Owned By The Alphas: Part Three (2 page)

“I don’t!”

She could hear the smirk in his voice. “You’re a liar.”

It pissed her off to no end that he was right. She did want him again. And again and again. But she didn’t like that she relied on him to get her home, that she couldn’t see with no light. It made her feel helpless, a feeling she hated. For all intents and purposes she was a hostage and anger took root in her.

Her voice got lower than it had ever been as she hissed in his face, “No,
you’re
the liar! You promised you’d take me back. I swam around in that water telling you all about my life–trusting you!–and all the while you were smiling on the inside knowing that I had no idea you weren’t taking me back! You were asking me all those questions about college and my apartment, knowing you were going to keep me against my will like some inanimate object you can put in your pocket or something. Not that you wear clothing–but you know what I mean!” As the frustration built up in her, with each sentence that tumbled out of her mouth, something strange happened. The things she couldn’t see a moment ago, came into focus. She could increasingly make out the trees, the boulders in the distance, the huge trunk she’d struggled to climb over, the one he’d leapt over with ease. She stopped talking and looked around. “Is it getting brighter? Is it a full moon?” She searched the sky, but saw only branches and darkness, no gaps.

She could barely see his frown as he released her, but she
could
see it, when moments before she couldn’t make out any of his facial expressions.

He sat next to her and watched her face as she rose up, looking around with much curiosity.

“No. Why?”

But then her sight began to fade again. The outlines began to blur and blend as though her sight weakened in exact relation to her doubt. She squinted hard. “I could see! Just now, I could see! And now it’s going away again! NO!!”

“What do you mean? Of course you can see.”

She shook her head, overwhelmed with disappointment. “No, I can’t. You can! Because you’re a supernatural fucking superhero.” She sighed, “It’s too dark for me. Why do you think flashlights were invented? But things came back into focus just now. Why??”

From the blinding darkness came his voice. “Your eyes adjusted.”

“If that were true, why can’t I see now?”

“You can’t see anything?”

“No. Nothing!” Frustrated, she stood up and smoothed down her pelt, irritated that she couldn’t see even it. It was on her body, and yet there wasn’t even an outline! “It’s just not fair.”

“You’re only human, Ali.”

She made a noise of disgust at the thought and with dwindling patience, said in his direction, “Look, I can’t get back on my own. I can’t even get twenty feet without bumping into something. I
am
going back, Red. I haven’t changed my mind. So…you’re giving me no choice. If you don’t take me back right now, I will never talk to you again.”

He didn’t speak for several long moments, and when he did, his voice held no humor. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do mean it.”

“You’re bluffing.” She didn’t have to see him to know he was getting angry, now, too.

She probably wouldn’t be able to
never
speak to him again, but right now, she felt helpless enough to convince herself it was possible. He was holding her hostage, and fuck that shit. She picked off a few more careful steps away from him and called back, “Truth? You want the truth? If you take me against my will, I will make your life hell.”

“She says, after she just begged me to fuck her harder,” he called back with dripping sarcasm.

She stopped walking and spun around, yelling in his direction, “Just because you can seduce a woman doesn’t mean you can make her love you!”

His blue eyes glowed hot enough for her to see, and his outline returned as he walked to her, fury sparking between them. Had she looked around, she would have seen the forest coming into focus again, but he held her glare like he controlled it.

“Fine. I’ll take you back.”

Without another word, he shifted. Ali yelped and jumped out of the way. As the transformation completed, he turned away from her and snarled.

She climbed onto his back, and leaned down to his ear to whisper, “Thank you.”

R
ed felt
her fingers lace his fur, and when he knew she had a good hold on him, he growled and took off into the forest. On the way here, he’d relished in impressing her. But now he was pissed. Here she was demanding to be taken back to another alpha when she had him.

He decided to show her what he was made of.

He ran as fast as he could go without dropping her. Her gasps whenever he leapt the seemingly insurmountable obstacle egged him on. He looped quickly through the trees and over rocks and high shrubs, vengefully pleased as she gripped more tightly with her legs each time and swore at him loudly. When they got to the base of the mountain, there was a set of boulders that started low and climbed high. He smiled inwardly, wondering if he could do it. He decided to give it a try.

“Don’t you dare!” she yelled at him. He growled and she gripped him as tightly as she could with all her limbs, locking her hands together under his neck. “You jerk! Don’t do it!”

