Chapter VI: The Pack

All the story is available in the link:  http://aylahurst.blogspot.com/p/no-mans-land.html

"Matt ran as fast as his legs allowed, he felt that at any moment he was going to fail and fall. The screams grew louder and louder and called him by his name: they were the cries of a woman, mixed with the cry of a baby, and they asked for his help. He went into the forest: he was going to vomit his lungs at any moment. Everything was frozen, he had lost sensibility in the fingers of his hands and he felt wet lips like two ice floes. He used his hands as an amplifier to call her and the ice penetrated his throat like a knife newly sharpened in the fire.

 “Matt! I'm here." The voice was weak and sick from the cold and pain.

“Don't worry, I'm going to look for you” he answered.

He ran as much as he could while the darkness hovered around him, he tried to move faster to avoid losing visibility, but the night was faster than his legs. He put the foot up to his ankle in a puddle of water, but when he looked down, he watched in horror as the hems of his trousers had been dyed red. The trail, like a snake, stretched out before him on the dirt road enveloped in blackness. He swallowed, but did not hesitate to keep moving forward in a hurry. She was in a clearing, surrounded by thorn bushes that enclosed her in a dome, barely illuminated by a ray of sun at the top. She was lying on the floor, covered in blood, panting and could not even stand up. Matt ran to her with a fist in his heart. He shook her against his chest in tears:

“I'm here Ayla, don’t worry, I'm here with you” he tried to comfort her by rocking her in his arms.

"Matt," she said in a sigh, "the baby, go find the baby"

“What baby, Ayla? What are you talking about?”

“The baby, our baby”

The sticky hand stained her face with blood, she turned around on the floor. He had a huge gash in his belly that did not stop bleeding. Matt was horrified and his first impulse was to take off his jacket and cut the bleeding with it, but Ayla resisted:

“No, it's too late for my Matt, save him”.

“I'll get you out of here, Ayla, I promise. You'll get well.” He picked her up, covering himself with her own blood, the wire of thorns growing at a supernatural speed, was about to block the exit. The darkness progressed more and more.

"Let me go Matt, save yourself..." she insisted.

“No.” he stood firm to his position “I'll save you Ayla, I promise, to you and our baby... “Although he did not know what baby was talking about “and I'll make pay the one who did this to you...

"No," his voice had gone from an inaudible sigh to a sharp, authoritarian thud. "You can’t do that, Matt, you can’t make it pay to yourself”

“What?”

A figure, black as night, rose up from among the thorns. The sky had been dyed red, just like Matt's clothes. His arms were beginning to tire of holding Ayla, he held her even tighter against his chest in the presence of the diabolical character. The figure strode toward them, could not make out his features, but he had a threatening knife in his hand. Matt backed away, Ayla still insisting that he release her and save himself. He tripped on a stone and fell to the ground, tried to drag Ayla, but the figure was faster and took the girl from the clothes and lifted sharply.

"No!" Matt yelled impotently.

Before doing anything, the black figure extracted a package from the inside of his coat and threw it a few centimetres from Matt. It was a white blanket, stained with blood, in which a small hand with a closed fist came out between the folds. His eyes got filled with tears.

"My baby, our baby"

He wanted to kill that undesirable one for hurting Ayla and the little one, the black character raised the knife. Matt picked up the stone he had tripped on and tossed it to his head. He dodged and astonished he could see how his own face gutted Ayla to death.

"Ayla!" He cried, rising from fright.

A cold sweat covered his entire body and he felt his lungs burning as if he finished running a marathon. Around him darkness reigned and until his pupils did not adapt to the environment, he could barely make out his hands in front of his eyes.

"Matt!" Bam's voice echoed furiously on the other side of the hut. "What the hell is happening to you now?

-“I'm sorry, I've had a nightmare “he apologized, ashamed for having woken up his brother in such a silly way.

“Well keep them silent.” the other growled.

"At least it had not been the wolf pack's dream"

Matt used to dream of a family of nine wolves, who rested in a clearing where there were some very tall rocks to watch over the clear green grass: on the rocks, under Alaska's summer sun, was the old wolf, his guide: it was larger and more robust than most and had light grey fur, dirty and worn through the years and long grey moustaches hung from its snout Always at his side was his female, the other leader of the group, was smaller than him, but just as imposing and authoritative. She had his eyes fixed on the floor of the clearing, where the two dark-haired wolf cubs were playing to chase after each other. In the shadow of the stone building, one of the most grown-up wolves loitered: he had light brown hair and green eyes, he always showed his teeth when he was disturbed, he stayed there, walking from one place to another, ready to jump over the stone as soon as the leader fell, and fight for it until death. On the furthest side of the clearing, under a sturdy spruce tree, was the younger male, long-haired blond as wheat, enjoying solitude without getting too far from the safety of the herd. The most intrepid male was also the smallest, his coat was the colour of gold, and he was in the prime of life, at the age of finding a female in heat to procreate and he did not stop running through the forest in search of the perfect partner, as wild as he was. Another of the young males nibbled a deer leg in a corner of the clearing, he was the strongest of all and could easily defeat the two most adult wolves to snatch their leadership, but he was too inexperienced and professed too much about the alpha male to try it.

