Chapter 37 – Owned by the Alphas Novel Free by Jen Cooper

Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel

“That’s the other half of it,” he admitted.

“Hmm, interesting.” I grinned, and Kai squeezed my hand with a sly smirk.

“You’re an interesting human,” he grinned and led me down the stairs.

“Thought I was your human?” I teased.

He chuckled and nodded. “That too.”

He bent down and kissed me. It took all of a second for me to give in to his tongue slipping through my lips. I slid mine along his, and then he was shoving me against the wall.

I didn’t know what wall or where in the estate we were, but it didn’t matter.

I kissed him back, sighing as he picked me up and pressed me against the wall. I was so sore, so achy, but somehow it never mattered when I was kissing one of them.

“Nikolai! Not now,” Derik growled, and Kai pulled back, smirking at me before slowly letting my feet touch the ground again.

“I will be inside you tonight, human,” he breathed, and it was the best promise he’d made so far.

I grinned and walked ahead so he couldn’t give in to what I knew was resting between us.

I wanted to know the crazy witch person that kept the wolves wearing moss agate to their meetings. I looked over my own clothes and took note of the mossy green color of the dress.

It made me wonder if it was a respect thing or a way of introducing me into the alliance. Or an ownership thing, but I didn’t mind being owned by the alphas.

I walked forward and slid my hand into Derik’s. He squeezed it and led me down the stairs, toward the front area that I knew well now.

“I never thought to ask, but do you require a handmaiden?” Derik asked, and I frowned at the concept.

It was outdated to say the least. The ladies of the village took care of their own shit, literally. And as far as I was aware, werewolves would be seen as weak for letting someone else handle them.

I appreciated the gesture though and shook my head with a warm smile. “No thank you,” I replied, and he frowned at that.

“I mean to help you bathe and dress. Or to fetch you things you need when we cannot be there,” he offered again, and I shrugged.

“I’ve never had one before. And I can dress myself just fine. Thank you though,” I said, and Derik smiled.

“Okay, well, I will send an initiate up to spend time with you while we are away in case you need food or something. She will fetch it for you.”

“Is that code for sending someone to keep an eye on me?” I guessed, smirking as he led me out the front door and down the steps to the pathway. The same pathway that led to the road out of the city.

There was a carriage waiting, one of the same fancy-looking ones in black with the wolf head on the side. There was a single horse connected, a huge black horse with a silver mane and tail.

It was beautiful, standing out in the dark night. There were stars sprinkled in the sky with a crescent moon shining bright and big as it always did.

Derik didn’t say anything about my comment, which was its own form of confirmation. I didn’t mind though; maybe it’d give me something to do that wasn’t getting fucked by the alphas every waking moment.

Although, that part was quite fun.

I looked over the front lawn of the estate where it sprawled down to a low brick fence, then to the street. It was empty, like it had been since I arrived.

Brax opened the door of the carriage for me, and I lifted my skirts, climbing in, with the alphas getting in behind me.

I sat on the opposite side to Derik and Brax. Kai sat next to me and hauled me into his lap, nuzzling into my neck, his thumb brushing my jaw as his lips teased my flesh.

I sighed and my lids fluttered closed. Kai’s other hand slipped under my skirts, his fingertips brushing along my thigh. The carriage started moving, and I clutched his arm.

“I thought we weren’t meant to be doing this outside of the estate so the wolves didn’t get even more angry that I’m here?” I sighed.

“You’re not,” Derik bit out, and Kai chuckled against my neck, his hot breath making my skin rise.

I smiled and pulled back. “Then raincheck, Alpha,” I said, and went to move off him.

He gripped me tighter, his claws growing as he held me there. I rolled my eyes at his temper, then kissed his pouting lips. I used that as a distraction, slipping out of his hold. Then I let the kiss go.

He watched me settle back into the seat next to him with intense eyes that saw everything. I smiled, and he huffed.

I ignored it and went to look out the windows, but the window was blacked out. I frowned and turned to Derik, who was not as innocent as he looked in that moment.

“You had the windows blacked out?” I asked, and he nodded once.

“The wolves don’t want you knowing their home.”

“Why?” I asked, not sure how I felt about wolves feeling threatened by me.

I wanted them to see me as more than a human, not a pushover, but I didn’t want them only seeing a winter born. I’d already lived that life in the village.

“Most of them saw the destruction of the last winter born. You not seeing their home was a part of the conditions proposed in the council meeting by the pack.”

It made sense, and I couldn’t blame them after the things I had heard about Elias, but I was starting to hate the idea of living in the estate every second.

It was huge and beautiful and I was allowed to visit the village, but could I really contain my life to a single building forever?

I was stuck in my mind, thoughts of my life and what it was leading to rushing through it.

Being with the alphas was where I wanted to be for the moment, but what would happen when they got sick of the winter born human making the pack torn? Or they had to find females to mate with? Have children with?

I hated the idea of being the sad lover stuck in the estate while my alphas paraded around with their mates and children. Or would they send me back?

Tears prickled my eyes at the thought of going back to the village after being with them. I was already an outcast, but I would have no place there after being so tainted by the wolves.

I had no idea why I was thinking so in depth now, on the way to dinner with a witch, but I couldn’t help it. My mind was spiraling, thinking of everything, all the possibilities, and emotion prickled in my heart, my throat.

I didn’t want to share my alphas, I didn’t want to go back to the way things were, and I wished there was some way for my stupid human body to give them everything they needed. But there wasn’t.

I sighed and leaned back in the seat, hating that I had human emotions that were overwhelming me. The alphas said nothing and I wondered why, especially Brax, since he always felt how I was feeling.

I opened my eyes and looked at them, but they were just staring with curious eyes.

“What?” I asked through a rough voice.

“Nothing,” Brax said too quickly, and the lie trickled through my blood.

I frowned at him, and he looked away. “What’s going on?” I said, my instincts coming out.

“You’ll find out soon, beautiful,” Derik interjected, and that felt more honest, but there was something I was missing.

I sighed and leaned back in my seat again. As soon as I did, my mind clouded and my thoughts were piercing, stealing my focus again.

But this time, it wasn’t the alphas. I thought about the shadows. The good ones inside me and the ones on the outside that were trying to get in.

I used to hate the idea of being winter born, being the cursed one, but now I was happy about it. It had brought me closer to the alphas.

But it did make me question why they had kept me. Because Kai couldn’t stay away? Because of the letter from my father? Or was it because I had a winter born power within me that they could use?

If it helped the pack and, in turn, the village, then of course I didn’t mind, but if they wanted the power just to wield even more of it over the villagers then that was going to piss me off.

They already got the best of everything we had.

We farmed produce, wheat, and animals; the Forest gave them materials, wood from the trees, rock and stone from the caves; and then the Water village provided water, fish, and some herbs for medicines.

The villages traded between each other, but all the best of every village went to the wolves.

It was how it had always been, and I didn’t mind most of the time, they protected us after all, but sometimes I wondered why we had to be so separate?

Would the wolves live without humans providing everything for them?

I doubted it, and it made me wonder about the power balance, but then again, if they were trying to use whatever power the shadows had in me, at least they were going for the good shadows.

That had to mean they were good and had good intentions?

And my shadows connected with Brax and trusted him, so that was good too. I thought so anyway. Unless my brother was to be trusted. He believed they were not good, using me for whatever nefarious plan he believed the wolves had concocted.

I had no idea who to trust, but I did know that my shadows had been loyal so far, and that they gave me a much safer feeling than the red-eyed shadows did. I trusted that.

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