Owned By The Alphas: Part Five (2 page)

W
hen Calt
, Shaynah, and Thanot arrived, the boulder was pushed aside and a good deal of snow had blown into the entrance of the den, fanned out by the powerful wind. The three quickly shifted and entered, met by Kyren who’d been listening for their approach. She waved them in, holding pelts out. “We have to keep fires low because our walls and ceiling are made of wood, and with this weather, you’ll need these.”

They put them on as Calt glanced around the den. It was as it had been before. He could not see Lucin and Lorn. “Where are my young ones?”

“This way,” Kyren motioned for them.

“I am a fool,” Shaynah muttered to herself as they followed. “I was in such a hurry, I did not bring my medicines. I have come with nothing.”

With a voice of authority, Kyren soothed her. “You come with knowledge. We have healing salves and herbal potions. You will know which to use, when I do not. I am glad you have come. He needs you.” She put her hand on the elder’s back and rubbed it as she led them to the beta’s den, the one where Ali had fought her wolf’s fever the last time they were here.

Calt barely saw the rock wall as he walked through its cutout door. He barely noticed the light from the fire fade as they made their way quickly back. All he could think of was his wolves and of his mate…a wolf now, herself. His chest felt tight and his nerves tattered. Images of a grizzly attacking his pack members haunted him as they walked. “Is Bloo hurt?”

Kyren shook her head. “No. She and Tawny are unscathed.”

He nodded and followed her in.

Two small torches, wedged into the ground, lighted the beta’s den. Lorn did not look up at their arrival. It wasn’t even clear she knew they were there. She sat by the large bed with both her hands on Lucin’s arm as she stared at him. Dark circles hung below her dropping eyelids. Calt saw her first, but it was when he looked at Lucin that his heart fell.

Shaynah rushed forward and felt the young wolf’s forehead.

The young wolf was so pale that his lips could not be distinguished from his cheeks. He was covered in pelts and every muscle in his face was lax. Out of instinct Calt listened for a heartbeat and found one, but it was faint and slow, and the gaps between it long and filled with suspense that another beat would not follow.

Lorn’s eyelashes slowly rose. She whispered, “Shaynah. Save him.”

“All that we have in the way of medicine is by your side,” Kyren said.

Shaynah whispered, “I will try, my love. I will do my very, very best.” She turned and searched through the vials and jars, her worried fingers dropping one. She quickly snatched it back up and forced her shoulders to relax.

Calt swiped Lorn into his arms as she cried out, “I’m sorry! I’m
so
sorry!”

He whispered against her knotted hair, “Shhh…shhh. It is I who am sorry.” Tightening his hold, he lowered them both to sit on the bed with Lorn cradled on his lap, her face buried in his neck as she cried. The sound of her pain echoed dully off the sequoia, and Calt wished with all of his soul that he could go back in time to undue all of this.

Lucin.

He stared at the young wolf’s unconscious face, thinking how different he looked. “He must not leave us,” Calt whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion.

Shaynah threw a determined glance at him as she nodded. “They have a few things I do not even have back home. This is soapwort; it takes the place of soap, and has healing effects on cuts. And this?” She scooped out dark, chunky goo from another container. “Crushed olives. These have antiseptic qualities.” She motioned to the collection beside her. “There’s Lavender, Sage, and Aloe Vera. Aloe is the best remedy for healing there is.” She asked Kyren, “Do you have fresh water?”

The she-wolf nodded, her long black hair catching in the light. “Yes. I will get it.”

“Please. I plan to heal him from the inside out… make him drink the Aloe even if it’s only a drop at a time.” She pulled back the pelts and swallowed hard. A tear betrayed her. He was torn up with claw marks on his legs, stomach and neck. Shaynah blinked and met their eyes.

“Pray.”

Kyren rushed out for the water and Lorn tumbled forward to bury her face in Lucin’s hair.