He was the old grey wolf who was licking the wounds caused by hunters in a nearby place where the two puppies played, it was the only thing he could do, to watch the youngest so they would not get hurt while playing. He was too weak to compete with the brown-haired brother and he was not strong enough to go hunting with the strong and the intrepid, so he stayed there, lying in the sun, his skin covered with scars watching the wolfs. But then she appeared, jumping from the top of a hill: she was a small wolf, who had just reached maturity, her coat was so white, in winter it would be mistaken for snow, and it was sprinkled with scarlet drops. The young wolf was wounded, but he was strong and aggressive before the rest of the wolves. Her hair stood on end and she showed her teeth when she was surrounded by a pack of strangers. Her strange smell flooded the grey wolf's developed snout, no doubt coming from very far away, but the hormones she gave off indicated that she was ready to give birth to a litter of healthy and strong puppies. The alpha male let it be the brother with the green eyes who came to sniff her. The white wolf jumped back and let out a grunt. The intrepid wolf and the strong one also approached to investigate her, even the lonely male of the wheat fur took a few steps towards her. The only one who remained on the side-lines was the old grey wolf, the wounded, and the more adult, whose wounds prevented him from jumping on his brothers and defending the newly arrived white female who had no choice but to submit at the insistence of the group of young males surrounding her.

It was not the first time he had such nightmares, but the same pattern was repeated in all of them: bad things happened to Ayla, they hurt her, and he hurt her herself. He was afraid of falling asleep at night and waking up startled by having seen how he immersed her in the icy water of the ocean, letting ice needles stick in his lungs. When he awoke he fumbled for her in the darkness, Ayla was very light sleeper, and woke up every so often, although he was immobile as he embraced her and fell asleep again. She had gotten into her bed for the first time the night she met her, the day after leaving the clinic: it was a vain attempt to feel the warmth of a female body by her side for the first time in a long time. As soon as he closed his eyes, the sweet smell of her hair came to his mind, he stayed by her side, without touching her, for a few hours that seemed like days, he felt the heat that emanated from his body and a primitive desire pressed against his groin. Then he remembered the damage the women had done to him in his life, got out of bed, picked up the first two bottles he found on the furniture rack and went out to the outside. The wind ruffled his hair and tore at his chest, but Matt felt nothing, simply moved with firm and sure steps to nowhere. He stood still, with one of the bottles in his hand and his finger in the seal, but he was unable to open it, he was too close to return home, to leave that hellish place that tortured him. He was an Alaskan Brown, they had gone through too much to give up, but he felt so lonely, so forgotten ... alcohol was a good way out of feeling like that. He was tempted again to open the bottle, when he felt Ayla come out the door.

Long time ago, he would have argued with Bam or explained his dream to him even though he did not want to hear it, he curled up in her blankets and pretended to go back to sleep. Actually, he could not throw anything in Bam Bam's face, he had been very sympathetic to him: after the argument with Ayla, he did not want to spend the night with her. Not because of how the girl would react, but because he would not be able to look her in the eye without bursting into tears. He had tried to explain the reasons for his decision, but she had refused to listen to him, it had been a very hard day for both of them and Ayla just wanted to cry in her arms, and he, "he very idiot", in an attempt to bring her closer, to prevent him from leaving, he had only managed to push her further away. He tried to convince himself that he had made the right decision, Gabe's words flew in his mind when he closed his eyes:

"It's not just for you, brother, it's for both, for the whole family. You can’t depend on her like that, it's not healthy... Believe me, it's the best. If she loves you, she'll wait for you... "

But Ayla's words echoed even louder than Gabe's:

"You're going to kill yourself Matt Brown! You're going to kill yourself, and I do not intend to be there to see you. "

A tear ran down her cheek as he remembered Ayla's expression of pain. They had not spoken more during the rest of the day. Everyone pretended that nothing had happened: the police had not come to see them, nor did that little man with the moustache insult Ayla, nor did they talk about Matt's decision. The tensest moment was the time to go to bed, with the excuse that he had seen a bear loitering near the cabins, Matt volunteered to do the first guard shift, with Bam. That would put off the run-in with Ayla, maybe she was asleep and everything when she returned and the next morning they could talk more calmly. Matt was tense throughout the guard, almost did not exchange words with his brother, something that really surprised the other, considering the reputation of Matt's chatterbox. Bam also did not talk much throughout the night, only when Bear and Gabe came to replace them, Bam Bam deigned to give a sharp prayer:

“You can stay in my hut if you want, but for the record I do it for her, so she can sleep quietly, not for you, plover's head”

 Bam always turned against him, always. He was Ayla’s closest friend. It was difficult to assimilate that they had such a similar character: both with their sense of duty and responsibility, with their feet on the ground, lowering them from the clouds.

