Claimed by the Alphas: Part Six (8 page)

“Do you want to hold her?” Mila asked uncertainly.

She wasn’t sure what to make of Caim’s reaction to his daughter. He had entered the room a few moments ago, approaching her as if she were holding a bomb up to her chest, rather than newborn. Now he was crouched beside them, staring down at the baby as if he didn’t know what he was looking at.

His brows furrowed as he considered the question, then he said, “No.”

She tried to get a read on him, but his expression was just too ambiguous for her to discern. Not allowing herself to get discouraged, she decided to try a different angle.

“Well, I’m really tired,” she said. “Can you just hold her for a second while I get comfortable?”

Mila didn’t wait for him to respond. She plucked Dawn from her chest and, very gently, shoved her at her father. Probably reacting more on instinct than willingness, Caim accepted the small bundle.

At first, he held her awkwardly in his hands.
She was so tiny and his hands were so big, that she fit in them perfectly. Then, to Mila’s surprise, Caim leaned back onto the floor and laid the baby on his chest. Forgetting that she was supposed to be making herself comfortable, she scooted herself over to lie down beside him. He opened his arm, letting Mila rest her head on his chest.

“Are you disappointed that she’s not a boy?”

“No,” was his only reply.

Mila waited for him to say more, but when he didn’t she craned her neck up to look at
him and frowned. His head turned towards her, he had already fallen into a deep, easy sleep.

Sleep did not come as easily to Mila. Despite her exhaustion, she couldn’t stop thinking about Asch, who had yet to make an appearance. She assumed Fern had told him, which was somewhat of a relief to her. She
wasn’t sure that she could bear to be the one to tell him.

She felt bad for Asch, and also for her daughter, who through no fault of her own, had broken a heart the day she’d come into the world.

While sleep eluded her, she watched Dawn, who had fallen asleep as well. With her head to the side and her mouth hanging open, she may as well have been mimicking her father’s pose. Her tiny hand curled and uncurled in her sleep, almost as if she was kneading his chest. She had no clue what type of relationship Caim would have with his daughter, but right now, they seemed perfect for one another.

That was her last thought before she drifted to sleep. Her dreams were broken, fragmented images of her childhood, a few memories of her distant father, but mostly those of her mother.
Then, her dreams shifted, and she was nestled between Asch and Caim—everything suddenly whole and complete.

Everything hurt when she finally woke up. She tried desperately to fall back into the sublime peace of her dream world, but the sound of several people talking at once forced her into reality.

Mila cracked open her eyes. A female silhouette hovered above her, gradually morphing into Gem’s smiling face.

“Good evening,” she said with enthusiasm. “I have water for
you, and food too, if you’re hungry.”

Gem helped Mila up into a sitting position and offered her a cup of cool water. Mila accepted it graciously, gulping down the contents in two large swallows.

She glanced around the room, her eyes landing on a small group congregating a few feet from the pallet. Lotus and Rosie were fawning over the baby, who was carefully tucked in the crook of Asch’s arm.

Following her gaze, Gem said, “Don’t worry, she’s already eaten.” Mila blinked in confusion.

Humor lacing his tone, Asch said, “We put her against your chest about an hour ago. You slept right through it.”

Mila laughed, more from joy at seeing Asch than at her sleep-feeding. He looked genuinely happy, and it thrilled her. With considerable effort she crawled over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, loosely embracing him.

When she pulled back, Mila gazed into his eyes, searching for any sign of lingering sadness. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but it was all too private for her to talk about in front of the others. Asch didn’t seem to have the same qualms.

He placed a hand on the side of her face. “I was disappointed, but I’m fine now,” he assured her.

“Honestly?” she said softly, as if speaking low would afford them any privacy in their present company.

He looked down at Dawn, grinning. “How could I possibly be disappointed in her?”

