Chapter 110 – Owned by the Alphas Novel Free by Jen Cooper

Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel

I smiled and shrugged. “I think I have to keep feeding it, so maybe you can come next time,” I offered, and he grinned.

“Maybe. Some of us are more connected to the water, it’s hard to be away from it.

But seeing that all happen for real might be worth it,” he said, and I smiled as he opened the door for me.

I went inside, stilling as I saw the girl with the long hair leaning over Brax. She hadn’t seen me yet, but I heard everything she was saying, surprised that she was crying.

“Brax, this is not fair.” She sniffled. “You promised. We were to marry, and I’ve kept it quiet like you asked, but how am I meant to keep doing this? It’s killing me,” she cried, and my own heart tightened.

Corben went to step forward, but I stopped him, wanting to hear what Brax had to say.

I wasn’t sure if he knew I was there, but our link was weakened, thanks to his poison, so I’d bet no if he hadn’t called me over yet.

“I’m sorry, Danika. I didn’t mean to hurt you, or for it to work out like this. But I told you before, we can’t marry. Not anymore,” he whispered, and my heart clenched tighter.

He had been engaged? He hadn’t told me that. He had made me think wolves didn’t do things like that.

“So five years together and then she comes in and I’m nothing to you?” she cried.

I felt for her, I did. I didn’t know I had stepped on anyone’s toes. But I also couldn’t let my alphas go now that I had them.

“It doesn’t mean ‘nothing.’ I still care about you. I just… I’m not in love with you the way I am with her.

“You know we were being pressured into marriage. None of us were mating, none of us were providing heirs. But that’s all changed now,” he said.

I only just kept the tears from rolling down my own cheeks. He was still in love with someone else?

I had naively forgotten they had entire lives before I came along. I had thought meaningless sex made up most of that, but apparently not.

“I can still give you heirs, Brax. Please, don’t throw me away like this. What we had

–“

“–is over,” he finished for her. “I told you, we can’t be anything now.”

The pain in his voice hit me hard. I didn’t want it to hurt for him to be with me. I wanted him to want it, to choose it. But not if it wasn’t what he wanted with his entire heart.

I stepped forward then, going toward Brax and putting the bowl down. I didn’t say anything; there was nothing I could say yet without crying.

I concentrated on cleaning his wound. I dabbed the wet cloth around the open area, cleaning it of black blood as everyone tensed.

Danika took a step back, clearing her throat as she wiped tears away from her face so fast I almost didn’t see it.

Brax looked over my face. I could feel the gaze on me, but I refused to meet it. If I did, I’d see the pity and crumble in front of his ex.

No. If I was going to have my human moment then it was going to be a private one.

“Luna.” Danika bowed, then left the room quickly.

“Corben, leave,” Brax bit, and Corben let out a low whistle before heading for the door.

It slammed behind him, and I kept cleaning Brax’s wound. He stopped me, grabbing my hand in his.

“Stop, Spitfire,” he murmured, and I shook my head, a stupid tear escaping. He chased it away with the pad of his thumb, and I finally looked at him.

“You love her?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“I thought I did. We were paired together, expected to mate for a long time. She felt it in her but never got the brand, and what I felt was…not as deep.

“We eventually came to the conclusion that because of what I am, it’s probable I cannot mate, Spitfire. She deserves that connection, one I can’t give her, and I can’t even tell her why,” he breathed.

I nodded, trying to come to terms with the fact that he’d had a female for five years, gotten engaged even.

“I thought wolves didn’t marry or get engaged?” I asked, and he shrugged, wincing as it caught his wound. I held him still and kept cleaning.

“We don’t. It’s not a traditional marriage. Especially when it comes to the alphas.

We just find the female that will carry our heirs. They don’t become luna though, not like you,” he tried.

I knew I had no right to be upset, that was before me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something still there.

How had he gone from a girl of five years to switching it off for me? What if he did that to me? It was lead in my brain, sinking in my heart as the self-doubt thoughts took over.

“You broke her,” I said, hating that I had come in the middle of something. Not enough to give up my alpha, but it still hurt seeing the way Danika’s face had crumpled in pain.

I understood that to an extent, and I didn’t want to be the reason.

Brax grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it.

“I hate that I hurt her, Spitfire, but I can’t pretend to love her the same way she does me, and I can’t ignore that my entire heart belongs to someone else,” he said, pulling me in until my lips met his.

I wanted to pull back, to keep processing what I had heard, but the kiss melted away everything but him in that moment. I kissed him back fiercely, possessively.

He was mine and I was his. That might make me selfish or greedy since I had Derik and Kai too, but I didn’t care.

They were all a part of me now, and I wasn’t going to let that go, no matter what.

12. The Confessions

LORELAI

I slept with Brax all night, his even breathing making me feel better, like he wasn’t about to die from a stupid poison arrow.

But my mind was a mess. It seemed so insignificant to be worrying about who my alphas had loved before me when we had humans declaring war, but I couldn’t help it.

They were my alphas. I didn’t want females coming out of the woodwork this late into our relationship.

Brax should have told me about her. Even if he didn’t love her the same, even if it was nothing now, I should have known that he had something that deep.

I didn’t care about past flings or fucks, but potential heirs and marriages? That seemed like a lie. Or at least it felt like one in my heart.

I swallowed and looked up at the ceiling and the woodwork, the wooden beams connecting the A-frame that led into the stone walls.

All so intricately connected, just like I was with my alphas, and yet one thing had made me feel like our foundations weren’t as strong as I thought they were.

Like I had so much more to learn about them, about the life I had chosen to live.

Sure, I knew how good they felt inside me, and I knew how much they loved me, but I needed more.

How could I be a luna of a pack when I had no idea what that meant? How could I love them as wholly as they needed if they’d found love in their own kind before?

Was I enough?

The thoughts were an endless cycle, and as dawn crept over the horizon, peering through the glass, I shivered–the brisk early morning temperatures offering a taste of the winter to come.

I had barely considered winter. Normally it was a harsh time in the village. Crops barely grew, livestock got lean, some died, and it was harder to keep our own people fed, let alone the wolves.

But they barely visited during those months. Now I knew that was because of the no full moon during winter and the craziness that came with that, but how was that going to work now that Fractum had been invoked?

Was it going to be worse? I shuddered at the idea.

I really had to learn how to defend myself. I was a human, but I had the border power in me now and I could use that, even if I couldn’t use my shadows. Learning how to throw a punch or take down a crazy wolf might be beneficial too.

I blew out a breath and stood from the bed, my head still going around in circles as I thought about all the things I needed to do, to learn. It was a lot. But I could do it. I had to.

I went to the window, glad to see the sun through the stained glass instead of the gray clouds that had been everywhere lately.

My hand went to my stomach, rubbing the swell there. It fluttered under my touch and I smiled, warmth filling me.

I needed to see a doctor, make sure everything was physically okay with me and the baby. I wasn’t sure they could even do anything for me, but it would be nice to know how the birth was going to go.

I hated pain, and Mother had always said childbirth was the worst pain I would ever endure, but it would be worth it. That was terrifying.

Everything at the moment seemed terrifying. The pregnancy, the war, the powers and shadows that I didn’t fully understand yet… Even my future with my alphas was included in my fear.

<< Previous Chapter

 

Next Chapter >>

---