The purring vibrated through my legs, a deep, contented, unexpectedly relaxing rumble.

Adelle's head was a warm, heavy weight in my lap, her orange-red hair soft against my hand as I continued to stroke it absently. The tense, coiled, spiky 'I will murder you' energy she ordinarily projected had completely dissipated, replaced by feline nuzzling that was a million times more disarming than any of her biker-gang boss bravado.

For the first time since arriving in Ferguson, I felt a moment of genuine peace, a sense of stillness in the eye of the hurricane that was my life. Then, she suddenly shifted, lifting her head from my lap to look at me, her violet-blue eyes unreadable.

"Hey, Alpha," she said, tone jumping from soft and vulnerable to direct and primal, still interspersed with that deep purr.

"Yeah?"

She moved with fluid, feline grace, rising from my lap to straddle my hips, her weight pinning me to the bed. Her hands came to rest on my shoulders. The towel she wore slipped open, revealing the toned, spotted landscape of her stomach and the curve of her breasts.

"Whu—"

"Wanna fuck?" A low growl that was part question, part challenge.

"I... what?" I managed, my brain struggling to reconcile the whiplash jump from "vulnerable packmate seeking comfort" to "blunt sexual proposition."

Then again, I should have expected this. After all, this was Adelle. The girl who claimed me with her, you know what, within a few seconds of seeing me.

"You heard me," she said, a slow, predatory grin spreading across her black teardrop muzzle. "You and me. Right here, right now. No strings, no bullshit. Just a way to... finalize the new hierarchy."

"Finalize the...?" I struggled not to look down at her inhumanly fit prad body. "Sex is a part of your pack hierarchy?"

"It can be," she shrugged, leaning closer. Warm breath ghosted across my cheek, making the hair on the back of my neck tingle. "For some packs. It's a way of showing loyalty, of sealing the bond between an Alpha and their packmate. The ultimate act of submission and trust." Her eyes gleamed with a challenging light. "Plus, you're a hella cute tater—I was totally honest 'bout that. And you saved my ass from bleeding out on the road. That's a powerrrrful combination."

My mind raced. Part of me, the primal, eighteen-year-old male part, was screaming a frantic, loud "YES!" But the rest of me, the endless-tree part that was now responsible for four very complicated pradavarians, knew this was a terrible idea at this junction.

The cheetah was definitely offering me her submission in the most absolute way she knew how.

But as I looked at her—at the faint, healing cuts on her cheek, the exhaustion still lingering in her eyes, the desperate sincerity behind her predatory confidence—I saw not just a challenger, but a packmate who was just as exhausted, lost and confused as I was. A packmate who was once again simply clinging to the only rules she'd ever known.

"Adelle," I said, my voice coming out way steadier than I felt, "I can't."

Her grin didn't falter, but her eyes narrowed slightly, her lips pursed. "Can't? Or won't? Cus' I'm feeling something hard between my…"

"Both," I said, carefully choosing my words. "Look, I do appreciate the... offer. And the loyalty. But that's not the kind of Alpha I want to be. Also, I understand what this means to you."

A flicker of confusion crossed her face. This clearly wasn't the response she'd been expecting. "You... do?"

"Yeah. I get it. This is your way of showing trust. Of proving your loyalty." I took a deep breath. "But we're not doing this. Not now."

"Why not? You not into me?" She demanded, grabbing her breasts and shaking them at me. "I see you staring!"

"Look, Addie," I said. "It's not about that. It's not about you, or me, or whether I'm attracted to you." I met her feline, slitted eyes. "It's about the pack."

"The pack?" she blinked. "This is for the pack! To make us trust each other more!"

"No, it's not," I countered. "Our pack is barely two days old. We might not look like it, but we're a mess."

"A highly functional mess!" She huffed.

"Maybe so, but still a huge mess. You just had a major emotional breakthrough. Candace is... well, you saw what happened at the farm. Kristi is at war with her own family. And Nessy..."

I paused, the thought of the husky girl and her struggles solidifying my resolve. "Nessy is dealing with years of emotional manipulation from her friends and that damn temple. She's confused, she's vulnerable, and she's just starting to figure out and remember who she really is. She's the heart of our pack, and right now, that heart is bruised."

Adelle's posture softened slightly as she listened, her head tilting in that familiar, questioning way.

"If you and I do this now," I continued, "what do you think that would do to the others? To Nessy, when she comes back from the mall? It wouldn't build trust, Adelle. It would create jealousy. It would create fractures. It would turn our pack into a competition over me, and that's the last thing we need right now."

"Hrm," the cheetah considered my words.

"I can't be an Alpha to just one of you," I finished. "I have to be the Alpha for all of you. And right now, this pack needs stability. It needs all of us to be on solid ground. Especially Nessy. Her well-being... it has to be our priority until she's sorted things out."