He leapt onto the smallest rock, four feet high, then to a slightly darker gray rock that was more than six, then to a grand boulder with a flat top that was at least fifteen feet above that. Ali gasped and he could hear her heart race, but when they got to the top he felt her grip loosen, like she might faint. He gave a short bark, warning her to hold on, and she grabbed tightly again. He hadn’t meant to scare her that badly, and now he worried he wouldn’t make it, the gap between the top of the boulder and the mountain, great. He took a few steps back to get a running start, and jumped. If he had been in human form, she would have heard him laughing as they landed safely and with only a slight wobble on the higher ground of the granite mountain. The rush was invigorating and he wished he could see her face.

“Proud of yourself, aren’t you?” she chuckled, unlocking her hands. He paced back and forth, feeling so good about the jump that the thought flashed into his mind to just take her to
his
pack now, without asking her. He could make it there in no time. They were in the valley on the other side, not far from here. Like she read his mind, she tugged on his fur and said, “Okay, big guy. Don’t get any ideas. Let’s go!”

It took him a minute to act. Pacing back and forth, he considered what to do, but then he realized she might do something stupid, like jump off of him just to prove a point. Women, they could be very stubborn, he knew. If she jumped, she could break something, and humans don’t heal fast. Swearing to himself, he headed uphill to the last place he wanted to go.

As the mountain steepened and the inevitable battle got closer, Ali whispered to him, “We’re almost there, aren’t we? Put me down and go home! I’ll call for help and say I got lost!” When he didn’t stop, she repeated her plea. He couldn’t do what she asked, and the irony was not lost on him that he had brought upon himself what was about to happen. He knew there would be hell to pay when they heard him coming. But he’d gotten her into this. And he wasn’t about to leave her to face them alone.

They neared the other pack’s den. His adrenaline spiked as he waited for the ambush.
Should I shift now? But then I will be vulnerable. I can protect her better if I’m in my stronger form
.

He trotted up the medium-grade climb, searching the perimeter. Her heart had begun to beat fast, too. Her fingernails gouged into his skin. It calmed him. He felt her rise up on his back as she looked around. He listened with his heightened aural sense, but heard nothing.
Odd. Where are they?

He stopped walking.

“Do you hear them?” Ali whispered in his ear.

He shook his head.

After a few painfully long moments, he gave her a signal to climb down. She let go of his fur slowly, like she didn’t want to. As soon as she was off, he stepped away and transformed into his human form again, facing the den with both legs firmly spread, his hands in fists. “Get behind me, Ali.”

She implored him, “Run! Go home! They won’t hurt me!”

He cut her off, calling out, “Hello!” He wouldn’t run like a coward. “We need to talk. Do not hurt Ali! If this is an ambush, take me. I am giving myself to you in exchange for her.”

She pressed her body against his back. “Oh my God, don’t say that.”

Red held up a hand to quiet Ali. He listened harder. More to himself than to her, he muttered, “I can’t hear anything. That makes no sense.”

“You know what! Fuck this.” Ali jumped out. “You will
not
take him! We can talk about this! No one needs to fight, for God’s sake!” She was rigid as she waited. He looked at her, surprised and impressed, especially since she was blind as a bat, yet still she walked forward. He joined her, walking ahead of her. Hearing him, she ran up so she could be first, stumbling once and holding out her hand so she didn’t bump into anything.

“I don’t want them to hurt you!” she hissed.

“Do you think you could protect me, Ali?” He let her pass him and then he ran up ahead, stifling a laugh.

“Are you seriously amused right now?”

He grabbed her arm and stopped her. “I don’t think they’re here. I can’t hear anything. Even if they were hiding, now that I’m this close, I could hear at least one heartbeat, if not all. I just hear yours, which is much slower than ours, even when it’s freaked out, like right now. There are no others.”

Her pretty eyebrows rose up. “You can hear heartbeats? Really?” He loved it when she looked at him like he was a god.

He walked into the cave, standing taller. Turning, he got very still and listened again. Ali froze and waited; her head turned as if she could hear what he could if she tried hard enough. It was fucking adorable and he wanted to laugh again, but the question of where they could be suddenly overtook him. He felt his heart stop.

“I know where they are.”

“Where?” Her worry echoed off the walls.

He walked out of the cave with long angry strides. “Come! We’ve no time! They’ve gone to my territory to find you. My pack is in danger.”

