Claimed by the Alphas: Part Four (2 page)

“I caught one twice as large last spring,” he told her, squeezing the water from her hair.

“It is true,” Rose said. “We fed off of it for days. By the end of the week, Brae was as fat as a sow.”

The two females began arguing. Caim barely registered them, his entire being focused on the woman in his arms. The scent of her impending heat was even stronger now, and he wanted nothing more than to carry her away into the forest and bury himself inside of her.

She propped her chin on his chest and said, “I’m all for pork, but I prefer my food without a face.”

Frowning, he asked, “It does not please you?”

She winced. “Maybe next time, flowers?”

Flowers
, Caim thought dryly. As long as he lived, he would never understand human women.

“Have you never in your life gone without a meal?”

“I dunno, why?”

“Perhaps if you went hungry for a day then you would be able to appreciate
the value of such a kill.”

He caught her rolling her eyes. His anger rose, but immediately waned as her arms came up to loop around his neck.

“Well it’s a good thing I have a big, strong man like you to make sure I never have to worry about things like that.”

In a rational part of his mind, Caim knew that she was patronizing him. That part of his mind was currently preoccupied though, all of its faculties di
verted towards ensuring he did not abscond with the devious little human in his arms. So instead of brushing off the cheap compliment, he did something that he very seldom did. He fell prey.

“I wou
ld never allow you to go hungry,” he told her, his spine straightening.

He would sooner serve up a wolf from his own pack than see her go hungry. In fact, he could think of two females in particular that would make excellent meals for his mate.

Turning to the squabbling woman he called out, “Brae.” She froze, her eyes widening.

“Yes?”

“The human is cold. You will take her back to the den.”

Rose held up a hand. “I can escort her back.”
He ignored her.

“You’re not coming back to the den?” Mila asked. “What about your pig?”

“The other females can bring it back. I will be rejoining the hunt.”

But as he watched Brae lead the human away, he knew that his control only extended so far. He would not be rejoining the hunt tonight.
In the far corner of the valley, shielded by the forest, a small den awaited him. He would go there, make sure that the area was secured and that the den was sufficiently stocked with supplies.

Then, he would come back to collect his mate.

Mila had never been what anyone could call ‘clingy’. In fact, as far as relationships went, she was notoriously standoffish, and had never needed the company of a man to feel fulfilled. So the weird hollowness she felt as they arrived back at the den disturbed her.

She needed some time to herself, time to decompress and seriously think about the important, life-changing things that were about to happen, and yet all she wanted was to be with Caim. A part of her had even wished that Caim would drag her away into th
e woods and bang her senseless. How stupid was that?

Most of the wolves w
ere gone from the central cavern. The sun had just set, and those who had not joined the hunting party had gone out to run or play. The few that hung back were either still sleeping on fur pallets or clustered in small groups, chatting in their human forms. They were growing accustomed to having Mila in the pack, and while most of them weren’t social with her, they no longer stopped to gawk when she entered the room. That was enough for her.

“Let’s warm up by the fire,” Brae said, taking Mila by the hand as they walked.

The bonfire had already been lit to a robust blaze in the center of the room. Mila spent most of her nights sitting around the fire with Brae, Rosie, and more recently, Gem. While she tried to get them to talk about themselves, they typically spent the night badgering her for details about her life in the city.

It was hard not to embellish the details of her very unglamorous past. They seemed to think highly of her, and she wasn’t about to tell them that she’d
been an indecisive bozo whose father had cut all ties with her when she flunked out of college.

As they made their way across the room, Mila noticed a large, black wolf sleeping on the dais that overlooked the bonfire. The dais was usually reserved for the alphas, and for a moment she thought it was Caim, but then realized it didn’t make sense, as he’d said he was rejoining the hunt.

Mila puzzled over the wolf as she came to sit in front of the fire. Still standing, Brae told her, “I will go get you some food,” before disappearing.

