Romance: Tied To The Wolf: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (Werewolf Romance, BBW Paranormal Romance, Shifter Romance) (7 page)

The sound of bone crunching was like a branch snapping near her ears and the weight on her chest disappeared.

“What the FUCK?!”

Cecilia scrambled away, her eyes searching through the chaos before finding a black wolf standing between her and the wolves snarling back at him.

At this angle, Ceci could barely catch the way the wolf’s snout curled upward to expose terrifying fangs. This wasn’t Lucas, even though it looked like him. Lucas had been immense, almost the size of two full wolves. This wolf was slightly smaller, thinner, and its growl was higher.

Aaron.

Caleb rose to his feet, scrambling into his wolf form in a series of angry growls.

“Stay away from her.”
Aaron’s voice came out grated from within the wolf’s throat.

“
You and what Army?”

Suddenly two other wolves burst from behind Cecilia to flank Aaron’s wolf form. A gray wolf and a light brown wolf stood at his side.

“
This one.
” Sarai’s voice was harsh and livid from the brown wolf.

“Marlo,”
Aaron spoke.

“
Find Lucas.”

“Will you be alright?”

Sarai let out a snap, her tail whipping hard once behind her, fur bristling.
“We’ll take care of these mutts. Find our Alpha.”

The gray wolf started for the broken doors. Darting with such a swift speed the other wolves barely took off after him by the time he had disappeared.

Caleb, the wolf with gray and brown in his coat, snarled, taking after Marlo. Aaron moved then, lunging toward him with a roar, Sarai following him closely.

Cecilia scrambled back, trying to stay as far away from the battle as possible. Her eyes followed Aaron’s body closely, gasping as he fought off several wolves at once. Sarai was vicious, slamming her claws over her opponent’s eyes before ripping her fangs into their jugulars.

Where Aaron was brute strength, slamming wolves into walls, Sarai was lethal speed. Still, despite their joined strength, they were being overrun and Cecilia tried to think of something she could do.

Reaching for a piece of shattered glass, she almost ran into the fray but stopped when one of the wolves from Caleb’s pack spotted her.

It began to approach her, eyes wide and lips curled back to expose fangs dripping with foamy saliva. Cecilia threw her piece of glass at it, it cut into its cheek but all else did nothing.

The beast hissed, shaking its head before lowering down to pounce.

“Aaron!” Cecilia screamed, afraid.

The wolf began to pounce, before the body of another slammed into it and threw them against the nearest wall.

Ceci turned to look, letting out a cry of joy when she spotted a much larger black wolf standing near the broken doors.
Lucas.

He was injured. Blood matted parts of his coat and his body slumped somewhat. At his side was Marlo’s form, pouncing into the fray to defend Aaron.

Still, they battled, ripping into their enemies with considerable strength and fatal speed. At one point Sarai let out a high pitched whine, her body flying toward the wall on the other side of the room. Cecilia exclaimed.

In mere moment the battle turned tides until it was just Lucas and Aaron’s wolf forms cornering Caleb’s, snarling hatefully and spitting vitriol through their growls.

For a moment, Cecilia was certain they would win, until Caleb lunged toward an exhausted Lucas.

Aaron followed as fast he could, and Cecilia’s eyes took in the movement in slow motion. She saw Caleb’s fangs sink into Lucas’s neck, tackling him in the other direction before ramming into the remains of the dining room table. Cecilia shrieked in dismay.

Caleb pulled away, snout and fangs coated in crimson, but before he could so much as do anything else Aaron was lunging, tackling his enemy and sinking his own teeth into Caleb’s neck.

They landed out of sight, but Cecilia could hear the way their growls clashed until Caleb let out a whine and a choked yelp. Blood splattered the wall, and it went silent far too quickly.

Cecilia waited, frozen to the spot as her eyes struggled to find anything. Finally, Aaron’s body emerged from the chaos, limping and hurrying in the direction where Lucas’s body had fallen. It was then Cecilia bolted, hurrying through torn wood and shattered glass to reach the result of the chaos.

Aaron’s body was shifting, his whines and yelps morphing into words as his body shaped and molded into his own. His body was littered in bite wounds and scratches, clothes torn to shreds around his skin. Yet, the one thing that scared her the most was how he was calling for Lucas, begging him to wake.