“Oh my God!” She rushed after him, stumbling. “I’ll only slow you down! Go without me!”

He considered it, his blood racing as images of his pack flashed before him. Kyren. Motis. All of them.
How could I have been so reckless with their lives?

“What do you know of your pack, Ali? Would they slaughter them without asking questions?”

Ali was horrified, and she croaked, “No! I don’t think they’d do that!”

He stared down the mountain, emotions warring inside him. “Come with me. They will need to see you’re alive. If I show up with your scent on me, and you aren’t there…”

She moaned and walked toward him, her hands out to feel for where he was. “Okay. Let’s go.”

He shifted again and backed up until he touched her. She climbed on. As soon as she had a strong hold, he raced down the mountain to his home.

I can’t believe I didn’t think of them and what could happen. After all they’ve done for me! Of course Calt would have gone there the moment he found Ali gone. He wouldn’t have waited like some fool! The only fool here is me.

W
ith Calt leading the way
, Dak and Calus not far behind, they sniffed out the other pack in just over an hour, the distance their only delay. The scent grew stronger until they knew they’d found exactly what they were looking for, and Calt stopped, turning toward his family. Borhan was far behind the pack, his leg impeding him. None treated him differently. Everyone knew Borhan, of all werewolves, was not to be coddled. His pride was too great, but still Calt checked on him with a quick glance, proud of him for making the journey despite his pain.

Paws clawed the grass in pacing, impatient steps as they waited for their next move.

When he and his father had met with Red, they had done so at the neutral territory east, down the Tuolumne River. This was the first time he’d been to his home, had seen the fallen sequoia tree they resided in, for himself. It, like many sequoias, had grown obscenely large over the centuries. It had to be almost two hundred feet long, the width twenty-five feet in diameter, its roots at the far end sticking out in all directions. They had done a good job of concealing the entrance. It looked simply as though a large boulder had hit the tree after falling in a landslide, lots of smaller rocks close by enough to make the ruse plausible. The tree itself had no other holes or openings. At least from where he could see. He considered that unwise, because it gave his pack an advantage.

Tawny…

He would have never imagined fighting her, and yet here he was thinking of advantages and strategies. It sickened him.

Voices burst from inside.

“We have company!”

“I thought I smelled something foul.”

“What should we do?”

“Let them in.”

Calt bristled. The last voice had been hers, and while there was a tremor to it, he knew she was ready for anything. His pack got closer, the weakest keeping to the back.

Three males pushed the boulder to the side, in human form. They looked like brothers, all with tan eyes, dark hair and olive skin. From the same litter, Calt guessed. A fertile mother and a lucky alpha. Although one was scrawny, a runt. He was lucky to have siblings to protect him. He’d need it.

Tawny stepped out next from the eight-foot-high hole carved in the side of the tree, one corner of her lip upturned. Her ice-blue eyes flashed around the faces of the wolves she used to run with. “Well, well. A homecoming. Is this all for li’l ol’ me?” Bloo snarled, and Dak and Calus flanked Calt’s sides without sound. Calt shifted then. The others remained in their stronger, more intimidating forms, just in case.

Two others of the pack appeared behind the brothers and Tawny. They were on four legs, one with smoky fur, the other’s black, like Calt’s. They’re smaller size and scent indicated they were female. Only two females with four males? Calt found that difficult to believe. These two had to be busy. And what with the alpha’s needs on top of the three brothers, well, the images dancing in his mind were interesting to say the least.

“So, this is where you’ve landed.” He squared off with Tawny as she lengthened her neck under a stubborn chin.

“You catch on fast.”

He struggled to gather his patience, a difficult task. “And you do not. I am tired of your defiance.”

“You are not my alpha anymore,” she spat, hurt behind the fury in her eyes, her tan and white hair blowing in the growing breeze.

He glanced to the right of her as the brothers switched places, a private conversation shared silently between them. The bearded one was heavier than most wolves, a mixture of fat, muscle and nerve. He was clearly a fighter from the look in his eyes and the scars on his body. He walked to stand by Tawny, unafraid. “She is with us now. Is there a problem?”

Borhan’s voice called out from behind Calt. “That depends on her.” He had shifted, too. His mind was his strength now that his body was weak, and he would need his voice to communicate.

Calt lowered his chin, eyes snapping back to his ex-lover and friend. “What is it you plan to do here? Is there a war in our future?”

