Page 27 of Forsaken (The Nightwolf Pack #3)

CHAPTER 27

N oah

She’s still trying to get away from us.

My wolf prowls inside of my chest as I watch every move Serafina makes from the back of the classroom.

For the past week, ever since I found that damn burner phone in her bag, I’ve been a constant at her side during the day. At night, I’ve taken to sleeping in my own bed again.

A fact that has my wolf calling me a stupid asshole every night.

Take her. Make her ours!

I grunt as I, not so patiently, remind him to calm the hell down since we’re in a classroom full of children. Many of whom keep glancing over their shoulders at me, uneasily. They likely can sense that my wolf’s on edge.

From the front of the classroom, Serafina glares at me when she thinks no one is looking at her.

“Alpha Queen, are you angry with Alpha Noah?” one of the little girls asks while the children line up for afternoon dismissal.

Obviously, she wasn’t hiding her disdain very well.

I tilt my head to the side, staring at her intently, waiting for Serafina’s answer as well. I also see the way she flinches anytime one of the children calls her Alpha Queen.

Ours!

I press a hand against my chest, in an attempt to appease my wolf. He remains unsettled, which I can’t blame him for. My human side is as unsettled as my wolf side.

“Of course not, Teresa,” Serafina answers the little girl. “Now, let’s put your coat on. Your mom should be outside waiting for you.”

“Then why do you keep looking at him like that?” Teresa asks in the way children who don’t give a damn about anyone’s privacy do.

I don’t bother to hide the grin that crosses my lips. Serafina isn’t great at hiding her emotions. She’s pissed that I’ve been here all day every day since the finding of her phone.

That’s too damn bad.

She lied and now she’s paying the consequences. I’m not about to let her slip through our fingers. Not now.

Not ever.

“It’s nothing,” Serafina says, zipping Teresa’s coat.

“But—”

“I think Alpha Noah probably did something to make Alpha Queen mad and he hasn’t apologized for it,” Charles, one of the most outspoken children in the class, tells Teresa.

Somehow a group of children has formed around them, all of them taking Charles’ word as some sort of law.

“That’s what happens when my mom is mad at my dad.” Charles looks over at me. “My dad just buys my mom flowers and her favorite cookies from Ms. Margareet’s coffee shop and then she’s not mad anymore. Maybe you should do that, Alpha Noah,” he offers.

I rise slowly from my seat. Thankfully, I found a larger desk and chair a few days ago, so I don’t have to spend my entire day crammed into a seat made for someone a third of my size.

“You think so?” I ask, my eyes on Serafina who’s doing her best to ignore me and focus on dressing the children.

“Yeah, my dad says?—”

“Okay, children, I bet all of your mommies are excited to see you,” Ms. Sheila interjects. “Remember to have your parents sign your permission slips over the weekend. Or else you won’t be able to go on the field trip in two weeks.”

The children all yell their agreement to have their parents sign. Ms. Sheila nods at me before telling Serafina she can head out for the day, as she normally does.

But my stubborn mate attempts to follow the line of children out of the door. That is, until I get in her way, blocking the doorway with my body.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

My mate answers with a roll of her eyes before spinning away from me with a sigh. I watch the sway of her hips in the black trousers and a light green shirt she’s tucked in at the waist.

She’s paired the professional outfit with the dark blue smock that marks her as a teacher’s assistant of an elementary school.

Staring at her pisses me off because it's a reminder that even though I’m still angry at her for lying, I’m ridiculously and uncontrollably enamored by her.

I want her every second of every day.

Yet, she’s still dead set on getting away from us.

Serafina suddenly spins to face me. “What are you growling for? I’m just changing out of my smock and into my jacket,” she says.

I don’t reply to her question.

“Let’s go.”

“What if I don’t want to go?” She folds her arms across her chest and starts tapping her foot.

“For the love of Mother Moon!” The woman is exhausting. “I have work to do.”

“Don’t for the love of Mother Moon me. You don’t even have to be here. I’m not the one stopping you from working.”

“Like hell you aren’t.” I clamp my mouth shut to keep from yelling. I hate that when it felt like we were making progress, we’re back to this bickering bullshit again.