“Lucas!” Aaron cried, digging his fingers against Lucas’s huge body.

“Wake up! Come on!”

Before her eyes, Lucas’s body began to shift and change, and all the wounds his fur had covered up no longer hid behind but became angry gashes of deep vermilion.

Cecilia fell to her knees as soon as she approached him.

“No, no!” She cried, seeing pronounced puncture wounds leak blood from his neck. Lucas’s gaze stared into the ceiling, half lucid.

“Lucas, please!” Aaron begged, tears cascading from his eyes.

“Don’t do this to me! I can’t lose you, brother!”

“Aaron…” Lucas wheezed. Cecilia hurried close, pressing her fingers tight against the wounds on his neck.

“We need to stop the bleeding!”

She encouraged, tugging at her own clothes to press against his skin. Something in her burned with fright, shook her to the bone with a numbness that was edging deeper against her throat.

“Aaron, stop,” Lucas whispered.

He rose an arm, covering Cecilia’s hands with one broad palm while his other hand reached for his brother. They both paused, stunned in their grief.

“Did…did you kill Caleb?”

Aaron nodded through a sob. “Yes.”

Lucas’s skin was pale, a faded white that told Cecilia it was too late.

“Good. He… he would’ve ruined our clan. You know what has to happen now, little brother.”

“I can’t,” Aaron pleaded, huddling close to his brother.

“I can’t take over from you, you are the only one who’s strong enough.”

“You killed the bastard that killed me,” Lucas wheezed with a grin, blood gurgling from his lips as he began to cough through the wounds. Cecilia wept.

“You’re strong enough, little brother. You’ve always been…”

“Lucas…” Aaron wailed. “Please.”

“Take care of her, Aaron.” Lucas murmured, fixing one final glare into his brother’s face.

“Make my death count. You protect our family…you got it? You protect…protect…” His eyes began to fade, lips falling limp as he settled into the broken wood beneath him.

Aaron took in a deep breath, holding on to his brother’s hand as Lucas passed.

Cecilia sobbed, collapsing against Aaron’s side.
This isn’t what I wanted… This isn’t what I wanted…

Aaron’s silence was profound and when Cecilia glanced up, she felt Aaron pull her close. Together, they shared this grief. Together.

A small howl of grief rose in the distance, and Aaron suddenly turned to glance up in the direction of the sound. Deep in the woods, a few pairs of eyes beheld the sight, wolves that shared the color of the pack.

Without a word, Aaron stood, released his brother’s limp hand and headed toward the broken glass doors. Cecilia watched him, saw his body straighten despite the pain in his heart, because she could
feel
it.

She watched him as he beheld the faces of the pack that now looked to him as the Alpha. Aaron threw his head back and let out a loud cry, and the wolves followed in their own howls.

This was a victory, a most terrible victory.

Carefully, Cecilia looked down at Lucas’s empty gaze.

“I’m sorry…” She murmured, lifting a hand to close his eyes.

“I’m so sorry.”

Chapter 7

Three months later.

Rocko’s tavern was alive again with patrons and happy customers. When Cecilia returned, Rocko had been happy to see her, but his joy was short lived when he saw the expression on her face.

Gone was the wide doe-eyed innocence that made her his little Ceci. This was the expression of a woman grown at the force of grief.

She returned to work, saying nothing for a good few weeks despite falling in his arms and sobbing. At first Rocko had been afraid something had happened to her, but Cecilia insisted nothing had happened to her and he believed her.

She did not shy from his touch as if she had been abused, and it took some time to get some semblance to the truth out of her.

All he knew was that she had told him that someone precious had died for her.

“It’s my fault, Rocko.”
Cecilia insisted as she wept in his arms.

“I was so selfish.”

“No, sweetheart,”
Rocko had soothed.

“You did nothing wrong.”

Yet his words could never reach her like she needed.

For three months, Cecilia worked and took no misbehavior from the patrons at the bar. Where she had once expressed she had been happy to work and be content in this little town, all she did now was stare out the windows, distracted and forlorn. Rocko was worried for her, but he didn’t know what to do for her and so he left her alone.

Her distant stares slowly focused back into her work and her smiles slowly returned as well, but they were not as bright as they used to be. He wondered why, but she never said and so he never pried.

