The gathering begins

Titan woke early as usual. But today was no ordinary day. Today the packs would begin to arrive for the gathering. The main pack town was alive with excitement. 'Don't know why they are all so excited.' He grumbled to his wolf, Pitch. 'It's not like it's different from any other gathering of the packs.'

'But it is!' Pitch growled back. 'We are hosting this year. And whose bright stroke of genius was it again, I wonder?' As if the gods had deemed the question worthy answering a loud pounding came from a supply closet just down the hall.

Kole, his beta, was undoubtedly locked inside it. Titan sighed and pulled the chair away from the door. "Kole, come out of the closet." He said exasperatedly. Kole put his hands on Titan's shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"Titan, buddy, you're my best friend and I love you. But there is something I have to tell you. I'm gay." There was an awkward pause as both men stared blankly at each other.

"Goodbye Kole." Titan said closing the door in his face and replacing the chair.

"Oh come man! You told me to come out of the closet! I'm sorry okay! Please don't leave me here! Titan! Alpha! Come on! Pitch!" All Kole's shouting was in vain as Titan continued to the counsil chamber.

"Okay let's get started." He said as he took his seat at the head of the table.

"Alpha, it may not be my place but um, where the fuck is the beta?" Hendrecks asked.

"In the closet." He said with a small smirk.

"Oh please. We all know he's gay." Cam, the only female elder on the council, stated bluntly. "If you sent my son on some outlandish erond to get him out of the way just say that."

"Perhaps I wasn't specific enough. He is in the Third floor supply closet."

"What, again?" The former beta asked looking almost amused.

"Millandra left his room in a bathrobe lastnight. She seemed pretty upset. Maybe she locked him in there to get back at him for rejecting her?"

"Thank you Gama Thorsbane. You are probably right." Cam said as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I keep telling him to keep his door locked." Titan said as he pulled a thick file towards him. "Any other announcements?" He asked the room at large.

"All the housing is ready for the arrival of the other packs. Each pack gets their own bunk house." Hendricks said as he opened the file infront of him. "If you turn to page 5 you will see a layout of the bunk houses and where each pack will be. This will also be the layout of every mealtime that we have with all the packs. Deviation is not allowed as this is the only way to prevent fighting among the packs an-"

"Why is the Texas pack so far away from us?" Cam asked.

"Because I told their alpha if I ever had to sit close to him again one of us would be leaving in a body bag and it would not be me." Titan answered.

"You were a child I'm sure it is something we can work through and have the two of you sit down and talk out your differences." Cam said in a motherly tone.

"It was Louisiana 4 years ago. And if I see him hit his mate again there will be barely enough of him left to half fill a match box!" Pitch snarled and Titan closed his eyes in an attempt to control the feral beast. His mood swings were getting worse and he was starting to lash out at every one around him.

"Noted. So Texas stays as far away from us as possible." Cam submitted easily. Everyone on the council of elders knew how he felt about domestic violence. They had been here when his father ruled the pack with an iron fist clutching a belt. They all knew that the cruelty did not fall only on pack members. That the cruelty of Cesar North had mostly been suffered by his own mate and their son.

It was what had caused Titan to shift at 8 years of age and kill his father. It had driven his mother to suicide. Now he had control of the pack and the laws he enacted had saved many lives. Everyone loved and respected him. But it had been 12 years since his sixteenth birthday and still no mate.

Usually, without outside influences, a wolf would first shift on their sixteenth birthday and that was when they could find their mate. Usually finding a mate did not happen after the age of 18. Sometimes though it did. But never later than 25. Even Pitch had given up on the idea of a perfect love. Titan would not take a chosen mate because of his unpredictable temperament. Pitch was going mad.

That was not say that he had not bedded women. Since he was 15 there was no shortage of women to share a bed with. But they rarely lasted more than one night and he never slept in the bed with them. He fucked them into a contented stupor and left. None of them ever questioned his motives and less ever dared to assume that they would be marked by him.

Only one girl he had slept with had ever seen the inside of his bedroom. And that was Hannah, Kole's younger sister. He hadn't fucked her in there, he had accidentally slept in and kole sent her to wake him up. That had been 7 years ago. She was the only girl to ever date him though he would never admit to her family how he had almost marked her on a few occasions.

"Alpha. What do you think of the increased security measures?" The gamma's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He cleared his throat and flipped through the papers till he got to the right page.

"Yeah. looks good." He said noncommittally.

