Owned By The Alphas: Part One (4 page)

H
e heard
his pack before he saw them, and smelled their familiar scents before that. Their territory for miles had the scents marked and scattered, but here in the cave it was condensed and strong, and it felt like home. Calt was glad to be back, but the urgency of their distant conversation told him what he had guessed; they were worried. The breeze rushed his and the human’s scent into the cavern, alerting his pack he’d returned, and not alone. The voices hushed. Two wolves appeared, one tan and white with ice-blue eyes, the other the color of rust.

“Yes. It is as you fear. She knows what we are,” he informed them, his voice not quite as confident as it should have been.

Ali’s hand tensed in his as the two wolves shifted before her. She stifled a gasp, but her eyes were as round as dinner plates. She shivered as Tawny came forward to sniff her without permission. Calt allowed this. It was their way. He watched Tawny’s pale blue eyes trace the lines of the human’s face as she inspected it. Calt sniffed Tawny’s scent then because he got an unexpected surprise: she found the human sexually appealing.

Interesting.

The rust-colored wolf had transformed into a man a foot shorter than Calt, with a lithe and sinewy body, of Latin ethnicity. A beta wolf, Borhan was smart, a good strategist. He was second in command among the males now, and proud of that. He cocked his head to the side and stayed where he was, checking out the stranger from a distance of six feet. “I trust you had good reason,” he offered Calt, hoping for an explanation.

Calt gave him none.

Tugging on his human female’s hand, he led her past Tawny’s curiously sniffing nose before the she-wolf had a chance to bend down and be so bold as to sniff the human’s rear. He threw her a look and she straightened, her long tan and white hair shaking out behind her, her small breasts pointed sharp from her excitement.

“Is everyone always naked?” Ali whispered up to Calt.

“In summertime, yes. But it’s cold now, so no. But we do not sprout clothes from our skin when we shift.”

“Of course,” Ali muttered. She glanced behind her to see if the other two were still staring at her. They were.

“What do you think?” he asked her.

He heard her heartbeat speed up and he wondered at the reason. “I can’t see anything. It’s too dark!”

Calt stopped just inside the entrance. This was a decoy section of the cave, appearing as though without inhabitants. As such there was no light, so Ali could not see what he could. He had not thought of that. “Right. One moment. Lucin! Bring light. All of you, come!”

Within moments the glacially cut walls created thousands of years before were illuminated by torches as a handsome naked man with sandy brown hair and a stocky body rushed around to light them. Calt looked down to watch Ali take in what she saw. Other than the torches just brought in, there were no luxuries in this room, so that it remained bare and inconspicuous. She gasped as five wolves appeared from the shadows, all with varying shades of fur and size. Calt stole another look at the human and caught the look of wonder, pleased that it was larger than her fear. That was still there; they could all smell it.

Lucin, Tawny and Borhan joined the others, facing Calt and Ali, standing side by side as soldiers would. One after the other those in wolf form transformed, bones cracking into place as their bodies, limbs and faces compacted into men and women of varying ethnicities and backgrounds. Calt looked on them proudly. They all had come together as packs were known to do by instinct and smell, and not always by familial ties. Your tribe found you and you your tribe, like magnets, no matter the distance or origin.

In all there were five males and four females. With the human that number became even, he realized; a balance unplanned for. Not that it mattered, in terms of coupling. His pack did not operate as humans did. They did not strive for monogamy or pairing off, in fact they strove not to do this. Calt could bed whom he wished now that he was alpha. The betas could couple with whomever they wished and as often as they liked, after he’d chosen who he wanted for the night or nights. Fighting over lovers was not allowed, so favorites were frowned upon. This had so far never become a problem. Which is why the females of the pack were none too happy at the appearance of a human in their midst. Especially with their alpha standing tall at her side, holding her damn hand.

Calt used his casual voice to show authority in an effort to hide his nerves. “This is Ali. She is my new mate. Treat her with respect. Lorn, take her to my den. She is cold. Start a fire for her.”

The smallest of the females, a Native American Indian, stepped forward and cast pale beige eyes to the human and then to Calt. “Come this way,” she said to Ali, and offered out her hand. This pleased Calt. She was giving him the signal that she was on his side, even if the others were not so quick to compliance. Their faces and bodies were still tense.