Until one day when someone walked through the door of his tavern. He was a man of tall stature, bronze skin, jet black hair and deep green eyes.

His expression was certain, decisive.

“What can I get for you?” Rocko asked when the man sat at the bar.

“I’m fine,” the stranger spoke.

“Are you Rocko?”

“The one and the same.” Rocko replied, slapping a towel over his shoulder with a scowl. “Who’s asking?”

“Aaron…”

Rocko blinked curiously in the direction of the door, not seeing the way the stranger stiffened.

Cecilia stood by the doors of the kitchen, her hands dropping an empty tray to the ground. The clatter was loud and made what patrons were around suddenly pause in conversation.

“Cecilia,” the stranger spoke and his voice was desperate.

Cecilia’s eyes crinkled painfully, lips tightening in an expression close to a wail. Rocko watched in surprise as he watched the young girl he had seen grow up from a tiny little orphan to a beautiful woman run into the arms of this stranger. The reunion was abrupt, stunning everyone to stare.

“Why did you leave?” Aaron (his name must be Aaron) asked into her hair.

“I couldn’t take it…” She replied, her arms tight around his shoulders.

“I couldn’t…”

Rocko cleared his throat, and the two pulled away to glance over to him.

“Hate to interrupt but, who are you?”

Aaron’s lips parted, but Cecilia cut through. “I’ll explain later, Rocko.” She then turned to face the man in her arms.

“Come with me.”

Without another word they exited through the main door and Rocko could only stare in surprise and even concern.

He trusted that Cecilia would explain… fixing his patrons a sharp stare, Rocko snapped.

“Back to your business, folks!”

Conversations burst once more, and Rocko busied himself with tending to his costumers, hoping that Cecilia would be alright—although right now, he had a feeling that she would be able to take care of herself.

--

Cecilia’s apartment was small and dingy in comparison to the lavish mansion Aaron lived in, but it was filled with personal effects that made her home feel like an extension of his and so he dared not turn his nose up at it.

He could smell the anxiety ebbing from her in waves, and as he followed her deep into her apartment, he knew he had to do something to put her at ease.

“This place is a mess,” Cecilia muttered as she spewed apologies left and right.

“I like it,” he interrupted her, earning him a wide eyed gaze from her hazel eyes.

“It’s lovely.”

She settled down, urging him toward the small couch next to her small round dining table.

When he sat, he caught a strong whiff of salt and old fabric. She had been crying here.

“I haven’t seen you in a while,” Aaron began, smiling softly.

“You just disappeared.”

“Marlo helped me return home.” Cecilia replied. “He…I couldn’t stay there after everything had happened. I needed to get away.”

A slow silence passed between them before Aaron reached over to touch her fingers. Cecilia gave a small flinch at the contact, but she didn’t shrug from his grip.

It was incredible how easily their skin fell together.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s all my fault.”

Aaron blinked in surprise.

“What?”

She nodded.

“I… I was selfish, Aaron. I tried to ask Lucas to find a way to let me be with you. He said… he said that the only way was that if you became the Alpha… I wanted it so bad, because I cared for you, but I also wanted to be with him. I hurt him… and I never managed to beg for his forgiveness.”

Aaron moved, yanking her close to him for him to bury her head under his chin.

“You didn’t do this, Cecilia. None of it was your fault.”

“But…!”

“But nothing.” Aaron said, “None of us could have known about what happened. If anything… this was my fault. I refused this side of myself, loathing it because I thought it made me a monster—made me be like Caleb. I thought that if I was human, I would be able to enjoy life without being a beast… but my own fear and hatred of my own kind only made me into something more pathetic. Lucas died because I was too afraid...”

Cecilia shook her head, pushing herself away as she met his watery gaze with her own. “He loved you, Aaron,” she muttered.

“He always knew you’d be strong enough.”

Aaron nodded, “I just wish I knew it sooner.”

Cecilia pulled him close and they remained in each other’s arms, riding the last waves of grief together. Minutes passed into an hour, then two and they held each other close, listening to their breaths and heart beats synchronize.

Slowly, Cecilia shifted, lifting her chin to meet Aaron’s gaze with her own. His eyes studied her closely, taking in every detail of her eyes, her nose, and her lips.

Moments passed precariously and he began to feel a surge of warmth in his blood, different from the heat she had sparked months ago, but similar all the same. Carefully, Cecilia pushed toward him, their lips grazing softly into a tender kiss.