Without a doubt, Ayla was her anchor, it helped him to concentrate and to see reality when she played, while he helped her to break up a little when needed. It also difficult to admit that he felt some jealousy of Bam: Ayla and he seemed to have more in common than she with himself, they could spend hours talking about business, politics or a lot of issues that Matt had no idea He did not confess her fears, he was afraid that by doing so, she would realize that she had more affinity with Bam and left him. Gabe was right, that dependence he had developed on her, the fear of losing her, of leaving... It was an addiction as bad as alcohol, and should disappear.

He began to whirl around on his makeshift bed, trying not to think about it, an empty plastic bottle hit him on the head:

"Either you go to sleep at once or I kick you out!"

Bam shouted at him. Matt did not answer, curled up and tried to sleep, but Ayla was at the centre of his thoughts: He did not know when he realized he was in love with her, he just came up and wanted her by his side. He remembered the first days in Ayla's home, they were like two teenagers in their first time. They spent a week eating fast-food, half-naked most of the day, making love in every corner of the house... He admitted for himself, at first, she was just a body with which he was going to console for a while. He hated himself for ever thinking that: he was not like that, his mother had not raised him like that... but he was furious with the world and longed to feel human contact, her warmth body... “Fuck, he needed blow off steam with someone!” and that girl was within reach: she was pretty, had a turned body and long blond hair, with reddish highlights. Her eyes were green, green, and sad, and the curve of her lip fell finely downward, giving her the look of a Greek tragic maiden. He remembered how she had studied her body: the sweet smell of her hair, the soft, smooth skin. The little streaks on her shapely hips. The smell of her sex when she was excited, the inside of her mouth, warm and welcoming, inviting him to stay. The firm chest and the ideal size so that it would fit in her hand and be able to play with it while kissing her. The first dust left him exhausted, even though he was thirteen years older, the girl had an experience that was not expected: she moved nimbly on him, playing with the rhythm and the measure of penetration and immediately knew that he wanted repeat and enjoy again that body. But when Ayla confided in him and told him how tragic his life had been, he wanted the earth to swallow him.

"She has suffered a lot, she tries not to pretend, but her heart is broken and yet here she is: smiling and helping me, pretending she’s okay, for me to be”.

The girl had helped him out of the hole, he felt responsible for it, so he had to pull her out and so decided to take her to Browntown. From there, everything was emerging:

First he thought about how beautiful she was, and that was just the first night they spent together, in Ayla's home, after sleeping giving each other warmth: Matt woke up late, he felt her for the bed, but he did not find her, it was empty... but it had not been long since she left: the mattress was still warm and the comforter had a soft, sweet smell. It was inevitable that he inhale it until it reached the deepest part of his lungs. Then he realized that it was raining, raindrops hit the glass window and resounded like a waterfall all over the house. It was a heavy, intense rain. The drops rattled like a whole swarm of mosquitoes. And she was there: sitting in the window alcove, looking at the rain, she had not even noticed his presence: she was wearing shorts, she always wore shorts, and a pink, long-sleeved sweater, very wide, and that hardly could intuit her feminine forms. Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail that slipped slowly. She was curled up, hugging her knees, staring at the raindrops. Matt did not know exactly why that image had remained etched in his mind, but he only thought that he really was a beautiful girl.

"I wish she could see herself with my eyes, then she would not be so sad or have that bad image that she has of herself: not only is she a beautiful girl, she is strong, intelligent, and clever... She tell beautiful stories, and she knows how to listen, I love when she listens to me and smiles at me and when I say something crazy she responds by calling me by my full name, I find it funny, only she does it. Just as it is the only one who calls me Mattie or baby, I like it when she does. I would like her to talk more with me, to let go, to trust me more... What is she afraid of? She knows that my fear is to lose her, but I don’t know what she fears so much. I wish I could help her, I wish she would love herself a little more, we would both be happier... "

The second thing that surprised him was the character of the girl: she was strong, more than what she thought. She worked hard and tried to fit in, although sometimes that would lead to frustration, but she did not give up, and that was admirable. They got used to make long walks on the beach, Matt talked and talked nonstop, of any nonsense, and she just deigned to listen, giving some notes from time to time. He realized that she barely intervened, devoted himself to listening to him, and he was delighted, but at the same time, he wanted to know why she did not say anything.

One day, while looking at the sea, Matt asked her, her response was like all of it: ambiguous, mysterious, and attractive:

“I have nothing to say.”

But Matt insisted:

“I'm sure so.”

“A small but wise man said that intelligent men listen and only speak when they think fit. Maybe I have not found that moment yet.”

Matt was so elated by her return that it took him a while to assume that Ayla would not open to him as easily as he would have liked. She had suffered a lot, like him, she did not feel loved, or valued, or heard by anyone... He understood that she did not want to talk, she was afraid to make a fool of herself, that what she had to tell did not interest anyone.

"But I'm interested! She is silent because she is focused on helping me, when I want the same for her. You're an idiot Matt! You are only worried about yourself, while she is giving everything so that you return safe and sound home, she has even come here to make sure you are well, trying to get along with your family and fit into your way of life, and not even you asked her how the day has gone. "

He did not know exactly what to do with Ayla's subject, a voice inside told him that he like that girl, but he refused to accept it.

