A/N – Okay, so this took a bit longer than the few days I anticipated. Sorry, there was a tree to trim, a Santa to visit, a nephew to be born, a husband's birthday to celebrate, holiday parties to attend, shoes to purchase, etc. And now back to cunnilingus in the forest! Beware lemons this chapter and mature content!
Speaking of which, the last time I emailed with the FF administrators was several weeks ago and I still don't know what the heck is going on since I got the last of the nasty messages from the church lady about my illicit porn. Since I haven't heard back as to whether my story was deemed too scandalous for an M rating, for now I'm just going to continue posting my smut as usual and hope for the best I suppose.
Pimping: I know I rag on my Jake character something fierce this fanfic (and FYI, it's not gonna stop anytime soon) but I really am Team Jacob! And I'm currently really loving Wolfasaurus' Jacob in her sexy and superbly well-written (like legit!) story, Legacy. Which by the way, also contains some fantastically hot Leah & Embry action. And Jacob is paired with a really cool original character, Aurora. I know, I know…those original characters are scary sometimes when they infringe upon our sacred Twilight FF world, so it might help to simply think of Aurora as a super OOC Bella…like better looking, less whiny, more interesting and intelligent and possessing greater depth and strength of character. (Sorry, I can't help it… I only seem to like reading really OOC versions of "Bella" in FF world so for me it honestly helps things along when the author does me the favor of simply writing Bella out of the story entirely. Lol!)
"Breathe!" I heard Paul growl out just before his warm, wet mouth closed over top of my mound, his tongue sweeping broadly over and around my inner folds before using the pointed tip to zero in and trace small slow circles on my pulsing clitoris that was now throbbing away like a ticking time bomb set to detonate.
"Oh, gah," I heard myself wail. "Oh, fuck…oh please…" I moaned, "Aah, god…more…please, Paul?" I begged, arching my pelvis into his assailing tongue. Reflexively I tried to raise my knees and clamp my inner thighs around his head to gain friction but he snarled and held my knees pressed open to the ground. Oh, Taha Aki, this was not the time for teasing!
My first experience giving Paul a blow job had been markedly erotic; way more of a turn on than I'd ever imagined. With the taste of him fresh in my mouth, I was still reeling with the exhilaration of knowing I'd brought him to orgasm with my tongue. On my first try! And he'd even said I was the best he'd ever had. I knew better than to believe it was true…but he'd professed it with such sincerity I could still feel myself blushing with inflated pride.
And now I could hear myself babbling like an idiot as I writhed on the ground and wiggled myself against his wickedly gentle tongue that was doing just enough to make me crazy but not enough to finish me off. The sky was darkening to black above me as I whimpered and pleaded and bucked my hips into his evil mouth like the biggest sex crazed hussy probably to ever get tongued in the middle of the forest…by a supernatural shape-shifting wolf in human form, no less.
Oh, shit, it was all way, way too damn much!
I was losing it. Everything that had happened this week in fact was way too much to actually be believed. And this moment in the woods was just the icing on my full scale descent into insanity cake.
In the last few days not only had I gained a half brother my cheating dad hadn't ever had the decency during my entire life to let me know I had; but said brother just happened to be a shape-shifter designed to destroy vampires who threatened our tribe. I'd forsaken my longtime love and devotion for Jared Cameron at the very moment he chose to finally notice my existence and instead I'd lost my virginity and fallen in love with his fellow shape-shifting wolf, dissolute womanizer, Paul Lahote. As if that hadn't been reckless enough, now I'd readily agreed to let him mark me in some ritualistic manner that involved him biting me on the neck.
I was going to need so much therapy.
And if he didn't let me come soon I was sure the whole reservation was going to know exactly how crazy and depraved my new life had become I was making so much noise now that he'd finally taken pity on me and sucked my clit into his mouth.
Then just as it occurred to me that was precisely what my perverse tormentor most likely wanted, his teeth scraped lightly over my sensitive nub and with a half growl, half-groan he demanded, "Scream for me, baby!" right before his tongue drove straight inside of me and commenced ravaging me with a ferocity that could not be denied.
And I screamed.
I choked and wailed and shouted all manner of primal noises at the top of my lungs straight up to the tree tops. I felt more animal than human myself as I dug my hands into the earth on either side of me and practically howled my pleasure as I convulsed over his conquering tongue. He certainly sounded more beast than man as he growled and rumbled his satisfaction at my response straight inside of me, his tongue continuing to flicker and thrust, lapping up every last drop of me.
And holy fuck he was relentless! He didn't let up for a second, wouldn't permit me to come down. His fingers replaced his tongue, compelling my quivering insides to contract and seize again at his bidding. And fuck if it didn't feel so outrageously fantastic I was okay if I wound up dying from heart failure in that moment on the forest floor!
His lips hummed delightfully over my most sensitive exposed organ, his tongue continuing its gentle exploration as he stroked and twisted two fingers inside of my dripping center until I easily came apart for the third time in a row. Oh, shit! I screamed so loudly I could have sworn I heard legions of small forest animals scatter and scamper in fear for their very lives within a five mile radius.
Finally his mouth released me; mumbling a stream of profanity and fairly coarse observations about my delicious cunt and how well he intended to fuck it if I continued being such a good girl and screaming so nicely for him. His big hands warmed and soothed their way up my trembling torso as he crawled over me until his dark features and glowing golden eyes hovered just above mine. I was shaking like a leaf from head to toe, every muscle in my body seemed to have been activated and pushed past the point of exhaustion even though all I'd done was lie there and get ravished by Paul's mouth. And then that mouth descended upon mine in a devastating kiss as proprietary as it was all consuming. He paused just long enough to allow us both necessary oxygen murmuring, "It's time now," in a deep voice heavy with authority, before plunging his tongue into my mouth once more. I didn't need to ask what it was time for.
Oh, fuck Sue Clearwater! Fuck the telltale signs I was likely holding a one way ticket headed straight to the loony bin!
Fuck imprinting and supernatural puppy breeding. Fuck Really Old Quil and his stupid Latin and his lame insight into my fucking psychopath of a mother!
Paul wanted me. His grey wolf wanted me! They wanted me enough to bite me. That meant something special, right? In the animal kingdom they always bit the ones they loved, didn't they? Hadn't I seen or read about that somewhere?
My mother had never wanted me. My very creation had all but ruined her life. My father had never paid any attention to me. He barely knew me. I'd always been alone. Maggie, my one friend, didn't even want to be around me anymore. Somehow no matter what I did or didn't do, I was always wrong…I was never good enough. I could never seem to make the important people in my life happy.
