My Alphas: The Complete Series (12 page)

“Eos and Trammel shared a mate,” Edon replied.

“And look how that turned out.”

“It worked while it worked.”

“Will you talk to the human?”

“If you think it may work,” Edon said, feeling himself walking on a cliff edge.

Rey didn’t answer and eventually Edon shifted, walking around the boulder, to head back to the den.

“Edon,” Rey called out.

Edon turned, looking at his friend sitting on the rock, cold air ruffling his hair.

“Watch out if she’s naked,” he said, deadpan, and then looked away across the valley.

*

Once she decided to leave, Cass got out of the warm spring and dried herself off with the ripped towel. Her clothes from yesterday had dried in the hot sun and although they still smelled slightly of mud, she slipped them on.

Nia walked beside her on the way to the den, reciting the names of different packs and what had happened to them. Cass, absorbed with formulating an escape plan, wasn’t listening much but there was one overriding common theme in the end of werewolf packs: the Alpha died and then the pack was destroyed.

“Then Suncer died and it looked like they would be destroyed but his son Navcer took over. When he dies then Carcer will be Alpha.”

“So they didn’t get mercilessly butchered, every werewolf in the pack put to death like those other ones?”

“Oh no,” Nia answered seriously. “They’re still going very strong. Turo pack is one of our biggest threats. If anything
they
will come here to kill
us
all. Except for you. If you’re pregnant with cubs they will wait until they’re born and then bash their heads in. Then their Alpha will mate with you to sire more cubs. So… you will get to have cubs but not with Edon or Rey.”

“Hooray for me,” Cass said dryly.

“Greetings Pack Mate,” said a voice from behind them.

Nia whirled around, her nostrils flaring and hands clenched.

“Shut up Kale!” she yelled.

Kale walked up to Cass, ignoring Nia.

“You should choose better companions Pack Mate. Nia didn’t even hear me following you.”

“That is because you’re the stench that comes off rotting feces. I didn’t hear you but I smelt you.”

“I am a much better companion,” Kale continued, unperturbed. “I can teach your cubs to hunt and howl and how to pass as human when they need to. I have also been in this pack much longer than others and can help you obtain other better companions.”

Before Cass could answer, Nia launched herself at Kale and they went down into the dirt. Cass hastily stepped back as the two werewolves shifted and snapped at each other. Although she felt a slight touch of fear at them fighting it was not the same as the battle that had occurred this morning. Nia and Kale circled and snapped until Nia shoved Kale over and fastened her teeth around her throat. Kale kicked at her before submitting. As soon as she did, Nia let go and shifted back to human. Kale stood up, shifted back to human and stalked off into the forest.

When she was out of sight, Nia turned to Cass.

“She is a blood-slug, like the ones in the river. Don’t choose her to help raise your cubs.”

As alarmed as she was that everyone assumed her being Pack Mate was a done deal, Cass felt more terrified at the idea of blood-slugs.

“Do you mean leeches? Are there leeches in the spring?”

“No. It is too warm there. But further down, yes.”

“Remind me not to swim down there then.”

Nia clasped her by the arms and looked solemnly into her eyes.

“Don’t swim in the river,” she said.

Cass smiled at her, realizing some werewolves had no concept of sarcasm.

“Greetings Pack Mate,” came a deep voice from behind them.

Cass and Nia whirled as one.

It was Edon.

*

As Edon descended toward the den he felt the weariness glued to him lift away. It was replaced with excitement. He would find Cass, tell her of their plan to share her and then he would mate with her. Then the next time they saw Rey, they would mate with her together.

When her fertile time came they would both mate with her and fate would decide whose cubs she bore first.

It was a solution - maybe not perfect and perhaps as full of holes as Swiss cheese and considering what happened to Eos and Trammell probably driving them to certain disaster but it was the best they had.

Although, Edon considered, as he came closer to the den, it would only work if he and Rey could keep their heads.

Edon had tested out imagining he and Rey both mating with Cass and he’d felt the blinding rage rising up at the thought of Rey touching her. The cold wind up on the mountainside had pulled him back to reality. What would it be like when they tried to mate with her together? One would touch her and the other would push his hand away and five seconds later they’d be circling, looking for an opening to rip the other’s throat out?

And when she became fertile it would only get worse. They would both be under her thrall. They would have to leave the pack and find a secluded den to stay in until it passed. Otherwise they risked turning on their own pack members and killing them. But if they were alone they would have no one to pull them back toward any kind of sanity if things went wrong.

Edon had caught the faint scent of blood on Cass yesterday and knew her fertile time had just passed. They had weeks before it would come again and hopefully they would have mated with her many times before then. It might ensure they didn’t murder each other. It would also give them time to deal with the Turo pack or at the very least shore up the den defenses. Alphas always left their den during the thrall and it was the most dangerous time for a pack. Another pack might attack and there would be no Alpha to help defend them. This was why Alphas were so secretive in their movements, coming and going and reappearing at random times. They couldn’t let another pack come to learn their cycles.

He put all of this out of his mind and allowed his thoughts to turn to Cass. Instead of trying to force himself to concentrate on all his responsibilities as Alpha, he let himself fall into her.

He hadn’t spoken of this with Rey, knowing he held human females in disregard but the thoughts of siring cubs with a mate had possessed his soul for many years. It was the natural course for all Alphas to take a human mate but many waited, expanding their territory and fighting for dominance for years before finally deciding to. It wasn’t always at the Alpha’s choice also. In one of the strange quirks of werewolf society, the females of a pack who were submissive to their Alpha could overnight turn on him if he delayed siring cubs for too many years. When that happened he had limited time to find a fertile mate and impregnate her before his pack walked away into the night.