"It will have to start after the gathering of the packs as we can't secure like this with so many unfamiliar faces." Trebin pointed out and as he looked at it he had to admit that the former beta was right.

"I agree. These changes will also call for longer shifts and more over lap in the shifts. But it's a small price to pay. I'm sure once we explain to the warriors that it will result in better security for their families they will be lining up to volunteer for longer shifts." From the outside Titan had inherited more than his title from his father. But also his reputation. It had resulted in a certain amount of surprise when his pack had openly joked with him or done something others would construe as disrespectful. The truth was that all his pack would gladly lay down their lives for the chance at a better future for their children. If they had to spend more time on patrol so be it.

"Well the first pack to arrive will be here soon. And alpha, you are permitted to go on a run if you wish. Your workload is clear for the rest of the day." Trebin said dismissing him as he had when he was a child in this very chair. Something he had not done since he was 12.

"Trebin, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to get rid of me." He said with a bright smile.

"Well apparently you don't know any better because I am trying to get rid of you. The first pack we are expecting is the Texas Storm pack. We don't need Pitch to go ten rounds with Alpha storm and the little bastard he calls a son." Trebin knew him too well at times. "Go. Let Pitch run for a while. Maybe he will be calmer when you return." With that he left the room and Titan noticed how he went left for the stairs to the next floor instead of going right to go down.

"Is he going to save Kole?" He asked Cam.

"Yes. But let's talk about your sex life for a minute. Are you sleeping with anyone or are you still on that dry spell?"

"The fuck Cam! Seriously? Why?"

"Well, don't get upset, the council believes it is time you had an heir." She had gone timid knowing it was a sore topic for him and that he may not lash out if it was said with submission in the voice.

"Cam don't!" He snapped angrily at her. "I am not having this conversation again! The answer is no!"

"Yes but you don't have to mark her. Just have a child with one of our omegas, and maybe, just maybe mind you, co-parent with her. She doesn't need to take on the responsibilities of Luna and can focus on raising her baby, your son." She fiddled with the collar of his leather jacket. "Just think about it, Sweety."

"What if I told you I had thought about it already and decided against it?"

"Young man I won't get any grandchildren from my own children so you better start spreading that baby batter of yours as far and wide as it will go!" He snorted at her uncharacteristic outburst of vulgarity and caved as she had known he would.

"It's not that I don't want to. It's that I can't anymore. I keep dreaming of this pure white wolf. She's small. Like really small. Almost the size of a regular wolf. And we are running through the forest. Just running and I mount and mark her. When ever I dream about her Pitch gets really calm. And now whenever I try to bed another woman I can't perform. I keep seeing her. And last night I saw her shift to a beautiful woman with silver hair and she was crying and screaming for me to save her." He shook his head and looked at his hands unsure of what to do.

"Titan, sweety, what did she need to be saved from?" The concern in Cam's voice was not lost on him.

"I don't know." He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Pitch went ballistic and woke me up before I could ask her."

"Is that why you were scrubbing the kitchen at three in the morning?"

"Yeah. I couldn't get back to sleep." He admitted.

"Of course you couldn't. Her wolf has been calling out to yours. She needs your help. This doesn't happen unless she is your mate."

"I can't save her, Cam. Not unless I have more information." He growled loudly. "I wish she would stop calling to pitch. I don't know where she is or how to help her. Fuck!" Pitch snatched him back and Cam quickly backed away as he flipped the table and stormed out, shedding the leather jacket as he went. By the time he was downstairs he had fully shifted and a little boy on his way inside the pack house stood back as he sprinted for the trees in a blind rage. The first of the Texas pack were milling about getting into desiplined rows like an army. Pitch barely had time to note that they were wearing khakis button down shirts and black dress shoes before he lost sight of them. The gathering had begun and he would miss its start because he could not stand to be within 5 feet of their alpha.

***

"Don't go to far, Love." Victoria heard Erle call but ignored him as she made her way towards the tree line. She didn't have, or want, to be anywhere near him and he would not punish her publicly in front of another pack. He, like his father, was weak. The pack was dying and there was nothing he could do to stop it. She moved far into the trees leaving her worries behind her.

Soon she came to a clearing and stripped off her clothes. Something she never did with others around because they might tell and she would be punished for shifting when Erle could not mark her wolf form. She had told him she had no desire to shift but when her Luna ceremony came she would be forced to. As she explored deeper and deeper into the thick woods she let her mind wonder and set Snow free to do her thing.

A couple hours later she looked around and realized she was standing on the bank of a large half frozen lake. The snow glistening in the moon light. 'We should go back, Snow. He will punish us for being gone so long.'

