Claimed By The Alpha

3

     A strong shiver jolted me from my dreams of dark trees and soft dirt. I was curled up in a soft patch of grass and winced as I looked directly into a stream of bright sunlight. My arms instinctively lifted to cover my eyes and that was when I realized I was completely naked. I gasped and jumped up to cover my bare body. I let out a surprised help when I heard a deep chuckle and glanced up to see Mr Creepy Casanova leaning up against a tall tree.

     "It's about time you woke up." He chuckled, tossing a pile of clothes at the base of the tree I was currently hiding behind. "You don't have to hide, you know."

     "Um... I'm naked!" I exclaimed, shoving my limbs into the garments as fast as I could. His dreamy figure snaked around the base of the tree I was dressing behind just as I pulled the t-shirt over my head. I suppose my reddened cheeks were redundant considering he had already seen me naked.

     "So?" He growled sensually. I had to tear my eyes away from his and take a step back. Being so close to him seemed to prohibit my ability to make smart decisions.

     "So, I'm not the type of girl to go parading around a stranger in my birthday suit." I said, feeling slightly guilty at the sharpness of my sarcasm. "I don't even know your name." I laughed at the awkwardness of the situation.

     He smiled and I could see the hints of playfulness sparkle in his eyes. This was a guy I could get used to being around. "Kastiel." His full lips curled around the word like he was carving it out of stone. "My name is Kastiel."

     Before I could realize the childishness of my actions, I stuck my hand out. Without hesitation he reached out to meet my grasp. The roughness of his large hands took me by surprise, but not nearly as much as the heat did. Where his skin touched mine, it was as if my skin was set on fire and the longer he held my hand the more I could feel myself melting into him. I could tell he felt it, too, because his usually sparkling eyes were darkening in a way that made butterflies dance in the pits of my stomach. I was stunned by the abruptness in which he snatched his hand away, so I stuffed my hand in my pocket to make up for the lack of warmth. He turned away from me and sat down on the path of grass where I had woken up. I admired him as he basked in the morning sunlight, but I noticed he would no longer look at me. His eyes were searching the woods around us for something he could distract himself with.

     "I assume you have some questions." His voice was no longer playful or amused. What had I done? He gestured to the grass beside him and I carefully took my seat, fully aware of how far apart we were.

     "So last night was real?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. As he nodded, I recalled the only thing I remembered: the pain. "Will it always hurt?"

     "No," he said softly, almost as if he was saddened by my pain. "It only hurts the first few times. Once your body gets used to it, you won't feel it. For the next few months or so, your body will only change on a full moon. That's how we change when we're kids. Our wolves are slaves to the moon until you reach a certain age of maturity, like puberty is for humans. After that, we learn to change of your own free will."

     "You do this? You change whenever you want?" I asked, more questions filling my mind faster than he could answer. He nodded. I found myself scooting closer to him and my knee brushed against his. I wondered if he felt the tingles too or if I was just really going crazy. "Why am I just starting to change now? Is there something wrong with me?

     His fist clenched and his knuckles turned white against his sun kissed skin. "Not you." He said, his jaws flexed in anger. "Someone did this to you."

     His words were like a slap in the face. "What are you saying?"

     "When I caught your scent, you reeked of wolfsbane. Someone was making you ingest it to restrict your shifting. My initial guess was your father-"

     "Are you out of your mind? You're crazy if you think that my father would do something like that!" I hadn't meant to be so rude, but I had unintentionally interrupted him and raised my voice at him. I sensed his anger and caught the menacing glint in his eyes and immediately shut my mouth.

     "Do you want the truth or not?" He swathed. When I didn't say anything he continued. "We don't know why he did it, we just know the effects when we see them. Wolfsbane can cause werewolves immense pain so consider yourself lucky. You've developed a tolerance to one of the few things that can actually hurt us." He smirked, his mood taking an unexpectedly playful shift.

     "Lucky?" I spat, unable to control the rage that was bubbling beneath my skin. "I've got some sexy wolf-man telling me my father has been poisoning me, I was kidnapped and tortured, I just found out I turn into an animal, and not to mention you're one mood swing away from giving me whiplash! Please tell me how that makes me lucky!"

     I gasped as I felt my body falling back against the grass abruptly ending my rant. I felt Kastiel's weight pressing me into the ground. My hands were pinned above my head and he held my body captive with no room for escape. His hard muscular frame was flush against mine and even though he was visibly angrier than a raging bear, all I could do was try to control my erratic heartbeat and uneven breathing.

     "No one, no one, talks to me that way." He growled. The deep guttural sound made an unfamiliar sensation spread through me. "I'm your Alpha and you will respect me." His eyes bored into mine. I knew I should be scared but I couldn't stop thinking about how sexy Kastiel was when he was angry and how firm his body felt against mine.

     The abruptness in which his snarl turned into a smirk shook my brain stem. "You're not so bad yourself." The way his eyes swept over my features made an inevitable blush race to the surface of my cheeks.

     "Perks of being a sexy wolf-man, buttercup. I can read your thoughts." One of his hands slid down to brush my cheekbone, sending flames to every nerve in my body. I narrowed my eyes in a spiteful glare. He knew what feelings he was inducing and he was doing it on purpose. Asshole. The slight twitch under his eye told me he got the message, his anger returning.

     "You're crushing me." I lied, trying to change the subject. I wiggled underneath him trying to create some space between us but halted when his warm hand clamped down on my side, catching the sliver of exposed skin where my shirt had risen. His skin was like lava against my own and I shivered against him. Seeing my reaction to his touch and knowing what it did to me, his eyes grew darker once again.

     "If you value your virtue, you'll stop rubbing against me like that." A seductive growl rumbled from somewhere deep in his chest. I froze against him and the rosy blush returned. It only deepened when I felt the vibration of his dark chuckle. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and I saw a glint in his eye shift and he sucked in a quick breath to make a comment about my action. Aha! I found something that gets to him!

     "Kas!" Caroline's voice cut through our tension. "She's only been in the pack for one day!"