The Demon and His Plaything

9| Another Sunday

It was an idyllic morning as the sun rose, the birds coming awake and singing good morning. Samantha woke first. Derek still held her, his large frame curled behind her.

She untangled herself and trotted behind a tree to relieve herself. It stung a little but overall she only had a dull ache between her legs. She knew it'd be gone in the next couple of hours. Derek had been very gentle with her. She walked slowly back, studying the man lying on the ground. Her chosen mate. His face was soft in sleep–gentle and sweet.

She found her underwear and slipped them on foregoing her stockings, putting on her dress as well. She wasn’t sure what to do after that. She’d never woken up next to someone before.

She was wandering around the clearing, collecting his clothing and the wine bottles when she heard him stir. He sat up to look for her when he felt her absence in his arms.

“Morning.” he smiled warmly at her.

She smiled back and popped his clothes next to him.

“Come here,” he coaxed.

She tentatively knelt beside him. He grabbed her and pulled her on top of him, then rolling so he was on top. She yelped in surprise and he laughed into the kiss he gave her.

He pulled back and stroked the side of her face, delicately brushing her hair from her face. He searched her face–she couldn't tell what for so she just looked back at him.

He took a breath. "No regrets?"

She shook her head. "None."

He smiled brilliantly and kissed her deeply. She could feel his interest was picking up steam, his lower body rubbing against hers. She thought it was better not to today–she was seeing Godrick later that night. She wanted to be ready for him.

"Derek…" she said softly as his mouth started to move down her face, lingering on his mark. The sensation sent a shiver through her, sparking something deep within her. There was her wolf again but then it danced away.

"We should stop for now." She added when calling his name did nothing to slow him down. He pulled away from her reluctantly, rolling onto his back. She slid into his side and rubbed his torso through the tablecloth.

He caught her hand. "Probably better to, um, not touch me right now." He laughed. "I need a very cold shower."

"I can do something else for you," she offered. She slid her hand under their makeshift blanket and stroked him. He shifted to get comfortable and closed his eyes briefly.

She reached into her mouth with her other hand, pushing down on the back of her tongue to generate more saliva. He watched her with a look of confusion as she cupped her now wet hand. She coated his thickness and smoothly stroked, starting with a slow twisting motion.

He moaned as she started to use both hands. She knew it would be quicker to use her mouth but she hadn't gotten permission for that.

He seemed to be surprised by his moans and she could tell he was trying to be quiet–the starkness of his enjoyment too real in the cold morning light. He reached out to her, unsure what he should be doing with his own hands, finally settling one arm across his eyes and the other in his hair.

She watched him as she gripped him. She liked how his large hands balled into fist and his soft lips moved against each other as she gave him the release he wanted. His lower body pitched as he came with an oh goddess, causing Samantha to smirk.

"You're amazing," he breathed, pulling her to kiss him. She could tell he wanted to say more but he suddenly felt shy.

She let him clean himself up with their already ruined makeshift sheet.

He climbed to his feet. "Sam," he exclaimed. He was looking down.

"What is it?" She asked.

"There's blood. I didn't notice last night…" he frowned as he looked at her.

She could see the small dots of blood where she had laid. "Oh. Don't worry about that. It's common to have some spotting when the hymen is broken."

She pulled the tablecloths up and started to bundle them together. She was thinking they'd need to go straight into a bin.

A look of realisation slowly came across his face. “You mean..?” he touched her shoulder so she would turn to him. He pulled her into his arms, rubbing her back. “I didn’t realise… I mean I guess I probably should have…” He pulled back so he could look at her. “Are you okay?”

“Of course.” She was confused by the question. She untangled herself and finished collecting their waste, bundling everything together.

Blinking at her coldness, he pulled his clothes on, discarding his soiled shirt. He hesitated with his jacket and opted to just go topless–wolves were comfortable with nudity so he didn’t think anything of it–and this way everyone would be able to see her mark on him. Taking the bundle of rubbish from her, he tucked it under his arm and insisted she wear his jacket. It was comically large on her.

