Alpha and Omega

Chapter 38

Gwen put the book away as they reached the cabin. "You'll have to share more with me, maybe before bed tonight?" Bucky asked. He'd liked the sound of Gwen reading to him and the peace that came from the omega wolf when she did.

She nodded. "Sounds like fun," she told him brightly. She was so excited and happy as she got out of the car. She grinned at the cabin. "It's so cute." She paused for a moment just to take in the scent of the woods. The feel of the forest around her.

Bucky was fascinated with her. He never had enough of her and watched her in awe. It was taking all her effort not to strip and shift and bound around in the woods like a puppy and Bucky realized it when he saw the fur on her neck. He knew it also ran down her back. "You can shift after we put up the tent."

She nodded and helped him put the tent up, though she hadn't actually built one before. Bucky wanted the tent to be closer to nature, he said. But they also had the cabin for amenities. They got the necessary things out of the car, the contents of the cooler stored in the fridge in the cabin, their bags in the tent. They could walk the block distance to the cabin when necessary. "Okay, you can strip in either the tent or cabin and run. We should have dragged Loki here," Bucky told her a bit apprehensively.

Gwen giggled. "Loki would hate camping. He's such a peacock about his appearance," she reminded him as she was already taking off her flannel on her way to the tent.

"But as a wolf he can run with you. Then sleep in the cabin. So we still have privacy."

"He'd still hate it," she told him "I'm fine running alone," she ducked into the tent to shift and shook her fur out as she came out in wolf form. She licked Bucky's cheek, careful as ever of her teeth anywhere near him before she bounded off into the woods to play.

Bucky laughed and ran after her. He could barely keep her tail in sight, even with his super speed. She heard him running after her and barked a laugh before she put on a burst a speed, running full out on four feet, there was no way for him to keep up, but he tried for awhile.

When hewas out of breath he returned to camp to go fix dinner.

Gwen turned and caught back up with him and licked his hand when she'd caught up with him. He laughed. "You wanted to go fetch dinner? Or trout?"

She tilted her head, licked his hand again, and bounded back into the woods silently to find them dinner. She summoned him with a howl a short while later, not too far from their campsite. He had a good fire going by then, with rocks around it to protect the area. He got up and followed her howl to where she was standing next to a good sized buck, wagging her tail and incredibly proud of herself. "Damn girl. You got something bigger than yourself!"

She wagged her tail and barked and looked so proud. Unfortunately, the buck had been far too big for such a little wolf to bring back to their camp alone. Bucky realized that she had gone for the throat, which is how she'd downed it in the first place. He hefted it easily and swung it over his shoulders to carry back to camp. "We can make jerky and steaks to take home, if you want."

She trotted along beside him and barked an agreement. She didn't care what they did with the buck as long as they at least had dinner out of it. He seemed happy with her offering and her tail wagged the entire way back. Offerings of food were an important mating custom to the wolves. Buck was more than happy. He was proud of her. So much so that he was tempted to take the head of the buck back as a trophy to show off her skills.

Gwen ducked back into the tent to change back to human when they were back at camp and came out wearing the tank top and jeans. Bucky could see why people might think werewolves monsters when he saw her mouth and chin were still covered in the buck's blood. He understood, though, and didn't think any less of her for it. "Hun, you might wanna go to the riverside and wash your face," he said gently, not wanting to scare her.

She nodded, looking sheepish and blushing fiercely. "Sorry," she said sheepishly, trying to appear smaller than she was.

"Doll, there's nothing to be ashamed of. You brought down this huge buck all on your own," he said, pride in his voice. "It's natural to get some blood on you," he added with a shrug. She relaxed and her pride and grin returned as she bounded down to the stream to clean up, her tail wagging happily.

Bucky absolutely adored seeing her so happy.