Owned By The Alphas: Part Two (6 page)

S
eeing
his brilliant blue eyes change moods so quickly like that, made Ali’s heart dance. He leaned in to kiss her and the moment their lips touched, she knew she was in trouble. But she wrapped her legs around his waist anyway and felt him hard against her tender mound. All she wanted was to be closer to him, to feel him inside of her. That he’d shared his secret with her was thrilling. She felt so special and privileged, and for the first time maybe in her life, deserving.

To think that he’d liked her back then as she had him. That the day she held his stare when he seemed to want to talk her wasn’t in her imagination!

His strong arms crushed her to him as he searched her mouth. Their tongues touched gently at first and then lust took over. They groped each other’s bodies, panting with gasping kisses, delving to necks and sensitive earlobes and then back to waiting lips. He pulled her by the back of the head, overpowering her in a way that made her want to scream
, YES
. With his fingers wrapped in her hair and controlling her, he devoured her breasts, pulling her up out of the water to bite and suckle them, panting as he moved from one to the other. He growled as she bent her hips up, pushing her pussy into his stomach. She felt him grope for his cock and then she felt it rubbed against her rapidly, the water deliciously slippery. He used the hard tip as he might a finger, flicking against her swollen clit until she was crying out and moaning, clasping onto his shoulders with tense fingers. She gripped his muscles there, and gouged in with her fingernails. He grunted with pleasure as she broke skin. With one quick movement he shoved his gorgeous cock inside her. The size was almost too much for her to bear and she was still sore from Calt. The pain increased the pleasure and as he held her head back, owning her like it was his birthright to fuck her, he moved inside of her with urgent powerful thrusts, moving his hips in ways that hit her in all the best places. When he groaned and bent to take one of her nipples in his hot mouth again, she screamed, the walls of her pulsing with the best orgasm she had ever had. She looked up at the waning sun as the waves of it rocked through her, the red leaves of a maple tree waving lightly in the breeze above, so beautiful. He pounded her and brought her head back up to nail her lips with a hard, pressing kiss. He exploded inside her, then, and growled and groaned in her mouth as her arms went limp around his neck. He gave one last pound and held there, panting into her mouth. Then he grinned and she began to laugh. It was the laughter that finally made him slip out of her, and she swam under water to clear her head, coming back up and staring at the gorgeous man she never thought she’d see again.

“Do we have to get me back?” she asked, privately happy to see him upset by the idea.

He splashed his face, and shook out his hair. Locks of it stuck to his cheek on one side. “Do you want to go back?”

Ali sighed. “Not yet. Is it okay if I stay with you a little while longer?”

The somber look in his eyes as he nodded, tore at her heart. They said nothing for a while and then he came to her again and took her in his arms. “Ali, why do you want to go back?”

She looked at his lips as she answered because she could not meet his eyes and be honest. “You said it was no coincidence that I came here. If you believe in things like that, and I do, too, then you must believe that it’s no coincidence that he found me, too. His pack has accepted me.” She thought of Tawny. “Well, all but one, but I think she’s just showing off.” Ali reached up and moved the wet hairs off his face. She gazed into his eyes, hoping he would understand. “I feel something stirring in me, Red. And I felt it there, with them. I need to find out what that is.”

He released her and swam to the edge, hauling himself out of the water. “Let’s take you back to your new family then.”

“I don’t need the sarcasm. I’m trying to be honest with you!”

He whipped around, standing naked and dripping above her. “Ali! He will never understand you like I do. He was born wolf. You will never be able to go back to civilian life.”

She swam back to the rock. The water was too deep for her, and she wanted something strong to hold onto to stabilize her conflicting desires. “Maybe I don’t want to go back!” At his expression, she cried out, “What? How often do you go back? What is there left for you there that is better than this? Here you have a pack to care for. You watch out for each other. You depend on each other. You live simply and beautifully and carve whatever life you want to! There are no rules here except the ones you make!”

His jaw tightened and he shook his head in anger. “Then come be with
my
pack. Join us!”

Ali made a helpless noise, looking away from him. “He would kill you. There would be a war. I know it. I…” She stopped herself before she said,
I heard him say he might kill you already
, because if she told him that, she knew he’d run off and start the war she hoped to avoid.