Shaynah held her hands up, moving them slowly through the air above his wounds. “When trauma hits us, it sends a negative jolt of energy into our cells. That energy lodges within, telling us we are hurt. It stays there, and does not want to leave. It does this to protect us. It
thinks
it is stopping the thing from happening again, but that is not possible. Instead, what it really does, is hold onto the hurt so that we, in essence, feel it again and again. A sick reminder. Healing cannot be fully realized until it is released.” She glanced to Calt. “It is why an old wound will ache for years afterward. Why a woman who has been raped or molested, cheated on or abused in any way, mysteriously acquires a disease even as severe as ovarian cancer, maladies in places associated with her femininity.” She focused back on Lucin. “Lucin’s spirit and body have both been damaged. The violence of this attack…I will help him release that trauma. Then his outer body can begin to heal. I will create harmony and increase his positive vibration. If I am successful, his healing will speed up, as it should.”

“And if you are not?” Lorn asked.

“I do not have time to think on such things,” Shaynah whispered.

Calt laid a hand on Lucin’s leg and watched Shaynah’s hands float and hover above him. Her eyelashes shivered as she took the young wolf’s pain into herself, then shook out her hands to release it to the heavens. Lorn rose up to watch. The healing act was mesmerizing and powerful. The room began to feel differently, to warm up, and the torches flared brighter, their flames flickering even though there was no wind.

Kyren returned and placed the large carved-out stone filled with water by the healer. She stepped back to watch, compelled to silence. They stayed like this for a while. While Shaynah continued to work, no one spoke. Not until Thanot reminded them of his near-forgotten existence by asking, “Umm…Lorn? Do you know where Red is? And Ali? Could you describe it to us, where it is?”

Lorn nodded, glancing to Calt with shame on her face. “It’s just before the place you went when we first got here, when you were looking for dens.” Calt frowned, trying to remember that far back. So much had happened since. “The small caves? We stayed there once, remember?”

The memory flashed before his mind. With Rait, Calt, Dak and Calus, the place had been a joke, totally unable to contain them for an extended period of time, much less the others, too. But it had been a warm night with the whole pack tucked in for one day, and a pleasant memory. “Yes. I remember.” He cut a look to Lucin. “I should have thought of that place. And that is where the grizzly found you?”

Lorn’s eyes went liquid again as she shook her head. “No. It was when we searched for food. We found a baby bear. We thought it was alone!” She covered her face with her hands. “We were so foolish!”

Calt gathered her up again and kissed her head. “No, Sweet One. You were brave.”

She looked up with surprise. He couldn’t help but smile sadly at her expression. “I am not the cold villain you must think me. I know you love him. I give my blessing for you to be with him. Neither of you will
ever
be without a home or family. Do you hear me?” She nodded, and he wished he could take away the pain he saw in her eyes. “And he will get well!” He set Lorn back down and stood. “You send him all your love, Sweet One. Shaynah, I must go and find my mate.”

“She’s a wolf!” Lorn whispered, remembering.

“Yes. So it would appear.”

“I’d like to go with you,” Thanot offered, his shoulders nervously hunched.

Calt nodded and motioned for him to follow. But then he stopped and turned back. He strode to Lucin’s side. Kneeling down he laid a strong hand on the crown of the young wolf’s head. “Lucin, if you can hear me.
I love you.
Do not leave us.” Calt leaned forward and kissed the clammy forehead, holding his warm lips there until his heart could no longer take it.

“Bring this,” Shaynah said, handing him a small satchel.

“What is it?”

“Needle and thread. And Aloe.”

Calt stared at her, then left the room without looking back, the sound of Thanot scrambling to follow, not far behind.

Kyren came out after them. “I will guard the door. Do what you must. All will be well here!”

Calt stripped off the borrowed pelt, tossed it by the exit and lunged to all fours, the satchel in his teeth. Thanot’s shift was less graceful, but he did the best he could. As they tore through the forest, Calt could hear the wolf panting. He admired his spirit, if not his strength. You do the best with what you are given; that is all that is required.

Visibility was horrible. The winds whipped east then west without warning. The trees swayed with them and debris flew through the air. Visions of the grizzly continued to torture Calt as he raced. When he found himself heading off course, he barked at Thanot and doubled back, then headed for the river.

Through the sleet and snow he saw movement ahead. Sharpening his sight with deadly focus, he slowed for caution, but then saw two pairs of naked legs, a great shape atop them, and two more pairs behind. No human would be out here like that. He howled and ran faster, expecting to see his mate and the other alpha among them. Thanot howled as well, understanding what had been seen, though too far back to see it for himself.

