My second time was in his car. This wasn't ten minutes to fulfill a bet, but an exploration of flesh, a straining of joints. As for orgasms? I think he gave me a baker's dozen.

It was a, what the hell, man? Is this even possible?

I had to remind myself that wolves were freaks damn near every time I fell apart. When he lost control the first time, he didn't cry out my name like I half expected. Instead, he ground out, "So damned responsive!" as he came. Sex is nothing like I've read about, in all these years. Absolutely nothing like it. He's supposed to be sweet-talking me, but can't even string a full sentence together.

But he's so good at it, even with that dumb mouth of his.

We both stopped from being slightly winded—no, he was winded. I was a mess. That last one, he had fingers in places that I can't even think about without turning red as a beet. I mean, I'm shameless when going at it, but afterward? My mind was still damn near virginal.

Was.

If I thought that he was that distracted, I was freed of that notion rapidly. "You ready to tell me what happened today?"

Now, he's asking me this as we're still entangled, clothing half everywhere, and he's still fucking tracing his finger around my nipple. My mind is ragged, and I have to draw it back to an argument that I wasn't ready to have.

He knew it. As a tease, an interrogation method, something, he chose to draw me right to the edge of yet another damned climax as he murmured "What happened today?" repeatedly against my flesh.

I didn't know whether to laugh or punch him. I came apart before I made a decision. And he showed no signs of wanting to stop.

So much for being worn out. I didn't know if I could handle any more of it. "Nathan, stop, I can't think like this."

He rolled his eyes but started helping us both get redressed, finding where all the parts went. Did I still have 10 fingers?! Fuck, my underwear was long gone. That's when he noticed the faint bruising on my arms. Too busy fucking the hell out of me to see what's in front of him. Think I knocked off about 600 years of purgatory. "Is this what you've been hiding?"

I had forgotten about the bruises, so much had happened. But it was a good excuse for why I was missing for most the day. "Apparently I'm stuck between Stephen and his father. He caught me outside the pharmacy and started in on me about something. Then your friend dragged me out of school in response."

"What did you do with him?"

"Slept, mostly."

"Come on, I'm being serious here, Rachel." he started running his hands underneath the clothing we just got back on me and leaned forward to nip at the edge of my lips.

Being serious? What lies!

I pushed him back an inch—not like I wanted him off me. I wanted space so I could retort without crying out his name into oblivion. "Serious is you've not found your mate, yet. Serious is that neither has he. But I'm telling you the truth—I slept most of the trip as he drove me out to this weird ass cave."

"Why did he bring you to the temple? What did you see?" That was too much information to let slip. Nathaniel is aggressive with his conclusions.

"Don't know. I saw you going down on me, only to be denied release."

"So that's why you were so into it." He seemed perfectly content with that much, even relaxed. "I know that you didn't want to keep doing this, but if you saw that much at the temple, there's a good chance that whatever is between us would work out, you know."

"Nothing in life is guaranteed, Nathan." I groaned in frustration. "I don't even want to date anyone in this town before they've dealt with this whole mate shit and here I am, banging the Alpha's son. This wasn't the best idea."

He frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when mates sleep around, it damages them." I had to shrug. It was supposed to be common knowledge. "I mean, I can't say I've enjoyed all your fooling around these past few weeks, but I'm not hurting, either."

"So, you don't want to be exclusive?"

"Not a matter of want," It's annoying, trying to articulate the layers there were to our situation, especially without bringing up babies. "You cannot be exclusive with someone who doesn't belong to you. You're not human."

He went back to rubbing his nose across my collarbone for a moment. "So, you'd be pissed if I mess with other girls tomorrow?"

"Look, the first time we did it, was I the only girl you slept with that day?"

"...no."

"How about today?"

"Yeah, actually. I was more worried about you."

Be still, my heart.

"But would I have known that?"

"Apparently not," he sighed, "if you're leading me on like this."