Ali hesitated before she allowed the dark-haired werewolf to lead her away from the pack, and away from him. She gave a backward glance before disappearing down one of several passageways. All of the wolves were watching and she offered them a weak smile, her fear noticeable to all.

Calt waited until she was out of earshot before he said calmly, “She amuses me.”

Eyes shifted to the ground, save for Borhan who stepped forward and said boldly, anger vibrating his voice. “What have you done? No human has ever known what we are and lived to tell about it. We must protect our secret.”

“The other pack was coming. She was lost. If it had not been them, it would have been a bear or mountain lion. I saved her. I could not do that as a wolf. What do you want me to do now that she knows, kill her?” Calt snarled.

The beta could not hold his tongue. “You killed the hunter.” The pack reacted, knowing that was the wrong thing to say.

Calt’s neck cracked and his eyes narrowed as rage took hold. He shifted into his wolf, and Borhan followed his lead. Without hesitation, Calt lunged for the smaller wolf and Borhan fought him off, snarling and biting, but mostly at air. Calt was too quick, too strong. Half of the pack shifted and all circled the fight, snarling. Borhan managed to break free of a hold Calt had around his neck and as he backed away, the two wolves paced in front of each other. Calt waited it out, knowing the younger wolf was impulsive and wouldn’t be able to handle suspense. His knowledge was correct, and within moments, Borhan charged him, saliva dripping from his fangs. Calt leapt to the side and latched his own fangs deeply into Borhan’s hindquarters, picking him off the ground and tossing him against the cavern. Borhan collapsed into a whining heap, his leg broken and lying at a grotesque angle. Calt shifted, looming above them all, the fury making him appear taller.

As though they’d had merely a break in conversation, he boomed, “And you know why. She has done no harm, nor will she. The hunter would have come back to kill again. Maybe
you
would have been next. Or Bloo, or Dak, or Shaynah. Or any of you! It was not my original intention to keep her, but I have chosen to. I get to choose my mate. It is the law.” He met the eyes of each of his pack one at a time. They bowed their heads in respect.

“We must talk,” he called to Borhan angrily, expecting him to shift so that conversation could be had. The younger wolf cracked into human form, crying out as he did, looking down at the bone sticking out of his skin, broken just above the knee. Shaynah, the pack’s healer and a descendent of Danish wolves, looked for permission to tend to him, her white-blonde hair swaying. Calt paused for effect, then nodded. She rushed to Borhan’s side and jerked her head to Lucin. He rushed out through a small passage entrance for medicine and cloth to bind the wounded leg.

Borhan’s jaw was clenched from pain, and he gritted his teeth to ask with dignity, “You found something?”

Calt stood in a power stance with his feet spread hip-width apart. “Their pack is coming closer. They have marked further in. They have not tried to contact us yet, and that does not bode well.”

Lucin ran back in with ears perked as he delivered to Shaynah what was needed.

Borhan answered his alpha with restraint and respect. “To call them out is bold. To wait here like dogs is beneath us. Ow!”

“Sorry,” Shaynah whispered, tying the bone tightly into place.

Calt nodded, his frown deepening. “They chased us tonight.”

The pack reacted with exchanged glances and shuffled feet. Those remaining in wolf form snarled. Lucin and Shaynah stopped what they were doing and stared at Calt, shocked.

Calt pursed his lips. “I was faster, of course. They will not come here, I am sure of that.”

Borhan agreed. “No, they will not. They are only six. We outnumber them.”

Tawny spoke up, “What is it they want?”

Lucin muttered, “To be with a better pack.”

The wolves chuckled, and those in wolf form stamped their feet, eyes gleaming.

Calt smiled and shared a look with Tawny. “We shall find out.”

A
li watched
Lorn slide on a fur pelt, covering her naked body. “Does this make you more comfortable?”

Ali shrugged. “I was comfortable.”

The she-wolf smiled at the lie. “Do you want one? You’re shivering.”

Ali reached out her hand to accept the outstretched fur. It had been a bear, she could see by the shape. The thing was rather gruesome to her, but she was freezing so she didn’t have the luxury of being squeamish.

“So this is your room?” she said, looking around. There were beds made of crushed leaves and brown pine needles. The granite floor varied in levels, and the light reached only parts of the room, long dark shadows cutting lines down the uneven walls. Counting the beds was hard because where one stopped another seemed to start, or were they all one? Ali tried to calculate how many slept here, but she had no clue.