But I could make Paul and his beautiful grey wolf happy. I just had to let them show their affection by biting me. It would just be like getting a kiss from the grey wolf, I reasoned. It wouldn't even hurt… much.
Would it?
She looked up at me, her beautiful, bleary eyes seeming to regain some clarity as I released her mouth, then dipped back down to brush my lips against her luscious swollen ones just once more. "Is…ah…" she hesitated nervously, "will…will it hurt?" she asked quietly. She flushed even more, as if she was embarrassed to be asking it; or simply ashamed of her own fear.
I felt my head automatically shake in the negative in response. I was such a selfish dick.
"I'll make sure it's the good kind, baby," I clarified, running the tips of my fingers down her cheek to her chin, "just like I did before." She chewed her pouty lower lip and nodded. I ran my thumb over and between her lips, forcing her teeth to relinquish their hold so I could kiss her again.
Fuck, I was a bastard. She trusted me. She was scared, I could smell it…but she still trusted me. What the hell did I know about how it was going to hurt? I'd never marked anyone before!
I couldn't do this. Yet I had to. I was running out of time. And I was running out of the strength to fight against my wolf.
Kim had looked like she was falling apart right in front of my eyes this afternoon, first at Billy's and then in the kitchen with Sue. I knew she was confused. I knew she was scared. Fuck she looked like she'd just been through one of the worst days of her life when I carried her out into the forest. And I was so terrified she would run.
My wolf's thoughts where Kim was concerned were growing more desperate and intense… and more of a puzzle to me. The wolf was terrified she would flee as well…and that she would somehow be hurt in the process. He was chanting louder than ever that we had to claim her for her own protection…for her own good, he insisted. And this was how he wore me down. My resolve to fight him weakened as my fears for Kim's safety took hold.
He kept saying we needed to be her alpha; that we alone could protect her only as her alpha. It didn't make sense to the man in me. It felt wrong to me. My wolf wanted to gain control over her. He wanted to dominate my sweet girl. He was after her submission. A part of me felt so sick that I was ready to indulge some twisted desire of my inner animal to bring my sweet baby girl to heel.
But the wolf didn't see her as I did. It was baffling to me, but I'd come to realize he somehow persisted in viewing her almost as if she were another wolf; a wolf he needed to dominate and bring under his protection…as if she were to be made a part of his pack. He saw her as a danger to herself…dangerous to the whole tribe even, if left outside of our domain.
As I lifted her in my arms and carried her over to the felled log, I couldn't help but feel distressed by my wolf's thought process. Kim wasn't a danger to anyone. She was the most non-aggressive, non-threatening sweetheart of a girl I'd ever known; loving and forgiving to a fault if anything. She wasn't even comfortable admitting her own resentment towards her mother. And I had it on good authority what a fucking cunt that woman had been.
My Kimmie was an angel. And I'd always wanted so much for her to be with me because she wanted me… not because she was bound to me by some ritualistic marking. But the animal desire to claim what was ours was winning out.
Conflicted as I felt over my inner animal's motives for what was about to take place, I also knew I owed much to the wolf with regard to my present position with Kim. I was painfully aware that without his influence I would never have allowed myself to aggressively pursue her as I had most recently done.
I had coveted her for so fucking long; my desire for her never seeming to wane despite how I wished year after year that somehow it would magically abate over time. She had always been too good for me; too precious and wholesome for me to permit myself to sully with my abject unworthiness. I'd tried to slake my hunger to possess her with other girls…lots of other girls. They were never enough to satisfy my aching void.
Over the years I still hadn't exactly worked out how I would ever one day stand by and allow her to be with anyone else when she eventually dated. Yet despite how unconscionably licentious I was, I couldn't quite abide the thought of seducing Kimmie and taking her for my own selfish purposes either. But somewhere in the dark recess of my disturbed mind I'd held a small candle of hope that one day I'd grow into the man deserving of Kim's affections. Even more far-fetched, I'd harbored a childish fantasy that one day she'd seek me out, take notice and look at me the way I'd always pathetically yearned she would...like I was it for her.
It was a grossly improbable possibility, I knew, further reinforced over the years each time she politely shied away from me in the hallway or in class, discreetly looked in the other direction when I tried to acknowledge or engage her. It didn't take superior canine senses to figure out I scared her. Rightfully so…I had always been trouble; and Kim was smart enough to know it.
After I wolfed out I was positively resolute I would never allow myself to claim Kim as my own. I was a wild, angry beast; a supernatural monster capable of incomparable violence. If there had ever been any sliver of hope as to my one day being worthy of Kim, it was obliterated the moment I exploded into a massive ball of fur. Compounded with that was the knowledge of Sam's terrible situation with Leah and Emily as a result of imprinting. I would never allow myself to put Kim in physical or emotional harm's way like that.
But then I saw her in the hallway on the first day of school. And she was so different; not only physically. Outwardly she still displayed her classic timid Kimmie exterior, despite her slight yet distinctive change in physical appearance, but beneath the surface there was something else. Some sort of fucking fire smoldering to life. It called to me. It called to my wolf. And as much as I'd always wanted her before, it was nothing compared to how I craved her when I saw her then. I had to have her. It was beyond choice or reason.
At first I was so fucking pissed. So enraged that after all that time and all those years of mentally masturbating over whether or not I could ever allow myself to lay claim to her, after finally accepting I'd never have her, I'd imprinted on her.
And at the same time as fucking Jared! The moron who hadn't noticed her quietly pining after him for over a goddamned decade! Asshole didn't even know who the hell she was. He didn't even know her fucking name. And he and his wolf just thought they were going to lay claim to my girl? Over my fucking dead body!
Damnit now I was growling again! And I was squeezing her too tightly in my arms. I had to calm the beast in me.
"How…how does it work?" she asked a little shakily. She was nervous. Fuck, she still smelled so scared. I needed to get her relaxed or it would hurt more when I bit through to her muscle tissue.
I brushed my lips across her ear as I positioned her forward facing onto my lap, her legs astride mine. "Just let me make you feel good, Kimmie. Don't think so much, baby, just relax." She nodded dutifully and I felt like an even greater ass.
I didn't deserve her trust. I didn't deserve her.
