Chapter Text
***Disclaimer: This author does not consent for this fic to be subjected to AI***
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The stable door rolled shut with the dull scrape of wood as a cloud of dust puffed out from the open stall bars. A slow, methodical grinding sound could be heard from within the stall as a grey mare chewed on her hay with content. Gently, from your pocket, you pulled out an old notebook and a light groan slipped from your lips as you sifted through the worn pages till you were met with a calendar that had seen many years of service. You flipped through till you came across today’s date.
Gradually, the daylight began to dim as dusk tangled her fingers over the tops of the Carpathians, cloaking the hulking castle beyond its frozen peaks in her gentle shadow. The autumn chill that had settled on the land hardly fazed you, as your body temperature ran much too hot to be disturbed by the cold. With a lick of your chapped lips, you slipped the notebook into your back pocket and reached for the stall, gripping the metal bar on its door. As the lock closed, the screech of metal-on-metal contact caused you to wince and squeeze your eyes shut.
“Ugh, ouch,” you hissed into the lonely stable. Pressing the pad of your finger to the cartilage where your ear met your jaw, you jabbed at it rapidly to stop the ringing.
Though the annoyance was gradually relieved, your displeasure was soothed as a fresh breeze blew in through the stable doors to caress your face. This evening was a cool reminder of autumn's last stand before Romania gave way to winter’s frigid embrace. Your day had been spent managing the castle stables and caring for your beloved horses, who’d come into your possession as a wedding gift. Now, they served as your purpose in life as well as a fresh supply of revenue in the form of lei for all the hard work you’d put into making them champions.
Closing the barn door, you flicked the latch close that held them shut. Your stomach rumbled. Dinner had surely already been served, but you figured you’d steal something from the kitchen on your way in. This night, there had been no planned meal between your wife and your family. A busy day it had been, but it had gone by uninterrupted.
Stepping into the night, the rush of wind made you lose your breath. What you hadn’t expected, was that it stoked the growing fire that simmered in your core. The constant throbbing ache between your hips, one that you’d warred with since the morning, lulled your insides to distracted thinking—as this time of the year always did. Ignoring it only made it worse but becoming too focused on it was equally disastrous, as you learned. With as many benefits as lycanthropy came with, it had its downfalls too, and you often debated what you’d consider this one to be. All day you had persevered through carnal needs that remained unmet, but now that your work had come to a close, it was as if your body knew exactly who it was supposed to be returning to.
Your heat cycle was a persistent burden of the affliction you suffered; one you’d lived with for many moons. Some might find it a gift of sorts, others a curse, but really it was simply a part of your spliced biology — a precariously thin line between the human world and the animal kingdom — though it would never be suited to its intended purpose.
As the last scraps of light befell onto the shadows, the looming castle beckoned you home to its halls and, more so, to its Mistress who lay within. You wrapped up the last of your tasks just as darkness consumed the building. The walk back to the castle was not long, and the harvest breeze made the short journey pleasurable, if not too pleasurable. Upon entering the castle’s bleak halls, you had expected to be bombarded with the squealing buzz of a trio of girls, but you were left with none but the soft crack of wood burning dutifully under the pillared hearth and the resounding silence of somber stone walls.
“Girls?” You called, raising a brow. “Daniela?” It was unlike them not to greet you, especially with the changing weather, as they were no longer able to venture outside for the year and sought to live through you vicariously.
Shrugging your shoulders, you continued throughout the corridors without ever seeing a single person. You could smell them all—the maids, the servant girls, even your daughters you could sniff out somewhere deep within the bowels of the keep. With your inhibitions focused elsewhere, you cared not to search for them, instead, you kept your resolve trained on the single task of making it to the Lady’s personal wing to take care of your building needs. The longer you walked, the more a growing agitation came over you and a sense of urgency blossomed in your ribs.
