#aleric

I lowered myself into the water, the muscles in my back relaxing as the current flowed over me. Around me, the air hummed with laughter and low conversation. Men stood gathered along the riverbank. Each of them had been waiting for this day as long as I had, though not one of them could feel what I felt now.

Victor, my uncle, my father’s old Beta, and the eldest of the Elders, stepped closer, his bare feet silent against the grass. His long white hair caught the late sun like snow. He placed a hand on my shoulder as he crouched down beside me.

“I knew this day would come, son,” he said, his voice rough like bark. “But I never imagined your mate would not be... one of us.”

My jaw tightened. The river hissed around me as I flexed my hands beneath the surface. “She is one of us,” The words came out sharper than I intended. “Because she is mine.”

Victor’s eyes softened, but there was still worry behind them. “Of course, she will be ours by tomorrow morning when the bond is sealed. But…” He hesitated, glancing toward the sacred waterfall's direction where the women’s chants echoed faintly in the distance. “I fear what this means for the rest of us. We are all connected by our wolves. We feel each other’s joy and pain as one. But with her… she is not linked to that path. None of the pack will sense her except you. We won’t be able to protect her properly or understand her pain. Even her happiness will be hidden from us.”

He spoke with care, not challenge. But the words grated against something inside me.

“I am enough for her,” I said. “I am the Alpha. I am the strongest. If she needs something, I'll feel it. The rest of you will learn to understand her words, whatever language she uses. You will learn because I command it. And you'll learn to read her eyes and face and pay attention to her moods every second.”

Victor inclined his head, not arguing. “Of course, my Alpha. The Moon has blessed your union, and she does not make mistakes.”

He rose to his feet and stepped back toward the others, leaving me with the cold water and the weight of his words.

I stayed there, scrubbing my skin, letting the current carry away the remains of my old self; the years of waiting, of hollow nights and fading strength.

On the opposite site, Lucas was laying out my ceremonial leathers. Beside him, a clay bowl held the ink for the markings that would be painted over my chest and arms before I went to her.

My chest tightened at the thought of her.

My little mate.

The girl from the human world. Fragile, soft, trembling, and yet her scent had undone me. That first moment when her scent pierced the air, my wolf had gone mad inside me. There was no question. No doubt that the Moon had finally given her to me.

Her sweet scent alone could make me as hard as a rock (I was hard for hours when I brought her here in my arms). An erection that nothing could calm it down except herself. Even now sitting in the water, I was excited, my large cock slapping my stomach.

I groaned lowly, my hand wrapping around my cock to release some pressure. I was already a man with no sleep at nights and a fever always running in my body for forty years. I doubted I would let my darling have a wink of sleep tonight. And... other nights...and mornings...

I circled my sensitive head with my thumb as I hissed in my chest. In all these years, I never had a proper fucking because none of those she-wolves offering themselves to me were my mate. My wolf hated their scent, their eyes, and even their breathing near my ears, always making me mount them from behind with the least contact with them. I wouldn't even knot them as it despised me to be with any female before my own and the orgasms that I had were short lived with little euphoria and only a few drops of cum leaking out of me.

As if my body was saving himself for her. All my cum, all my knots just for her.

I pulled my hand away from my throbbing cock and fisted it over my lap inside the water. I shall keep all I have for her. No drop to be waisted tonight.

I sighed deeply as I thought of her small, soft body. She was so different from us, and it made my human side worry about how she would take me. I knew human body was different from us, but I had never sensed it so closely. Just her soft small breasts, and her plump ass were enough to prove how different her body worked. It was as if she was ready to take my children and mother them already.

But that wasn't the only case. She-wolves had an almost bony vagina, made for the shape of their mates' penis. The knot would cause no discomfort for them as they had the space inside for it with a bony ridge to lock the knot inside. They didn’t need lubrication as our cocks weeped enough precum for the smooth motion and their orgasms were bound to their mates'. When the male came, the female would follow; their release widened the opening of their cervix to get more cum inside and the bony ridge would get prominent to lock the knot inside.

That's all that would happen in our sex. But with my sweet little human? I had no idea how her body worked.

And she was afraid. I could sense that even without the bond fully formed. Her eyes, wide and searching; her voice shaking. She didn’t understand. How could she?

