My Alphas: The Complete Series (22 page)

“Change before I kill you right now,” Rey growled, his fist ready to strike again.

The wolf cowered and then shifted underneath him. Once he was in human form, Rey placed his hand around his throat.

“If you lie, you die. If you try to run, you die. Understand?”

The boy looked up at him, his eyes wet with terror. They were pale blue, underneath shaggy brown hair. As Rey looked down at him he realized it looked as though puberty had risen from the feet up and hadn’t made it past his shoulders.

He also realized the wolf looked familiar.

“Who is your father?” Rey demanded.

The boy said nothing but Rey felt his pulse drumming faster under his fingers.

Resisting the urge to kill him and be done with it, Rey let go of his throat and stood up, stepping back a pace.

“I’m not going to kill you,” he said, not believing the words were coming out of his mouth. “Now sit up and tell me who your father is.”

The boy sat up and took a shuddering breath.

“My father is Javcer,” he said.

*

The phone stopped chiming and Cass sat down at the table to read the messages. They had started a day after Melanie had been returned to Hinton and the first one was a doozy.

Cass, this is Melanie. The powers-that-be are sending men for you. I told them you wanted to stay but they went anyway. Perhaps if you meet them we can stop pointless bloodshed.

“Bullshit,” Cass said under her breath. The powers-that-be? Cass noticed she didn’t say “the police” or “the government”. Weren’t the militia some random group of racist gun-toting hicks with a bug up their ass and a desire to kill werewolves? Some assholes calling themselves Werewolf Safe World but they were a cover for the genocidal World Without Werewolves maniacs. Meet them to avoid bloodshed. What a load of garbage. More like meet them, get forcibly taken back to Hinton and locked up under some dubious mental health b.s.

Cass scrolled down, reading through the messages. They alternated between begging her to come back, telling her they loved and cared for her and vaguely threatening and exasperated, as though she were a disobedient schoolgirl who wouldn’t stop seeing that bad boy who rode a motorbike and was no good, no good at all.

I wasn’t lying when I said human mothers die in werewolf childbirth. Please, think about it.

No, she wasn’t lying Cass thought. But human mothers died in
human
childbirth, even now and Cass was damn sure she was lying about how dangerous it was. Every werewolf alive had a human mother. The Arctos pack was some forty werewolves so what was that? Forty dead mothers to make this pack? Cass didn’t buy it.

You need to come to Hinton! It is very dangerous to be with those wolves!

I forbid you to see that boy. He’s bad.

Yeah, bad for
you
. Showing me your brand of crazy is fucking crazy and perhaps there’s another way to think and live.

Cass’ mother in particular had been a master of manipulation and it was honestly pathetic reading Melanie trying to play the same game. It was like watching a teenager first pick up those tools of lying, emotional blackmail and manipulation and bungle them.

“Appeal to authority, appeal to emotion, dose of fear with child raising information, vague threat of unspecified doom lest I obey…”

Cass read to the bottom and noticed the last message had arrived this morning. It was the cheerful fake smile but really rictus:
Good morning! Do you want to chat?

Cass ran through scenarios ranging from smashing the phone to pieces and burying it to pouring a torrent of not-so-nice words down on Melanie.

How dare she threaten my pack Cass thought.

My pack.

My Alphas.

Mine.

The thoughts seemed to come from outside her, dropping into place one after the other. Vara telling her she was the middle. Cass creating a plan to end the militia attack without human or werewolf casualties. Perhaps somewhere in ten days of sex and denial, some part of her was sliding along to… acceptance?

Cass bit her lip and typed a message:

Melanie, I am Pack Mate of the Arctos Pack. I am the one who created the plan to turn the militia back. You should thank me - without it, the werewolves would have killed them all. I am not lost nor fooled, deluded, obsessed, mindless or out of my depth. I am right where I chose to be. If you want to do anything good for werewolves and humans, convince your friends to leave us alone. However, if you are intent on destroying my pack then know you are my enemy.

Have a nice day!

She read it once over and before her sudden burst of courage could desert her, pressed send.

*

Edon walked through the forest, the dark thoughts crowding his mind matching the shadows around him.

Kita had accepted his new assignment without question and departed shortly thereafter, perhaps sensing he needed to be alone. He knew she was concerned but the moment she was gone, his mind slipped away to other more important issues.
The
most important issue.

The curse was approaching. He could already feel it, an itch in his bones, a pressure in the back of his head. Cass’ body was giving out hormonal signals below the threshold of consciousness and soon he would be enslaved.

They
would be enslaved.

Rey, the violent halfwit. The weak-

“Stop it,” Edon told himself. He stripped off his clothes and then shifted, picking up the bundle in his mouth. In wolf form he could still think but thoughts were more easily pushed aside in the flood of scents and sounds. He could feel the cool air between the trees, the slight dampness of the earth. He could smell rotting leaves and the spoor of small animals living under logs and hiding in the branches above. He could smell-

Cass.

Edon breathed in deeply and then ran. He had to get to his mate, he had to take her somewhere safe. He needed her now now now now now now now now…

*

Rey leapt into the stream and let it wash the blood on his paws away. He dipped his muzzle in the icy water, feeling the cold numb his face.

After talking with the boy, Huncer, Rey had done something out of character and let him go, giving him a warning to stay out of their territory unless given a formal invitation.

Huncer’s father was Javcer, Carcer’s brother and number one rival to take over control of Turo pack. When Carcer became Alpha (after killing their father), Javcer left in the night, taking ten werewolves with him, including his son. Now they were exiles from Turo pack, out on their own, nameless and homeless.

