Hidden Alpha [Alpha Mates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (5 page)

Chase’s first aid training kicked in, and he started barking out commands. “Go get a doctor and a stretcher. Tell them what happened and to bring a c-collar, too.” He didn’t need to turn around and look to know that Devlin was rushing from the room and would be back with whatever help they needed. Even though Devlin was his alpha, they had been together long enough Chase knew he would always listen to him when it was important. Dmytri and Adryk slowly moved closer. Dmytri, still in wolf form, whined.

Adryk said, “He’s says he’s sorry. He didn’t mean to hurt Miss McKinnon.”

Chase nodded at the twins and assured them. “It’s okay, Dmytri. This isn’t your fault. I brought her here. I should have explained to her what we were first. She will be okay. Now, why don’t you two go over in front of the television and sit while the doctor comes in and takes care of her, okay?” They both hesitated a few seconds.

Adryk asked, “Are you sure the doctors will make her all better? They didn’t make momma all better. We love Miss McKinnon, too. We don’t want her to go to heaven.” The twins were crying again. While regular wolves did not have tear ducts, shifters did and could cry while in their wolf form.

Chase looked them both in the eyes and said, “She will be fine. I promise.” Adryk nodded and walked away to sit on the rug in front of the television. Dmytri sniffed at Amalya and licked her hand before walking away, whining.

It seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes before Devlin came back with several doctors and nurses pushing a stretcher. Chase shook his head. He knew Devlin would get them the help she needed. Chase was kneeling above her to hold her head still while the doctors checked her over. He knew from the angle at which she hit the chair that she could very well have injured her neck. The doctors and nurses worked quickly and efficiently, slowing the bleeding from her forehead, stabilizing her neck, and getting her onto a backboard and then the stretcher. As they were wheeling her out of the room, one of the doctors looked over and saw the little boy and wolf pup lying together on the rug.

The doctor looked nervous. “Uh, why is he in wolf form?” Chase walked the doctor through the door into the hall and explained what had happened while Devlin went to check on the boys. It was a good thing that most of the hospital staff were pack members or at least knew about shifters.

The doctor still seemed nervous, but he nodded. “Okay, you all can wait in the waiting room one floor down. We were going to take her to the emergency room, but under the circumstances I think a private room would be more appropriate.”

Chase shook the doctor’s hand while saying, “Thanks. We’ll be downstairs in just a minute. Please find us as soon as you know how she is and if we can see her.” The doctor nodded as he hurried off, shouting to the other doctor and nurses to wait. He told them there was a change of plans and that they were taking her to a private room instead of the emergency room. They all got in the elevator, and the doors shut. Chase turned to go back into the waiting room to tell Devlin what the plan was. The sight he saw broke his heart. Again. Devlin sat down on the rug with the boys, and both Dmytri and Adryk were in wolf form, now both on his lap. He could tell even from a distance that all three of them were crying. Chase gave them a moment before walking over and squatting down in front of them. He took all three of them into his arms and held them while they cried.

It was quite a while, but he could tell that Devlin had composed himself when he felt a small kiss on the side of his neck. He lifted his head and looked into those denim-blue eyes he had loved for so long.

Devlin asked, “Where’s Amalya? Is she okay?”

Chase nodded. “The doctors think she is going to be fine. They took her to a private room one floor down, and we can see her as soon as they check everything out. They said we can wait in the waiting room down there. Are you ready to go, or do you want to stay here a little longer?”

Devlin looked down at both wolves that were now sound asleep in his arms. He whispered, “I want to go downstairs and see her, but I don’t want to wake them.” Chase solved the problem by lifting Adryk into his arms and then helping Devlin stand with Dmytri.

Devlin leaned in and gave Chase a small kiss on the cheek, saying, “Thanks for everything. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Chase gave him a kiss back. “You will never have to find out. I’ll be with you forever. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” And followed Chase out of the room and downstairs to another waiting room.

