Read Owned By The Alphas: Part Four Online
Authors: Faleena Hopkins
Owned By The Alphas: Part Four (8 page)
L
ying there in pain
, Red’s mind spun in circles around the same idea. He needed to talk to her, but changing now would be extremely painful. Still, it would give him a chance to see how much damage was done. Tucked against the new she-wolf, he began to shift, his body rumbling and his heart-rate speeding up to help. He groaned as his skin completed the transition, his fur retracting and his wound bleeding fresh. “That hurt more than I expected it to.” He cringed and looked at the gash that tore up his side. It started from his right shoulder blade and stopped just below his right ribcage. He felt around. “Nothing is sticking out,” he frowned, searching. “No organs or bones.” He inspected the one on his thigh. It was also bad; the grizzly had gotten one more swipe in while he wasn’t looking, when he had turned to Ali as she’d screamed. The leg was bleeding as well, and both wounds were deep. But they would heal.
Now was his chance.
That scream. It had told him everything.
You couldn’t miss the sound. It was layered and awful, a mixture of pain and fury atop a primal growl. He had made a similar sound when his grandfather had passed, the one person who’d ever understood him. And that Ali would make that noise at his getting hurt, and would change, as he had, told him what he needed to know.
He turned to discover her staring at him, her brown eyes much lighter now, sharper. Her fur was beautiful, rich and thick and shiny. He reached out and stroked her side, and scratched in between her ears as she stared at him, unable to speak and clearly wanting to.
“I’ve never seen a wolf cry before.” He wiped a tear from the fur below her eye. “Are you scared?” She hesitated then shook her head. “Excited?” She hesitated, and shook her head again. “Scared
and
excited?” She nodded. He smiled, but the smile left quickly. “Ali, let’s leave. Let’s just leave. I’ll heal. I’ve had worse.” She shook her head. “Ali…” He stopped himself before he said,
I know you love me
. Instead, he urged her, “This is our chance.”
Glancing to the slices in his body, he saw blood mingling with the falling snow. It was coming down pretty hard, which would cover their tracks. He looked up at the clouds, the sun nearly gone, the sky a very pale gray. The cold air was slowing his blood, too. That was good. This was the perfect time. If there were going to go…
“We have to go now.”
She stared at him and put her head down, closing her eyes. Another tear squeezed out. He waited. Relief washed over him as she rose up and shook out her fur. She licked his cheek and he slowly stood up, wincing. “This way.” She hesitated and he stopped a few painful steps away, turning to meet her eyes. “You coming?” He offered her a cock-eyed smile. “I’ll need someone to watch out for me while I get better. See that? I’m appealing to your nurturing instincts.” The new wolf blinked at him, and then her eyes brightened up. “That’s better. We can do this, Ali. But I’m not going to make you. I want you to want to be with me.”
She looked back, over her shoulder at her pelt and coat abandoned and lying now covered in snow, then turned and padded up to him.
There hadn’t been one night where he hadn’t longed for her. He had hoped that they would go away, these feelings. But they had not faded. In fact, they had intensified so much so that now when he looked at her, it hurt almost more than the wounds. He needed her. As she walked ahead and looked back to see if he was coming, it was as though a warm hand held his heart.
“I will move as fast as I can, but it won’t be fast. Okay?”
She dipped her head and waited for him, then kept pace as they headed south and east. He didn’t know where they were going. Nor of course, did she. But he could not give her back to the other alpha. He would not do that again. All the while he had been with his family, he had loved them, but leaving them was a sacrifice he had to make. To live a life without true love, when you’ve touched it and know the loss, is merely impossible.
R
ed’s asked
her to leave with him, and Ali in her baser, primal form, could not deny him. With the packs coming to rescue them, what’s going to happen when the battleground reveals only the remains of a grizzly, its orphan, and empty clothes the new she-wolf no longer needs?
Just when the rules were about to change in Calt’s pack, the other alpha had to go and change the game.
I
s this the final episode
? Yes…of this story. Will I tell more of their tale? I just might.
T
hank
you for purchasing this book.
E
njoying Ali’s story
? Please consider leaving a review to help readers find it.
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F
aleena Hopkins is
a BIG fan of full-bodied red wine, chocolate malted crunch ice cream, and sitting underneath the full moon for a little howling. She lives in Los Angeles where
all
the crazies live…and feels right at home among them…
Regarding her pen name: From July, 2013-October, 2014 she published twenty-two erotic romance serial novellas under "Sabrina Lacey." In Feb. 2014 her "I Love My Healed Heart" (now titled "I Love My Breakup") hit #1 in Amazon for Romance, Erotic Romance, and Romantic Comedy.
She came out of the “erotic romance writing closet” as she calls it, to publish paranormal romance under her own name. But the contemporary erotic romance stories are very fun and steamy. Turn the pages for those titles.
