Trapped Between Two Alphas (12 page)

How
she’d managed to sustain such injuries and still be breathing startled him. The
days after his first transition had been the worst. He couldn’t keep up with
his ever changing body let alone fight to stay alive.

“You’re
mine, bitch,” the man said.

The
knife was raised in the air. He didn’t give the man time to strike. Matt
charged the man. The human didn’t see him coming and didn’t put up much fight.

He
tore him in half. The scent of Cynthia was all over the man.

When
he was sure the human was dead Matt turned back to Cynthia. She’d stood in the
time it had taken for him to kill the man.

Matt
stared at the woman before him. Her blonde hair fell down to her waist, and her
curves had filled out. If he didn’t recognise Cynthia’s unique scent he
wouldn’t have recognised her. The hunters hadn’t killed her. They’d turned her
into a sport, and the thought of them hunting her filled him with such rage.
How dare they try to kill his woman?

She
stared at him with tears in her eyes. He dropped the human he’d just killed and
went to her.

“Matt?”
she asked. “What’s wrong with me?”

He
caught her before she collapsed to the floor. The transition had filled her
out. Her hips no longer held protruding bones. She was thick all over. Her
breasts were full and ripe. Matt stared down at her body and felt the
quickening inside his blood. He wanted her. Disgusted with himself Matt stemmed
the desire in his blood.

Kris
came out of the clearing in wolf form. In the next instant he was human.

“It
worked,” Kris said. He moved closer, and his hand reached out toward her. Her
blonde hair had dried, decaying blood along with mud and grass inside.

“Yeah,
it worked, but
look
at her, Kris. She’s injured. We
need to get her out of here.” Matt held her close.

“She
finally looks healthy.” Kris stroked her matted hair.

Arnold
and Leonard walked out of the clearing. “Most of the humans have been taken
down. We should be able to make it back without any problem from them. The
others have escaped and shouldn’t be much of a problem. I think they got the
message,”
Arnold
said.

Matt
nodded in his second’s direction. He was thankful to his men.

“We
need to get her home. I don’t want her hurt anymore.”

Wrapping
his arms around her Matt charged for the edge of the forest. Her arms lay limp
out from her body.

Kris
ran beside him, and he felt the packs following behind them. Her body was alive
and healthy. Matt scented the change on her skin. The aroma of death no longer
clung to her.

When
they got to Kris’s house he kicked open the door and went straight for the
bathroom. Kris followed behind him. The rest of their men stayed out of the
way.

Running
a bath, Matt lowered her into the water. She didn’t rouse for the first few
seconds. When she did she threw Matt and Kris away from her.

Her
growl filled the room.

“It’s
us, baby,” Kris said. “We’re going to wash you. Calm down.”

The
hurt in her eyes scared Matt. He didn’t want to lose her, but if she let go to
the beast inside her then they’d have no choice.

Her
head fell forward, and she slumped into the bath water, exhausted.

Approaching
her with caution Matt cupped her cheek forcing her to look at him. Tears filled
her eyes.

“I
could smell him,” she said.

Staring
down the length of his body Matt saw the blood of the man he’d killed all over
his body.

He
stepped into the bath water. “I’ll wash him off.”

Kris
stepped in behind her.

Together
they washed the scent of the hunters from their skin.

****

Kris
gazed at the naked woman in his bed. Cynthia lay naked and alive. Never in all
of his life had he been so scared. The thought of losing her filled him with
regret. She moaned in her sleep rolling over onto her side. The cuts that had
marked her skin were fading. The wolf blood inside her was starting to help her
regenerate.

“The
bite marks on her neck are still there,” Kris said.

Matt
walked into the room carrying a mug of coffee.

Kris
took the mug. He’d refused to leave his room. Watching her sleep filled him
with a deep sense of calm.

“They’re
part of our mating mark. She’ll have them for men to see. They won’t be
prominent when we claim her completely.” Matt sat down in the other chair
available.

“We
were so close to losing her,” Kris said.

“We
didn’t, and that’s what we’ve got to think about. We didn’t lose her, and we’re
never going to let her go again.”

Sipping
his coffee Kris shut off his depressive thoughts. The more he thought about
what those animals could have done to her the harder it was for him to sit and
take it.

“I’d
have killed those humans,” he said.

“I
know.” Matt let out a sigh. “We’re going to have to be careful. Someone else
will replace those hunters.”

“They’re
going to learn not to mess with us, Matt. If I see a hunter I’m taking him out.
I’m no longer playing the nice little wolf. They come on our land and they’re
dead.” Kris took Cynthia’s hand needing the comfort of her touch.

“I
think fighting back is our only plan. The men downstairs want revenge for their
fallen. When you kill one of our men you mess with the whole pack. I want to
kill them all,” Matt said.

The
other man’s bloodthirsty approach shocked Kris. Matt was usually the more level-headed
of the two.

Cynthia
whimpered in her sleep, drawing their attention.

Her
dreams were filled with nightmares. Kris didn’t know what she’d been through,
and he only hoped she was strong enough to fight the effects. He put the cup on
the floor and climbed onto the bed beside her.

Wrapping
his arms around her, Cynthia snuggled in close.

“Come
on. She needs us,” Kris said.