"She's got Candy now," Adelle pointed out. "She's not alone. They're like soul-fused or whatevs. We should 'fuse' too… just in a… more physical way, if ya kno' what I mean," She wiggled atop me.

"The soul-fusion does seem to help both of them," I said. "But still it's not a permanent solution, more like taping a cracked mirror together. "It holds for a while, but the fractures are still there underneath. We're building our pack on trust, Adelle. On mutual respect and understanding. Not... this."

I gestured vaguely at our current, very compromising position.

"You're turning me down then?" she asked, one eyebrow arching in amusement. "After I just bared my soul and my body to you? Most guys would be all over this. Girls too. Hell, Candy was all over this before I even said anything."

"I'm not most guys," I said. "And you're not just some random girl. You're my packmate. My responsibility. And I'm not going to risk fucking that up for a... a quick roll in the sheets. I've no idea how the others would feel about this, especially Ness."

She studied me for a long moment, her violet-blue eyes searching my face. I expected anger, or maybe a dismissive scoff. Instead, she just sighed, a huff of air that ruffled the hair on my forehead.

"Hmph. Fine," she said, but there was no malice in her voice. "Your loss. I'm great in bed."

With that, she rolled off me, flopping onto the bed beside me and reclaiming her spot with her head in my lap as if nothing had happened. The deep purring started again, soft and steady. She didn't bother to put the towel back on.

"But just so you know," she added, "the offer stands. If you ever change your mind, the door is always open. And by door, I mean my legs."

"I... Umm… Right. I'll keep that in mind." Damn, she was ever so blunt.

A silver notification popped into my vision.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[Achievement Unlocked: The Virtuous Alpha!]

[You have successfully navigated a complex pradavarian loyalty ritual without succumbing to primal urges. You have demonstrated leadership, integrity, and a surprising amount of self-control.]

[Loyalty of Adelle Sylvia Dallia increased from 61 > 62/100.]

[Note: She really is great in bed. Just saying. You might want to reconsider. Rawr.]

I blinked the message away, shaking my head at the System's complete lack of any kind of professionalism. Then I absently started stroking Adelle's curly orange-red hair again.

Sixty two? I thought to myself. What the fuck? How was the System even evaluating personal Loyalty? What parameters did loyalty have? How did loyalty number even show up in the Astral ocean… was it a flock of ghostly squid-fish swirling around the cheetah that the System tabulated or…

My thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of my phone on the nightstand. I picked it up to see a string of messages from Kristi.

[✨Stellaris]: Alec, you there?

[✨Stellaris]: We have a situation.

[✨Stellaris]: Scratch that, we have a fucking disaster.

[Alecai🌲]: fam meeting didn't go well?

The reply was almost instantaneous.

[✨Stellaris]: no

[Alecai🌲]: gib deets

[✨Stellaris]: Katherine called father right after the sim to complain bout all the things. Told him about the bikers, the claim mark, you being our Alpha... all of it.

I considered how screwed I was. Lord Marshal Strand, the patriarch of the most powerful family in Ferguson now knew that I existed and that I had somehow bound his daughter to a pack.

[Alecai🌲]: How bad is it?

[✨Stellaris]: He's... not happy. He's demanding a meeting. With you. Tonight.

[Alecai🌲]: Tonight?

[✨Stellaris]: At our family restaurant. He wants to 'assess' you. That's a direct quote.

"Shit," I muttered, showing the messages to Adelle.

The cheetah's lazy expression sharpened slightly. "Lord Marshal Strand? Sounds like a fun time." She grinned, her canines flashing. "Nothing like a friendly chat with a pissed-off raptor mafia boss."

"This isn't fun, Adelle," I said grimly. "This is serious. He could have me thrown out of town, or worse."

"He won't," she said confidently. "Not if we're with you."

"We?"

"Duh," she rolled her eyes. "You think we're gonna let you face down a Strand patriarch alone? We're your pack. We go where you go. Even into the raptor's den!"

My phone buzzed again.

[✨Stellaris]: He also wants to meet the rest of the pack. At the Pines Restaurant. Especially the 'low-brow breed dog', 'biker delinquent' and the 'harlot fox'. Again, direct quotes. Kat has been very... descriptive.

"Pff. Sounds like he already loves us," Adelle purred glancing at my screen and looking thoroughly unconcerned.

Silver sparks suddenly ignited all around us in the air.

A semi-transparent fuzzy figure holding a guitar appeared intersected with the bed. The figure focused itself into Nessy as the Voicecast spell fully connected via the Dagaz rune.

"Sup guys?" she asked, without opening her mouth. "I'm done setting up. Going to musicate now. Ads, why are you butt-nekked? Are you trying to seduce Alec without me?"

