Claimed by the Alphas: Part Six (5 page)

It didn’t take long for Mila to fall into a comfortable routine in the new den. She spent most of her time with her friends, with other females rotating in and out of the group on a nightly basis. Her favorite new addition to the group was Fern, a gregarious older woman with a quick tongue who could make Mila laugh until she could barely breathe.

On nights when he wasn’t out hunting, Asch would often join them in card games and even just for co
nversation. Caim kept his distance, spending his nights hunting or bickering with Lotus and Sable, the latter of which had healed quickly from her wounds.

Although he was aloof at night, Caim was hers by day. They made love almost every morning. Sometimes Asch would join them, and those were her favorite mornings. Other times, Caim would wait until Asch wasn’t paying attention and then abscond with her
, having his way with her in private. She liked those mornings as well.

The days rolled into each other withou
t much variation, which made things a little boring. Even her pregnancy didn’t offer much of a distraction, at least not for Mila. For everyone else, her stomach was the den’s hottest attraction, and Rosie in particular had taken it upon herself to give Mila hourly updates on the baby’s heartbeat.

Asch had been the first to confirm that there was indeed just one baby.
Caim, who had been trying to detect a heartbeat for a couple weeks, hadn’t been happy that Asch beat him to it. Mila had just been disappointed in general.

From the start, she had assumed that there was only one baby, even though Rosie and Brae had told her several times that ‘pups’ tended to come in pairs. She wasn’t even sure what she was going to do with one baby, let alone two, but when Asch told her that he heard its heartbeat, Mila hadn’t felt the excitement that she should have.

There had been a teeny, tiny part of her that had wanted there to be two babies. Most women had to spend months wondering if their baby would be a boy or a girl. Mila had no time to worry about that, because all she could wonder was:
Asch or Caim?
It had been more of a nagging curiosity than anything else, until a morning in spring, when it metastasized into a nearly crippling anxiety.

The snow melted in March, but it wasn’
t until April that it was warm enough for Mila to stay outside for extended periods of time. Her mates had become weird about her leaving the den, and she couldn’t step a foot outside without one of them holding her hand. It was cute in the beginning, but as spring wore on it became more of an annoyance than anything.

A
fter breakfast, Mila headed out to the lake with several of the women. Asch came along with them, making casual conversation with Fern and Brae as they walked.

The path to the lake wasn’t well-worn yet, and Mila had to wear her boots to avoid stepping on
pine needles and briars. Used to walking barefoot around the den, the boots felt awkward and uncomfortable, especially with her swollen feet. She was relieved when the trees broke, revealing the glassy surface of the lake.

The days were longer now, and the late-afternoon sun still hung brilliantly on the horizon. Brae and Gem raced one another to the water, Rosie and Fern following close behind. Mila kicked off her boots and padded over to
a long rock that extended into the water. Gem had nicknamed the rock ‘Mila’s dock’ because Mila could sit there for hours, soaking her feet in the water while lying back on the warm, flat surface of the rock and sunning herself.

Today, her feet were especially sore. She put them in the water, leaning over as best she could to massage them.
Asch lowered himself into the water next to her dock.

“Let me,” he said, taking her foot into his big hands.

“Gladly,” she said. She leaned back on one hand, draping her other arm over her belly.

It was painfully clear that she wasn’t going to be one of those fashionable pregnant women—the ones that looked like models smuggling basketballs under their blouses.
Early in her pregnancy, she’d been excited for the baby to start growing, but she was pretty sure that if it kept growing at this rate, she’d be giving birth to something the size of a toddler.

“Do you want to wash up?” Asch asked, kneading his thumb into the arch of her foot. Mila let out an appreciative sound and shook her head.

“No, not today. Just want to get a little sun before—”

She stopped speaking abruptly, grabbing Asch’s hand and placing it on the side of her stomach. Asch looked anxious for a split second, and then warmth flooded his face.

He asked, “Is that the first time?”

Mila beamed at him.
“Yup.”

It was a total lie. The baby had started kicking a
t least two weeks ago, during one of her rare moments of alone time. She’d been in her room, struggling to squeeze into a dress that was a dozen sizes too small for her, when she’d felt the soft thump for the first time. She’d felt it move a few times before that—or at least she thought that she had—but that was the first time the baby really made itself known.

At first, Mila was sad that Asch and Caim hadn’t been there to feel it. But after she sat down for a few minutes, and the baby had kicked
her a few more times, she found that she was actually really happy about it. The pack had known that she was pregnant before she had, and they’d all gotten to hear the baby’s heartbeat, but its first kick was something that belonged exclusively to her. It was the first milestone that was just between her and the baby.