Matt
put his cup on the floor then joined them on the bed. Together they wrapped
their arms around her. The electricity sparked between them. The jolt went
straight to Kris’s cock.

Shit,
when would he gain control around her?

Chapter
Twelve

Cynthia opened her eyes and saw
everything in black and white. Frowning, she stared to her left and then to her
right to see Matt and Kris waiting for her. Their arms were folded over their
large expanses of chest.

Heart pounding she stood before
them. They were wearing jeans with no shirts. Glancing down her body she wore a
sundress similar to the one she’d been wearing when Kris had let her know what
he wanted, only now her dress was white.

“You’re here,” Kris said.

The trees held no colour. Nothing
held any colour, only the shades of black or white.

“Where is here?” she asked,
confused.

The last thing she remembered was
being saved by Matt. Frank had been ready to strike the killing blow. He’d
stood over her body sneering at her. The beauty she’d possessed had come from
being an animal. She was no longer human. Running her hands down her sides she
felt a difference in her body.

The strength in her muscles made her
feel relief.

“I’m not dead, am I?”

They shook their heads. Matt
chuckled. “Do you really think we’d let you die?”

“It was just sex. I don’t know what
to expect.” She blinked, and then her men were standing in front of her.

“It wasn’t just sex,” Kris said. He
took her hand and pressed her palm against his chest. His heart beat rapidly
against her palm. “I love you, Cynthia. You’re the woman for me.”

Matt took her other hand and pressed
it against his own heart. “And I love you, too. You’re our woman, Cynthia. We’d
die to protect you.”

She shook her head at the thought of
losing them. “Don’t speak of death. I can’t bear it.”

They each kissed her knuckles. The
electricity jolting among them shocked her.

“You feel it as well,” Matt said.
“Do you feel our need to be together?”

Cynthia nodded unable to put words
to her thoughts. When she was with them she felt protected and safe.

“Then no more words of being only
sex. You’re far more than that, Cynthia, and you’ll continue to be our woman.”
Kris cupped her cheek, smiling. “I can’t believe it worked.”

“What worked?”

Someone cleared their throat. She
turned to see her mother and father standing and looking at her.

“Mom?
Dad?”
Letting
go of her men she ran to her parents. She’d not seen them in so long. What was
going on? They were dead.

Still, she ran to them and embraced them.
They held her tightly, and they appeared younger.

“Our darling
girl.
I’m so
pleased to see you’re all right,” her mother said.

“What is going on?” she asked. “I
thought I wasn’t dead.”

“You’re not dead. We were told we’d
get one more chance to see you, and we took it. You look so beautiful. I know
this was how you were supposed to look.” Her mother cupped her face turning her
head this way and that.

“And we were promised to see our son.”
Another man came through the clearing. She stared at him and saw a resemblance
to Matt.

“Dad?”

The same happened for Kris.

“What is going on?” Matt asked after
the introductions were complete.

“Every mated pair gets the chance to
see their deceased family once again. I always knew you’d be something
different, Matt. You’d never settle to rule one pack. Your mating was foretold
to me the day you were born,” Matt’s father said.

“I don’t understand.” Matt looked at
her, then at Kris. She held his hand feeling strong for the first time in so
long. Smiling at her parents, she listened to what Matt’s father had to say.

“Our packs were always different. I
never felt any animosity for being so close to another pack. When you and Kris
were born, on the same day a witch passing through foretold of your mate. She
said she’d be sick, and you boys would have to make a choice. You were both
your worst enemy. The witch said a woman would come who would have innocence
and the scent of death surrounding her. You were both going to rekindle your
friendship with her arrival.”

Matt’s father cupped her cheek. “You’re
a beautiful woman, and I feel blessed to have you as a daughter. I give you to
my son willingly.”

He leaned down and kissed her lips.
“You are strong enough to help my son to lead this back.”

Tears filled her eyes, and then
Kris’s father turned to her. “It gives me great pleasure to give you to my son.
Kris needs a strong woman to keep him in line. I see the love among you all,
and it fills my heart with great joy. I hope to hear many great things about
our packs.”

She was kissed by their mothers, and
then her parents thanked her men for protecting her.

“She was an amazing daughter. It
destroyed us when we heard she was sick. Your claiming has been the best thing
to happen to her. I give my daughter to both of you.”

Cynthia was handed to Kris and Matt.

“From this day forward your packs
will be united as one. Vow to protect their lives and each other.”

Holding their hands Cynthia felt a
place for herself. She’d do everything to protect her men and the men who were
now her responsibility.

Their parents held hands and chanted
some incomprehensible words, and then there was a burst of light.

****

Cynthia
woke between two hard male bodies. She gasped as the dream came back to her.

“It
was good to see Mom and Dad again,” Matt said, cupping her cheek and laying a
kiss to her lips.

“I’ve
missed them. They never told us of a visit from our deceased family when they
were telling me about the mating procedure,” Kris rubbed sleep from his eyes
sitting up.

She
closed her eyes smiling. Her parents had looked so happy. “That was amazing.”
Her last memory of them would be in those moments.

Matt
smiled down at her, and then Kris did the same. “You look so beautiful.” They
spoke the words together, making her smile.

“I
like these,” she said, grabbing her breasts.

They
chuckled.