She’s so damn frustrating. “Let’s go, please. I have to make a stop at my workshop before we go home.”

“You could just let me go home by mysel—” Her eyes narrow when a growl from the back of my throat silences her.

“I don’t want to throw you over my shoulder again, considering most of your colleagues haven’t left for the day, but I swear I will. Don’t test me.”

She sucks her teeth and slams the closet door. “Oh wait, maybe you wanted to check in there before I lock it up for the day, huh?” she asks, sarcastically. “Might want to inspect my work closet for Mother Moon knows what.”

“Why? Are you hiding another secret phone in there?”

She tosses up her hands, sucking her teeth.

Ms. Sheila stops abruptly right after entering the classroom. “Oh, you’re still here?”

“We’re just leaving,” I tell her. I wrap my hand around Serafina’s waist and escort her out of the classroom. My body is primed for her to push me away or try to get away herself. I meant what I said about throwing her over my shoulder. Again.

Lucky for her, Serafina doesn’t try any bullshit as we walk to my truck. She silently gets in as I hold the door open for her, not looking at me, but not trying to run.

The fifteen minute drive to my workshop is done in silence. As much as I wish I could say I prefer it that way, I don’t.

I want to hear the sound of Serafina’s voice.

“We’ll be here a little while since there are some orders I need to fulfill.”

I hold the door open for my mate, who ignores the hand I offer to help her down from the truck.

“Stubborn woman.”

“Huh!” she snaps “You’re one to talk.”

I punch in the code to unlock the door of my shop. We’re closed this Friday, so that I have enough time to complete orders and to take care of some pack business. However, since I’ve spent the past few days watching over Serafina, making sure she doesn’t try to run away, I’m even more behind.

“How long are we going to be here?” she asks, spinning on me as soon as I close the door behind me.

“As long as we need to be.”

I move around her, heading over to the door of my back office. “Don’t try to get out, either. We’re locked in from the inside and you don’t know the code.”

“Bastard.” She says it so low that an ordinary human wouldn’t have been able to hear her. But I do.

“You made me this way,” I reply without thinking.

“I didn’t do anything.” She whirls on me, moving in front of me, getting in between me and my office. “Need I remind you, that you’re the one who tossed me over his shoulder, ripping me away from my home, stole my phone, and my bow and arrow, by the way. I’m the one who should still be pissed.”

“And you lied,” I remind her, none too gently. “Even after …” I clamp my teeth together. “After we were moving past all of that, you still hid that phone from us. Who were you calling?”

“You’re still hiding my phone from me and my bow and arrow,” she counters. “You three won’t let me out of your sight for more than a few hours. Now, not at all.”

“What the hell do you need a bow and arrow for?” I demand to know. “Especially a freaking silver arrow.” I shake my head in disgust.

She throws a hand up, waving it. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Something in her tone piques my curiosity. While I’m still pissed, I become more inquisitive than angry.

“Tell me,” I tell her. “What the hell is the big deal with the bow and arrow? It’s not like you’re in any danger from us or anyone in our pack.”

Again, she wags her head and attempts to turn away from me.

“No.” I grab her by the hips, keeping her turned toward me. “What is it?”

“Why? Why do you want to know?”

“Because I want to know you.” My heartbeat presses against my ribcage. “Tell me why the damn bow and arrow is so important to you.”

She stares me in the eyes, contemplating or sizing me up. “Because …”

“Because, what, Serafina?”

“It makes me feel safe.”

I narrow my eyebrows.

“Do you know what it’s like growing up among a group of people who can transform into wolves at will when you can’t?” She shakes her head before answering her own question. “No, of course not, because you have a wolf. An alpha wolf. The rest of the pack follows your lead.

“Not me. At first, it wasn’t a big deal. When we’re young none of us can shift. But the older I got all of my friends had their change and were able to go out on pack runs, even in their human forms they got stronger and more capable physically. They healed quicker than I did. And most of them found their mates …”

Her eyes meet mine before she looks away.

“Well, I never had any of that.”