There was only so long she could keep it to herself, and Asch’s reaction was worth the wait. A look of wonder spread across his face, and then pure satisfaction.

“She’s tough,” he said, his eyes full of affection.

Mila grinned. Asch was on Team Girl, along with Rosie, Gem,
Kallie, and Fern, though she suspected Fern had joined just to annoy Caim, who was certain beyond reasonable doubt that the baby was a boy. The sex of Mila’s baby was probably the most divisive issue in the pack, and she could hardly sneeze without someone purporting it as evidence of one gender or the other.

Asch pulled back Mila’s shirt, revealing her rounded belly. He lowered his head, placing his ear against her flesh. A cool breeze tossed her hair, and she stared out over the water. The others had given them privacy, and she could see them bathing and chatting farther down the lake.

“I love you,” Asch said, drawing her attention back to him.

He said it often, always when they were alone. Mila always said it back now, and she somehow just knew that she meant it.
Today, however, when she looked into his loving eyes, the words stuck in her throat.

It struck her then, that in a few months, she was going to have a baby that would be either Asch’s or Caim’s. She realized that while she had spent a lot of time wondering who the father would be, she hadn’t thought about who he wouldn’t be. Since she’d started to show, they’d both become so attached to the baby.
These days, every other sentence out of Caim’s mouth was ‘my son, this’ and ‘my son, that’. At the end of winter, when Asch had ventured into the nearest town for prenatal vitamins, he had come back with a stuffed pink teddy bear for the baby.

When the baby was finally born, one of them would be devastated. Mila knew that it wasn’t the end of the world. They were all young; there was plenty of time to have more children. Still, she knew that in their minds, each one of her mates was forming a picture of his child. What she would look like, what his personality would be like, and
all the things they would one day do together—for one of the men she loved, all of that would be gone in an instant.

Asch lifted his head and reached up to swipe the corners of her eyes. She realized that she was crying, and immediately set out to ease the concern on Asch’s face.

“Sorry, it’s just emotional, I mean, I feel emotional, because of the kicking,” she said lamely.

Asch was always so easy to talk to, but this was one subject that she just couldn’t broach. She couldn’t take his daughter
away from him, or Caim’s son away from either of them, at least not yet. She hoped though, that when the time came, she could be strong.

Caim was glaring at her stomach. Mila tried—honestly tried—not to laugh. She truly felt bad for him, but it was just too funny. When her fit of hysterics finally subsided, she peeked over at him to see that he was now directing his glare at her.

“This is not amusing,” he said with a level of contempt that almost had her laughing all over again.

She threw up her hands.
“I swear, it was just kicking. I’m not messing with you.”

He looked back down at her stomach, a muscle in his jaw ticking. It had been over a week since Asch had felt the baby kick for the first time, and it was pretty much all he talked about in Caim’s presence. The baby was very active, and by now almost everyone had felt it kick, with the exception of Caim. For whatever reason, the second he put his hand on her stomach, the baby wouldn’t
so much as twitch. He had tried for days to pretend it didn’t bother him, but it was clear that his patience in the matter was wearing thin.

They were in their chamber, the small room that the three of them shared. It was early morning,
and though they were too deep underground for outside light, they had a supply of candles that they lit in the mornings and evenings, so that Mila could see while they spent private time together.

Private time with Caim almost always ended in sex, even now that her stomach was becoming huge. Today was no different. Caim had snagged her from the main room while Asch was having a conversation with a couple of the beta wolves, spiriting her away to their fur pallet.
It was as he was lighting the candles that the baby began kicking enthusiastically, only to abruptly stop as soon as she called it to his attention.

“You’
ll catch him eventually,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. She had taken to calling the baby a ‘he’ lately, mostly just placate Caim, who had been a little too high-strung the past few days.

He shrugged her hand away. “Do not patronize me.” He lay back on the pallet, a sour look on his face. “It does not matter.”

She smiled, leaning over him and brushing the dark hair from his forehead. “You know what I think?”

“I would not presume to understand your mind, mate.”

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. “I think that maybe he just respects you too much to kick you.”

He gave her a dry look. “What does a pup know about respect?”

“I dunno,” she said, stroking his hair. “But you’re the only person he doesn’t want to kick. That must count for something.”

