Claimed by the Alphas (Shifters of Appalachia Book 1) Page 9

  5

  O f all the things Caim did exceptionally well, he prided himself most on his ability to quickly fall into a deep sleep.

  When they were juveniles, Caim had often boasted of his sleeping prowess to Asch. The older male, who had usually lain awake for hours at a time, never seemed as impressed as he should have been. Eventually, Caim had decided that Asch just did not understand the significance of an untroubled sleep.

  Sleep had always come easy to his father. He had once told Caim that all wolves needed to sleep, but it was the mark of a great wolf, one who was self-assured and in control, to be able to rest deeply and easily.

  Caim thought of this as he lay awake in his chamber. With summer long past and autumn coming to a close, the rays of sunlight that usually warmed his hide had grown pale and weak, but he was used to the cold.

  Unlike Asch, who had strongly involved himself in the pack and rarely slept alone, Caim had made it clear from the start that he rested separately from the other wolves. Hunting, eating, and rutting were things he did not mind doing with or within view of the pack, but to Caim, sleep was the most private and intimate of all things. It was when he was most vulnerable, and with the exception of Asch, none in his pack had earned the privilege of sharing that with him.

  Except for the human.

  Briefly, he had rested with her. It had been his intention to keep her close and to let his scent sink into hers. She had been warmer than sunlight and smelled like things that pleased him. He had drifted for a while, though not into a deep sleep. There had been some impulse from within his bones that had not let him sleep deeply, not while she had lain in his arms, so much more vulnerable than he.

  He blew out a breath from his snout. Dust rose from the floor, catching a shaft of sunlight, and danced in front of his eyes.

  Yesterday, he had resented her. He had not wanted to carry her back to his den. He had wanted to toss her from the bluff. He had happily envisioned her drowning in the river. The only thing that had stopped him from ensuring her demise was the knowledge that Asch would not approve.

  Then, in his very chamber, she had challenged his authority. Some males might be intrigued by such actions, but it had angered him. Once she had sensed his wrath, though, she had immediately cowered. That had pleased him. So, he had decided to explore the possibilities of her body.

  Her flesh had yielded to his touch in ways he had never experienced before. She was soft and delicate like prey, made for tasting and feasting upon. Her breasts had fascinated him. They were large, voluptuous globes that weighed heavy in his hands. He could have kept touching them and sucking on them for a while longer if his cock hadn’t been so painfully hard.

  Being gentle with her had not been the ordeal he had anticipated; it had been part of the pleasure. She had tried to spur him on, encouraging him to take her harder, and he had been glad to oblige, though he had not taken her with anywhere near the strength he was capable of.

  That knowledge had aroused him more than anything he could remember.

  He had felt so in control, even as he had lost his control. It had been such a strange experience and one he wanted to repeat again and again.

  But he had hurt her. Maybe even scarred her.

  It had been entirely her fault.

  And yet, he still felt … unsettled.

  Caim had been certain he could care for the human, but he had hurt her and it had been Asch who had comforted her. Perhaps, after he had assured her that he was not to blame, Caim could have comforted her as well. The pack had been present, though, and to comfort her in front of any one of them would have been to admit he was wrong. An alpha did nothing wrong.

  It had angered him that Asch could comfort her and mend the damage that Caim had inflicted. Only hours later, he had come to the bitter realization that he was simply unsuited to care for a human. He had accepted Asch’s offer to share her, not out of care for the pack, but because he knew that Asch understood her needs and would provide for her in ways that Caim simply could not. The more reasonable thing would have been to cede to Asch entirely and leave the pack but that was impossible now.

  Despite what Asch believed, Caim understood the desire to take a mate. He had for a long time.

  Caim remembered the very moment he had first felt it. It was four years ago, the summer after they had formed their pack. He had woken at twilight to find there was absolutely nothing to do. The war was behind them and their territory was secure. Asch had already mediated any grievances the pack members had amongst each other. The females had taken care of the hunt. So, for the first time in his life, Caim was at a loss as to what to do with himself.