He took her hand as they walked through the woods. The warm sensation drew her gaze, seeing their joined hands–it was an odd thing to her, but his hand held hers firmly and she could tell he wanted this.

They weren’t the only couple doing the walk of shame towards the cabins that morning. She could see people sheepishly farewelling their paramours for the night and a few mated pairs canoodling after watching the dawn together.

She didn't really know what to say to him. She had one less decision to make now so she was content. She had enjoyed herself and with the marking she felt closer to him–though in a slightly disconnected way.

They hesitated out the front of their respective cabins, each knocking to see if any of the occupants were awake so they could grab their stuff.

Tracy peeked through the door, opening it wider when she saw Samantha.

Samantha could see the mark on her friend's neck. She had the standard two puncture marks and then a half moon mark of her mate's pack.

"Oh Samantha. It was so amazing– Tracy's voice cut off as she saw the mark on Samantha. She frowned. "Did you find your mate..?"

Samantha opened her mouth to respond as Derek came up behind her, his bag now in his hand. Tracy's eyes drew to her brother and his state of undress, her eyes widening as they landed on the mark on him. She screamed and flung herself into her friend's arms reaching out to pull her brother into the crushing hug. "I can't believe you two! Oh, I'm so happy."

"Okay, Tracy.” Derek patted her back and untangled himself from her. “Grab Samantha's bag so we can get dressed, and you and Daniel should start to get ready so we can head home soon.”

Tracy bit her lip. "Um…"

Daniel came up behind her. "Actually I'm going to take Tracy back to my pack."

"That's not happening." Derek's voice was firm.

The tone made Samantha glance at him. She had never heard him talk like that.

Daniel stood taller and the two men started to argue.

Samantha put her hand up. "Enough. Daniel, you have to bring Tracy home and meet her parents before taking her to your pack. This is non negotiable."

Daniel regarded her, but he knew from the night before that her alpha aura meant there was no way he was doing anything other than what she said. He growled low in his throat.

The disrespect set Derek off and he took a threatening step forward, a rumbling of his wolf pushing forward. Samantha quickly turned to him and placed her hand on his chest. "Derek." He moved his gaze to her with effort. She turned to Tracy, who had just been standing there looking lost. "Can you pass me my bag? Let's go shower and get ready to leave."

~*~

There was a little convoy back to their pack. Samantha drove with Derek while both Tom and Tracy traveled in their mates' cars.

Derek had a hand on her practically the whole way home. They didn't talk much during the drive, just sitting in a companionable silence. Derek spoke up in the last half an hour, feeling the need to fill some of the silence. "How did you want to tell our parents?"

"Oh. I didn't think about that." She thought for a second. "Did you want to tell them straight away?"

"Yeah, don't you?"

She shrugged. "We've technically got more than three years."

Derek glanced at her. "What?"

"They're not expecting us to become mates until I'm twenty-two," she said casually.

Derek looked at her, keeping his eyes off the road for almost five seconds. He drew his eyes back forward and spoke low. "We're mates now."

She could see that she had upset him. From her years of learning how to placate people, she put her hand on his. "Of course. I just meant that if you didn't want to straight away we didn't have to."

He seemed to relax, but only just. "Our parents will be waiting for us to see who from the pack found their mates. Let's let Tracy have her moment and then we'll get our family up to speed."

Samantha just hummed her agreement, unphased by the upcoming announcement.

~*~

Samantha and Derek hung back as the young adults of the pack house rushed forward to be with their family. Those without mates returning home, hopeful for next time.

Samantha's parents noticed her standing back with Derek and looked at each other, obviously mindlinking about the two of them returning without mates.

Tracy dragged Daniel behind her to the Beta and his mate, Daniel looking at Tracy with amused adoration. Beth, Tracy's mother, cried with her daughter while Beta Benjamin spoke with Daniel.

Once the craziness of families coming together had died down, Samantha and Derek came forward. Only their parents were still there.

Beth smoothed her daughter's hair, "Oh sweetie. Okay. I'll help you pack and then come to visit next weekend."