Caim rubbed his stubbled jaw, seeming to consider the prospect. She had more or less pulled the excuse out of thin air, but she did believe that the baby had a unique awareness of Caim. Whether that meant that the baby was his, or it was just partial to Caim’s deep baritone, she wasn’t sure and tried not to think about too often, lest she drive herself insane.

“My voice does command authority,” he said, sounding contemplative.

Mila smiled, leaning down to kiss him. He immediately took control of the kiss, staking his claim on her mouth with a deep thrust of his tongue.
A gnawing emptiness expanded inside her as Caim worked his tongue within her mouth.

He sat up, careful not to break their kiss, and
pulled her into his lap. She had already undressed, but Caim didn’t take advantage of her nudity, carefully positioning her so that his large erection rested between them.

Brute though he was, Caim was beginning to understand her needs in the bedroom. He had always been able to turn her on and make her climax, but it was the thrill of having such a big, aggressive male taking her in such an animalistic way that had always excited her the most. Since her stomach had started to swell he had been surprisingly conscientious of being overly rough with her in bed, opting to try his hand at more subtle ways of arousing her.

He moved to run his mouth down the curve of her neck, grazing his canines over her fragile flesh. She moaned, and he pressed his fangs down a little harder, skating the line between pleasure and pain. Mila squirmed restlessly in his lap, eliciting a low growl from her mate.

“Be still,” he said gruffly. “Or else I will take you right now, and I will not concern myself with your release.”

Mila laughed out loud and swatted his head. “Well lucky for me, you’re not the only mate that knows how to make me come.”

Caim pushed her down onto the furs and gave her a sly look. “It is hardly a challenge. I could bring you to completion just by breathing on you.”

She smirked, spreading her arms out to give him full access to her body. “I’d like to see you try, big guy.”

His eyes gleamed with excitement. Without another word, he lowered himself back to her neck and trailed his hot breath upwards and over her
delicate skin. Her nerve endings tingled in anticipation of his touch, and she was disappointed when not so much as a stubble of hair grazed her flesh.

Need clenched her gut as he blew gently on the shell of her ear. His breath stoked her desire, but gave none of the fulfillment of a touch. It make the emptiness inside her grow, until she was throbbing with the need to be filled.

Determined not to be the first to crack, she remained rigid, feigning disinterest in his ministrations, even as he began to dip down her body, heading for her breasts. Her toes curled at the mere thought of his breath over her nipples, which had been tender and oversensitive the few weeks.

When he reached her breasts, Caim stared down at them, his eyes intens
ely curious, as if he were seeing them for the first time. He sniffed her once, and then twice. Without warning, he latched his mouth onto her nipple. He sucked, not overly hard, but her breasts were sore and it hurt a little too much to be pleasurable.

“I win,” she told him, trying to push him away. “Cut it out. I told you, you need to be careful with—” Mila’s eyes widened.
Incredulously, she said,
“Are you breastfeeding?”

Caim continued to suck, his only reply and affirmative grunt.
Mila gave him a hard smack on the shoulder.

“Stop it, that’s so weird!” When that didn’t faze him she added, “It hurts, Caim.” That was true, but what m
ostly concerned her was that in spite of the pain, it was strangely arousing, which was something she
so
did not want to explore.

Caim pulled back, licking his lips. She sat up, her hands flying to cover her breasts. “You can’t do that,” she told him, her face heating.

Being his usual, stubborn self, he said, “You are mine. I can do as I please.”

She pursed her lips at him. “No, you can’t. That’s for the baby.”

“My son will not have need of it for several more months,” he said matter-of-factly. He started to lower his head again. “I will be gentle.”

“Not so fast,” she chided, grabbing his ear.
He narrowed his eyes and pushed her hand away, but didn’t try to go for her breasts again.

“It is a waste not to drink it,” he said, sounding petulant now.

Mila shook her head, sighing. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

She had no idea how it worked. It actually freaked her out a little that the baby wasn’t due for another four months and she was already making milk. Hopefully Fern, who had some experience with pregnancies, would be able to shed some light on why it was happening. If not, she would probably have to add it to her pile of things to be worried about.

“Look,” she said, placing her hand against his chest. “I don’t want to mess anything up right now. After the baby is born and everything goes okay, maybe the two of you can work out a feeding schedule with—”

Mila laughed as Caim pushed her back down again. She was relieved to find that amusement had won out over annoyance on his face.

“I would not take milk from my son,” he informed her, rubbing her stomach.

Mila reached up and hooked a finger under his chin. “Good. Now that that’s settled, how about you give me that climax now?”

Caim’s lips curved, and then he was on her again.