Mated & Blooded, A Blood Ties Novel, Book 1 (13 page)

I treated her like a mother would treat a
sick child. I murmured words of encouragement as I placed her into
the shower and washed down her filthy revolting body. I removed
several weeks’ worth of dirt and filth.

Once she was clean, I walked her back into
the main room and turned down the blankets. I lifted her gently in
my arms and laid her in the bed. I knew that she’d had a full
mental break down. It was clear that her husband and alpha had been
mind screwing her for years. I’d managed to break his hold, but
left her defenseless against the emotions that assaulted her.

It was clear she was experiencing too many
emotions at once. I gently touched her face and forced myself into
her mind. Once there, I encouraged her to find herself and come
back to reality. I promised her that if she fought to get healthy I
would help her have her revenge.

Her eyes briefly shone with clarity before
they became murky again and closed. I moved around the room
silently cleaning up the soiled floor and laying out clean clothes
for her and left the room.

I knew I should head to the cave to feed the
alpha but didn’t really feel like it. I’d had enough of wolves for
one day. I wasn’t going back to the BlueRidge pack house today, and
I wasn’t going near any more wolves. I would call Kalli after I fed
and let her know how to gain access to my cave. Then it would be up
to her and Lucas to decide what his father’s care and or punishment
would be.

I needed to have some time on my own to come
to grips with this situation. I was a fool to think that I would be
okay sitting on the sidelines watching my beloved with another man.
The sight of them together infuriated and repulsed me.

With slow precision I found myself moving
towards the comfort of my bedroom. I started to strip myself of my
clothes as soon as I crossed the threshold. I moved into the
bathroom and turned the shower water on as hot as it would go and
climbed in. The water was hot enough to scorch my skin. I leaned in
and arched myself so that my face was fully exposed to searing
water and let myself cry. I knew if I looked down I would see a
stream of blood stained water disappearing down the drain just like
my dreams.

I couldn’t believe my luck. Lucas left pack
territory without a reigning alpha in charge. It was better than I
had planned. Everything I had been working towards was coming to
fruition. My father and Lucas were both gone. The best part was
Lucas had already gotten the council to agree that a new alpha
could be named without a challenge.

All I needed to do now was call a pack
meeting and name myself Alpha. This past week had been a terrible
strain but it had all been worth it. I’d had to act like I gave a
crap about Lucas’s pathetic excuse of a mate and fake trying to
locate the bitch. I was so happy that things were all working out
way better than we could have planned it. We didn’t even have any
blood on our hands. I thought about how it had all come together
while I pulled out my clothes and get dressed for the event of my
life.

I spent the week Lucas had been away with her
rallying the troops. Every one of the bro’s but my twin Ryan
agreed. Cody, Joel and Lance were with me. I knew Ryan would come
around. In the least he would never betray me and alert Lucas or
Logan to the plan. The bros and I approached the pack two days
before Lucas came back with the blood sucking bitch.

I took the stage and told the crowd it was
time for new leadership; it was time to retired Logan and a new
generation to rule the pack. The pack agreed, the freak could not
be allowed to become our Luna, therefore he could not become are
alpha. I convinced the crowd that I was their savior. Now, I am
going to be the next Alpha of the Northern Star pack.

Word of Lucas’s departure had spread quickly
through the pack today. The time was ripe, my pack is ready for me
to name myself alpha. Lance popped his head into my room and told
me it was time to go. The pack had assembled in the town square and
was awaiting my arrival. I looked at myself in the mirror taking in
my black silk button up top stretched tight against my chest and my
designer jeans. I smiled at myself one last time and went to join
them.

I left the house surrounded by my closest
friends. I was missing only my brother at my side. No biggy I
thought to myself. He will show up. Once I reached the town square,
I positioned myself in the dead center so that I was surrounded by
my pack on all sides. I lifted my hands into the air and shouted
with my loudest alpha voice.

