Chapter 88 – Owned by the Alphas Novel Free by Jen Cooper

Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel

“Good girl,” he said, then stepped away. “Now move quickly, she would’ve reached out to her wolves by now, and we need her underground before they get here. The wolfsbane and gardenia fields will cover her scent once we get there,” my father said.

I sobbed against my gag. My shadows were so angry, desperate to help, but listened when I told them to stay where they were. If I used them, it could hurt the baby. I had no choice, I had to do what they said.

I was led to the men’s village. I recognized the change in ground beneath my feet, the soggy mud squelching between my toes.

I was pushed inside somewhere with wooden floors and then down some stairs. I was shoved forward, and I fell to my knees, my heart racing as I tried to figure out where I was, but there was nothing to see.

I smelled dirt and dampness, but there was nothing defining enough. I spun to where I had come from, just as my father removed my blindfold and gag.

I rushed him, bashing on his chest.

“Let me out! You have to let me go!” I screamed at him, and he shoved me back.

I hit the concrete wall with a thud, the air rushing out of me. I cried as I faced him. I couldn’t believe he was the one doing this to me.

And it was then that I knew.

It was his hatred that had darkened my brother, it was his will to take down the wolves. I could see it so clearly when he looked at me, his eyes full of disgust.

“You are not going back to them. Not after everything I heard you tell your mother.

Not after what you did to your brother.

“That child you carry is an abomination, and I will not allow you back out there to ruin everything we have worked for years to accomplish,” he snapped, and my heart broke at his words.

“What are you planning? What are you going to do?” I demanded through my tears.

He gave me one last look before backing out the door.

I chased after him. “Don’t hurt them!” I screamed at him, just before he slammed it in my face.

He opened the wooden flap and looked down at me. “I don’t want to hurt them, Lorelai, I want to kill them, and if you were still human then you would too. You can stay here until it’s over.”

He grinned and I shook my head.

“Please. Don’t. You don’t have to do this. Whatever the humans want, we can work it out. Don’t! Dad!” I screamed as he walked away.

“You don’t understand! I need them! You’re going to kill me and your grandchild if you don’t let me out!” I tried, fear pouring into me.

He didn’t care. The flap slammed shut, and I backed up against the back wall, my heart racing, my chest heaving, panic taking me.

I had no access to the potion I needed, or the bite. I had no idea how long it was going to take the wolves to find me…if they could.

I stretched my mind out, hunting for the link, but it was gone, disappeared or smothered by whatever herbal properties they had used to hide my scent.

I sobbed against my hand. I was stuck, trapped with no way out, in some kind of cell and apparently underground. I had no idea if the wolves were going to be able to find me.

I couldn’t sense them. I was completely alone.

“Let me out!” I screamed again, running at the door, bashing on it. I tested my shadows, but they were hesitant, a warning stirring in me that coming out would hurt my baby.

I couldn’t risk it. I just had to survive. I knew it was going to hurt, I was going to go back to the pain I had been in before with only my shadows to keep me alive, but then again, I had survived on them before.

Years ago, when I was a baby, the humans had forced me into survival mode, leaving me in the snow to die, just like they were leaving me here now.

But I had survived. Because I wasn’t just human. I was a fucking winter born.

And I was going to remind them exactly how strong that made me.

End of Book One

Claimed by the Alphas

Jen Cooper

1. The Hunt

KAI

“Where is she?!” I roared at my useless pack, who had searched the entire werewolf territory without finding a damn thing.

Glaring down at the brand on my wrist that was stopping me from going after her myself, I contemplated removing it from my skin just to see if fate could be thwarted so easily.

She had been with her mother; there should be a scent, but there was nothing.

I smashed my fist into the concrete wall next to me, the mansion in serious danger of being pummeled to death if one more wolf came back without her.

The link was numb, but I wasn’t about to look too much into that, or I’d never come back from the edge.

“Kai. We’ll find her,” Brax tried to reassure me, but nothing would until I could feel her again.

I was empty, my chest heavy, everything inside me a storm growing stronger and stronger, ready to explode.

I turned and kicked my seat back from the meeting table. The council was trying to organize how to get her back, not because she was the essence I needed to breathe but because she was a winter born.

She had too much power to let her fall into the wrong hands, plus she carried the heir. But if she was so powerful, then why the hell couldn’t I sense her? Our connection should be strong enough.

I clutched my head again, closing my eyes and focusing on the feel of her, remembering the taste of her, the scent, pushing at all the corners of magic in my head. There was nothing.

“Fuck!” I growled as Derik barked orders at the pack.

Like always, he was much more put together than me. He was talking with the council, he was organizing the search parties, and I was falling apart.

I wanted to be out there, looking for her, destroying every human who smelled even a little like her until I found where she had been taken. But I couldn’t. I was a prisoner to a fucking brand on my wrist.

I wasn’t risking that; fate was a fickle bitch and would be petty enough to have me find my Little Human at the same time I mated with someone else. That would break her more than whoever had taken her.

I wasn’t mating. If I felt the bond, I’d sooner end my life. I was my human’s. I belonged to her, and she was ours. She carried our child.

I saw red again, turning to Brax, who was trying to sense her shadows, but I knew that wouldn’t work. Lorelai wouldn’t use them. Not after Tabby had said it would hurt the baby.

But she would survive. Because she was strong, and the alternative wasn’t something my erratic brain could handle.

I turned to Derik. “Anything?” I demanded, but he shook his head, his eyes glassy, his lips pursed. I snarled at that, my body vibrating in anger.

“Taylor says–“

“No! Don’t mention the females,” I growled, and Derik rolled his eyes. Easy for him to get annoyed when he wasn’t the one with the death sentence.

“You’re not going to mate from hearing their names, Kai. And I doubt it could happen if you just connect to the pack link.” He sighed, but I wasn’t risking it.

“No females. At all. And there’s no point connecting when you are. It’s an unnecessary risk,” I snapped, and Derik eyed me like he was deciding whether to push the issue or not.

I turned away from him, trying to find the link again. It was an empty void inside me that was almost painful. I wished it was more painful so it would drown out the burn from my wrist.

I rubbed over the bright red mark, wishing it was as easy as removing it. I had thought about it so many times, but I knew deep down it wouldn’t make a lick of difference. I was fucked.

But I was going to avoid it for as long as I could.

“Alphas,” Cain said, rushing in, out of breath.

Weak little hybrid. Helpful little hybrid, but still weak.

He relied on his magic more than his wolf, and I didn’t like it, but then again, it meant he might be able to find my human. Maybe there was a reason for everything.

“Did you find her?” I demanded.

He shook his head. “I can’t sense her. Something is blocking her. An herb or something, making it impossible for me to see much more than you can.”

“And Tabby?”

“I’m on my way there now.”

“I’m coming with you.”

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