The Circle Ch. 04

"If it wasn't anything," she retorted, smirking, "neither of you would be acting this way. The two of you might as well be kindergartners on the playground for how mature you're acting."

"Ok, first of all, rude." She laughed, and in that moment, I was glad to have someone to talk to about this. "Secondly, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing."

"Does anyone?" Beth asked, shrugging. "Fi isn't exactly easy to figure out."

"That seems like the understatement of the decade."

"It kind of is," she said heavily. "You know what it's like coming from an Alpha family. And that's just the start of it for her." Beth knit her hands in front of her, and seemed to be considering her words carefully. "The last couple of years have been a lot of progress after more than enough challenges for her, for the Circle. I have to ask, though, as cliche as it may be." She gave me a pointed look before she continued, that seemed almost maternal in nature. "What are your intentions with our Alpha?"

I'm startled by her question. I hadn't been asked something like that since high school - trying to go out with a cheerleader whose father was polishing a pistol in the living room when I'd arrived to pick her up on our first date.

"Intentions?" I echoed.

The first intention that popped into my brain was to run, far, far away from the woman stuck in my head. To pledge and settle myself at the furthest edge of her territory, hell, maybe transfer to a different firm in Austin after a while, to keep myself from repeating the mistakes of my past. It was lust that got me into this mess, and I wasn't about to let it do so again.

My second intention, deeply at war with the first, was to figure out how to get her alone so I could get her to say my name in a tone that wasn't snarky or dismissive, preferably with my head firmly planted between her legs. But I didn't think that was what Beth exactly wanted to hear.

There was another part of me that knew, from the second we'd shared that kiss, right there in that room we sat in, that once entangled in this pack, I didn't know if I could keep myself from expressing what I felt deep in my chest, like a loud roar on a midnight wolf run. Not sing-song, fairytale shit. The primal instinct to claim Fiona, to make her mine in every sense of the word, mark her and to let her do the exact same to me, if she would allow it.

That thought scared me. The sins of my past taught me to be wary of this first wave of feelings - to be cautious of something so strong so fast. And yet, it felt different than the chemistry I'd felt with other women. It felt like the potential for partnership, for an opportunity to be with someone who challenged me, and I, her.

"You don't seem like a fuckboy to me, but I've been wrong before." She held her hands up as her harsh words tore me out of my train of thought, and I let out a hearty laugh, taken aback.

"I am not a fuckboy," I defended. "And I'm not about to start my time in the Circle by sleeping with the Alpha."

"If she'll have you," Beth said with a shrug, but she smiled warmly.

"We work together," I continued. "And I respect her, as both an Alpha and an attorney. I won't ruin that because we have chemistry."

"Chemistry." She repeated my words, and looked down at the table. It took her a few seconds before she met my eyes. "Do you know anything about her family?"

"Honestly," I started, "I don't know much about her at all." She quirked her head to one side. "Just what George has said - " Beth snorted, "and a little bit of my own research, mostly about her work."

"I'd take anything your brother says about any other pack with a grain of salt." She pursed her lips, rolling her eyes, and I gave her a look that clearly said no shit. "Particularly about Fiona. Not many people know her, really, she's been so guarded for so long."

"I don't know if I'd describe her as guarded," I said, thinking back to how casually she'd been dressed the weekend before at the meeting, how welcoming she'd been taking me to my hotel that first day.

"Not physically guarded, or really even emotionally, that most can tell." She sighed, her hand drumming on the counter. "Fiona inherited the pack directly from her grandmother," she explained, and then chewed on her lip momentarily. "Probably sooner than she was ready for."

"Meaning?" I asked cautiously. George had taken over the pack in his early twenties, but that was the way most male Alphas worked. I wasn't sure how things were structured with the Circle.

"Hera, her mother, was supposed to take the pack when Fi was in elementary school, but she got breast cancer. Triple negative." I pursed my lips, my heart sinking. "Amelia, the last Alpha, stayed on for a lot longer than normal for us. But she kept Fiona at arm's length after Hera died - I think mostly because Fi is so much like her mother."

"What was she like?" It was out before I could stop myself, and Beth seemed surprised at my question.

