Ties (Running With Alphas Book 6) (4 page)

The following weeks passed swiftly. The same week that Lark was sent to stay with Whiteriver, Taylor became sick. Cammie assured her that what she was feeling was normal, despite Taylor’s insistence that she must have contacted a horrible strain of the plague.

Night and day bled into one another as Taylor spent her time deep within the den and huddled beneath furs. It was all she could do to capture a few hours of sleep in between bouts of vomiting. She was surprised every time someone mentioned that Lark was back, because it meant that another week had passed.

Although she slept in Hale’s room, she didn’t see him often. On occasion, she’d wake to feel his warm body next to hers. If she snuggled up to him, he’d wrap an arm around her, but never tried anything else.

Some nights, he’d carry her up to the main room of the den. She enjoyed sitting around the fire with him and the other pack members, even if she didn’t have much to talk about. But as the nights grew longer, even the fire and furs Hale draped over her could do little to dispel the cold. After weeks of barely eating, her body was weak and in spite of her protests, Alder refused to watch her shake and tremble.

In his own way, Alder took care of her, making sure she ate enough every day, keeping the fire fed in her room, and bringing her warm water when she wanted to bathe. These were all things that Hale often overlooked and Taylor was grateful to him.

Although she was well taken care of, there was a new distance between her and the alphas. Intimacy was replaced by duty. She didn’t feel like a mate, but rather like a sick child they were responsible for. She hated it, but for the time being, there was nothing she could do.

It was nearly winter by the time she began to feel better. Nausea subsided, making way for a new and voracious appetite. Her hazy mind also began to lift and she no longer felt inclined to sleep the night away. Renewed strength enabled her to roam the den freely, feeding her need to socialize. As Glenn was usually away from the den, she spent a lot of time with Cammie.

Taylor learned that during her convalescence, Caim had made a full recovery. Alder had sent Caim back to his den to notify his father of Snow’s abduction. She could only hope that the Shaderunner alpha would have an idea of what to do, because Whiteriver was still holding onto Snow. From what she’d managed to glean off Glenn, Snow was safe, but Lark never had useful information for Halcyon. And with each week that passed, Alder became more impatient.

When Taylor wasn’t stalking Cammie and bombarding her with baby-related questions, she was hanging out with Holly, Quinn, Kale, and Beka. Beka and her friends were not her ideal choice of company, but Holly seemed to like them. Rather, she liked annoying them.

On this particular night, Taylor had woken to find a small bath of lukewarm water waiting for her beside the dying fire. She washed up quickly and made her way up to the main room of the den. After scanning the room for the golden hair of one of her mates, her eyes settled on the bonfire where Holly, Fenix, Beka, and Quinn were eating breakfast.

Holly was in the middle of one of her long-winded complaints as Taylor sat down. Quinn gave Taylor a quick smile and passed her a bowl of fresh spinach. Since Taylor had been indisposed, Quinn had taken over the task of managing her garden and feeding the quail. She was a lot nicer than Taylor had thought she’d be and she was damn good at gardening.

“I washed them already. Would you like me to get a pot so you can boil them?” Quinn asked.

Taylor glanced at the bonfire. The others already had meat portions of varying sizes roasting over the fire. She recognized the smell of turkey and her mouth watered.

This wasn’t the first time. When her appetite had returned, it had brought with it a whole host of new cravings. Many of them were things that were impossible for her to get, like mint chocolate chip ice cream, potato chips, and anything with cheese. Although it pained her to do so, she could ultimately ignore those, but her cravings for meat were entirely different.

Until she’d been pregnant, she never realized just how much meat the pack ate. Every night her nose was assaulted with a rich array of smells. Turkey, venison, rabbit, and a few equally delicious-smelling things that she didn’t recognize. Her meat craving had become so bad that she actually had vivid dreams about devouring raw meat on a daily basis. Only one thing stopped her from giving in and partaking of animal flesh—her pride.

“Doesn’t matter if you cook it or not,” Fenix said. “Tastes like shit either way.”

Taylor narrowed her eyes. “It tastes just fine, and unlike your dinner, nothing had to die to make it.”