But I forced those thoughts from my mind as I began running my anxious, greedy hands over her. Eating her out on the forest ground while she'd screamed and clawed her hands into the dirt had ranked right up there as one of the hottest fucking sexual experiences of my existence. It was all I could do not to just ram my stiff prick up inside of her at breakneck speed the moment I withdrew my tongue from her wet swollen pussy. But I had to maintain my composure. I needed to stay focused. I couldn't let my animal out any more than he already was.
Fuck, her skin was so smooth and soft everywhere I never wanted to stop touching her. I massaged the muscles of her upper back until I felt the tightness release from between her shoulder blades, then I worked my hands up and down her spine. I wanted to memorize every inch of her gorgeous back.
And that beautiful neck! My fingers closed around it, stroking up and down gently, coaxing her delicate muscles to release and soften.
She was mine! She would never be Jared's now. He didn't deserve her. He would never love her the way I did.
In truth I honestly believed I would have possessed the strength of will to force myself to back off if I'd actually thought Jared was what she wanted, and what was best for her, no matter what my inner wolf had demanded. But after the way she reacted to me in Chemistry class that first day, after the way she responded to me in the janitor's closet, and after how I saw in Jared's hapless head the way she stopped him before he could bring her to orgasm against the wall of her living room, I knew…I fucking knew she belonged only to me!
My wolf had rejoiced at her early confession that we smelled better to her than Jared did. That knowledge alone had been evidence enough for him that we should claim her. Fuck, he'd wanted to claim her even before that in the janitor's closet. I was pretty sure he might've done so the first time we'd bitten her neck had I not been restraining him so forcefully.
And now all too soon I would sink my canines into that elegant neck until I drew her blood and I would permanently mark her as my own. No one else would ever have her.
Shit, the thought of biting her until I drew her blood was making my dick so impossibly hard I knew that surely had to make me some kind of sick bastard!
Keeping one hand around the back of her neck so I could continue to massage and keep her muscles relaxed there, I opened my legs wider, spreading her open for me while my other hand drifted up in between her thighs. She was already soaking wet, her body trembling as I slipped my fingers lightly along her sensitized folds. Her heart was beating a frantic pace as she panted and arched her pelvis into my evasive fingers.
The urge to just bury my length inside of her and jerk up into her fast and rough until we both came undone was strong as I felt my animal clawing his way to the surface in anticipation. But I would keep him on a tight leash…contain my baser animalistic instinct as much as possible during the claiming. I was already letting the beast in me have his way with Kim in the marking. The marking would be an act violent enough all on its own. I wouldn't succumb to my wolfish instinct and allow the coupling that accompanied it to be as coarse and primal.
I lifted her up by her waist and positioned her over the blunt head of my eager erect member. Again, the primordial instinct to simply slam her down onto me was almost overpowering. And then she started moaning and pleading as I slowly teased her slick entrance back and forth over the tip of my thick head, her arms reaching back, winding around to grab me wherever she could in an attempt to gain leverage, to try and pull herself down until she was impaled.
"Aw fuck!" I growled and I slammed her down onto me, thrusting up at the same time so that I was seated balls deep inside of her in one swift motion.
She screamed.
Oh, fuck me, my wolf liked it! I liked it. And we both knew she had liked it. She clawed at my thighs beneath her own as she wiggled and attempted to grind and bounce up and down on me. Fuck me I couldn't restrain my wolf if she was going to bait him in this way. Shit, if this was how she wanted it…
"Tell me what you want," I snarled in her ear, my restraint on the verge of snapping.
"Ugh…gah…oh…oh…"
"That's not an answer," I groused, sinking my front teeth lightly into her soft earlobe. "Tell me how you want it, Kimmie," I demanded, rolling the heavy weight of her breast roughly in my hand. "Do you want it slow and nice? Hmm? Or fast and hard?"
"Agh…mm…uh…hard," she groaned, "Fas…"
I was lifting her up by the hips and dropping her back down onto my iron shaft before she could even get the words out. She screamed again and it was all the encouragement my wolf needed. I repeated the action over and over at a sickeningly inhuman pace. I reached around and stroked her and felt her walls convulse around me in record time, squeezing me as her fluids gushed around me, begging my cock to seize its own release.
Somehow I resisted. I ceased all movement until her muscles stopped clenching. Her head fell back heavily against my shoulder. She was a quivering, wailing mess, babbling nonsense and swear words as she turned her head to me, her mouth desperately seeking mine.
"Was I too rough, baby?" I inquired solicitously before nipping her plump lower lip between my teeth and then sucking it better. "Mm…I didn't hurt you, did I?"
She shook her head, murmuring a breathy, "Good kind," that caused my dick to swell and twitch inside of her before shrugging and adding shyly, "and I kinda…liked it hard."
Fuck, she was playing with fire and she didn't even know it. I was about ready to demonstrate the meaning of hard in a way she wouldn't soon forget. But in lieu of throwing her forward onto the ground on all fours and pounding into her at wolf speed like her words really made me want to do, I fisted my hand a bit forcefully in her hair and drew her head back even further, tilting it to my advantage so that I could really pillage that sweet mouth of hers. By the time I pulled my mouth from hers, her eyes were so glazed over and dark with lust I was pretty sure she wouldn't object to anything I wanted to do involving having her on all fours. But there was something else I wanted first.
"You love my wolf, don't you, baby?" Maybe I was a jerk for asking it now, but I had to make sure. She nodded, moaning and trying to move herself up and down on me once again. I held her steady and she groaned in frustration.
"Please, Paul?" she begged, already ready for more.
Christ, I loved to hear her beg me like that! Something about my wolf's smell had seriously set her off and turned her on this afternoon. And I was right there with her. But I held her still for now.
"Shh…not yet, angel," I told her gently.
I had to know. I needed to hear it.
So I let my fingers roam down her stomach to just above and all around her wet firm nub, evading where she needed me to be most. I licked along the shell of her ear. "What about me?" I asked, barely above a whisper. "Do you…" I almost choked on my own tongue. Fuck I was such a pansy! I could barely get the words out. "Do you…love me?"
She hesitated for a split second before she nodded and I was pretty sure my heart tripped over a beat. I exhaled in relief then assaulted her mouth with my own again.
"I need to hear you say it, Kimmie." I squeezed her still against me when she once again tried to move and grind herself onto me where she remained impaled, my dick seeming to swell impossibly larger and harder inside of her sweet confines by the second. This time I restricted her movement entirely. "C'mon, baby, just say it for me?" I coaxed, nibbling my way from her ear to her neck. "Please?"
I wasn't sure why I was taking it this far. What was I trying to prove? She'd already given me permission to mark her. She'd already acknowledged she loved me and my wolf.
