White Lightning

Chapter 100: Crimson Trouble

Author's Note: There's some mention of sexy-time in this chapter, but nothing too, too graphic. Either way, you are forewarned.








He wasn't sleeping and not sleeping meant that he was scatterbrained and on edge. Racing through the woods endlessly for hours, circling the pack property at least six dozen times, Chris had tried to force himself to become exhausted enough to finally get some rest. When he'd finally admitted that nothing was working to quell his insomnia, he stomped back to the compound, up the steps of his private deck, and back into his private solitude. Now he was seated on the edge of his bed, growling to himself as he fought to hold back his frustrated beast.


Desperate for any kind of release, he shut his eyes and tried to focus his energy into remaining in his present form. Logging endless hours in his wolf had failed to tire him out, so changing right now and shredding his mattress and pillows with his claws was not likely to help either. Instead, his mind began to flip through a series of moments from the past, his heart beginning to beat feverishly against the cage of his chest to try and escape the hellish journey.


But there was truly no evading the self-torment as the back of his eyelids flashed images of his gorgeous Serenity. Her porcelain skin reflected the sunshine like diamonds as she reclined in a bed of tall grass, her eyes shimmering with the vitality of life as she placed one of his large hands onto her swollen belly. Instantly, he experienced the sense-memory of their pup dancing an intricate ballet inside her womb, pushing back at his caresses to let his father know that his heir was strong.


Pale pink lips spreading into a tremendous smile, he placed a gentle kiss onto his mate's lips. "I love you."


She said nothing in response, she merely returned his gaze as he began to press kisses across her jaw line and down her neck, working slowly toward her enormous breasts. He cupped one and gently pinched the pebbled nipple, then allowed his tongue to explore the rubbery tip. Her entire body shuddered beneath him, and he felt his own body beginning to stir to life. "I love you so much," he promised as he repeated this action on her other breast.


Her spine arched up from the earth as he began to suck hungrily at her chest, his hands carefully gripping her hips and kneading her flesh as he felt his heart pumping wildly. She was everything to him, and their child was everything to him. "I love you both more than life itself," he whispered as his fingers slid down between her dewy folds.


There was a vague sense that this was all a daydream as he felt his fist wrapping around his throbbing erection and allowed his back to hit the mattress. The fur that had travelled down his back was a downy soft pillow beneath him, but the accompanying thatch sprouting across his lower abdomen threatened to interrupt his pleasure. Gritting his teeth and feeling his canines pulsate, he growled in frustration. "NO!" he demanded as he kept his brown eyes locked tight. But he felt his body shivering as he began to transform languidly.


Inside the pages of his fantasy, Serenity was stroking him to his full hardness as she found her voice. A velvety soft alto filled his ears. "I love you too, Christopher, but you have to let us go. We will always be with you, we will always love you, but you have to live your life and take care of the pack. Don't give up on the she-wolf who owns your heart, and know that we will forever and always love you."


Howling in pain as his facial features began to rearrange themselves, the Alpha allowed his beast to take over. "NO!" he repeated, this time to his mate. "Don't leave me!" he pleaded with her ghost. "I can't lose you again!"


"I'm always here," she promised with a sad smile as she pressed a kiss onto his lips. "Always, Christopher."


Chris barked, the sound snapping him from his dreams. Quickly, he sat up and nearly toppled off the bed as he realized, with horror, that his feet had been replaced by paws and his torso was covered in a mat of fur. Shocked, his eyes opened comically wide at the sight of his partial transformation. His painfully hard cock twitched against his furry stomach, and a drop of moisture beaded atop his glans and seemed to mockingly wink up at him.


"What the—?" he stammered as he inventoried his naked body. Part wolf, part human, he sat on the bed trapped in the in-between. He had slept somehow, but for how long? And why was he suddenly unable to control his shift? Flummoxed, he rubbed his hands over his face and grimaced when he felt whiskers and fuzz.


Standing in the doorway but partially prepared to make a hasty retreat, his Beta cleared his throat melodramatically. "Bad timing?"