There was an unfortunate truth to this circumstance. Lady Dimitrescu, the enigmatic Countess of this castle and your infamous lover, was to be working well into the evening and would not join you till late, as she told you wistfully before you parted ways in the early hours of the morning. As much of a tragedy as it was, you sought alternative solutions. With this in mind, you scrambled up the steps to your shared chambers. If she could not be there tonight, you reasoned, then you’d have to satisfy yourself on your own.
Like a vice grip, your guts felt like they were cramped in knots, expanding by the second. Even through your trousers, the sensitive nub between your folds throbbed, and with every pulse, you couldn’t help but notice the space between your thighs slicked with every hopeful step. It was in this time you always walked the thin rope between the sanity of your human consciousness and the wicked lust of something much more beastly. Shuddering, you doubled over and breathed hard, trying to contain your maddening hormones. As if to add insult to injury, you inhaled deeply, feeling your groin throb and twitch as your canal lengthened to accommodate a mate into your waiting womb.
However uncomfortable, yet somehow utterly delicious too, your hormonally intoxicated state was not new to you, yet it presented as though you had no idea how to satiate your want. Clouded by the misjudgments of animalistic desires, you faltered in thinking clearly. In reality, you knew exactly what you needed (and wanted), but unfortunately, you’d have to make do with your own devices for the evening.
Even a mere thought flung in the Countess’s direction sent you reeling and squeezing your legs together. Alcina, as you knew her by rather than her posh title, sported a calm authority and an imposing power that never failed to arouse you, especially now, but the tenderness of her heart was a prize seldom won by the likes of anyone, one that she now harbored exclusively for you. She commanded respect from all who knew her and accepted nothing less than perfection. A perfection, in your current state, you were willing to fall to your knees and die for should she succeed in fulfilling the desire you so desperately yearned for.
Before you knew it, you were crudely barging down the door of your own bedchambers with caution irrevocably thrown to the wind. Now inside the room, you were simultaneously unbuttoning your work shirt with one hand and closing the door with the other when a questioning “ahem” came from behind you and nearly scared you half to death.
“You sounded like a freight train chugging down the hall dear,” the sultry voice murmured.
Turning around faster than the crack of a bullwhip, you were shocked to see your lover, garbed rather luxuriously in her work attire with a thick, leather-bound ledger resting in her lap. Alcina’s thin-framed glasses sat atop the sturdy bridge of her nose and she still wore a full face of makeup, which led you to believe she hadn’t retired for the night quite yet. At your silence, her formerly inquisitive, albeit somewhat smug, expression was quickly replaced with something along the lines of concern.
“Is everything alright?” She asked.
At a loss for words, most likely from not expecting her here, yet so thankful she was, you gaped at her in awe as your hormones flooded your brain and rendered you just as surprised as you were speechless. Forming a sentence was nearly impossible, but you tried. For her.
“I—uh, yes. Fine, I’m fine,” you managed to get out. Looking down, you realized half of your shirt still remained unbuttoned as if to put the truth of your vulgar urges on public display.
Alcina gazed at you with golden eyes that told you she knew you were lying, or at the very least, up to something. “I am many things, my dear, but stupid is not one of them. Please, do share what ails you.”
You gulped thickly, contemplating your options. Truthfully, you knew you wanted to jump her like a feral animal and beg her to take you right there as you were, but the sliver of rationality that still remained in you halted such a brazen act.
“A very tiring day is all, luna vietii mele,” you sighed, trying to keep yourself together.
Alcina arched an eyebrow at you in response. “You never speak in Romanian unless something is troubling you,” she quickly noted, ever the observant wife as always.
Still standing by the door, you thought it best you walk further inside. You pulled your notebook from your pocket and placed it on the dresser, trying to goad for an air or normalcy. Afterward, you fixed your trousers by pulling them up, which proved to be a near fatal mistake, as it took nearly every ounce of your willpower to stifle a moan.
Trembling, you leaned on the dresser with your back to Alcina. “I just missed you very much. I have no love for the days that business steals you from me from dawn till dusk.”
Having gotten a grip on yourself, you turned to see your lover’s distinguished laugh lines were accented as she smiled. “I understand, dragă mea. At least I didn’t have a meeting to attend, otherwise, I would’ve been longer. But I promise when I am through with this paperwork, I will spoil you with attention to your heart’s delight.”
