Ch. 5

The medic left to give us privacy to catch up. I happily ate. We shared the cake as I felt too full to finish it. It had been so long since I'd seen my friend that I was overcome with happiness.

I had spoken more to him in the last few hours than I had in years. Gerwulf told me of the creation of the Ash Walker pack and how he'd struggled in the beginning. His pack had been mainly composed of rogues he felt he'd trusted in the beginning. Now they had a beautiful town, and he'd begun expanding the territory. I didn't have to be told to know that meant he'd absorbed the packs he'd defeated. I knew he would change either from being an alpha or living a rogue life but a part of me hoped he'd always be a gentle soul.

My skin started to itch and I became uncomfortable. It felt like I couldn't sit still at all. Gerwulf glanced down at his watch, letting me know it was closing in on midnight. He gently scooped me up, and hastily walked through the camp until he found a clearing.

My body felt like it was on fire, the cool grass he'd placed me into was barely helping. I turned on my back and looked at him. The feeling hit me hard as I looked into his honey eyes. It felt like my heart gave out only to start beating again.

'Mate!' a small voice in my head yelled. This must be my wolf. She repeated the word over and over, her voice growing stronger the more my body felt pain.

Gerwulf leaned down, fireworks erupting on our skin as he gently helped me get into position. "Breath Eloise. You need to breath, otherwise this will just take longer," his voice now sounded like velvet, causing me to groan and shiver. My bones began cracking. I screamed as tears rolled down my face.

It was like never-ending pain as my body shifted and slowly changed. Deep chocolate fur sprang out, my paws finally forming. Gerwulf gently pet me and eased me away from the pain. He smiled and my wolf whined as he pet my snout.

'Mate mate mate!' she screamed in my head.

'Are you sure?' I felt hesitant to accept.

'Of course I'm sure! Can't you smell that?'

I took in a deep breath, the most alluring scent hit me. He smelled of smoke and amber. How had I missed it? The pain must've captured my mind so much I couldn't sense it.

Gerwulf quickly removed his clothing, as I bashfully looked away. My wolf cursed me 'I want to see all of him, Eloise. He is our mate.' I only whimpered, too shy to see such a thing.

An incredibly large deep red wolf trotted over to me, it's honeyed eyes glowing dangerously. He gently rubbed our snouts together, my wolf whimper loudly as my tail began to thump on the ground.

He moved his head in a way that almost seemed like nodding, motioning towards the forest.

I ran, feeling more free than I ever had in my life. We sped through the dense forest, tackling and nipping at one another playfully. I had learned my wolf's name, Praline. A name to match the fur she bore.

My senses were magnified and I slowly began getting used to it. I felt like I could see, hear, and smell everything. Sleeping animals, specks of dirt, and water running in the distance.

Praline changed her path towards the sound of water. We ran through piles of fallen autumn colored leaves before coming to a halt at a small stream. I tried my best not to cringe as she immediately started lapping at the dirty creek water.

Gerwulf strode up and sat down next to the water. His wolf gave a few barks as if laughing before he changed back with ease. Praline's head snapped up and she stared at him, her tongue flopping out as she licked his face wildly and rubbed her snout on his neck.

Thankfully he just laughed and pet her ears until she lay on her back in front of him. I felt incredibly embarrassed, and used all my energy forcing myself to change back. My skin blushed as I lay in all my naked glory on the ground in front of Gerwulf.

In seconds he was positioned over me, using his elbows to prop himself up as he stared intensely into my eyes," you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." I felt myself heat up as my arms tried to snake up and cover my bare chest.

'He is mate, let him see us!' Praline demanded, upset I would cover myself.

'We were just kissing Julian three days ago! Don't tell me to let him see me naked already you horny mutt!' I grumbled back at her.

Gerwulf sensed my unease, he himself having a hard time holding back as his golden eyes began swirling with black. His scent was intoxicating being this close. The scent of smoke and amber was so strong it almost felt like my skin would be stained with it.

"I.. I-I uh... w-we don't," I stammered having a hard time talking. I was well aware of what mates were expected to do but I only ever expected to be rejected. Never that I would get this far. It was always expected that the alpha mark and mate with his luna the night that they meet. Gerwulf had known for five years now that we were mates.

