Claimed by the Alphas: Part Six (4 page)

Brae rode shotgun the rest of the drive. Mila laid in the backseat with a blanket she’d pilfered from the motel. Sleep was hard to come by, especially when they finally left the highway and began travelling the bumpy back roads. In all fairness, Mila didn’t really deserve to get any sleep, considering she had kept Asch up nearly all day.

It hadn’t been her intention to unload on him, but he was such a good listener. Patiently, he listened to her fears surrounding pregnancy and her insecurities about motherhood, and then he reassured her. He promised to make sure she had everything she needed during her pregnancy, and explained that there was at least one discreet doctor they could call on when the time came for her to give birth. He told her that werewolf children were less prone to disease, infection, and disabilities. His words soothed the sharp edges off her fears, but did little to make them less prominent.

Mila sat up when the car came to a stop. She rubbed her eyes, taking in their surroundings. A thick forest fringed the narrow road that had been etched into the foot of the mountain. The road befo
re them glistened with unblemished snow in the headlights of the sedan.

Asch handed Brae the car keys
before getting out. As Mila heard the trunk pop open, Brae cocked her head back to smile at her. She looked more like her usual chipper self now that they were away from the city.

“I’
ll be taking the car back and then I’ll meet you both at the den.”

Mila nodded, too groggy to care what that entailed.
Her door clicked open, and Asch was there, extending his hand.

They said their goodbyes to Brae and then set out into the forest.
Between the thin moon and the thick trees, Mila couldn’t see much more than a few steps ahead of her. She held tightly to Asch, letting him guide her through the woods.

After a few minutes of walking, she asked, “Are you too tired to shift?”

“Never,” he replied, sounding amused. “I just don’t want to leave tracks this close to the road. We’re going to walk for a little bit, then I’ll carry you. Are you tired?”

She was tired, but she didn’t like his cajoling tone.
“I’m fine.”

“Are you sad to go back?” he asked, giving her hip a squeeze.

Mila looked up at him. “No, I’m relieved.”

He looked surprised. “You are?”

“Yeah,” she said shrugging. “It was nice for a little while, and I’ll definitely want to go back again, particularly when I run out of toothpaste and deodorant, but, I don’t know, it just wasn’t what I thought it would be.”

She wasn’t sure how else to explain it. After l
iving in the pack, being back around humans was just weird. Sure, the amenities were great, but everything just felt shallow and…cold.

In the city, everyone had seemed to keep each other at arm’s length. Mila knew that she used to be one of those people, meandering through life in a bubble of personal space, a little too distant and a little too self-contained.
That wasn’t who she wanted to be anymore. She missed her friends, who talked with her and touched her without reservations.

“
I get it,” he said. As if reading her mind, he added, “It takes some getting used to. It’s hard to leave everything behind, but once you experience the sense of community in a pack, it’s almost impossible to go back.”

She ducked down as Asch
brushed aside a low hanging branch. “Why did you leave?”

He was silent for a moment, only the crunch of snow accompanying their trek. Finally, he said, “
I spent a lot of time denying what I was and trying to be human. In the end, it made me weak, because I didn’t understand how to control my instincts, particularly when it came to women.”

“Did you hurt someone?”

“Almost,” he said. “There was a girl that lived nearby, a year younger than me and really sweet. Our sisters were always hanging out, and eventually we became friends—watch your step.” He paused, lifting Mila up over a large tree root.

“What happened?” she asked,
a little too eagerly. She could tell it wasn’t something he wanted to rehash, but both of the alphas were always so private about their pasts.

He secured his arm around her waist as they continued walking. “Well, we spent a lot of time together. I knew that she liked me—most girls did.” His smile gleamed in the scant moonlight. “But I liked her a lot, too. Eventually, I told her the truth about what I was.”

“What did she do?”

“Nothing,
she thought it was really cool. If anything, it made her like me more.”

Mila could relate to that. When she was younger, she’d regularly fantasized about falling in love with a handsome young werewolf and sharing his secret. Meeting Asch would have been the ultimate dream-come-true for her at sixteen.

“We started fooling around, nothing major, just kissing and a little touching here and there. But the more time we were together, the less I was able to control myself around her. I was afraid of hurting her, but she was convinced that I was overreacting.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, sighing. “I told her to stay away from me during the time of the moth that she was fertile, but she didn’t listen. She snuck in my window in the middle of the night.
She brought condoms and scented candles. I’m pretty sure she planned on trying to seduce me.”

“Oh, god…”

Mila remembered how Asch was during the thrall. Once his control had snapped, he’d been gone. All he had wanted was sex, and he had taken it over and over, none too gently. That was after what she could only imagine was years of learning self-control.