At her words, you felt your body tingle. Wrapping her claws around the book in her lap, Alcina picked it up and uncapped the end of her ink pen before tastefully opening the cover and flicking through the pages, each with a tantalizing wet of her tongue. She directed her attention to scribbling her delicate cursive inside, giving you the opportunity to release the breath you’d been holding. Biting your lip, you looked on at your goddess of a wife in all her lavish glory and positively ached for her touch. You made a few steps forward, mentally warring with yourself over whether to bother her with your need or allow her to finish her important work and take care of it yourself. Four more days this would last, you knew, and perhaps she might assist you then, as she always was overjoyed to do.
Earlier that morning, Alcina had explained how pertinent it was that she finish her “important business” by the end of the day. You recalled something about wine shipments that needed dispatching in order to be delivered to her buyers before the winter weather froze her vineyard’s grape vines and snowed off the village till spring. Her words ran through your mind, seeming to be the only thing that could influence your otherwise inconsolable arousal. Thinking of them, you decided to stalk toward the bathroom, hoping she wouldn’t become suspicious before you could safely lock yourself inside. You’d nearly reached the bathroom handle when abruptly, like the breaking of a dam, you felt a wave of pleasure course up through your nerves as if you’d been set on fire. With hungry eyes, you imparted your stare again towards Alcina, who still wrote in her ledger unawares. You swore to yourself you’d leave her be, but, like you well knew, the more you thought about it the worse it became. Eventually, your eyes fell to the space between her thighs and your mind wandered to what you knew lay beneath that black pants suit. It was all you could do not to whine. You tried to steady your resolve, but it didn’t last long.
“Alcina…” You practically moaned out with a breathy whisper. The raven-haired woman’s head instinctively rose at the notion and she gazed upon you expectantly over the lenses of her glasses.
“Yes, dear?” She responded with her pen point flush on the paper. Upon seeing your resolve crack, the large woman’s interest had clearly peaked.
Without giving away too much you sucked in a deep breath and walked beside her. “I don’t mean to interrupt you. I know how important your shipments are but….Alcina, it’s nearly the end of autumn,” you started, hoping she’d catch on.
When she raised an eyebrow with patience, you could tell she was thinking very hard about what you meant. Leaning further into the bed, Alcina glanced into her lap before tucking a beautifully clawed hand under her chin with a look of deep calculation that was obvious on her face.
“Did I miss an anniversary of ours?” She finally asked, seeming genuinely perturbed at the idea she’d forgotten something important, which would’ve been entirely unlike her.
“No, no, you haven’t,” you told her as you came to her side of the bed.
You placed a knee into the mattress and settled your weight onto it while leaning closer into your lover’s space. Though you were much shorter than the Lady, the way she lounged on the bed, propped up by several of her pillows, you were easily eye-level with her. With a flat hand, you ran your palm over her chest, and Alcina merely watched with growing interest. You scooted closer and brought your kneecaps flush with the side of her thigh. Her eyes wavered down to the collar of your shirt, which hung open to reveal the nakedness of your breasts underneath.
A low hum came from her chest. “No bra today?” Her licorice drawl questioned as she quirked a perfectly painted brow, but those prying golden eyes never left your chest. “How scandalous. Some might say you planned it,” she mused playfully.
“Please believe me when I say I didn’t plan a single bit of this,” you whispered, drowning in your own hormones. You were becoming hopelessly desperate and she hadn’t even touched you. Turning your head, you leaned in toward her neck and began to sensually place kisses across her jugular to extend your interest.
Alcina let out a throaty gasp that came closer to a moan than she had probably intended. Her head lulled to the side and she closed her eyes as you continued to pepper wet kisses down her neck that progressively became sloppier and sloppier – just how she liked it. You placed one hand on the middle of her stomach and gripped her satin blouse like an anchor. Only when your tongue reached the swell of her chest did she seem to come back to reality.