Wrapping his pulsing cock in his hand and giving it a swift tug, the Alpha glanced up into his brother's amused eyes. "I couldn't fucking sleep," he groaned. "I must have finally collapsed and I dreamt of—"


Casual as ever, Ryan shut the door and sauntered inside, shaking his head slowly. "You were lying there jacking off and moaning my mate's name over and over. You were mid-shift and squeezing your fucking shaft as you groaned Rain's name."


Chris stood up, stretched his hands up over his head and shook his head wildly. As he did so, all the fur disappeared and his whiskers withdrew back into his flesh. Realizing that the threat of a shift had passed, he began hunting for a pair of shorts. Once he was covered, he turned back toward his Beta and frowned. "I was dreaming of Serenity."


The Beta sat in a large, ornate chair and snorted. "Which completely explains why I opened the door to find your dick in your right hand and Rain's name on your filthy lips."


"I could feel the pup inside her." The Alpha's bottom lip quivered as tears threatened to spill from his bloodshot eyes. Dark circles on his pale skin made him appear more racoon than wolf. "I felt the pup move inside her."


Ignoring his brother's latest episode, Ryan shook his head slowly. "Whatever. I don't want to know who you're fucking in your dreams, especially if it's my Rain. You stay the fuck away from her, do you understand?" Collecting himself, he then sighed. "Alright, well, let's just deal with the bullshit and forget about this."


"What bullshit?" Chris winced as he began rubbing a dirty towel over his face. "I thought it was smooth sailing of late?"


"It was," his Beta nodded. "Until our son informed me that he saw Crimson skulking around on the property the other day."


Nearly toppling off the bed for the umpteenth time, the Alpha jumped to his feet and snarled. "How do you know it was that whore? Where has she been? Where'd she come from?"


Ryan shrugged off the interrogation. "I don't know anything for certain. But he referred to seeing a she-wolf with 'firing fred hairs'. There are literally no other redheads in the entire pack, so I'm willing to bet some money that wherever she's been hiding, she snuck out for long enough to cause some trouble. I'm not sure if I consider it good or bad luck that Christopher seems to have spotted her, because that means she likely saw him, too."


Chris sighed. "Any idea what the trouble she was into might have been?"


"As I am not yet psychic, no," his brother winked. "Also, as my informant is not yet two years old, it's kind of hard to infer specifics from his report. All I got was, and I do quote: 'I saws a gir wuff wit firing fred hairs.'"


The Alpha nodded and began gnawing on his bottom lip. "So, what do you think it means?"


"Your guess, my brother, is as good as mine," Ryan laughed as he slapped his hands down onto his camouflage-clad thighs. "No fucking clue. I haven't been able to find a single adult soul who saw her that day or has any clue what she was up to. And I still can't find our brother."


"Ophelia?" the Alpha raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Has she shown her face yet?"


Ryan shook his head slowly and scratched at his full beard. "I have someone bringing her meals and snacks each day, and sometimes she opens her door and sometimes she doesn't. I've knocked and asked to speak with her, and she's told me to go fuck myself." He held his hands out and bit back a laugh. "She's alive in there. That's all I know."


Beginning to pace yet again, his brother ran his hands anxiously up and through his raven locks. Coupled with the mess that his partial transformation had made of his bed head, the Alpha now looked like a caged beast. "Anything else?"


"The pack are all fine, save for some little issues here and there. Rick reports that Isolde is doing phenomenally well as his assistant. Vincenzo is still on target to be one of our best security officers and a superior Delta. That newly mated she, Giselle, I'm told that she's pregnant with her first pup already, and Rick and Isolde are pleased with her progress." Pausing, Ryan smiled weakly. "For all intents and purposes, things have been good."


Nodding along with each piece of news, the Alpha sighed. "So, do we try to figure out what Crimson was up to or do we forget it happened?"


The Beta stood and scrunched up his forehead and nose, making an unintentionally goofy face. "I don't think it would hurt to know, but I honestly doubt that we can find anything out without raising hell. And the further we dig and demand answers, the faster that she is going to head for the damn hills to evade us."