Adelle, who had been unsubtly half-draped over me stared at the magic-woven projection of Nessy and answered bluntly. "Yes."

"Did it work?"

"No."

"Tisk tisk tisk. Going to try again, harder?"

"Nah. Just providing supportive body warmth."

"Uh-huh, sure. Keep telling yourself that, you orange heat-lamp. Just save some of that supportive warmth for after the show, okay?"

"Fine," Adelle huffed. "How are you even talking to us without opening your mouth?"

"Modded the Voicecast to Thoughtcast," Nessy replied. "Also Vistacast. With full color for your viewing pleasure. Now shush. Getting in the zone. Annnnd… done. Okkay, it's musicating time!"

She opened her mouth and began to tap her leg, strumming her guitar.

"They build their walls of doubt so high, Beneath a cold and judging sky, They preach of paths you have to choose, Of games they play where you will lose.

They whisper lies of what is weak, The silent words you shouldn't speak But in my chest a wild heart beats A rhythm for these old stone streets."

As the lyrics danced around the room, the scene around her came into even greater focus, the view expanding outward across the bed and past it, zooming out rapidly and gaining color like a massive hologram painted across my eyes.

The husky girl stood within a gothic-style gazebo made of black iron lattice work, her acoustic guitar cradled in her arms.

"So let them talk their talk of shame. Let them try to speak your name, With voices dipped in cold despair, And act as if they truly care.

We know the truth, we know the score, We're not the ones they're looking for, We're something new, a different flame, And we will never be the same."

At times her voice seemed to wobble ever so slightly and almost split into two, then converge into one.

A small crowd was already gathering nearby, drawn by Nessy's song. Prads of all species—a few raptors in designer jackets, some wolf students from the university, a few owls, a bear prad couple out for an evening stroll—paused to listen, their expressions shifting from idle curiosity to rapt attention.

In front of Nessy, under several large wooden signs that read "LOOMCO NEW AGE BOOKS: FIND YOUR PATH," were several green-draped tables with LoomCo logos and books in colorful wooden cases.

Several Krishna monks in their distinctive orange robes, wooden bead necklaces and headscarves manned the tables, their faces fixed in beatific smiles, presenting gold-text delver books standing upright in clear plastic frames. I recognized Zheniya standing next to Sage and Vivianne at the central table. The fox and owl were tiny compared to some of the massive wolf monks who were basically half-crouched behind their tables.

"A storm of emerald, sharp and fast, Whose lonely thunder couldn't last. An orange fire, born to run, A shadow fading from the sun.

But you're our roots in hardened ground, The only solace that we've found. An astral tree, ever-deep, Where all our broken secrets sleep.

The weaver learned to trust her thread, The tempest bowed her weary head, The wildfire found her hearth to warm, The singer found her long lost form."

Nessy's song poured on, as if in direct opposition to the tables filled with smiling monks. Her voice rose, laced with defiant fire that was definitely Candace.

"So let them speak their words of shame, And try to burn away my name, With voices cold as winter rain, And say this love is just my pain!

I know the truth, I see the score, I'm not the path they're looking for, I'm something new, a wilder flame, And I will never be the same.

I won't be severed, won't be tamed, By a future that they've falsely framed, My soul's a compass, true and bold, You are the dream for which I'm sold."

The song soared into the final chorus that sent a shiver down my spine, a wave of pure, unadulterated, beautiful defiance.

The crowd exploded with applause and bravos.

A warmth spread through my chest. The lyrics were a direct, unambiguous message meant for me, a song about our pack. In the gazebo, Nessy's eyes were closed, her smile wide as she enjoyed the applause. She was singing for me, for us.

"Damn," Adelle wagged her orange and black striped tail. "That was hella swank. That two voices thing is the shit. I'm 'effing in love. Go Ness n' Candy!"

"Yeah, that was pretty amazing," I added.

"Why thank you," Nessy-Candace giggled mentally.

The crowd around Ness grew as people applauded. More prads and a few humans arrived at the stone platform next to the gazebo. Across the plaza, I could see Viv and Sage standing by their LoomCo booth, their arms crossed, expressions featuring mild disapproval and grudging admiration.

Sister Zheniya's serene smile was still on. The Krishna Sister's eyes had a look of intense contemplation as she tried to process the lyrics to understand what Nessy was even singing about.

Vivianne was the first to come to her senses. She disconnected from her booth and rapidly arrived at the gazebo, orange fox tail twitching. "Ness? How did you make it sound like that song was in two separate voices for some parts?"

"New Riffweld technique," Nessy fired back, white fingers flicking across her guitar strings. "Vocal layering. Adds... depth. Just learned it today. Cool, ain't it?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.