Thoreau - Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Leo
Over Gelo's delicious dinner of sausage penne, Emerson explained how the alphas divided up the jobs for tomorrow. Unsurprisingly, they wanted to take care of the prison before the hunters got around to transporting their victims to the lab. Alpha Jayden planned to leave at dawn to do that and was taking along Gelo, Sara, Zayne, Zayden and Beatrix.
No surprises there, Ruby snorted. Gelo won't be left out of a fight anymore than Quartz will.
I nodded in agreement. I didn't know Alpha Jayden's wolf personally, but nearly everyone in the kingdom knew him by reputation, and missing a fight was not a part of it. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Alpha Mason didn't want to delay any longer to deliver the king's verdict to Thoreau's parent, so he was also leaving first thing in the morning. He asked Poppy and me to go with him, me in case he needed back up and Poppy in case there was something witchy going on at Gray Shadows, and we agreed immediately.
We didn't even need to talk it over. Both of us wanted to bear witness to the justice our best buddy deserved.
Shortly after all of us departed, Alpha Cole planned to pick up Maria and Ariel, then head off to Cold Moon to investigate something going on with the luna there, and Alpha Wyatt was stuck at alpha offices doing paper work, which I knew from experience was a real fun time.
As for Alpha Ash, he and the luna were going to introduce Thoreau to a therapist and a wolf. Both were from Royal Pack and might move in with us.
That last part was a surprise for Thoreau. Emerson linked me the bare bones of the story, saying I could share it with Poppy later.
About three months ago, one of the pack's allies, Alpha Liam Swift of Crystal Caverns, called for help. As the only one available at the time, Alpha Jayden and Everett Breckenridge, Alpha Ash's beta, gathered a squad of warriors and hustled over there to find a group of hunters had released a pack of hellhounds in the center of the territory as a distraction while they captured and carried off several pack members.
I scowled when Emerson mentioned hellhounds. They were much more formidable foes than direwolves. They breathed hellfire and, unless you had a divine weapon or power, you needed to kill them two or three times before they returned to the infernal plane.
Emerson went on to explain that Alpha Liam and his warriors continued fighting the hellhounds while Alpha Jayden and his troops went to find the hunters.
When they did, Alpha Jayden shifted and let Quartz do what he does best, and that's when it happened. Emerson paused for a moment and swallowed hard, blinking quickly.
His upset must have leaked into his mate bond because Gelo put down his fork and wiped his mouth on his napkin, then wrapped his mate up in a tight hug.
"Why's Bubba get all the hugs all the time, Gelo?" Thoreau asked, drawing all our eyes to him. "I'm right here, too!"
I bit back a smile. He wasn't a very tidy eater and had tomato sauce everywhere. There was even some on the front of his t-shirt, despite the napkin tucked into his collar. It was always hard to take his adorable scowl seriously, and I certainly couldn't do it when the lower half of his face looked like he'd chomped down on a tube of fake blood leftover from Halloween.
"I'll give you all the hugs after dinner, cucciolo," Gelo promised, and that doused Thoreau's jealousy enough for him to nod and go back to his penne.
Sorry. It's a tough memory, Emerson linked me as Gelo leaned down and kissed his forehead before sitting down again. Anyway, after everything was resolved, Alpha Jayden came home with Ev's dead body and a whole and functioning wolf.
What do you mean? My face wrinkled up in confusion.
One of the hunters shot Ev right as he was shifting. No one can explain how, but Ev died and Spring survived.
Spring's his wolf? I clarified.
Yeah. Ah, when I said functioning, that might have been generous. Physically, nothing was wrong with him, but he was shut down in every other way. Our alphas knew they had no help for him here, so they took him to Royal Pack and gave him over to the care of the elders and a therapist named Dr. Alonzo York. He's the one coming here to evaluate Reau tomorrow, by the way, and he's bringing Spring with him.
I thought about that for a second.
And Spring is stable now?
King Julian himself visited him and talked with Dr. York, Emerson replied. In both of their opinions, Spring is perfectly sane and capable of interacting with the pack again. And Dr. York thinks it will do Spring good to make special friends with someone - probably the only someone in the whole kingdom - who can relate to his trauma.