“Darling, I really must finish—,”
“Please Alcina, I can’t help myself,” you hushed into her ear before she could finish. With your other hand leaning against her chest, you could feel the gooseflesh that rose from her porcelain skin.
Suddenly, you felt her inhale deeply as her bosom rose. “End of autumn…,” your lips silenced her as you kissed her breathless, stopping her after a single word, till her eyes popped open and she gasped, “…oh my, you’re in heat dragă, aren’t you?” She finally husked when you parted, leaving a single strand of glistening saliva as the only remnant of your embrace.
“Yes,” you shuddered before her. You watched as your lover’s pupils dilated tenfold, the normally golden irises cloaked in black. It was as if something came over her then and she became very still.
“I’m sorry I–”
Before you could finish, Alcina hooked a strong arm around your waist and pulled you into her lap. At first, you fell a bit awkwardly into her side but she quickly readjusted you so that you straddled her waist. In the process, her ledger was discarded from her lap and she wasted no time in stealing the breath from your lungs in a searing, open-mouthed kiss. Your fingers flirted with her raven-colored tresses, effectively ruining her hairdo. Soon after your relationship with Lady Dimitrescu had begun, you’d found out that she was highly particular with who she allowed touching her hair. Now though, she spared little thought in allowing you to dishevel those perfect, inky locks.
“I’m dying to feel you inside me,” you breathed into her ear. You heard a ripping sound and were sure she’d shredded the bedsheets, but you didn’t bother to look as Alcina let out a deep groan that sent a wave of need rippling through your body.
Gazing into the hooded swell of her yellow eyes, you soon felt a growing bulge that jutted between the crease of your rear and drove you wild. You ground against it, feigning desperately for the friction it provided. Alcina hissed and ravished your collarbone, leaving scarlet lipstick in her wake as you turned your head slightly to see her pants tenting at the groin. Reaching around, you expertly unbuttoned her trousers and unzipped them all in one fell motion. Instinctively, she bucked into your clothed core. With every needy thrust, your clit throbbed for her to fill you. You quickly undid your own pants as well and shoved them down as far as they would go.
In between kisses, Alcina gasped. “Free me,” she said while cupping your bottom in her clawed grasp.
Needing no more invitation, you slipped a hand behind your back and pulled down the lacey pair of underwear that held her length captive. As soon as you did so, her cock sprung free of its confines and your pussy throbbed at the feeling of her bare before you. You brought both of your hands to either side of her face and lured her in for a kiss, but stopped just inches from her lips with a smirk. “You are wearing absolutely too many clothes.”
The Countess’s gaze burned. Alcina shuffled her trousers down to her ankles and you did your best to discard your own, leaving you bare aside from your half-buttoned shirt. Your lover’s cock rested under the swell of your behind and the slickness coming from your aching cunt allowed it to slip between your cheeks easily as you undid Alcina’s blouse.
“Darling, you surely are the desperate one this evening,” she moaned as her hips rolled while you shrugged off her blouse. You went to remove your own, but that soon became pointless as Alcina took a single claw and sliced the back of it in half. It fell limply in shreds onto either side of your legs. You eyed her in shock.
“Don’t fret I’ll buy you a new one,” she drawled, licking up the center of your chest and capturing one of your nipples between her lips.
With her offense quickly forgotten, your neck muscles felt like jelly as she sucked and the pressure between your hips grew unbearable. Unable to stand it any longer, you reached around and gripped the length of her cock in your hand, to which the Countess groaned with that sultry voice of hers.
You lined her leaking tip squarely up to your entrance and sunk down, burying her entire length deep inside your pussy in a single motion.
“Dragă, oh!” Alcina exclaimed with a surprised whine. Her lips formed a circle as she brought her forehead to rest against your chest. With heavy-lidded eyes, her yellow irises fluttered down to your stomach, where a large bulge now protruded.
The feeling of her raw inside you was intimate in a way you couldn’t describe. On your first night together, Alcina had sheepishly informed you that, while she maintained all other normal functions, she was, unfortunately, sterile and protection wouldn’t be unnecessary. While you never sought to blame her and assured her that her adopted daughters were more than enough family for you, many a night you and she had stayed up wondering what it would be like to raise offspring of your own.
