CHAPTER 30

LUCAS

Finally.

My wolf was humming with satisfaction within me as I woke up on the grass with my mate in my arms.

I'd claimed my mate the man, and now, I've claimed my mate the wolf. And what an impressive wolf he is. He's almost the same size as me and he gave me a run for my money in our chase. With some more time to get comfortable with his paws and he was going to be hard to catch but my wolf was more than up for that challenge.

What had shocked me though, was that he smelt like an alpha. I did not see that coming.

We'd both shifted back in our sleep and Noah's human body was snuggled up to me. I began kissing his shoulder and he stirred in my arms, waking up.

The sun hadn't quite risen yet but the sky was a lighter shade of deep blue so it was minutes before it would.

Noah yawned. "What time it is?"

"I'd guess it's a little before five based on the colour of the sky. Come on," I said, patting his beautiful naked behind, "let's head back and have a shower then get some more sleep in bed."

"Sounds good to me," Noah said, standing up and brushing leaves and dirt off his body.

We emerged from the woods and I saw other pack mates doing the same, yawning but looking happy with smiles on their faces after a great night of frolicking under the full moon.

The bonfire was still going a little but it was much smaller now, mostly just glowing embers.

I led Noah toward it and we saw Lara sitting with Tommy beside the fire. Tommy saw us approach and jumped up. "Alpha!" he called out, making a move to run toward us before Lara grabbed the back of his pants, halting him.

I chuckled and led Noah over. I'm not sure if he was more comfortable with the nudity now or if he was just too tired to get self-conscious but he didn't appear bothered.

"Hi Tommy, you're up early," I said.

"We're waiting for Daddy," Tommy said, looking up at me with far too much energy for such an early hour. I was always impressed with how much patience Lara had for the tiny packet of dynamite.

"Well, he can't be too far away, everyone is waking up now," I said to him.

"How was your first run, Alpha Noah?" Lara asked.

"It was really good," he said sleepily, "I didn't fall on my face so I'm considering that a success."

Lara and I laughed. Unfortunately, that one moment of distraction meant we didn't have time to grab Tommy before he started running for the treeline, when he saw his father returning.

"Daddy!" he called out. He was about to run across the hot glowing embers on the edge of the fire in bare feet.

I was about to call out but Noah beat me to it.

" STOP!" Noah called out to Tommy.

Everyone froze and looked at him, including Tommy. Lara quickly picked up Tommy and moved him away from the embers.

Noah looked around at everyone staring at him, a bewildered expression on his face. "What?"

"You just have an alpha command," I said, completely stunned.

"What's an alpha command?"

I looked out to the rest of the pack. "It's okay everyone, nothing to worry about," I called out to the people waiting for further direction. I turned back to Noah. "It's a command that pack members have no choice but to obey. Only an alpha can give one."

I had no idea how it was possible. I'd only ever witnessed and heard of human's who had been turned into werewolves, becoming beta's or omega's. Never an alpha.

"What does that mean?" Noah asked.

"I don't know, perhaps there's alpha werewolf blood in your lineage somewhere. If that's possible, it's likely many generations ago which was why you were born human. I assumed you'd be an omega and have a role more like a Luna."

"Meaning?"

"More on the nurturing, caregiving side when leading the pack. I suppose your strong will and stubbornness makes more sense now though," I chuckled at that last thought.

"Are you admitting you're a stubborn alpha then?"

I barked a laugh. "I've never denied it. Come on, let's go shower and sleep. You've earned it," I said, taking his hand again.

"We'll see you later Lara. Enjoy your day," I said as we left.

I took my time soaping up my mate, cleaning the dirt from his skin. He practically purred for me when I massaged his scalp while washing his hair and I couldn't resist kissing him when he looked like that, all happy and relaxed under my touch.

We held each other as we made out under the shower spray.

I was so utterly content. I'd dreamed of finding my mate for so long and now that I had my little wolf here in my arms, I vowed never to let him go. He'll want for nothing. I'll do everything in my power to keep him happy and satisfied.

We dried off and climbed under the sheets in bed. I pulled Noah close, enveloping him with my body and curling myself protectively around him.

Inside me, my wolf was puffing up his chest with pride over how impressive our mate was during his first shift and practically humming with satisfaction as I drifted off to sleep.