  As they often did, his thoughts drifted to his father. Much like Caim, his father had also been a great alpha. His territories had been vast and rarely contested. His pack had been orderly and the females had provided him in all things. But he had never seemed bored.

  The more Caim thought about it, the more he realized that what his father had spent most of his time doing was raising his pups. His father had eleven male and six female pups. He had divided his time equally between them, with the exception of Caim, whom he had always favored.

  The idea of having pups of his own intrigued Caim. He wondered how many pups he would have. Would they look like him? What sorts of things would they do? Would he be a good father?

  These questions kept him up well past dawn. The thoughts were so consuming that he hardly noticed when Sable had brushed up against him, trying to entice him into rutting. He took her, but it was nothing more than a release. The act felt shallow and pointless.

  Sable would never give him a son. Neither would Lotus or Rose or Kallie or any of the females of his pack. For that, he needed a human mate.

  It had been a prospect so unappealing that he had managed to compartmentalize the fleeting desire for fatherhood, burying it in a far corner of his mind where it would not trouble him. It had worked well and after four years, he had almost completely forgotten about the problem.

  But now, the human was here and she was so much more than what he had thought she would be …

  Caim rose from the floor and shook his head. He was done thinking in circles about the human. He would go to her and, one way or another, he would have her again.

  It was as simple as that.

  * * *

  Despite all his confidence when he’d had laid Mila down on the bed, Asch’s control was rapidly disintegrating.

  He had worked slowly down her body, his mouth leaving a trail of tender flesh that had been teased pink. He had stopped to linger at her breasts just long enough to make her pant, and then he’d continued downward.

  Her dress was a thing of the past, and she lay splayed out on the bed like a pagan offering. She had tried many times to touch him, to caress him, and to dig her fingers into his hair. He had rebuffed all of her advances and now her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides as she strained beneath him.

  The delectable scent of her arousal drove him crazy, and he couldn’t allow her to touch him. The man in him wanted to savor his first coupling with his mate. The wolf in him wanted to flip her over and mindlessly fuck her like the beast he was.

  That creature strained against its chains.

  Asch settled between her thighs and pressed a kiss over her pelvic bone. She bucked her hips against him, letting out a sexy whimper. He gave her a hard flick on the side of her ass.

  “Ow!”

  “Stay still.”

  Mila propped herself up on her elbows to glare at him. She said something to him, but whatever it was it hadn’t registered in his brain.

  She was magnificent.

  Her hair was a beautiful disarray of dark-brown wisps, sticking out in every direction. Her dampened ivory skin was flush from the tops of her breasts to her hairline, and she breathed in shallow mouthfuls of air through swollen lips.

  Asch would have many nights in which to discover her. He would have years to cherish her body. And decades to take he
r in every way imaginable. Tonight, he couldn’t wait any longer. She was his mate and he needed to claim her.

  His wolf broke its chain.

  6

  Mila had no idea what had come over him, but she wasn’t about to complain. One moment, Asch was between her legs, completely insufferable. Then, in one fluid movement, he had sat up, hauled her back into his lap, and planted her right onto his cock.

  Asch gave a harsh groan while Mila yelped at the abrupt invasion. After his long, drawn-out foreplay, Mila had been drenched and ready for him, though her folds were still hypersensitive from earlier. Sore as she was, once Asch started to move inside her, nothing else mattered.

  Asch’s hips were sinful. He rocked into her in deep, upward thrusts, impaling her over and over again. Her hands floundered momentarily, unsure what to hold on to for purchase. His own hands were on her hips, moving her like an instrument for his pleasure. She reached back and threaded her fingers behind his neck. Closing her eyes, she let her head loll back onto his shoulder.

  As if she had extended an invitation, Asch buried his head in her neck. He raked canines over the sensitive flesh and a strange, animalistic cry tore from her chest. He growled in response, the pace of his thrusts becoming frenzied.

