Chapter 5

“Did you see his face when you didn’t take his hand? He’s going to be scrambling now. I don’t know what he’ll do, but it’s not going to harm us.” Meggie giggled again. “This is the most fun I think I’ve ever had at someone else’s expense.”

They were headed to the pack meeting and he had plans later for his little mate. They had been flirting all day, and he was hard as a rock and could barely contain himself. Instead of trying to gather up people to cook for this event at the last minute, they decided that they’d have a cookout. He and his friends would do the cooking and all the side dishes had been purchased. They couldn’t do this all the time, but it was a good thing to have on his very first meeting as their new Alpha.

“I’m so nervous.” He asked Meggie what she had to be nervous about. “What if they think that I’m a fraud? I’m not a wolf. So, will they hold that against me? I can lead people, sure but I’ve never had to have a pack listen to what I have to say. Or even if they want to listen to me.”

“You’re going to do fantastic. I know that, and so does everyone else.” She snorted, a habit that she surely picked up from the rest of the family. They even had a dog that snorted when the others did. “You’re getting to be more and more like this family every day.”

“Good. Because I love them as much as I do my sister and grannie. Speaking of which, She loves her job. I think she was starved for contact with the outside world. I know that when I’m on assignment, I feel the same way.” He told her that he’d isolated himself for decades for the same reason. He didn’t care for people. “That’s just sad, Marshall. I mean, you’re a wonderful person, and I love you so much.”

He stopped just before getting to the pack land and, pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Rocking none too gently into her body, he pulled away. They’d never make the meeting if they didn’t stop now.

“You’re so lovely.” She nodded. “Once this meeting is over, I’m going to ravage you. I will take you hard and fast because I need to. Are you going to be all right with that?” She only stared at him. “Meggie, do you understand what I’m saying? I won’t be able to hold back once I have you.”

“Yes. We can’t do it now, I’m guessing?” He laughed. It sounded harsh, even to him, but he shook his head and told her the importance of this meeting. “All right. I don’t like it, but I’m all right with it. And by the way, if anyone is going to be ravaged, it’s going to be you. I’ve waited long enough for you to take me.”

They continued onto the meeting, neither of them touching and no longer walking side by side. He was afraid to if he was honest with himself. If he touched her now, be damn the meeting, and they could all go to hell if they thought that he’d care if he missed it or not.

It wasn’t a long meeting. As soon as the food started showing up in large containers, people got in line. He thought that everyone would enjoy the food, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. People had wanted more than just burgers and fries. They thought with his money and connections he should have made a better effort in finding out what they really wanted. He was walking away from a couple who also thought that using biodegradable plates was just cheap. They should be dining on fine China as well as cloth napkins. It was Meggie who grabbed his hand and returned to the couple.

“I’d like for you to pay for your dinner.” The woman asked her what she was talking about. “It’s not good enough for you, then you won’t mind putting in some extra money so that the next time your alpha has a meal planned out for you all, and I’m talking over three hundred people, you can pay extra so that there are enough steaks for everyone. I think about…” she looked at him. “What do you say, alpha? Seven or eight thousand dollars? Isn’t that about half of what you spent on this meal?”

“Yes, just about half.” He wanted to walk away, not give the couple any more time than he had to, but Meggie turned to the rest of the people at the same table. “Meggie? It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.” She smiled, a smile that he’d seen before. Not only was it lacking humor, but she didn’t show any of her teeth either. “How many people here are unhappy about the dinner tonight?”

Not as many as he had spoken to raised their hands. The couple, they were encouraging others to complain about it. Then said that he was going to charge them for their next meal. The mate, Sharon was her name looked like she had won something, as he’d ever seen a female look.

“Good. I’m going to pass around a notebook with a pen, and I want each and every one of you to write down things that we could have done better with this meal and to write down not just your name and complaint but also the meal that you feel that you should have gotten. And I want to remind each and every one of you that we’re your alphas, and you don’t know the meaning of alpha bitch if you think that I’m ever going to forget your comments today.”

