Hidden Alpha [Alpha Mates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (4 page)

Devlin tried to take a step away, but Chase held him tight. “Why would you kiss some stranger when you’re my mate?”

Chase felt a single tear rolling down his cheek by the time he responded. “Because she’s
ours.
”

It seemed Devlin’s brain took a few moments to catch up with his ears. When it had, Chase was sure he thought he had lost his mind. “What do you mean
ours
?”

Chase wiped his tears away. “She’s
ours.
Our other mate. Why can’t you sense her like I can?”

Devlin shook his head. “She can’t be
ours,
Chase. I would be able to tell.”

Chase blinked at him again. “But she is. I could sense it the second I smelled her at the school. I know she is, Dev. I just know it. Just give it a chance. Come meet her, and you’ll see it too. Please, Dev. I know she’s
ours.
”

Chase wondered if maybe Devlin wasn’t thinking with a clear head because of everything that had happened. “Okay, Chase. If you say she’s
ours,
I will believe you. I’m sorry I doubted you. I know you love me and would never do anything to hurt me.” Devlin kissed him before turning away. Devlin used his “alpha” voice to tell her stop. She stopped instantly and slowly turned around to face them. Well, that kind of answered some questions. She was either a member of a pack (though she didn’t smell of wolf), or he was right, and she was their mate. Only a member of a pack or a mate would react so quickly to an order from an alpha. Knowing there was a pack in the area, it could be either, but he was hoping for the latter. Chase knew that now that he met her he wouldn’t be able to let her go, but he couldn’t let her come between him and Devlin either. She
had
to be their mate. If she wasn’t, he wouldn’t be able to explain why he felt so strongly about her.

Amalya had seen enough of these men and their drama. While the two men were busy talking to each other about how much they loved one another and being mates, she turned and walked away. She didn’t understand it, but she could feel her heart breaking. She had just met Chase, but he had already been able to make her feel more than any other man had since Gavin had left her. She didn’t know why, but she wanted to stay with him. She was almost to the end of the hall when the other man called out for her to stop. It was as if her feet were suddenly weighed down with cinder blocks. She told them to move, but they were under the man’s control, not hers. Rubbing her arms where they were throbbing, she turned to look at the men. She shook her head and held up her hand. “I’m sorry. I’m just going to leave, and you will never have to see me again. I’m sorry for your loss.” With that, she turned again to leave.

The man called to her again, and she couldn’t resist his voice. “Come here, sugar, and talk to us for a minute. I think we have some things we need to straighten out.” She turned back to look at him and knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He would drag her back there and tie her up before he let her leave. Slowly, she walked back toward them but stopped a few feet away, afraid he was going to grab her again.

She rubbed her arms as she studied them and asked, “Okay, what do you want to talk about?” She knew she was being a bitch and had no right. She just couldn’t help it. She didn’t know that they were together when she had kissed Chase in her classroom, but she still felt bad. Even if she had been wrong for kissing him, it didn’t give Devlin the right to put his hands on her. He was lucky that she felt bad about kissing his boyfriend, or she would have let him have it. She had taken karate classes since she was seven years old and had a fourth-degree black belt. Gavin’s parents had insisted that every girl should know how to defend themselves. Because of this, they had paid for her classes when she was a kid. She had liked the classes so much she had continued them and was now a part-time instructor at her karate school. When he had grabbed her arm, she had almost reacted and defended herself, but something deep down told her not to fight the man. Her brain was at war inside her head. First it said
fight
and
don’t let him hurt you.
Then, just as she was ready to break his hold on her arms, it said,
you deserve this for kissing his boyfriend.
She couldn’t figure out why she was so confused around the two males. One part of her wanted to tell them both off and walk out the door, but another part wanted them to hold her and tell her they weren’t mad at her.

When she realized Devlin still hadn’t answered her, she crossed her arms and asked again, “What do you want to talk about?”