Lorn looked around, seeing the room through a stranger’s eyes as best she could. “Four of us per room. I sleep there, most nights, usually with Lucin.” The way her gaze fell when she said his name made Ali take notice and perk up, very interested.

“Which one is…Lucin?” Ali pronounced the name slowly–
Luke-in
–memorizing it.

“That’s right,” Lorn said, encouraging her. “Lucin is the handsome one with hair the colored of dried sand and eyes that would never hurt a soul.”

Ali smiled. “I see. And Calt?” She was still getting used to his name. It sent sensations down her body every time she sounded it out in her mind. “Where does he sleep? In here?”

Lorn jerked her chin toward the door. “We passed his. It is closer to the mouth of the cave so he can protect us. I wanted to give you a pelt more your size. You would not be able to walk without tripping if you had one of Calt’s.” She chuckled at the image.

“The front of the den, where he can protect you. Oh. Huh.” Ali was uneasy with living in the part of the den where the danger was, if it came. She had to remind herself that it would take some time to get used to the idea that a man would protect her, and could. A lot of time.

She followed Lorn out of the room, but on her way, her eyes skimmed a shelf made from a chunk of log laid on its side. There was a photograph on it of a young girl with chestnut hair and an older man who looked a lot like Calt. “Who’s this with you?”

Lorn peeked back into the room, the candlelight flickering in her gentle beige eyes. Sadness whispered across her face as she stared at the image. “Rait was our alpha. He died.” She dipped back outside and Ali followed her, perplexed by her blunt way of speaking.

As she followed Lorn back the way they had come, she ventured, “He looks kind of like Calt.”

Lorn nodded and threw a glance over her shoulder. “He was his father.”

It felt like someone poured ice over Ali’s spine. She knew the feeling of loss too well. Her own parents had disappeared in a plane crash when she was a little girl. Her aunt and uncle had raised her, and she was not a fan of either of them; selfish, materialistic people who couldn’t make time for anyone or anything that didn’t further their careers. It made her feel the loss of her parents all the more deeply. They had been kind people, taken from this world far too soon.

“How is he even walking around?” she mumbled, sad for him.

“He is not walking. He is dead.” She flipped around again, her long, soft hair swaying as she disappeared to the left.

“I meant
Calt
,” Ali called after her. She turned into the room and gasped. Lorn was already impaling a crevice in the wall with the torch she had lit, checking to make sure it stayed before turning to their newest pack member. Ali met her eyes and said, just to make sure, “This is Calt’s room, where he wanted you to take me?” Lorn nodded and Ali stepped forward to take it all in.

The structure’s shape was hard to describe; if anything, it was a star polygon. The walls were clay-colored with bright stripes where plants, water, and time had stained them with red and yellow. His bed was toward the back, made of layers and layers of animal pelts. A large, jagged chunk of sequoia tree served as a table set at the end of the fur pelts. Ahead and to the right of the entrance was a running fountain trickling from a hole in the ceiling, pooling spring water into a small oval that never grew.

“Wow.” Ali walked to sit down on the pelts. “It’s so beautiful.”

Lorn smiled, looking around. “I love it here, too.”

Ali’s smile faded at the implication in the pretty she-wolf’s tone. Had Calt bedded
all
of them? “Great. Well, thank you. Can I have a minute alone, please?”

Lorn fiddled with her fingers a moment, thinking about if Calt would want that. She decided there was no harm. “I will go back to the others then.”

Ali watched her retreat and, misreading Lorn’s hesitation as sadness at being rejected, called out, “No. I’m sorry. You wanna stay a moment?”

The wolf perked up and returned. They sat together on the pelts, and Lorn watched as Ali’s painted fingernails slid across the soft furs of bear and bobcat. “Where is your pack? I mean…family?”

Ali kept her eyes on the fur, preferring the cat’s as it was softer by far. “I don’t really keep in touch with them. They don’t get me.” She looked up and explained, “They don’t
understand
me, I mean. They’re career types. Crazy ambitious. Like to buy a lot of things. Cars, big house, tons of debt. The usual. It’s not my thing. Plus they’re not my parents. And I don’t have any brothers or sisters.”

