

She begins to feel better after a few minutes and starts looking around.

Chairs. Cabinets. Food. First aid supplies. Tools.

She looks at the door, hinges on the outside. She grabs the hammer and swings. A loud thud echoes; the door doesn't move.

Her strength returning, she swings again, and howls. And screams for Emmett. And swings. And howls. And screams for Emmett.

Emmett clutches the dash, claws digging into the plastic and foam.

Almost there. Almost there.

Her sending had disappeared after the first scream but they were close enough now that he was beginning to hear her again. Which meant that everyone else in the den could, too.

[Alpha, we're closing on the compound. Where is Lyssa?]

[She's in the bunker, Erich. How is Emmett?]

[Wound tight. Ready to take the car apart. Upset that he wasn't here. Worried about what she might have done.]

Erich hears Randall's send to Emmett. [My friend, your mate is well and untouched. She was sedated lightly so that we could control her and damp her send. She is in the bunker, under guard. Joanna is also keeping watch.]

Randall and Erich both hear his growl as reply.

Erich drives beyond the driveway toward the bunker. Before the car stops completely, Emmett is out the door.

The male on guard retreats quickly. Emmett growls as he realizes who had been guarding his mate. He actually begins to pursue Thomas when Joanna stops him. "Emmett!"

He turns then, hearing a thud against the door, a frustrated howl, and Lyssa's mind scream.

He pulls the brace away and the door bursts open. A chestnut colored wolf woman, with dark brown eyes, stands briefly in the threshold, blinking. Then, a deep sniff, and she launches herself at Emmett, faintly reminiscent of her first estrus.

This time, however, he's ready for her.

He catches her and she stops, sniffing him. [Emmett.]

[Yes, sweetheart. I'm here.] The growl begins as he smells Thomas' scent on her.

[He carried her, Em. That's all.]

Lyssa begins tearing at his clothes as Joanna walks back to the house.

Thomas watches as the car closes on the bunker, well aware of who it carried.

Emmett had never come to him for his treatment of Lyssa. Considering the punishment he had received at the teeth and claws of the female Alpha, Emmett would have probably been allowed to kill him. His position in the pack was still precarious.

So, he was nervous about guarding her.

Nervous about having his scent on her.

And nervous that she had touched him and he was still hard as a rock.

So, as Emmett exits the car, he takes off.

After getting about a quarter mile away without pursuit he circles back and, half hidden in the trees, he watches Emmett fuck her against the bunker door.

His dick feels so painful, stuffed in his pants, so he pulls it out and starts to stroke. He starts slowly, feeling the smooth skin covering his hard length, considering a female's touch.

Her touch.

Her smell in heat.

He pulls harder, faster, grunting and groaning as he spatters the ground in front of him.

After watching them a bit longer, and hearing the howls of completion, he returns to his duties in the infirmary.

As Erich backs the car toward the garage, the entire pack breathes a collective sigh of relief.

It was finally quiet again.

The Wyeth wolves gratefully return to their duties.

Emmett pushes his mate up against the door of the bunker and crushes her lips with his. [I'm so sorry, sweetheart.]

She growls, wrapping furred legs around him. [Give me your cock, mate.]

He wants to get Thomas' scent off her first but she wasn't going to stand for it. Right now the only thing she wanted, what she needed, was to have him inside her.

He puts his large, strong hands on her ass and raises her slightly. Shifting a bit, he rubs the head of his cock against her dripping pussy. She bounces a bit, trying to slide onto him. [Now!]

Emmett lowers Lyssa onto his stiffened length and she sighs as he groans.

As he pumps into her the fur on her body begins to recede.

It isn't long before he feels the first contractions around him. He lodges his knot in her as he bites at one of her nipples.

Her howl is followed shortly by his.

Calvin Ross reports on the successful contact by Lyssa the previous evening and the scream heard by many of his members that day.

Lyssa's estrus ends two days later.

The bunker door was dented but did not need replacement.

Joanna attends to her studies and consults with her mother with regard to her party.

The lists of unmated wolves arrive and Severn is asked to reduce their count by three. And Tucker is invited.

"Why was he left in charge of my mate?"

"He was in the corridor when she came this way, looking for you. Did he do anything improper?"

Emmett growls. "No. Not that I saw, but of all the males in the den..."

"Emmett." Emmett stops. "Thomas has been punished. He has done nothing wrong since then. He is a member of this pack and did what was needed."

"Is the issue that Thomas restrained and guarded her or that you were not here?"

There is a pause. "Both. How would you feel if it were you?"

"I'm not you, my friend. I don't have the luxury of leaving idle able-bodied members of my pack."

"He could have..."

"No. Emmett, stop. Of all the males in this pack, it is Thomas who would be least likely to touch her or to allow her to fulfill her needs with him."

Emmett closes his eyes and breathes, his objections evaporating. Randall was right.

Lyssa was embarrassed about her actions before Emmett arrived. She had launched herself at Roland, and Thomas.

Oh, how could she even have considered him?

Emmett had apologized to her for his absence but it wasn't his fault. He had duties for the pack that called him away from time to time. And her estrus cycle hadn't stabilized yet. Was that why she wasn't pregnant yet? Was her body still adjusting to being a werewolf?

She knew Emmett wanted babies, pups, and she wanted to give them to him. Maybe, maybe they couldn't have kids.

She'd know soon if she'd gotten pregnant this time.