No one moved. Even his family, who were serving the food for them, were at a standstill. Sharon stood up, and she said that she and her family were going to move on if they didn’t spread a little more money around to the families in need. Meggie went back to the woman and man and smiled again.

“I, Margaret Jane Brandon Morton, alpha bitch to the Morton pack, hereby release you from this pack. You will no longer be welcome on pack land.” The smile was larger now. “You have twenty-four hours to pack up and leave before I come for you. I hope that helps you find a new pack that you think will run better than this one is.”

“You can’t do that. I have other family here. I’m not leaving.” He shifted when Sharon reached out her hand for his mate. “No, don’t hurt me. I’ll be good from now on, alpha.”

“You’ll leave is what you’re going to do.” Meggie put her hand on his head, he realized that it was the first time she would have seen his wolf and leaned into her. “If any of the rest of your family wishes to go, then they’ll be released now. What is it you wish to do, Albert? Stay or go?” Albert, mate to Sharon, shook his head.

“I have no desire to leave here, alpha.” Sharon turned to her mate and asked him what he was talking about. “I don’t want to be with you anymore. I also don’t want to be tossed out of this pack. You can do what you want. I’m no longer going to do what you want—nay, order me to do. I’m finished with you.” He turned and looked at him and Meggie. “I beg your forgiveness in this. I had nothing to do with it but supporting my mate. I didn’t want to, but she made me.”

When he got down on his knees, his throat exposed, several more of the family did the same. Sharon was left standing there, her face a heated red. Her anger was so profound. When she shifted as well, leaping into the air towards where he was his wolf, it was Meggie who reached out her hand that had a gun in it, and she shot Sharon in the head. Dead center between her eyes.

The crowd didn’t back away but stood their ground. Her family, Sharon’s parents, didn’t move but dropped before their new alpha and pledged themselves to her. Him too, he supposed, but at this moment, they were more terrified of her than they were of him.

“What did I just do?” He thought about laughing for about a second, then realized that he liked his head right where it was. Marshall thanked her for saving his life. “I just killed a civilian. I’ve never had to do that before.”

“You saved my life is what you did. I would have been able to take her down, but the way you did it showed them all that you’re not one to be fucked with, human or not. And I have explained to you that you’re not human, haven’t I?” She told him that he’d not, but Hamish had. “Whatever it took, you showed them what it would be like should they mess with us. You had my back. I don’t think they’ve seen that since the last alpha was here.”

Meggie looked at the faces of all the people that were there with them. The pack, for the most part, looked stunned. The others, Albert and his family, seemed to be relieved. It was he who asked for permission to stand. When he did, he looked at Meggie and then at him.

“Sir, Alpha Marshall, she wasn’t my mate. But she married me when I was drugged by her. I believe her plan was to take over the pack if you hadn’t shown up.” Meggie asked him why they’d not said anything. “To who, my lady? Up until today there wasn’t anyone that we could have gone to. I’m not saying you were neglectful to us but without an alpha nor even someone in charge, it was Sharon that we all had to bow to for anything.”

Heads began to nod, it was then that he noticed that people were standing in line again. There was humor, too. Laughter about something that they shared. Meggie asked Albert if he had any children.

“No, my lady. I, as a wolf, cannot have children with someone unless we’re mated.” He looked embarrassed and hastily told her that he was sorry. “I didn’t mean to imply that you didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t know that. There are a lot of things that I don’t know about being an alpha, much less a mate to one. Were you born a wolf, Albert?” He told her that he had been, him and his cub mates of two sisters. “I’d like for you to help me out with what I don’t know about being there for you. You and your family will help me, won’t you?”

He looked at him and continued to stare at him until Meggie reached out with her hand and turned him to look at her. When she smiled at him, a genuine smile, she asked him if he’d help her.

“You’re the alpha.” She said that she was, but she was also new to the rules and regulations of the pack. “You’re mated to the alpha.”

