Werewolf at Heart Ch. 05

His control didn't last long, and soon he was slamming into Carly's body again and again. He held her hips steady as his thrusts pushed her forward. She reveled in the feeling, begging him to taker her harder. His tempo increased with her cries and demands, utterly lost in the moment. He was groaning his own pleasure, shouting out love and endearments and praise of her body. Time was endless as they joined together in the most primal of ways.

Blake's body tensed, and he wanted nothing more than to cum deep within his woman as her body clenched around him. Reaching his hand around, he played with her clit, never slowing his relentless thrusting or running commentary. "Carly, baby, I'm so close to cumming. I want you there with me. God, I love the way your body feels around me, all hot and needy. I want to feel your hot cunt squeezing my cock. Fuck, Carly, cum for me."

She screamed for Blake as her body shattered under his ministrations, wave after wave breaking against his hard length buried deep within. Blake let loose the last of his control, cumming hard as Carly's body milked his, the most intense orgasm of his life.

"Fuck, Carly," He groaned, collapsing to the bed and pulling her close, "I don't think I'm going to survive having you in my life."

"I could die happy, here in your arms, after what you just put me through," she replied.

They lay there, dozing as they recovered from the intensity of their experience, until Carly suddenly started to panic. "Oh, fuck. We didn't use condoms."

"It's ok," Blake slurred, voice heavy with sated exhaustion, "I'm so clean I could squeak."

"Good to know, but..."

"Shh," Blake soothed, gently kissing her temple and stroking her hair. "I'm sorry I forgot. I got lost in your body, like none before. We'll deal with the consequences if they come. Right now, sleep. Don't borrow trouble."

Carly allowed Blake's calm words and soft touch to ease her panic, and soon she, too, was drifting off into a sated sleep.

They awoke some time later, Blake finally able to play out his fantasy of waking Carly with the evidence of his desire. This time, their joining was less urgent and more slow, hedonistic passion.

*****

"You should answer that," Carly said drowsily. "It sounds important."

They were still in bed, dozing between bouts of lovemaking. Carly was on her side facing Blake, one hand lightly petting the hard muscles of his arm. His own hand was teasing the skin at the flare of her hip, his growing erection pressing against her soft curves.

With a sigh, Blake reached for the phone. "What?" he said, not bothering to hide his irritation.

"Alpha, we have a problem," David admitted nervously.

Instantly, Blake came to attention. David was the lead guide out with the children. "What," Blake repeated, more demanding, letting the other man feel the full weight of the Alpha's power even through the phone.

"One of the kids is missing. We were setting up camp, the kids being kids were playing some game. Fiona told me that she couldn't find him. I went out to scout around, but I couldn't even catch his scent." The information tumbled out quickly.

"Who is it?" Blake was afraid that he already knew the answer.

"It's that silent child you sent along. Jason."

Blake cursed the air blue, rapidly pulling together a plan. "I'll be out there in forty-five minutes with as many of the pack as I can get. I'll organize the search when I arrive. Don't let anyone leave. I assume you made it to the campsite we discussed?"

Blake waited for the affirmative from David before disconnecting.

"Get dressed," he snapped at Carly, who flinched at the tone.

"What's wrong?" She asked while dressing. She wanted to know, but was dreading his response. Whatever was happening had put Blake in a terrifying mood.

"One of the children wandered away from the group and has been lost. I'm gathering up my people for a rescue. We're heading out there." Blake spoke rapidly, not wanting to tell her just who was missing.

Carly figured it out anyway. "Jason? It's Jason, isn't it?" It came out more like a screech. "You promised me he would be perfectly safe! I trusted you!"

"Now isn't the time to get into it," He answered coldly, trying to drown out her rising panic.

"We are going to stop for Caleb first," She demanded, needing to know that at least one the the children were safe.

"Fine," he accepted her need, and it wouldn't take much extra time. Mentally calling out to several of the pack members who were tasked with security, were experienced trackers, and would be helpful in the search, he directed them to the campsite. Jack wasn't nearby, and it nearly had Blake cursing again. He didn't want to take the time to call, and he needed his friend and second in command.

Blake drove Carly's car. They needed the car seat, and he needed to be in control. In less time than it should have safely taken, Caleb had been retrieved and they had arrived at the campsite.