I smiled as I imagined Thoreau's reaction when he met a new wolf was going to be his special friend. I just hoped Spring was a mature and patient wolf and not one of the immature ones who were either trouble-making daredevils like Alpha Wyatt's wolf Granite or naive, inarticulate babies like Alpha Ash's wolf, Obsidian, or Beta Tyler's wolf, River.
I didn't believe there was anything wrong with either of those categories of wolves. I just felt they weren't what my little buddy needed.
It's a great idea, Em, and I hope it goes well.
Thanks. Me, too.
"Oh, Poppy, before I forget," Gelo said as he picked up his fork again, "my sorella (sister) Sara dropped some clothes off for you. She's the same size as you, so everything should fit well. She said to tell you that the underthings are all new, although I don't know why that would be a matter of concern."
Because he doesn't know anything about vaginas, Ruby smirked, then replayed the memory of Thoreau's earnest face as he gave us sex advice.
You never know what that kid's going to say next, I chuckled with a little shake of my head.
"Thank the Goddess!" Poppy chirped. "If I have to go another day without a bra, my melons are going to sag to my knees!"
Thoreau looked at her for a second, then turned to Gelo, and I knew what he was going to say before he even opened his sauce-rimmed mouth.
"Melons? Are we having melon for dessert? I love honeydew and watermelon, but not as much as strawberries!"
Poppy and I exchanged an amused look as Gelo blinked at the boy a few times and Emerson hid his chuckle in a fake cough.
"No, for dessert, Em and I are taking you out for ice cream," Gelo told him.
As the kid cheered, Emerson shot me a smirk with devils dancing in his dark eyes.
We'll make sure to be gone at least an hour, he linked me and looped Gelo in. Better you have an empty house to find out if she's a screamer.
Cazzo (fuck)! Gelo growled. I am not creative enough to work screams into the 'ghost in the attic' story!
We'll do some sound-deadening in his room, Emerson chuckled, or move him upstairs.
He won't like being the only one on the third floor, I pointed out.
You can always gag her, Gelo said with a completely straight face.
My ears burned at that image, and Emerson snickered, and Thoreau's head swiveled toward him in an instant.
He is so in tune with his brother, Ruby marveled. He notices every little thing beta does and says.
Em's his rock. His anchor. I shrugged. He's probably going to be hypersensitive to him for a while until he feels safer and more secure about living here.
"What's funny, Bubba?" Thoreau demanded.
"Just happy that you're happy, honey. Now go wash your hands and face and change your shirt for a clean one, then we'll head into town, okay?"
"Yay!"
He scrambled out of his seat and ran toward the doorway, then slid to a stop and did a u-turn. Running back, he went around the table and high-fived Emerson, Gelo, and me, then gave Poppy a messy kiss on the cheek before he leaned down and whispered something in her ear in such a soft voice that I couldn't make out his words.
"What did he say?" I asked her when he took off running again.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she smirked as she wiped off the tomato sauce Thoreau had smeared on her cheek. "He whispered because he obviously didn't want anyone else to hear. I'm not going to betray his trust when I only just earned it."
Stabbing a noodle, she lifted her fork and slowly wrapped her lips around it, then just as slowly drew the pasta into her mouth and chewed it, her eyes never leaving my face.
Damn! When did pasta get so sexy! I grumbled as I watched her swallow.
Then her pink tongue darted out and licked her fork in long, unhurried strokes before she put the tines between her lips. Her cheeks hollowed out as she sucked on the tip of her fork, and sweat beaded up on my forehead.
Well, hell! Did someone turn off the air conditioning?!
Ruby chuckled at me.
Instead of watching your mate give a blowjob to a fork, take her upstairs and tell her to give you one, he advised.
You know, wolf, I think I'll do just that, but only after I give her a taste of her own medicine.
Pushing my chair back, I looped an arm around her waist, dragged her onto my lap, and ignored her soft grunt of displeasure at being separated from her food. After I got her settled on my thighs and off my hard-on, I kept one arm around her hips and slid her plate closer with my free hand.
"Let me help you, little vixen," I murmured as I loaded up my fork with noodles.