Lorn stared at her. “How sad! You were all alone.”

Ali chuckled, uncomfortable. “Yeah, well, when you put it like that. What’s your story?”

Lorn looked into the memory. “I am from Alaska, and my parents were killed by hunters. I felt drawn to Canada and when I met the pack, I knew it was where I belonged.”

Ali watched the she-wolf’s face closely as she wondered whether or not to tell her that she, too, felt like she belonged here. She listened as Lorn continued, “We were in Canada before this, and we lived near a small town, so many of us mingled with the humans, but I did not prefer it. They were like your aunt and uncle. They put their energy to all the wrong things. Life should be simple,” she shrugged as if it were obvious.

“Yeah. I hear ya.” Ali glanced away and tried to sound as casual as possible when she asked, “So…what do you guys do all day?” She wanted to know what she was getting into, if she stayed. She still expected to wake up at any minute, but the belief that she was dreaming was starting to fade away.

“We sleep in the daytime,” Lorn told her.

“Every day?”

Lorn nodded. “You will get used to it.”

Ali laughed. “I’m glad you’re so sure about that. So, what do you do at night?”

Lorn sighed and ran her fingers through the pelts, too. “We play and hunt and lay around. Talk sometimes. Couple with whom we feel like. Eat. We like to eat.”

Ali’s grin spread wider. “Who doesn’t love to eat?”

Lorn laughed. “I might begin to like you, after a time.”

Ali snorted. “Oh. Thanks. Great.”

“Hi Tawny,” Lorn said casually. Ali’s eyes rose quickly, surprised to find Tawny standing in the doorway, her eyes locked on Ali’s face.

Tawny walked in, and Ali couldn’t help but check out her body since the wolf was strutting it around so. She had small perky breasts and her hips were pretty, her stomach flat, her ass high. There was a graceful slenderness to her ankles and wrists that was very feminine. She knelt down and crawled on all fours to join the other two. Ali couldn’t take her eyes off the she-wolf. Those ice-blue eyes of hers were fascinating.

“Did you know I coupled with your mate on these furs just last night?” Tawny asked.

Ali’s eyes flashed as jealousy erupted. “Well, I had him today, so I guess that makes me the winner.”

The she-wolf lowered herself to sit right beside Ali. “Leave us,” she told the younger wolf. Lorn didn’t object, much to Ali’s horror.

“No, she doesn’t have to go!”

But Lorn was already slipping out of the room, throwing a playful glance back like she knew a secret. Ali turned to Tawny and swallowed hard. The look in the she-wolf’s eyes was more than friendly. She looked at her as Calt had, like she owned Ali, too. Like she was very interested in getting to know her plaything better. Her fingers hovered in the air in front of the pelt Ali wore over her clothes.

“Don’t you want to take off those clothes and feel what this animal feels like against bare skin?” Tawny asked.

Ali wondered if she meant the bear, or her. “Um…no, I’m fine. Thank you.”

Tawny smiled and reached up to touch Ali’s hair. “Such a mess. I love it.”

Ali smoothed down her hair self-consciously and in so doing, brushed her fingers against the she-wolfs hand by accident. As the seductive wolf came in closer, Ali couldn’t move, and she didn’t know if she wanted to object, which was unexpected. She’d never kissed a girl before and she was wondering why her stomach had clenched and why her body was responding like it wasn’t repelled by the idea. Maybe it was because the she-wolf was so aggressive, masculine in her approach.

“You are very interesting to me,” Tawny murmured, just like Calt had.

Ali chuckled nervously and tried to look away. She could not. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you about that,” she breathed.

“You can tell me why,” the wolf smiled, staring at her lips.

“Tawny!” Calt’s tone threw the two females apart. Ali jumped right off the bed, but the tan and white wolf moved languidly, the thrill of the hunt shining from her pale blue eyes.

“What?” she asked, with pretty eyebrows raised. Calt glared at her. She rose off the bed, and brushed against his naked body with her own as she left, murmuring, “Sorry, Boss.”

Ali watched him step into the passage to watch the she-wolf’s exit, not liking to see his interest still engaged. She also didn’t like her own reaction; the she-wolf had rattled her in the most unexpected way, and Calt could tell. She watched his nostrils flare as he came into the room and locked eyes with her. He cocked his head to the side, knowing what she would never have confessed. Ali lowered herself to the bed again, hoping to hide her arousal.

