My Alphas: The Complete Series (17 page)

When they were gone, Edon reached out and took her hand, leading her back to the den. Cass walked alongside him feeling like she’d committed a crime, the phone hidden under the refrigerator a sign of her guilt.

*

Edon yawned and looked at the map sitting on the rough wood table. Lines, dots and dashes, notes… it was all a blur. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus. After dealing with the girl (Melanie was her name Cass had said) Edon wanted nothing more than to climb into bed with his mate and after feasting on her, sleep for a million years. But she’d seemed strangely subdued, telling him they would talk later. Then scouts had arrived back at the den and made the decision for them. He’d kissed her and she’d kissed him back but the encounter with Melanie had disrupted her for some reason. He blinked at the map again and touched his finger on the southern border of their territory.

“Turo pack have expanded south into Yavna territory without a fight?”

The twins, Elen and Ravo, nodded as one.

“We moved through but we didn’t see a Yavna. Their small den was empty,” Elen said.

“Empty,” Ravo echoed.

“We didn’t travel to their big den.”

“No,” Ravo said.

Since Rey had seen Carcer with humans a week ago, they had been trying to confirm he was the new Turo pack Alpha. His father Navcer had been getting old but had been a ferociously strong werewolf. It was generally assumed he would be Alpha for at least another decade.

So far, Elen and Ravo had discovered little. Although packs had their territories and officially didn’t tolerate even one werewolf from another pack entering them, there was always an unspoken communication network between scouts. But the Turo pack scouts were absent and they only found warriors, no fewer than six in a group. Utson pack was keeping to itself as usual.

Behind all this the curse, the thrall, was approaching. In only two weeks or so they’d detect the change occurring in Cass’ body and then he and Rey would have to leave with Cass immediately. But with Turo pack scheming and planning and Utson ready to strike it would be dangerous for them and the pack they would leave behind.

Edon was sure they knew Cass was their Pack Mate and the thrall would happen at some time in the next few weeks. The thrall, an immovable barrier approaching at high speed. It was absolute in its possession and it wouldn’t matter if a pack of werewolves were spotted in their territory.

It commanded obedience and when it came, there would be no denying it.

*

Cass knew there were two ways this could go: she could mope or she could get active. She tried on getting angry but it fizzled out. Melanie telling her she’d come to “rescue her”! From what? Getting pregnant and dying in childbirth? The hell with her!

Now Melanie was gone, Cass was wondering why she hadn’t told Edon the truth. It wasn’t the first time she’d found herself confused at her own actions. She rationalized she’d lied about Melanie to save her life - although she knew on another level Edon would’ve returned her to Hinton.

She paced the room, feeling the pressure to come clean. She had a rising desire to go into the cabin and magically “discover” the phone and charger left behind. Hand them over to Edon.

“It’s a stress response or something,” she said aloud.

“What is?”

Nia pushed open the fur and walked in with a plate of roasted boar, glistening with fat.

“I haven’t been feeling well…” Cass lied, even as her stomach grumbled at the delicious scent of the roasted meat.

“Are you pregnant?” She sniffed at her. “Nope. When my mom was pregnant she vomited
everywhere
. On the floor, on the walls, on my older brother, on my father…”

Cass took the food from Nia and zoned out as she described a long list of places and people her mom had thrown up in or on.

Pregnant. No. But soon she might be.

Even without tracking the days she knew it had roughly been a week. That means it wasn’t long before the fertile time would be roaring up and with that the expectation she’d fulfill her role as Pack Mate.

Cass chewed and swallowed roasted boar as the ridiculous enormity of it all washed around her. She knew practically nothing about the Alphas. Rey was a pure wolf, domineering and strong. Edon was almost the same but with a thin veneer of civilization over the top. And one of them would be her future child’s father.

Cass finished eating and stood up, feeling the urge to do something - anything - to push the big things out of her thoughts.

“That’s it! I’m sleeping in the night and getting up in the day,” she declared to Nia.

“Yes, with such poor eyesight it would be best. You cannot see anything at night with those can you?”

Nia came closer to her and peered into her eyes like she a mechanic looking into a car engine.

“They’re perfectly good human eyes! I like the sunshine and I want to see it.”

“It’s amazing humans achieved anything with such terrible senses.”

“You’re half human too you know.”

“Of course. And half wolf.”

Cass let it go, although it trembling on her tongue to say “oh yeah, and perhaps because of their poor senses humans had to use their brains and build things and now we control everything!” Since the encounter with Melanie she’d been feeling unhappy about Team Human. It was grating on her in all directions. The plane spying on the pack. The photos on the phone.

The werewolves wanted to be left alone but the humans wouldn’t allow that. So they kept pushing and pushing and then when humans were killed, the werewolves were blamed. How was that fair? They were provoking an attack as an excuse to cover their genocide.

“Do you want to come to the spring?” Nia asked.

“Sure,” Cass said, following her out, lost in her own mind.

*

Rey loped through their territory, only stopping to catch and eat a fish from the river. He ran, covering miles with ease and as he moved across the terrain, he thought about Cass and her effect on him.

To be Alpha was to have power. But it wasn’t as simple as dominance and submission. Edon was Alpha and very different from him. He used soft power as well as hard and now Rey had tasted that power, he was realizing how strong it was.

It was one of the myriad changes the girl had wrought and it had only been a week. Who knew what a month would bring?

Before Cass arrived, Rey considered the cabin and the foolish hope it represented to be a complete waste of time. Now it was important. To own their land in the eyes of the humans meant a barrier between his mate and the world that would seek to destroy them.