Tracy gave a little hiccuped response of agreement. As Samantha came up beside her friend, Tracy grabbed her and hugged her. "I'm going to miss you so much."

Samantha returned the hug just as a practiced motion. "You can call me whenever you need." She gently moved Tracy to her mates arms.

Beth turned to her son. "Oh, Derr. I'm so sorry you didn't–

Samantha wasn't sure who had noticed their marks first, but the four adults froze as they all mindlinked.

Derek took her hand. “Alpha, Luna–Mum and Dad, Samantha and I have chosen–

Benjamin and Andrew broke verbally first, not waiting for Derek to finish, instead both smiling happily and shaking Derek's hand.

Rachel hugged her daughter fiercely pulling her away from Derek's touch. "Oh Sammy." She switched to a mindink, "Are you okay with this? Is everything okay?"

"Of course, mother," she communicated back. She saw the look on Beth's face as she watched the congratulations.

It was clear she was shocked in a bad way. Beth felt Samantha's eyes on her and looked back at the young woman, setting her jaw and faking a smile.

The Alpha finally got to his daughter and hugged her. "Congratulations pumpkin."

"Thanks dad."

"Rachel my love, maybe we can retire earlier now?"

Samantha's head swung to look up at her father's face. She couldn't hide the look of concern at the idea.

Rachel playfully punched her Alpha mate in the stomach. "Don't tease. Don't worry Sammy, we'll keep the timeline, unless you both feel ready earlier. Derek can start his Alpha training properly now though. Having a few more years can only be a good thing."

"You two can start on pups– Benjamin's comment was cut short by Beth's elbow to his ribs.

Derek made a horrified noise. "Gee dad."

Derek moved to be by her side. With all that over Samantha had no idea what to do next. She wanted to get to her room but she felt like there was something more expected from her. So, she took Derek's hand.

"Let's go eat." Alpha Andrew suggested.

~*~

Derek and his parents had just farewelled Tracy and were back in the Beta apartment home in the pack house. Derek had come up with them, though he had his own apartment that he lived in.

He was tense and aggravated. He had been arguing with his mother about the decision he and Samantha had made. Benjamin tried to interject but was being shut down by his mate every time he tried to weigh in. It would have been funny, the small woman shutting her big burly Beta down, if it hadn’t been tearing Derek's confidence apart.

"I wanted you to experience meeting your mate before you made this decision." Beth snapped. She couldn't get him to understand. She had spoken to him about this many times before. She couldn't believe he had done this.

"I love Sam. I don't want anybody else."

"You would have loved your mate too. And the two of you could have just gotten s*x out of your system, you didn't have to mark each other."

He just shook his head, visibly upset by his mother's reaction. He had thought they would both be happy for him. "I'm going home."

Beth gave an exasperated growl and stormed to her bedroom. She hadn't wanted this option on the table at all. This was something cooked up between Ben and Andrew. Their stupid pet project, not wanting an outsider to be the Alpha of the pack when it was finally understood that Samantha's mate wasn’t here.

"This is your and Andrew's fault,” Beth hissed as her husband followed her.

Benjamin looked at his mate in shock. "Beth, you're being ridiculous. Derek is going to be Alpha.” His blue eyes, so like his sons, light with joy, “And he has been in love with Samantha for years. The fact that she obviously cares for him too–

She snorted snidely. "Sure. As if that girl could ever love anything. You know I always thought she was creepy."

"Ease up Beth," he cautioned, "that's our future Luna–and daughter-in-law."

Beth grumbled. Both parents had known, hell, half the pack knew, Derek had a crush on the girl. When she turned eighteen and they weren't fated mates, Derek had clearly shown his disappointment. It had hurt her heart but she wouldn't have suggested for him and Samantha to become chosen mates. She'd not even liked the girl as Tracy's best friend. Beth had thought it a blessing that Derek and Samantha were not fated, but now here they were…

~*~

Samantha sat at her vanity and brushed her hair. Godrick had finally messaged her to confirm their meet up. Her confirmation was via a very graphic photo. They hadn't planned their scene like they had done previously so she didn't know what was going to happen. It was both thrilling and fear inducing.