Looking forward to a few minutes alone, she relaxed and began rubbing her hands in front of the fire. Her alone-time didn’t last. Before she was able to snag a moment of quiet contemplation, Rosie and Gem sat down on either side of her.

“Hey, guys,” she said weakly.

Her blue eyes impossibly wide, Gem was brimming with excitement. “I
’ve never seen Caim like that. He is
so
into you.”

“Huh?” Mila asked, taken aback.

“The way he held you? It was so romantic!”

Mila could feel her face begin to heat. “Get your head outta the clouds. He’s just acting like that because of the thrall.”

“You shouldn’t think like that, Mila,” Brae said, approaching the fire. She handed Mila a stick with several chunks of raw meat speared onto it. “However much you think he is affected by the thrall, imagine how devoted he will be towards you once you are carrying his pups.”

“I’d rather not,” Mila said under her breath.

Holding the stick over the fire, she watched glumly as the meat roasted. While it was nice having fresh meat for every meal, she was beginning to crave some variety in her diet. What she wouldn’t give for fries and a coke.

“What’s wrong
?” asked Gem.

“Nothing, just a little tired of eating meat I guess.”

Gem gave a heavy sigh. “I know what you mean. I would kill for some ice cream.”

“I miss ice cream as well,” Rosie said thoughtfully.

Mila jerked her head to the side. “Wait a minute. You weren’t raised in a pack?”

Shifting uncomfortably, she said, “I lived in Leesburg until I was old enough to leave and join a pack.”

Brae sat down beside Rosie, an impish grin on her face. “Rose was raised by dogs.”

Mila watched as Rosie paled and then
colored, her skin turning into a patchwork of splotchy reds. Without warning, she turned and shoved Brae, sending her careening backwards several feet. Before Mila could blink, Rosie had dove on top of Brae, her hands wrapping around Brae’s slender neck.

“I told
Kallie that in confidence!” she shrieked.

Mila was marginally relieved to see that Brae seemed more amused than frightened, but she still backed away from them.

Laughing, Brae replied, “And I am
confident
that she found it just as funny as I do!”

Mila grimaced and looked away as the two began trading blows.
It had made sense to her why male werewolves chose not to live with humans, what with them being constantly plagued by the scents of fertile women. Now she was starting to understand why females also chose to leave human society. Even women like Brae, who at times seemed so elegant and well mannered, could do an about face at the drop of a dime, yielding to the capricious beast within.

The wolves gathered around in a loose circle, watching the spectacle unfold. Neither woman shifted, but it still looked more like a dogfight than a brawl between two naked women. Mila couldn’t help but feel bad for Rosie, as Brae was clearly toying with her.
Rosie may have been fueled by her anger, but it was apparent that she had no idea how to fight.

She
kept her eyes glued to the fight, her entire body poised to bolt if the females came barreling towards her. Without looking away, she said, “I feel like I should be doing something.”

“Yeah,” Gem said. “You haven’t eaten your meat yet.”

Mila looked down at her half-cooked venison and shrugged, before taking a bite off the browned side. She wasn’t happy about them fighting, but it wasn’t as if she could really stop them. Asking nicely hadn’t worked, neither had asking not-so-nicely, and that was the extent of her arsenal.

There was a sound of sliced air, followed by a loud
thwack!
Mila looked up in time to see Rose cry out in pain as a large bone clattered to the floor. Their fight came to a halt as both women stared wide-eyed up at the dais.

She watched as a dark-haired,
Amazonian woman jumped down, landing several yards from Rosie and Brae. The crowd of wolves backed off as the woman stalked over to them, her footsteps heavy.

“Six days,”
she barked at them, her voice echoing throughout the cavern. “Six days I had to put up with the stench of oil, and sewage, and fat, filthy humans. Do you know how many hours of sleep I got?”

Gem put a hand on Mila’s shoulder and motioned her to follow. In a hushed voice she said, “Come on, you don’t want to be near this one.”

“Who is she?” Mila asked, allowing Gem to lead her away from the fire.