"She leaves, as they all do..."

It did not do any good to be fond, or worse to fall in love, he would only suffer even more, and he was tired of suffering, even so, he decided to ask the family's Romeo for advice, to get Ayla to acquire with him the confidence with which they had enjoyed on their first week.

"Have you tried trying to get a bit interested in her?" Noah reproached him without taking his eyes off the bat he was inspecting. “

“Interest? What do you mean?”

“Yeah, Matt... “It was exasperating” Ayla has had a life, ask her for her family, her city... For God's sake, Matt! She is a writer! You have endless questions to ask... Where did she take the ideas for her stories? Who was inspired to do not know which character? For example. I think Gabe has a couple of books of her, ask him to lend them to you, read them and try to pretend that you care about her.”

Matt listened to Noah's advice, but asking Gabe for those books was a very bad decision. He had a special confidence with Gabet, he did not know for what reason, they simply understood each other, perhaps because they both saw life in the same way. Bam was all negative energy, Noah, mystical energy and Bear... well, Bear lived in a different world. He went to Gabe to the first who confessed his problems with alcohol, and was willing to confess that he was beginning to feel something for his "friend", when Gabe said those words:

"These are my two favourite books”

He gave Matt two books something dirty and not very well preserved that he extracted from his pile of things from his corner. The books had survived a shipwreck, the torrential rains of Alaska and even the bear invasion that Browntown lived, however, they were there, they were still standing, ready for someone to read them, understand them ...

"Just like Ayla" He could avoid thinking Matt about his brother.

"The Archer of the Dawn" and "The War of the Dragons" Matt read aloud.

 The Archer is considered one of her best works, but I prefer The War of the Dragons, it was her first publication, you know? I like it because it’s Ayla in her purest essence, before being famous. It introduces you into a fantasy world, problems as complex as motherhood, duty, family, friendship, love. “Matt opened the book by the first page, there was a picture of her, black and white, with smudges grey by the water spilled. She smiled shyly, visibly uncomfortable at the photographer's presence, but for Matt she continued to look pretty. For the one he feared, was Gabe, the day they arrived in Browntown, he was holding her by the hand, Noah and Bam immediately realized that that "friend" that Matt had brought was more than that, but Gabe was not, Gabey was too naive and too innocent to realize ...

"Give them back soon." he said. "I've memorized most of his dialogues to conquer her."

“Conquer it?" Matt squeezed the volume of yellowed paper on the red covers with drawings of golden dragons in his hands. "Oh my God! What have I done? "He had already had those fights with Bam before, for the girls, the rule was that the one he liked the most was his, and the others had to move away.  "But Gabe may not like it more than me, I've slept with her, I brought her here. I'm sure you'll understand... "

“I must thank you, brother, for bringing her here. I've been in love with her since I read her book, and now, thanks to you, I'll have a chance”.

“Gabe for God, open your eyes! We slept in the same cabin, you’re not a child, and you know perfectly what we do”.

At that time, Matt Brown seriously considered leaving aside the theme of Ayla, his brother was more important, he could not fail, he would never have done it ... It was so difficult to open the first book, he did it in the dark, in the solitude of Integrity bunk beds, taking advantage of a business trip. He made his usual excuse to go for a nap, when in fact he spent the day reading, he had a lot of questions to ask Ayla, and he could hardly wait to return to do them... He tackled the issue while they were practicing the knife throw Ayla was radiant that day, although for him it always was. Ginger-haired hair stroked her cheeks and rippled to chest, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright from the cold, she wore a red and black plaid shirt, Matt liked Ayla's shirts, hid most of her figure: they scarcely marked the breasts and adjusted slightly to the hips, but Matt could undo them slowly while they showed their object of desire and covered her with kisses. They had gone to bed a few days ago, they had not since they left the cabin and returned to Browntown, for Matt it was one of the most pleasurable experiences of his life: the girl was between the tree and his body, pushing her slightly while he felt how her body scratched with wood and made him stop to reach the depths of her being. Every time he passed by his improvised firing range he remember that without rejoicing slightly: The firing range had been the idea of ​​his mother, who seemed to be most interested in Matt winning the young writer: when he wanted to talk to alone with someone he took him to shoot and, as always, addressed the complex subject of the grandchildren:

"Ayla likes children?" she asked after firing his revolver on a nearly perfect target.

Matt tried to remember if they had ever talked about it:

"I don’t know," he finally said. "I do not know if he wants to have children, mom ... We're not even officially dating.”

“Well, okay” she apologized opening her arms unarmed “I will not bring up the children issue”.

“Do you promise?”

“I promise."

“Well," Matt pointed his rifle and fired at the target.

“I only want you to be well, son, that she will be appropriate. She is a very pretty girl... “

“She’s also intelligent, and brave and strong, mom... I know what she is, I also know what she tries to make me feel good while she suffers because things, like shooting, are difficult to learn for her.

Ami looked at him with those eyes that only mothers know how to put:

“Matthew, do you like that girl, right?

