Hidden Alpha [Alpha Mates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (10 page)

He smoothed her hair back and kissed her forehead before replying, “Baby, I don’t
think
he’s a wolf. I know he is. He is the alpha of the pack in your hometown. I don’t know how or why he hid it from you for so long, and I don’t know why he marked you as his without fully claiming you, but we’ll sort it out. I’ll call the acting alpha Garrett tomorrow and see what he knows about it.”

Her eyes widened. “Garrett is a wolf, too? How many of you are there? Who else that I know is a wolf?”

“I don’t know the entire pack up there, but from what I was told, there are about sixty or so members, including shifters and their mates. There are thousands of shifters all over the world. We have just adapted enough to be able to hide ourselves so we don’t end up as someone’s science experiment. Yes, Garrett is a shifter. He is leading the pack while Gavin is away searching for whatever it is he is looking for. How do you know Garret?”

She wiped tears away and smiled. “He always seems to be around when I need him. Something would break at the house and he’d somehow know and show up just in time to fix it. My car broke down, and he was there to get my car towed and take me to work. The time I crashed my car, he was the deputy that was working, and he took me to the hospital. Then he took me to and from work for a week while it was getting fixed. I always just thought he was being nice or maybe liked me, but he never asked me out. I have never seen him with a woman. I hoped maybe he was gay, so that it wouldn’t mean there was something wrong with me, and that’s why he didn’t ask me out.”

Chase chuckled. “Baby, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are perfect. I think Gavin probably asked him to watch over you while he was gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he checks in with him every once in a while to see how you are and how the pack is doing.”

He felt the anger and hurt from her a split second before she asked, “Why would he care? He left me and hasn’t tried to contact me since. I think you’re wrong. He doesn’t care about me at all.”

Chase rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. “Baby, from what you’ve told me, and seeing that he marked you, he probably thinks you are his mate. I don’t know his reasons for not claiming you or why he left like he did, but I can almost guarantee he cares about you more than you’ll ever know. If he thinks you are his mate, he loved you as much as Devlin and I do, and as soon as Garrett reports you as missing, he will be coming home to find you. I will also tell you that we will
never
let you go. You belong to me and Devlin, and nothing will ever change that. Don’t worry,
milaya.
You belong to us, and we will always be together.”

She rubbed her cheek on his chest contently. “But what about Devlin? He was so mad at me when he left. Will he come home? Will he ever forgive me and love me again?”

“He wasn’t mad at you, baby. He was mad at Gavin for marking you. Marking someone as a mate is very serious, and once it is done properly, meaning a full claiming, it cannot be undone. If any shifter tried to come between mates, it is seen as a challenge, and the mated shifter has every right to kill the one that violated the mating.”

She tried to move out of his arms and started pleading with him, “
No,
they can’t fight. Devlin can’t kill Gavin. I may not love him the way I love the two of you, but he is still my friend. Please don’t let them fight over me. I’m not worth one of them dying.”

Chase didn’t want to upset her more by telling her that she had it backward. Since Gavin had marked her, it was Chase that could be considered as the one that violated the mating bond. Chase had fully claimed her as his mate, and they were mated for life, but if Gavin wanted to push the envelope and claim he had marked her before Chase claimed her, Chase could be in trouble. Adding on top of that that, Gavin was an alpha and Chase was only a beta. Gavin would have every right to kill him. He didn’t want to worry her further, so he kept all that information to himself. He would talk to Devlin about it when he returned and they sorted everything else out. They would have to come up with a plan soon before Gavin returned, because there was no doubt in his mind that as soon as Garrett told Gavin Amalya was missing, the other wolf would be home looking for his mate. Hopefully they could come up with an explanation before he returned as to why he had marked her and prevent the fight that was sure to come as soon as he found them.

“It’s okay,
milaya
. We will figure everything out before Gavin returns. No one will be hurt over this. I promise everything will be fine. Devlin and I will take care of everything. Now, are you going to be okay for a little while? I sense Devlin returning and should go check on him and try to explain everything.”

She released her hold on him. “Yes, I will be fine. Please go talk to him and tell him I’m sorry and that I love the two of you and no one else.”

He kissed her lips gently. “Baby, you have nothing to be sorry about. You did nothing wrong and didn’t know what Gavin had done.”

She started to argue, so he continued. “But I will tell him you love us both. Don’t worry, my love. Everything will work itself out.”

She kissed him. “Thank you.” She rolled out of his arms, allowing him to get out of the bed.

He bent down and smoothed her hair back away from her face. “Get some rest,
milaya
. I will make everything right again,” he whispered.

She closed her eyes, and he watched over her for a few more minutes until her breathing evened out and he knew she was asleep.
Now to go deal with my angry mate. He better have calmed down, or we’re gonna have more problems
. He wasn’t sure how he was going to fix this, especially when Gavin returned. What he
did
know was that he
would
fix it. Devlin and Amalya were his world, and he would do anything to keep them safe and with him.

Devlin couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the other wolf’s bite mark on Amalya’s neck. He had known which wolf marked her before he even asked, but he had to be sure. When the name Gavin had left her lips, he wanted to go find the other alpha and tear him apart. He had known that he needed to get away from her before he said or did something to hurt her. Deep down he knew that it wasn't her fault, and he was trying not to blame her, but it was hard not to. She may not have known Gavin was a wolf and had marked her as his mate, but she had known he bit her and left a scar. He just kept thinking that she should have told him. They had talked several times over the last few days about what it means to be claimed by your mate and how exactly the claiming happened.
Why hadn’t she said something about Gavin biting her?