"I'm a big girl, Leo. I can eat all by myself and everything!"
"What did I tell you about that sass hole?" I breathed in her ear and smirked as little goosebumps popped up on her neck. "Now be a good girl so you're rewarded instead of punished later."
"Oh? Is Daddy going to spank me?"
"And that's our cue to leave." Gelo leapt up and grabbed Emerson's shoulder, pulling him to his feet, too.
To be honest, I forgot they were even there, so lost was I in the softness of the woman in my lap and her crisp lemon mate scent and the tingling mate sparks.
"Go slow and don't rush, you especially, Leo," Emerson advised as his mate dragged him away. "And if you need lube, there's a new bottle in the downstairs bathroom cabinet."
"People have been mating for many centuries, Em," Gelo growled. "I'm sure they'll figure it out."
"Figure what out?" we heard Thoreau's voice from the hallway.
"And make sure you establish a safe word before you get kinky!" Mother Hen Emerson called, ignoring both his mate and his little brother.
He should have known better.
"Leo and Poppy are getting kinky? Can I watch? What's kinky, anyway, Bubba?"
The sound of the front door opening cut into the middle of the boy's questions, then we heard all three of their voices getting farther away before the door closed.
"Thank the Goddess," I snickered. "I really did not want to hear them try to explain kinky to him."
"I would have loved to have heard that," she disagreed with a giggle. "I bet they work it into the ghost st—
Raising my loaded fork, I crammed the pasta into her open mouth before she could finish her sentence.
"I told you it would be the first hole I'd fill to overflowing tonight," I teased her.
As she choked a little on the enormous amount I'd shoveled into her mouth, I chuckled.
"Too much for you take all at once, hmm? Well, don't worry, baby. I'm up for helping you stay on top of anything hard." Laying the fork back on the table, I picked up my napkin and held it up to her mouth. "You want to spit or do you think you can swallow it all?"
With a low growl, she elbowed me in the ribs and whirled around to scowl at me, but her cheeks were stuffed full and puffing out like a chipmunk's, and I snickered.
"Look at your little mouth, chewing so hard and fast!" I cooed. "Good thing I didn't offer you a big, long piece of sausage, isn't it?"
She tried to screech my name with her mouth full and it came out as, "Eo Hawder!", and I lost it.
"Baby, you can scream, 'Leo, harder!' all night if you want," I guffawed, probably a little too loudly for the dirty talk I was attempting, but I hadn't been this amused in years. "Speaking of which, I can't wait any longer to get you naked, even if your mouth's still stuffed full of penne."
Holding her in my arms as I stood, I headed for the stairs, but only got halfway up them before she finally swallowed.
Look out, Ruby tittered, something I had never in my life heard him do. Her sass hole is free again.
"It was full of penne, but now it's about to be full of penis," she growled and her black eyes flashed, exciting me even more.
Then she wiggled around until her hands gripped my shoulders and her legs wrapped around my torso. Pressing her chest against mine, she buried her face in my neck and began laying open-mouth kisses up and down my throat, her lips making damp little noises as they suctioned onto my skin.
"Are you looking for the place to mark me, little vixen?" I rasped, a hot wire of want stabbing my groin.
"Of course," she purred as she switched to the other side of my throat.
Reau's going to wonder why you're covered in bruises, Ruby snorted.
You'll have to heal them. No way am I trying to explain hickeys to him!
By the time we reached our room, she'd found the right spot, and I was shaking with the need to mate her. I kicked the door closed and took a second to lock it just in case Thoreau forgot and tried to barge in later.
"Mark me, baby," I groaned as I fell with her onto the bed. "Mark me so I can mark you."
"With pleasure," she purred, her face still pressed into my neck.
Then two little pinpricks pierced my skin, making me grunt, but the pain soon turned to delirious pleasure, and I nearly busted a nut right then and there.
After she lapped up the blood and sealed the mark, I raised myself up on my elbows and stared down at her lovely face as I tested out the new link in my mind.
Can you hear me, Poppy?
Mm-hmm. Now mark me so you can mate me, my big, bad wolf. I want to feel you inside me.