Claimed by the Alphas: Part Five (6 page)

Along with River, Brae, and Fern, Asch had spent three hours hashing out a strategy to rescue Sable. They had carefully calculated the locations of each of the fourteen cats—significantly more than previously predicted—and had been making their way down the far mountainside towards the den when they heard the sounds of fighting.

Just like that, his hours of careful planning had turned to shit.

Instead, he was forced to rush into the middle of an obvious trap to save his reckless friend—not that it came as much of a surprise to him. He’d been covering Caim’s ass for years now.

When he arrived in the clearing
, Caim was fending off two male cats, the larger of which had its jaws locked on Caim’s neck. There was no time to strategize. Asch darted forward, springing onto the larger male’s back and sinking his teeth into its throat. The smaller cat tried to make a go for him from behind, but Asch kicked up with his hind legs, sending it hurtling towards the oak.

The cat’s back hit the tree with a satisfying crack as
its back broke. In its shock, the large cat released Caim, attempting to go to its fallen partner. Asch raked his claws across the cat’s abdomen, never giving it the opportunity. He was a great believer in diplomacy, but circumstances had escalated beyond that point, and he wasn’t about to leave any loose ends. Its innards spilling onto the ground, the cat took a few shaky steps, before slumping over, lifeless.

Asch shifted, looking to Caim, who followed suit. He quickly assessed Caim’
s injuries: a few deep lacerations, but nothing fatal. He turned his attention to Sable, who was in a much more precarious state.

“Mila’s in the den?” he asked. Caim nodded. He
had thought that she would be, but was relieved nonetheless. “Help me get her down.”

Striding over to the oak,
Asch stepped over the dead cat at the base of the tree and hoisted himself up, nimbly climbing from branch to branch until he reached her. He carefully unbound her, letting Sable fall into Caim’s waiting arms, and then jumped down. He resisted the impulse to check her injuries, knowing there was nothing that could be done for her out here.

“
You alright?” Asch asked, taking in Caim’s somber mood. Caim nodded, not meeting his gaze. “Good. Let’s get her back to the den.”

He shifted, allowing Caim to climb onto his back. Once Sable was secure, Asch took off, breaking into a run. Asch didn’t want to leave when the others were still fighting, but he would have to trust the betas to take point. He had no idea what
the fuck was happening, but he needed to know that his mate was safe.

~~~

It was impossible to know how much time had passed in the underground caverns. With nothing but darkness to look at, Mila kept her eyes closed. She was exhausted, but too afraid to sleep, and so she lay awake, focusing on the sounds of Lotus’s heartbeat and Rosie’s breathing.

The splashing of water, followed by footsteps put them all on the alert.
Mila tensed anxiously, her sense of vulnerability amplified by her obscured vision. Lotus put a hand on her back.

“Calm down. It is okay.” She stood, pulling Mila up with her. Addressing the newcomer, she said, “
Are they alright?”

“
They’ll be fine. The others were returning as I came down. We’ll know more when we go back up.”

Mila had to stop herself from crying again. She let go of Lotus, blindly staggering towards the voice. Not trusting herself to speak, she didn’t make a sound as Asch’s strong arms closed around her.

“We’ll go on ahead,” Lotus said, excusing herself and Rosie.

Asch murmured
his acknowledgement, but Mila was too overwhelmed to respond. Her hands roamed over him, taking in every achingly familiar plane of his body. Asch lowered his head, inhaling her scent. She pressed her forehead to his chest and breathed deeply, taking in his cedary scent.

When she finally felt like she was in control of her emotions, she said, “You smell incredible.”

His embrace tightened. “So do you.”

He picked her up, silently carrying her through the yawning darkness. She put her arms around his neck, an
d squeezed her eyes shut. Asch was back, Caim was okay, yet she still felt uneasy.

The whole situation had been a reminder of her human limitations. Their world was dangerous, and she had very little control over it. She didn’t have superhuman strength or speed. She couldn’t see in the dark, or smell blood on the wind, or hear a predator approaching. Like a child, she’d had to rely completely on the wolves to protect her. The most she could do was stay out of the way and hope for the best.

“I feel so pathetic,” she whispered. It was easier saying it, as she wouldn’t be able to see the disapproval or worse, the pity, in his expression. “How am I going to take care of a baby if I can’t even take care of myself?”

“
No one expects you to take care of yourself,” he replied. He gave her hip a reassuring squeeze. “I can’t promise you that things like this won’t happen again, but I don’t want you to ever be afraid of being harmed. Your safety is more—”

“I’m not that selfish,” she said, her hand curling into a fist. “I wasn’t sitting down here worried that a cat was going to come and eat me, not mostly. I was
afraid that Caim would be hurt, and that you wouldn’t come back, and all I could do was cry about it.”

Asch stopped walking and rubbed his nose against the top of her head, before sighing. “
You’re just going to have to trust me, Mila.”

He didn’t give her any false promises, and she found that oddly comforting. They
would never have a safe or secure life. She had left ‘safe and secure’ behind when she’d chosen to join the pack. For now, all she could do was trust the men that she loved.

“Okay.”

