Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
“Huh,” she said then went back to eating.
Four females came downstairs from behind the bar then and Lorelai paused.
They were all wearing full dresses with low cut necklines, high slits. They had chokers on, all with a Juniper berry pendant on it.
“I heard the wolves come in,” the first one said. Maisie. Then Tillie. Georgia. And the new girl, the youngest, Freya.
All among the most powerful in our pack, all happy to please the unmated males because it meant they were stronger.
The girls moved through the wolves and Maisie stopped next to me.
She always was too bold for her own good.
“Alpha Kai. Good to see you again,” she smiled.
I nodded at her, tense as anything. Either Lorelai would kill her or I would if she pushed too hard.
Maisie was a pusher.
“I’m Luna Lorelai,” My mate introduced, pushing her finished plate away.
Maisie smiled, “Nice to meet you.”
“Move along Maisie, you know there is nothing here for you,” I eyed her.
Her smirk grew into a grin, “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”
She shrugged and I heard Lorelai mutter, “I can.”
I emptied my ale, eyeing the pack and my mate who was back talking to Juniper, watching the girls take their males upstairs out of the corner of her eye.
Only then did I risk opening the link to Derik and Brax.
I had just opened it when the wooden door to the tavern ripped open, Derik stormed inside.
Fuck.
16. The Checkmate
Derik
Fear. The pack was riddled with it.
So was I.
I didn’t want to be the asshole. I didn’t want to be the one everyone was wary of. Kai used to have that role filled well.
But unintentionally, I had become that.
The idea that I could lose the pack to the rogues, lose Lorelai and our children to the war, had taken me over.
It had replaced my ability to stand by and let Kai be the crazy one, let Brax be the fun one.
I was the controlling one.
But if I wasn’t, and something happened, I would never forgive myself.
I had woken, ready to spend the day with Lorelai, keeping her entertained so she wouldn’t feel the need to expend more energy than needed, only to find my mate doing exactly that already.
I was angry at Kai for putting her health at risk, at Brax for not informing me. But I was angry at her for being reckless.
She was to give birth in under a month. She was keeping the border around the city. She had just spelled the lake.
Did she not take her health into consideration? Because it was all I considered. And that of our child she carried.
Which was why I sat opposite her as she pondered her next move on the chess board, silently seething, trying to think of a way to tell her exactly why I was mad.
We hadn’t said anything since I had collected her from Juniper’s tavern.
What could I say? That I loved her? That the idea of her in harm’s way made me irrational? I had never had irrational feelings like the ones that plagued me since finding out she carried my child.
I was still having trouble with them. I didn’t want her to feel trapped, or like she couldn’t leave the mansion.
But on the other hand, the idea of her doing anything other than resting set off my control issues.
“You didn’t seem to mind me not resting when you were all fucking me into oblivion last night, Derik,” she murmured, moving her pawn.
I took it with my rook then eyed her, “You and I both know, being with your mates intimately, strengthens you, not weakens you. Otherwise I would not have been a part of it,” I explained.
She rolled her eyes and moved her bishop diagonally, “You think you could have resisted?”
I nodded, “Yes. And you’re not focusing. Think ahead into the game, see your moves and where I could respond. Plan accordingly,” I instructed.
She poked her tongue out at me in a petulant gesture I expected Zale and Enzi to be copying soon.
“Maybe I am,” she shrugged.
We both knew she wasn’t.
I let out a heavy sigh and took her bishop with my queen.
“One of these days, you will give birth and that border will come down. The rogues will attack when it does. That may not concern you, Beautiful, but it is heavy in my mind,” I said, leaning back in my chair as she looked over the board.
We were in the library, the fireplace crackling, the room otherwise silent.
She huffed and went to move her pawn. But she checked her piece before moving it back. Then she went to her queen.
She moved between her pieces for another minute before answering.
“I do think about it, Derik. I just don’t want to put everything else on hold to be consumed by it. But it worries me too,”
she admitted in a soft voice, meeting my eyes as she moved her knight to take my bishop.
Clever. Maybe she was considering her moves more than I thought.
“Cain warned us that carrying would be difficult with the border up. You act like that is not the case but I know it is. I feel every ache that ails you, every pain you try to hide, every tired bone in your body,” I said, moving my own knight to face hers.
Lorelai chewed on her lip and used that pawn she had moved earlier to take my knight before looking up at me, “It’s part of the experience. Humans have been carrying children in my condition for years. Mom’s herbs help too,” she said then grabbed my hand resting on the side of the table, “Derik, you forget I feel everything you feel too. I feel when Kai goes out there and gets hurt fighting the rogues. I feel it when Brax overuses his shadows. I feel it when you use everything you have to protect me. How can I sit by and do nothing?”
I shook my head taking out her rook.
“You are not doing nothing. You are using your magic to its fullest extent while carrying our child. That is just as dangerous as what we do,” I insisted but she shook her head.
Stubborn mate she was.
“As are you, Mate,” she said then smirked and moved her pawn to put my king in check.
I raised a brow at her and checked over the board.
She was going to have me in checkmate in two moves with that pawn of hers.
I tapped my lips with my finger and knew she was smirking. She saw her play too.
“Hmm, it seems we have reached the end of the game,” I muttered.
She grinned as I let her play it out.
She took my queen and put me in checkmate.
So I knocked over my king.
Her grin widened.
“I know what I am doing, Derik. You may not see it, but I do. As much as any of you do. You have to trust me like I trust all three of you,” she said.
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?