POV: Gasper
"Shh."
Gasper climbed into the pool with her, the cold water shocking his system. He ripped off his shirt and pulled her against his bare chest. The skin contact calmed the storm raging inside her, if only slightly.
She whimpered against him, and his body reacted strongly. The heat. His mate's heat was filling him with fear, not need. Was he wrong? Had he mistaken her for his mate because of the overwhelming pull of her arousal?
No. I'm positive she is my mate. My beautiful Katherine, we need to help her.
Azreal paced in his mind, distracting and frantic.
I know, Azreal. Please try to be calm.
She-wolves didn't randomly go into heat this way. It usually happened right after marking or after a sexual encounter. There were also drugs that triggered it, or being an alpha female could bring it on naturally. Something or someone had caused this. Gasper growled at the thought of someone else touching what was his.
He undressed her completely, checking her body for marks. Nothing. No bite. No claim. He stripped down to his boxers and held her close again, keeping himself far enough away to think clearly.
Then she wrapped her legs around him, sitting on the bottom of the pool. She did not share his concern.
"I need you." Her whisper ghosted against his ear.
"I know, darling." He stroked her hair slowly, trying to soothe her.
"It hurts. The pressure..."
Gasper pulled her from the tub and laid her on the bed nearby. He climbed over her and kissed her neck lightly where his mark would eventually live. He pictured it in his mind, and her back arched into him.
"I'm going to help you. Do you trust me?"
She nodded. Her nails dug into the back of his neck, igniting fire in his veins. He growled, making his way down her body. She squirmed beneath him, pushing him lower, begging without words.
The scent of her arousal was overwhelming. Gasper focused on bringing her relief, using his hands and mouth to ease the terrible pressure building inside her. She was tight but willing, and the arousal called to his wolf so strongly that he had to beat Azreal into submission in the back of his mind.
Calm down. You know something isn't right about this.
Azreal didn't respond, but Gasper felt his worry. The wolf nudged him mentally, urging him to ease her pain. It was tearing Azreal apart.
When Gasper tasted her, the flavor was intoxicating. There were no words to describe it. He was instantly addicted. She gripped the back of his head so hard it nearly suffocated him, but he would have been happy to die right there.
"More," she whispered.
He gave her exactly what she wanted. He always would. From that moment on, he belonged to her. And she belonged to him.
"Cum for me, darling." He moved his tongue gently, building the pressure. "Let me help you."
She pushed into his hand as he increased the pace. It didn't take long before she screamed, her body convulsing with pleasure.
"Good girl." He petted her stomach, his voice low and soothing.
She went quiet then, calmer. But her eyes kept flickering from golden to green as she fought with her wolf.
Help her.
Azreal's voice was desperate.
You have to mark her. Now. Someone will take her from us. I will not let that happen again.
"Fuck off." Gasper tried to shut him up. "I'd never let anyone take her."
It's inhumane to allow this to continue, and you know it.
Here was the thing about wolves. Some were very old and had lived hundreds of past lives. Azreal was one of those wolves, which meant he had old-fashioned views. His logic was simple: Mate is in heat. We must mate with her and put a pup inside her to fix it. He was an animal at the end of the day. It was up to Gasper to keep him in check, and Azreal was difficult, even for his age. Not to mention extremely powerful. It was easier than Gasper liked to admit for Azreal to take control.
In his defense, Azreal had lived most of his lives never finding Katherine. She would die before he located her, or shortly after. Someone would forcibly mark her before he could stop it. More often than not, he never got to mate and mark her, let alone have pups. When he did get to be with her, it was short-lived. Azreal had told him awful things happened to her but never explained what. His urgency made sense.
Hours passed as Gasper tried to calm her body. No matter how many times he brought her to climax or how long he kept her in the cold water, it never slowed down. He had no idea what to do, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could control his urge to claim her. The only thing stopping him was how much pain she was in. It should have fueled his desire, but instead it made him question what was happening.
Those hours turned into a full day. A furious voice slammed into his head.
Where the fuck are you!?
His mother.
Did you forget you have responsibilities, Alpha? Dad and Victor have been looking for you all morning.