Devlin had run to the other side of their property while thinking over everything. When he had left the cabin, he had half expected Chase to be right behind him. He figured he would either hunt him down or run with him. The other male had to be angry at the other alpha, too, but Chase always knew how to control his emotions better than Devlin. That’s why they were so good together. Chase had a calming effect on Devlin and could usually talk him down when he was angry. Devlin hadn’t even given him a chance to talk this time. He just reacted and ran out the door, shifting as he ran away from his mates.

By the time he had turned around and started back toward the house, he had calmed down enough that his head was starting to clear. As he made his way back home, he replayed the scene in his head. She couldn’t have known that Gavin was a wolf, or she wouldn’t have been shocked enough to pass out when she saw Dmytri shift. She had told them that she didn’t know shifters existed, and if he thought hard enough about it, he knew she had no reason to lie to him. Still, it hurt to know that she had been marked by another wolf, especially another alpha. He made his way back to the cabin slowly, giving his mind time to absorb the fact that another male had marked his mate. By the time he came to the wood line behind the cabin, he still wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he knew he had to apologize to Amalya and do everything in his power to make it up to her for his behavior.

Chase was waiting for him in the clearing, and he looked pissed. Devlin couldn’t blame him. He had acted like a jerk, and it looked like he was about to get his ass handed to him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to explain his behavior, but hoped that somehow Chase would understand why he had to leave and go for a run. He shifted as he walked up to Chase. His mate didn’t waste a second. He pulled him into his arms and held him while Devlin cried. If he kept crying like this all the time, Chase was going to start thinking he had two girls for mates instead of a woman and an alpha wolf. He held onto Chase tightly as his mate held him up. When Chase’s arms loosened, Devlin pulled back and looked into his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Devlin whispered.

Chase cupped his cheek and wiped his tears away with his thumb before he said, “It’s okay, baby. It was a shock, and you dealt with it the way you needed to. I don’t blame you at all. I wanted to leave and run with you, too, but I didn’t want to leave Amalya and make her think we were going to abandon her.”

Devlin took a deep breath, trying to compose himself more. “Is she okay?”

Chase nodded his head. “Yes, she’s okay. She was afraid that you weren’t going to come back. She even offered to leave so that you would come home and we could be together without her. I told her that everything would be fine. That you just needed to get out of the house and go for a run, and then you would come back. She had no idea what Gavin was doing when he bit her neck. You saw her in the hospital. She passed out when Dmytri shifted, and that right there proved she didn’t know anything about shifters until the other day. Please, Dev, give her a chance. You know she is our mate. We can’t let this come between us. We belong together. You have to know that, right?”

Devlin knew Chase was right. “I know we belong together, and I love you both so much. Like you said, I just needed to get away. I thought about everything, and I’m sorry for the way I reacted. If I had just stopped to think before I reacted, I wouldn’t have hurt her. Do you think she will forgive me?”

“Of course she will forgive you, my love. She is our mate. She loves us as much as we love her. She fell asleep just before I came out. Why don’t we go inside and cuddle with her before one of the babies decides to wake up?” Chase took his hand and led him back inside the house and up to their room.

Devlin stopped in the doorway and stared at his female mate. She looked so peaceful lying there. He didn’t want to wake her but needed to hold her. He carefully crawled into bed next to her, and she immediately turned toward him, laying her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. Inhaling her jasmine scent calmed him as much as Chase was always able to. He whispered into her hair, “I’m sorry, my love.”

He smiled when she snuggled closer and kissed his neck. “So am I. I love you.”

“I love you too,
golubushka
.”

Chase was just about to lie down on the other side of the bed when they heard one of the babies start to cry through the baby monitor next to the bed. Devlin let out a chuckle, and Chase glared at him. Devlin raised one hand in surrender and said, “See, I told you that they weren’t broken. You just put the wrong one in the babies’ room. Good thing Amalya noticed and switched them around. We wouldn’t want the babies to hear the things that go on in our room.”

Chase just shook his head at him. “Yeah, you’re right on that one. Good thing our little mate is more observant than us.”

The baby’s cry became louder, and Amalya started to wake up. Chase leaned down and kissed her on the shoulder. “You stay here and get some sleep. I will take care of the babies. If I need help, I will call for you.”

Chase left the room, closing the door quietly. Devlin pulled her close and held her tight while he thought of all the obstacles that they were about to face. He didn’t want to say anything to Chase because he was sure he already knew, but Gavin could really cause some problems if he thought Chase had gone against their laws and claimed the other alpha’s mate. It didn’t matter what happened. Devlin would take Chase and Amalya away before he would let the other alpha come between them or hurt Chase. He knew he had to come up with something soon, because as soon as Gavin heard that Amalya was not at her home, he would be returning to claim what he thought was his.

He lay holding Amalya while he listened to Chase talk to who he now knew was Katrya. He had a lot to think about, but just listening to Chase’s voice made him sure that everything would work out in the end. He knew that fate could not be so cruel as to give them their mate and then take her away from them. So, he just had to believe there was a reason for everything, and fate’s master plan would be revealed soon.

Five days later, Devlin still had not claimed Amalya, and she was getting frustrated with him. He kept telling her that he loved her and slept wrapped around her every night, but he hadn’t gone any further. She and Chase had made love many times, but Devlin always seemed to have to do something else when they invited him to join them. She was beginning to think that even though he said he understood that she didn’t know why Gavin had done that, he still didn’t want her. She had tried to initiate intimacy with him several times, but he was either too busy with alpha business or thought he heard one of the babies crying. She had talked to Chase about it, and he had assured her that Devlin just needed time.

Amalya decided he had had enough time, and today was going to be the day. She had talked Chase into taking all the kids for a long drive while she did her best to seduce Devlin. If it didn’t work, she knew she would be crushed but would back off and not pressure him anymore. She wasn’t sure why he was resisting her. She had caught him several times watching her with lust, but as soon as he saw that she had noticed him watching, he had turned away.