Sold To The Alphas: A BBW Paranormal Romance (16 page)

After that, it was all over pretty quickly. Flora and I dashed out of the way and went to stand in one corner of the cabin, very soon turning our faces away when the level of carnage became sickening.

While Chase dragged the carcass outside, its tail clamped between his teeth, Grayson shifted into human form, strode over to me, and pulled me into his arms. "Are you all right?”

I nodded, looking up into his coal-gray eyes. "Maybe a little rattled, but I'm fine."

He heaved a sigh of relief, then planted a kiss on my forehead. "
This
time. You're fine
this
time, and thank God. And as for a next time, there won't be a next time. These parts are getting to be too dangerous. On the way over here, while I wondered if I was going to find the person who's become the most precious person in the world to me dead or alive, I made a decision. I'm moving the pack to someplace nearer Ashcrest. Someplace where I can better keep you safe. And Chase can either go along with this, or not go with us at all."

Just then, Chase stepped into the living room in human form, narrowing his jewel-green eyes at Grayson. "You'll have to say that again, brother. Because it sounded like you were giving me an ultimatum."

            *

Tightening his arms around me, Grayson narrowed his eyes right back at Chase. "You can take what I said whatever way you want to,
brother
. My mind's made up. I'm moving the pack nearer Ashcrest in order to keep Rowan safe. You can go with us, or stay back here all by your lonesome. Your choice."

Chase unclenched his strong, square jaw just long enough to speak. "And what happened to us making decisions together, as
co
-alphas?"

Grayson snorted, narrowing his dark gray eyes even further. "That stopped on the way over here, when I realized that I love Rowan. When I realized I'd die if anything ever happened to her. And if you feel the same, you'd be in favor of a move."

I looked up at Grayson, stunned by what he'd just said. Stunned by the fact that he loved me and felt like he'd die if anything ever happened to me. Stunned by the realization that I felt the same.

Scowling at Grayson, Chase took a few steps across the living room, his large hands on his slim hips. "I actually
do
feel the same. Though I realized that I loved Rowan long before our sprint over here this morning. I'll do anything to protect her and keep her safe. But we've got to consider our jobs...what purpose we serve around these parts.

“We keep thousands and thousands of people in the neighboring villages and towns safe, and what would we be doing if we set up a little village near Ashcrest? Tending sheep? Weaving baskets? Because I think the dragons of Ashcrest have security in their territory pretty stitched up. Maybe once a year...
maybe
...we'd be called on to chase a single enemy wolf or two from the area."

Pausing, Chase took another few steps forward, coming to a stop only a couple of feet from Grayson and me. "Is that the kind of a life you want, Grayson? A life with no purpose? Because that's not the kind of life I'm after, at all. I want to help people; I want to keep innocent people safe, but  thousands of people wouldn't be if we took the pack and left these parts. Is that what you want? Innocent people dying at the hands of all these enemy wolf packs that still stalk the state?"

Scowling right back at Chase, Grayson tightened his hold on me even a bit firmer, to the point that it was just maybe a shade away from being painful. "What I
want
, Chase, is to keep Rowan safe. I want to keep her
alive
. Have have you forgotten why we brought her to us in the first place? Each of us hopes to have a child with her. A child that, along with its mother, will need to be protected from the constant, never-ending attacks of the enemy wolves. Or would you prefer that a child of yours grows up always living in fear, always on guard, always wary? Is that what you want?"

Folding his arms across his muscular chest, Chase scoffed. "Of course not.  Who’s to say that's how a child raised here in Shadowfen
would
grow up? I, for one, would think that a child raised here, would grow up brave and strong, following the example of his or her father. I would think any child here would be raised with a sense of how important it is for those that are strong to protect those who aren't as strong."

Flora, who stood across the room wrapped in Hunter's arms, suddenly cleared her throat. I'd been so engrossed in Chase and Grayson's conversation, I'd completely forgotten that Flora and Hunter were even in the cabin.

Once she'd gotten everyone's attention, she addressed Grayson, Chase, and me as a group. "Before this conversation goes any further, I think Hunter and I will take our leave.

“But before we go, I just want to say for the record that I think moving the pack much closer to Ashcrest is a wonderful idea. Shadowfen didn't used to be so bad, but lately, my nerves have just about been shot by all these attacks, and I think things are only going to get worse before they get any better, if they ever do.

“Just look at the scene up the lane. There are literally wolf carcasses from this morning piled on top of wolf carcasses from last night. That's how frequent these attacks are becoming. I'm just sick of it. I'm sick of living under constant threat of wolf attacks. I'm sick of constantly being afraid for Lily's safety. As you all have probably heard by now, there's a new little one on the way, and I don't plan to raise him or her in a place where danger is right around every corner.

“Grayson, I think your idea was a great one, and I hope Chase and Rowan can see the sense of it, particularly since Rowan might be expecting a little one herself before too much more time passes. I know the idea of a move is one Hunter and I will definitely be discussing."

With that, Flora took Hunter's hand and led him out the front door, practically stomping.

Grayson still hadn't relaxed his hold on me, and I suddenly realized I was having a bit of difficulty getting enough air.

I twisted in his arms a bit, looking up at him. "Need a little breathing room, here."

He instantly released me, apologizing. "Didn't know how hard I was squeezing. I'm so sorry."