I gritted my teeth. I trusted Gwen to prepare her. She was safe with her. But even as I tried to calm myself, the sound of her struggling and crying burned in my ears. I could hear her pleadings, and it took everything in me not to rush to her and hold her in my arms, comforting her.

My wolf was restless beneath my skin. The animal inside me didn’t understand. It only understood the need. I would not let myself think of fear, or softness, or pain.

Tonight, I would have what the Moon had promised me.

My wolf surged within me, pacing, snarling for release.

Ours. It growled. She is ours. Claim her. Bind her. Knot her.

I let out a slow exhale, lowering my face to the water, feeling it wash over me.

Yes. Tonight would end the waiting. By dawn, the bond would be sealed, and I'd become the most powerful version of myself with my mate by my side.

🌙

Her POV:

The sky was dark, yet the moon’s light poured down in silvery ribbons, bathing everything in its glow. It wasn’t like the faint moonlight I’d seen back home; it was too bright, almost like a living thing.

One of the women gripped my arm again, and the other two closed in on either side of me. I couldn’t have escaped even if I’d wanted to, not with the heavy layers of wool and leather weighing down my shoulders.

We walked back toward Aleric’s house. I thought they might finally leave me there, but when we rounded the corner, I froze.

There were so many people.

Men and women all standing on both sides of a narrow dirt path that cut through the village. The flames from wooden torches, held in their hands, cast their faces in gold and black, and I realized with a jolt that there was barely any difference between the men and the women; they were all tall, broad, carved from the same hard muscle.

I clutched the wool around me tighter, but my shaking wouldn’t stop. My teeth chattered even though the air was warmer here. My eyes darted from one strange, unfamiliar face to the next, searching for some kind of kindness or humanity, but all I saw were sharp eyes and smiles that showed sharp canines.

Gwen placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned close to my ear.

“Now you will walk forward,” she whispered. “Between them. They won’t touch you. They won’t speak to you as Alpha requested.”

My heart was hammering. “Walk… where?” My voice came out small.

Gwen hesitated just for a second, something human flickered across her face, as if my fear had made her uncomfortable. But then her expression hardened again as she looked at the crowd.

“To the tent.”

I followed her gaze and saw a large tent draped in dark furs and thick ropes, standing alone at the far end of the path, located just in the center of the village.

“The moon has promised you to us,” Gwen said. “Your duties start from tonight. When you reach the tent, you will go inside. You will sit on the bedding in the middle. Do you understand?”

I stared at her, uncomprehending, my lips trembling.

Her hand pressed firmly against my back. “Go.”

I didn’t move.

She pushed harder, and I stumbled forward. “Please—”

“Go,” she said again, her tone sharp enough to cut. “Don’t make us carry you. It will not look good if you resist. They are watching. All of them. Show them respect by accepting your fate so they can show you respect later.”

I swallowed the scream in my throat and took one shaky step forward. Then another. The ground was cold and damp beneath my bare feet, blades of grass brushing my skin, tiny pebbles pressing into the soles. My heart thudded louder with every step I took down.

The faces around me blurred together; smiling, whispering, watching. When some of them noticed the tears sliding down my face, their smiles faltered. For the briefest moment, their eyes softened, confused, as if they couldn’t understand why I was crying at all.

The path felt endless, even though it wasn’t long. The murmurs around me rose and fell, their strange language brushing my ears but meaning nothing. I kept walking, hugging the heavy wool around me like it could somehow protect me from all those eyes.

When I finally reached the tent, two boys stepped forward, their movements quick despite their size. Each grabbed a leather flap and slid it aside so I could enter.

Their eyes followed me while their mouths curled into what I assumed were meant to be reassuring smiles. The taller one leaned forward slightly and lifted a hand, gesturing inside.

“Safe,” he said in one broken word.

I shook my head and instinctively took a step back from the tent. My hands trembled. My breath was shaky. When I turned, searching for Gwen or the women who had brought me here, they had already vanished into the mass of bodies.

The pathway remained strangely open, a narrow corridor carved through the sea of werewolves. Some of them tried to soften their gazes when my eyes met theirs. But their canines, their height, their animal stillness… nothing about them eased my fear.

A young girl pushed her way forward. She wiggled between people as she was slightly shorter. Her orange hair was braided on both sides of her face, and when she lifted her chin, her freckles glowed in the firelight.