She shoved a spinach leaf in her mouth.

“The plant had to die,” Beka pointed out.

“Spare me, Pocahontas,” Taylor grumbled.

Holly was still ranting, but Taylor now had the others’ full attention. Fenix grabbed one of the wooden skewers and reached over to wave it in front of Taylor.

“You
really
don’t want to eat this?”

For whatever reason, Fenix in particular seemed fascinated by her vegetarianism. It had annoyed her when she hadn’t been pregnant. Now, it drove her insane.

Taylor swatted at the skewer. Fenix pulled it back, but not before a few drops of turkey juice fell into her spinach bowl. She hastily picked up the affected pieces of spinach and ate them, hoping no one would notice.

As she savored the scant taste of meat, Fenix continued to needle her.

“What if you were starving and the only thing you had to eat was turkey?”

“Then I’d eat it,” Taylor said. “But this isn’t a life or death situation so there’s no reason for me to eat a dead animal.”

She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him, or herself.

“I admire your self-control,” Holly said, finally giving up on her tirade and joining their conversation.

Surprised, Taylor said, “Wow, thanks.”

“Yeah, I sure couldn’t eat that nasty spinach shit for a day, let alone a whole month.”

Taylor’s shoulders slumped. She had been so excited when her spinach crop was finally ready, but after several weeks of eat nothing but the bitter plant and the occasional quail egg, she wouldn’t mind if she never ate another piece of spinach again.

The others became silent as she stared down at her bowl, trying not to look forlorn. Her stomach roiled at the sight of it.

As if sent from the heavens, a hand appeared above Taylor. It scooped the bowl up from in front of her.

“What did I tell you about eating this shit?”

Taylor tilted her head up to see Hale glaring down at her.

“Huh?”

He scowled. “I told you, as long as you’re carrying my pups, you’re eating meat.”

Her brow furrowed with her confusion. Hale never mentioned the pups and had never interfered with her diet. Alder had expressed concerns once or twice, but she had no doubts about which alpha was currently lording over her.

“What are you—”

His free hand came down to clamp over her mouth. “I’ve heard enough arguing about this. Either you eat meat or you don’t eat anything.”

As his blue gaze bore into her, she realized what he was doing. Her eyes watering, she gave him a shaky nod.

“Good.” He let her go and turned his attention toward the others. “If I find out any of you let her eat these damn plants again, you’re dead.”

With that, Hale left. The second his back was to them, Quinn grabbed the stick with her turkey and thrust it at Taylor.

“Here you can have mine,” she said, giving Taylor a pitying look.

Hand trembling, Taylor accepted the meat. The others spent the rest of the meal making awkward conversation as Taylor sat beside them, crying tears of joy as she stuffed her face with turkey.

After eating the best breakfast she’d had in months, Taylor went to track Hale down. Fortunately, he was still within the den. She found him near the mouth of the cave, talking with Laurel. As she approach, she slowed her steps, shamelessly eavesdropping. They were making arrangements for picking Lark up from the border that night.

“Has it already been another week?” Taylor asked. “Sure doesn’t feel like it.”

“I wish I could say the same,” Hale said. “We still haven’t gotten anything useful from her and I don’t doubt that Cain will be here soon.”

“He’s your older brother, Snow’s foster father, right?”

Hale nodded. “Yeah and he’s already going to be pissed as hell that we let Snow get captured. When he finds out we don’t have a plan to get her back…”

Taylor frowned. She had been the one to help come up with the plan of action after Snow had been kidnapped, but now she felt completely useless once again.

“I’m sure he’ll be able to help you figure something out,” she said weakly. “Hey, do you think we could talk for a few minutes?”

He took another moment to wrap things up with Laurel before dismissing her. Then, with a heavy sigh, he led Taylor towards the nearest tunnel. He didn’t speak until they were out of sight from the others.

“Look, I don’t know if you’re pissed about the whole meat thing, but I only did it because—what are you…”

Hale’s jaw slackened as Taylor shimmied out of her dress, exposing her nude body to him. She placed her hands on his cheek.

“I know why you did it, and I want to thank you for it.”