Jared had repeatedly accused me of manipulating Kim. I knew Sam thought much the same, even if he didn't say it straight out, he felt I was unfairly using sex to influence her emotions. Was I trying to defend my marking of her to them? Did it really prove anything anyway to get her to say things in this manner? Or did it just further support their accusation?
I didn't need to explain my actions to anyone where Kim was concerned. She belonged to me. She had always belonged to me! I wanted her; and I would have her. It was that simple.
And yet I found myself wondering what my dad would say when he found out? Fuck me, why was I thinking about my dad right now?
Maybe it was because he'd made me promise the other night after he'd met Kim that I'd do my best to do the right thing by her.
Jesus Christ, this was the right thing by her, damnit! Why was I doubting it so much? And why would I ever take my dad's advice on how to treat a woman? He'd lost the girl he loved! He hadn't been man enough to keep her. He was the consummate good guy…the quintessential nice guy destined to always finish last and get the shaft in life.
Fuck that shit! I wasn't going to end up like my dad. I'd spent my life striving to be the opposite of my dad.
But did that make me like my mom? Inherently selfish?
Jesus fucking Christ, this is what came of spending too much time training Jake and listening to the sissy thoughts inside of his head!
How could I even consider leaving tonight with Sam without marking her as mine first? Jared had been guarding his thoughts from me more than ever. I didn't trust him. He would be after her the moment I crossed over our border. This was not the time to wuss out!
I felt her hand slide along the side of my jaw, drawing my attention back to what ultimately mattered most. She was looking at me, a shy smile curving her full lips. Her eyes were so beautiful in the moonlight and I could see her blushing a shade darker as she nodded again and mumbled, "Mm-hmm…y-yeah…I… do." Then she shrugged and giggled and made the most goofy, embarrassed-looking expression like I might've expected to see from a twelve-year-old admitting to liking boys for the first time before confirming it again in a whispered, "I do love you, Paul."
I think my heart stopped. My mouth went uncommonly dry and I was unexpectedly at a loss for words. I probably should have said it back. I should have said something. But there was nothing. There were no words.
My mind went blank, as if it lacked the wherewithal to process the meaning of her words. And I could only imagine what kind of horrifically sappy expression was finding its way onto my face at that very moment.
Then I saw my angel's face fall. I heard her heart rate spike. Her eyes reflected something akin to dread or panic as they canvassed my features.
Aw, shit! I realized too late I'd actually been scowling. Oh fuck!
I forced an awkward, tight smile on my lips as I swallowed, muttering stiffly "Good…that's…good."
Good? WHAT?
"I mean…I…uhn…"
Oh, my fucking god! Maybe I could start stuttering and lisping next? Or drop the word 'sorry' a few hundred times in a row? What in fuck's sake was wrong with me?
Her heart was galloping like a racehorse now, no doubt related to the realization she'd just confessed her love to a total douche wad. Shit! Shit! I had no clue how to recover this disastrous crash and burn I'd managed. So I went to work doing what I knew how to do best with a woman…fuck her.
My hand stole further down her stomach to the point between her legs where I was buried within her, pressing and rolling insistently as I drew her head back and attacked her lips with a renewed hunger and savagery that wiped that goddamned look of devastation which would likely haunt me for the rest of my fucking useless life right off her face. I rocked her slowly up and down and she responded just like she was supposed to…moaning and arching against my hand until she was begging and soaking it with her fresh juices. And I prolonged it, I made her whimper and plead as I lifted and lowered her painstakingly slowly along my engorged shaft.
I was so angry. So furious with myself! But I channeled it into regaining the self-control I'd lost…on regaining control over the whole ruinous situation.
I focused every ounce of my energy on coaxing Kim to the point of climax again and again, only to deny her each time, shushing her groans of frustration and chiding her to be a good girl and be patient. I was methodically ruthless in my quest to work her into such a state of unparalleled peak arousal, she'd be so grateful when ultimately I made her come more forcefully than she'd ever had before, she wouldn't care how hard or how many times my wolf bit her neck.
And I might have been a little too calculating, a little too merciless in my mission as I made her writhe and squirm; babble and whimper.
But it felt good. And I felt back in control. And my wolf liked it.
He liked feeling in control of Kim. So I goaded her until she begged me to fuck her. Then I made her bare her neck to me and beg me to mark her. And that was right about the point that my wolf took over control and pressed her forward to the ground on all fours just the way we wanted her.
We spread her wide and raised her off the ground, roaring and pistoning in and out of her where she was so hot and wet and desperate for us to claim her. I'd never bruised her before like Jared or Embry had. I'd prided myself on always being careful not to leave a mark on her anywhere but her neck up until this point. But I was certain I was leaving marks now as I gripped her hips, squeezed her around the waist and pounded my length balls deep into her again and again, my thighs slapping against her fine ass, her cries of pleasure being the only sound louder than my own primal growls reverberating through the forest.
I felt her walls swiftly tightening around me and I hauled her up against me on her knees, hooking one arm around her waist to support her full weight she was trembling so much now. I used my other hand to grip her by the hair as I drew her neck back to connect with my lips. Her soft skin tasted so sweet as I swirled my tongue over it, sucking it reverently into my mouth.
But then thoughts of possessing her, of being Kim's alpha rapidly assailed my senses as my wolf rejoiced and latched onto the top of her vertebral column with a feral voracity that quite frankly scared the ever loving shit out of me!
Fucking Taha Aki this was nuts!
What if my wolf was simply insane? Or completely twisted? What was I even fucking doing? That crazy inner mutt of mine viewed Kimmie, my sweet slip of a girl, as if she was another fucking wolf!
Hell, this was quite possibly the dumbest thing I'd ever done letting my inner wolf lead me down this rose-colored path to fucking sadism in the woods with the only girl I'd ever loved!
What if he bit her too hard? What if I really hurt her?
I felt my jaw go slack against her neck. My wolf howled in torment and despair. Fuck me I couldn't do it!
I didn't need to control Kim. I didn't really want to possess her like that. I just wanted her to love me…enough that she'd never leave me.
I felt her climaxing, heard her screaming through her orgasm as her muscles clenched me so delightfully it tore a grunt from my chest as I jerked and ground myself spastically up into her. Fucking hell! If I was going to mark her it would have to be now. My own release was imminent.
I couldn't do it.