"So, no matter my feelings about your behavior, I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Why does it feel like you're selling yourself short?"

"It's because if we were both human, unaware of the packs, I'd have taken a knife to you by now." I meant that. I had intended to leave this pack far behind me, and I always swore I'd cut any man that crossed me, out there. I mean, a girl running around in her own bus without anyone else to rely on had to be willing to put up a fight to remain in control. How the hell was I supposed to win by bringing a knife to a werewolf fight? This foolishness of ours we'll endure until we come to the end of our...relationship. What the hell else can I call it?

The thought of me defending myself was yet another turn-on for this boy.

If anyone has a clue on how to make a werewolf less horny, I'm all ears.

But I'm not all legs. They don't work anymore.

~~~

I at least made it in before dark. Both my parents worked late regularly, so I rarely worried that they'd catch me coming in so disheveled. That was nothing compared to how I walked. The first thing I did was set up a bath to soak in and found out exactly how hurt I was by our...extracurricular activity. I didn't have a wolf's healing.

I microwaved some leftovers and ate that at an empty table, more at peace than if I'd eaten with others. I did miss a certain hamburger-stealing monster, but this peace was necessary for my brain.

The problem is that I had content to make that all this messing around would get in the way of. Even if it wasn't my ticket out of this place anymore, it still brought money into my savings, so I didn't want to lose out on that income.

And I know wolves. I caught this one's attention and am his obsession. He's not going to leave me alone. As I hoped and feared. I still can't believe I have hope in anything to do with them.

~~~

The next month passed in a huge blur. I got content up online, I was passing classes. I played a few pranks. I even opened up a bit more in front of the guys—to the point where it was hard to keep my distance and think of them as just boys. They were family, more than my own parents had been for quite a few years.

There were twenty-one of them: being prolific monsters, many of them were brothers, cousins, uncles, all coming from the six bloodlines that traditionally lead them, but they threw a crazy amount of non-shifters.

It was once a Native American pack that had genetically drifted away from that base and was now a more Eurocentric stock, so they didn't always fit visual expectations. Then there are dominant traits from the recently mated-in. So, they were genetically close for at least half their ancestry but had so much superficial diversity in looks that it sometimes was hard to remember that they were 1 big family.

Nathaniel, a blonde with a privately wicked sense of humor, secret Alpha-heir that I've still not told about the babies, but he's got to notice soon. This guy's hands were all over me too regularly to keep hiding it. Oh my god, those hands! I mean, I could see some changes in my body.

Stephen, with his dark red hair and soft brown eyes, thoughtful and protective...and not for me. Heartrendingly not for me. He would be easier to handle. That's the biggest part of it—wanting an easier life, not him. Not a fair trade. Still...

Richard or Rick, Mr. Tall Dark & Handsome. Probably the biggest asshole of the group, but once he got used to me, he had a protective streak as big as Stephen's. Other than being major eye candy, he's never moved me, so this is what little to no chemistry looks like. And it looks hot as hell...just wrong.

Barlen had a new hair color each month. Today it was Smurf blue. Always seemed to be in his own world. Very sweet guy. He's got a leaner build, so his 6 pack kind of creeps up on you.

These 4 are the seniors turning 18 this year. The Juniors had 3 sets of twins, all bordering on 17.

Rocky and Apollo are the Epsilon's sons. As their pack's Enforcer, it is not surprising that some sort of fighting name would be on his boys' birth certificates. They also happen to be the bloodline with the strongest Native American presence, dark ruddy skin and obsidian eyes, straight black hair, and fierce faces. Rocky loves all artwork that has wolves and Native Americans on them, while Apollo despises that "kitch". They spend a lot of time arguing about art.

