Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
I looked up, and my shadows lifted me back to the edge of the cliff, where my alphas were.
Brax had shifted, was in human form, his eyes white as he shouted at others to get down into the cavern and find me.
Derik was holding up a groggy Cain, barking at him for answers, while Kai was tying a rope around a tree, then his waist, getting ready to go off the cliff after me.
I smiled at my alphas, my heart full. They cared about me. I didn’t care what my brother thought, they were not the monsters he made them out to be. He was the monster now.
My shadows slipped down my body to create a walkway beneath my feet as I walked from the air onto the cliff.
Kai’s head snapped up and he howled, tearing off the rope and tackling me to the ground, his huge body enveloping mine.
My chuckle was suffocated by his mouth crushing into mine, kissing me fiercely, his tongue pushing past my lips, sliding against it as his hands felt every part of me.
“Kai,” I breathed. “I’m okay,” I promised against his mouth, but he wasn’t letting me go.
Derik kicked him off me, then helped me up, snarling at Kai, who growled, trying to take me back.
Derik spun me away, holding me to his body, almost too tightly, but I felt so safe in his arms that I didn’t care. And then Brax was behind me, wrapping his arms around me too.
“I felt you. You were so scared. I thought you were going to die.”
“I thought I was too,” I admitted in a whisper.
“Which way did your brother go, winter born?” the female pack member from before snapped, and I broke away from the alphas.
“He disappeared into his shadows. That’s not my brother anymore. Elias has too tight of a hold on him. He feels wronged by everyone and everything for what he is, and Elias is feeding off that resentment,” I explained.
My lip trembled thinking of what I had to say next. “He’s not going to stop. He’s doing something with the humans, he said sacrificing them for the greater good, but I don’t know what that means,” I admitted, and the female scoffed.
“And how do we know you’re not working with him?”
“Because he just tried to kill me for siding with the wolves over him,” I snapped back, and she glared before turning away, but I had seen the surprise in her eyes before she did. And felt the pang of respect.
“We need to get back to the city. Alert the council of what happened,” she said.
“I’ve called a meeting,” Derik replied, then looked at me, kissing my forehead.
“Are you hurt? Can you still ride back?” he asked, checking me over, sniffing. He paused, touching the back of my head with surprisingly gentle fingers. I still winced at the ache from the cut.
“It’s fine. I can ride,” I said, and I hoped he got my double meaning because after the day I’d had, I wanted a little relief from thinking.
He smirked, then stepped back to shift. Brax gave me a once-over, then shifted.
Kai pursed his lips and shook his head. “The wolves need to let out some of their anger before I take her anywhere near the city. I’ll take her back to her village.
We’ll visit her father and find out what he knows, then I’ll bring her back later,” he said.
It was a good idea, but it had Derik shifting back instantly. “No, it’s not safe for her outside the city with her brother out there somewhere.”
Brax shifted back. “Kai’s right. This involves a winter born, they may need some time to cool down, Derik,” he said, and Derik was outvoted, hanging his head.
“Bring her back before the moon is at its peak,” he huffed, and Kai nodded once, grabbing my hand.
I kissed both Derik and Brax before they shifted, then went with Kai. He shifted too, and I climbed on him. He ran with me, the other alphas flanking him, and I felt completely safe.
I wasn’t sure why my brother was so hell-bent on revenge, but I was starting to think he had it worse at my father’s than I did at my mother’s.
Kai and I split off the main path and headed toward my villages, the bell ringing as we approached.
He stopped just outside of the men’s village and shifted. I handed him his pants and he yanked them on, then grabbed my hand and led me down the path I had never been allowed to follow.
I had always imagined the men’s village would be similar to the women’s, but it wasn’t. It was sturdier, with buildings of stone and cement, while the women’s were thatch work and wood.
The men had no lines of washing between huts, no planter boxes or growing produce. They did have a whole bunch of armed soldiers walking between huts, all in armor.
Everything was so gray and unhomely. Like it was purely a training camp rather than a home.
I gripped Kai’s hand tighter, and he looked down at me.
“I’m not meant to be here,” I gulped as men stared, walking past with quick footsteps and narrowed eyes.
But none of them dared get closer. They rushed on as Kai found my father’s hut, which was significantly larger than the others.
Kai didn’t bother knocking and went in. “You are meant to be wherever I am,” he reassured, then tucked me in closer to his bare body that was somehow warm despite the chill in the air.
“Nikolai. I wasn’t expecting a visit from our alpha today,” my father said, coming out of one of the doors, doing his pants up.
A female I recognized from the widows’ lodgings scattered from the room and I went wide-eyed, my jaw dropping. My father’s eyes fell on me hiding behind Kai’s arm, and he went pale.
“Lorelai… I… She was…”
I slapped him. For Mom. For me. And it felt good.
“You’re an asshole and you don’t deserve her,” I snapped, and went to leave but I had to get the information on my brother.
“Lorelai, sweetheart, I–“
“Shut up. I need to know what Lucas has been doing,” I demanded.
I pushed away the tears that wanted to fall for my mom–who had only ever been a faithful, loving wife–and dealt with what I needed to before I didn’t have to see him ever again.
“Lucas? He’s on patrol, doing a sweep of the Forest village.”
“How long has that been his post?” Kai asked, and my father’s back straightened in a futile attempt to seem taller and less intimidated.
It just made him look pathetic.
“A few months. Since well before the offerings night. Why? What happened?” my father asked, his eyes running up and down me.
I probably looked filthy, but I didn’t care. His opinion was nothing to me anymore.
I had wanted to impress him, make him proud, thought he was the man I should look up to, but he was just like the rest of the pigs in my village, always sniffing around for a better offer.
“When was the last time you talked to him or saw him?”
“A while, I suppose. He’s been staying in the Forest village and with his wife in your mother’s village.” He shrugged.
“And what have you been doing, General?” Kai asked, his voice lowering, making my father stammer.
“I… Well, I don’t know what you mean. I have been commanding the humans’
army,” he said, trying to recover, but Kai growled, and even my skin bristled at the lie.
I wasn’t sure what Kai had picked up on, but my father was hiding something.
“I mean the amount of heartbeats I hear in this village is significantly larger than the numbers I was given in your report. Are you telling little white lies about how large your army is, General?” he threatened, getting closer to my father, edging him back against the wooden table.
My father stumbled against it, then moved out of the way, brushing his hair back and composing his fear.
“I wonder what you plan to do with an army so large, hmm?” Kai continued.
“Maybe I should visit more often, keep an eye on numbers myself. Maybe even do a bit of a culling? Correct those numbers of yours, hmm?” he threatened again in that dark, menacing way that sounded sexy when he was playing but terrifying when he wasn’t.
And my father looked terrified.
He turned to the kitchen bench and grabbed a drink of ale, sculling some back before clearing his throat.
“I’m sure it was just a genuine mistake. I will recount and give you a more thorough report.” He gulped, and Kai chuckled darkly.
“See that you do, or I might make a mistake next time I’m here,” he warned, then grabbed my hand.
My father’s eyes went to it and he scowled. Something neither of us missed.
“Lorelai. Are you well?” he asked, and I nodded.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?