“Alpha will come,” she called out to me, her voice surprisingly loud. “You enter the tent.”

She flashed a wide smile with her small canines showing.

I shook my head again and stepped back from her, but she hurried forward, slipping free from the crowd like a fish from water. She stood before me and bowed deeply. Then she straightened, but only halfway, as if afraid her full height may intimidate me.

She placed a hand to her chest, tapping gently.

Something about the way she said it made my stomach twist; like something significant was supposed to happen before tomorrow came.

“I am Alice,” she said. Her accent was thick.

“But… we are not introducing ourselves to you tonight. Alpha ordered.” She giggled, excitement shimmering behind her eyes as she added, “I will see you tomorrow morning.”

Alice stepped closer, her expression pleading.

“You enter. No worries.”

Her hand landed on my shoulder, guiding me forward. And even though every fiber in my body wanted to run, the crowd behind her was urging me to go inside.

So I stepped inside.

The boys immediately let go of the leather flaps, and the entrance fell shut, cutting me off from all eyes. It was just me. Just my shaking breath. Just the tight ache in my chest.

I wiped at my tears as my eyes adjusted to the dim glow coming from small bowls of animal fat burning on clay stands and plates on the ground.

The tent was enormous. Much bigger than it had any right to be, considering I hadn’t seen anything like this earlier from the balcony.

Humans could never construct something like this. The bones of the structure were carved wood, lashed together with thick rope, layered with furs that kept out the cold. The ground was covered with woven carpets, thick enough that I couldn’t see the soil underneath. And on top of that, in the middle, was…

A nest.

There was no other word for it.

Deep furs. Soft ones. Layers of wool blankets. Piles of pillows arranged in a loose circle as if meant to cradle bodies.

My steps grew slow and hesitant as I approached it.

It looked like a place meant for warmth. For closeness. For something intimate.

My hands shook harder.

I dropped the heavy wool from my shoulders; it fell to the ground with a thud. My breath tore through my chest as I hurried to the back of the tent, grabbing the leather wall and trying to lift it upward. If I could just crawl underneath, slip out the back, run—

But the hide didn’t budge.

Not even a little.

It was as if they had nailed it to the ground. Or weighted it with stone. Or built the entire thing with the intention of me never, ever escaping.

I tried another section. Then another. Then another, desperation rising like burning water in my throat. I searched the tent ten times over, patting the carpets, pulling at the furs, reaching into every shadow for a weapon, a bone, a rock, anything sharp enough to defend myself.

Nothing.

They had put me in a cage.

My breath snapped, my strength with it. I crumpled into the far corner of the round tent, the fur-lined wall warm against my back, and stared at the nest in the center.

The leather they had forced on me clung to my body like a second skin. I clawed at it, wanting to tear it off, because it felt like a skin that wasn’t mine, a skin I didn’t choose. A skin that belonged to them.

My sobs grew loud enough for the whole camp to hear, but I didn’t care. They wouldn’t care even if they did hear. Their voices outside were booming, laughing, hollering, and murmuring in their strange language.

A few moments later, their voices rose in unison. I curled deeper into myself, clutching my knees to my chest, as I tried to block out their noises and stop my body from shaking.

The howls turned into chanting; deep, guttural, rhythmic. Then, the unmistakable sound of dozens of bodies slamming their feet into the ground in unison.

They weren’t just celebrating.

They were calling for someone.

“What is happening?” I whispered to myself, my voice trembling.

I curled tighter, clutching myself. The leather fell shut again, but not before Aleric’s massive body stepped inside and the flaps were pulled down again.

The tent suddenly brightened as the front flap was lifted, sound bursting through in a deafening wave.

He had to bend to enter. When he straightened to his full height, his eyes scanned the tent once before landing on me. He frowned deeply. His tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth, a sound of disappointment.

And he wore almost nothing. Just a strip of leather around his waist that dropped low over his hips, held by a strap running between his legs. A reminder of that monstrous thing he had beneath it.

Black ink covered his arms, his chest, and even parts of his thighs. Not markings like Gwen’s, but detailed ceremonial symbols carved into him, shining where his sweat touched them. His neck and face were untouched, the only places left bare, as if saved for my lips.

His hair was slicked back, wet, and braided in several tight strips.

He looked like a god of an ancient forest.