* * * *

Devlin watched the female rub her arms and was ready to kick himself when he realized he had left bruises on her arm. If what Chase said was true, which he was starting to believe, and she was their mate, he should be protecting her from being hurt, not hurting her. He stepped forward and went to reach for her arms to check out the damage he had caused, but she flinched and took a step back, and Chase put his hand on his shoulder to stop him from touching her. It seemed neither of them trusted him, and he didn’t blame them. It was going to take a lot of work on his part to earn her trust now.

While he was still not sensing her as their mate, he trusted Chase with his life. He knew he would never do anything to hurt him or to tear them apart. There was nothing left to do but trust in Chase and make their now-mate a part of their family. He was sure that when the stress of the day wore off, he would sense her the same way that Chase had. Now all he had to do was make things right with both of his mates. He had to admit that there was something about her that was drawing him in. If he hadn’t overreacted when he scented her on Chase, he probably would have been able to see it before. “I’m sorry I hurt you, sugar. I don’t know why. I just lost it. I’m very sorry, and it will never happen again. I will protect you for the rest of my life and see to it that you are never hurt again by my hand or anyone else’s.” She studied him and nodded her head but did not come closer. He dropped his hand that he held out to her and stepped back.

Chase was right there and wrapped his arms around him, kissing the side of his neck. He whispered low so no one but Devlin could hear him. “Just give her time. We have to earn her trust. I don’t think she knows what we are or why you reacted that way to her. She’ll learn. You’ll see.”

Devlin nodded and cleared his throat before saying, “My name is Devlin. What is yours?” She looked from his face to Chase’s arms around him, and the only word he could find for her expression was “desire.” Not the sexual desire he hoped to feel from her, but desire to be wanted and needed like he needed Chase.

“Amalya McKinnon,” she finally answered.

Tilting his head he asked, “McKinnon? As in Gavin McKinnon? Are you related to him?” Hurt and some other emotion passed over her face before she quickly schooled her features and answered, “Kinda. His parents adopted me when we were teenagers. Do you know Gavin?”

Devlin pondered her answer. “No, I have heard of him from other pa...um, family members, but I never met him. We only moved nearby about four and a half years ago. He has been gone for about five years, right?”

He could see tears in her eyes. “Yeah, almost exactly five years.” He knew he needed to change the subject fast. It seemed something bad had happened between them, but now was not the time to find out. Now was the time to earn her trust and explain things to her. They were somehow going to have to find out if she knew about wolf shifters and then explain that was what they were. If she was close to Gavin and his family, she should know about them, but sometimes people kept secrets. Gods knew he and Chase had kept a big secret from everyone for seven years. Devlin was trying to figure out a way to ask her if she was aware of what Gavin was when Dmytri and Adryk walked up to them and asked, “Uncle Devlin, can we go see momma now? The babies are asleep.” He knew this moment was coming but just didn’t know how to tell the boys that their momma wasn’t with them anymore, and they wouldn’t get to see her again. Chase kissed his cheek and let him go. His mate picked up both boys and took them into the family waiting room.

Devlin looked at Amalya. “Will you come with us while we try to explain this to the boys?” She nodded and led him into the waiting room. By the time they got there, Chase had sat both boys down and was kneeling in front of them. Devlin knelt beside him, and Amalya took the empty chair next to Dmytri. Devlin took both the boys’ little hands in his big one and cleared his throat.

“Boys, I have something important I need to tell you about your momma.” Chase put his arm around Devlin’s shoulder for support. “Um, after the babies were born, something happened, and momma got sick. All the doctors tried to make her better, but she was too sick. The tried everything they could, but your momma has, um…”

Chase put his hand over Devlin and the boys and said, “Your momma has gone to heaven, boys. I’m so sorry.” Both the boys looked at him like he had grown a second head. They didn’t understand what he meant.

Adryk was the first to speak. “Did she go to be with daddy?”

Devlin nodded his head. “Yes, Adryk, she went to be with daddy.”