* * * *

The doctors had done X-rays and found nothing wrong with Amalya’s neck or head. Nothing was broken, and they had stitched up the cut on her forehead. They told them that she had a slight concussion from hitting the chair, but she would be fine. She just needed some rest and someone to stay with her for the next twenty-four hours or so. They had put her in a private room and even gave them some extra blankets for the two wolves to curl up on. Now they were just waiting for her to wake up so they could explain what had happened, and hopefully she would let them take her home with them. With the boys comfortably sleeping in the corner of the room, Chase and Devlin sat on each side of her bed holding her hand. It had been a long, stressful day, and they were both exhausted. It wasn’t long before they were both leaning over the bed, sleeping with their heads laid on her lap.

Amalya woke slowly. She could tell she was lying down, but her head was elevated, and she knew she wasn’t in her own bed. She felt someone holding both her hands, and she felt a warm weight on her lap. She opened her eyes only to quickly close them again. The light in the room was blinding, and she had a horrible headache. She tried again a little more slowly this time. Blinking several times, she let her eyes adjust. When she could see again, she looked down at her lap. Chase and Devlin were on each side of her with their heads on her lap. They both held one hand, and their other hands were across her legs, holding onto each other’s. She was confused at how she got there and why they would be at her bedside. She thought about it for a second before it all came back to her. She remembered Dmytri turning into a wolf and Chase telling her that they were all wolves. She tried to look around to see if the boys were there, but it hurt to move her head, so she tried slower this time. She looked to the corner, and, sure enough, now there were two white wolf pups lying together on some blankets on the floor. She must have made a noise or moved, because Chase and Devlin both sat up quickly, looking around the room, and then they turned their eyes to her.

Chase stood still, holding her hand and cupping her cheek with the other. “Are you okay,
milaya
?”

She looked at him and tipped her head. “I’m fine, but my name is Amalya, not Milaya.”

He chuckled and kissed her forehead above the bandage. “I know your name, my sweet.
Milaya
is Russian.”

“Oh? What does it mean?”

Chase cleared his throat. “It means
my pretty one
.”

She could tell she blushed by the heat in her face. He traced her lips with his thumb. “You are, you know? My pretty one.”

She nodded her head without thinking, but as her doziness wore off and her brain kicked back on, she answered, “I’m not sure what that means. I know I have only caused you trouble since I met you. Why are you still here?”

Chase dropped his hand, but Devlin’s took its place, keeping her cheek warm. “Sweet Amalya, you have not caused any trouble that wasn’t entirely my fault. I wasn’t thinking straight, and this was all a surprise to me. I reacted before Chase had a chance to explain things to me. I’m sorry.” He bent and kissed her forehead, too.

“Could someone please explain things to me, because I’m confused.” She looked over at the wolves sleeping on the floor. “And why are they on the floor? They are little boys. They shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor.”

Chase chuckled. “So you do remember what happened.”

“Yes, of course I do. Dmytri got upset and turned into a wolf, but that doesn’t explain why you are making them sleep on the floor.”

Devlin answered. “They are wolves right now. They don’t mind sleeping on the floor. They are comfortable snuggling with each other. That’s why they haven’t shifted back. Some of us are more at ease when we are in wolf form when something tragic happens. That is why he shifted in the first place. He got so upset that his wolf wanted to protect him, so he came out.”

She was still studying the wolves and didn’t even look at him when she asked, “Do they know what is going on when they are wolves? Do they know who they are? Do they know who I am?”

“Yes, they are completely sentient when in wolf form.”

She nodded her head. “Okay.” Then she spoke to the wolves. “Dmytri. Adryk.” When both wolves lifted their heads, she sat up and patted the bed by her feet. “Do you want to come up and here and lay with me?” Both wolves jumped to their feet, tails wagging, before running toward the bed. It was a little high, and they couldn’t quite jump up. Chase shook his head while muttering what sounded like “You’re going to spoil them” under his breath as he helped them onto the bed. They both sniffed at her hand for a minute, and she petted them behind their ears, whispering, “Such good boys. And you are so beautiful. Now how about you get some sleep while I talk to your uncles?” They licked her hands before settling down on her feet and dozing off again. When they were both sound asleep, making little snoring noise, she turned to look at Chase and Devlin. “Now please explain.”

