Back at the clubhouse, Ali had gone straight back to bed. Moose had joined her for a while but was unable to sleep. He went down to the lobby to watch television where he wouldn’t wake her. He soon found himself joined by Aspen.
“How’s your girl?” he asked.
“She’s better. Still very tired. Sleeping.”
“Did she tell you why she wanted the claws?” he asked.
“I have no idea. It’s been a rough day and I didn’t want to push her too hard. Fuck, it’s our honeymoon. We’re supposed to be sipping margaritas on the beach by now.”
“That sucks, but hopefully, you can work out a new trip soon.”
“I’m sure we will. Could use a vacation from all the chaos that has been hitting this place constantly the past few years.”
“Right there with you, brother,” Aspen said.
“How did things end up over at the Dire Wolves. What did you do with the leftovers?”
“There weren’t many. Most of the human women had already bugged out. The shifter women had joined other packs that didn’t mind having a stray as a wife. The ones that were left were either killed in the fray or ran off.”
“How many kids did we kill?” Moose wailed.
“Only a couple that attacked us, older ones. Harley killed those who wouldn’t fight us.”
“Harley? What?”
“Yeah. Turns out she was pregnant with a Dire Wolf baby. Decided she could start some new pack and rule it as a human mother of a shifter. Her plan was to wipe out what was left of the old pack, the widows, orphans, and cowards hiding in their basement. That’s why she took Ali. She knew you’d be hellbent to come after her.”
“Where is Harley now?”
“Dead.”
“The baby. I assume it was hers. Where is it now?”
“It’s here. Carter and his wife have him for the time being.”
“What the hell are we going to do with a Dire Wolf orphan?”
“Haven’t decided yet. Maybe turn him over to an orphanage or just raise him as our own. Not tell him who he is.”
“That’s a heavy secret.”
“Yeah, but we couldn’t leave him behind. No one wanted to take him, and we burned the clubhouse to the ground so they can’t come back.”
“So, that’s the end of the Dire Wolves? Once and for all?”
“Hell if I know, brother, but I think it might be the end of the ones that are hellbent on killing us off. We have two babies, one on the way and one we might just add to the pot and see what happens. It’s enough to get this pack moving forward again. That’s what matters.”
“I hope it is the end. I’m getting old. I’m over forty-five years old and just now having a baby. I don’t know how much more my heart can take.”
“I understand where you are coming from. It’s got to get better. I agree,” Aspen told him, standing, and clapping him firmly on the shoulder. “Now, get back to bed and get some sleep. Our work today is done.”
Moose nodded and clicked off the television, returning to his room to curl up with Ali as she slept. By the following day, she seemed more herself and none the worse for wear after the previous day’s events. They made love in the morning, their bodies aching for one another as they always did.
He couldn’t get enough of her. She still felt tired and a little sore, but didn’t seem to care. Sleep was over for him as he reached for her. He wanted to feel her ache, wanted to be inside her, all the time. He wanted to feel her slight weight on top of him, riding him slowly; riding him hard; watching him or closing her eyes to enjoy how he felt inside. It was all good.
He couldn’t get enough of her sweat dropping down onto him as her thighs squeezed into his sides – as her pussy walls grabbed hold of his cock and milked it eagerly. It was like inventing something. It was like creating love, the most incredible love anyone had ever experienced, except this one was special. It was theirs and theirs along.
She rocked back and forth on top of him, being in charge and yet letting him take control somehow. She was a contrast and a paradox of some sort. She held his hands down by his sides and he pretended to try to get free of her grip, unsuccessfully. Her tits bounced up and down, sometimes brushing against the hair on his chest as she leaned forward to grind against him.
Her swollen belly was full of his child, full of the love they shared. It was hard to believe this. There was no end to them, only new things, all new things. She pushed forward and he replied by pushing back. Tit for tat, so to speak. She pulled free of him just as he was about to explode, letting him spill his load all over her engorged breasts, dripping down her nipples as she raised a single finger and tasted it. She was a dirty girl and he loved her.
They rose and showered together before making their way down to breakfast. Aspen was waiting to speak to everyone, to reassure them that things would be calmer now, that a new day was quickly rising to meet their feet on the road beneath them. It sparked something in Ali, who had been mostly out of it yesterday. She turned to Aspen and asked if he had brought the claws back.
“Yes, but I don’t know why,” he told her.
“Because they are our future. I figured out what Amanda, Elizabeth, and I all have in common,” she told him.
He looked at her, puzzled, but Amanda’s face suddenly lit up with understanding. It was obvious that she knew what Ali was about to say before she even uttered the words.
“Dire Wolves scratched us. Not long before we each became pregnant, we were each scratched by a Dire Wolf.”
“I don’t understand,” Aspen said.
“I don’t either, exactly. I just know that only the women in his clubhouse that have been scratched by the claws of a Dire Wolf have gotten pregnant. That’s why I wanted the claws. If I’m right, then we should be able to completely reverse the curse that has plagued this pack for so long.”
“What if it doesn’t?” one of the women asked.
“Then I’m wrong and it just doesn’t. What do you have to lose other than a little blood? It doesn’t have to be a horrible scratch. I will warn you that it leave an ugly mark, so choose where you want it wisely. All three of us, have ridges where the scratch has healed. Just look at Elizabeth’s arm. It’s not the worst looking thing once it’s had time to thin out and fade, but you’ll want it out of sight, given a choice.”
“Where are they?” another woman asked, rolling up her sleeve.
“I have them put away. I vote we finish breakfast and scratch every woman in this pack that wants to get pregnant.”
“I don’t like pain. I’m not sure I want to be scratched,” one of the women added.
“Then you don’t want to get pregnant either. Childbirth is definitely worse than a scratch,” Elizabeth asked.
“Okay. Fair enough. Maybe I just need a few shots first then,” the woman replied.
“For the scratch or childbirth?” Grant teased.
“Both, probably. I’m a bit of a pussy.”
Her comments drew a healthy round of laughter from around the table. Once everyone was done with breakfast, Grant and Aspen formed two lines in the front lobby. Each one held a Dire Wolf claw in their hand and made a small scratch wherever they were asked to place it. After a while, the women who were willing to try died out and they returned the claws to the vault in the office. If they worked, they would be valued relics in their pack for generations to come.
No one knew if one scratch only allowed women to get pregnant once or if they would have to be scratched each time. They didn’t know if it would work on all the women or if they would have to make bigger scratches to accomplish their goals. It was something they would just have to learn as time went on. For now, it was a place to start and it was a new hope they hadn’t had before.