Strung from your momentary loss of awareness, you threw your head back as your lover filled you so deliciously. “Alcina, oh gods. Fuck.” Finally, you felt your desire erupt. This had been exactly what you needed.
Laying back, Alcina threw an arm behind her head as she grasped your thigh with the other, dragging her claws across your flesh. You rolled your hips, feeling her tip prod at your swollen cervix. It was far from the first time you’d taken your Lady’s length, but during your heat cycle, your cunt always seemed to be hungrier for the stretch.
“I need–ah!” Your words were cut short as a sharp thrust sent you reeling. You nearly screamed as Alcina began a steady, firm pace pumping inside you. She made you moan and plead with every thrust, till her pace eventually became maddening. You could feel the walls of your pussy clenching down on her, milking her cock for all it was worth. Once you got a grip on yourself, you placed a hand on the larger woman’s chest and uttered her name on kissed-bruised lips.
“Alcina…,” you hummed with a breathy whine. “Contesa mea, have a drink while I ride you.” You gestured her toward your bare shoulder.
In an instant, Alcina’s hips stilled. Leaning forward, she brought her scarlet lips to your shoulder and licked the sensitive skin. She placed a hand behind your head and another around your waist. You relaxed into her, anticipating the bite before you felt the pleasurable pressure of her fangs as they pierced your neck. Slowly she sucked, leaving you feeling pleasantly lightheaded.
“I am yours,” you hummed with a smile as your head lulled back and you closed your eyes. You rocked your hips in tune with her gulps, to which she let out a throaty groan into the punctures she’d created.
When she finally departed, your blood ran down her chin and the sight pooled deliciously in your belly. A few droplets dared to stray onto her breasts, and you quickly leaned forward and lapped them up, which earned you a feral look and a sharp moan from her. Hooded golden eyes kept trained on you as you reached for her breasts, taking a dark nipple between each of your pointer fingers and thumbs. You’d found out Alcina’s sensitive nipples were a direct line to her cock, pinching and rubbing them almost always made her cum, and you were determined to at least pretend you could have what your body so desperately wanted.
You shifted forwards and rolled your hips just the way the Countess liked and it sent her head flying back into the pillows, her bloody chin and chest now on full display
“Hell, iubirea mea dragă. In another life, you would’ve been my breeding stock,” she murmured darkly.
The filthy words that flowed from her gorgeous mouth caused you to whimper at the prospect. What a fate that would’ve been, you thought. The sinful idea of being chained up and used solely for reproduction purposes sent your already hormonal brain into overdrive. You imagined your swollen belly, full of Alcina’s progeny, year after year. At the idea, you picked up a pace that left you moaning uncontrollably as your breasts bounced up and down and her balls slapped your thighs. With every arch of your back, Alcina inhaled deeply, guiding you with her hands on your hips.
“I would’ve given you the most beautiful children Alcina. They would’ve been perfect…” you whispered in her ear. She trembled and moaned at the words, her lips ghosting across the shell of your ear, but you weren’t finished yet. “I would’ve given you an heir to your empire.”
Alcina’s grip on your hips then grew firm, and she was effectively holding you in place with strong hands. Her dark claws dug into your flesh and left a trail of long, red lines that bled across your skin. At the smell of the blood, your lover lifted your hips up and drove you back down on her cock with such force it caused you to belt several phrases worth of profanity.
“Dragă, I’m getting close,” she warned, and you begged her for what came next.
“Please, Alcina, please,” you managed to groan out between breaths. Alcina lifted you up and down rapidly on her cock with no mercy, though you weren’t complaining in the slightest. Your forehead fell against her chest as you took the merciless pounding of her length inside you. The Countess’s breaths were becoming faster and shorter. You couldn’t help the near scream that fell from your lips as the tightly wound coil in your stomach threatened to explode.