“Caim was nearby. He heard her scream and he was able to stop me. A week later, we left. Spent a few years with Caim’s pack, and then we struck out on our own.”

“Did you ever see her again?”

He shook his head. “According to my sister, she got married a few years ago. Probably
has kids by now, too.”

“Did you love her?” She wasn’t sure why she needed to know, or why his wistful tone created a pang of jealousy in her chest.

“I was a teenager and she was the only person who knew what I was besides Caim, who was, frankly, an asshole. At that point in my life, I needed her a lot, but that’s not the same as being in love.”

“So you’ve been in love before?” she asked, unable to keep the disappointment from her voice. Hearing about Asch’s past was turning out to be a lot less pleasing than she thought it would be.

“I love you.”

Mila tripped. Asch caught her before she fell, pulling her up by the arm. She tried to look up at him, but her face was on fire, so she fixed her gaze on his chest.

“Why did you say that?” she asked, wringing her hands.

He tilted her chin up. “Because it’s true,
” he said with certainty.

“But if I say it back, you’ll think I’m just saying it because you said it first.”

“You don’t have to say it. I know you love me.”

She gave him a skeptical look. How could he possibly know that she loved him when she didn’t even know for sure if she loved him?

Asch just gave her an enigmatic smile and continued walking, pulling her along, deeper into the wilderness.

“You’re late.”

Caim spat the words out as if they were venom in his mouth. Between no longer being intimidated by him and missing him like crazy, Mila completely ignored his words and made a mad dash towards him, her arms spread wide. At the last second, he uncrossed his arms, permitting Mila to fling herself into his arms.

“You’re late,” he repeated in a grumble.

She ignored him again, rubbing her face against his hairy chest and breathing in his scent. “I’m so happy to see you!”

He rolled his shoulders awkwardly, clearly unsure how to deal with his mate.
After a brief moment of indecision, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

“Why are you so late?” he asked,
this time speaking to Asch.

Mila turned to look back at Asch, wincing sympatheti
cally before burying her face back in Caim’s chest. Secretly, she was happy that Caim was directing his ire on Asch instead of her. She was dying to snuggle up against him and go to sleep, and she was way too tired to deal with his attitude.

“We got a little sidetracked,” Asch replied, coming to stand next to them. “Everything go alright?”

“I have been waiting for hours,” Caim continued stubbornly. His grip became a little too tight.

Deftly managing Caim, Asch replied, “Well, let’s get inside. It’s cold out here.”

He winked at Mila and then sauntered past, heading for what she presumed was the den entrance. Caim scowled and hoisted her up into his arms. She protested, but not with any real seriousness, as he carried her to their new den.

Far better hidden than
the Cairn, she probably wouldn’t have noticed the entrance if not for the tracks—both footprints and paw prints—that led behind an obscured limestone outcropping. The inside passageway was just large enough to accommodate a medium-sized wolf. The smells of burnt wood and roasted meat wafted up, thickening as the narrow tunnel opened into a small cavern.

A dying fire crackled in the center of the room.
The wolves, mostly in their human forms, were strewn throughout the room, all of them asleep. Mila tried to find Rosie and Gem in the crowd, but Caim didn’t pause, taking her down another passageway.

The passageway was dark, and Mila didn’t realize they’d entered a new room until Caim set her down on a pallet of furs. He tried to pull back, but she kept a grip on his shoulders. She heard Asch drop their bags on the floor
.

“Lotus and the others asked that you wake them when you returned,” Caim said gruffly. She heard Asch groan in the darkness.

“Are you coming, too?” Asch asked.

“In a few moments,” he replied.

She heard Asch pad over to her. He crouched down, placing a quick kiss on the top of her head before excusing himself. Once Asch had left the room, Mila crawled into Caim’s lap and nestled up against him. He rubbed his nose against her hair, breathing her in.

“You will not leave without me again.”

“Okay, I promise,” she said absently.

Caim snorted. “I did not ask you to promise.”

“Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”

“I have things to do,” he replied, but made no effort to remove her from his lap.

“Fine,” she relented. “But can you do the thing with my neck? You know how you bite it a certain way and it makes me sleepy?” He moved his head towards her, but she clamped a hand down over her neck. “Wait.”

“What?” he asked, sounding
annoyed.

“Will you be here by the time I wake up?”

She heard him sigh before falling back onto the pallet and bringing her down with him. Caim carefully tucked her into his side, tossing one strong leg over her lower body and placing a hand over her belly.

“I will be here when you wake up,” he promised.