  It was not sex. It was so much more. Asch was marking her with his teeth or the thrusts of his hips. She knew this, but she was too overwhelmed by pleasure to let it frighten her.

  She gripped the back of his neck as she felt him well inside her. The liquid need that had welled in her belly began to rise up her body, making her breasts swell, her throat close, her face burn, and her eyes fly open. She let out a cry as she came, white-hot pleasure searing her nerves.

  For an indeterminable amount of time, she floated in a daze. Beads of perspiration clung to her flesh, and she was aware of a cool breeze that brushed against them. She was aware of Asch’s cedar scent mingled with the combined scents of their arousal.

  He wasn’t moving inside her. She assumed he had come as well, but a spasm of her inner muscles made her aware that he was still hard and swollen within her.

  With considerable effort, she pulled her head from his shoulder, turning to look at his face. He stared straight ahead, his chiseled features hardened. She followed his gaze to the entrance of her room and froze.

  Caim filled her doorway. Maybe it was just her vantage point from the floor or the way that his gloriously-muscled chest was puffed out, but he looked even bigger than she remembered.

  Seeing him in the light of day, she realized he was more than just harsh angles and sharp planes. He was a warrior.

  Faded scars crisscrossed his legs, torso, and biceps, accentuating his already potent masculinity. Biting her lip, she dared a glance at his face. His hard expression mirrored Asch’s, dark eyes narrowed on the other wolf.

  For the second time that day, Mila was caught between two angry alpha males. She wrapped her hands around her chest. Her mouth opened and closed several times as they stared each other down. She desperately wanted to say something, but all she could think was: This isn’t what it looks like, which was probably the most ridiculous thing she could possibly have said considering Asch was still fully inside of her. It wasn’t even that she wanted to excuse her behavior; they were so far beyond that by now. She wanted to break the oppressive silence in the room.

  As her anxiety climbed, the tension slowly eased out of Asch’s body. His fingers, which had been vise-gripped to her hips, loosened as he began to caress her in soothing circles.

  He murmured in her ear, “Shh, it’s okay.”

  Why was he trying to calm her? She was not at all freaking out. Nope, she was cool as a cucumber.

  As Asch nuzzled at her neck, Caim cleared the room in three long strides and crouched down on all fours in front of her. Even on his knees, with his back hunched, the alpha still dwarfed her.

  Caim reached out, brushing aside a lock of her hair. The hard line of his lips twisted in displeasure when he saw her wound. Amber eyes captured her own.

  “It was not my intention to harm you,” he told her. His hand lowered, fingers brushing against her cheek. “Do not be frightened of me.”

  Mila glanced from side to side and then back to Caim. “Frightened?” she croaked. “Who’s frightened? I’m totally fine. With everything. You. Being here, right now.”

  The room seemed to close in on Mila as she heard her heartbeat thrash in her ears. Fragmented thoughts splintered across her mind:

  Why hadn’t Asch told Caim to go away?

  This was a very private moment.

  He shouldn’t be here right now.

  Wasn’t she still mad at Caim?

  She was naked and Asch was inside her.

  Caim really, really shouldn’t be here right now.

  Asch gave her a hard nip on the neck. Evenly, he said, “Mila, relax. You’re starting to hyperventilate.”

  He was right. She was not cool at all. She was overwhelmed and intimidated and freaking out.

  “I don’t think I’m ready for this,” she told them.

  Caim reached down and pulled her arms away from her breasts. She thought she heard his breath hitch when he saw them. He brought his hands up to cup them, squeezing her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers as he did so. His brows knitted together.

  “They’re pink,” he breathed.

  Mila gaped at him. He was looking at her breasts with such acute fascination it took her breath away. He rolled the rose-tipped buds between his fingers before lowering his head to press his lips over each crest. He didn’t look to her for approval before closing his mouth over one stiff peak and sucking hard. She moaned, her fingers digging into Asch’s thighs.

