The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

They would know what that meant, but it was innocent enough if a human read it.

Using the paste function, I got a bunch of replies out quickly. I was heartened by the response; it was far beyond the Welch Pack. They were sneaky; they couldn’t respond to me directly while still under Todd’s Alpha command, so they forwarded my message and their reaction to friends outside the Pack. Those friends then added on their own thoughts and sent it back to them while copying me. A little over half of the Welch Pack was interested in my offer of a Pack change.

The constant was the outrage that injuring a child brought out. Many were questioning if Todd was behind the kidnapping and murder I’d stopped.

The texting helped distract me from the moans and cries of pain in the bathroom. It wasn’t long before Brent was coming back up the stairs. “Thanks, Leo,” he said. “I needed that.”

“Did you run?”

“Sparred with a few of the guys downstairs.” The gym had an open area with mats where they could fight as humans. He disappeared into Vicki’s room, but when he came out, she was with him. “She heard Mom,” he said.

Vicki walked to me, and I lifted her up with my free arm and set her on my lap. “Mommy has the fever, she’s in an ice bath right now,” I said.

“I don’t like that,” she said as she rubbed her eye.

“Why don’t you go see her? I’ll see if we can get you any lunch while you give her a big hug.”

“Okay.” She leaned in and kissed my cheek, then slid off and went into the bathroom.

“Anita, I’m going to send Brent down to get food, do you need anything?”

“Yeah, your credit card. We want burgers and fries.”

I just laughed. “Write down your orders, and I’ll have it delivered.” Mine was easy; a half-pound Mudhen burger with seasoned waffle fries and sour cream. The Mudhen was named after the town baseball team and had sauerkraut, bacon, and swiss cheese.

One of the guys went to pick it up, and the girls rotated out to eat. Vicki liked her cheeseburger with extra bacon; I’d ordered a quarter-pound one instead of a kid’s size, and that was the right call. “How is Mom doing,” I asked.

“She’s tired and hot, and she isn’t talking to me,” she said.

“You were the same way when you were changing,” I said. “You came through with a beautiful shark-colored wolf. What do you think Momma will be?”

“Momma is old, so maybe she will be grey like you?” I just about snorted my Coke through my nose at that.

“Your mother is NOT old,” I said. “You’re lucky she didn’t hear that, kiddo.”

“I’m old enough to be Leo’s Mommy, and I’m not old,” Donna said. “Larry and I are just as active as when we first mated.”

“What’s first mated,” Vicki asked.

I just backed away and showed my hands; I wasn’t the one who brought it up with a curious girl. Donna didn’t mind. “Well, we believe the Goddess Luna, who gave us our wolves and the ability to shift, also gives us mates. Larry is my mate, and Mike is Anita’s mate.”

“Married?”

“We get married too, but it is more than that. Finding your mate is the happiest day of your life because that person is meant just for you. When you find them, your wolves claim each other, and you are mated.”

“How?” I couldn’t look.

“The man and the woman bite each other on the neck, like this,” she said as she pulled her blouse down and showed the scar. “It’s our wolf way of showing that we have a mate we are with for the rest of our lives. Then we go to bed and see if we can make babies,” she said.

“Oh, you have sex,” Vicki said like it was no big deal.

“Yes,” Donna said.

“Mommy going to have sex with Brent?” Of course, this was said as I took a bite, and I almost choked on it.

“Why would you say that,” Donna said.

“I heard him say Mommy was his mate,” she said. “I hear a lot with my Wolfy.”

“Mommy doesn’t know that yet, and you shouldn’t tell her,” I told her. “When her wolf comes out, she’ll know.”

“When I have mate, I have LOTS of sex,” Vicki said.

I started coughing; I couldn’t take this anymore. “We don’t find our mates until we are at least eighteen,” I said. “Donna is right, it was the best day of my life when I found Catherine. I still miss her every day.”

We finished the burgers, then Brent came up and escorted her downstairs so she could watch a show for a bit. She didn’t need to see all the pain that her Mom would be going through.

“Help! We can’t keep her temperature under control,” Anita said in a panic. I was helpless to do anything but listen as I heard them dump more ice on the floor. Brent came running up the stairs, followed by Mike and Larry. They left the door and window open, cooling down the room. “One hundred and seven,” Anita said as she ran the probe against her forehead again.