'No.' Snow whimpered. 'I will save us from him. We just have to keep going and never look back."

'Snow are you talking about turning rouge?' Victoria gasped in shock. 'We would never survive!'

'No. There is a pack of regular wolves here we could join them. No one would know. We could be happy here. Please Victoria! Let me take us to safety!' A rustling behind them was not even worth their attention.

'Maybe it's a hungry grizzly.' Victoria snorted at her own dark joke.

'Victoria, please be realistic. We are too far north for it to be a grizzly.' Snow said snidely. 'It's a polar bear.'

'Either way we don't suffer anymore.' Victoria rolled her eyes. A loud growl had her freezing on her way to the unfrozen water. She could easily get out farther than any one else if she wished to. She had always been small for her age and her wolf was barely bigger than an ordinary wolf. From a distance she had been mistaken for a large wolf and got shot last year. Perhaps it wasn't who she feared it was. Maybe it was one of the North Wind warriors confused as to why such a wolf as Snow was out here alone instead of with her pack. At least that was what she hoped.

Until she heard the growl right behind her and felt a strong paw on her hip, as if the stranger was trying to get her to take a submissive position on her back. She was loath to do it but Snow closed their eyes and went down. Victoria pulled their tail up between their legs. Weither it was an act of decency, or one of defiance she had yet to tell.

They heard the larger wolf circling them. Fear mounted in her. How far would Snow submit? Was she ready if Snow let go of all dignity and gave them to this wolf to do what they pleased? She whimpered as it stepped closer and sniffed at her marking spot.

Her worst fears were abated only to be replaced with new ones. This was a scent she did not know. Like leather and fresh snow with subtle hints of pine smoke. It wasn't unpleasant. Just the opposite. It was intoxicating and was clouding her judgment. She took a small whif of the new wolf and heard a rumble of approval deep in its chest as it sniffed lower, Towards her tail covered intimate region. 'Snow roll over.' She whimpered at her weakly. But it was too late. The strangers snout was burrowing beneath her tail towards her sex.

This wolf sniffed twice and then she felt a warm wet tongue lap over her covered entrance. A shocking jolt of pleasure run through her body from her core. 'Snow! Do something! Please!' Victoria begged helplessly. Snow grumbled and moved their tail out of the way, effectively exposing them to this wolf's hungry lustfull tongue. It continued to lick her and finally, when she thought she might explode from the pleasure, she opened her eyes to see that she was laid under an impossibly large male wolf.

His cock was glistening and purple from swelling. His fur as black as pine pitch. This was the male from her dreams that she had so willingly submitted to. What should she do? It wasn't like she could reenact her wet dreams with this male. Even if she did take her human form there was no guarantee that he even spoke English. And it had just been a dream.

Before Victoria could stop her, Snow had lifted her head and passed their tongue over his swollen member. He flinched and backed way in surprise. 'Snow what the hell are you doing!' Victoria screamed.

'Letting him know that I am receptive to his masterful affections.' Snow half purred. He watched them for a while, still on their back and then seemed to decide if she wanted to taste his cock, fine she could. He moved back over her and went to a crouching position so she would have better access to him.

Victoria had to admit that he tasted as good if not better than he smelled. She licked all over his cock and let him lick all over her. From her overly sensitive clit, to her unused entrance, to her puckered hole. This went on until snow was whimpering for him to thrust his massive cock inside her. He must have understood Snows carnal need because once again he backed off, though not as far this time. He had backed off just enough so she could roll over and present herself to him for mounting.

'Snow what the fuck! Why would you let him do this to us!' Victoria wailed as his sharp fangs snake into her neck at the marking spot. His wolf had marked Snow. Freedom became a fleeting dream for her. She yelped and tried to pull away but heard him growl and stopped as he clamped tighter to her neck. She whimpered as he let go and positioned over top of her. He fully intended to take what he now saw as his. She had no choice but to submit to him.

His front paws wrapped around her waist, holding her in place and he thrust into her hard. She yelped and again tried to free herself from him, but he was too strong. He kept her in place and thrust in and out of her relentlessly.

The way he took her was feral. Even Snow whimpered in pain as time went on. Eventually she pushed Victoria to the back of her mind as she always did when Erle was drunk and decided he needed some one to pleasure him. It was instinctive of her to do so now. 'It's okay Victoria.' She said soothingly. 'He is our mate. He is half rabid form waiting for us but we can tame him. We were meant to after all.'