My heart constricts in my chest. “You always had …” I trail off because it’s a lie. She didn’t always have us. We walked away from her. Ronan and me because …

It doesn’t matter why now. The point is, we left her alone.

“My bow and arrow were all I had to keep me safe. To make me feel like in a world of wolves, I still had value.”

I cup her face.

“You always had value,” I tell her fiercely.

She pulls away, and I allow her. “I kept my bow and arrow close as protection.”

“From who?” I doubt that anyone in the Nightwolf pack would dare harm her, but I swear I’ll break the spine of any motherfucker who tried it.

“No one.” She shrugs. “Everyone.” She turns her attention back to me. “No, no one in the Nightwolf pack … I don’t think.”

I cock my head to the side, cracking my jaw as heat rises up the back of my neck. “Who?” The one-word question comes out darker than I anticipated.

“No, I … No one. Seriously,” she emphasizes, possibly picking up on my rising anger. “The Nightwolf pack has always been like family, but I’ve just always had a sense of needing to look over my shoulder. Like there was some danger lurking, somewhere, but I could never identify it.

“When I told my aunt this, she tried to convince me I had nothing to worry about. But soon after, she started teaching me how to use a bow and arrow. She told me that the arrow would be my form of protection. The one you all took from me is the same bow she …”

Her voice trails off, and I feel like shit.

Not once had I stopped to think what it would feel like to grow up among a pack of wolves without the ability to shift, yourself. Couple that with the abandonment from me and Ronan …

Anger pulses through me. At myself for not seeing this before. For not completely understanding what she needed. I can carve the sleekest coffee table or design a baby crib with my eyes closed but I can’t see what my fucking mate needs.

I feel like complete shit. Especially when Serafina continues.

“As for the phone, I used it to keep in contact with Ms. Elsie.”

“From the Nightwolf Pack?”

She nods. “You remember her. She used to be the one who would take me with her to the inter-pack meetups …”

I nod. Those are the meetups where we first met Serafina. A few of them were on the Alliance’s compound. The moment my wolf spotted her he knew what she was to us.

I press a hand against my chest, to soothe my prowling wolf. It was after our rejection that Serafina stopped coming to those meetups. We didn’t see her for many years after that.

“You wanted to keep in contact with the Nightwolf pack?” I question.

She nods. “Reese is expecting to give birth to Alpha Chael’s baby any day now. And there’s Emery.”

“Emery?” I don’t recall the name from the Nightwolf pack.

“Chance’s new mate. She’s the pack’s first storyteller in like three generations. I wanted to talk with her after her honeymoon.”

She explains her desire to speak to Emery to learn about her history, where she comes from. The more she talks, the more I understand that her wants are reasonable. If I had shut the hell up and simply listened before, instead of insisting, I would’ve understood this much sooner.

“I should’ve seen this sooner,” I say.

Serafina blinks and looks at me with confusion.

I cup her face, happy when she doesn’t pull or move away from me.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “For not seeing this sooner. For not asking sooner. And for not realizing your needs. I missed it all because of my own blinders.”

I shake my head.

“I missed what you needed just like I missed the signs with Montgomery, and with my parents.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “You didn’t?—”

“I did,” I cut her off. “If I had paid better attention, I would’ve known what you needed. Why you had such a strong attachment to that damn bow and arrow, and why, of course, you would need to feel safe among a pack of wolves.”

“Not that,” she says. Then she wraps her fingers around my wrist, shifts her face to kiss the palm of my hand.

A growl rumbles up from my chest.

“You didn’t miss anything with your parents. You were a?—”

“Don’t, Serafina,” I warn.

“Why not? Both you and Ronan blame yourselves for shit that happened when you were kids. Your parents’ inability to handle Montgomery’s disappearance isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have made it any easier for them.”

It’s her turn to cup my face. A part of me feels like shit that it’s her that’s now comforting me, but I also can’t help that I love the feel of her skin against mine. The insistent way she seeks to comfort me.

I’d told her, long ago, that I blamed myself for my parents’ demise. That I should’ve tried harder to make them see that life was still here even after we lost Montgomery. But my mother completely fell apart. She couldn’t live with the guilt and self-blame.