"Hera?" I nodded. "She was a powerhouse. Man, my mom used to talk about her all the time - they were around the same age. She was a complete badass, but a real diplomat too. She went to law school, but never finished after she got pregnant with Fi." She gave a small smile, sipping at her coffee. I did the same. "Losing Hera nearly killed her dad. She was his world - if he hadn't been human, I think he probably would have been her Omega."

For the second time in a week, I spluttered on my coffee, staring at Beth.

"Her father was human?" I asked, and then instantly regretted my tone. A look of hurt flashed across her face, and I knew she was thinking about Jeremy. "Shit, sorry, I mean-

"No, I know what you mean," she bristled, her grip on her coffee a little more firm. "It's ok, we know it's not totally normal."

"It's whatever you want it to be," I assured her, trying to etch the sincerity I was feeling into my face. "Seriously. I'm just surprised."

"Trust me." She gave a half-laugh, which told me she may not have been as offended as I thought. "So was the rest of the pack. Legend has it, the fight Hera and Amelia had was one for the history books." I tried to imagine two female wolves, both equally as powerful as Fiona, battling it out in some clearing over a human man. It was hard to picture.

It was odd for weres to mate with humans in general, mostly because it was difficult for them to understand our lives. The constant push and pull of the lunar tides, the way it affected us day after day. How our hormones raged each full moon, and how we sometimes presented anger and passion forward, rather than logic.

But there was so much more than that. In a partnership involving two weres, you would date like any human couple, but then the mating process made that so much more intense. Mating with a wolf was like sharing their energy, their aura - you opened yourself up to them, to your full self, in ways you didn't with other pack members. To let them into your mind, to your soul, both as a human and as a wolf.

Mating was seen as something so intimate, it was rare to do so with someone you didn't intend to mark. To show the world that they were your's, and in turn, you, theirs. Even I, from an Alpha family, with a brother like George - a real fuckboy, if you ask me - had only ever truly mated with someone once. And the path that had taken me down led me here.

A were could mark a human - but the opposite wasn't true. A were could share parts of themselves with a human, sure, but the lack of a mental link, the ability to share that with someone without words, was what made the process so sacred to us. And to mark them - to share a piece of yourself so intimate, your bite, that was reserved for protection or, in this case, intimacy - was something that would only ever be one-sided with a couple like that.

Weres who marked each other showed the world that they were one another's, and in our world, at the height of a full moon, or, God forbid, a more enchanting moon than that, having that distinction was everything. It told the most primal parts of other weres that you were claimed. A were partnered with a wolf would be left without that security, and without that bond to share in.

"Is it difficult?" I let the words fall off my tongue, and Beth looked at me cautiously. "Being with a human?"

"It has its challenges," she answered, and a bit of sadness crossed her blue eyes. "We'll never have the true blessing of the Moon Goddess."

"Overrated," I said dismissively, and then realized that it was probably the wrong thing to say. Sure, to me, the often-forgotten tradition of a handfasting-style ceremony between weres prior to marketing was trivial. But I knew that some deemed it the peak of romantic fairytales for our kind. Receiving the blessing was a sign that you had truly met your mate, and it was easy to see why someone who was so clearly in love was sad it didn't feel validated.

"But my family is strong," she continued, ignoring me. "My children are surrounded by Circle members who will show them what their father can't. And he will teach them in ways we can't." Beth gave a small, sad smile. "But we're not here to talk about me." She hopped off her barstool, throwing her now empty coffee cup in the trash and looking around the room again, her lips pursed. "It has potential."

"See," I laughed, standing with her. "It's all about perspective."

Fiona

"Jesus Christ, you broke his nose?" Charlie stuttered as we sat in one of the studio spaces of Hero Fitness, the gym he helped manage. I lowered my body down to the ground, feeling my back squelch against the floor.

"Not intentionally," I offered, rising back up and touching my fingertips to the sides of my shoes. "He wanted a fight, so I gave him a fight." Charlie snickered next to me, seated on a stack of step platforms, doing bicep curls with a dumbbell and watching me complete the last few reps of my workout.

I had gone straight to the gym after our class - I was already sweaty enough, and I needed to work out the tension pent up from that interaction with Gavin. I spent an hour on the elliptical before starting a circuit workout.