Tawny took a dominant step forward. “Is that why
you’re
all here? To start a war?”

“Are there any others?” Borhan called from the back. “Where is your alpha?”

The enemy pack exchanged glances. The black-furred female shifted into a woman with black hair to her waist and green piercing eyes. “Stop!” She stepped forward and Tawny tensed, her eyes flitting away from Calt’s. He thought he saw jealousy wave over her, and she had good reason. The she-wolf was something to behold. Of Italian descent, her breasts were fuller than most she-wolves, her hips wide and womanly. He whisked an appreciative glance down her frame. Her eyes softened as she caught this and she held out her hand in a gesture of boundary, an invisible shield formed between them and her pack, including Tawny, as if she were one of them already. Calt could not believe it. What had Tawny told them to make them so protective of her so soon? “We will not have this conversation until Red returns!”

“Where is he?” Calt demanded.

The pack shiftily shared glances again. The bold male spoke. “He will be back soon.”

“That did not answer the question,” Borhan growled.

Calt watched them squirm. “Well, where is he?”

Tawny glanced to the others, an ugly smile spreading her cheeks.

“Speak up!” Calt shouted to them all. “Where is your alpha?”

The final wolf shifted into a woman with wild curly hair, slender and sinewy body, and eyes almost as dark as her skin. He heard Calus sniff beside him.

A Jamaican accent flowed from her as she stepped forward with fire. “We do not owe you any answers. You do not own us! Are
you
here to start a war,
murderer
?” Calt bristled. Her head jutted forward. “Because it looks like the only one starting a war is you!”

Calt growled and raised two fingers in the air. The collective sounds of their bones cracking and reforming echoed off the trees as the rest of his pack joined he and Borhan in human form. The birds that had been whistling in the distance, stopped, and all went silent as the two groups faced off.

The scrawny wolf muttered to the Jamaican-born one, “Now, look what you’ve done, Gypha.”

Calt’s chin lowered with his voice. “We are prepared for anything.”

Gypha growled, “Bring it.”

“Well, you are not prepared for
this
,” Tawny called out with a nasty smile. The bold male and the Italian beauty swung their heads toward her, but failed to stop her in time before she gleefully announced, “Their alpha has your mate! HA!”

Confusion overtook Calt, but then he remembered the empty bed. The fact that she’d been able to tiptoe past them without them hearing. He’d forgotten to tell his protectors to pay special care. He pictured the other alpha coming in while he slept, stealing the human from him. The veins in his neck exploded as he bellowed with fury, “I WILL KILL HIM WITH MY BARE HANDS!”

Dak and Calus lunged forward, met halfway by all three brothers flying in the air to fight. Lucin lunged to help, but Tawny grabbed him and threw him to the ground before he had the chance. He rose with supernatural speed and punched her. She snarled and hit him back. Bloo and Lorn rushed forward and grappled with the females. The scene was a flurry of growling and blood. Then the threat increased as all the werewolves let their claws grow to deadly lengths.

Calt’s fight was with the alpha. This battle did him no good and watching it escalate, it struck him that it did nobody any good. He had let his emotions rule his will.

“ENOUGH!”

Borhan arrived at his side, standing as tall as his lame leg would let him. “What are you doing?”

Ignoring him, Calt roared, “I SAID STOP!” His growl was so loud that the chests of all shook. He lunged forward and plucked Tawny off Lucin, throwing her aside as if she were a rag doll. She snarled at him and leapt onto his back, clawing at his face. He reached back and tossed her off him with ease, and held his hand out, telling her to stay where she’d landed. Her eyes were fierce, her mouth curled, and the others all stopped–bruised and bloody, save for Dak and Calus who had not a mark on either of them. Calus was sitting on the scrawny brother and had the other held above him in the air, legs and arms flailing. Dak had the bold one pinned against the bark by the neck. Everyone kept alert, eyes firmly planted on their opponent, waiting.

“You!” Calt thrust his arm out at the Italian beauty. “What do you know of this? Tell me now!”

She licked her lips, struggling to disengage from her attacker. Lorn was small and had been beaten up, too, but you did not fuck with her pack. That was obvious from the damage she’d inflicted. “I…”

The bold brother warned, “Kyren!” his voice strangled under Dak’s firm hold.

She swallowed hard. “I know nothing.”