She died of a broken heart. And once she was gone, my father couldn’t cope either. He’d lost a son and his mate. He wasn’t fit to be the alpha and our grandfather took over. My father also died of a broken heart.

“They left us because they couldn’t see what was right in front of them,” I confess. “I hated them for a long time for not seeing us. Me and Ronan. We still needed them. And then I turned around and did the same thing to you. I failed to see what you needed.”

I shake my head, lowering my eyes to the floor.

“I failed you as your mate.”

First, I allowed myself to succumb to our grandfather’s demands to reject her.

“I failed you,” I say again before meeting her eyes. “But that’s over now, Serafina.” My wolf rises along with my determination as I take her face into mine. “I fucked up back then, but I’m not the same weak ass prick I was. There’s no way in hell that I’m letting you go this time. Not now. Not ever.”

She visibly swallows, her gaze moving to something over my shoulder.

“But, what if?—”

I kiss her question back down her throat and pull her into me. I don’t give a damn about anything else. Not pack rules, or possible threats, or whatever else thinks it could stand in the way of being with my mate.

Serafina is right where she belongs.

Right here in my arms.

Serafina moans into the kiss, her hands making their way to my waist. Even through the material of the two shirts and jacket I’m wearing, I can feel her warmth spreading through me. It ignites my skin from the inside out.

Every inch of my body singes and pulses with need. I push Serafina’s coat off of her, followed by the undoing of the buttons of the blouse she wears.

I give her a strange look when she laughs.

“Thanks for not ripping my clothes like your brother.”

Her genuine smile is such a turn on that I pull her in for another kiss, without responding. My dick presses against the zipper of my jeans.

Serafina makes it so much worse when she reaches her hand inside of my pants and brushes her fingers across my cock.

“I want to taste you,” she whispers against my lips.

Before I can comprehend what she’s said, she’s dropped to her knees in front of me.

Mine!

Mate!

My wolf goes fucking wild, seeing her on her knees in front of me. I can barely contain him.

And both my wolf and my human go slightly dizzy when she looks up at me as a smile appears on her lips.

“Your eyes are glowing.” She unbuttons my jeans.

“Did you expect him to sit this one out?” I ask of my wolf.

Her smile widens. “No. He can watch.”

I grunt as she pulls down my jeans and boxers in one hard tug. My dick springs out, almost hitting her in the damn face. She isn’t startled though.

Instead of being taken aback, she immediately wraps one soft hand around my cock while she starts licking the tip.

“Ah, fuck!” I groan and drop my head back. But I soon realize the mistake I’ve made. I don’t want to stare at the damn ceiling while my mate is on her knees with her mouth full of my cock.

“That’s it, baby,” I groan when she wraps her mouth around me.

I have to watch her taking all of me in that pretty mouth of hers. I reach down to wrap my hand in her hair, but Serafina smacks my hand away and looks up at me with narrowed her.

I chuckle. I forgot she doesn’t let us touch her hair like this.

“Fine,” I grunt out while cupping the sides of her face. “Let me fuck your dirty little mouth like this.”

I move my hips, slowly at first, letting her get used to my girth and rhythm.

“Relax your throat for me, Little Hellraiser,” I instruct.

I ease in and out of her mouth, going in a little deeper with each stroke, until I feel her throat muscle open up. I push all of the way in until my hips make contact with her lips.

She’s so fucking good. No gag reflex or anything.

“Beautiful,” I say in awe before I slowly pull out. “Do you want me to come down your throat, Serafina?”

She nods before opening her mouth wider to take me again.

“No.” Though it takes all of my strength, I manage to pull away from her.

I pull her up from the floor.

“I love watching you on your knees for me, but right now, I want your warm cunt wrapped around my cock.”

“Such a dirty mouth,” she manages to say before I press my lips to hers.

“Now we both have dirty mouths.” I kiss her again, while stripping her out of the rest of her clothing.

Somehow, I manage to remove the remainder of my clothing as well, without tripping and falling over myself. I carry her to my back office and set her on my desk, spreading her legs wide.