I... can you come to the safe house? We can talk there.
The safe house?
The last one. I'm in the middle of a situation. And don't say anything to anyone.
He heard a gasp, and the link went quiet. She was definitely on her way.
"It hurts so much." His mate whispered into his neck.
Gasper inhaled her scent deeply, touching her again to bring relief.
"Please, make it stop."
"Try and relax, darling." He stroked her hair, holding her close. "It'll be okay soon. I promise."
A few minutes later, the bell in the room chimed.
"Mom," he whispered.
He quickly picked his mate up and placed her back in the pool, hoping the cold water would keep her body temperature down while he was away from her.
As he moved toward the door, it opened.
"What...?" His mother's mouth dropped open, staring at him.
He probably looked like a complete mess. He pulled her into the room and closed the door behind her to keep the scent contained.
His mate screamed. A loud thump followed. She was out of the pool, lying on the floor. Her body had made the water so hot it was causing more harm than good. His mother flipped the switch to cool the water, then looked back and forth between them, confused.
Gasper picked his mate up from the ground and held her to his chest. The screams turned to whimpers.
"Son, you have to... you know what to do, right? I know we didn't talk about this, but you and your father did, didn't you? And they teach this in school, don't they? Why did you let it get this far? She's your mate, isn't she?"
Mothers could sometimes sense their pup's mate. Not in the same way an alpha could, but there were subtle signs in the scent. It wasn't reliable, but it was a start.
"I found her like this," Gasper whispered, petting her head and rocking her. "She doesn't know she has a wolf, according to her wolf. I tried to help her get past it, but it's still... I think it's frying her brain. I don't even know her name. She hasn't said much."
His mother's eyes went blank. She was mind-linking his father.
"Dad's bringing the doctor."
"Mom?" Gasper was in tears now, clinging to his mate, trying not to breathe in too deeply. He didn't need the distraction with his mother in the room. Sex was open in were-communities. While doing it in public spaces was frowned upon, if there was an empty room somewhere, you entered at your own risk. Still, he didn't want to do anything with his mother present.
She bent down and brushed his hair back from his face.
"It's okay, Gasper."
His father arrived much faster than his mother had. He must have been closer to the house. The door flew open, and his eyes were so wide they looked unnatural on his face. He ripped his shirt off and grabbed her from Gasper, holding her against his bare chest.
Skin-to-skin contact with a father or another trusted male could help control the heat by channeling lust into love. It reminded the she-wolf that it wasn't time, that she still belonged to someone safe. While she wasn't related to Gasper's father, he might be an adequate substitute. It could be enough to hold the heat at bay until the doctor arrived.
Gasper watched as his father licked the water from her face, trying to wake her. This was unusual to do in human form, but animalistic traits pushed through when situations became desperate.
"Dad?"
His father growled at him. His eyes were completely black.
Randolph was in control.
Gasper could count on one hand the number of times his father had lost control like this. Not even when Gasper's sisters went through heat did Randolph take over, but they hadn't been in this much pain. Gasper took several steps back, genuinely afraid. Randolph and he had never gotten along, but the hatred in that growl was something he had never experienced before.
His father spoke to her.
"Ka, it's okay. I'm here."
He repeated this and every word of reassurance he could think of, over and over. Gasper didn't understand why he kept calling her that. It was short for Katherine, but how did he know her? Gasper hadn't told either parent her wolf's name. Did his father know her from a past life?
She held onto him, drawing blood with her nails, but his father didn't seem to notice. He kissed the top of her head repeatedly. When she roared out in pain, he shifted her in his arms and picked her up, getting into the pool with her.
"Ka, can you hear me?" He held her face in his hands. "Ka!"
He moved her so her back faced him and brushed her hair forward. Then he bit the back of her neck hard. She went limp in his arms, her breathing leveling out. This was how animals carried their young. It didn't translate well in human form, but it had the same calming effect. Blood trickled down her back, and his father licked it away.
Her eyes opened slightly. They were golden.
"Dad?"
There was some connection she made with him, something that helped her refocus.