“Here me now Northern Star pack. I Robert
Madison do hear by claim myself as Alpha of the Northern Star pack.
Any who oppose me say so now and prepare for a death challenge.
Otherwise bow now and pledge allegiance to me!”

I knew everyone present would accept me.
Those pack members who didn’t want me to be alpha had already left.
I believe most of those were old members of BlueRidge and
Rockledge. I believe even now they are hiding like scared puppies
in the mountains.

As expected, all members bowed down and
tilted their heads exposing their necks to me. I growled loudly and
howled. My pack howled back. As was tradition, we all shifted and
ran our territory boundaries.

I can’t believe this is happening this way. I
watched as Rob proclaimed himself alpha of the Northern Star pack.
This wasn’t right, it was Lucas’s birthright. I would have called
and warned Lucas but when I got back from checking on the deserters
it was too late.

Things are really getting out of hand. My dad
and the Luna are missing. I have been playing pseudo alpha for a
bunch of deserters, and Lucas the next true heir is back at
BlueRidge playing house with his hybrid mate.

I love Rob, but he wasn’t meant to be the
alpha of the Northern Star pack and I have no intention of bowing
down to him. Things have already gone to hell. I guess I am just
going to have to live with the consequences. I looked to my left
and right. No one was paying attention to me so I cautiously
stepped back into the woods. The moment I was out of eyesight I
turned and bolted off for the mountains.

I approached our temporary camp with caution
and looked around me. I watched them mill around the tents and
campfires. It was hard to believe that only a few weeks ago all of
these people had what I thought were normal happy lives. The past
few weeks had really opened my eyes and changed my realities.

I can remember clearly how things happened.
It was Rob that inadvertently opened Pandora’s Box. It started the
night after Lucas called us and said that he’d found his mate. Rob
called a private pack meeting and announced Lucas’s mating to Kalli
the hybrid. He spoke of the danger she represented and manage to
incite half the pack to agree with him.

He then questioned the crowd on what would
happen if Lucas challenged Alpha Logan? He poked and prodded the
crowd to answer. Most believed Lucas would win the challenge. Then
he alleged that if Lucas became the new Alpha of Northern Star he
would force the pack to accept Kalli. He kept at it until everyone
was riled up and petrified that death, destruction and disaster
were but moments away.

Then he did the unthinkable. He offered
himself as a solution. He started to come up with a strategy on a
coup d'état. He actually proposed overthrowing Logan and removing
Lucas and Kalli as a threat permanently. This wasn’t just a
takeover this was going to be murder.

I was in shock as I heard the pack murmur in
approval. I looked around expecting the voice of reason to come
from the crowd. Suddenly I realized I had to be that voice of
reason. So I opened my mouth and protested the plan. I was firm in
my conviction that Lucas’ should be given a fair chance to be
alpha. I supported his choice in Luna even going as far as saying
that Kalli’s bloodline was as pure as the rest of us. I was booed
into silence some pack members even chose to push into me and
threaten me with violence.

Shortly after the meeting however, several
wolves approached me. Ones that hadn’t shouted approval of the new
plan, ones that had silently listened and quietly left afterward.
They were smart wolves that were afraid of consequences of Robs
plans, ones that feared what would happen next.

They spoke of the past and how my father had
forcibly pulled them into the pack. They told me stories of
deception, rape and murder. They spoke of their true last alphas
and their ancestral lands. They feared that history was about to
repeat itself and they wanted their mates and pups as far from the
danger as they could. They begged me to lead them out of
Armageddon.

So here I was, helping and protecting more
than one hundred and fifty wolves in the middle of nowhere. We had
no homes, we had no income, and we had no real source of food or
shelter. Worse, we had no real plan on what to do next.

As I entered the camp, my presence was
quickly noticed. I was approached by one of the elderly wolves.

“Alpha Ryan” he said

“Why have you returned tonight? Has it
happened is the war about to begin?” he questioned.

“It has” I said in a quiet voice

“Rob has declared himself Alpha of the
Northern Star pack.”