"I don't think Poppy had direct contact in mind."

"Well that's what she got. The crowd seemed to love it." They had. The gasps and then round of ruckus applause that had followed my takedown of Gavin had made me grin as I raced to gather my things and slip quickly into my car. "3...2...1..." I finished my last rep, collapsing on the floor in a heap, my ponytail flailing out behind me. Above my head, Charlie stood up, leaned over me, and handed me the water bottle on the floor. "Thanks," I stuttered out, taking a deep gulp. Mindlessly, I reached my hand behind my head, my hand finding his sweaty shin. I ran a manicured finger up and down in his light leg hair, glancing around to make sure no one else was in the room. He paused his curls, looking down at me, and then wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

I hadn't seen Charlie since the Monday morning after our Equinox meeting. As promised, we had filled the weekend with athletic sex, alternating between orgasms and long naps. The couple of times I'd been to the gym during the week, Mark had been the one on duty, waving me in with a distracted hand signal.

I laughed, pulling myself into a sitting position and groaning at the soreness in my midsection. Charlie stood from his perch, offering me a hand. I took it, jumping up, purposefully jolting against him so that my boobs, which were completely squished, were nearly touching my chin. The workout set I was wearing already did good things - the compression was just a bonus.

Feeling him twitch against my thigh, he tilted his head down to get a straight look into my cleavage, and then stuck his finger in.

"Ey!" I called, swatting his hand away playfully. He pouted, but moved to put his dumbbell away and then helped me wipe down the equipment we'd used. When we exited the studio, the gym was as quiet as it had been when we'd gotten there. I could only see half of it from this side, but Saturday during the day tended to be on the slow side. Charlie motioned towards the men's locker room, and I followed, triple checking that no one was watching. Once inside, we dumped our phones, shoes, and water bottles in his locker, and I grabbed a few towels while he quietly stepped towards the showers, opening the closest stall curtain and turning on the water.

"You coming?" he called over his shoulder, and in one motion, he threw his shirt over his head and stepped out of his shorts and boxers, hanging them on the hook outside the stall. His muscular thighs and toned ass made my stomach lurch - after the long week of avoiding Gavin, this was so, so needed.

I practically skipped into the shower behind him, and closed the curtain while he nuzzled his head into my cleavage. My chest rumbles with my laughter and I weave my hands into my hair, letting him trail his tongue up to my neck. His hand pulled at the waistband of my leggings, and I helped him pull them down, reaching outside of the shower to hang them next to his clothes. I pulled my hair out of the ponytail it was in and let him lift my sports bra over my head. As soon as it was outside the stall, he bent over and returned his face to my cleavage. I trailed my fingers down his trim waist, grazing over the start of his deep V, when his hand lifted my face up by my chin, pulling my lips hungrily to his. I turned, pulling him back with me towards the cold tile wall, running us both through the water in the process. I felt it drip between us as I blacked against the wall, one hand moving to the back of my neck, the other firmly on my backside.

Slowly his hand traveled around my hip until he was cupping the front of my pussy, his fingers greedily pushing between them as his lips traveled across my cheek and then down my neck. I gasped, letting my hand fall between us to grasp his cock, but found it was already rock hard. For a moment, we both stroked each other, his lips nuzzling against my neck.

"Fuck me," I commanded in a low growl. He chuckled, and moved his head to look at me. When he smiled, his teeth were elongated, and he narrowed his eyes before slipping both hands under my thighs and pulling me up against the wall.

"Yes, Madame Alpha." Without any warning, he plunged into me, and I let out a guttural growl, which he silenced with his lips.

Just then, we both heard the door to the locker room creak open, and sloppily separated, stilling against the wall. He turned to look back at me as we both heard sounds of a locker opening and closing, and then feet padding across the floor in front of the showers. A few stalls down, the water sputtered to a start. I searched his face, and for a second he seemed to be thinking, before his eyes glinted. I felt my face split into a grin as I brought my finger to my lip in a silencing motion. He nodded darkly, and then pulled out quickly, ramming into me just as fast.

