Hidden Alpha [Alpha Mates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

She thought on it. “What do you mean by claim me?” Devlin blushed, and Chase chuckled. She glared at them. “What’s so funny?”

Devlin squeezed her hand. “Nothing, sugar. Sorry. It’s just kinda a hard thing to explain. Basically we um, well, we um, we make love, and while we are joined with you, we use our canine teeth to bite you on the neck or shoulder and mark you as ours. The mark will heal and be almost invisible to humans, but shifters will know that you are ours, and all others will stay away. We will claim you and each other quite a bit probably. Claiming you also leaves our scent on you, so every other shifter will know who’s coming after them should they dare to come near you.” She knew she blushed and covered her mouth to hide a giggle.

“What so funny,
milaya
?” Chase asked.

She could feel her face heat up more. “Well, I’m, um…I’ve never um…you see…I…” She growled and covered her face. She hoped her next words were muffled. “I’m a virgin.” There was complete silence in the room, and when she peeked through her fingers, both men were staring at her. She couldn’t explain the look in their eyes, so she didn’t even try. “Wh–why are you looking at me like that?” They both leaned in at the same time and kissed her on her cheeks.

Devlin spoke. “Because that means if you accept us, we will be the only men that will ever be with you. You don’t know how much of an honor and complete turn-on that is for us. To be the only one that knows the beauty of our mate is very special to us. Chase and I have only been with each other, and now, if you’ll have us, we can share our love with you and only you.”

She had never blushed so much in her life but could feel her cheeks heat up again. “So, how does this work? What do we do first?”

* * * *

Devlin couldn’t believe the words she spoke. Not only had she never been touched by another man, but she seemed to be taking the news of being mated to two wolf shifters better than he expected. It was shocking, especially after her fainting and hitting her head when she saw Dmytri shift. “First thing we do is find the doctor and have him check you over again. He said that you had a concussion but would be fine, although he needed to check on you before he could release you. Then we are going to take you home with us, if you will go.”

She nodded but then asked, “What about the babies? Who’s going to stay with them?”

Devlin hadn’t thought about that. He knew someone should stay with them but didn’t know who the hospital would let stay. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask the doctors.” As if they called for him, her doctor came in the room. Her whole body stiffened, and she looked from the wolves to the doctor, appearing ready to panic. Devlin patted her hand. “It’s okay. He knows what we are. Most of the hospital does, actually.” He took it as a good sign when she relaxed and squeezed his hand. The doctor moved around the side of the bed, and Chase backed up.

“So, how are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m fine. I’d like to go home now, please.”

“Well let’s just have a look, and then we’ll get you on your way home. Just don’t forget you have a concussion and can’t be alone for at least twenty-four hours, okay?”

She nodded and whispered, “I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem,” then smiled up at Devlin and over to Chase.

Devlin could feel the bond between them starting to strengthen and thought maybe they would be okay. He cleared his throat. “While you’re checking on Amalya, I’m going to go check on the babies and talk to their doctor about when they can go home and if someone can stay with them until we take them home.”

Amalya looked up to him “You’re taking them home?”

He wasn’t sure if the look of terror she had on her face was funny or heartbreaking. What if she didn’t want to take care of Dmytri, Adryk, and the babies? Would she change her mind? Would they be able to make this work? “Yes, Chase and I have custody of them and Dmytri and Adryk now. Their mother wanted us to raise them if anything ever happened to her. Is that going to be a problem?”

The smile he got back made him feel like he’d hung the moon. “No, not at all. I’m just wondering when I’m going to wake up from this dream. Not only do I have two men offering me the world, but I get two little boys and two baby girls, too? It does work like that, right? I would get to help raise them?”

Chase nodded. “Yes. While Anya will always be their mother and we will be sure to tell the babies all about her, you would be raising them with us.”

“Okay. Can you go check on them? As soon as the doctor is finished, we’ll be right there.”

