Hidden Alpha [Alpha Mates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (26 page)

Amalya wanted to talk to Skye, but she was in wolf form still and knew her men would flip the fuck out if she shifted in front of him. Family or not, he was another male. She turned to Chase, “
Can we go inside and get dressed then talk to him some more? I know I shouldn’t, but I believe him. He wouldn’t have saved me from the assassin if he wanted to harm me.”

Chase nodded and shifted. Pointing at Skye, who was now sitting up, he said, “We’re going to go inside and get dressed. You wait on the deck. Do not attempt to come inside the house. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Skye nodded and said, “Thank you,” before standing up.

Chase turned in a circle and pointed into the woods, shouting, “And you all watch him. If he does anything suspicious, you have orders to detain him by any means necessary. Just don’t kill him. He is Amalya’s family.”

It was then that she noticed they were surrounded by at least thirty wolves.
They must be the enforcers
.
Good thing I didn’t shift.
Chase followed her up the steps and unlocked the bedroom door. She went inside, shifted, and pulled some clothes out of the closet, quickly getting dressed. “I should go check on the kids first and make sure they are okay.”

He kissed her on the cheek as he pulled on some jeans and handed her another pair. “I’ll go get the children. Take these to Devlin and talk to your cousin.”

As she walked away, he called out, stopping her. “Baby girl, you were very brave, but the next time you don’t hide when there’s danger, I
will
spank your ass.”

She wiggled her ass at him as she walked out the door. “But I might just like that.”

Devlin waited until Chase and Amalya were safely inside the house before allowing the wolf Amalya had called Skye to climb the steps in front of him to the deck. He didn’t care who the man said he was. He wasn’t turning his back on the wolf. He also wasn’t going to risk him being able to enter his home. He motioned for the male to take the seat farthest away from the doors, and Devlin sat between him and the house. If the male wanted to get inside, he would have to go through Devlin to get there.

Amalya joined them and handed Devlin a pair of jeans that he slipped on. He wanted to pull her into his lap but also wanted to be able to defend her if they were attacked again. His protective instincts won, and he motioned for her to sit in the chair next to him. She looked like she wanted to argue and sit with him, but she must have understood his reasons because she sat beside him and held his hand.

Devlin crossed the other arm over his chest and glared at Skye. “Tell me who you are and why you’re here. How did you find out Amalya was alive?”

Skye cleared his throat. “As I said, my name is Skye. I am Amalya’s cousin. My mother and her mother were twins. I was only about a year old when my father had her parents killed. Growing up, I was told by everyone that they had died in an accident before their child was born. As I got older, I was told by some pack members that they were murdered, but no one knew by who or why. After that, I held out hope that their child had lived. Something inside me always told me she was alive, and I should try to find her. I tried to ask my father if he knew where they were murdered so I could investigate and see if there was a child in the area that might be theirs. I wanted to find my cousin and bring her home where she belonged. He would never answer my questions and told me he was sure the baby had been killed, too. It never occurred to me that he was behind it all.”

Chase stuck his head out of the door. “Is it clear? Can we come out? The boys want to see ‘mama.’”

Devlin glared at Skye, and the other wolf raised his hands in a show of surrender. “I pose your family no danger.”

Devlin nodded and motioned for Chase and the boys to join them. Chase stepped through the doorway and held the door open. Dmytri and Adryk ran out, yelling “mama” and launching themselves onto Amalya’s lap. She caught them but gave a painful yelp as they both wrapped their arms around her shoulders. Chase followed them outside and placed a tray of iced tea on the table for everyone. “Boys, be careful. Mama was hurt, and she needs a little time to heal still.”

Amalya was crying as she wrapped the boys in her arms. Devlin could tell by the look on her face it wasn’t from pain, but from joy of knowing her boys were all right. “You were very good boys, taking care of your sisters like I asked. You know you don’t have to call me mama if you don’t want to, right?”

They leaned back in her arms and looked up at her. Adryk spoke up and said, “But we can, right? We know you’re not really our mama, but we want you to be. If you don’t want us to call you that, we won’t, but we want to.”

Amalya kissed both of the boys on the foreheads as she said through tears, “I would be very happy for you to call me mama. I just don’t want you to think you have to. I love you both very much and will always be here for you. You are my sons no matter what you call me.”

Dmytri smiled. “Good. Now that that’s settled, who hurt you? Was it that man over there?” He pointed to Skye and gave him his most intimidating scowl.

She chuckled as she shook her head. “No, that is my cousin, Skye. He saved me from the bad man.”

Dmytri nodded his head as if he believed her, but pointed at Skye again. “Okay, but you don’t hurt my mama or my daddies, or me and you will have a problem.”

Devlin had to hide his laugh as Skye actually paled. “I will not hurt your mama. I promise. I only want to protect her and get to know her.”

In unison, Dmytri and Adryk said, “
We
protect our mama.”

Skye nodded his head. “I see that. You are very good protectors and do a wonderful job. She is very lucky to have you as sons.”

Skye looked at Devlin with questioning eyes as he said, “I don’t understand any of this. I know that the children are not Amalya’s because she was just claimed a little while ago, but how did you all come to have four children already?”

Devlin still wasn’t sure if he could trust the shifter but was going to try and give him the benefit of the doubt for now. He explained to him about his sister and her mate both dying and that they were all now the legal guardians of the children. As he was explaining it, he thought back to what Skye had said and asked, “How do you know that she was just claimed recently? You said you only arrived here in the last few days.”