Edon entered the forest near the den and caught Cass’ scent. It was faint but seemed to cling to the trees themselves. She’d gone to the spring and remained there for some time. He entered the den, dressed and then moved back out to the forest. He moved through the trees, her scent growing stronger. His ears picked up the sound of Nia’s voice, chattering away and then he saw them.

Cass was wearing her clothes from yesterday. They were wrinkled and even from where he was standing he could smell the mud on them. Despite that, he felt his heart leap at the sight of her. An instant later, he felt himself start to grow hard. He looked down, as though to glare his erection into submission.

“Conversation first,” he whispered to his cock.

He looked back up and saw Kale approaching Nia and Cass. She was sneaking through the trees, taking great care not to be heard. Finally she called out to them and he saw Nia whirl around to yell at her. He smiled to himself and shook his head. Nia and Kale had hated one another on sight from the moment Nia joined the pack. He’d never found the reason for it and so long as it didn’t boil over into fighting too often, both he and Rey were content to let them be.

Within a few seconds Kale and Nia were fighting, Cass backing away, a look of concern on her face.

Edon watched her, feeling his desire for her grow. Her cheeks were flushed pink - perhaps from the coolness between the trees - and he wanted to get closer, to touch them with his nose. The curve of her neck was a thing of wonder and he wanted to bite it. The need to run in there and rip her muddy clothes off her was growing and he had to push it away lest he act on it.

He would take her to the cabin. It would be sure to impress her and given the strong sunlight recently it would have water so hot it could scald. He was also sure the more civilized surroundings would make her feel more comfortable and then perhaps she would be more likely to accept their unusual proposal.

Nia and Kale stopped fighting and Kale stalked off into the forest.

Edon moved toward them.

It was time to claim his mate.

*

After Edon had gone, Rey sat in human form on the mountaintop looking out at his domain, feeling the cold air chill his skin. He knew he should shift if he wanted to stay up there but enduring the cold was a stupid test he and Edon had engaged in many times and for some reason he was playing the game alone. They had often leapt in near-frozen streams and then sat there, challenging each other with who could remain the longest.

Now Edon was returning to the den to mate with the human and Rey was sitting up here in the cold, freezing.

Rey considered perhaps it was because he was punishing himself but then dismissed that idea. Punishing himself for what? Mating with the human?

If anything, not following through on his plan was a far worse crime than mating. Letting himself be controlled by his lust, letting himself be dominated by her body and the scent of her soft skin.

Rey shifted on the rock as his cock began to stiffen. It was freezing at this altitude and normally that was one body part susceptible to the cold. But now as he sat there trying to regain his silent mindless contemplation, his cock began to throb a hot beat that took hold of him.

First he imagined her standing over her muddy pack, legs spread, sex inviting his tongue. He then saw her body as she turned. Saw the pink flesh and smelled her scent. Her skin had tasted delicious when he’d run his teeth over them and the flash of fear on her face when she first saw him was a meal unto itself.

Rey felt his heartbeat quickening and the cold was entirely forgotten as he relived mating with her. The burning slick heat between her legs. The taste of her as he put his wet finger in his mouth. Turning her over, her sex inviting him. She trying to push back against his cock, utterly submitting.

She was his mate. His!

He slipped off the rock and landed on sharp rocks with his bare feet. They pulled him out of the rising haze for a moment.

“We agreed, we agreed, we agreed,” he repeated to himself, pulling at his hair with his fingers.

The scent of her sex rose up around him. It had been last night and he’d crossed through water since then but he could still smell it. Perhaps it was his mind bringing the scent back. No matter the source, Rey breathed in deeply.

He saw Edon coming close to Cass. Saw him push her down and turn her over. Saw her presenting her sex to him. Saw-

He shifted, the furious anger that another male would dare touch his mate boiling through his blood.

The human was his and he would kill anyone who dared touch her.

*

Cass followed Edon, picking her way through the forest. The path was well worn but for wolves, not humans, and there were branches sticking out at head height.

They had greeted one another and then Nia had taken her leave, perhaps at some unseen signal from the Alpha. Then Edon had smiled and asked her to follow him.

They walked in silence, Cass finding herself looking up at the towering Alpha over and again. Sentences formed and wisped away. Apologies for sex with Rey. Questions about what would happen. Comments on the weather. She considered and rejected each of them in turn.

She spent a bit of time looking at his butt and then telling herself
not
to look and then giving herself permission to because she could be leaving. But the sudden decision made in the spring was already starting to crack apart. When Edon and Rey weren’t around her, she could think of other things. From the moment she saw them, they absorbed her focus.

If only my friends could see me now
Cass thought. Following an Alpha werewolf through the forest. Perhaps he’s going to take me somewhere to eat me?

She stifled the sudden image of her on a bed, Edon between her legs with his hot mouth.

Before her mind could turn entirely dirty and pull her body into overheating, they emerged into a sunny glade. In the center sat a wooden cabin. The boards were pale golden and almost glowed in the sunlight. There were small square windows on each side and it was enclosed with a porch on three sides. On the roof, black solar panels gleamed and peeking out from the rear was a slim water-tank.

“Wow,” Cass breathed, “it’s amazing.”

Edon handed Cass a key. It was solid black steel, chunky and heavy and felt good in her hand. She walked up to the cabin, noticing the ground around it had been planted with grass. It was like a tiny bit of suburbia in the forest.