It was with a bittersweet groan of satisfaction combined with anguish that I exploded inside of my precious girl. As carnally exquisite as it was to feel her muscles spasm and choke me and to know that I'd brought her to such a state of bliss, emotionally I'd never felt so fucking impotent before as I swallowed the acrid taste of pure self-loathing over what was likely destined to become the single greatest failing moment of my life.
I'd staked my entire reputation upon the denial of it, but in the final fucking analysis, I was still Kyle Lahote's son. And I'd never hated that fact so much as now as I realized it was that glaring flaw within my make-up that had probably just cost me Kim.
I was a motherfucking nice guy!
I was the loser who would be left behind to forever pine after the one who got away.
In spite of all my efforts to be different I was still no better than him; no more of a man than my dad.
I was so forever fucked.
"Whoa…um…wait just a sec," I put my finger up to halt Leah's seemingly never ending diatribe and took notice that it was oddly blurry. I was almost halfway through my first glass of rez moonshine and already I was having difficulty keeping up with the conversation. Leah seemed to only want to talk about sex…presumably since she was currently in heat. I might have been mistaken but I could have sworn she'd just told me that she'd slept with Jared at one point in time during high school.
"Did you just say you fucked Jared Cameron?" I asked point blank. Wow, that had come out way more crass than I'd intended it to. But it was rather nice just to get right to the point for a change. It occurred to me I never did much of that now that I thought about it.
"Uh-huh." She nodded easily and took another sip of moonshine. "Didn't you know that?"
I shook my head.
"Oh…sorry," she frowned. "Does that upset you?"
I thought about it. I didn't really know how I felt about it actually. At the moment my entire life upset me. So I just shrugged and took another sip of my gasoline. I knew she'd slept with Paul. Between the back and forth comments, innuendos and even the guilty posturing of Paul's grey wolf, I'd already come to terms with that fact. But I still wanted to confirm it.
"You slept with Paul too, right?"
She wrinkled her nose up and winced. "Uh…yeah. Sorry, Kim." She shrugged.
"Nah, it's cool," I reassured her. "I'm not even his imprint." Damnit, even in my high state I could tell I sounded like one of those ultra insecure chicks wallowing in self-pity. Shit, my life fucking sucked.
It had been quite the awkward walk back to Sam's house from the forest. Well, I hadn't exactly walked, Paul had carried me. I wasn't sure I could have walked even if I'd wanted to after all of our intense fornication. It had been a quick walk…er…carry rather as we arrived at Sam's already an hour later than the appointed time he and Paul had planned to leave. Sam hadn't seemed upset over it though. In fact, he and Leah had seemed uncharacteristically contented. Leah had later revealed that they'd enjoyed a healthy round of make-up sex while Paul and I were busy in the forest.
"Don't say that!" Leah exclaimed, sloshing her contraband 'mountain dew' all over my living room carpet as she flung her arm straight up in what was meant to be some sort of silencing gesture but managed to look more like a freaky Hitler salute. "You ARE TOO Paul's imprint!" She shouted in her outdoor voice. "Those three cocksucking elders don't know their wives' asses from their vaginas!"
Oh, my! "Um…none of them have wives, Leah," I stated quietly, wrinkling my nose in distaste at the sheer inappropriateness of the topic, yet feeling bound to point it out nonetheless. "Their wives are all uh…all… deceased."
She mirrored my wrinkled nose expression. "Oops!" She sloshed more moonshine from her glass as her arm made its sloppy descent. "Well, you get the picture anyway," she muttered, rolling her eyes before downing more of the harsh liquid.
No, I didn't know that I did. I was so fucking mystified by Paul's behavior in the woods. I couldn't stop obsessing and reliving the events in my head. He and his wolf had both comforted and consoled me and I'd felt closer and more connected to them than ever before. And then we'd agreed he would mark me, as he'd told me it would bind us together forever in a manner stronger than an imprint bond.
Amid my coital bliss in the forest, after I'd experienced some of the most intensely arousing and exhilarating of sexual copulations with him yet, he'd prompted me tell him that I loved him. And after I'd said it, not only had he not said it back, he'd looked like he was completely infuriated with me for it!
Then he'd all but attacked me sexually, proceeding to arouse me to the point of torment, cajoling me until I did and said everything he wanted from me. My face flushed with shame as I recalled how he'd literally had me begging him to fuck me and mark me. And when finally he'd seemed satisfied, finally when he was delivering on his promise and giving me the best fucking I'd endured yet, he didn't mark me! He'd stopped. He'd sucked and bit into my neck like he had so many times before, but just as the pressure of his jaw was building and I'd sensed the crescendo of anticipated pain was surely imminent, he'd stopped.
He'd stopped just short of marking me. I couldn't deny that in the moment a part of me had been tremendously relieved. I'd admittedly been apprehensive about the whole thing. But then when he hadn't done it after all, another part of me had felt like weeping…felt like practically dying.
He'd made all manner of apologies and excuses for why he hadn't been able to go through with it. He'd said he wanted to wait until he was back. Said he didn't think his wolf would take too well to leaving me so soon after such a profoundly binding act. But none of his excuses rang true to my ears.
My mind registered it as a rejection. He'd changed his mind. I wasn't his imprint. Perhaps ultimately I'd tasted wrong to his wolf? He was wavering as to whether he really wanted me. After all, how could he be sure about shackling himself to the girl Really Old Quil had deemed the wrong one?
"I mean, Paul's clearly some kind of pussy master magician, right? Boy knows his shit," Leah pointed out judiciously.
What? What were we even talking about now? I'd totally spaced out on our conversation. Clearly we were still on the topic of sex though and apparently she thought I wanted to hear her sexual comparison analysis of Jared and Paul's respective skill-sets!
Geez, I knew the moonshine had been a bad idea! But Leah was so proud of herself for finding her dad's secret stash and she was in this oddly giddy, celebratory yet venting mood tonight and had wanted to let loose.
"But then Jared does have this vagina whisperer quality that sort of sneaks up on you," she mused, biting her lip in contemplation.
Oh, this was indeed an odd conversation.
She shrugged. "I mean, they're both pretty adequate fucks, Kim. That's not the problem. The problem is putting up with them the rest of the time, you know, when their dicks aren't in you."
As Leah continued to ramble I formulated a plan as to how I could be in Los Angeles before Paul even got back from his wolf trip with scary Sam on Saturday. I would start packing just as soon as Leah either stopped talking or passed out…whichever came first.
