Page 22 of An Alpha's Commitment

I’m alone, racing up the mountain, my heart pounds against my ribs, my heaving sides drag in painful gasps of freezing air. My chest constricts in an agonizing vise. My vision tunnels down to the narrow spot in front of me as I force myself to go harder, faster, each shadow, each dark shape a threat, perhaps an attacker, perhaps an ambush that I might not see until it’s too late.

I have to escape!

Suddenly a warm body presses up against my right flank. From the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of golden-brown fur keeping pace with me. At the same time a dark shadow looms over my other side, a large dark grey wolf running beside me, so close that our ribs rub as we breathe.

We breathe.

I breathe in. I breathe out. Scents permeate the fog in my brain. They hint of familiarity, of comfort. I breathe in. I breathe out.

I breathe slower, straining for those comforting scents. The pounding in my ears eases. The scents in my nostrils grow stronger. The brainfog whirls, breaking up, clearing. These… these are… these are mates. My mates. Yes. Keep me safe. Yes.

Clarity strikes: my Alpha is keeping me safe. I’m running with him, not from him.

The wolves beside me slow and I throttle back to stay with them. As my pace slows, something settles inside. Reassurance washes over me in a calming wave. My heart is still pounding but it's slowing. The tight grip around my chest eases. My vision clears.

A little spark of lightness starts deep in my core, spluttering uncertainly, then growing stronger. Relief. The muscles of my legs feel weak, shaky, and I wobble, but I keep going, slower now. I take notice of the night, the darkness of the trees around us, the moon above, the way ahead of me and heat from my companions beside me.

Peace envelopes me and a different kind of awareness seeps through me.

I begin to feel a subtle joy in these solitary mountains, in the stark shapes of the trees silhouetted against the moon, the damp musty smell of the earth and the decaying vegetation. In the wind that howls in the treetops and swirls to ruffle the hair on my Alpha’s neck, his coat rippling in the ethereal light, the hairs pushed flat along his coat as he lopes beside me. In the one bright star shining in the south. In the hot gasps of air forming puffy clouds in the cool mountain air. My silvery coat gleams with the joy of running free beneath the full moon with my mates. I'm running with the moon and this time I'm not alone.

I'm not alone.

It's just the three of us and we run for the joy of it, Talius leading, Irian and I close on his tail. When we reach a small clearing at the top of the mountain, Talius stops. Irian yips and rushes at him, darting away at the last minute. Talius gives chase. I watch. I can see Talius is letting him get away, it’s the game that counts, not the catching, so I join in, snapping, teasing, playing.

Later we race off through the trees, and as the moon shines down benevolently, we joyfully fulfil our primal need to mate.

Chapter 12

IRIAN

"Are you all right?"

I was worried about Isca. His mad panicked dash in the middle of the run had frightened me, and though Talius and I had managed to calm him - mainly Talius with his alpha pheromones, I suspected - and we'd romped happily after (including some of the best wolf mating I had ever experienced, I have to say), I wasn't sure if Isca was truly okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Isca managed to look a little sheepish as he slipped his pants up over his ass and zipped up. We were back in the clearing and judging from the scarcity of clothes lying around, must have been almost the last ones to return. Apparently there were still one or two others out there having fun. I hoped they were enjoying themselves as much as we had. "I just had a moment."

I rolled my eyes. "That was some moment. I was worried. What happened?"

"I saw that alpha come up beside me." He stopped moving,frowning, hand coming up to cover his mouth, as if he were reliving the moment. "Irian, I could smell how aroused he was. I was sure he was after me."

I nodded. I'd thought the same thing. His focus had been wholly on Isca and I hadn't failed to notice when he tried to come between us and cut Isca away from the group. I'd closed in on Isca, and the alpha had come up on the other side of him, but he'd turned away shortly after, his nostrils snorting his disappointment when he'd realized the omega he'd set his sights on had been marked by the Pack Alpha.

"But he turned away. Talius' scent warned him off," I ventured.

"Yeah, but it unsettled me, and then I heard the wolves howling further down the mountain, and it was just like that... like that other night," Isca tripped over his words. I saw his chest expand as he struggled for control of his emotions. "It was the same as that other time, and I don't know... it just triggered me. I wasn't really thinking, I just freaked out."

"You had a panic attack," Talius stated, coming up behind us. I'd scented him of course, so he didn't startle me, but I was pleased to note Isca wasn't surprised either. Just another sign that Isca was well integrated into our triad.

"I... I guess," Isca responded vaguely, eyes drifting over Talius. His pink tongue swiped distractedly over his upper lip. I couldn't blame him. We'd just had the most fabulous wolf sex in the forest, but Talius was a sight to make even the most satisfied omega drool, standing there bare-chested in his tight jeans, package prominent, denim hugging his thick thighs and taut calves, bare feet with a dusting of dark hair across the toes. Yeah.

Oh, fuck. I felt the trickle.

My throat went dry. "Perhaps we could skip the feast," I suggested, hoarsely.

Talius' nostrils flared. He laughed, which was unfair given I was now dealing with wet jeans.

"I don't think so," he smirked. "Pretty sure we're going to need all the fuel we can get."

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