Dawn yawned and then, noticing Mila for the first time, made a fussy noise and reached out for her mother. Asch handed her over, placing the now familiar weight into Mila’s arms.

~~~

Mila was grateful that Asch was so supportive, because Caim became downright tyrannical in the week that followed Dawn’s birth. Mila, Asch, and Fern were the only ones besides himself that were allowed to touch Dawn, or as he referred to her, ‘my daughter’,
‘my’
being the word he would emphasize when anyone tried to contradict him.

It was charming at first, but quickly became exasperating, as he refused to let anyone leave their room with her, Asch and Mila included, unless he was present.
Mila wouldn’t have tolerated it if Fern hadn’t explained that all of his instincts, particularly the need to protect Dawn, would be in overdrive for the first month. So, Mila did her best to be patient and managed to bite her tongue almost every time she felt the urge to say
‘she’s my daughter too!’
That was an argument which Caim was completely impervious to anyway.

Mila spent most of her nights in her room with Dawn and various pack members that filtered in and out. Brae r
eturned two days after Dawn’s birth, and had been happier than anyone to see that Mila and the baby were alright. Her arrival had also put Asch and Caim in the position of having to make a decision on the Blackthorn members.

Talon had stayed in town with the injured boy, who by all accounts would make it, but not without his leg being amputated.
After a very long, drawn out argument it was Mila who’d had the final say in the matter. The two elderly wolves would be given the option to leave if they wanted, but the children were staying with the Lazarus pack where they would be safe. That was something Mila would absolutely not negotiate on.

As for Talon, both alphas were in agreement that he couldn’t stay, and neither would budge on the issue. He was young, but in time he would grow into a powerful alpha, which was not something her mates would tolerate in the den. Apparently, even unconventional alphas such as Asch and Caim had their limits.

On one of the cooler summer nights, Mila was overcome with the uncanny urge to clean. Chalking it up to delayed nesting syndrome, she handed Dawn off to her father and went down to their room, intent on tearing it up and reorganizing everything.

The room, with its constant influx of visitors, was
a huge mess. Makeshift fur pallets were strewn across the floor and full of dust and dirt that the wolves had tracked in from outside. Her clothes were divided into three piles: dirty, clean, and somewhere in between, and all three of the piles were on the floor.

She sorted through the clothes, weeding out the ones she would probably never fit in
to again, unless she lost some major baby weight. Once she had them all gathered up, she opened one of her old luggage bags, intent on stuffing them away—out of sight out of mind. Something caught her eyes though, the same thing that always did whenever she delved in to the remnants of her past.

Wolves of the Cordilleras
. The golden embossed letters glittered in the candlelight. Mila stared at it thoughtfully, before tossing the clothes in the bag and zipping it back up. The urge to clean inexplicably passed, and all she wanted was to go back up to the main room with her daughter and her mates. Her family.

Mila would never forget Marie du Luponte, her mate, Rein, and the incredible story of their lives together. But she didn’t need t
hat story anymore. Her own life was infinitely more amazing.

Part Six is the final entry in
Claimed by the Alphas
, and I really hope you enjoy it. Ending this is so bittersweet, because although I look forward to writing other stories, I’ve really fallen in love with the characters in Claimed. I know a lot of readers have as well, and for those who haven’t read my blog, this is not the end of Mila, Asch, and Caim. While I won’t be tacking on additional parts, I will be writing a handful of novellas centering around their lives post-Dawn, to be released later this year.

For now, I’m working on a new series,
Bound to the Alpha
. A lot of readers suspected that Bound would be based around Talon. I definitely didn’t introduce him arbitrarily. His series is in the works, and will be my third series, to be released this autumn. It will take place a few years after Claimed, and I want time to expand on Mila’s story a bit more before I jump that far ahead into the future. So for Bound, I’m going to do something a little different and go backwards in time to visit Caim’s father, and his second mate, Sarah.

January, 1995

Sarah Harper has spent her life making all the right choices—yet
somehow still ending up in all the wrong places. Most recently, her horrendous luck has left her stranded in the middle of the Appalachian wilderness with nothing but a parka and a pair of broken eyeglasses.

Cain is an alpha wolf who is already overburdened by
obligations. Recognizing her dire predicament, he reluctantly takes on yet another responsibility—escorting the small, nearsighted human female back to her own kind.

Undeniably attracted to the gorgeous alpha, Sarah soon finds herself wanting to make
very bad choices. Unlike Sarah, Cain understands the consequences that could arise from lying with a human, but with each day bringing them closer together, Cain isn’t sure he’ll be able to stop himself from being dangerously irresponsible.

Coming May 27th, 2014

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