Standing on the tips of her toes, she pressed her mouth to Hale’s. For a few seconds he remained rigid, as if in a state of shock. But when she ran her tongue along the seam of his lips, his body flared to life. He gripped her hips, a growl reverberating through his huge body.

Backing her up against the stone wall, Hale lowered his head, deepening their kiss. Pushing his tongue into her mouth, he abandoned slow sensuality in favor of devouring her mouth. As his mouth claimed hers, she explored his bare chest, reveling in the feel of hard muscles beneath her fingertips.

“Fuck,” Hale groaned against her mouth. “You taste like meat.”

It was hardly the sexiest thing he’d ever said to her, but there was something about the way he said it that made her pulse race. It reminded her that the man who held her in his tight grasp was more than just her mate—he was a predator.

A rough hand insinuated itself between her thick thighs, moving upwards with purpose. She drew in a sharp breath as his fingers delved past her curls to stroke the nub of her sex. It had been weeks since she’d been touched there and her body lit up. Electric currents of pleasure coursed through her as she suddenly found herself bucking against him.

When she’d gotten the idea to throw herself at Hale, her only thoughts had been of pleasing him. Her plan had been to go down on him, both as a thank you and as a reminder that she was still his mate. But now, with his tongue thrust into her mouth and his thumb furiously working her clit, all she wanted to do was surrender to the sensations.

Within moments, Hale took her from mild arousal to being seized by one of the best orgasms she’d had outside of the mating thrall. Without much warning, her body locked up, as if bracing itself. Seconds later, her vision went white as ecstasy came crashing over her.

As soon as she began to climax, Hale shifted position. He wrapped her legs around his hips and plunged into her with barely controlled force. With her orgasm still pulsating across her body, he began to thrust within her, heightening her body’s response and drawing out her pleasure.

Loud, animalistic sounds tore from his chest with each thrust. She matched him blow for blow, moaning and grunting as he drove into her. When he climaxed, she was sure the whole den could hear him howl. Rather than embarrass her, it gave her a strange sense of satisfaction.

Her body spent, she slumped against him. They stayed like that for a few moments, listening to the sound of labored breaths as the scents of their sweat mingled together.

Hale broke the silence first, his voice rough and scratchy.

“Was I too rough?”

Taylor realized then that he hadn’t taken her with his usual wild abandon. While he’d been far from gentle, he had clearly been exercising moderate restraint. Had he been worried about hurting her?

She looked down to see that his hands had moved from her hips to her waist. While her body had shed several pounds over the past few weeks, her waistline had noticeably thickened. Usually, she didn’t mind her expanding belly, as it was the only evidence she had that her babies were growing. But under Hale’s gaze, she felt oddly self-conscious.

“You were great,” she said, wriggling from his grasp. She grabbed her dress from the floor and slipped it back on. “Hey, do you think I could sit in while you debrief Lark?”

“Why?” Hale asked, adjusting his furs.

She lifted a shoulder. “I dunno, maybe I can help.”

“Doubt it. She’s the queen of useless information. Alder’s even starting to think she may be working for Whiteriver.”

“Like a double agent?” Taylor asked, unable to keep the amusement from her voice. “You honestly think Lark could pull that off?”

Hale gave her a wry grin. “Not a chance. But you know how Alder’s been lately.”

***

Lark’s big eyes were brimming with tears when she saw Taylor. She took a few steps forward and Taylor winced, bracing herself for one of the raccoon shifter’s suffocating hugs. It never came. Grabbing Lark by her upper arm, Alder yanked her back. With a frustrated sigh, Lark slumped back down into her chair.

Taylor had been in this room before. It was in the upper chambers and the windows had been carved into the mountainside. During the summer, leafy greens had snaked in through the openings, but now the greenery was gone, leaving nothing but decay and dried husks.

When she exhaled, Taylor’s breath hung in the air for a few seconds, before being swept away by the cold draft. She tightened Alder’s furs around herself. Said alpha had been noticeably displeased when she’d shown up, but didn’t put up a fuss.

“Your face looks a lot better,” Lark told her.