Matt did not respond, he just fired again and in his eccentric brain he came up with the idea of ​​creating his own shooting range to "talk" to her.

Ayla fired the knife but it failed, Matt ran to find it and gave it to her again. The sun warmed the clearing, and she took off her jacket, revealing the red checked shirt that fitted slightly to the hip and the long button of her breasts. He gave her the knife without being able to look away from her bust, Ayla realized and lifted his chin with a finger:

“I'm here.” she said smiling.

Matt blushed.

"I'm sorry, come here, come on." He stood behind her. "I'm going to show you how to do it.

He put the knife in her hand and put her fingers around his. Unlike him, Ayla had smooth skin, long, thin fingers and very short nails.

"She's so nervous that if she keeps her nails long she'll bite them." He thought

“Selects the legs.” His lips brushed the wavy hair that fell around the ear where he whispered. The sweet smell invaded his nostrils.

“In this way?”

 "Not so much ..." Ayla corrected. "That's right, now bend your arm back."

The girl obeyed, Matt guided his other hand to his waist so that he held his posture upright, and accidentally brushed his chest. Thanks to the pleasant temperature, they both wore only one or two layers of clothing, and Matt could feel the curved contours of her body in contact with him. She leaned back slightly, sticking her buttocks directly against his pants. Matt tensed, but tried not to lose focus on his teaching duties, but Ayla realized:

"Do you have another knife hidden there or is it exciting to see you throw me?"

Matt flushed again and pretended he had not understood her joke. He surprised himself when his body reacted in that way to Ayla: it was like a primitive instinct that flourished from within, an animal force eager to find the most suitable female for the species to endure. Ayla said that she did not have to be ashamed of that and Matt did not do it, he was just scared, he was afraid of not being able to control the reactions of his own body, he was afraid of harming someone by desperately satisfying his male cravings.

“Ayla, be focus” she tried to get serious, although the redness of his cheeks betrayed his true feelings “The force with which you throw has to come out of your biceps, but the trick is the doll game.”

Ayla threw the knife, hit the target, but it lacked enough force to stay stuck.

"I almost got it!" she yelled kicking the floor in frustration. "I'm going to try again.

She strode through the meters that separated them from the target and began searching the tall herbs among the knife. Matt took off his hat and fanned himself to try to cool his body temperature. He looked at the girl for a moment, crouched down, picking up the knife and felt an immense desire to scratch her buttocks as he penetrated her with all his might.

"Calm down Matt, calm down," he repeated himself over and over again.

Ayla came back with the knife in her hand and a half smile on her face:

"Look at her, she never gives up..." she could not help smiling back when she was ready again to throw:

“Ayla.” Matt suddenly interrupted her launching, she turned gracefully to him. "Why is Killian leaving Princess Naerys in the Morning Star?"

“Did you read the Archer of the Dawn?” Asked if she did not believe it.

“You have interested in my way of life, I wanted to be interested in yours.” the girl's face of disbelief left him speechless and his voice was becoming weaker and weaker. "Did I do wrong?"

Matt decided to omit the part of interest in his hobbies that had been his younger brother's idea, helped by Gabe and his mother.

“No, not at all ... It's just that ... Nobody in my environment had ever been interested in my stories, and that you ask me that ... I do not know, it has left me a little disconcerted. I'm sure that if you ask my editor who is Princess Naerys I would not know how to answer you...”

 “Naerys is the third daughter of King Orson and Queen Ranya of Alannys. She has two older brothers: Rheagal and Daesmond and has been chosen by the Five... "Ayla's amazement was growing at times “and she is secretly in love with a mercenary: Killian, and here my question returns: if both love each other, why cannot they be together?

Her eyes saddened slightly and her lips curled down. It is ace Matt slowly turned and caressed her cheek gently:

"It was an impossible love..." she changed her voice when she spoke of their stories.

Ayla had a very beautiful voice: serious, but sensual: very deep and expressive, she knew how to captivate with her words and Matt was completely hypnotized.

“He is a knight without honour, a mercenary... and she is a princess, the last of an ancient lineage; No matter how much she love him, she has responsibilities with her kingdom and her people, and that includes seeking a marriage that is beneficial for both of them. "Don’t forget who you are a daughter" It was a phrase that constantly repeated the book and that Matt could not help but remember at that moment.

“Killian decides to get away from her because he can’t stand the idea of ​​seeing her in the arms of another, breastfeeding children of another man who was not him...

“They should have married and be the king and the queen of Alannys.”Matt said firmly.

“It's not as easy as you think, baby.”

“Why not? You are the writer of the book, you decide how it ends.”

His voice began to sound repellent, like a child, Ayla responded as such: a child enraged to whom we must explain that the world is crueler than it seems. Matt kept insisting that Ayla change the end of her story, not realizing that it was not written yet.

“Sometimes the characters have a life of their own, Matt, you can’t do what you want with them, but they do what they want with you. Naerys, for example, doesn’t want to have children: she doesn’t support the idea in which they kill each other as has happened in her own family in the last two generations...

