Hidden Alpha [Alpha Mates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (16 page)

Amalya sat and cried silently as she heard the story of how she came to be. She had always just been told that her parents were killed when she was a baby. No one would ever give her a straight answer on how, and she couldn’t find anything in old newspapers, either. She had assumed it was a car accident or something. Some days when she was with her second foster family, she even daydreamed that maybe she had been kidnapped, and she would someday be rescued by her real family. Never in any of her wildest dreams or nightmares could she have ever thought up something as horrific as what the truth was. Her whole life had been a lie. The fact that Gavin knew the truth and kept it from her hurt more than him leaving her had. She hated him more and more with every word that she listened to him tell Chase and Devlin about her life. A life she knew nothing about. Everyone she ever knew and loved had lied to her. She wanted to crawl back to bed and cry herself to sleep, but she didn’t have the strength to move. She knew that she was going to have to either call for Chase or Devlin to come and help her back to bed or wait for one of them to find her. She started to try to make it back to bed but paused as Devlin spoke.

She hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation while wallowing in her self-pity, so she wasn’t sure what exactly he meant when he said, “You have to claim her. Please, it’s the only way.”

She quickly put two and two together and came up with,
oh hell no.
There was no way she was letting Gavin anywhere near her. And to have Devlin suggest it broke her heart. They had promised they were her mates and would never ever share her with anyone. Now they thought they were going to let the asshole that broke her heart
claim
her.
When icicles form on Satan’s ass, maybe.
She couldn’t believe Devlin was even talking to Gavin to begin with. The bite mark he had left on her neck was enough to send Devlin running away from her and almost tore them apart completely, and now he was talking about Gavin claiming her.
What the fuck is he thinking?

Amalya was going to find out. It took every ounce of strength she had left, but she was able to use the doorknob to lift herself up to kneeling and open the door far enough to wobble out. All three men noticed her at the same time, rose from their chairs, and rushed toward her. They stopped dead in their tracks when she glared at them and asked, “What the fuck is going on? Why is he here? And why in the hell are you talking about him claiming me?”

Amalya stared up at the three men, and they all had the same deer-in-headlights, we’re-so-fucked-and-not-in-a-good-way look. They knew they were busted, and she was pissed. “Is someone going to explain?”

Gavin started taking, but she cut him off. “Not you.” She shocked herself by how much her words sounded more like a growl than real words.

Gavin took a step toward her, and she bared her teeth at him. “Don’t come any closer. You stay away from me. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

He knelt down but didn’t get any closer. “Baby doll, please listen to me. I know you are mad at me and probably hate me, but I can explain everything and make this all better for you. I can make the pain go away, and if you want me to leave afterward, I will.”

Amalya couldn’t believe her ears. “So what, you came back to fuck me and then leave again? I don’t think so. Not gonna happen.” She glared up at Devlin. “I can’t believe you, of all people, are even listening to him. After what we went through already? You almost didn’t claim me because of him. We nearly lost each other, all because of him, and you are actually thinking of sharing me with him. You promised me this was it for us. You, me, and Chase. What the hell happened to that promise?”

“Baby girl, if what he says is true, then he has to claim you or we’re going to lose you anyway. How much of our conversation did you hear before you opened the door?”

“I heard the truth about where I came from and that Gavin lied to me my whole life before he abandoned me, if that’s what you mean.”

Devlin reached down toward her, but she batted his hand away.

“Sweetie, listen to me. There is a lot more to the story. We need to tell you all of it before we make any decisions, but can we at least help you up and back into bed first?”

She wasn’t sure she wanted any of them near her. Chase had not said a word since they had discovered her listening to them, so she asked, “Do you agree with them? Do you think Gavin should claim me?” He opened his mouth, but before he could answer she held up her hand. “No, wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. You are the only one I don’t want to kill right now, and I need help getting up. Before you answer, can you carry me back to bed, please?”