“Where is Alpha Lucas?” Someone shouted
towards me

“I think he has been reunited with his mate
and they are currently at the BlueRidge pack house”

Most nodded sadly and started to go back to
what they had been doing before I arrived. I felt myself getting
more tired by the moment and sat down next to one of the fire pits
and rested my head in my hands.

I sat there for well over an hour not moving
just thinking about what our next steps should be. I was jostled
out of my thought when I heard a collective gasp. I shot to my feet
and caught sight of several wolves I had never seen before walking
into our camp.

There were five in total, three shewolves and
two males. The women were beautiful, but one in particular held my
eyes. She was the most angelic woman I had ever seen. She had the
darkest black hair that hung below her waste, a gorgeous heart
shaped face and the most perfect kissable lips that I had ever
saw.

They walked calmly but resolutely into our
camp without any fear. They looked left and right as they continued
to move closer. Then, her scent was carried on the wind to me. She
smelled of apple blossoms. Not just any apple blossoms but the
sweetest apple blossoms in the world. That’s when I realized I was
standing in the presence of my mate.

The woman next to my mate took another step
forward and blocked my line of sight to my mate. I didn’t mean to,
but I growled low in my throat. The woman’s eyes opened a bit more
before she stepped aside and I could see

my mate again. Then she started to speak.

“Good evening all, I recognize many of you so
I am sure you recognize me. For those who don’t, I am Anita of the
Rockledge pack. She pointed left to a woman who also looked very
much like my mate and said

“This is my sister Alice” then she pointed at
my mate and continued with

“and my daughter Lily” Then nodding in my
direction she added

“and I believe your mate”

I looked down at my mate who was sprawled out
on the floor. Her face was covered in blood. If I had to guess I
would bet her nose was broken. My wolf whined inside of me. He knew
it was our fault and didn’t like the idea that we’d hurt our
mate.

I pulled off my tee shirt and wiped some of
the blood off her face. I tried to apologize, but I knew Kalli
didn’t really want to hear it. I am sure she felt like I was being
immature about this situation. I guess she was right. I thought
back to her comment about how he smelled. Then I felt something
deep inside of me crack.

In those few moments all of my hopes and
desires started to vanish before my eyes. I was broken now and I
knew it. She admitted that he smelled of spring after a rain not a
rotten corpse. That meant it was true. She had to be his beloved.
Everyone knew that a blooded vampire stopped decaying when they
bonded with their beloved. He still smelled like he was decaying to
me but not to her. That meant she was his beloved.

I hadn’t wanted to admit it. I wanted Kalli
all to myself but I couldn’t deny it anymore, Nikoli was her
beloved. She would need him in her life as much as she needed me.
Her soul would fracture and dissipate if he wasn’t part of her
life.

I wasn’t sure how much of a role he needed to
play in her life, but I knew he would have to have a role. I was
going to need to speak to one of the old members of the BlueRidge
pack. If I remembered correctly they once lived with a vampire and
had a real good understanding of how the blooding worked. In the
meantime, I was going to have to try to play nice. In the least I
was going to have to stop fighting it.

I sat Kalli on the couch and told her to
feed. I closed my eyes the moment her fangs pierced my skin. The
sensations invaded my senses almost immediately. It was so erotic
and wonderful. I loved the way my blood heated. I felt myself
getting very excited. If it wasn’t for the fact that the vampire
was going to be back shortly, I think I might have pushed the issue
and finally bonded with my mate.

I rolled the situation over and over again in
my mind. Could Kalli and I still bond? Would their relationship be
physical like Kalli and mine? Was his claim to her stronger than my
claim? Would I be expected to live my life without her or worse
share her in all ways? I wish I had been calm enough earlier to
listen to what this all meant.

On the good side, for now her wolf wouldn’t
accept him so maybe that meant I had a real chance to keep my mate.
I wanted her so badly and couldn’t image having to live life
without her. I was going to have to stop thinking of him as the
vampire and start thinking of him as Nikoli. All I knew was I
wanted Kalli in my life in any capacity even if I only got second
best.