“And you?”

"What, Matt?" Ayla was surprised at the sudden change of subject, she was enjoying telling someone about her stories, but it was usual on Matt Brown to change the subject constantly during a conversation.

“Do you want to have children?”

Ayla turned around, did not seem to want to talk about that and went to cover her jacket:

“I don’t want to get married, nor do I want to bring children to this world that has treated me that way...” her voice was dark and melancholy. The girl returned the knife to Matt.

"Why not?" Their eyes met, she looked like a scared girl and Matt felt like squeezing her in his arms.

”I don’t need a paper, a priest or whatever, to tell me with who I have to spend the rest of my life with”

“Don't look at it that way” he tried to talk to her as gently as he could “but as a promise... a promise that you make someone you love, with whom you will be with the rest of your life..." Matt begged her to stay with him.

"I don’t like making promises that I know I can’t keep”

Matt knew that, despite the fact that in her stories there were always the most romantic stories he had read, Ayla Hurst was not very supportive of relationships for life. She was a lonely wolf, she used the males for a fair time and then she got rid of them. She was too independent to be linked to anyone, she enjoyed the solitude, her moments, far from the protection of the herd. He was an old wolf who had enjoyed bachelorhood for more than thirty years, but who was beginning to consider settling down with the rest of the wolves, guiding the group and having a couple of litters of puppies, all that was missing: the elusive she-wolf white, who, however vulnerable she seemed, she was capable of destroying his throat with a bite. He stalked her day and night to stay in the pack, but the wolf had already hunted and slept with them, soon she would have enough strength to leave and continue on her own, without depending on anyone, without needing him. At that time, Matthew Jeremiah Brown was afraid, he was afraid that his white she-wolf would not need him anymore and left in search of fresh meat: Is she! His animal instinct scream him, Noah would call her her 'soul mate' but for him, his instinct, his developed forest instinct told him it was her: the wolf he was waiting for.

That day began the nightmares, nightmares in which a pack of wolves snatched the girl, ripped her throat or ate their puppies. He was between the sword and the wall: he wanted to run after the wolf and be with her, follow her to the farthest forest, to her home, but he had to remain in the pack: one day he would replace his father as an alpha male, and fight with his brother older for that position. His younger brothers needed him as a guide, and he had to protect the young wolves from the furious bears, but his white wolf was getting farther and farther away and the fear of losing it became more and more palpable.

"Ayla!" He shouted before the girl left the road, watching as his brain kept running wolves of different colours and sizes. The girl turned around: “if you don’t want to bring children to your world, do not do it, bring them to mine.”

From that day, he constantly reminded her that he loved her, so she can’t forget it and stay by his side.

"In Alaska you never know how you will see someone again” he used to repeat to her so that she would not leave his side.

Matt opened his eyes again, thunder rumbled in the distance and felt the rain rattle against the wooden roof of Bam's hut. He did not know if minutes or hours had passed since the last time he had tried to sleep, but the last thing he saw before waking up was him, not in his human form, but in his wolf form, dead with arrows and the white wolf running away, persecuted by her younger brothers:

"Damn Gabe," he murmured in his heart.

He could not believe that his brother's idea of ​​going back to the clinic was a ploy to try to steal his possibilities with Ayla.

"No, it can’t be, Gabe would be unable to do that, but if he is right and she expects me here, she would be at the mercy of Bam, and I didn’t trust him."

He visualized the herd of wolves again: his older brother, the one with the green eyes and brown fur howled like an alpha male on top of a rock, the rest of the herd responded to the howling, the white wolf remained at his side: beautiful and intact, with the fur shining in the moonlight, and at the bottom of it all was him: licking the bleeding wounds that the hunters had done to him, lying down and subdued before the magnificence of the new leader.

"I'm not going anywhere." He decided as he jumped from his makeshift bed, pulled on his hat and picked up his boots and the old gravy T-shirt in a hurry. He shot out the door, his bare feet splashing in the mud at every step as the rain covered his naked torso and made his skin stand on direct contact with the cold Alaskan wind. It had not rained that way in a long time.

He entered his hut with his heart in his fist: it was all dark, but still he could make out the silhouette of the girl wrapped in the quilts: she was awake, knew her well enough to know that she did not like storms or sleep alone. He wiped his drenched torso with his shirt and then used it to remove the mud from his feet, threw his hat on the floor and took off his wet jeans. He walked slowly towards her, Ayla did not move and fell asleep, Matt snuggled against her back, without getting into the sheets, exactly the same way he did the first time they slept together, and remained motionless for a few moments to warm up. With the layers he wore he could barely make out the curves and heat of her body, nor feel how her skin bristled at the contact of his frozen fingers. He sat up slightly to observe how she "slept" and bit his lip, feeling guilty: he brushed the waves from her hair with a caress, and then he kissed her on the temple, but he could not stop there and kissed her ear and cheek, and again the hair...

"Matt, stop..." seemed more an entreaty for mercy than an order, but Matt obeyed that voice repressing the crying.