Jude and Jason are guys you would have to look at twice—not that they were ugly by any means. They had the most classical features, but their coloring wasn't striking. They had bland medium brown hair, flat red-brown eyes, a skin tone too close to their hair color to make it pop. Jude was so gentle caring for younger siblings around town. That's when women noticed him. Since he wasn't ready for an adult relationship and often wouldn't fight with these people, it left his brother to chase them off. It happened often enough that they were known as either Jude&Rude or Jude&'Tude.

Aldane and Amancia's mother is a were from Jamaica. How she got this far north, and how she mated into the 6 bloodlines, no one talks about. But these two had strong African features. Surprisingly, to me, Amancia is a girl—the only girl of their peerage that hung out with them. Now I wonder if there are more female wolves. Aldane is large, bigger than almost any grown were in the pack. He reminded me of Shaquille, although they looked nothing alike. Has a hard time sitting down at the same bench as everyone else. He often takes up the end and has his feet in the walkway.

There were 8 sophomores:

15 year old Triplets: Kraig, Kyle, and Korey are Nathaniel's younger brothers. Kyle looks like his big brother but with more of a baby face. Kraig and Korey look like their mother. Where Kyle and Nate have that light blonde hair, the other two have ice-white hair. All 4 have blue eyes, but the shades varied. Kraig's eyes were a dull blue-gray, with a milk-thin layer of brown that caused his eyes to change color. Kyle's eyes were more of a periwinkle. Korey had that almost silvery blue that most girls seem to favor.

Nate's eyes looked like a pair of stonewashed jeans, a layered pattern of ice and sapphires. Of course, his were my favorite, but then, I've seen them cloud over as he lost control. Fucking hot and distracting.

The just past 16 year old quints Heuy (Hugh), Dewey (Daffyd), Louie (Lewis), Stewie (Stewart), and Chuy (Jesus) are a German/Mexican blend, and other than having their mother's nose, they look nothing alike.

Hugh is a redhead with a loose afro and teal eyes. Daffyd is short and wide with deep cocoa hair and mint-green eyes. Lewis looks like Batista.

Stewart is a petite brunette who could cross-dress as a woman and look better than most of the girls in the school. He probably gets around more than any of the rest of them because no one expects him to be so much a guy's guy.

And Chuy...well, it's hard to keep in mind what exactly he looks like because he intentionally fades into the background. Just look for the 5th nose that looks like the rest of them and you can figure out where he is at. Technically they are all Richard's uncles, but they were born a quarter a century after Rick's father.

Then there were their 3 Freshmen, still acting more as 14/15 year old followers than as their own people:

Jayce is Jude and Jason's nephew and would be as bland except his lips were a natural red. He was rather tall for his age, but then most of them were tall. He seems worried that he will step on people.

Grant kept his hair shaved off, only leaving a dark stubble. His eyes were obsidian. He's as big an ass as Rick, but without the maturity to care for more people, yet.

Wintercrest has blonde-salted brown hair and the lightest brown eyes known to man. Poor guy was given his mother's maiden name as a first name. And he's so gentle.

The youngest 3 weren't ready to start thinking like adults at all, while the oldest 4 were in varying stages of preparing for that mental shift. Even Nathaniel's slow as molasses dumb ass.

Any way I looked at them, I felt beyond them all and way out of my league. I was an alien in their midst. This many close-knit people don't let strangers in, and I was at the heart of them without my consent. But I couldn't help but love them all.

From the inside of their group, they are nothing like what they show to outsiders. Which is a shame because they were already well-loved. The distance served a purpose. They weren't human, whether or not they shifted. Too bad they kept themselves emotionally distant alone as physicality didn't seem to bother them.

Caring for them wasn't enough to keep me here. My thoughts still turned to the outside world, the land beyond this one slumbering town. I was now at the point where I'd leave a part of me when I left, if they would let me. And it ate at me because I couldn't tell how much of it was coming home and how much of it was me just being a ho like my parents told me.

Today, it's hard to wrap my mind around how much power I gave to the couple who raised me. They made everything about my life harder to handle. So many things I had to undo over the years.