Even before meeting him in person she had felt inextricably drawn to him, and now that she had, she felt a constant need for him. Her mind was going back to the previous night. Her evening with Derek had been nicer than expected, the s*x phenomenal.

She regarded her mark in your reflection. A crescent moon with two stars accompanied Derek's bite, matching hers on him. The crescent moon was their pack sigil. The additional stars were different, but she was an alpha wolf and that happened sometimes.

It had been a long strange day.

There had been a moment of uncertainty on how they should sit at their families shared meals table at lunch. Arthur threw a pink fit when it was suggested he move a seat down so Derek could sit next to Samantha, meaning he sat an extra seat away from their mother. Samantha suggested she just sit in the normal spot and take Tracy's when she left. Her parents weren't okay with that–the weird hierarchy meaning they didn't want her sitting on the Betas side. They eventually decided to move Arthur next to Rachel and Samantha moved into his spot, which allowed Derek to sit next to her. Tracy sat in her usual spot and Daniel took Derek's old seat. It put a really weird strain on the meal, that and Beth's barely contained snide comments.

Samantha was bewildered why everything was all such a big deal with their marking. It really did seem to cause a ruckus even though this is what their parents had seemed to want–the reality of it happening and happening so quickly had obviously thrown them.

Where their parents had all gotten along well, so close knit, Derek and Samantha's mother's were snippy at each other all lunch.

It quickly got out amongst those in the pack, more people coming to lunch than she thought was usual. Her and Derek received a lot of congratulations, but she could tell not everyone was happy with her and Derek's union. Other young women in particular had been interested in the Betas son, displeased Samantha took the most eligible wolf. Samantha could feel other pack members' eyes on them during the communal lunch.

She wasn't surprised Beth wasn't happy. That woman had never liked her. Being her daughter's best friend meant Samantha had spent a lot of time around her growing up. Beth had always been short with her, Samantha's passive demeanor obviously irking her. Samantha had even played it up a bit more, really vagueing out on the woman–now Samantha realised her being less than cordial, like she acted with others, had been a mistake. It had been fun to play with the woman though.

Derek's happy vibe was beaten down over lunch as Beth made a lot of abrupt comments about the two's next steps. A question as simple as when were they going to move in together, got a response that they were too young and should wait until a proper marriage ceremony was performed. That wasn't strictly traditional. In fact Beth and Benjamin moved in together the night they found out they were mates and they had been Beth's age–hell, Beth's own eighteen year old daughter was about to pack up and move to another pack. It seemed what was acceptable for a fated pair was not the same as their chosen one.

Samantha personally balked at the idea. She had not thought about them living together. Turning eighteen meant she had a monecrum freedom for the first time, and she was not ready to give it up.

“Well,” Samantha had spoken strongly, trying not to let the rising panic show on her face or in her voice. “I am just starting my training–”

“You can stay home until we can renovate an apartment for the two of you,” My mother jumped in. She mindlinked quickly, “Only once you feel ready, okay sweetie?”

Samantha hesitated. It had dawned on her, her mother had a very interesting perspective of Samantha, and maybe the idea of her being ready for a relationship was something her mother doubted. Instead of correcting any assumptions her mother seemed to have made of Samantha's maturity in the realm of s*x, Samantha just gave Derek a sympathetic smile.

Looking a little agitated, Derek had pulled Samantha to the side after their meal, his smile a bit shaken. "Hey. Sorry about mum. I think she's just surprised."

Samantha just shook her shoulders to show she didn't care.

"I've got guard duty tonight but could I see you later? It'll be around midnight…"

"Mmmm. That'll be too late," she replied.

His disappointment was evident. "Oh. Okay. Let's meet up at breakfast–we can plan some time together."

"Sounds good."

He had kissed her deeply goodbye, obviously not actually wanting to go their separate ways. She could feel how much he wanted her again. His want did something to her she hadn't anticipated. She felt a thrill at her power over him and excited about the prospect of being intimate with him again.

She saw the time was approaching four pm. If she was going to get to the hotel with enough time to prepare she had to leave now.

~*~