Dmytri burst into tears, pulled his hand away from his uncle’s, and stood up. “No, she can’t. We need her. She has to come home. Make her come home, Uncle Devlin.
Make her!
” He was shouting by the last two words, and Devlin could see his entire body shaking. He looked into Dmytri’s eyes and saw them flash to black. He knew what was coming next and wanted to kick himself for not thinking about telling them in a more private place. Wolf shifters could shift from birth, and sometimes when children, and even some adults, were really upset, they couldn’t control the shift. He knew he only had moments before he had a frantic young wolf to deal with.
Well, guess telling Amalya about the existence of wolf shifters is going to happen now rather than later
. It was a good thing the waiting room was empty except for them. He reached out for Dmytri’s hand but was caught short with a swipe of claws down his arm. Chase pulled him back, yanked Adryk and Amalya out of Dmytri’s reach, and pushed them behind him just before the boy shifted into a fighting, mad, pure-white wolf pup. Luckily, wolf shifters aged slower than regular wolves, so he was pretty small. Otherwise, at five years old, they would have a full-grown wolf on their hands. As it was, he was a wolf pup and unpredictable when distressed.

Devlin tried to remain calm when he said, “Calm down, Dmytri. You have to calm down and shift back.” All he received back was a growl and a snapping of teeth. That was enough. Devlin was the alpha, and he would handle this.

He used his alpha tone when he next spoke. “Dmytri, calm down.” The pup instantly stopped and lay down, rolling over and exposing his belly. The best part of being alpha was that wolves, no matter their age, usually responded to the alpha commands. Devlin knelt by him and rubbed his belly, whispering, “Good boy. Now I need you to shift back.” Dmytri whined and looked at him. Devlin knew that look. It was the look that said, “I’m so lost I don’t know what to do, and I can’t shift back.”

“Okay, pup, you stay like this for a while. Just no more growling and snapping, okay?” It looked like Dmytri nodded his head as he rolled back over and laid his head on his paws with a soft whine. Adryk walked around Chase to comfort his twin.

Devlin stood and looked toward Chase. He could see Amalya standing a few feet behind him, white as a sheet with her mouth hanging open, trying to speak. The look answered his question. She had no idea that wolf shifters existed. He had hoped to tell her a little differently, but what was done was done. Chase caught his line of sight and turned to face her. They both took a step toward her, hands out to her. She looked like she was ready to either pass out or run away screaming, but they couldn’t have either.

Chase spoke. “Please just listen to us, and we’ll explain everything. Everything will be okay. I promise.”

She shook her head and looked past them at the wolf and boy lying on the floor together. “Are they? Did he? Is that? Are you?” It seemed to him like she couldn’t even speak in full sentences.

Devlin nodded his head. “Yes, they are wolf shifters. Dmytri got so upset that he shifted. And yes, we are wolf shifters, too.” There. He had said it, and the world hadn’t ended. Yet.

* * * *

Amalya couldn’t believe what she had just seen. Her sweet little student Dmytri had just turned into a wolf in front of her eyes. She had read stories about wolf shifters and werewolves, but that was all they were.
Stories. They aren’t real. Right
? Now Devlin was standing in front of her telling her that they were real, and not only were her two sweet little boys that were her favorites in class wolves, but Chase and Devlin were, too. She wondered when she had fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole and how she was ever going to get home, where things were normal and little boys didn’t turn into wolves. She shook her head to clear the black spots in her vision, but that made it worse. She was feeling dizzy and knew she was about to pass out. Chase reached for her again, and she took a step away from him. The last words she said before the world went dark were, “Don’t touch me.” Then nothing.

* * * *

She was too far from Chase for him to catch her as she passed out. He knelt down next to her and could smell the blood before he even reached to turn her over. He noticed a cut above her left eye. He couldn’t tell how bad it was, but it was bleeding heavily.

He looked back at Devlin. “Can you give me something to wipe the blood off with?” Devlin whipped his shirt off and held it out to him. Chase took the shirt and started carefully wiping the blood off her face. It was no use. As soon as he wiped it away more started pouring out. She was out cold. Her breathing was good, but she had hit her head. He didn’t want to move her too much in case she had hurt her neck also.