“Let me taste you, Dimitris,” she begged, reaching her hands down to pull him higher on her body.
“Not this time, mate,” he growled. “I’m too close.” He climbed up her body, pushing her legs wider. Sitting back on his heels, he pulled his boxers down, freeing his erection. Cate reached for him, but he pushed her hands away. “I’m too close,” he grunted, leaning forward and sinking deep inside her. “My wolf is on the cusp of breaking free. I can’t be easy with you.” With each word, he thrust hard into her wet core. She spread further for him, pulling his hips down as she thrust hers higher. Dimitris’ chest rubbed against hers creating a delicious friction. Her nipples puckered. “Fuck, Cate. I have to make you mine.” His thrusts came harder as he buried his face in her neck. She stilled.
“You said I could decide,” she reminded him. Her body had slowed, but her pussy still clenched him tight. Dimitris lifted his head and looked her in the eyes. He thrusts got faster and soon Cate began to lift her hips to his.
“I won’t push you, Cate,” Dimitris said on each thrust, “but you are mine. Mark or no mark, you are mine!” With his last word his body clenched causing his seed to spurt deep inside her. Cate continued her thrusts, milking his dick. He moved his hand between their bodies, and with a few deft movements she found her release. Her pussy clenched around him, causing his dick to re-harden. He pumped again, following her orgasm with his second. “Your mine now, Cate,” he said as he collapsed on top of her. “Forever.”
Dimitris rolled off Cate, pulling her into his chest. “So was last night normal?” she asked. He looked at her, unsure of how to answer. She continued, “I mean the bowing. Is that a normal thing?” Cate looked worried. “Is that something that wolves do when a mate is newly shifted?”
Dimitris ran his hand across his face. “No, the submission wasn’t normal. I expected the females to submit to you, but was surprised to see the males do so.”
“But it’s because I mated the alpha, right? I mean, it’s probably totally normal.” She desperately needed the reassurance. Nothing about any of this had been normal. She wasn’t sure how much more weirdness she could handle.
“They submitted because they believe you are the Wolf Queen.” Dimitris waited for Cate to question him, but instead she stared at him as if he had grown another eye. “The Wolf Queen—” he pushed ahead— “is a legend in the shifter community. Many thousands of years ago, wolf shifters were the favorite of the Goddess. She showed her favoritism to the wolves by providing us with longer lives, many children, and instant mates. Eventually, the bears, cats, and birds of prey grew jealous. They stopped worshiping the Goddess. She realized that she had been unfair to so many of her children, and in order to make up for her mistakes she took away the wolves ability to produce female children. She also altered our female’s heat cycles so that it took the wolves much longer to reproduce. This meant that the wolf shifter population did not grow as the other shifter populations did. The Goddess promised the wolves that this was only temporary and someday she would provide a Wolf Queen to break the curse. The Queen would give birth to a she-wolf, breaking the curse and allowing the wolves to once again prosper and grow. Going forward all wolves would be able to produce daughters and heat cycles would come more often.”
Cate sat up and looked down at Dimitris. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would she punish the wolves? Why not punish the ones that stopped worshiping her?”
Dimitris smiled, “Why do gods and goddesses do any of the things that they do?” he answered.
Cate wasn’t at all sure about the actions of gods or goddesses, so she chose to change course. “But why would they think that I was the queen? Is it because I mated an alpha?” She looked panicked. The idea of being queen sounded more like a curse than having only sons.
“No, it’s not just because you mated the alpha. It’s because —” Dimitris paused — “it’s because you didn’t make a sound last night during your transition. You are the only known female to shift without any noise. I know it was painful for you, and yet you did not utter a sound.” Cate looked confused. “That was one of the signs, Cate. The Goddess said we would know our queen for her silent rebirth. Last night you were reborn in silence.”
“I didn’t know,” she stuttered. “Mikaela told me to accept the pain, that it would be easier on me. During my shift I just tried to focus on the outcome. I had no idea that I was giving the pack hope for something that I surely cannot possess.” Cate turned her big brown eyes to his. “I don’t want to let them down, but there is no way that I can be the Wolf Queen. I would feel it, wouldn’t I?”
Dimitris took her by the hands. “You are going to be an excellent alpha, my Cate. Already you worry about the pack, and you do not yet know even half of their names.” He kissed her forehead. “I don’t know if you are the Wolf Queen or not. No one will know until you bear your first pup. It may could be one hundred years before your first heat comes. Until then, the pack will guard you as if you are the chosen one. You need to be protected. Other alphas will try to take you if word of your shift gets out.”