“I can see you considering your options. You have none. We outnumber you easily, even with the defector on your side.” Venom dripped from Calt’s tongue as he locked eyes with his ex-lover.

Kyren glanced from Tawny to Lorn, back to Calt, the claw marks on her chest rising and falling painfully. She was afraid. “I’m sorry, Motis,” she whispered to the bold one. To Calt she held her head high, angry at having no choice but to answer, “I do not know. We do not even know for sure if he is with her.”

“Explain!”

When she paused, Lorn spun her around to face Calt, holding the beauty in a loose chokehold with clawed fingers held just shy of her neck.

Gypha shouted, “Kyren!” unsuccessfully attempting to disengage from Bloo.

“Not so fast,” Bloo snarled, pinning her arms behind her back and raising them so high that if she moved again, they would break.

Kyren spoke so fast her words stumbled over themselves. “When he had not come home to sleep, we were worried! When Tawny arrived, we thought she had come to say you had kidnapped
him
. But then, as you know, she was asking for sanctuary. Said you were dangerous! We told her we would do what we could but needed his approval, so…we waited. When he did not return–”

“Why are you telling him all this?” called out the scrawnier brother from the ground.

“Shut your mouth!” said the other.

She yelled, “They could kill us! I won’t let that happen!” Her voice cracked then and her eyes filled with tears.

Lorn threw a beseeching glance to Calt, softy that she was.

“You do not know for sure if he has taken her?”

Kyren shook her head and a tear fell down her cheek. His shoulders lost some of their rigidity. He sighed and called off his pack. “All of you, back to me. Now.” He shot a look to Tawny. “Except you!”

“NO SHIT.” As the wolves reassumed their sides of the invisible line, Tawny passed Lucin. “I always knew you had it out for me.”

“Oh, shut up, Tawny! You just always thought I couldn’t take you. Someday I’ll show you I can.”

“I fucking doubt that, Lucin!”

“Enough,” Calt sighed. To Borhan, he muttered, “they’re like pups.”

Borhan nodded. He’d never been like a pup even when he was one. To Kyren, he asked, “Why do you think he has our human?”

She looked around, taking in the damage, and her height lengthened as her stance acquired its previous dignity. She wiped her cheek. “When he did not return, Motis and Jal said he had recognized the human last night when they chased…well…
you
.”

Now flanked again by his strongest, with Borhan just behind, Calt frowned and turned his attention to the brothers. He needed answers. None of this made sense. And why would he take Ali without telling his pack? If it was not done to declare war, then why? Were they even together? Perhaps they were not, and Ali had simply been out exploring when he’d awoken. He and his pack had left shortly after, and in haste. They would not have noticed had she been near, their focus so engaged on their lost comrade and what she might be up to.

And what the hell did she mean by ‘
recognized’
?

“Who is Motis and who is Jal?”

The bold brother shook out his bulky shoulders, saying with pride, “I am Motis. My brothers are Jal,” He motioned to the one slightly taller than he, and far less bulky. “and Thanot.” The skinnier one was inspecting a bruise on his stomach and looked up, clearly mortified by all of this.

Calt cocked his head to the side. He knew exposing their existence to humans was against the laws, so he asked. “What do you mean? He recognized that she was human?”

Motis did not want to answer, but Dak and Calus took one step forward. He eyed them. “No. He said he
knew
her. From his human life.”

Bloo scoffed, “Human life? So the alpha has something in common with Tawny. How sweet.”

Tawny came forward in a flash, but Dak knocked her backward. She fell against the tree, snarling, “Dammit!”

Motis, having already felt Dak’s power, added quickly, “They went to school together.”

Calt felt like someone shot him in the heart with an arrow. He stepped back, unable to form words. It was the last thing he expected to be told. They knew each other? How could that be? What were the odds? And where did that leave him?

Lorn whispered, “So that’s why you think he took her!”

Calt’s pack looked to him, struck by the news almost as much as he was. They knew what this could mean. That the mate he had claimed, was gone, and probably of her own volition.

Tawny watched Calt with sharp eyes, wondering what he was going to do, now that he knew. He glanced to her, but betrayed no emotion as he looked away, staring into the distance. Everyone waited.

It was Shaynah who came to the rescue. She had stayed back during the fight, and now her buttery voice wrapped around them all. “He will return. We shall wait.” All heads turned to her. She smiled. “Have you any food?”