“If you keep telling me things that I already know, Albert, it’s going to be a boring lesson for me. Will you help me? I will pay you to do so. Then when you think that I’ve learned about all I can, you can be my secretary. I have a feeling that I’m going to need someone to keep track of me. Perhaps one of your sisters can keep Marshall going to meetings on time. Or both of them. We both have full time jobs and are trying to juggle them together with being in charge of a pack. If you were to help me, I’m sure that Marshall will be happy that I’m trying to learn the ins and outs of being an alpha bitch.”

“I’d very much like to know what you’re doing, love?” She said that she was building confidence where it was needed. “By hiring a male to hang out with you all the time? You know that we’re a jealous lot.”

“What I really know is that this man has been beaten down enough. Even her parents look to me like they could use a break as well. I’m doing this for us. And if you think to turn him down or his sisters, I’m going to break your jaw. I’m not kidding one bit here.” He nodded at Albert who let out a long breath like he’d been holding it for days.

Shifting back, only just realizing that Marshall didn’t know if he’d be clothed or not when he did, he let out his own breath when he had on the jeans and flannel he had on when they left the house.

The food was eaten then. There were no complaints, and he thought that even if they did, they’d not voice it tonight. The laughter is what got him in a better mood. When he and Meggie walked around the tables, talking with everyone that was there, he was more proud of her than he’d been of anyone in his entire life.

While he still didn’t like that she had a male secretary, he was glad that the pack seemed to be more at ease than they had been before. He decided that he was going to have to spank her when they were alone, and that had him having to sit down. His blood had left the rest of his body in favor of his dick. Christ, he had never needed to be laid like he did right at this moment.

~*~

When they were headed home, her nerves weren’t as out of control as they had been. She thought that she’d made some friends. Maybe a little respect as well. What she wanted to do and had to refrain from doing it was to tell them how sorry she was that she had had to resort to gun violence when they were there for happier times. The howling, a time that she enjoyed as well, seemed to have been more fun for her than even the people. And she’d gotten to see Marshall’s big bad wolfie.

When Marshall stopped suddenly, she was jerked back by him. When he nearly threw her against a tree, wide and smooth, she watched as he unbuttoned his flannel as he spoke to her.

“I’m going to strip you of your clothing, and then I’m going to feast on your pussy. When I think perhaps I have gotten my fill, which right now doesn’t seem to be possible, I’m going to fuck you so hard that you’re not going to be able to walk home.” Nodding, she reached for his shirt as he pulled it up and out of his jeans. Marshall grabbed her hands as if to stop her. “If you touch me right now, I’m not going to be able to have my fun with you. You’ve no idea how close I am to coming right now, all over you.”

“Hurry.” When he was naked, she wanted to reach out and put her hand on his shaft. He was long, of course, but he was thick too. Like his body when he’d been his other half, his groin was covered in fur that had her nearly cross-eyed, wanting to feel him deep inside of her.

He dropped to his knees and leaned back on his heels. He fisted his shaft. It was oozing out thick precum that was making her lick her lips in anticipation. She nearly screamed when he put his hands on her hips and tore her jeans from her body.

“Take it off.” She was confused by his words as he was slurring his words. “Take off your blouse and bra. I want you to fondle yourself while I eat you.”

“Christ,” Meggie hissed at him. She was having trouble remembering now to undo a button when she just reached to the bottom of her blouse and ripped it off. She could hear the buttons pinging around them and hitting off trees. Then her bra suffered the same fate, ripping it from her. She was so glad that she’d been wearing a sports bra, or she didn’t know how she could have gotten it off.

Marshall opened her nether lips and blew across her clit. She came so hard, just from his hot air on her, that she was weak with it. Then as he moved closer to her and put his mouth over all of her pussy.

He ate at her over and over, his fingers sliding up and down inside of her gave her so much pleasure that she never wanted him to stop, but she knew that there was more than this for the two of them.

His mouth moved to her inner thighs, licking a path from one to the other. As he nibbled on her, making her cry out with the best climaxes that she’d ever had, Meggie cupped her breast and pulled hard on her nipples.

Her nipples were tender from what she was doing to them. But the aching feeling that she was getting added more fuel to her need. Getting her fingers wet with her mouth, she ran them over her breasts one at a time until she was nearly too emotionally zapped to go on. Each time that she came, her body coming apart then coming back together, Marshall would deepen his fingers, slide them into her more until she begged him to fuck her.