It was four hours later when she opened her eyes and felt his member deflate inside her. His grip loosened and she took off like a shot in the direction she had come from. She was terrified of the large dominating male. Mate or not she needed time to come to terms with everything that had happened.

Victoria reached her clothes and shifted to her human form only to feel Erle back hand her across the face. She cried out as she fell to the Snow, blood dripping from her nose.

"You bitch!" He snarled. "I went to your room and you weren't even there! I had to come track you dow-" A thunderous growl echoed through the silent trees as beautiful lights lit the sky like a beacon of hope. All shades of blue green and purple danced about shining down on the large brown wolf with grey at his muzzle and eyes. She had no doubt that age had favored him. To his left stood a younger brown wolf and on his right was a wolf whose fur was alive with the colors of the aurora borialis. All three of them had murder in their eyes. Victoria wasn't sure if she was willing to stop them. All three of them were much larger than Celdrin.

As she shivered it occurred to her that she had yet to get dressed. She was still naked. As she reached for her clothes weakly the black wolf stalked into the clearing. He approached her silently and sniffed at the blood on her face. Her nose had already healed from the break and was no longer bleeding.

'Who hurt you!' A demonic voice said in her mind as his hackles raised and she heard an almost nonexistent growl from him.

"I-I'm okay." She whimpered and pulled her wet and half frozen white button down on. Forget the bar, it was useless anyway.

'I did not ask if you were okay. I asked who hurt you.' The voice snarled. She knew it was the wolf who had marked snow and taken her virginity. She was trembling and not just from the cold. Fear gripped her and she was terrified to answer her mate.

"P-please. I'm c-cold. I just want to go to bed." She whimpered at him. Begging him to see reason. She saw the moment that he gave into her pleading.

'Fine. But this isn't over.' He growled at Erle as if he already knew then nudged her in the direction of the pack house. The other wolves followed as if he out ranked them. Were they mere warriors and him a ranked wolf? What ever the case she would be staying with him in the pack house from now on. In a way she had to admit that she had been saved. But was she going from the frying pan to the fire? Or was she truly saved? She pondered the answer to her questions as she slowly walked up the steps to the large wrap around porch. And realized she had no key as she approached the door.

Just then a man of about 28 jogged up the steps. He had brown hair and pale skin. There was no mark on him meaning he had yet to find his mate. If he even had one. "I've got it, Luna." He said gently as he reached her. She was shocked to hear that word come out of his mouth and quickly looked around for the alpha female. But there was no else but the four males and her on the porch.

"Ar-are you talking to me?" She finally forced the words out of her mouth as he pushed the door open to let everyone in. In the light of the entry light she could see the confused look on the older man's face as he looked at her incredulously.

"Who else would my son be talking to?" He asked as he entered the house. Then, another man nudged her towards the door indicating that she should go in just before him. In her pack the alpha always entered first and the omegas were lucky if they got to enter at all. It seemed to be the opposite in this pack. She looked around as she stepped inside. The entry was done in dark mahogany and stone. It was an open floor plane, meaning that to her left was a large sitting area with a large fire place that cast a warm glow throughout the space. The single shaded bulb only illuminated right by the door and the foot of a large stair case. A crimson velvet carpet adorned the stairs and around the fire place were several crimson chairs and couches, all over stuffed and comfortable. A large dining area was to her immediate right with a larger fire place set behind the head table. In front of which sat ten long mahogany tables. The light of the fire danced on the scrubbed and polished table tops like a thousand tiny fairies in the dark. a door just to the left behind the head table she was sure led to the kitchen.

The large black wolf nudged her to get her attention and she put her hand on his head gently. Just as she was about to ask about her sleeping arrangements a beautiful brunette of about 26 came bounding down the stairs in a flannel shirt unbuttoned over a tight spaghetti strap tank top and spandex shorts that barely covered her ass.

"Next time have Kole get them for you." She huffed as she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I was getting the shit fucked out of me by Dracus." Victoria's mate snorted derisively and padded off to a half hidden door.

She followed instinctively. "No no sweety. No one is allowed in his office or his bedroom with a direct order from him." The pretty woman said as she grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Oh. I'm sorry." She said meekly as she looked at the floor. "I will try to remember that."

"Sweety your shaking!" The woman's voice changed from annoyed to motherly in the blink of an eye. "Are you cold? Come sit by the fire." She drew her in and led her to one of the over stuffed chairs in the sitting area. Despite herself she was starting to like this woman. Maybe they could be friends. She admitted that it would be nice as she drifted to sleep.