Marked Book 3

I had been lying in my bed for the past two hours, thinking. And considering what I had just been told, two hours weren’t much.

I would be twenty-one, maybe twenty-two, when I had my first baby if they had it their way and if I was their Luna. If that baby was to become the next Alpha and found a mate around my age, I would be a grandmother around forty and then a great-grandmother around sixty.

I could become a great-great-grandmother while I was still alive… That was too much food for thought!

I hadn’t even known Shay for that long. Less than a year. And they expected us to raise a child even if we hardly knew each other? This was insane.

I heard someone knock on my door. “I’m not in the mood,” I shouted, but the door opened anyway. “What do you want, Shay?” I mumbled into my pillow.

“I thought that maybe it was time to talk. Just the two of us,” he said and sat on my bed.

“Why?” I accidentally snapped at him. “You guys have already expressed yourself and your expectations of me. Why should I have anything to say?”

He came closer anyway, and eventually, we ended up spooning. He dug his nose into my hair and relaxed.

“I know that this is not what you had in mind for your life, but the traditions are what they are for a reason. It’s not just to make your life a misery.”

I hugged the sheets tighter. “It kinda feels that way…,” I continued to mumble. I was angry, but I also wanted to cry, just not in front of Shay.

“Aren’t these traditions outdated? I mean, we live in the age of science and knowledge. Weren’t those traditions made centuries ago?” I complained without looking at him.

I could hear him sigh. “We never know when we’ll meet our mate,” he began, and I didn’t understand why it sounded like he was trying to tell me a story.

“But there could be extreme consequences for those Alphas who find their Luna at a late age.”

I turned around to face him. “What consequences?” I asked.

“Have you ever heard the tale about the Riverbed pack?” he asked. I shook my head.

“It’s a tale all future Alphas are told around the age of twelve. So we’ll be able to understand how important our traditions are.” He started caressing my arm, and I placed my head on his chest.

“An Alpha is supposed to take the previous Alpha’s place around the age of twenty. We will have spent eighteen years preparing for that moment, and we know exactly how to handle every situation.

“We will have spent two years getting used to our wolves and training for combat. Shifted and not.”

“But the Riverbed Alpha first meet his mate at the age of twenty-nine. He didn’t have any children since he had refused to take any bride other than his fated mate.

“They waited two years before they decided to start their family, and he was thirty-two before he became a father.

“The years went by and their son was only eleven when the first attack happened. A group of rogues had planned an attack on the Riverbed pack.

“Their Alpha had become too weak to be leading the first counterattack.

“A pack always needs a strong leader to lead them into battle, but he couldn’t be that leader, and the warriors died one by one by the hand of the rogues.”

He took a break to kiss my hair.

“They breached their barrier and got inside. Their one and only son died that night. The pack lost their future Alpha.

“The survivors of that brutal night spread across the country looking for another pack to join. That’s why most of us have never heard about them before. They don’t exist anymore.”

That was brutal. All that happened because the Alpha decided to wait? “But what if the Alpha can’t have children?” I asked.

“Then another pack member who has been born under the light of a supermoon will take that place and be brought up as the next Alpha. Like me.”

Right. My mother should have been the Luna of the pack, but she chose us instead. “But Archer mentioned that you were little when my grandfather died,” I stated and turned around to face him.

He sighed again. “It’s a very unusual thing, but your grandfather was an extremely respected man among other packs.

“We haven’t experienced a serious rogue attack in decades, but other packs can also attack if they find a reason to or if the pack is too weak and they see an opening.”

“Why?” I asked. He shrugged.

“Power? Just like humans have always been waging war to gain more power or force a belief. It’s in our nature.

“Not that we will ever go after another pack, but we will have to be ready if the opposite should ever happen to us.”

He had some good points, but it was difficult convincing myself that having a child should be a thing that protects the pack.

“I know that this is going to be difficult for you to understand and accept. It’s important for the pack, but I don’t want to force you into anything that you don’t want to.

“We still have time. It doesn’t need to happen right away,” he said with a boyish smile.

He was being so nice and caring right now. It kinda turned me on, and I could feel that it had been a long time since I had felt him.

I leaned in for a kiss. Just a small one, but it was enough to make him react. “I believe we still have some unfinished business from last week.” He smirked.

“I think we do.” I chuckled impatiently.

He started kissing my neck and slowly kissed his way to my mouth where our tongues started playing. I felt the fire inside me ignite again. More than before.

My body could feel that the season was coming to an end, and it wanted every last action before that happened.

I ripped off his shirt and turned us around so I was on top. I could feel my dominant Alpha wolf seethe under the surface of my skin. Ready to break free if I let her.

I wanted to please him the way he always pleased me. I moved my way down and slowly loosened his belt. “Rieka?” he whispered, questioning. I wanted to do this.

Being in control lit another kind of fire inside me. I kinda liked it. I slid off his pants and crawled back into the bed. He was already very hard.

I could see that he was about to say something, but I didn’t wait. My mouth covered his large shaft, and I started moving up and down.

Shay hadn’t been ready at all. He had definitely been hoping for it, but I don’t think he believed that I would go through with it.

He started groaning wildly. He hadn’t touched me yet, but I was already extremely aroused by the way he reacted to my touch.

It hadn’t been more than five minutes before he grabbed me and ripped me away from my power. He ripped off my pants and placed me on all fours. Without any kind of warning, he entered me.

He was in so deep, and he was already moving faster than my body could handle. It didn’t take long before I came, and he followed shortly after.

“Holy fuck, Rieka…” He gasped before he pulled out and let himself fall to the other side. “Where did that come from?”

My hazed mind had become clear again. I didn’t know where I had found that fire, and it was kinda embarrassing when I thought about it. My body had just taken over.

However, it hadn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. Going down on him. I had quite enjoyed being the dominant one for once.

“I don’t know…” I said and hid behind the pillows. “Maybe it’s because the season is ending soon?”

He grabbed the pillow that I was hiding behind and threw it onto the floor. I could see a smirk on his face again.

“So this was a one-time thing?” he asked playfully. He was still naked and fully exposed. I could feel my face turning red, so I hid it behind another pillow.

“Oh no, you don’t.” He laughed and grabbed me. He pulled me toward himself, and the coldness of his necklace against my back gave me goosebumps.

“Shay!” I shouted, but he didn’t let go. He just held me tighter. “Shay, let me go! I have to put some clothes on!” I panicked.

“Why?” He continued laughing. “So I can’t see your beautiful body?” This boy really knew how to make me blush.

“Shay, please! Everly might still be out there!”

His phone buzzed, but it didn’t make him let go. He could easily hold me with one arm and reach for his phone at the same time.

I couldn’t see anything but continued to try and fight my way out without any luck. He put his phone down again and turned his attention toward me again.

He buried his face in my messy hair and took a deep breath before he whispered, “They’re ready.”