Devlin and Gavin looked like they wanted to disagree, but both stepped back and let Chase lift her. They followed them back into the bedroom and stood at the foot of the bed while Chase sat her on the bed. He leaned against the headboard and pulled her into his lap, holding her tight while he wrapped a blanket around her. He kissed her behind her right ear above where his mating mark was and whispered, “Please, baby, hear them out. I don’t agree with this, and it’s not fair to you, but I can’t lose you. You are my sun, moon, and stars all wrapped into one beautiful package. Please don’t leave me.”

She didn’t understand why he thought she would leave him. If he or Devlin thought she would leave them for Gavin, they were both insane. She pointed her finger at Gavin and said, “I don’t want to hear any of your stories or excuses. I want to hear from Devlin and Chase what is going on.”

* * * *

Chase sat on Amalya’s bed with her wrapped in his arms while Devlin asked, “How much did you hear of what Gavin told us?”

“I heard him tell you how my parents were killed.” She looked at Gavin. “How could you have known that all these years and never told me?”

Gavin looked down at the ground as he answered. “I thought it would be safer if you didn’t know who you were. I was afraid that if you knew, you would want to leave me and go back to your mother’s pack and live with them.” He looked her in the eyes. “I wanted to tell you so many times. I’m sorry. I will do anything I have to, to make it up to you. I promise I will never lie to you again, and I will
never
leave you again. Please believe me when I say I have always loved you. I knew I couldn’t claim you without finding your other mates, and that is where I have been for the last five years.”

Chase felt Amalya’s body tremble in his lap. He looked down at her and realized it was from anger. He knew she was angry with Gavin for leaving, but on the other hand, he understood the other wolf. He didn’t know how he had stayed with her as long as he had without claiming her. The day Chase had met her, he wanted to take her home and claim her. He gave Gavin credit for restraining himself for so long and being able to leave to go on his search. On the other hand, he couldn’t imagine ever leaving his mate once he found her. When he and Devlin had realized they were mates and had to hide their mating from the rest of their pack, it almost killed him. To not be able to touch Devlin in public and to not be able to live with him and sleep in his arms every night had just about been Chase’s undoing. They had hid their mating for seven years before moving to Montana and taking over the pack here. Those years had been hard on both of them. They even had to hide their mating marks from everyone in their pack. Chase held her tighter, knowing how lucky he was to be able to hold his mate without anyone criticizing him for it. He finally had both of his mates and could love them the way that he wanted, any time or day.

He whispered for her ears only. “Baby girl, just listen to him for a minute, okay? He is telling the truth. You know it. Just listen to your heart, and you will see. He is
our
mate, my love. He can’t lie to us.”

She turned around in his lap, looked into his eyes. “How can you be so calm?” Tears filled her eyes. “You both promised that you would never share me again, and now you want to let the person that shattered my heart claim me? I don’t understand, Chase. Please explain this to me.”

Chase didn’t want to tell Amalya the whole story. He wanted her to choose to let Gavin back into her heart because she still loved him, not because she would more likely than not die if he didn’t claim her. But as he had just told her, mates couldn’t lie to each other. Sure, small secrets like birthday presents or a surprise they had planned for them could be kept secret, but the big stuff could never be kept from one’s mate.

He pushed a stray hair that had fallen into her eyes back and whispered, “Baby, remember how we explained the alphas always had two mates?” She nodded her head. “Well, you said you heard the story of your parents’ death. So that means you heard that your mother and grandfather were alphas. That makes you an alpha, too.”

She looked confused when she said, “So, that means I have two mates. You and Devlin, right?”