He released her, and she turned in his arms, burying her face into his chest.
"My beautiful Katherine."
"It hurts so much." Her voice broke. "Why won't Azreal help me? Did he replace me? Is he rejecting me?"
No!
Azreal and Gasper roared simultaneously. His wolf was howling, terrified. It took all of Gasper's energy to keep him contained.
"We need to wait for the doctor. Something is wrong, Ka." His father licked her face again. Her eyes closed as she nodded.
Randolph glared at Gasper.
"Why did you let it get this far!?"
"I found her like this! Out in the woods, alone. It's lucky someone else didn't get to her first!" Gasper's control was wearing thin, but the tables had turned. Azreal was now trying to calm him down. Azreal had always been terrified of Randolph but never said why. Randolph seemed to like Azreal more than Gasper, so it didn't make sense.
"You should have tried harder to find her years ago! I told you something horrible would happen."
He had. Over and over again. He seemed convinced she was in the city, but that wasn't much to go on.
"Even if I knew for certain she was in the city as you suggested, what was I supposed to do? Tear up the human city to find her? Expose all of us? That would have made more sense to you?"
"She is not human." His father looked repulsed by the idea, which was odd. Their pack didn't care if someone's mate was human. They had several human mates in the pack.
"She thought she was! They drugged her to suppress Katherine. That is not my fault. None of this is."
"It is! It's always your fault. Every fucking time!"
"What does that mean? Why are you even this upset? She is my mate. Not yours." His father was hiding something. If he wasn't going to tell the truth, Gasper didn't have the patience for this discussion. "Fuck off, Randolph."
His father dropped her.
He was on Gasper so fast he barely saw him move. He grabbed Gasper by the neck and slammed him into the wall so hard it left a dent in the drywall.
"You don't talk to me like that, pup."
He was half-shifted now. Gasper could see teeth, claws, and fur sprouting in places. Shit.
"Do not think I will not kill you just because Will loves you."
"You do that, and you could destroy her."
His father squeezed tighter. Gasper could no longer speak. He could fight his father and win, but he didn't want to. Especially not right now.
"You were never good enough for her. Not in the past lives and not now. I should end you before it is you who destroys her."
Someone ripped Randolph off Gasper, throwing him to the ground.
"Touch my son again, Randolph, and I will kill you myself."
His mother put herself between them. She wasn't the strongest woman physically, but when you messed with a mother's pups, she became instantly stronger than any alpha. It didn't matter how old the pups were.
His father regained control, responding to his mate's fury.
"Gasper, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Randolph has always been an asshole." Gasper's throat would bruise, and his voice was strained. He ignored it. There was no time to care.
"He's just scared." His father tried to wave it off, but Gasper didn't buy it. Something else was happening, something no one had bothered to fill him in on. He would ask later, but he didn't have the emotional bandwidth to figure it out right now.
"We all are," his mother said, looking him over.
Every one of his mate's screams was more anguished than the last. His father went back into the pool with her. Gasper could see him fighting hard with Randolph to maintain control. Several times, he heard his father tell Randolph he would handle it.
Where the hell was the doctor?
Randolph's right. We fail her every time.
Azreal was momentarily upset, then started growling.
You are going to kill mate. Help her.
Gasper fell to his knees, resisting the shift.
Azreal, stop. You know this isn't normal and not how it should be.
Katherine says it's fine. Human didn't know what was happening and she waited too long. She needs us. Be a man already.
His wolf and he had different ideas about what it meant to be a man.
Let's say we mark her and mate her. Any concern she will be angry about it? That she will reject us and leave?
Mate will understand.
Azreal shook his head.
You sure about that?
We won't know if she's dead, genius.
He had a point. Dying in heat was a horrible death. It had historically been used as a method of torture or execution for she-wolves.
The doctor finally arrived. He wore a mask so he wouldn't smell her arousal. He was unmated, and the scent would be too much of a distraction. He offered Gasper a mask, but Gasper turned it down, concerned she might be afraid of him if he covered his face. Miraculously, he still had control.
The doctor approached her with a needle.
Gasper grabbed his arm.
"What is that?"