Devlin leaned in and kissed her head above her bandage again. “Of course,
golubushka
. I’ll be waiting for you at the nursery.” He left the room with a little more hope for the future. A day that had started out amazing then turned to disaster was looking to brighten up. They had found their other mate, and she had agreed to be part of their family and raise the young pups with them. He hoped everything would work out for them but couldn’t help but wonder what fate was going to throw at them next. He had lost his only sister and gained more family members. He wasn’t sure how he was going to take care of newborn twins and hoped that they were all up for the challenges they were about to face.

It didn’t take long for the doctor to release Amalya to go home and for her to sign all the paperwork. When she, Chase, and the twins, back in human form, arrived at the nursery, Devlin was busy signing paperwork also.

“What’s going on? What are you signing?” Chase asked.

Devlin smiled brightly. “The release papers for the girls. They said that we could take them home already. Said that they are perfectly healthy, and there is no reason to keep them here away from their family.”

Chase looked at the doctor in shock. “Are you sure? Aren’t they supposed to stay here for a few days or something?” The doctor assured them that it was fine and reminded him that some people even have their babies at home and never come to the hospital. He told them that it was perfectly fine to take them home. Devlin just nodded in agreement. “I’ll go to the truck and get the baby seats out and bring them in.” He headed outside, thankful Chase had thought to swing by Anya’s house and pick up the baby seats before going to the school to pick up the boys. He quickly secured the bases to the seat, grateful Anya had shown him how to do it months ago in case he had to do it himself. He returned just in time to see Amalya being handed one baby, and Chase the other. Both looked like they had already fallen in love with the little girls.
This is good. The girls are going need a lot of love
. He knew what it was like growing up without a mother and thought maybe that was why after eleven years of knowing there was another mate out there for them, they had found her. While fate had been cruel to him, it seemed she was going to be nicer to his nieces and nephews. She had come into their life just in time. Now their family would be whole.

Amalya sat down in a chair and held the baby so Dmytri and Adryk could see her. Adryk wiped away his tears. “Can we name them? Please, please, please? Can we please?” Amalya didn’t seem sure of the answer, so she looked up to Devlin.

He came and knelt behind the boys. “Maybe, what do you have in mind to name them?”

The boys thought hard for a minute, and Dmytri was the first to speak up. “I want to name this one after momma. Can we please, Uncle Dev?”

Tears filled his eyes as he hugged Dmytri tight. “I think that would be a very good idea, but maybe we can name them both after your momma. This one here can be Anya, and the other can be Katrya, which was your momma’s middle name. What do you think about that?”

The boys nodded in unison. “We like that, Uncle Dev. Can we go home now?”

He held the boys and hugged them close. “Yes, let’s go home, boys.” Amalya and Chase secured the babies in their carriers, and Chase carried them both out to the Tahoe. After locking the carriers into their bases on each side of the second row of seats, both little boys climbed in the farthest seat back.

* * * *

Devlin had tried to get Amalya to sit between him and Chase in the front seat, but she insisted she wanted to watch the babies. In reality, all of this was beginning to overwhelm her, and she just needed a minute to breathe and think over all the new information she had learned today. She was staring at the sleeping babies when Devlin’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Amalya?”

She looked up, blinking, and caught his eyes in the rearview mirror. “Yes?”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She blinked again. “Yes, I was just thinking. What did you say?”

“I said do you need to stop at your house for anything, and if so, where is it?”

She nodded. “Yes, I should probably get some clothes for at least a few days. The rest I can deal with later if you decide you really want to keep me.”

She smiled at him when he responded. “
Golubushka,
now that we have found you, we plan to keep you and take care of you for the rest of our lives.”

She scowled. “What does gooloo…um, yeah, that word mean, and is it Russian, too?”

Devlin smiled back. “Literally, it means ‘little dove’ but figuratively, ‘my darling,’ and yes, it’s Russian. We are originally from Russia but have been in Montana for four and a half years. We don’t use Russian very often, but some words just kinda stuck with us. You’ll get used to it. But if we say something you don’t understand, just ask, and we will be glad to explain them to you.”