With a final, maddening thrust, your Lady sheathed herself to the hilt and gasped. The huskiness of her voice was not lost on you as you drove yourselves to orgasm. “Dragă, dragă, I’m gonna, gonna…ah, cum…”
In the pit of your belly, you could feel your Mistress’s cock pulse as her seed flooded your womb and the feeling sent you over the edge.
”Alcina…oh, Alcina…,” you rocked, riding out the waves of your own climax as they vibrated throughout your body.
Proof of her handiwork leaked from your pussy and mingled with your own juices. She held you with both arms wrapped around your back and you laid there, sweaty and heaving, on her chest. You twitched slightly, feeling the pangs of your pleasure course through you. Every so often, your brows would wrinkle at the minuscule buck of her hips up into you as she rode the aftershocks of her own orgasm.
The two of you sat like that for several minutes, both too exhausted from the amount of emotional and physical energy you’d expended to speak. Once Alcina caught her breath, she quickly began to pepper your hair with soft kisses.
“Draga mea, te iubesc mai mult decât orice,” she sighed in a tender voice.
A hum began in the back of your throat as a smile upturned your lips. “Well,” you sang. “Te iubesc si mai mult.”
“Impossible!” She protested. You pulled away slightly to look her in the face. Gazing at you lovingly, she kissed with an air of tenderness on your forehead. “I am sorry I neglected the time of year. I am usually better prepared,” she told you.
Showing your teeth, you made a faux snarl at her and she grinned back. “It’s not your fault my Lady, it is just the reality of what I am.”
Alcina chuckled. “Oh, how I love that you still call me that.”
Her deep timbre warmed your belly, which then made you remember the swell of your stomach and you realized her length was still sheathed inside you. Swinging a leg over her, you peeked down to see Alcina’s cock shrinking back down to a more manageable size.
“Seems you’ve become rather….soft,” you started with a cheeky smile as you climbed off the taller woman’s hips. “In the years I’ve known you, I mean.”
With a snort, the Countess quickly shucked you off her and pinned you beneath her imposing form. “Was that a blow at my stamina?” She challenged with a smirk that you made you writhe beneath her.
Her chin was still stained red with your blood. Yellow eyes stared deeply into your soul as Alcina took both of your wrists and grappled them above your head. Sucking in a breath, you whimpered innocently. “Of course not, o’ regal Countess. How dare I question the endurance of the mighty Lady of House Dimitrescu?” you growled, grinning up at her and mirroring her playfulness from before.
“Seems I will have to punish you for your insolence,” Alcina whispered as her lips returned to your throat. Between her legs, you felt her cock harden once again as she kissed a trail down to the bite wound on your neck, which you knew would heal by the end of the night.
The raven-haired woman ravaged you breathless and you couldn’t help but moan and gasp. Her long tongue licked and sucked down your chest till she stopped suddenly in the middle of your stomach. For a moment, you began to worry if something was wrong.
“I know I cannot truly fulfill the purpose your body desires, but, perhaps we could pretend?” She questioned with sincerity, gazing at you with hopeful eyes. “For the next four days at least?”
You couldn’t help but feel your heart swell. “Yes, my love. For the next four days.”
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Five weeks had passed by since your heat cycle ended and the start of December had been received with hesitant arms throughout the country. Winter began its hard trek through the village and with it, you and your family found yourselves holed up cozily in the dwellings of Castle Dimitrescu. The Countess kept the stone walls of the keep extra warm during this time of year, but the chill hardly fazed you. Typically, you’d find yourself burning up and this year was no different.
One particular evening, you sat by yourself in the library, warmed by the hearth’s roaring flames, while reading a novel you’d started a few days ago. You knew you’d have to get up and move soon due to the heat from the fire.
“What are you reading?” A feminine voice inquired, and you glanced up to see who it was. Daniela, your red-headed stepdaughter who you’d formed a deep friendship with, stood before you. You had little time to answer her before she quickly curled up next to you on the chaise you lounged on. You wolfed out a low “oof” as she bumbled her way beside you, knocking pillows and stacks of books over like a bull in a china shop.