By midnight Leah was crashed out in my dad's room and I was drunk dialing Alison. She was beyond excited to hear from me as she'd been dying to talk to me about how I felt about her new cousin Embry who she was super anxious to meet. She said she was honored I'd chosen to call her the first time I'd gotten myself "shitfaced" as she put it. She listened attentively as I rambled on about how I'd lost my virginity to the biggest man-whore in the Pacific Northwest, squealing her excitement and shock when I told her I'd had sex in the woods earlier that evening in fact, and had gotten myself fingered in a janitor's closet on my first day back at school no less.
She seemed to be impressed and said something to the effect that I'd virtually attained superhero status for having achieved so many orgasms during my very first string of sexual experiences. She asked so many questions about Paul I couldn't keep up. I didn't know the answers to half of her questions anyhow…which made me feel even worse. And then she asked about Jared and what had happened to my feelings for him. I told her Jared had been trying to sleep with me too since I'd gotten back and that he'd almost dry humped me to orgasm against the wall in my living room earlier in the week before climbing through my bedroom window to try and finger me too.
At that point she started laughing hysterically, which prompted me to giggle as well until I was a laughing, sobbing mess. I couldn't tell her what had happened with the embarrassing, aborted marking episode since I couldn't tell her about the fact that La Push was swarming with vampires and werewolves. So I just told her I was scared and confused because everything had happened so fast and I didn't know what the hell I thought about anything or what I even wanted anymore. I told her I just wanted to come live with her and Bennett, Aunt Susie and Uncle Todd until I could figure things out and get my head on straight.
She shrieked with delight and announced it the very best idea I'd ever had. Then she grumbled something about Bennett having gone MIA since leaving for the camping trip he'd taken the week before I'd left, only to call yesterday and cryptically announce he was moving to some shack in the mountains of Sierra Madre. It didn't sound like Bennett and I could tell Alison was hurt, even though she said she was thrilled to finally get the coveted back house that Bennett would now be vacating. She squealed something about how fortuitous it was that I was having my breakdown just when the back house was becoming available so that we could both move in there together. I agreed and tried to sound excited.
Before we got off the phone she'd booked me a ticket for Saturday afternoon using her never ending supply of frequent flyer miles which I guess came of touring Europe every time she needed 'down time' or a 'personal reflection' vacation. She rattled off a list of recommended homeopathic pills and herbal remedies which I had absolutely no way in hell of accessing from the small general store in La Push, much less after midnight, in order to stave off the massive hangover she assured me I would have in the morning. So I settled for taking two aspirin before I climbed into bed.
I awoke to the sound of what seemed to be glass objects crashing and breaking. It was coming from the kitchen…it was always coming from the kitchen. My breath caught in my throat and I was momentarily paralyzed by the fear suddenly coursing through my veins. Oh, god, what now? What had I done this time? What was she angry about? I was so frickin tired. My head was starting to pound from all the banging. I felt tears pricking my eyes just as I heard the muffled sound of pathetic sobbing coming from the other side of my room. What? It seemed to be coming from the closet. I quickly arose and scrambled across my small bedroom to investigate. As soon as I opened my closet door, a sense of relief mixed with supreme irritation washed over me as I knew at once I was dreaming.
Huddled in the corner of the darkened closet lit only by the moonlight was little Kimmie, sobbing her eyes out while packing her clothes into a small pink Beauty and the Beast backpack. I instantly felt annoyed to the point of nausea at the reminder of yet another all too familiar scenario which had played out again and again during my mother's reign of terror. I rubbed my eyes, hoping it would cause me to wake up. It didn't. The crashing noises from the kitchen grew louder and more violent sounding. Kimmie started shaking and sobbing even harder. God, but she was irritating! Damnit, my head really was starting to hurt from all the ruckus.
Wake up, wake up, wake up, damnit!
"It's not real, Kimmie!" I snapped angrily at her. I didn't have time to indulge these nightmares. I knelt down closer to her level on the ground. "She's dead," I reminded her harshly. "Fucking dead, alright? She's never coming back, understand? So just quit it with the stupid packing and help me wake up!"
She stopped. Her big wet eyes looked up at me in obvious confusion as her little shaky fingers swiped at them behind her glasses. I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but add insult to injury by commenting, "Like you ever had the guts to run away anyway."
She shook her head. "But we have to this time!" she insisted, the urgency evident in her quivering voice. "It's the only chance we've got left."
I rubbed my eyes some more. Why wasn't I awake yet? Jesus, this was super annoying! My head felt like it was about to explode.
She kept talking, plotting her childish nonsense out loud as she resumed her packing. "We can still marry Jared…run away with him. He wants us now. He'll help us."
I groaned inwardly. "But I don't love Jared like that anymore, Kimmie. I…I love Paul," I whispered, more to myself than to little Kimmie.
"But Jared's so nice!" Little Kimmie argued. "So perfect! And his mommy puts sweet little notes and cards in his lunch box every day," she pointed out. "Paul doesn't even have a mommy! He's no better off than we are."
Wow…was Paul right? Had that been most of what I'd ever seen in Jared?
"Don't you see what's happening?" Little Kimmie beseeched, "She's stronger than both of us now. I can't stop her anymore."
What the fuck was she talking about? Goddamnit, my head couldn't take any more of this nonsense.
"It's all my fault," she lamented. "I didn't mean to let it slip out…but she saw the nurse lady and I remembered. And now she knows. She knows about the note! And she's so angry…I can't hold her back anymore." She shook her head, more fat tears springing to her eyes, clouding up her glasses. "I can't stop her. She's gonna tear our whole house down. We've gotta get out before it's too late!"
She was acting so hysterical I wanted to slap her now. She wasn't even making any sense. What note? When was our mom mad about a note? What crazy episode was she referring to?
"She's DEAD!" I shouted, holding my throbbing head with both hands. "We found her. We saw her! She was never resuscitated. Mommy died at the hospital. It's OVER!"
Little Kimmie tilted her head in confusion at me as the sounds of more crashing and glass breaking from the kitchen assaulted my throbbing head. "But I'm not talking about mommy," she stated simply. "I know mommy is dead." A weird chill ran through me then as I heard more glass shatter in the distance. "I'm talking about the other Kimmie…the wrong one…the one we locked away."
What? What did she mean, the other Kimmie? Great, now my own subconscious was calling me the wrong one too?
I stood up slowly and turned towards the door of my bedroom. "Wait!" Little Kimmie called to me. "Don't let her know I'm packing!" she pleaded. I didn't look back; I kept moving towards the door. "She'll be so mad!" Kimmie warned as I turned the knob. I knew I had to see who…what…was in the kitchen making all the racket. "She thinks the grey wolf belongs to her…she says we can't leave him!" she shouted after me in desperation.