It was like watching a train wreck. Liv wasn’t conscious, and a few minutes later, she had a seizure. It ended after about thirty seconds, but then she was still. Too still. “GET HER OUT AND LAY HER DOWN ON THOSE TOWELS,” Donna said. Mike hauled her out with Larry holding her legs, while the women frantically dried her off. They set her on the floor by the sink. “No pulse, start CPR,” Donna said as she took her fingers off Liv’s neck.

Mike knelt next to her, placing his hands in position on her chest. “One and two and three and four…”

“I’ve got the defibrillator,” Anita said. I watched as she attached the pads and turned the machine on. I always kept an AED in my truck when I was doing construction, and I had moved it to my kitchen when I sold the company. Anita had been smart enough to have it along with a medical kit staged.

“STOP COMPRESSIONS, STAY CLEAR,” the machine said. “ANALYZING.” A few seconds later, it had enough. “PREPARING TO SHOCK. PRESS FLASHING BUTTON.”

Anita verified everyone was clear, then hit the button. Liv’s chest jumped with the shock. “ANALYZING.” None of us could breathe while we waited for the verdict.

“CONTINUE CPR.”

No….

Mike restarted compressions after Donna gave her rescue breaths. I was helpless to do anything but pray. And pray, I did. I hadn’t begged Luna like this since Catherine had died.

The door opened to the apartment, and Vicki burst in, crying and yelling for her Mom. I grabbed her and pulled her into my lap, holding her as we both cried. “What are they doing?”

“Trying to save her,” I said. They finished the set of compressions and let the machine analyze her again.

Brent was losing his shit. “NO! I can’t lose her, not now. Luna, I’ll do anything. Take me, take my wolf if you need one, but let my mate live!” He fell to his knees and begged for her life.

“PREPARING TO SHOCK. PRESS FLASHING BUTTON.” Everyone leaned back with their hands up, and Anita pressed the button. Vicki screamed as her mother bounced off the floor. “HEARTBEAT DETECTED. STOP CPR.”

Donna leaned over, checking her carotid artery. “Weak pulse, she’s back,” she said. I watched as her chest started to rise and fall on its own again. “She’s still burning up. Move her back to the tub. I’ll leave the pads in place.” She disconnected the wires from the machine and stepped back to let the men pick her up again. As soon as she was in the tub, Vicki squirmed out of my grasp and went in after her.

“Let her stay,” I told them.

Donna had Vicki sit on the edge of the platform the Jacuzzi was built into, near her head. She could talk to her mother and be out of the way. “One hundred and five,” she said as she used the thermometer on her forehead again. “Keep the ice coming. Men, OUT.” If she regained consciousness, she would be mortified that all these men could see her. That would change with her wolf, as we were comfortable with nudity, but that time was not now.

While they were getting her fever under control, I told the extra men to rearrange the bedroom. Pushing the furniture against the wall and leaning the bed up against it cleared out a carpeted space for her. I had them lay out a blanket on the floor, then put pillows next to any objects she might hit. In the pain of the shift, a person might lash out and hit something.

“How are you doing, Sharkbait,” I asked over the link.

“What happened? Why was everyone so scared?”

“Your mother had a very high fever, and the ice wasn’t helping. Her heart stopped, and they had to use the machine to start it again.”

“She died?”

“The change is dangerous, but we will do everything we can to help her through. You’ll help too, right? You can pray for her and talk to her. Tell her how much you love her.”

“Okay.” She leaned down and started whispering in her ear.

I thanked Luna for her help as a black wolf sat down next to me, his black fur broken only by a few spots of white. I scratched at the ear with the white tip. “Your wolf couldn’t hold back?”

Brent nodded and chuffed. “I would make her nervous if I was in my human form and watching her. She likes me this way, and my wolf won’t settle if she isn’t in sight. I almost lost her before she even knew who I was,” he said.

“Everyone else knows, including Vicki. You wouldn’t have said something about mating and having sex with Liv while Vicki was sleeping, would you?”

“It might have come up talking to others,” he said.Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

“Little wolves have ears, and they aren’t always as asleep as you think. Links are safer around the young ones.”

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

“You have a long road ahead after Liv makes the change. She didn’t grow up knowing about mates, and she won’t understand or trust what her wolf is telling her. Nothing has changed except the strength of the pull she will feel for you. You are still going to have to get her to fall in love with you, and get Vicki to love you as a father.”