“It’s called Prey for Dawn. I read about it online. It’s by an up-and-coming author,” you told her, scowling and blinking at her oafishness. You often wondered how such a petite thing such as her clambered around like a great big elephant.
“Let me see!” She squealed and swiftly stole the novel from you.
“Wait, my–” you grimaced again, but Daniela was much too fast and was already scrolling through the pages, “...place. Ugh, forget it.”
Daniela purred as she flipped through the book. “How are you always so warm?” She said, nuzzling into your side. You sighed and peered down at her. All in a matter of seconds, she had invaded your space, overtaken your reading, knocked over your stack of sales agreements for the spring, and was now overheating you faster than the fire did. You grumbled on the outside, but in reality, you didn’t mind.
“High body temperatures come with being a beast,” you responded.
The redhead quickly shushed you. “Hardly,” she quipped, giving you a stink face.
The two of you remained that way for several moments before Daniela shifted. Her head was resting against your chest, so when she anchored it to move, the pressure caused you to wince.
“Ow,” you sucked in a breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“You pinched me…,” you gestured towards your breasts, “...with your pointy head!”
Daniela looked down at your chest and cocked a ginger brow. Her snicker was one she barely tried to contain. “Geez, I’ve never known you to be so tender-chested.”
Bringing your hands to your chest you conducted an internal experiment by groping yourself, which made Daniela giggle half-heartedly while you winced. They were sore as if you should have your monthly bleed. Usually, you bled once a month just like normal, human women did, but, unlike them, you only came into season twice a year.
Sitting up, you contemplated for a moment. “What’s the date?” You asked, scrambling around in your pockets for your notebook. Looking off the side, you eventually spied it on the floor and leaned over to reach it, but you were instantly overcome with nausea. Groaning, you clutched your stomach.
As you sat there trying to settle yourself, your attention soon turned to the door as it flung open to reveal Cassandra, stuffing her face full of pigs in a blanket with a tray in hand. Contrary to your normal eating habits, the smell of the warm meat in her hands made you feel even sicker.
“Hey, you guys are missing the game in the other room, what are you–”
Suddenly, you cut Cassandra off as a wave of intense nausea came over you. “Daniela move, I’m going to be sick.” You sprang off the couch and sprinted toward the bathroom just down the hall. Behind you, you could hear the girls buzzing and bickering, but at the moment you hardly cared. All you could focus on was getting to a toilet before you yacked all over your lover’s expensive throw rugs. Thankfully, you made it, and Daniela and Cassandra were hot on your heels.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick? Is this what humans do when they’re sick?” Daniela asked in a panic.
“Dani, I don’t know. Do werewolves even vomit?”
“I’m sure they do, Cass! We just haven’t seen this one vomit.”
“This one? This is the only one we know.”
You groaned while you heaved with your head in the toilet bowl. “Please, the two of you, shut up–” your plea was cut short by another bout of nausea. From the hallway, you heard one of the girls materialize into a swarm of flies. All you heard was “mother” before they buzzed away. You solemnly cared as you wretched again.
“It’s okay.” A soft hand was placed on your back. When you dared to glance over you saw Daniela kneeling by your side. “I’m sorry I took your book,” she whispered, drawing small circles over the cotton of the new shirt the Countess had bought for you. At the moment, you worried little about the book and could only murmur incoherently in response.
It wasn’t long before you heard heavy footsteps accompanied by more buzzing coming down the hall.
“Where is she?” you heard a familiar voice husk. It was followed by a curt “in there” and soon the door creaked opened.
“Dragă…,” Alcina cooed. She ducked into the powder room as she and Daniela switched places as the redhead went to wait in the hall. The tall woman took off her hat before leaning by your side the best her large frame would allow in the tight space. “What’s going on, iubirea mea?”
Her look of genuine concern touched you. You weren’t sure why, but ever since you were a child, you always felt bad for getting sick and the feeling had followed you into adulthood. “I’m sorry.” It was all you could tell her before you heaved again.