But I was already halfway down the hallway. Why hadn't I woken up yet? I entered the kitchen to find another pint-sized Kimmie…apparently tearing the whole place apart! The kitchen floor was littered with broken glasses and dishes…another familiar scene from my childhood. Only it was worse, because it looked like little angry Kimmie had broken almost every window in the house as well.
Damn, little angry Kimmie had a good arm on her too! She was busy now winding up and throwing cans of tomato sauce into the wall with the force and speed of a major league pitcher. "Where the fuck is it?" she shocked me by suddenly asking, her head snapping to me.
"Where's the fucking note?" she demanded. Little angry Kimmie had a mouth on her too. "I wanna know what that bitch said!" she practically growled.
I hadn't the slightest notion what the devil she was talking about. "Ugh! Can you please just stop throwing cans and making so much noise?" I asked her dismissively, not in the mood to indulge her drama. "My head's about to explode."
She laughed at me. Then she plucked another can from the cupboard and threw it into the wall with so much force it sounded like cannon fire. And it impacted like a cannon fire…knocking the wall down to reveal our backyard.
"Did you think I'd never find out?" she asked stonily. "Did you think I'd never have my day?"
I rubbed my fists against my eyes. Okay, it was seriously time for me to wake up! This was just irritating and stupid now. I made a dream promise to myself never to drink moonshine again.
Another loud can explosion sounded and I opened my eyes to see the back wall coming down, revealing our neighbor's house and the forest in the distance. Oh, god, my head! It felt like it was being hit with a hammer.
"I'm talking to you!" a clear female voice rang out with authority. I looked and saw a grown woman standing where little angry Kimmie had previously been. It was me! And yet it wasn't me. It was an adult Kimmie…the same age as me, the same hair length and build as me…but she was different…and holy shit…she was beautiful! She looked confident and self-assured. In a strange way she reminded me of Leah.
And she looked really, really fucking pissed!
"You!" she pointed her finger at me accusingly. "You let this happen!"
I just shook my head…I was so lost. I was still caught up and stumped by how gorgeous she was. How could she look just like me and yet look totally different? How could she be so stunning and I wasn't? How the hell did that work? It was like looking into a mirror and seeing my exact image as a completely different person...a better version of me.
Why did she get to be in the beautiful people's club and not me?
"You've been letting a scared little girl who hides in her closet make decisions that affect all of us!" she shouted at me, the most incredulous look on her face like I was the world's greatest idiot.
Fuck my head hurt!
"And it stops here! Do you understand? It fucking ends right now," she swore.
"You're not real…and this is just a dream," I mumbled. "I'm gonna wake up now."
She was so angry. But beyond the anger, there was hurt. I saw her eyes glass over and brim with moisture. Again she reminded me of Leah. Why did she get to look so good when she was crying?
"I was never wrong," she told me softly, with conviction. "Nothing I did…nothing I felt was ever wrong. You did this to us. You didn't want to know…you didn't want to feel the things I felt…the things I had to feel for both of us!" Her voice dropped to a whisper, "But you're going to feel them now."
"You're making my head hurt," I replied rather stupidly. I didn't like her. She made me feel inferior…like a dumb kid. And why did she get to be the pretty one if we both looked the same? This made no sense.
And she was causing my head to throb!
She snorted. "You're fucking right I am." She chuckled and plucked another can of tomato sauce from the shelf. She tossed it straight up lightly and caught it easily a few times while she studied me…an oddly blank, emotionless look on her face as she did so. "That's my warning knock," she advised after a pause. "It means, get the fuck out of the way. I'm coming out."
I squinted at her as I felt my brow creasing in confusion. Shit she was bizarre. Why wasn't I awake yet!
She grimaced slightly. "Don't make that face. You look constipated."
Huh?
Before I could process her rude comment…or anything at all…she wound up again and released another can…straight at my head!
I awoke in a cold sweat to a migraine headache so violent it had me rushing to the bathroom and heaving into the toilet for the rest of the night. I took aspirin, but it only made me more nauseous while doing nothing for my head pain. I ate some crackers to try to settle my stomach. It didn't work. I threw up again.
I went back and forth between the bathroom and my bedroom so many times during the night I finally settled on grabbing a blanket and pillow and curling up inside of the tub. The cold porcelain felt good against my heated skin and I wound up tossing the blanket off and passing out for about an hour before my blasted alarm clock sounded that it was time to get up for school.
I tried to get up and get ready but I was so weak and any movement whatsoever seemed to make me want to hurl again. An hour later I was still curled up in the fetal position in the tub when Embry came to collect me and take me to school. He laughed his ass off when he realized Leah and I had been drinking moonshine and teased me mercilessly before heading out, promising to come back to check on me after school.
Leah awoke hours later, suffering her own hangover headache. I was still huddled in the bathroom. Her first reaction to my unspeakable head pain was to literally jump up and down in excitement before clutching her own pounding temple. She took my migraine as proof that I was indeed Paul's imprint and a part of the pack.
She hung out for most of the day, fetching me water and crackers, holding my hair and rubbing my back as I barfed. She draped old blankets and towels over the windows to block out whatever light the blinds didn't. She finally left when Embry came over after school, rambling apologies and regrets for being committed to helping her mother by volunteering at the clinic that evening.
Embry was poor company for a migraine as it turned out. He was jonesing like some imprinted crack addict coming off of his fucking Bella high. He told me all about how he'd deduced during the meeting with the elders that he'd in fact imprinted on Bella Swan.
Shocker of the century! Who would have fucking guessed the way he'd always carried on about her?
I really wanted to be happy for him, he was so excited. But I felt so damned awful and his imprinted bliss was more salt in my wound. And so I told him about what Really Old Quil had said…that I wasn't either Paul or Jared's imprint. He laughed and dismissed it, saying Really Old Quil had been insane for as long as he'd remembered and that I shouldn't take anything he'd said seriously. He said he was positive from seeing in Paul's head that I was clearly Paul's imprint. But with that goofy perma-grin he had plastered on his face as he bounced about on his heels speaking incessantly of his love for Bella until I wanted to vomit just for the excuse of drowning him out with the toilet flusher, it was seriously hard for me to give merit to anything he said.
And he kept sniffing at me like a weirdo, informing me several times that I smelled funny. Yeah! I'd been puking all day! Had imprinting killed half his brain cells too?