"Jesse, Tristan, Ryan, David. Shift. The rest will stay human; I'll send them out as they come along. Find him, and sing out when you do. The child is human and won't respond to a wolf. Connor, call in everyone available. Make sure Jack is the first. Isabelle, stay here. Get the other kids to talk, see if we can pinpoint when Jason was last seen, if they noticed anything out of the ordinary. Report back ASAP." Blake barked out the orders in full Alpha mode, all his attention on finding Jason. The four men he had first named were almost instantly stripping and shifting into their wolven forms. Connor seemed to be working two phones at once. On one he was making calls, the other sending a flurry of texts.

Blake continued barking orders, coordinating the search. His pack did him proud, the search was well underway. Outward, he was confident it wouldn't be long before Jason was safely found. Inside, he worried that the child was injured or kidnapped or any number of things that could befall a child alone in the woods.

Carly stood there, leaning back against the car, frozen in panic and abject terror. She watched numbly as Blake ordered people around, and they responded without a thought. Jason was missing. Jason was missing, and no one was phoning the police. Jason was missing, no one was phoning the police, and four naked men had just turned into wolves.

Blake looked over when he heard Caleb start to wail. He froze for a moment, taking in the scene before him. Carly stood almost catatonic, gripping the baby a bit too tightly, a wild look in her eyes. He cursed the situation, and tried to catch Carly's eye. "Later," he said to her before turning and resuming the role of Alpha, protector of the pack.

Jack drove up not long after, with Emile in tow. Taking everything in with a quick look, Jack gently pushed Emile in Carly's direction. Carly flinched away from her friend's touch, refusing to even look at Emile. Unperturbed by Carly's reaction, Emile started offering the other woman quiet reassurances that Blake's men would find her nephew. She spoke of their skill at tracking, their knowledge of the woods, and their fierce protectiveness of anyone they saw as theirs. And Jason was surely theirs, as if he had been born to them.

A howl rent the air as the sun was setting, and the tension among those at the camp broke with cheers. It was a signal from one of the four he had sent out as wolves. Using mental communication and the howling wolf, one of the searchers in human form would bring Jason in. Blake relayed the message to Carly. Jason had been found; he was safe and on his way back.

Finally, Carly heard people approaching, and searched for the one face she needed to see. As soon as Jason broke through the trees into the clearing, he took off like a shot, straight for Carly. With Caleb still held to her shoulder with one arm, she squatted down with her other arm outstretched. Soon, little arms were tightly wrapped around her neck, and both aunt and nephew were sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Carly," he whispered in her ear.

"Shh, honey. You're ok," she soothed, her heart breaking that these were the first words he had spoken to her this summer. "I was just so scared for you. And I'm so happy you're safe. I love you so much, Jay."

Holding both boys tightly, as if she was afraid to let go, she looked almost calmly up at the people surrounding Blake. "Thank you for finding him and bringing him safely back to me," she offered the gathered group. "But if you'll excuse me, I'd like to take my children home, now."

"Jason, honey," she said quietly, "I know I said you could go camping, but it will have to be another time. We need to go home."

Jason nodded in agreement, more relieved than upset, still holding his aunt's hand tightly.

Carly turned to Emile, eyes flinty and tone suddenly growing hard. "You," she said, spearing her friend with with her gaze. "And you," she said, glaring dangerously at Blake, "We need to talk."

Blake growled softly at the command in her voice, his wolf still close to the surface. "Be very careful," he ground out between clenched teeth.

Carly spared him the same flinty look she had turned on Emile seconds earlier. "Please sir, will you converse with me? My pretty little head is filled with ever so many questions that only a big strong man like you can answer," Carly rephrased, voice dripping sarcasm and saccharine sweetness.

Blake nodded tightly, ignoring the insincerity. "Later," he answered.

Carly fluttered her eyelashes, still playing the helpless damsel. Blake only growled again, and stalked over to her car. She held out her hand, challenge in her eyes. He held up the keys, his own eyes flashing. "I drive. No running away."

Jack laughed, and decided it was in everyone's best interests if he invite himself along to the party. "Come on, love," he said to Emile. "Let's head over to Blake's. I do believe you were given an order. This is going to be such fun!" He turned to another one of the werewolves, and finished, "Oh, and Connor? See to the mopping up here. I think our Alpha is going to be occupied for a time."