“Do you think he could kill me? I am stronger than he is! After all of the things I’ve been through, I have grown stronger than any other wolf I have ever come across and he is no different.” He pointed to the ground with the point he made, his legs spread and his muscles fiercely taut.

“No, I didn’t say that! FUCK!” she covered her face in her hands and began to cry. “Why can’t I have you both? Why can’t this just be easy?”

She heard a splash and dropped her hands to see him appearing before her, his hair freshly matted to his head from the dive. He pulled her off the rock and cradled her in his arms. “Don’t. Don’t cry. Shhh.” She buried her face in his neck, trying to stop the tears. “I do not know what to do here, Ali.”

“I don’t either! Can’t we just enjoy this time today? And let things happen naturally?”

She was surprised to feel his chest shake with a small, barely audible chuckle. “Well, if I believe in fate, then I have to say yes to that request, don’t I?”

She nodded into his skin and whispered, “Thank you.”

They stayed like that for a while. And then Red went back to shore and watched as Ali bathed herself. “Tell me about college,” he asked.

She smiled, glad for the change in subject. “Well, it’s kind of like high school in that you choose some of your classes and others you have to take and complete, only instead of having to complete them for the state, you have to for your major. There are classes on every subject, and a lot of them are pretty fascinating actually. I enjoyed learning…I just had no idea what I wanted to do with my life! So I’d take this class and that class, and got a degree that was easy and pretty much useless.”

“What else? How else is it different?”

Ali climbed on top of the rock again, and played with the water, watching steam slip though her fingers. “Well, the campuses are huge. There are so many more people than at our junior high! There are no curfews and so we all kind of went nuts, away from parents and all that. Except me, I went to San Francisco state, so I saved money by living at home with my aunt and uncle. But I still went to all the parties and had a great time. They never noticed if I was there or gone anyway, so it was perfect.”

She laughed and he smiled and lowered himself to sit on the grass by the edge where he stayed and asked more questions. As she told him about her life, he laughed at all the right places, making Ali ham it up even more. She didn’t notice the sun dipping lower in the sky. She didn’t see that he had no intention of getting her back to the cave in time.

C
alt groaned
and stretched his muscles as he awoke, reaching high above his head. He hadn’t slept in human form for a long time, and the feeling was odd at first. Then he remembered the human; that he’d stayed this way for her. Looking to the side, he discovered the bed empty, and brought himself up on his elbows to look around the room. She wasn’t there, but that wasn’t too surprising. The first day of sleeping would have been unusual for a human being not used to their clock, but still…where was she? He listened and heard another surprise: the agitated voices of his pack, reaching from their rooms.

“Did I sleep in?” he muttered as he threw his legs off the bed and stood up.

Then he remembered Tawny.

It would have been discovered by now that she was not here. Had Borhan told them of her leaving without his being there? Not liking the idea of that, Calt shifted into his wolf, dropping to the floor as his paws scratched the stone on an urgent exit. He ran through the passageway toward the first beta’s den. Their conversation became clearer as he neared. They were asking questions, but loyally, Borhan was not answering.

“I will get Calt. He will explain.” He started for the door, but Calt arrived before he made his exit, his black fur flowing with his stop.

All in the remaining pack were present, and all heads turned. Calt shifted quickly, standing before them with resignation. As his face completed its transition, he cracked his neck and exchanged a look with Borhan; pleased he had shown his position respect.

“Tawny has left the pack. I told her to go.”

Hushed, the betas exchanged surprised looks. Dak and Calus, the only ones in wolf form, shifted instantly. Calus asked, “Is it because of the human?”

Calt’s face went hard, and Borhan took the reigns to save him from having to lie. “Tawny threatened to hurt his mate.”

Gasps came from Bloo, Lorn and Lucin. The others registered surprise but were silent as they waited for more. This was the hardest conversation Calt had ever had to have. “Our pack has never lost one of its own this way. There have been those who have left soon after joining us, but as we remember, they were testing their place as most of you yourselves have done with other packs before you found us, before you found your true home. Well, this pack was Tawny’s true home since she first changed, and for five years she has been a part of us. Her loss is felt deeply, and I am sure it will be felt by us all for a long time to come. But she gave me no choice. She would have caused many problems, even if she had never hurt Ali.” He dropped his eyes, not able to fully commit to the lie.