As evening set in and I was becoming convinced Old Old Quil had put some wicked hex on me and that all of the spirit warriors were now conspiring against me, Embry received an alarming phone call from Bella. She was calling from the ER at Forks Hospital where she'd just gotten several stitches in her hand after tripping over her own foot and falling down a small flight of stairs at the rear entrance to Newton Olympic Outfitters.
Yesss! Maybe it was evil of me to be happy about her misadventure, but it was just the blessed excuse I needed to convince Embry to rush to her side and leave me the fuck alone to wallow in peace! After he left I must've fallen asleep for a tiny spell I realized as I awakened to the sound of wretchedly loud banging at the front door. I found that I had somehow passed out gracelessly in the middle of the hallway in between vomiting episodes.
My head hurt so much I could barely stand. "Coming," I whisper shouted as I weaved and stumbled my way to the front door. If whoever was on the other side didn't stop banging my head surely would explode. I fumbled with the locks as I felt another wave of nausea wash over me. As I turned the knob with my right hand, my left hand clamped tightly over my mouth and I had to haul ass back down the darkened hallway to the bathroom before I accidently threw up on my unknown visitor.
I was hovered over the toilet violently puking up stomach acid and the few measly crackers I'd eaten earlier. God, I was so wretchedly miserable. I felt large, warm hands rub over my back soothingly. Gentle fingers carefully gathered and held my heavy, long hair out of the way.
Paul? Was it Paul? My stomach somersaulted in excitement, causing me to upchuck again. It didn't smell like Paul…although I wasn't able to smell much with my head buried in the toilet surrounded by my own vomit.
A warm hand pressed tissues into mine. Was it Embry?
I started to cry again I felt so terrible. So lost and alone. Knowing it was at least one of the pack made me feel instantly better, even if also more emotional. Had Embry sent Jake over to check on me?
I raised my head once the nausea had subsided and my eyes fell upon Jared's beautiful, concerned features. "Aw, Kimmie," he commiserated, shaking his head. "C'mere, sweetie." He pulled me onto his lap and I sobbed against his chest while he held me and shushed me. I was suddenly even more overcome with emotion because it was Jared and not Jake. I was so happy it was Jared and I clung to him with the small amount of energy I had left.
"It's gonna be okay," he kissed my crown. "I brought you something." He set me gently down onto the tile. "Just wait right here a minute, okay?" I nodded, sniffling.
After he left the bathroom I heard him rummaging in the kitchen, opening cabinets and turning the faucet on. I held my head. Even that noise was too much right now. He returned with a glass of water and presented me with a round, orange pill. "Take this, its prescription strength for migraines."
I shook my head. "But Leah said your mom's migraine pills don't work for her." My eyes widened as I realized what I'd just said. Jared just busted up laughing.
"Sorry," I croaked stupidly.
"S'okay," he shook his head, still grinning widely. "I know Leah's probably tried every pill in my mom's bathroom cabinet. But it so happens this didn't come from my mom's bathroom medicine cabinet." He held it close to my lips, waiting for me to open my mouth. "Please? Just take it for me, Kim." His big brown eyes begged as he added, "It's so hard for me to see you in pain like this." I opened my mouth and let him place the pill on my tongue. He held the glass to my lips and I swallowed it down with a gulp of water.
"What is it?" I asked like an idiot after the fact.
"Relpax, 40 milligrams," he informed, holding the water to my lips again and encouraging me to drink.
I nodded, even though that information had meant absolutely nothing to me.
"It works fast. It'll probably make you drowsy, so we should get you ready for bed, okay?"
I nodded. "If I run a bath for you can you manage it by yourself?" he asked, tucking my hair behind my ear. I nodded again. "Good," he smiled. Jared had always had such a beautiful smile. I was already starting to feel better.
Jared brought me towels and a fresh change of sleep clothes. I managed a quick, cool bath, as I was still uncomfortably hot. I definitely had to be running some kind of a fever. By the time I'd changed into my sleep shorts and tank and scoured my tongue and teeth, admittedly my head was feeling a lot better already. And I was definitely drowsy.
Jared was waiting on the other side of the door as I exited the bathroom. He helped me to my room and tucked me into bed. Then he sat on the side of it, smiling sweetly down at me as my eyelids grew so heavy I could no longer hold them open. I managed a whispered "thank you" before I succumbed to their weight.
"You're welcome, honey," he murmured as his warm lips brushed across my cheekbone. "I'm just relieved you're feeling better." I felt the very tips of his fingers dance ever so gently down the midline of my forehead and across the bridge of my nose repeatedly. I hummed my approval, far too tired to speak, but not wanting him to stop.
He didn't. His magical fingers moved on to press and massage points along my brow bone. Jared Cameron was a saint! He was my best friend in the world right at this very moment and I felt like telling him I loved him for taking my horrid headache away. But I was already halfway to dreamland I was so tired from not sleeping much in the last 24 hours. I couldn't muster up the energy to say anything, so I just hummed in appreciation again.
It seemed a moment later I felt his hot breath against my ear. "I'll stay just until you fall asleep, sweetheart," his deep throaty whisper tingled against my neck. His fingers were massaging my scalp now. I didn't even remember when they'd moved from my forehead.
Somewhere in my drowsy state the thought of him leaving caused me unparalleled panic. This was the best I'd felt in the last 24 hours. I forced my eyes to open as wide as I could manage. I wanted to say "no" but all I managed was a petulant, whiny groan.
He got the message though. He chuckled, "Then I'll sleep on the couch," he capitulated. I let my eyes drift shut again. "Don't worry, honey," he breathed, his full lips pressing to my temple, "you're gonna be okay now, I promise."
A/N – Nobody panic, please! Keep in mind I'm extremely aware of the fact Notashamedtobe will hunt me down and beat me, not to mention withhold Paul penis if I let Kimmie shag Jared. And in case you were wondering, the Sam/Leah smutty outtake takes place whilst Paul & Kim are playing in the dirt this chapter. (Which explains Leah's improved mood.)
The next chapter contains a LOT of major events, including wolf-boys battling it out and jumping rank, two fursplosions and an imprint. Hopefully I've outlined the next chapter better than I did this one and it doesn't end up as three enormous chapters under the same title…because that would be lame. This is also me setting you up for the fact it could take a few weeks to bang out the next update amid the craziness of the season.
Happy holidays, everyone! Thanks so much for reading my story, for your fabulous support and "favorites" and for all of your wonderfully thoughtful and witty reviews! :D