Chase nodded his head. “Yes, Devlin and I are your mates, but sometimes fate does crazy things and gives someone more than two mates. I know of a wolf that has three, and it seems that this is the case with you, too.” He placed his index finger over her mouth when she started to talk. “Just listen, okay? You trusted me and Devlin when we told you the story about how mates work. You trusted us when we explained how we knew you were our mate. Your scent was all we both needed to discover you were the one for us. Well, Gavin has the scent of our mate, too. I’m not sure how or why this is all happening, but we are all of us mates. All four of us. Please just give it a chance. I know it will be hard. I know how much he hurt you, but I also know how hard it must have been for him to live without you for the last five years. Just leaving you in the first place must have taken all the willpower he possessed. But he did it to find your other mate so you could all be happy together. I know it will take you a long time, if ever, to forgive him, but we don’t have a lot of time.” He took a deep breath and looked to Devlin for help.

Devlin didn’t disappoint him. He started right in with the rest of the explanation. He explained about her being a half-breed, how that meant she needed to be claimed by all of her mates in a short time span, and how, since he and Chase had claimed her without knowing this and without Gavin being there, too, that was why she was so sick.

When he was finished, Amalya was crying and asked no one in particular, “So, what you’re saying is that I’m going to die if I don’t let Gavin claim me?”

Chase couldn’t hold back his tears. “Yes, baby girl. I’m pretty sure that was what Gavin meant by ‘before it’s too late.’ Please know I don’t like this any more than you do. I never wanted to share you with anyone except Devlin, but if this is what fate has given us, we will have to trust that she has a reason for it. I know it’s asking a lot from you, and it’s not fair, but you know how much Devlin and I love you. You are our life, and I don’t know what we would do without you. We would be lost if you left us.”

He knew it was playing dirty by telling her that he and Devlin would be lost without her. He was being selfish and should let her make her own decision, but he was afraid she would decide to die rather than to trust Gavin ever again. Tears were soaking down her cheeks when she asked, “How do you know that he isn’t just saying all this just so he can sleep with me? How can you know this for sure? He left me. I loved him, and he left me. He did more than break my heart. He ripped it out of my chest and took it with him. How can I ever trust that he won’t do it again? Until you and Devlin, I didn’t think I was ever going to be whole again.”

Chase pulled her back to his chest and held her while she cried. He looked up to see Devlin and Gavin both crying at the foot of the bed. “I told you she wouldn’t forgive you easily,” he told Gavin.

Gavin nodded his head and wiped his eyes. “I know, but I will do anything I have to, to make it up to her. I know I screwed up royally and there is a long road ahead, but I will do anything and everything to make this right. Please, Amalya. I love you. You will never know how sorry I am that I hurt you. I will never keep anything from you again, and I will do anything you ask. Just please give me a chance.”

Amalya lifted her head and turned enough to look at Gavin. “I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for lying to me. I will let you claim me but only because I don’t want to leave Devlin and Chase. They have shown me what true love is, and I can’t hurt them. After you claim me, I will be better, right?” Gavin nodded his head. “Good. Do you have anything else that you lied to me about?” Gavin shook his head. “Fine. But if you’re lying about this, I will have Devlin and Chase kill you. Unless I can find a way to do it myself. You will not come in this house and hurt my family. Do you understand me?”

Gavin nodded again and added in a whisper, “Yes, Amalya, I understand. I won’t do anything to come between the three of you. I just want to make things right. I will give you the space you need after.”

She nodded her head and moved off Chase’s lap as she said, “Fine. Devlin and Chase, can you leave us alone, please?”

Chase and Devlin both looked at her and in unison asked, “What? Why?”

She patted the bed for Devlin to sit next to Chase. When they were side by side, she placed her hand on Devlin’s cheek. “I want to do this alone. You remember what happened when you saw the bite mark on my neck. You almost didn’t claim me, and that was with knowing he had never touched me before. I don’t want you to have to watch him with me. It’s different when I’m with you and Chase. You make love to me because you love me, and I make love to you because I love you. The only reason I’m doing this is because I don’t want you to have to live without me. This is strictly for survival. So, please just go take care of the babies, and when I’m finished you can come take me to
our
bed and hold me until I feel better. Okay?”