  As if picking up some unintentional cue from her, Asch began to move inside her again. His pace was slower than before, but she felt the muscles beneath her hands straining, and she knew it must have been a huge effort for him to stop thrusting.

  Both men pleasuring her as they were, she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t enjoying it. Her anxiety still lurked around the edges, making her nerves tingle. It only heightened the experience, though, reminding her that what she was doing was so wrong even as it felt so good.

  Bracing her hands on Caim’s shoulders, she arched into both males, flexing her hips against Asch while thrusting her chest toward Caim. Asch increased his pace, his breaths ragged. Caim continued to ravish her breasts, his hungry mouth moving to her other nipple. Her grip on his shoulders tightened as his tongue flicked out to draw circles along the dusky flesh of her areola.

  The air was thick with the smell of heated male flesh. She smelled earth and rain; pine and cedar. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to become fully immersed in the two alphas.

  Her world spiraled into a haze of sensations. Asch’s thick length penetrated her. Caim worshipped her breasts. It was all too much.

  Her orgasm rocked her to the core and a scream tore from her chest. Asch snarled and bit down hard on her neck as he came with her. His rigid flesh pulses as he poured himself deep within her.

  The moment Asch’s mouth left her neck, Caim pulled her from his lap. She caught a glimpse of his molten, feral eyes before he turned her around. To her surprise, Asch helped him. Still breathing hard, Asch put his hands under her arms, encouraging her to wrap her arms around his neck.

  She understood what they were doing and knew that it was necessary. They all needed this.

  No longer afraid, she buried her head in the crook of Asch’s neck while Caim lifted her hips, shifting her onto her knees with her backside fully exposed to him. Asch stroked her hair as Caim positioned himself behind her. She felt the blunt tip of him bearing into her tender outer folds.

  She prepared herself for the inevitable pain of his entrance. By his own admission and her very vivid recollection, Caim was extremely large, and he had the finesse of a battering ram.

  The pain was minimal, though. Caim carefully inched into her silken passage, hissing as he entered fully inside her. H
e rocked into her, his movements slow and deep.

  She had never imagined it could be like this. They were her alphas, both of them, and they shared her so perfectly.

  Caim’s pace quickened as he began to swell within her. She felt his tension as he prepared for his release, and she urged him on, clenching her inner muscles in a way that made him growl.

  She was too sore to come again, but she felt a profound satisfaction when she felt him shudder. His hot seed jetted inside her.

  Without the sounds of pleasure or skin smacking together, all that was left to fill the room was their heavy breaths. They stayed still for a moment, panting, before Caim pulled out of her with a groan.

  Asch eased her down onto the bed. Suddenly anxious again, she looked up at him, searching his handsome face. Eyes soft, he leaned down to place a reassuring kiss on her forehead. She went boneless with relief, melting back into the soft mattress.

  Caim settled in to lie on her left side, throwing one of his hard legs over the lower half of her body in a possessive gesture. Asch pulled a blanket over her, and then wrapped his arm around her middle. He buried his nose in her hair and let out a deep sigh.

  Neither male said a word. By the time her mind had stopped reeling, they had both fallen asleep. Mila envied that they could fall asleep so easily and decided it must be a wolf thing.

  She hardly believed that an hour ago, she had wanted to run. Some women searched their whole lives for a white knight or a dark prince, while Mila now had both.

  Maybe that was romantic of her. They weren’t without their flaws, but neither was she. Mila was impulsive, indecisive, and commitment-phobic, but as she looked at the splendid males beside her, she realized maybe that was exactly the kind of mate they needed.

  Part Three

  ‘Have you not been listening?’ I asked her. ‘I hate him and I never want to see him again. Either take me back to Aragón or get out of my way.’

  ‘Está bien,’ she said. ‘I will take you as far as the foot of the mountain, and when you have had time to think, I will take you back up.’