I take a step back, looking at her with her legs spread for me. “Your pussy is so damn pretty. Do you know that?”

“She’s aching for you, Noah. Please.”

My cock jumps from her words.

“Fuck!” I growl.

I had planned to draw this out. Though I’ve felt her come on my tongue and now have just had my cock in her mouth, I’ve yet to take her this way. I wanted to savor this first time with her. Just me and her.

I wanted to cherish the time I have alone with her.

“Noah,” she whines, making my knees go weak.

“I’m coming, Serafina,” I promise right before moving back to her.

I wrap her long legs around my hip, lining my cock with her pussy. We’re the perfect fit. She was made for me, for us.

I slide inside of her hot, wet channel and it feels like a release I didn’t know I needed takes over my body. It’s a hundred times better than letting my wolf out for a long run on the night of a full moon.

And I never believed anything would feel better than that.

“Noah!” she pants.

“Do you know what it does to me when you call my name?” Of course she does. She has to know is drives me fucking insane to hear her begging and calling my name.

I don’t give a shit about her digging her nails into the skin of my back. There’s no pain, only pure bliss and relief. Tremendous fucking relief.

“You’re mine, Serafina,” I say while drilling into her. Her pussy feels like home. Being inside of her heals a part of me I long tried to forget was broken.

“So fucking good,” I whisper against her lips.

“Kiss me, please.”

How am I supposed to say no with her voice so full of wanton need and passion for me?

I kiss and fuck her, making her yell out.

Her pussy begins pulsing and squeezing my cock. Her orgasm is quick and rushes through her like a wildfire through a forest.

But I want more.

My mate gasps when I pull out of her still pulsing pussy and spin her around my desk, bending her over, so that she’s facing the door.

Serafina calls out when I slide into her from behind.

“I could be inside of you all fucking day,” I tell her. It’s not a lie. This is where I want to spend the entirety of my existence. Inside of her, gripping me like I was made for her. No, knowing that I was made for her.

“Noah … good …” she pants out with her face down against the desk.

Lifting my head, I glance at my doorway, my eyes meeting Ronan’s glowing eyes. I knew he was here.

I lean over Serafina, grabbing a handful of hair, forcing her head up. I know she’ll give me shit for it later, but I’ll pay for her to have her hair done in town.

She gasps when she sees Ronan standing in the doorway.

“Let him watch you get fucked, Serafina,” I say. “Don’t take your eyes off of him.”

While she watches Ronan watch her, I lift her right leg, placing it on my desk, opening her up wider for me.

“Ohhh, shit!” she hisses when I slide deeper inside of her. “I-I-I’m …”

“Going to come,” I finish for her. I can feel it. Her pussy’s fucking gripping me like a vice.

“Come for me, baby. Come for us,” I order.

A beat later, she flies apart. Calling out my name without ever breaking eye contact with Ronan. Her orgasm rocks through her entire body, making her spine convulse.

A hot flash like I’ve never experienced before rushes through me, shocking even my wolf. Though I wanted to draw this out longer, to stay inside of her for an indeterminate amount of time, I’m helpless to stop the orgasm that races through me.

My body heats all over, feeling as if flames of passion singe almost every inch of my body. While it burns, it doesn’t hurt.

There is no pain while I’m inside of her.

It takes me … I don’t know how long to finally dislodge myself from Serafina. I stumble back until both of my legs hit my chair. I collapse into my seat, but not before I wrap my arms around Serafina’s waist, pulling her down with me.

We’re both panting, breathing heavily.

I don’t have words to describe what just happened to me. I’ve never felt anything so powerful move through me. And I’m a damn alpha wolf.

My gaze clashes with Ronan’s. The glow in his eyes remains. He nods slightly, acknowledging that he’s felt whatever this is, too.

With her.

There’s something about Serafina, our mate. Something powerful, and I’m not sure even she realizes it.

“You owe me for my next hairdresser appointment,” Serafina says, breaking the silence.

Despite my confusion on what the hell is going on, I tighten my hold around her, chuckling.

“Whatever you say, Little Hellraiser,” I respond before pressing my lips to the back of her shoulder.