Rey didn’t bother asking where Javcer and his tiny pack were hiding out. They were no threat to Arctos. Huncer maintained he’d been “out hunting” when Rey found him but Rey knew the truth because he’d lived that life. Young males tested the boundaries and at a certain age started going out on their own. They’d leave and return, going further away and for longer periods of time until one day they left and didn’t return. It was a process that could stretch out over a number of years.

Unless your father is a violent fool thought Rey, stepping out of the stream and shaking the water off him.

Rey had tested the boundaries but on his second time away had returned to his father rushing out to attack him and rip him to pieces like he was another rival werewolf. He’d fled, catching only a blurred glimpse of his stepmother Julia standing near their den entrance. It was the last time he ever saw her. He’d been thirteen. Shortly after he met Edon, fleeing his own misery and they’d paired up, becoming friends.

Somewhat dry, Rey took off, heading back to the den. He had no love for Javcer and his tiny rival pack but a civil war would keep the Turo pack nicely occupied and possibly weaken them. With any luck, Javcer would kill Carcer and become Alpha. Rey had only met Javcer twice but knew he was not the bloodthirsty lunatic Carcer was. After seeing Carcer with the bald-human kill the two attacking werewolves, he was convinced taking out Carcer would solve a lot of problems.

As Rey had spoken with Huncer, he felt as though he was channeling Edon. He wasn’t thinking of killing nor of giant battles of pack against pack. This different kind of power was addictive. He’d instructed Huncer to tell Javcer to meet them in two weeks and then released him.

Feeling somewhat pleased with himself, Rey had begun the run back, a strange energy running through his body. He’d paused only to chase and kill a wild pig, enjoying a moment of pure savagery. Once he’d eaten, he continued on his way, the sun rapidly setting and the shadows lengthening.

The closer he came to the den, the faster he went, drawing on some new source of power. His mind slipped away from the Turo pack and their internal politics and to Cass. Her lips. Her body. Her eyes locked on his, her breath gasping.

He had to have her.

Now.

*

Cass paced the empty room, sweat running down her body, wishing the den had air-conditioning. It was meant to be Fall but again the weather didn’t match the season. After messaging “Melanie”, Cass had turned the phone off and returned it to its hiding place before locking up the cabin. The burst of courage had lingered and on her way to the den she decided she and the Alphas would talk. Either one or both if they were around. But to talk and not fall into bed they needed a room
without
a bed. Cass had spoken with Nia and she’d led her to an empty room, higher up in the den. Cass would’ve preferred chairs and a table so there was a physical barrier between her and the wolves but she’d do the best with what she had.

The higher they went, the warmer it got and despite night falling it did little to cool Cass off.

“Oh what is going on,” Cass complained, feeling her body radiating heat. She was wearing a thin dress and not much else but it still seemed too much. She wanted to be naked to help her cool off but the instant Edon or Rey saw her like that there would be very little talking done.

She heard footsteps in the corridor and turned in time to see Edon enter. He was naked and covered with a thin sheen of sweat, as though he’d been running. Despite knowing going to him almost guaranteed sexy naked times, Cass couldn’t resist. She encircled his body with her arms as he pulled her against him.

“Cass,” he breathed and then kissed her.

Cass’ world spun, the kiss seeming to weaken her legs so she fell more into him. It stole her breath and demanded complete submission. She felt his hands run down her back and grab her ass and she pushed herself against his body.

“Need to talk,” Cass mumbled but then she couldn’t talk because he kissed her again, his fingers in her hair, his strong arm wrapped around her body. She bit his lip and heard him growl, a deep feral sound that rumbled up from his chest.

Somehow between one absorbing kiss and another, Cass caught her breath and her mind returned long enough to step back, even as Edon reached to lift up her dress. His fingers brushed her thigh and in the dim room his eyes seemed alive with wild energy.

“We need-” Cass began to say, her sentences falling to pieces, her conversation blotted out by the demanding ache she felt below.

There was a noise in the corridor and then Rey was in the room. Cass saw him and then there was a blur of movement as Edon attacked.

*

Rey rushed into the den, moving smoothly around pack werewolves in his path. Cass’ scent was everywhere. There on the rock shelf where she sat days ago. Over by the fire-pit. Faintly near the wall where she’d touched it with her hand. But they were fading trails, easily ignored. He followed a line of pure pleasure that traced from the door, through the den and then upwards. As he moved he felt he was swimming in a stream of hot water, every step faster than the last.

Rey caught Edon’s scent, overlaid in the corridor. He’d passed this way not too long after Cass. Under Cass’ overwhelming scent of sweetness mixed with pure sex, he could smell sweat, dirt and forest. Edon had been rushing.

Rey entered the room, his cock throbbing between his legs, eyes fixed on Cass and then Edon was upon him, hands reaching for his throat, eyes wild and human teeth bared.

Rey twisted out of his grasp, knocking Edon’s hands aside and shoved at him. Edon moved away a step but instantly came back, pulling Rey forward while swinging a vicious elbow that would take his head off if it connected. Rey managed to duck and felt it graze the top of his head. As he did, he grabbed Edon’s leg and toppled him, both of them falling to the floor, twisting and growling.

The world narrowed as they fought, neither able to get an advantage, neither able to safely shift.

Rey heard Cass screaming something but it was a distant echo. She was well away from them, safe and as soon as he killed Edon, she would be his.

The first splash of water caught Edon in the face and Rey used the opportunity to punch him. A moment later he was doused with icy water, getting a mouthful of it. He felt Edon push away from him and leap up. Rey did the same, wiping his eyes clear as he stood up, growling.

“Alphas! Stop!”

Rey saw Edon standing across from him, ready to attack and then Vara was between them.