She nodded again and gave him directions to her house. When they pulled into the driveway, she tried to tell them that she could go in to get her belongings by her herself, but apparently they didn’t want to be far away from her. Or so they said. Chase and Devlin carried the babies in while Dmytri and Adryk held her hands. Once inside, the twins were quite well behaved. They sat on the couch and asked politely if they could watch TV while they waited. She gave them the remote and went to pack some clothing. Chase stayed in the living room to watch the children while Devlin helped her in the bedroom. She wasn’t sure how much to bring with her. They said they lived an hour and a half away, so she wasn’t sure how long it would be until she could get back to the house. She decided to pack two suitcases of clothes and a smaller bag with her personal items in it.

She left Devlin sitting on her bed while she went into the bathroom to pack her toiletries. When she went to pull the drawer out from under the sink, the whole thing fell, and all the contents fell all over the floor. Devlin was instantly in the doorway asking, “What happened?”

Amalya knelt on the floor and motioned to the mess. “This drawer always falls out if I’m not careful. I got it. I’ll be just a minute.” Devlin reached to help. Amalya reached for her razor, except she wasn’t paying attention because she was too busy watching Devlin. She grasped the blade instead of the handle. That was her first mistake. When she realized she was holding the sharp end, she quickly pulled her hand away, which was her second mistake. She sliced a small cut in one of her fingers. She held the bleeding finger with her other hand and tried to stand and get to the sink. She didn’t even make it to a stand up before Devlin was lifting her in his arms and placing her on the counter next to the sink. He held her hand and inspected her finger. When he licked the blood off her, she pulled her hand back again.

“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just lick blood off someone. That not sanitary.” She was appalled with him.

He didn’t seem to understand her as he tilted his head, studying her before answering. “But you’re my mate.” She was still confused over the whole mate thing and what exactly it meant but didn’t see how being a mate made it okay for them to taste someone else’s blood.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

He cupped her cheek. “Do you remember what I said will happen when we claim you?” She nodded, and he continued. “Remember, we will make love to you and then bite you here.” He pushed her hair back over her right shoulder and kissed the side of her neck where it met her shoulder, and she shivered. “Then the bite will heal, but any shifter will know that you have been claimed and belong to a shifter. We will claim you quite often, which will cause you to carry our scent. That will let everyone know that you belong to us specifically. So you see, we will be tasting your blood quite often. It may be taboo for humans to taste others’ blood, but for shifters and their mates, it is a way of life. It not only marks you as ours, but it strengthens our bond with you and each other, too.”

She still wasn’t sure, but he seemed to know what he was talking about. Seeing as he was a shifter, and she’d just discovered they existed today, she would go along with what he said. He turned the faucet on and ran her hand under the cold water until it stopped bleeding. Taking a clean towel, he dried her off and reached in the medicine cabinet for a Band-Aid. After she was bandaged up and he seemed satisfied she was okay, he kissed her finger and helped her off the counter. Devlin carried her bags and led her back to the living room where Chase and the children were waiting for them. Dmytri and Adryk were deep in discussion over which Pokémon could beat the other, and Amalya shook her head. She was always taking the twins Pokémon cards away from them in school.

Chase had been talking baby talk to the babies but jumped up and grabbed her arms when she walked into the room. “What happened? Why do I smell blood? Are you okay?”

She patted him on the chest and held up her Band-Aid-covered hand. “I’m fine, just a little cut. Devlin already took care of it.”

Chase smiled brightly. “Not completely, he didn’t.” Then he leaned in to kiss her finger over the Band-Aid. Devlin came up behind her and wrapped both her and Chase in his arms.

“I kissed it and made it all better already, too. But I’m sure she can use lots more kisses, can’t you,
golubushka
?” Amalya couldn’t think with both of them surrounding her. She couldn’t explain the way they made her feel. She had felt something like this with Gavin, but it wasn’t the same. There was something different about it she couldn’t quite name. She knew she loved Gavin, but they had known each other for so many years that the love grew slowly for them, and she didn’t realize she felt that way for him until they were teenagers. With Devlin and Chase, it was almost as if she had been waiting for them for her whole life and hadn’t known it until she found them. Now that they were together, she knew that she was meant to be with them, and they would take care of her for the rest of their lives. She knew she shouldn’t feel this strongly about them or trust them so much already, but something deep inside her just
knew
this was right and was where she was supposed to be. Even though she couldn’t think with them touching her, she went with it and enjoyed the moment.