Tawny’s voice carried, “Calt!” on the wind, wrapping around him. She sounded worried and his immediate thought was that it was the torrential winds that had her scared. But that assumption was quickly replaced. Tawny was not one to be concerned with such things as Mother Nature’s moods. He knew her better than that.

Something else was wrong.

He used all his speed to reach them, and as he did, he rose up on hind legs before he’d even begun the change. Standing, he shifted quickly, shaking out his head and dropping the satchel in his palm as he searched the party.

“Where is my mate?” His voice grew more urgent and deep with each proceeding question. “Where is Ali? Red? Why do you return without them?” He was asking only Tawny.

She stared at him, speechless, a bear cub in her arms. Bloo cut a quick glance between them. “They weren’t there when we returned. They weren’t there!” She searched his eyes, begging him to understand.

Momentarily confused, he scanned the faces and saw regret. Calt grabbed Bloo’s shoulders and lifted her off the ground. “What do you mean?! Where are they?”

She frantically shook her head. “We don’t know!”

“The snow covered their tracks,” Tawny called out. “We searched.”

“We did not search enough!” Motis growled, his muscles straining under the weight of the dead beast.

Calt released Bloo and turned to the brothers. “Tell me!”

Jal spoke fast. “We decided if Red wanted to run off with the hu…er…your mate...”

Calt’s roar cut him off, the volume as painful to their ears as the icy winds were to their naked bodies. Turning on Tawny, he snarled, “You! You chose not to search!”

She strode forward and yelled in his face, “Do not bloat your already glacier-sized ego by thinking that I would ever do something like this to be with you!”

“That is not what I said,” he growled.

“You may as well have! It is clearly what you are thinking!” Her chest heaved with fury. “We
all
decided! We all chose.”

Thanot surprised them by shouting, “Why are you arguing? Go get them back!”

Calt cocked his head and regarded the scrawny, shivering wolf. Throwing a sneer at his ex-lover, he went to leave, bouncing the leather bag in his hand as his wolf crashed against his brain, eager to run.

Bloo jogged after him. “I can come with you!”

“I will handle this matter myself,” he growled at her.

“Calt! Please, let me help!”

He whipped around to unleash his rage, his wolf dying to get out and do some damage. The other alpha had taken his mate from him again! He would tear him limb from limb as soon as he found them. The grizzly would be nothing compared to what he would do! But as he was about to lash at Bloo, tiny icicles clinging to her hair caught his eye. Surprised by her chattering teeth, he cut a glance past her to the others. They were all near freezing. He had not seen it because the news they had delivered had eclipsed everything else.

The alpha inhaled chilled air on a deep, calming breath, as he remembered who he was. He was his father’s son. He must lead.

He clasped a hand on the she-wolf’s shoulder and called over the winds to include them all, “It is time for you to return and get warm. You have done your duty. This is not your fault. Bloo, you must shift. You are pale with cold.” She shook her head, eyes darting back to Tawny. “You want to stay like this for Tawny, since she needs her arms to carry the cub.” She nodded and he pursed his lips. “Commendable. I expect no less. Then hurry. All of you. Thanot!” The wolf straightened to attention. “Help your brothers. They are carrying too great a weight for the distance in these conditions.”

“They can count on me!” Thanot called back, his voice deepened with responsibility.

Calt bowed his head and met the eyes of his ex-lover. “We have some talking to do. When I return.”

Tawny tightened her hold on the bear cub, the little creature burrowing into her chest.

Calt turned to Bloo. “I am sorry I handled you. I was angry. I
am
angry.”

“You don’t ever have to apologize to me,” she told him.

His grim face told her he did not agree. “I will return as soon as I am able. I need to handle this problem, once and for all.”

Some nodded, others stared with acceptance. Calt turned. He walked a few long strides, his blood boiling as he glanced down at the satchel in his hand, knowing it was meant to heal the wolf who had stolen his mate. Again. He tossed it into his teeth, shifted and bounded forward.

If the other alpha was hurt, then they would need shelter and they would need it fast, which meant they would take the first place they found. If the grizzly fight was near the small caves, that’s where they would go to get out of this storm. When it abated, they would most likely continue onward to get farther away. That’s what he would do, if he were in the other alpha’s place.