Borhan added, “Which she would have done.”

Calt glanced to him, struggling before he said, “I believe so, yes.”

Lorn spoke up. “She thought
she
was going to be your mate.”

Bloo added under her breath, “We all did.”

The heat rose in Calt’s body. The idea that everyone had his mate picked out for him made him angry. “You were wrong. And so was she. I do not know why you thought that. I gave no indication.” He met their eyes to find he was the only one who held that opinion.

“But what is she going to do now?” Bloo asked, her gray eyes wide. “I mean, I was angry at her yesterday and Lord knows it’s not the first time.” The other made noises of agreement. “But what do you do when you leave your pack? I mean, where did she sleep today? Is she going to hunt on her own? None of us except for you could take a grizzly on our own. What if she comes face to face with one of them? It could happen.”

Lorn clasped her hands over her mouth. “She’s all alone!”

“I could take a grizzly,” Calus said from where he stood near the far wall.

“As could I,” Dak agreed, crossing his arms over his great chest.

Calt met the eyes of his protectors and gave them their dignity by not disagreeing, and though he doubted what they said to be true, he offered, “I do not doubt it.” They were his strongest, but there was a reason they were not alpha. Alphas are born greater in every way–size and strength, foremost. But it was his job to boost his pack’s esteem. They did best when the best was thought of them, and everyone can be surprising if given the chance.

Calt turned to Bloo, purposefully avoiding Shaynah’s somber stare. “I believe she will go back to Canada now. I would not be surprised if she were not already in Oregon, halfway there as we stand here.”

Shaynah dropped her head and shook it. “She has gone to the other pack. It will have been her first choice.”

Calt bristled, and the room looked to him for his response. He exchanged another look with Borhan and saw that his second in command was of the same mind as the healer. It had not occurred to him, and how it could not have, was disgusting to him. Here was another way he had let them down. If Tawny joined the other pack their number would rise, and their strength as well. Having her as an enemy was not good on many levels. He gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath, “You are probably right. Oregon! I am a fool!”

“I don’t understand,” said Lucin, searching the eyes of his friends. “Would she go to them to prove she could complete the mission?”

His innocence did not charm Calt as it usually did. In fact, it only made him regret thinking he could send the boy with Bloo on his own, in the first place. He sighed and told the young wolf, “She will have gone to join them.”

Lucin’s eyes went wide and Lorn put her hand on his shoulder to soothe him. “Where else is she going to go? She’s never been a wolf alone. Not like you.”

Borhan seemed unsurprised, his voice calm. “She didn’t go because she’s alone. She went to get even.”

Calt saw images of his lover with the other alpha, the dark-haired wolf with the blue eyes that were darker than hers, but holding the same secret their color betrayed. He saw her cozying up to him and rutting with him, coaxing him to make her his mate.

“I have failed you.”

The pack was shocked, and Lorn and Bloo stepped to him. “No!” “You have not!” “It’s Tawny!” “She has always been an outsider!”

Calt pushed them away, his eyes on fire. “Hear me now. My father was exceptional, yes. I know I have not done him credit, YET. I am not perfect, but I will protect you. If Tawny has joined their pack, she will have done so with vengeance. I know her as I know my own blood. Hear me when I say, if a war is imminent, I will fight it for you. I will make this home safe for all of us. I will not bow down to them or to her. EVER. I did not see her treason coming. Nor did I see her hope for a union with me. Had I, I may have been more cautious with how I presented my mate. But it is too late to regret. It is time to take action. I tell you this tonight–if you walk with me, I will give my life for you if that is what it takes for you to have the life you came here to live. I will give everything so that you may have it all.”

Silence hung in the air. One by one, the wolves came forward and bowed their heads to their alpha and he to them. And as each walked away, the shift to wolf was made, and when they were all in primal stance, he joined them. Together, they bent their necks and howled. He led the way out of the den and all followed. They ran together down the mountain, over fallen trees and rocks into the forest, and to the valley below. They would not wait to see their fate. They would go tonight, together, to confront their lost friend. The other pack was still outnumbered. It had no idea what was about to hit it.