Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
I looked between his hand and my stomach, my eyes catching his. He knew I struggled to trust him and was waiting for my okay, but it sat on the edge of my tongue.
My shadows bristled, and I trusted them.
“We’ll get there,” I murmured, and he nodded, his hand falling down before he smiled easily, his sharper canines white and prominent.
“We will,” he promised, and I nodded, reaching forward for my tea.
I had just pulled it in my hand when the baby kicked hard, sending a sharp pain across my stomach and down my leg.
I cursed beneath my breath, the cup dropping to the floor, the porcelain crashing over the courtyard.
I touched the spot he had kicked with a grimace. That was going to bruise. Damn, I had almost gotten rid of them.
I blinked a couple of times and let the pain subside as Mom moved forward.
“Do you need Galen?” she asked, and I shook my head, but she didn’t seem convinced.
Or she wanted to see Galen. I hoped it was the latter.
“You are struggling?” my brother asked, and I shrugged.
“Physically, this little wolf is much stronger than my human body. It makes his movements harsher on me than we expected, but I’m managing.
“Once he’s born, I will be a werewolf like him, so all will be fine,” I breathed, rubbing the spot as two of the humans from the village came to sweep away the shards of teacup.
One of the ladies bent down and picked up a piece, hissing as she fell back on the stone, crying out.
We all looked down as she dropped the shard and grabbed her arm. It was mottled with bubbles and boils, burning the flesh there, steam hissing from her skin.
“Get Galen here!” I called, and my mom ran off as I went to bend down to help, but Lucas pulled me back.
“Don’t. That is flesh-eating magic. You touch her and you’ll get it,” he warned.
My heart faltered. The woman’s screams filled the air, and the sound pierced my heart.
“The baby…” I held my stomach. “It must’ve sensed something wrong with the tea,”
I whispered.
Kai came running out, his claws and teeth extended, his red eyes going to the woman holding her arm, then to me with Lucas holding me away from helping.
He went to come to me, but I shook my head.
“If you can help her, then do it. I’m safe, Kai,” I promised, and he nodded, kneeling in front of the woman.
Derik came running into the courtyard from the gardens behind us, in his wolf form. He shifted and took his pants from Anetta, who had been running with him.
He shrugged them on and grabbed me from Lucas.
“You do not touch her. Those are the rules.”
“Apologies,” he said, not explaining himself, both of us knowing my alphas weren’t exactly reasonable when it came to me–or him.
“What the hell happened?” Brax demanded as he came out, sweat over his brow, his eyes bloodshot.
“Are you okay?” I asked, and he blew out a breath.
“One of the humans, something infected them, which fucked with the link I was using to keep tabs on them,” he bit, then turned to the woman on the floor.
Kai had her arm in his hands, the disease clearly only affecting humans. “Only a bite will save her from this.”
“She’ll turn?” I asked, and Kai shrugged.
“Maybe. I can try to release enough toxin to heal only, but I can’t promise anything.”
“You’d have to bite her?” I asked, swallowing as jealousy poked its ugly head in.
I didn’t like the idea of him biting another woman, but I didn’t think it was fair to ask him not to when she was being tortured by an infection that was clearly meant for me.
“No! Please, no! Don’t bite me!” she screamed, and Kai smirked.
“No worries, sweetheart. My mate wasn’t a fan of the idea either. The only other option is saying goodbye to your arm,” he said.
The woman froze. She whimpered, her face crumpling as she sobbed.
“I’ve got Galen!” Mom ran in, Galen at her side.
She dropped next to the woman, wearing some mittens made of some kind of green plant with white flower buds.
She grabbed the woman’s arm and ran her plant-covered fingers over it as Galen grabbed some bottles out of his satchel.
“This is a deadly herb. It only grows in the swamp by Tabitha’s,” Galen murmured, and I frowned, looking at my alphas, who were surrounding me.
“How the hell did it end up in the tea then?” I asked, and Derik’s gaze snapped to the mess by the table.
“It was in the tea? The one meant for you?”
“Well for me, my mother, and Lucas, of course,” I admitted, but even I knew that was weak.
I was the only target that had something to lose.
Kai rounded on my brother so fast. He grabbed him from behind, his claws ready to rip his throat out, his teeth at his neck.
“Say something that stops me from ending your life, vamp, or I’m going to go with the easiest theory, that you tried to poison our luna, our mate,” Kai warned, but Lucas was calm, like Silas always was.
“Tabitha’s is fair game. Anyone could have gotten to this herb if they knew what they were looking for.”
“Not the confession we are waiting for,” Brax warned, his shadows starting to spill from his shaking frame.
“Fine. I will give you the explanation that you are not going to believe anyway. I didn’t try to poison my sister. I happen to be excited about the nephew she carries, and I am not a threat.
“My mother could have had that tea at any moment, and I would not risk her life either.
“Whoever did this does not have a personal connection with my sister or mother or they would not have done it,” Lucas said as Galen and my mom used herbs and weeds to stop the infection.
The woman finally stopped screaming and slumped into my mother as Galen worked. I didn’t miss their eyes meeting before I turned to my alphas, still holding my brother.
“He didn’t do this. Let him go,” I said, not sure how I knew that, but I did.
If he wanted me dead, he wouldn’t have agreed to meet, and he definitely wouldn’t have done it in front of my mother. Whatever he thought of me, he didn’t think the same of her.
“How the hell did this happen?” Derik swore as Kai reluctantly let my brother go.
Brax stepped between me and Lucas, slipping his arm around me, his shadows a barrier that only we could see.
I gave him a small smile, and he kissed my cheek.
My alphas would always protect me, and I would do the same for them–even against a friendly face. Sometimes those were the deadliest. We had learned that the hard way, so I appreciated the cynicism.
Even if it was against the brother I was trying to build a relationship with again. I’d barely had a chance to know him.
Between being separated by villages, going to the wolves, the shadows and Elias, and now the vamp thing, it was like we had been purposely set apart our whole lives, and I was trying to fix that.
Derik walked over to the table, kicking some of the shards of cup on the floor, then grabbed the tea in front of my mom’s seat. He grimaced when he went back to mine.
“It’s only hers,” he whispered, but we all heard it.
“How?” I asked, shivering.
“Where’s Cain?” Brax demanded suddenly, and Derik rolled his eyes.
“Now is not the time for your prejudice, brother.”
“Now is exactly the time,” Brax bit, and I held on to him tighter.
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?