Devlin looked to Chase before starting. “Okay. So you now know that we are wolf shifters, but what that means is a little more complicated. Do you know anything about wolves in the wild?”

She frowned. “Not a lot.”

Devlin continued. “Well, we are a lot like wild wolves. We live in packs with other wolves. Some are family by blood, and some are not. Chase and I left our birth pack and are now alpha and beta of a small pack a little ways from here. We brought Anya, Dmytri, and Adryk with us, and when she met her mate in the pack here, she moved to live with his pack. Wolves in the wild mate for life, and we are the same way. Except for one difference. Where wild wolves choose their mate, we have fate to thank for ours. Fate chooses who we are meant to be mated with. Chase and I have known each other our whole lives and realized we were mates about eleven years ago. I was born an alpha wolf and should have taken over my birth pack when my father died, but gay wolves were not accepted there, so we left. We also knew that we would have another mate, and that mate would be a female. You see, alphas are meant to produce offspring and carry on the bloodline, so we knew we were looking for a female.” He must have seen her confusion, and he shook his head, pulling at his hair. “I’m not explaining this right.”

Chase took up the story. “Since we left our birth pack four and a half years ago, we have been looking for our other mate. As much as we love each other, we always knew our family wouldn’t be complete until we found her. We can sense our mates when we first meet them by their scent. We are pulled to them and, once we find them, have an overwhelming desire to claim and protect them. If the mate is a shifter, they will have the same reaction. If they are human, they will be pulled toward us and not understand why.” Chase took both of her hands and looked into her eyes. “
You
are our other mate. I knew it the second I smelled that jasmine scent from the hallway at the school. That is why I reacted to you the way I did. And why you were as responsive to me when I kissed you. As soon as I touched you, I started the bonding, and the more contact we have with each other the stronger it will get.”

She blinked up at him. “Is that why my heart was breaking when I tried walking away from you earlier?”

Chase and Devlin both nodded. Chase replied, “Yes, and as the bond gets stronger, you won’t want to be away from us, and we will feel the same for you. To be honest, I already don’t know how we lived without you for so long now. We only just met, and I feel like I’ve known you forever. I know it may seem strange to you, but there is a bond there, and I know we belong together.”

She looked into his eyes for a minute then turned to look at Devlin. “Does that mean that I’m not your mate, just Chase’s?”

He shook his head. “Why would you say that?”

She stuttered and rubbed her arms again. “Because you obviously don’t feel the same way he does. If what he said is true, then shouldn’t you have sensed me as yours, too?”

He took her hand into his. “I’m very sorry about that. And yes, I should have. I was just so upset about Anya that I wasn’t thinking straight, and when I realized something was going on with you and Chase, I just saw red and thought that I was losing him, too. I can’t explain to you how sorry I am that I hurt you. But if you will just please give me a chance, I will prove to you how much you mean to me and how much you will be loved by both of us.” Devlin held his breath while he waited. She already knew her answer could mean the difference between them all being happy together or her being lonely again.

Amalya wasn’t sure what to think. A few hours ago, she was sitting at her desk thinking about how much she hated the last day of school because of the bad memories. Now she had two men that seemed to really care about her offering themselves to her. Though she wanted to accept their offer and be happy, she thought back to the past. She had thought that Gavin loved her and they would always be together, too, but he left her. Alone. Before she could decide what she wanted to do, she needed more answers. “Okay, so if what you say is true, and I’m your mate, what exactly does that mean? Where do you live? Would I have to move? Would I be accepted not being a wolf, too? I won’t change into a wolf, will I?”

Chase nodded. “Fair questions. It means that we will love and protect you for the rest of our lives. We live about an hour and a half south of here in a small town. Since Devlin is the alpha and I am the beta, we can’t just leave them. So, unless you are dead set on staying here, we will be moving you with us. If it’s really important for you to stay here, we can try to work something out with the local pack to stay here. But we would have to find someone to take over our pack. The only problem is that the pack here already has an alpha, so that means Devlin would have to give up his status in the pack. And no, you will not turn into a wolf once we claim you. You are either born wolf or not.”