“Please…” I whispered, my voice barely sound. “Please don’t…”

He approached me, as I pressed myself so hard into the tent wall I genuinely thought it might tear. His shadow swallowed me whole when he stopped just in front of me.

“Why you hide… little mate?”

Aleric crouched down in front of me. I curled tighter, trying to put a distance between us, but his hands wrapped around my wrists and pulled.

My arms came free from around my legs even though I tried to resist him with every muscle I had. I dug my nails into my own skin, twisting, trying to wrench myself away from him, but the size difference made it pathetic. Embarrassingly pathetic.

He released my wrists, and I scrambled sideways, trying to crawl away and for one second, I actually thought I’d slipped past him.

But his hand landed on my back while his other arm swept beneath my knees, and he lifted me up effortlessly. I thrashed in his arms, twisting, pushing at him, kicking uselessly. He barely tightened his hold, just enough to keep me from falling.

His eyes stayed on my face the whole time.

“Shhh,” he murmured. “Do not move. If you fall, you will hurt yourself.”

My breath tore out of me in a sob. “Don’t. Please.... Leave me. You’re making a mistake...”

He carried me toward the large nest of furs and blankets, waiting there like some kind of throne. He lowered himself with me and sat, sinking into the thick softness.

“What mistake, darling?” he asked gently.

I shoved at his shoulder with both hands, pushing with all the force my fear could give me, nails scraping against his skin. He let me go, allowing me to fall onto my back on the nest. I scrambled backward, breath shaking as I said.

“Maybe you’ve mistaken me. Maybe there’s someone else...I’m not from here, I don’t belong here, I swear—”

A deep growl rolled from his chest. Angry.

Before I could find another word, his hand slid behind my neck, and he pulled me forward, crashing his mouth onto mine.

The kiss was brutal. His beard scraped my chin, my cheeks, my skin burning under it. When he finally released me, I was gasping, dizzy, and shaking.

His forehead touched mine as he breathed against my lips:

“A werewolf never mistakes their mate.”

He stared at me as if the truth lived inside my bones.

“You are mine. You were made for me. You were never meant to live among humans. It was wrong from the start. But now…”

His thumb stroked the side of my neck.

“…you are where you belong.”

I pressed both hands against his ink-covered chest, pushing hard, trying to create an inch of distance. His hand stayed fixed behind my neck, refusing to let me move.

“You’re insane!” I snapped, anger mixing with fear inside me. “You’re all insane! Werewolves aren’t real! There’s no such thing! You’re all just... just some cult living in the woods, thinking you have powers and believing in stupid—”

His hand moved fast. His palm came to the front of my neck, gripping it, almost circling all the width of my neck with one hand. My back hit the furs from the force of it as he hovered over me. His grip on my neck was tight enough to silent me but letting me breath easily.

His eyes burned down into mine. “Do not insult what you do not understand, little one.”

Aleric lowered himself between my legs, forcing them open with the push of his knees. My breath hitched as the leather skirt pulled upward around my upper thighs, barely covering my naked pussy. My hands flew to the one he had on my throat. I clawed at his wrist, desperate to pry him off, but he didn’t budge. My fingers might as well have been scraping stone.

His other arm slid beside my head, his forearm bracing his weight as he leaned over me. His body became a wall of heat and shadow above mine; broad shoulders, inked skin, heavy weight cutting off every path of escape.

With an almost tender motion, he used the fingers of his bracing hand to sweep the braids away from my face, pushing them back from my forehead. My chest rose and fell too fast, sobs caught inside my throat as he patted my head too gently compared to the way he had me pinned by my neck.

His breath was hot against my ear as he spoke: “When the bond is sealed,” he murmured, “you will feel it in your bones… in your blood… exactly the way I feel it if the moon bless you with it.”

He lowered his mouth to the side of my neck. Right over the mark he had given me the night before. His lips dragged over the raw, tender skin. I winced, half pain, half instinctual terror, as his teeth grazed over the spot, nibbling.

My fingers dug harder into his wrist, trying again to push him away, but he didn’t even acknowledge the attempt.

“And even if you don’t feel anything because you're a human…”

“…I will make you feel me.”

He lifted his head slowly, and my heart stopped. His eyes were nearly black; so blown with lust that the gold had vanished. The pupils had expanded until they swallowed everything.

He didn’t look human like this. Not even close.

His breath brushed my lips.