Lady Dimitrescu ran her fingers through your hair and frowned as she watched your agony. “Whatever for? You’ve no reason to apologize,” she hushed. “Tell me what happened. I know you were sitting with Daniela. What then, dragă?”
Sighing, you wiped your mouth with a roll of paper and plucked yourself from the side of the toilet bowl. Dumping the gross napkin away, you slumped onto the floor. Alcina helped you the best she could, but it was obvious she was hesitant to touch you in this state.
“I don’t know. I leaned over to get my notebook and it hit me. I don’t usually get nauseous, not since my first transformation. I sat there for a moment, then Cassandra came in with the hot dogs and the smell made it worse.”
Before Alcina could answer, Daniela quickly added her own statement. “She shoved me off her and everything Mother! I’ve never seen her run so fast. She had just got done telling me how tender her nipples were too,” she chuckled, never missing an opportunity to embarrass you.
At that, Alcina’s head snapped in your direction. Her golden eyes were blown wide with something you couldn’t quite place.
Fear? No. Anger? No. Panic? Maybe. Disbelief? That seemed possible.
You couldn’t help but feel overall embarrassed. Sitting against the sink, you saw all four women (you now spied the blonde of Bela’s hair towards the back) as they crowded around you.
“It can’t be possible…,” Alcina murmured under her breath, her eyes flicking all over your body as if she was trying to give you an x-ray with them. With the way she appeared, you weren’t sure whether she was angry, sad, scared, or what. The only thing you could say for yourself was that it made you nervous as if you’d done something wrong.
“What isn’t possible?” You gulped.
The Countess blinked and clenched her jaw. You were worried you’d angered her till she took off her gloves and gently cupped your cheek.
“Dragă,” she questioned. “Are you late?”
Her response perplexed you at first. Thinking to yourself for a moment, you took a second to understand what she meant. You then ran through the dates in your head and tried to remember the last date of your heat, which had been at the end of October. Normally, you bled again roughly three weeks after a heat cycle, which it would now seem that you were long overdue for. At the realization, you slowly turned your head to Alcina.
“I am. It’s been almost five weeks since we…” You looked up at your Lady she struggled to keep her emotions from bleeding onto her face. Even after so many years, Alcina sometimes felt the need to keep her steely resolve in place, but even she couldn’t hide the tears that welled up in her eyes. “Is this possible?” You sucked in a breath and wiped away the beginnings of tears that threatened to spill over. “Is it?”
“Mother, what’s going on?” Bela asked behind her sisters.
Alcina did not respond. Instead, she wrapped her arms around your body, stifling a sniffle as she praised you and whispered sweet nothings in your ear. You couldn’t hold back your tears then, and they streamed down your cheek and onto Alcina’s dress. This had been something you’d always wanted. To have a child of your own with the woman you loved and you never thought it possible till now.
Before you knew it, Alcina’s scarlet-painted lips were on you; your lips, your neck, your collarbone, then finally, she lifted up your shirt to kiss your belly.
“Girls,” she finally breathed through quiet, happy sobs as she cupped your chin with both hands. “It seems we may be welcoming a new Dimitrescu into the family.”
Joy erupted from the hallway as the girls hollered and cheered, screaming in their excitement and already blurting out baby names. They ran and swarmed all down the hall, yelling and shouting the news to anyone who would listen. From the way they sounded, you were sure they had probably scared the staff half to death. You and Alcina laughed at their excitement, overjoyed to see they were just as thrilled as you both were.
Amidst the chaos, Alcina gazed at you with one of those burning looks that told you everything you needed to know. “I’ll admit this was quite unexpected, but perhaps we will continue our line after all,” she gleamed with hooded, yellow eyes full of nothing but love and pride. Though you were nervous for the months to come, you were assured knowing that Alcina and the girls would never let anything happen to you or your unborn child.
You closed your eyes and smiled, leaning in to embrace her out of love for her and for the beautiful gift she'd given you.
“I’ll admit, I didn’t see this one coming. An unforeseen succession indeed,” you told her before she placed a hand on your stomach and wrapped you up in her embrace.