I shook my head, drawing in a great lungful of air. "No, no worries. But can the three of us continue this discussion about the possibility of moving a different time maybe? I'm just feeling a little..." I paused, surveying the scene of destruction in my cabin, from the splintered front door frame, to the bloody floorboards in the living room, to the sea of shattered glass glittering on the bathroom floor. "I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed right now."

It was the absolute truth. I'd never been the type to wilt under stress, though the stress of the past twenty-four hours,  from rescuing Skye,  to the wolf attack in my living room, to the serious discussion that had just occurred, and Chase and Grayson's admissions that they both loved me, had been just a bit more stress than I was used to experiencing. Maybe a bit more than I could take.

Like Flora's, my nerves were shot. My legs, which had felt shaky but strong while Flora and I had been fighting the wolf, now felt like jelly.

The moment I'd said I was feeling overwhelmed, Grayson nodded. "Of course. We can talk about moving sometime later."

Chase gave him the briefest of micro-glances, his deep green eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly, before turning his gaze to me. "We can absolutely halt this conversation so you can relax. I'd be glad to walk you down to Flora and Hunter's cabin so you can rest up a bit while we get this place cleaned up.

“But first, you sent us a text earlier asking us to come back here as soon as possible. Was that because you'd spotted the wolves, or was it because you had something else to tell us?"

My fertility deception
. I'd honestly forgotten all about it. The present time seemed like the very worst possible time to bring it up. I wasn't exactly sure when a better time would be, but I had to hope there would be one. Sometime when there were no pools of wolf blood soaking into the flooring planks of my cabin.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I realized there were also splatters of wolf blood across the front of my t-shirt, and I sighed. "The reason I texted was just...nothing. I just need to get out of these wolf-blood-covered clothes now, I guess."

Chase and Grayson both said they understood, and I went over to my dresser and stuffed some clothes in a bag while they began to straighten out the cabin. Once I'd finished packing a few more things, I told Chase I was ready to go if he still wanted to walk me, and he said he did.

We left after Grayson had given me a long, lingering kiss and a promise that everything was going to be okay. Now that I'd remembered how I was deceiving both him and Chase about me being fertile, I wasn't so sure about that. In fact, I couldn't see how it might even be possible.

Seeming to realize that I just needed a bit of mental rest and a break from conversation, Chase walked me to Flora and Hunter's cabin silently, though he was holding my hand. Despite the piles of wolf carcasses littering the lane, which Chase carefully steered me around,

it was actually a beautiful May morning in Shadowfen. Bright sunlight bathed the tall evergreens bordering the lane in a golden glow, and birds flitted from limb to limb, chirping. The grass in front of all the cabins was a fresh, almost neon, color of green. All the grass that wasn't stained with wolf blood, that is. Chase and Grayson's men, all of whom seemed to be unharmed, were already busy hosing down the red patches of grass and carting wolf carcasses away in wheelbarrows.

However, despite the sunlit beauty of the day, and seeing evidence of the fact that things in the village were going to be put back together pretty quickly, my heart felt like lead. My feet felt like slabs of cement. I felt weighted down not only by the recent stresses I'd experienced, but by my own deception, and I didn't know what I was going to do.

I also felt weighted down by something else, something that seemed like it should have made me feel light as air, and that was the fact that I now realized that I loved both Chase and Grayson like they both loved me. Maybe I'd even loved them both for a while. I figured I'd probably just been reluctant to admit it even to myself, knowing that my days with them were numbered. Now nothing had changed. Except now I knew that they both loved me, too, adding a layer of complication to my fertility predicament.

I didn't want to hurt them, could hardly even bear the thought, but I couldn't see how doing so was anything other than inevitable. It amazed me how, within what felt like a blink of an eye, I'd gone from point A, trying to save Skye from what I thought would be a hellish existence, to point B, on the brink of breaking the hearts of two men I loved, as well as my own in the process.

After giving me a kiss on Flora and Hunter's front porch, and promising that my cabin would be all cleaned up, repaired, and back to normal within a few hours, Chase departed, and Skye prepared to leave, asking if I was really okay like Flora had told her I was.

After I'd assured her that I was, she released me from a tight embrace and looked me up and down. "You really are one tough cookie. Considering what Flora told me the two of you went through with the fireplace pokers and the wolf, I almost expected you to look much worse for the wear. A little bloodier, even. Which, by the way. Are you
positive
none of that blood on your t-shirt is yours?"

I nodded, sure it wasn't. "Positive. Just splatter. And how are
you
? And Flora? And Lily?"

"Flora's completely fine, just lying down, Hunter just about forced her to, because he thought she should, considering her condition, after the morning she's had. But Flora says she feels just fine. Lily's completely fine, too. Woke up for a second when Flora and Hunter got home, then somehow fell right back asleep.

“I don't even think she realized anything happened this morning. And as for me...well, I'm fine, but I won't lie and say I didn't have a few panic-stricken moments when I heard some sort of crash, then it sounded like you dropped your phone, and then the call dropped.

10

“It looked as if our wolves were starting to win the fight at that point. They’d already killed most of the lighter gray wolves, so as soon as I felt it was safe to, once they'd taken out a few more still near the cabin, here, I opened the front door for a second and called out that you and Flora needed help back at your cabin.