Rey came to a halt atop a hill and looked out toward Hinton. This was the first vantage point in the territory where you could see the city and over the years he’d sat there with a variety of feelings. Sometimes hatred. Disdain for the teeming humans and their filthy city. Sometimes excitement. He and Edon would sneak into town, steal clothing and then go out, looking for women and getting into bar fights.

Now as Rey sat there he felt something entirely unwelcome and definitely un-Alpha: worry. It was a tickling dark voice murmuring to him the humans would come to steal Cass away. She’d carry his cubs but then lose them. Men with guns would one day find their way to the den and there would be nothing Rey could do about it.

She’d ensnare his heart and he’d die without her.

Rey turned from the town and looked in the direction of Turo pack’s territory. They were always there but now the pressure was increasing. On the other border was Utson, the cowards who would only strike a weakened pack.

Humans in front, werewolves to both sides. Three problems with zero solutions.

Rey sat there mulling over violence and death and gradually his thoughts slipped back to Cass. Cass in front of him. Cass underneath him. Cass on top of him. Cass mock-fighting him until he pinned her on the bed.

At these thoughts, the humans, Turo, Utson and every other problem faded away until there was only her. Her lips. Her scent. The way her breath sounded in his ear.

Rey gave the town one last glance before turning away and beginning the run home.

*

“When will he be back?”

Vara shrugged and turned back to the nuts she’d been shelling.

“Edon didn’t tell me. He is Alpha and can come and go as he pleases.”

Cass gave the older werewolf a double-blink as she tried to regroup. She’d gone to the spring with Nia but instead of enjoying lazing around in the warmth, she’d felt a kind of caffeine buzz to do things. Take action. So she’d washed herself and then returned to the den, intent on finding Edon or Rey but discovered both Alphas were nowhere to be found. Rey had vanished off into the territory alone and Edon had gone away on some unknown task as well.

It left Cass bubbling with energy and motivation but with nowhere to put it.

“Oh,” she said.

She stood there for another minute, feeling like she was awkwardness personified before she decided to grow a pair and get some answers.

“I need to ask you about Rey’s cubs. Did you know their mother?”

“Not directly. She was mated to Yamaton and before she was due to give birth, their pack was attacked. She managed to escape into the wilderness but she died after giving birth. Rey found the cubs and brought them back here.”

Vara continued to shell nuts, oblivious to Cass’ open mouth. Cass realized after a moment she was staring, shut her mouth so no bugs could fly in and decided the next time she saw Nia she’d whomp her one.

“Rey
found
the cubs so everyone calls them
his
cubs,” Cass said slowly.

“Did you think Rey had mated already and had cubs? Oh no. He has never taken a mate. Not until you. How is that going, by the way?”

Vara looked at her and Cass felt like she was an insect pinned to a board. There was nowhere to hide.

“Um… okay,” Cass said, feeling her power and enthusiasm vanish. Thankfully the moment didn’t last long because Nia called out to Cass.

“Cass, come find bird eggs with me!”

She hurriedly excused herself and followed Nia into the forest. Once out of Vara’s sight, Cass let out a sigh of relief.

Operation get-all-the-answers-and-figure-out-all-the-things was not off to a good start.

*

Edon waited in the bushes, watching for the slightest signs of movement that would indicate he’d been followed. He sat still, in wolf form, breathing slowly as he listened. The birds had gone silent when he arrived but after seeing him sit down they’d resumed their song. After a half-hour of waiting and hearing the birds continue to sing, Edon moved, heading down to the small den where he and Rey would take Cass.

It was only about five miles away from their main den but it was tricky to get to and very well hidden. Between the sharp slope of the hills around it and the view down the valley, it was almost impossible for anyone to sneak up on the den without being seen.

Edon slipped down the hill and changed to move in through the entranceway. Much like the entrance to their main den, this one was also too small for a wolf to move through. Inside was dark but felt warmer than the air outside. It was furnished with a low bed and against the wall was a fire-pit beneath a rudimentary chimney carved up through the rock. It was clean and reasonably comfortable, although Edon knew wolves under the curse cared little for such things.

Vara had explained the curse to him and while he took what she said seriously, it seemed unbelievable he could lose his mind entirely. She spoke of a mindlessness that would come over him, wiping out his conscious self and leaving only pure instinct behind. It was when the Alphas were in this state they were all in maximum danger. Either werewolf could turn on the other and attempt to kill them. They could turn on their mate or anyone who approached the den.

Since they had mated with Cass, Edon had tested himself from time to time by imagining Rey and Cass together. At first the anger rose up like a burst of fire but as the days went on and they shared her, the fury started to fade away. It wasn’t gone though. Sometimes he saw Cass look at Rey and the urge to kill was so strong it left him trembling to resist it. His sleep had become disrupted too and not just because half the pack were now staying up in the day. When he slept he was hit with a flurry of dreams. Sometimes it was Cass smiling at him, walking toward him in a dark room. At other times he saw a flood of werewolves streaming down the valley and he was alone, outnumbered. Some nights the dark thoughts woke him again and again and then persisted, filling the room with vicious images of blood and death.

There was a cold calculation pushing on him and no matter how much he thought about it, none of the variables changed.

Carcer = death.

Humans = death.

Utson pack = death.

Edon shook himself out of these thoughts and inspected the buckets sitting next to the fire pit. They were for fetching water from the nearby stream so Cass could drink.

At the thought of his mate, Edon looped back around to Vara’s warnings about the curse. It was absolute in its demands. An entire army could be marching down the valley and he would mate rather than deal with them. Or he would go running into a hail of bullets, roaring and bloodthirsty, a mindless beast of pure fury.