"She's been crying, sure for me” Matt felt like shit “she is worry about people, she must have been wondering where I was, especially when it started to rain. My father is right and sometimes I can become a real fool."

He climbed into the blankets and kissed Ayla again on the face. His frozen, almost naked body stuck to hers, which to her pleasant surprise, was barely covered with a pair of shorts and a wide sweater. Immediately he reached under her clothes, squeezed her breasts and bit her ear: her body stiffened in contact with his: the primitive animal instinct inside him bloom, more intense than ever: his hand squeezed her sex and had to suppress a howl of excitement:

“Matt, please to... “She begged him trying to sit up.

"I can’t, Ayla, I swear you I can’t..."

He pushed her upside down and pushed her pants away. She shifted nervously, but he was stronger: it was an old grey wolf about to mount his white wolf in heat, and no one was going to prevent that beast was born a litter of strong and healthy puppies called to replace him as leader of the pack some distant day. For a moment he was tempted to penetrate her from behind, to dig his nails into her turned buttocks and feel everything around her collapse, but then she would not have puppies, and if she did, she would not leave.

"A single wolf with a litter is a very simple prey, she will need me and the rest of the pack to help her raise them."

He introduced his swollen member inside the girl, despite his pleas, but it was not the warm place he longed for: it was dry and stiff and it tore when trying to push. Ayla began to emit a weak cry:

“Matt, please stop...”

"Oh my God! What am I doing? This isn’t right...”he said for himself” I can’t do this whenever I want. We are a team, I need the consent of both. If you wanted her to stay this has been a bad idea, Matt, a very bad idea. Now she has reasons to get away, and you to go back to the clinic, but to be locked up for life. It's just that you didn’t see that you were hurting her, you damn idiot!”

Matt jumped up from her and stood up, but Ayla sat up with him and grabbed his arm to pull him toward her, knocking him over her body. They kissed each other intensely: his tongue parted her lips to find refuge in her mouth and explore every last corner. She herself took the initiative to tear off her sweater to let Matt's teeth nibble and taste the nipples. His lips dropped down her stomach, the girl's belly was flat, but it contrasted with her broad thighs and voluptuous hips; She used to say that she had a few extra pounds, in Matt's opinion, she lacked kisses. He stopped to play with his navel. Ayla let out a nervous giggle and her body convulsed with the tickling, Matt had to suppress crying out of the joy that it caused her to receive his attention so well. He descended to her thighs and got rid of her pants: he kissed and bit his inner face. He also kissed the thick curly hair that grew on her sex, which began to get wet and parted the lips with his thumbs. She closed her eyes to soak up that texture and the smell that made him more and more excited. He searched blindly with his tongue for the nodule that was the girl's source of pleasure and when he found it he licked it in different ways while he felt how the girl arched her back with pleasure and emitted some other moan. His intention was that she explode through his wet kisses, but she forced him to climb up and penetrate her. In his warm mouth an endless stream of bodily fluids merged as his throbbing member entered the humid, welcoming cave he remembered. They surrounded each other tightly with their arms, each other, as if they never wanted to let go. Matt grabbed her to turn her around and sit on him and enjoy the view, the dancing breasts, while the girl rode him. He dug his nails into her thighs, already had some purple scratches from his passion from previous occasions. She had to suppress the urge to howl, he got up to bite her lips and thus endure their howls. She took the opportunity to stroke his curls, loved to rip his hair and put his head against his chest. They ended up merging between moans, kisses and caresses, looking into each other's eyes, exchanging one of those looks that only certain people understand. In it Matt said: "I love you" and she answered with an "I know". She did not often repeat that he loved him as much as he did, but he knew it.

Thunder rumbled, this time closer, the rain fell heavily on the rubber tires, while Matt's essence flooded Ayla's warm interior. Matt Brown was destroyed, with each breath trying to fill his lungs to catch his breath, but the weight of Ayla's head, resting on his chest prevented him from achieving his goals: he looked proud as she played with the silver curls of her His chest and the fang that hung around his neck kissed his forehead. He was happy with how Ayla had received him after how his bad behaviour, but at the same time he was confused and disappointed: even though he adored the girl, as any other person had shortcomings, apart from not telling her life to anyone, Ayla Hurst could become very manipulative. She knew he depended on her, it hurt him to think he was so shallow, but she knew Matt's body enough to know that he had created some addiction for sex and that if he left, he would end up sleeping with her. Sometimes he was ashamed of himself for it, Ayla was younger than him and still in bed he always won: he had the advantage of experience: where to play, where to lick and where to bite, but she the extra ability of a pair of well-turned hips had and how to move them to reach paradise.

"If someone proposed to me to sleep with her one last time and then never to see her again or not to touch her again in life but to stay with me, I would choose the second, it hurts me to think that she would not... Now I know how she felt during the days in the cabin. Matt, for God's sake, stop fooling around, the patience she's having with you is not going to be anyone else's. Don’t let her escape".

He forced himself to stay awake, after sex his eyelids weighed two tons each and he did not feel like having a decent conversation:

“I think I owe you an apology and an explanation...”