Suddenly everything started to make sense as I had become lost in his eyes. It was why he had left me behind the night of his first shift. He must have been afraid to have a much too young mate living the life of a rouge.

"I have waited so long for this night Eloise. So many time I had thought of turning back and taking you early... but I couldn't. I needed to let you grow up and give you the opportunity to possibly love another," Gerwulf sadly mumbled.

My face softened and I pulled my arms from their folded position. Sparks erupted as I placed my hands on both sides of his face. He let out a growl of satisfaction, the darkening of his eyes deepening now that he had to fight his wolf not to stare at my bare chest. My mind couldn't help but remember that Julian had looked at me like this. A pang of guilt coursed through me at the thought.

"You were the closest I ever got to loving somebody. I kept to myself after you left. Even if I had tried to fall in love with somebody it would have been in vain. They all call me witch kissed. They think you left a curse mark on my cheek," I tried to sound as sincere as possible.

His eyes darted to my cheek, examining the mark his kiss had left all those years ago. His lips had been so hot he'd burnt my skin. "Witch kissed?" he scoffed. He leaned into me, his breathing hot against my cheek as he placed his soft lips onto my cheek. A kiss was placed over the mark. My mouth opened as an intense feeling of pleasure flooded through me and I moaned loudly, squirming beneath him. The mark was either numb or painful to the touch, never had it felt like this.

Gerwulf took it as invitation, he quickly used his knee to position himself between my thighs. His lips traveling from the scar to my mouth quickly. My hands slipped from his cheeks into his hair and I quickly tangled my fingers in it.

My wolf was pushing her threshold, both of us feeling so overwhelmed by this new feeling we became too eager. All the thoughts of being timid and scared from earlier went away.

We kissed with such hunger I was sure our lips would bruise. The scent of arousal hit the air as he bit onto my bottom lip and caused me to moan loudly again. He took the opening and quickly deepened the kiss, our tongues fighting before they moved with one another.

Gerwulf moved his arms and gently slid them down as he grabbed my hips. This blossomed a whole new feeling causing me to grind up against him feeling just how excited he'd become. A low growl came from him as I pushed up against his member. He pulled back so we could catch our breath and sat up on his knees staring down at me. He was about to lean in and continue before a loud screeching erupted through the air.

We both looked the way we had come. Some part of me just knew that it was Julian.

His eyes clouded over and he cursed loudly. Carefully he pulled away and helped me up," one of the patrol guards bumped his cage and upset Julian."

"Cage?!" My voice came out strongly," you're keeping him in a cage?!" I put a hand over my mouth quickly, stopping myself from speaking anymore.

'Eloise do not question Gerwulf' Praline warned.

'He is our friend, and he's in a cage!' I growled back at her.

Gerwulf looked taken aback as if he didn't expect this reaction from me," he's hungry... the older they are the worse they get when hunger strikes. Julian is incredibly old compared to us. We've had to chain him up until we can move. This is something he was aware would happen. We agreed on this years ago. We've had to restrain many young fledglings, but never him. He's never stepped directly into sunlight before."

My face dropped as guilt hit me hard," I need to see him." I blurted out and turned on my heel running as fast as I could manage. Hard footsteps sounded behind me. Gerwulf chased me with ease and yelled for me to stop. I passed the entrance of the forest, completely ignoring the patrolmen that waited with clothing for us.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist and prevented me from going further," at least get dressed! I don't need all the unmated wolves and one of my friends seeing you naked." He growled at me. I turned and snatched the dress that was given to me, putting it on in record time.

I started to run again but didn't make it far as Gerwulf grabbed my wrist and restrained me to a brisk walking pace.

The screeching and screams only grew louder. Any werewolf that had been in the area was now cleared out. Only a few guards were around the large cage he was chained in. It reminded me of something I'd seen in a movie as a child that they'd kept circus animals in. Julian was running like a mad man. He only wore dirty pants. Thick heavy chains restrained his arms behind his back.

A strange feeling started to blossom inside of me as I came closer and began to smell the intoxicating scent of roses.