Before I could make a noise, he covered my mouth with his, pinning my head against the wall. I tried to muffle my own cries as he thrusted into me, the running water of both stalls covering the sloshing sounds made by our crashing bodies. I kept my arms pulled against his neck, balancing myself. One of his hands stayed firmly under my legs, and the other found its way between us, pressing against my sensitive clit and rubbing in fast circles in time with our rhythm.

"That's not going to take long," I whispered hoarsely, pressing my forehead to his. He nodded, keeping up the pace, and suddenly, I felt my orgasm rip through me. He kissed me again, deeply, so hard that my head and shoulders were pinned against the wall, letting the violent shake of my orgasm ripple through me quietly. He groaned, and I felt him still against me as I came down off my high, letting him ride out his own orgasm before he broke away, gasping. I let out a shaky laugh, my arms still tight around him, and when I unwound my legs from his waist, I let out a small whimper at the feeling of emptiness as he pulled out.

Once on the ground, he pulled me in for one more, passionate kiss, before turning to the water and letting it fall over his head and shoulders while I caught my breath.

Gavin

I had only been to this gym once since joining last weekend, but so far, it was not disappointing. Close to the apartment, quiet space to work out, everything was sparkling clean, and people generally left me alone.

One of the biggest drawbacks to being the brother of the Alpha was the extent of people trying to one-up you every time you showed any sort of physical endurance. No matter where I worked out in Fort Worth, there was always at least one were that felt the need to try to out-do a lightwell. Here, at least for the time being, no one knew who I was. I could fly under the radar, get my reps in and get out in time to hammer out a few games of Call of Duty before bed.

When I finished my last set on the leg press, I wiped everything down before making my way to the locker room. After that morning's class, and the complete mindfuck that was Beth's plan for my apartment, I needed to wash the day off of me. Pulling my headphones out of my ear, I pushed into the locker room to hear that at least one shower was occupied. Kicking off my shoes and throwing them into my locker, I picked up a towel and made my way across the cool floor into one of the empty stalls, starting the water.

I pulled the curtain closed behind me, stepping under the warm water and letting it wash off the sweat I'd worked up most of the morning. Between sparring with Brenda, the human I'd been paired with for Poppy's class, getting my ass kicked by Fiona, and then this workout, I was sure I needed the rinse.

My body had reacted to Fiona's just like it had the last time we'd touched. It heated up instantly, like a blaze ripping through me, from somewhere deep in my chest all the way down to my twitching cock. I didn't know what it was, truthfully, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to investigate further.

A moan pulled me out of my thoughts. For a second, I was sure I was just making it up in my head after thinking about Fiona, but then I heard it again. It sounded like it was coming from the direction of the other occupied stall.

I smirked to myself. Someone was having a good day.

I felt myself hardened at the thought of what was happening in that stall, and my hand found its way down to my shaft, where I listened intently for the sounds of pleasure. They were there - muffled, but there. A groan, a shift on feet, a shuddering breath over the sound of rushing water. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander again, thinking about what Fiona had felt like against my body, shoved up against the wall in my apartment with nowhere to go. And then, as I was about to come, directed at the hot shower floor, it all silenced, and I knew they had finished. I found my release, shuddering and biting my forearm to silence myself.

That course of pleasure running through me made me wish, more than anything, that it hadn't been felt alone. My mind raced to Fiona, but in a second, as I finished washing myself off, I chastised myself.

I had learned more about her in the hours spent with Beth today than in the week we'd been working together. Maybe because, in usual Gavin style, I'd jumped the gun and stuck my tongue down her throat. And it's not like she disliked it - she kissed me back, and I felt the goosebumps on her body when we were pinned against that wall together. The way her chest heaved and her temperature rose with mine. She wanted it too.

But maybe, like me, she was trying to put Circle life and duties, as well as work, ahead of her libido.

At that practical thought, I turned the water off, roughly toweling dry before opening the curtain to the stall and walking towards my locker. I opened it, ducking in and pulling out my clean clothes, shoes and phone. Behind me, there was the sound of the other shower turning off, fumbling, and then the curtain opened in the stall that had been occupied. Not wanting to give away the fact that I'd heard most of their dangerous liaison, I stayed turned as feet padded out of the stall. Then, I heard a laugh.