He clarified the throat, he was having trouble finding the right words. Ayla sat up without saying anything, combed her dark blond hair with reddish flashes to the side, it seemed to Matt that her eyes were blaming all the evil in the world. Ayla covered her breasts with the sheet, as if ashamed of them, but he had one free hand left to caress Matt's fingers. He brought it to his lips and could not help spilling a tear. He was not ashamed to cry in front of Ayla, she did, so she showed what she really felt, for her it was a gesture of weakness.

"The thing is, I love you Ayla” he spit “I love you too much, that's my problem. You’ve taken me out of the hole, and I’m so grateful for it that the mere thought of losing you produces nightmares. If I go back to the clinic it's not to detoxify me from alcohol, it's to detoxify you” “Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, now you'll feel bad".

They remained silent for a while, avoiding looking into each other's eyes so as not to melt into a sea of ​​tears.

“That clinic was killing you Matt, I saw it, I saw it with my own eyes” her voice was sweet and serious “ask me what you want, but please, don’t force me to see you suffer in that way Matt, because I’ll not support it... If you think I’m a poison for you I’ll leave, don’t doubt that I’ll do it, but please, don’t go back to that place”.

Now it was Ayla who started to cry. Matt felt a breach go through his heart. In his mind appeared the memory of the day of the scare of the false pregnancy: the fear that happened when she began to vomit and the nerves for not finding her in the whole camp. His stomach was churning and he was nervous on the beach, waiting to see the skiff at any moment lean over the horizon, even kicked Cupcake of how nervous he was... and how he collapsed when she promised she was not going to go to any part.

“Matt, I'm aware that it's not healthy for you to depend on me that way, you have to learn to relax. Life goes on with or without me... "A chill of terror ran down his back at the thought of it." Promise me you'll do it, that you'll keep going if something ever happens. "She lifted his chin with her hand so that he looked into her eyes. “Promise me Matt, promise yourself. If you do not, this ends right here Matt”.

It was difficult to him saying those words, probably he had not thought it through, but Matt's heart ended up cracking completely. He brought Ayla's hands to his lips and kissed them repeatedly:

"I'll do it, I swear I'll do it..."

"That's my boy." Ayla looked at him proudly, liked him when she looked at him like that, made him feel happy, backed up. He hugged him tightly. "Paul wants us to go to Juneau to do an assignment, and by the way, finish solving his affairs with the insurer. We'll be three or four days out, maybe a week if the weather betrays us..."Matt did not know where she wanted to go." Your father wanted you to be the four older boys and me, but Birdy is as capable as you are to do the job, so you can stay to take care of the rest of the pack...

“I think I'm not understanding”.

“We're going to separate for a few days, Matt, “she explained patiently “so you can see that you can live perfectly without me... Do you think its okay?”

("Honestly no, you: in the direction of a city with an airport and locked in a boat with Bam and with Gabe, but I have no choice but to accept, right?")

“Of course, a trip to Juneau with the family... - he forced himself to smile at her as she stroked his cheek.

Then he invited her to lie down on his chest again, he was about to fall asleep when Ayla demanded his attention:

"Do you remember the phone Frank gave me?" Matt tensed all the muscles in his body.

"Have you called your mother?" He asked, afraid to know the answer. “

No, I called a friend from there, from Spain, to tell my family that I was fine. And you know what? They did not even remember that I was in Alaska... "

Matt did not know what to say, he just pressed her even closer to his chest and rubbed her shoulders to comfort her.

"Frank's asshole played it for me, how could I not see it? I feel like an idiot, lonely and abandoned...

("I’m the real fool, for having yelled at you, but I really thought you were going to leave with him ... It must be very hard, take more than three months away from home and that your family have been interested in you. "

“You are not alone or abandoned. You have me and the whole pack... And that friend of yours you've called.

Ayla smiled:

“Alba is very good to me, is the one who insisted that I come to work here and then insisted that I stay, to go ahead with you. “ she laughed out loud “She always tells me that when I'm going to invite her to come...

“And why not? “ The eccentric brain of Matt worked in a hurry “We have room in the main house, and although you get along well with Bird and Rain, sure you want to catch up with an old friend...

“I don’t know Matt, I don’t want to bother your family”

“You will not bother. The boys will be delighted that there is another girl hanging around the camp.

"And Alba will be delighted that they do," she joked. Ayla seemed to be tempting him more and more.

"You can pay for the ticket, right?" She nodded. Matt was becoming more enthusiastic” Perfect. Tomorrow we finished talking to my parents and when you go to Juneau, you call her and you propose the trip.

“I'm sure she'll love coming to meet you all!”

Ayla hugged Matt excited and grateful for her brilliant idea.

“Sometimes I have good ideas”. He gave her a light kiss on the lips:

"All your ideas are brilliant to me. It will be great to have Alba hanging around here”.

("And it will be great if the newly arrived wolf catches the attention of the rest of the young wolves so that the old grey wolf and the white wolf can rest easy and lick their wounds to each other while sunbathing.”).