When he stood up, holding himself upright by holding onto the tree, he took her hands into his much larger one and pulled them above her head. As he held her there, he told her to look at him. Lifting her leg up, he began teasing her pussy with his cock.

“You’re mine, Meggie. More than anyone that I’ve had in my life, I love you with each beat of my heart.” She, barely able to speak, told him that she loved him with all that she was. More than anyone she’d ever had as well. “I’m going to fuck you now, and I don’t want you to come until your finished. Then we’ll start again.”

Meggie thought they were bold words for a man who looked as weak as she did at the moment. However, when he slid his cock into her. She held onto his hands as he continued to hold onto her.

She came so many times that she couldn’t remember how many. Her body, like his, was drenched in sweat. When Marshall released her hands, she held onto his shoulders, digging her nails into his body, when he lifted up her other leg and slammed both him and her into the tree behind her. She would swear for the rest of her life that the tree that held them shifted, moving at least a foot behind her just as she was screaming out her release.

“Come for me. I need to mark you as mine.” She didn’t really know what that meant but instinctively barred her throat for him. As soon as he nuzzled her neck, making her come once again, he bit down on her shoulder so hard that she heard bones break.

She must have passed out for a few seconds. Marshall was still fucking her hard, her body responding of its own accord. When he threw back his head after licking a path from her shoulder to her breast, she screamed again and again, knowing that, on some level, he’d claimed her the way of the great wolves did before she’d been born.

Closing her eyes to the color that seemed to be surrounding them, she heard Marshall chuckle. If she’d had the strength, she might well have hit him, but she was barely standing, and it seemed that he was as well. He told her to hang on, and that was the last thought that entered her mind other than the great pain her entire body experienced.

When she woke up, she was in the bed that she’d been in since coming home from the hospital. Meggie found herself wrapped around Marshall and decided that he was simply too warm. Trying to move away so that she could use the bathroom had her so frustrated. The way he kept pulling her back into his arms, she finally punched him in the shoulder and told him that she had to pee.

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” She could tell that he was still sleeping or passed out like she was sure that had happened to her. But stood up to go to the bathroom so that she could get back into the warm bed with him. It was then that she realized that her body had been switched with someone else’s. A much more out of shape body that was sore from the top of her head to the bottom of her tender feet.

It took her nearly too long to get to the bathroom. She’d had to work her way around the room by hanging onto walls and the furniture that was there. By the time she got to the toilet seat, she was shaking she was so weak. Going back to bed it seemed impossible until Marshall joined her.

“I need a soak in a tub.” He told her that they had a hot tub that had been installed by the faeries when he’d brought her to bed. “Please tell me that they didn’t see us naked. I’ll never be able to look at them again.”

“No, I brought us here. You’ll be happy to know that we can do that popping in and out thing, too. Or at least I can. I couldn’t wake you up to ask you if you could.” She told him that she’d been worn out. “Oh honey, you and I both were. On top of getting the magic that came with you being my mate, we got the alpha magic as well. I had no idea that it would come to us all at one time, or I might well have put off you and I bonding tonight.” He looked like he was thinking. “Nah, I would have done it anyway. You made me feel like I’m the luckiest man in the world tonight.”

“I hope so. It’s doubtful that you’ll be getting that lucky again. At least for a while, anyway. Let’s hit the hot tub before I fall asleep right here.” They both staggered to the decking that was right outside their bedroom door and slipped clumsily into the tub. As soon as her body was deep in the warmth, every part of her body felt better. “I hope that you know that I’m never leaving this sucker again. This is heaven.”

“You wound me.” She laughed when he did. “I was thinking about something when I was dragging your lazy ass up the stairs. This house needed an elevator. The faeries were excited to do that for us when I asked them. Also, Pie has asked if she and her family can live in the butler’s house out back. Her son is going to be our butler. He’s nineteen and looking for something to keep himself out of trouble.”