“Wolves in our family hold a special connection with each other. Our entire bloodline is able to speak telepathically to each other and also able to feel each other. We can feel the connection and follow it to each other. I have always felt Amalya deep in my soul but was unable to tell where she was. I was told by my mother at a young age that I wasn’t really feeling her as a person, but her soul that had been lost when she was killed. As I got older, I knew there was more to it. There were times in the last few years when I felt overwhelming depression even though I was not depressed myself. About a week ago, I felt her wolf emerge. There was an instant connection, and I knew that she was alive somewhere, and I needed to find her. I rushed to my father and told him. He immediately called John and told him what I had learned.”

Skye turned to Amalya. “I cannot tell you how sorry I am. If I had known that my father was behind the attacks all those years ago, I would not have told him. If I had not told him, no one would have ever found you. You and I are the last of our bloodline. Our grandmother, who also held the same blood, died a few years ago and my mother was killed three months ago.”

“I’m sorry about your mother,” Amalya whispered.

Skye gave her a sad smile. “It’s okay. I had her for many years, and she raised me well. She always tried to instill a strong sense of family in me, and that was why I needed to find you. You and I are the only ones left. I know there is a lot I still have to tell you, but I would really like the opportunity to live closer to you and get to know you better. Maybe I would even be allowed to join you pack after a while.”

Amalya looked to Devlin for an answer. He couldn’t tell her for sure if he would allow Skye to join the pack, but he couldn’t deny her getting to know her cousin if that was what she wanted.

Devlin said, “You are welcome to stay here for now and get to know our pack. I cannot grant you a permanent home right now, but we will see how things go first.”

“That is more than fair after the pain I have already brought to your family. I just want the opportunity to get to know her and her family here. Thank you for understanding.”

Chase spoke up. “Yes, you are welcome for now. But rest assured you will be watched twenty-four hours a day by not only me and my mates, but by the enforcers, too. You will not go anywhere by yourself, and if someone reports that you are doing anything suspicious, I will deal with you personally.”

Skye gulped but agreed. “I understand. Please believe me when I say I mean no harm to you or your mates. I do have one question, though, if I may ask.”

Chase nodded.

“There was another man here yesterday who carried all of your scents. Are you all mates?”

Chase nodded again. “Yes, Gavin had to go out of town for the day but will be back later. He is also our mate. There are four of us.”

Skye smiled and looked at Amalya. “You are very lucky. To have three mates is rare. Especially when they are all so devastatingly handsome.”

Devlin almost choked on the iced tea he was drinking. He took a moment to compose himself. “You think we’re handsome? Does that mean you’re...” He didn’t want to get into too much detail in front of the children.

Skye understood the unspoken question. “Yes, I hope that when I find my mate,
he
is as handsome as you all are.”

Amalya growled and said,
“Mine.”

Skye chuckled and smiled at her. “Cousin, I have no designs to steal your mates. I’m just saying that I hope I am as lucky as you are one day. I know the importance of mates and would never dream of interfering with a mating. But you have to admit, they are
hot.
”
His eyes crinkled when he said the last part, and Devlin could see that Skye would have a great sense of humor.
Who knows, maybe he will make a good addition to the pack
. They would just have to wait and see.

* * * *

Gavin was so excited when he arrived at Garrett’s to officially turn the pack over to him. When Garrett came running out of the house and told Gavin to get back in the truck, he hadn’t hesitated. He trusted his friend with his life and knew something major may have happened when Garrett told him to move over so he could drive. When they peeled out of the driveway and headed back the way Gavin had come from, Garrett didn’t have to tell him something had happened to one of his mates. He just knew.

Still, he asked, “What happened?”

Garrett didn’t take his eyes off the road as he answered, “I’m not exactly sure. Chase called about an hour ago telling me to be on alert, as someone had called in a death threat against Devlin. Then, about twenty minutes ago, there was another call that the alpha’s cabin was locked down. Chase linked the security system to alert the area packs if the system was activated. I tried to call Chase and Devlin both, but didn’t receive an answer. I tried your cell, too, but you didn’t answer either. I was just getting ready to head down there when I heard your truck coming up the driveway. I thought something had happened to all of you. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

Gavin dug his phone out of the middle console of the truck and checked it. Sure enough there were seven missed calls from Garrett and two text messages. The first was from Chase about half an hour ago telling him that there was a threat against Devlin, but everything was fine. They were at Devlin’s office, and they had it locked down. No one was getting anywhere near the alpha. The second was ten minutes after the first. It was from the security company reporting the house had been locked down, and the safe room was in use. He knew since the texts were only ten minutes apart that there was no way Devlin and Chase were home when the security system had been activated. That meant that Amalya was home alone with the kids. Whatever was wrong at the cabin, at least Gavin knew that Amalya and the kids were safe. No one except for him, Devlin, or Chase could get into the safe room without someone inside letting them in. Amalya was smart. She would stay in there protecting the children until one of her mates arrived. At least, he hoped she would. Sometimes she was too brave for her own good. Whoever threatened his mates had better hope Gavin didn’t get his hands on them. If any one of his mates or children were hurt, even a sliver, the intruder would pay with their life.

Garrett slamming on the brakes brought him out of his thoughts. They narrowly missed a truck that was stopped in the middle of the roadway. After his heart started beating again he turned to his friend of many years and asked, “What exactly did Chase say when he called you?”

“He said someone had called his office and told him he was going to kill the alpha. The enforcers had been alerted and Chase had Devlin locked down in his office. They were tracing the call, but it came from a cell phone, and they couldn’t pinpoint the caller’s location. They knew the caller was somewhere on pack land because of the cell tower the phone used when making the call. They were going to start searching the town and pack lands. Then, like I said, twenty minutes before you showed up, I received a phone call from the security system. Chase had it set up a while ago to alert the neighboring packs that there was a problem at the alpha house. When we receive that call, we are supposed to secure our alpha and alert our enforcers. The enforcers are supposed to stage in our area and be prepared to go in and help the other pack if they call and ask for our assistance. My house and the other alpha houses in the area are all set up with the same security system.”