The surge burned hotter, sang in his blood with notes more piercing and beautiful than when he had felt the power of the moon over his skin. He had been rejecting the urges then, hiding behind closed doors and the touch of his own hand. He didn’t want to reject them anymore.

Slowly but surely, their kiss gained in passion, lips giving way to tongued that knotted together in desperation and unified desire.

Their breaths elevated to bursts of air, he felt his heart beat thrum in his ears when she tugged him against her for them to sink into the couch.

“Aaron,” Cecilia moaned, digging her fingers into his scalp and her legs spreading to rub their hips together.

“Cecilia,” Aaron called her name, straining when he felt a powerful heat nearly scald him from between her thighs.

He wanted more, made him crave for much more.

“I want you, Aaron.” Cecilia pleaded against his mouth and he bucked, drawing out moans from both their lips.

Her hands sunk beneath his shirt, burning against his flesh and drawing out grunts that made him want to lose himself within her body, sink deeper within their minds and tie their souls in beautiful bows that would never unravel.

He began to grind against her core, making his length rub pleasantly against her heat and make the heat between them scorch and flare.

Clothes slid from their bodies, and sweat pooled from their pours to mingle as they rocked together. He wanted in her, and she wanted on him.

The last barriers of clothes fell to the ground, his fingers sinking into the slick moisture of her folds and drawing out hitched gasps that sounded sweeter than the music of the moon. He pumped one finger in her, then two, rubbing his thumb over the top of her sensitivity and drawing moans that edged into screams.

Cecilia cried out his name, her fingers becoming claws as she drew her teeth into his lips and bit desperately. Aaron couldn’t deny her, falling into her commands with half-lidded understanding so palpable there could not be a word that would translate directly.

The language of her body sunk into his with every gyration of her hips and every throb of the pressure between his thighs.

Finally, Cecilia was turning tear-stained eyes to him, her lips parting in a final pleading.

“Aaron…”

He couldn’t deny it anymore. With a grunt, Aaron pressed his mouth to her neck, drawing his tongue over her pulse to savor the musical tandem of her blood raging for him.

His hands gathered at her full breasts, teasing the tips to draw out more notes from her throat that only made him harder.

He aligned himself, murmuring gentle encouragements against her ear before he began to sink into her. She let out a high-pitched breath, muscles tightening at the intrusion of his length into her sex.

Aaron gritted his teeth, dragging his thumb between her thighs to draw out familiar touches to help her relax.

Their progression was slow, but like lava, it burned as it curled between them.

Before long, his rhythm had become pronounced with every thrust, and soon her legs were clenching around his waist, moans coming out in staccato as Aaron grunted in harmony.

The couch beneath him groaned hard, squeaking and shaking with the added power of each piston of hips.

“F-faster…” Cecilia begged, and Aaron let out a growl, his teeth digging in the space between her neck and shoulder as he followed her commands with desperate focus.

Each movement made him feel more and more connected to her, delighting in her cries and feeling them as though they erupted from his own throat. Sweat fell from his forehead, their lips caressing and touching between cries and digging fingers.

He could feel the swell of pleasure begin to overwhelm him, more powerful than ever before even as she bucked harder and harder beneath him, but he didn’t want to take from her and finish before she did.

He gave her folds special attention, making her breaths come out in stuttered shrieks and sobs of satisfaction that brought him further and further to the edge.

He lost count to how many thrusts he pushed into her, his eyelids fluttering as his eyes drew toward the back of his head. Her muscles around his length spasmed deliciously before clamping down tightly around him and he could taste her cries of completion deep against his taste buds as his teeth branded bites into her neck.

Her climax sparked his own and before long, he was spilling deep inside her, shuddering and twitching violently in a crescendo of beautiful lovemaking. When they finally fell apart, it was with uneven gasps and mutters of the gentlest nature.

“I love you,” Cecilia whispered in his ear and when he pulled away, he could see the sincerity in her eyes.

“Honestly?”

He asked and she smiled at him, laughing beautifully as she pulled him into a deep and prolonged kiss.

Her kiss filled him with courage, filled him with the power and confidence to be able to take on the world… he was happy enough she could accept all of him without seeing the monster he was convinced he was.

“Honestly.”

***