She watched as Rosie released Brae, staring up at the newcomer with rounded eyes
. “I did not mean to wake you.” Pointing to Brae, she added, “She started—” The muscular woman grabbed Rosie by the head, twisting the smaller female’s hair around her wrist until she yelped out in pain.

Still whispering, Gem said, “That’s Sable.”

Mila recognized the name, and couldn’t help but size the woman up. Nearly as tall as a man, her diamond-shaped face was severely drawn, with high cheekbones and sharply angled eyebrows. With her dark features and tanned skin, Sable was an exotic beauty, and Mila could easily see why she was one of Caim’s favorites.

In fact, with Sable’s strong, muscular body it wasn’t hard to imagine her with Caim.
She could just picture the two of them going at it, each of them battling for dominance until the big male finally pinned her down and took her from behind. Sable was no delicate human. Caim could take her with wild abandon, fucking her as hard and as fast as he pleased.

“Mila!”

She looked up at Gem, feeling dazed. “Huh?”

Gem grabbed Mila’s hand, holding it palm up. “You’re bleeding.”

Mila examined her palm, her brow furrow
ed in confusion. Gem was right. In the fleshy heel of her palm were four deep indentations, two of them pooling with blood.

“I…I don’t remember doing that.”

It felt inhuman, like there was a beast inside of her, writhing to free itself. She had the overwhelming and inexplicable urge to somehow assert her dominance over the other woman—and why shouldn’t she? Sable had no right to beat her friends around, and as the mate of the alphas, Mila was clearly the person to stop her.

The realization made Mila feel
powerful, and she found herself leaving Gem’s side and moving to approach the trio. She had only gotten a few feet closer when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. She glanced back, expecting Gem, but was surprised to see Lotus.

Mila arched a brow at her. She had mixed feelings about Lotus, the radiant beta female who had been one of Caim’s favorites. She used ‘had been’ rather liberally, considering she had no idea if Caim was going to stop sleeping with other women.

Looking between Lotus and the slender hand on her shoulder, she asked, “Can I help you?”

Probably the one good thing about Lotus was that Mila didn’t have to pretend to like her, and she seemed okay with that, as the feeling was mutual.

“Whatever impetuous decision you are about to make, I would suggest that you consider the outcome before blindly rushing in.”

Mila motioned to the brawl in the center of the cavern. “In case you haven’t noticed, she’s throttling my friends.”

“And you will do well to thank her when she is done.”

“Thank her?” she asked, throwing her hands up. “She’s hurting them.”

Lotus snorted in disgust. “Your friends have been running amuck since Sable left. They need to be put in their places. If they keep carrying on like this they will end up inadvertently hurting you. Asch and Caim will kill them.”

Mila brought a hand to her temple and shook her head. “
You’re insane. They would not do that.”

Lotus held Mila’s gaze, her expression flat. “After tonight, you will be carrying at least one of their pups. If you think that they’re going to be as lenient with these types of antics—or your need to rashly
involve yourself in dangerous situations—then you are more naïve than I thought, which is rather impressive.”

Without another
word, Lotus turned to walk away. Mila stared after her retreating form, forgetting everything except her embarrassment and the gnawing anxiety that was once again rearing its ugly head.

Once Lotus was a good distance away, Gem approached Mila. “Don’t let her get to you,” she said, patting Mila on the back. “
Lotus has just been prickly lately, but she’s real nice, I swear. She’ll warm up to you.”

Mila turned back to watch the fight, which seemed
to be winding down. Brae was lying supplicant on the floor, while Rosie sat in a sniveling heap. Sable loomed over them, a steady stream of vitriol spewing from her mouth. Mila tried to pay attention, but her mind wandered restlessly.

She didn’t want Lotus to ‘warm up to her.’ She was really starting to hate Lotus. It was a wholly unique blend of hatred, the kind of hatred a person could only feel for someone who could see right through all of their bullshit.