Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
“Yes.”
“Sweetheart, your head is bleeding and you are covered in scratches, bruises, dirt.
Do you need help?” he offered.
It was brave of him to offer in front of Kai, but he couldn’t just pick and choose when to play the father card. Especially since it was his son who had caused most of it.
“The alphas are taking care of me. I don’t need help,” I said, then got back to why I was there. “But I do need to know if you hear from Lucas. I need to speak to him, so if he shows up, let us know,” I said, and he nodded once, holding the back of his dining chair, clutching it with white knuckles.
Kai dragged me from the house. I didn’t miss the disgust in my father’s eyes as I left, but it was aimed at the wolf that led me, and it had warning bells going off inside me.
My instincts had picked up on something, a thread it wanted me to pull. My brother, the armies, my shady dad. Something was going on, and I wasn’t sure if they were all working together or just doing their own way of things.
Kai led me through the village, the path muddied and uneven. The men stared, their eyes hungry, and I felt every single second of it.
“She is a young, unmarried female. You can’t bring her back here,” my dad called, and Kai half turned his head.
“Who said she was unmarried?” he taunted, answering my father’s threat with a bluff that had me choking on my breath.
I cleared my throat and half ran to keep up with Kai’s strides as we moved toward the women’s village.
“Kai, you can’t say things like that,” I whispered as he led me over a slight hill through the farmland toward the main part between the villages, where the offerings had happened.
“I can say whatever the fuck I want. Your father needs to learn his place, and when I get back to the city, I’ll be talking to Derik and Brax about his place as general,”
Kai growled.
He was shaking, and I ran my fingers down his arm. “You’ll strip his title?”
“If that’s what it takes. He’s creating a force to use against us, using his position to turn on us, and we can’t allow that. But it’s not just that…”
He took deep breaths, stopping for a moment before pulling me in for a deep kiss.
“You can’t hear what I can, but I don’t think his training methods are very humane.
He is training boys and men into killers. Hunters. But we are the predators, Lorelai.
They won’t survive us if they attack, not with all the men they can torture to fight us.”
He shook his head, kissing me again, my shock giving way to the desire that always stole me when he held me. Kai tightened his grip for a second but then let me go, holding my face.
“I thought we had a war against the vampires coming, but it turns out the humans have the bloodsuckers beat.” He smirked, then carried on walking.
I squinted back at the men’s village, then ran to catch up with Kai.
“Are we going to see my mother?” I asked, and he nodded.
“I thought you’d want to see her before we go,” he said, and I smiled.
“Yeah. I do,” I said, and moved ahead of him, ignoring the shocked gasps and whispers of the ladies, finding Mom’s hut and going in.
She was turning toward me from the kitchen bench, a hot cup of tea in her hand, Ryleigh sitting at the small dining table, when Mom’s eyes flicked to me.
She gasped, the cup dropping from her hands, shattering all over the floor. I sucked in a breath and rushed to help her pick it up, but she brushed passed me, her eyes filled with tears.
She threw herself at Kai, hitting and sobbing hysterically. He grunted, pursing his lips but taking the hits without retaliating.
“You promised! You said you wouldn’t hurt her! You swore to me she was safe! How could you?!” she screamed at him, and I rushed to her, pulling her back, Ryleigh helping me as Kai clenched and unclenched his jaw.
“I’ll give you a minute,” he said sternly, then stepped outside as my mom sank into me.
I lowered us to the ground and held her as she cried, clutching me. She turned, wrapping her arms around my neck, holding me.
“My baby girl. What have they done to you?” she breathed, her sobs hiccuping against my chest.
I swallowed back my tears, only a few escaping.
“I’m okay, Mom, I swear it. The alphas have kept me well, safe. They’ve been incredible. I promise you, how I look right now is not the normal,” I said, trying to calm her down.
She gave me a once-over, her chin wobbling as she slowly stood, patting herself down, trying to collect herself.
Ryleigh finished cleaning up the smashed teacup, then went to the kettle over the fireplace. “I’ll make some more tea,” she said as I stood up with my mom.
She pulled me in again, then pulled me toward the bathroom.
“Come, baby. Let me wash you,” she said, and I wanted to say no, but her comfort was everything to me.
I nodded and let her wash me. She asked about everything, and I told her. Not about my brother, of course, she wasn’t ready for that and I didn’t want to worry her more.
But I told her about my alphas and how they really were. Fun, caring, protective. A little crazy, but that made her laugh. Apparently all men were.
I didn’t tell her about Dad. It would break her heart, and I had already done that once today.
I got out of the tub and dressed in some of my old clothes. She brushed and braided my hair, telling me about the latest village gossip, and it made me smile to have her smile.
I felt her happiness within me, and as much as I wanted to confide everything in her, find out what she knew, I couldn’t bring her down.
Kai joined us for supper. My mother warily apologized, watching every move he made around me.
He was on his best behavior. He kissed me, my forehead, my cheek, my hand. He proved everything I said true, and in that moment, I almost felt complete, but there was something missing.
Two things, actually. Derik and Brax.
I felt them deep inside me, and it made me nervous. They were dealing with the fallout from today, while I was having supper with my mother.
It was my brother who had brought this on the werewolves; I should be there, weathering the storm with them, or at least providing the salve afterward.
“Lorelai, did you hear?”
My mother interrupted my thoughts, and I shook my head. “Sorry, I was elsewhere.
What did you say?”
She smiled and looked at the time. “I suppose it is getting late. Your alphas will be rather anxious for you to get back to them if everything you say is to be believed.
And I suspect that is where your mind keeps running off to.”
She smiled knowingly, clearing the dishes.
I wiped my face with my napkin and grinned. “I don’t like being away from them,” I admitted, and she smiled wider.
“That is probably a good thing, considering you are being kept there.”
She winked, and I chuckled at her taunt. Even Kai smirked, his hand on my thigh.
“You’re excused then, Lorelai, but Nikolai?” She turned to him. “If you bring her back to me on Sundays looking like she did, I will not send her back. Do you understand me? I will make you kill me before I let her back into the city if that is how she comes back to me,” my mother warned, and Kai nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
I smiled and hugged my mom goodbye.
“Be safe. I know I haven’t taught you much, but trust your instincts, Lorelai. You’ll know when you need to run and when you need to stay and fight for what you want. I love you more than anything, and you know if you need me, I’ll be there,”
she breathed into my shoulder, squeezing me tight.
I hugged her closer, tears welling as I nodded.
I left with Kai after that, unable to linger or I’d find it harder to leave.
He shifted and I climbed onto his back, not caring who saw now. He ran us back to the city faster than before, and I lay down along his spine, hiding in his long fur.
I didn’t let go until we were back at the mansion, and that’s when I knew something was different. Derik and Brax felt different. Worn out, tired, defeated.
They needed me.
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?