Calt roared loud enough to make Ali’s chest rattle, “We are not to be disturbed!”

She watched in fascination as he climbed onto the pelts as Tawny had done, on all fours. He stalked toward her and she could see the beast inside the man, all of his muscles flexing with each motion. She was already wet; she knew that. Knowing that the ache someone else had begun was about to be satisfied by another was inexplicably hot, and her body went lax, ready to receive him.

Beside her with his engorged length hanging deliciously, Calt grazed his eyes down her face and neck, again landing on her chest. He looked down at his hands and Ali followed, catching on that he wanted her to look. As she watched, his nails grew and sharpened. He met her eyes, his own glowing more now as he tapped into his wolf, and her mouth went dry. She licked her lips, wondering what he was about to do. A dark smirk tugged at his lips and without a word, he ripped the bear pelt from her body with one swipe of his bare hand. She gasped as he did the same to her jacket, her shirt, her jeans. All were ruined, and yet she remained unscathed. His control excited her, and her breath hitched in her chest. Flushed, she stared at where his clawed fingernail hovered just below her belly button. He ever so slowly slipped it into the top of her lavender panties. Her muscles tensed as she felt the smooth length of his extended nail-bed touch her tender skin. With one motion, he ripped the panties down the center. As though cut with scissors, the fabric fell to the side, revealing her tuft of curly hairs.

She met his eyes. “Nice trick.”

A smile flashed, gone as quickly as it had come. He lunged for her and pulled her to him, gnawing on her ample breasts ferociously with his teeth and lips, moistening them with his tongue until her nipples were sharp crests. She moaned as his fingers traveled down her sides, claws retracted. The skin on his hands was rough, pushing her legs open to seek out the place that ached for him. Calt groaned as he slipped his fingers into her–one, then two, then three at a time. Ali cried out as he plunged them into her, moving with power and a building rhythm. The first climax neared and she tried to stave it off, to make it last. A part of her was afraid that if she came, he would stop like most guys did. She didn’t want him to, so she held back.

His teeth nibbled upward to her neck and he bit her there, opening his mouth wide to gnaw on her, massaging with his teeth. It felt possessive and wonderful, and the room around her began to blur as she surrendered herself to the feeling. She moaned softly beneath him, his body weight feeling like a warm, heavy blanket. Tingling spread out all from where he gnawed on her soft skin, drifting down to her breasts and lower. His fingers working the swollen folds were driving her to a sweet madness and she began to grin. The burning grew into a throbbing pulse until she couldn’t hold back any longer. She screamed as the orgasm exploded. Calt rose up and watched her face as her neck bent back and she arched her breasts up to be nibbled and sucked on. He gladly dove down to tease them with his hot tongue, casting her into a delicious thrumming of sensations.

Pushing her legs open wider, Calt mounted and dove his cock into her with one sure thrust, hitting the farthest regions of her tight little cave. The heat of her cunt dizzied him and she peeked to watch his reaction, how his eyes closed and his mouth slackened with relief. It turned her on to watch his chest expand on a long inhale. He pulled out almost all the way, locked eyes with her, and slid in again hard with a fast, filling thrust, building into a steady, slow rhythm that was more than she could take. Ali begged him to go faster. She knew if he did, she would cum again.

“No,” he grunted with a smile.

“Please!
Please!
Harder!
I’m begging you
!” Ali whimpered, covering her face with her hands as tears ran down it. 

He didn’t stop the rhythm as he asked, “Are you crying because I am hurting you?” 

The length and girth of him was larger than she’d ever experienced and it
was
hurting her a little, but it was the sweet kind of pain that’s makes the pleasure more intense. She wanted more of it, and swung her head wildly from side to side. “No! NO! I’m crying because I’m fucking
elated
!” Laughter rocked her body making her pussy clench and tighten around him. She felt him react to it. He roared as she gripped him, and despite his refusal just moments before, he began to move exactly as she begged him to, no longer able to control himself. Ali thought his release was coming, but then he pulled out without explanation. She gasped as their bodies separated. She looked to see what had happened, wondering what he was doing. He straddled her chest and hovered his cock in front of her slackened, moaning lips. It was beautiful. The veins seemed to pulsate before her eyes, slick and shining in the torchlight.