She pulled her hands away. “What do you mean protected and guarded? Are you suggesting that I will go everywhere with security?” Her wolf was pacing again.
Dimitris stood to caress her, but she turned away from him and continued walking back and forth along the carpet. “Yes, my Cate. You will need to be guarded. It will be easier if you quit your job, safer for everyone.” She stopped and glared at him. “But, we can figure something out,” he added hastily.
Cate placed her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders. At five-eight, she was tiny next to her mate, but she refused to let his size intimidate her. “I will not be a prisoner, Dimitris. Queen or no queen, alpha or no alpha, I will do as I damn well please. If I want to teach, I will teach. If I want to go to the mall, I will go to the mall. And if I want some time alone, and I will damn well have my time alone. I was forced into mating with you. You took my decision from me when you bit Peter. You will not take my freedom, too!” Cate stomped toward the bathroom. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to shower and then take my son to the park like a normal person.” She slammed the door closed. Dimitris stood in the middle of the room until he heard the sound of water rushing from the faucet.
Lukyan watched as Dimitris paced the length of the long study. “Are you going to tell me what happened, or should I wait until you have sufficiently worn a hole in the rug?” Dimitris shot him an annoyed look. “That look may have intimidated me when we were pups, but I’ve since gotten quite used to it.”
Dimitris ran his fingers through his hair. “She doesn’t trust me, Luk. She’s my mate and doesn’t trust me! How can that be?” He began to pace again.
Lukyan was startled by the admission. Fated mates were partners in all things. It was inconceivable that one would not implicitly trust the other. “I think you are probably overreacting,” he suggested. “She has to trust you. She’s your mate. It’s the way of things.”
“Lukyan, you are the most logical person I have ever known. To you it must be unimaginable that my mate would not trust me. But believe me when I say that she doesn’t. I told her about the Wolf Queen legend, that the pack thinks she is the one. Do you know what she did?” The question was rhetorical, but Lukyan shook his head no anyway. “She refused pack protection. She said that, legend or no legend, she would not spend her life with security!”
Lukyan laughed. “Is that all? That doesn’t sound like she doesn’t trust you. It sounds like she wants her independence. She’s an alpha, Dimitris. You are so used to bossing us all around that you have started to believe it will work on everyone. You have to know that your mate will match you. Unlike the rest of the pack, you won’t be able to tell her what to do.”
Dimitris grimaced. “I don’t boss,” he griped. “But I’m not letting my mate run around without sufficient protection. If something were to happen to her or Peter I could never recover.” Lukyan sympathized. This was the way with male shifters. Once they found their fated mates they would stop at nothing to protect them.
“There’s more, Luk,” Dimitris continued. “She brought up that she had no choice about shifting. She still believes I forced her to mate with me. That I bullied her into it.”
“Ah, well, I suppose she did feel a bit manipulated in all this. It would help if you would simply tell her what happened. Tell her that Peter was dying. She will understand. No mother would deny her child the chance to live. She will probably fall to her knees and thank you.”
Dimitris threw himself into the chair across from Lukyan, scrubbing his hands across his drawn face. Lukyan wondered if having a mate was worth it. He had never seen his alpha look so bad. “I can’t tell her, Luk. I want her trust, but I need her to give it freely. It’s important to me.”
“I think you’re making a mistake,” Lukyan cautioned. “You could have saved both of you a lot of turmoil if you had just been honest.” Dimitris rolled his head back and looked at the ceiling. Lukyan changed course. “However, this is your life not mine. How do you plan to get her to trust you?”
Dimitris pulled his eyes from the ceiling and looked directly at Lukyan. “I’m going to take my mate and son to the park.”
eleven
Dimitris took a seat next to Cate on the bench. He had been pushing Peter on the swings for the past twenty minutes, but when Carlos, a small child with dark spiked hair and glasses, introduced himself Peter immediately dismissed Dimitris. He looked and saw the two boys playing chase around the swing set. “It’s amazing how quickly they can become friends, isn’t it?” Cate’s words pulled his attention from the boys to her face. These were the first words she had spoken to him since he informed her that he would be going to the park, as well. She had kept up a long and steady conversation with Peter on the drive, never once addressing him. He wondered how she could so easily push him away. His mating instinct was too strong to reject her. No matter what she did, he doubted he could ever find the will to be this angry with her. It seemed she did not feel the same. Perhaps he was misinformed. Maybe the mating instinct was different for the female. He turned his attention back to the boys, still running in circles around the poles.