Taylor absently caressed her cheek. The wound had taken a while to heal, but Lark was right, it did look a lot better. The first time Taylor had braved a mirror, she’d cried for at least an hour. Thankfully, once the stitches had come out, it looked a lot less grotesque. It had healed to the point where it was now just a shallow red trench across her cheek.

Alder folded his arms across his chest. “You’re not here to talk to Taylor. Let’s go, what happened this week?”

Lark gave a meek shrug of her shoulders. “Snow’s doing well. Silas took us for a walk and we gathered stones and she made this bracelet for me…” She trailed off at the sight of Alder’s impatient glare. When she spoke again, her words spilled out quickly. “One of the beta wolves fell out of a tree and hurt his leg, Olivia caught a really big fish, we found a bird’s nest and ate eggs for lunch one day—”

“Did anything
useful
happen this week?” Alder asked. “Did you overhear anything? Is there some sort of schedule we can exploit?”

Her face fell. “They mostly just talk about finding food and there’s not really a schedule for anything. They don’t even sleep at the same time. It’s actually quite chaotic.”

Before he could say anything else, Taylor put a hand on Alder’s shoulder.

“You mentioned that Silas took you and Snow out for a walk,” she said. “Does he do that often?”

“Almost every day, but never at the same time,” Lark said with a frown.

“Why does he do it?”

“I don’t see how this is important,” Alder interjected.

Ignoring him, Taylor waited while Lark considered the question.

“Well, Snow cried a lot the first couple weeks. When he started taking her out for walks, she stopped crying so much. Now she almost never cries. They’re her favorite part of the day.”

Taylor rubbed her chin. “And what do you do on the walks?”

“Sometimes we collect useful things. Snow knows how to make a lot of medicines, so sometimes we get stuff for that. Other times, we just collect interesting things.”

“Does Silas ever talk to you?”

“Me? Not really. He did a lot, at first. Asked me a lot of questions about Halcyon—I didn’t tell him anything useful, I swear.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Alder sighed. He’d sat down in one of the chairs, though didn’t look the least bit relaxed. He never did anymore. “Taylor, we’re taking her back to the border in less than an hour and she’s already answered all of these questions.”

Taylor refused to back down. “You’ve had weeks to interrogate Lark and it’s gotten you nowhere. At least give me a chance.”

He looked annoyed, but let her continue.

“So,” Taylor continued. “You said that he used to ask you a lot of questions. But he doesn’t anymore, right?”

“Yeah, now he mostly talks to Snow.”

“About what?”

“Lots of stuff. Mostly about her pack—”

“He’s fishing for information about my brother,” Alder surmised.

Taylor asked Lark, “Is that what you think he’s doing?”

Lark considered the question for a full minute. It was clear that no one had asked it before. “Um, I guess I did at first, but…he seems to just want to know stuff about her. You see, Snow and Silas have a lot in common. They both lost their moms when they were little, they were both sick a lot when they were kids, and they’ve felt a lot of pressure to be something they’re not.”

Alder appeared uncomfortable. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Silas is under a lot of pressure to be an alpha. I think it’s really overwhelming for him sometimes. And Snow, everyone in her pack expects her to be a wolf, but she doesn’t feel like one. Anyway, they have a lot to talk about and they, uh, get along very well.”

Taylor brought her hand to her mouth. “
Oh
. Wait, but she’s barely a teenager.”

Lark grinned sheepishly. “Silas is the same age as Glenn, believe it or not. It’s really not much of a stretch.”

Alder looked between the two women, his brows drawn together. “What are you talking about?”

Ignoring him, Taylor asked, “You don’t think he’s manipulating her, right?”

“Not a chance,” Lark said. “Snow’s really smart and Silas, he’s not really a bad guy. He’s actually sort of…lonely.”

“They’re not, you know,
doing
anything, right?”

“Doing what?” Alder asked irritably.

So dense.

“No, no,” Lark assured her. She tapped her nose. “I would know for sure.”

Hale arrived a few seconds later. Fully garbed in furs, he was dressed to travel. “We’re almost ready to go. Anything useful this week?”

Alder and Taylor answered at the same time.