“You seemed to have gotten a lot done while I was out. How long was I down for until now?” He told her that he didn’t really need to sleep all that much and had been up for a few hours before coming back to bed with her. That she’d been out about eight hours. “Eight hours? That’s the longest that I’ve ever slept in my life. I’m usually up with the sun even if I go to bed at midnight.”

They both relaxed in the water. It was really nice to have the hot tub, but she could also understand why there were warnings out about spending too much time in one. She was feeling light-headed again when Bounty showed up to talk to them.

She wasn’t embarrassed by being naked. Meggie had spent a very long time in the service and she was used to men and women going to the bathroom while out on duty that it didn’t phase her. But the little guy, he was slightly so. She sunk deeper into the water when he was standing on the side of the tub talking to the two of them.

“I’ve located the man who had shot at you, my lady. He is no longer alive. I wish that I could have avenged you, but I could not. Some animal had killed him, I think a bear that ended his life. This person took his throat out and left him to be found.” Marshall asked him what he’d done to make it so that the body wasn’t going to come back on any shifters. “He will be found in his vehicle, and he will look to anyone, including shifters, like he had had an accident. I didn’t have his car actually hit the tree, and she, the tree, was grateful enough for that, so she made a few of her leaves and some smaller branches fall onto the tree to make it look like it had.”

“Brilliant.” Meggie knew that faeries and brownies both didn’t care much for being praised. They did brag, however. When Marshall handed him the two dimes about all little Bounty could carry, she knew that every little creature around would know that the master had paid him for his brilliant work. After receiving his reward, Bounty left them.

“I need to make it so that I have small treats in my pocket from now on. I’ll have to have a variety of them so that they don’t feel like I’m slacking on the rewards.” She told him what Pie had told her about rewards. “That’s a wonderful idea. I would have gone out and bought something to give them, but you’re right. They’d much rather have things that they can put into their home to display. I love the idea of bottle caps that Hamish uses. Also, he had seeds too in his pocket. He told me once he was out, he’d forgotten to pick up treats but had seeds in his pocket that he didn’t know where they came from. His faerie was delighted to be able to show off the seeds that Hamish, the big vampire king, had given them.”

“I love this family. All of them. And I can’t wait…well, I know that I can wait but I can’t too. Anyway, I can’t wait to see how they help us with the president. He’s going to get his comeuppance Friday.” He asked her if she was nervous now. “Not anymore. I feel, I was going to say rejuvenated but it’s more than that. Maybe justified in doing what should have been done before. I think that Collin taking over the presidency will show just how much he was fucking up with things. And things that they can’t see will be taken care of as well.”

Making their way to the bedroom again, once they were dried off, the two of them crawled into the bed, and she noticed then that it seemed to be wider than before. Not only that, someone had made the bed. Asking Marshall about it, he told her that the towels that they had used would be cleaned and dried and put away because of the magic of the room.

“That’s awesome. I could have used that for the last ten years or so. I tend to get messy when I’m off someplace. Hotels don’t hate me because I tip very well but I know that they have to have extra people on to clean up my mess.” Marshall said that he was a slob most of the time but would clean up his room at least once a day. “And I hate doing dishes. I want you to remember that.”

“We have a staff, so you won’t have to do a single dish. And since we’re getting to know one another. I don’t like salads. Not one bit. Not even potato salad or whatever they call noodle salad. They’re only there to take up room in your belly so that you can’t eat as much meat. I’m the true meaning of a carnivore.” She told him she was a vegetarian. He looked so shocked that she had to own up to being a meat lover as well. “You scared me there for a minute. I thought for sure that you weren’t kidding.”

They were still talking when the sun came up. Once it was shining into their room, she took another shower with Marshall and decided that shower sex wasn’t something that she’d want to do very much. It was slippery and scary to be all soaped up and someone else with you.

Going down to breakfast, they ate a huge platter of food. She noticed that her own appetite was bigger than before, and she was glad that she’d not gain a lot of weight by eating a great deal. Life to her was suddenly just perfect. And when she was finished with Lowery, she was going to start a family with the big wolfie.