Jack's tone may have been light, but that was mostly for show. He was deeply worried that things would not be ending well this night.

Blake worked hard to reign in his wolf and look at the situation objectively, but Carly was nearly incandescent with rage by the time they arrived at his home. Once there, she temporarily settled the boys into a spare bedroom, as far from Blake and the impending blow-up as possible. She had no desire to expose the children to this, or any, fight.

"I'll be back in a little bit," she said as calmly as she was able, "But there are some things I need to discuss with Blake first. Please stay here, and watch out for your brother."

Jason looked at her with worried eyes, but managed a slight nod. Leaving the boys, she found the object of her ire in the living room.

Unable to sit still, Carly paced, and Blake sat with feigned calmness watching her every move. Suddenly she stopped, turning to look him dead in the eye. "Tell me I wasn't imagining things."

Blake didn't pretend to not understand. He answered her anger with a dispassionate tone. "You weren't imagining things. They were human, and shifted to wolves. Werewolves."

Carly accepted this, to some extent, for the moment. Logic was currently missing from the equation, it was probably curled up in some corner of her mind rocking and crying into a teddy bear, as things this afternoon had gone so very, very wrong. "These people. They followed your orders."

"The werewolves, yes, they follow my orders. I am their Alpha. They follow my orders or suffer the consequences." He tried, and failed, to hide the superior note in his voice. It only served to add fuel to Carly's flaming rage.

She resumed pacing, as Emile and Jack walked in and sat.

"You," Carly turned on her friend. "You know Blake. Do you know about his crazy ideas?"

"She is one of my pack. She belongs to me," Blake answered for her, drawing Carly's anger back in his direction. He didn't want to see anyone else hurt tonight.

"He's not crazy, Carly. It was a werewolf that attacked me," Emile told her friend softly, "I had no choice but become one. He leads the pack. I belong to him."

Again Carly paused her pacing, taking a moment to consider her friend. "I've known you for years, and all this time you never told me?" Betrayal and pain and white hot anger forced Emile to look away. She didn't know how to answer; it wasn't nearly as simple as Carly seemed to think.

"And you!" Fury blazed from Carly as she again considered Blake. "I let you near the children! You convinced me to love you! I went willingly to your bed! I'm such a fool! I knew you were keeping secrets! When were you going to tell me?"

"This isn't how I wanted you to find out," he told her, resuming the dispassionate tone. His wolf thrilled at the admission of love, but the human part knew better than to pursue what was said in the heat of her rage.

"Just when were you going to tell me?" She again demanded.

"When the time was right," he didn't have a better answer. He knew it would eventually come out, that he would have to tell her at some point, he just hadn't put a plan in place. Jack shot him a measuring look, but remained quietly on the sidelines for now.

"And what do you want from me?" Her tone was deadly, and he considered his answer carefully.

"I want you to love me, all of me," a deceptively simple answer.

"Why me?" She hated asking the question, was afraid of the answer, but needed to know.

"From the beginning, I felt drawn to you. I felt a deep connection with you. In my heart, my wolf knew you belong to us. You, Carly, are my one true love, my destiny, my mate." Blake knew by claiming her at this moment he would lose her, but he needed to know he had spoken nothing but the absolute truth. He braced himself for the backlash he knew was coming.

Carly's fury solidified into an icy ball, deep within her soul. She considered his words, and what she knew of the mythology of werewolves. She put two and two together and came up with four. "Your mate. Yours. And you'd want me to become like you? A werewolf? Part of your pack?"

He didn't bother denying it. "Yes, of course."

"And you don't think that's a problem?" She finally screamed, angry tears flowing. "At your heart you're a werewolf, and I will always, ALWAYS be human!"

Blake jumped up to stop her when she stormed from the room, but Jack restrained him. "Stop, my friend. Let her temper cool. Tonight has been a terrible shock in more ways than one, and she needs time to process it. You will only push her further away if you go after her now." Jack spoke quickly, hands pressing against his Alpha's shoulders. Jack knew how it was to wait to claim a mate, knew the crucible of torture. It would be worse, though, for Blake was Alpha. There were no orders for him to obey

Blake watched Carly walk out of his life, his heart in his eyes. She never once looked back in his direction. When he could no longer see her car he shifted, losing himself in his wolf.