~~~

Once her wounds were bound, the color slowly returned to Sable’s cheeks.
Lotus stayed by her side beneath the furs, keeping Sable’s body warm. She would live, but not without considerable scarring. It had been irresponsible of her to go off on her own and get herself captured, but the fault lay primarily with Caim.

Lotus had been right. His impulsive retaliation had jeopardized his entire pack. No one had died this time, but many had been badly wounded. If Asch and the others had not arrived when they did, things may have gone very differently. He may have died. The cats may have breached the den, and then Mila…

Caim moved to get up, but Fern clamped a hand down on his shoulder.

“Hold still, hot stuff. I’m not done back here.”

His jaw ticked with his irritation. The best thing about Fern was that she was almost always gone. “Hurry and finish. I have things to do.”

As Fern sewed up the lacerations on his back, Caim simmered in his own self-loathing.
He knew that his mate was safe with Asch. He had seen her in passing a while ago, when Asch had brought her up from the underground. He just wanted out of the central cavern, away from the wounded and away from Sable, whose prone form was a constant reminder of his failure as an alpha. He had put his pride before the good of the pack, and they had suffered because of it.

When his wounds were sufficiently doctored, Fern released him. After checking on Sable one last time, he
made his way down the passage that led to his mate’s room, ignoring the stinging pain of his injuries.

Asch was awake. He sat up in bed, his back against the wall. Mila was
wrapped tightly in furs, sound asleep in his arms. Watching them together from the doorway, Caim suddenly felt as if he were intruding. He did not like the feeling. Asch glanced up at him and frowned.

“Come get some rest,” he said
in a quiet voice. “You look like shit.”

Caim complied, dragging himself over
to the bed. He settled down beside them, gazing over at Mila. She was snoring lightly, a sound he’d grown so accustomed to that it was comforting in its familiarity. Her hand, pale in the moonlight, rested between them, as if she were reaching out to him. He covered it with his own, for the first time feeling the weight of responsibility.

“I feel very weak,” Caim said.

He thought he saw Asch roll his eyes. “She told me about the cat. It was stupid, but I’m glad that everything turned out the way that it did.” Caim cocked a brow at him. “You were bound to do something like this sooner or later,” Asch explained. “You can’t keep doing things like you used to.”

Mila made a small sound as she shifted beneath the furs. They both watched her, making sure she hadn’t woken. When she remained quiet for a few moments, Asch went on, “You have a mate. You might be a father soon. All of your decisions will affect them, and you need to think about that before you make them. What you did was stupid, but what’s important is that you learn from it and don’t do it again.”

Caim listened to the admonishment, his eyes growing heavy as some of the weight lifted from his conscience. Asch had a way of always being able to tell him what he needed to hear. He would learn to be better for Mila, and for his son.

Despite his tiredness, he remembered that there was another issue yet unresolved. “What of Blackthorn?”

Asch’s expression darkened. “Not good. Talon was gone by the time we got there. Their pack is raising hell all over the area. At this rate, Carter County will have a strong case to get the military involved.”

Caim stiffened. That was one threat that concerned even him.
Human soldiers meant guns, many guns. There was nothing so devastating to their kind as the indiscriminate bullets of a human military. They would raid the countryside, ignorantly gunning down any wolves in their path. His hand tightened around Mila’s.

“We will go north,” he said.

“We made a treaty with Tye. If we go north, there’ll be no one to look out for them.” Caim gave him an impatient look. Asch held up a hand. “I know. We’ll talk about it with the others tomorrow.”

They could talk about whatever they wanted. O
ne way or another, as soon as his wounds had healed, Caim was taking his mate away from the valley.

CLAIMED: PART
SIX

Caim insists on moving the pack farther north, but Asch isn’t about to drag his pregnant mate through the frigid winter mountains. Mila gets a brief taste of civilization as she, Asch, and Brae hit the road, traveling upstate by car.

Despite her reluctance to leave, the new den isn’t so bad. But as her pregnancy progresses, Mila must come to terms with her feelings surrounding parenthood, as well as her painful past.

5/6/2014

For pre-release notifications, sign up for the
Mailing List

For more information on the series, visit the
Blog
or
Facebook

Feel free to follow me on
Twitter