Alpha's Claim

by Amelia Hutchins

  “Nothing,” Saint lied, his eyes rising to lock with mine. “Finish the joint. Eryx, retrieve the whiskey Sian was preparing for us. My mate needs to take the edge off and let loose a little.”

  Eryx chuckled as if they were sharing an inside joke as he slipped out of the door to vanish, leaving me alone with Saint. I shivered as he continued washing the blood from my body. He was gentle, studying my face as tears pooled in my eyes. The flesh was tender and burned until it blistered.

  “How are you holding it in, Brae?” he whispered, swallowing thickly. “Burns are some of the worst pain we endure, and you’re fucking burned badly. You should be screaming right now, but you’re holding it all in somehow, aren’t you?”

  “Would you prefer me to shriek and cry?” I turned my gaze to him as the tears slipped free, rushing down my face to slip into my ear.

  Saint reached up, pushing the hair away from my face as he snorted, “It would make more sense if you did.” He leaned over to kiss the tears away but jerked back as the door opened, revealing Sian and Eryx, who entered unannounced.

  “Bourbon?” Eryx asked, watching as Saint used the cloth to continue cleaning the blood caked to my ribcage. Eryx sat on the bed, smiling down at me while Sian took the chair, leaning forward to stare at the mottled skin between my breasts.

  I started to sit up, but Saint placed a hand on my stomach, shaking his head. My heart hammered against my ribcage, sending more pain into my system. My hands shook as I slowly lifted the joint to my lips, looking anywhere but at the men. It was humiliating to be naked from the chest up, dressed only in panties and nylons.

  “I need to shower,” I pointed out through trembling lips.

  “I don’t know, Brae. I’m enjoying the sight of your body covered in blood, trembling in pain. It’s turning me the fuck on,” Eryx stated, dropping his hooded gaze to my hard nipples. “I think you’re enjoying it too, aren’t you?”

  “Fuck off,” I snorted, exhaling smoke with my words.

  Saint snorted, helping me sit up as he grabbed the whiskey with his other hand. He bit the cap off, handing it to me, staring at the way my body shook from the pain racking through it. His fingers stroked my spine, and Eryx leaned closer, rubbing his nose over my shoulder.

  “Drink,” Saint instructed. “Don’t stop until I say so, Brat.”

  “What the hell is this?” I asked, fear spiking through my system.

  “You’re going to fucking drink, or we’re going to force it down that tight throat of yours. Choose which option you prefer,” Saint grumbled.

  I could barely lift the bottle to my lips, and before I could take a sip, my nose caught the scent of herbs added into the bourbon. Uneasiness entered my mind, but I didn’t have many options here. I was wounded, weakened from pain, and exposed to the men within the room.

  “Can I put a shirt on or cover myself?” I asked hesitantly.

  “How many times were we left exposed so other people could explore us for their entertainment?” Eryx asked, lifting his hand and pushing it against the burn, causing a shaky breath to escape my throat. He didn’t relent, pushing his fingers against the scorched flesh while holding my stare. I cried out as he smiled, leaning over to press his lips against my ear. “Drink up, bitch. It will help ease the pain, which is more than you and your sick daddy allowed us.”

  A shiver snaked down my spine as I held up the bottle, chugging as the men watched. Pulling it away from my mouth, I coughed at the bitter taste of the whiskey. Saint pushed the bottle back toward my mouth, and I drank more of the obnoxious tasting shit until he finally reached up and took it from me. He handed it off to Sian, who tilted the bottle to take a sip.

  “Don’t drink that shit, asshole,” Saint snorted, causing my anxiety to spike and take hold of my mind. What the hell was in the whiskey? I couldn’t pinpoint the taste, but even now, my body was relaxing. My skin heated, and Saint released me, allowing me to lay back. Eryx took the joint from my fingers, and I watched the cherry create a trail of light before he took a drag. “Sian, let the others know they can look for that thing we need to find. Eryx, keep my mate here while I deal with the other issue. Do not fucking touch her, asshole.”

  I watched as the men stood, leaving me at the mercy of Eryx, who I knew had none to offer. He smirked, sensing my fear as the scent escaped the tight hold I’d had on it. When the door closed behind Saint, Eryx sat up, slowly undoing the cuffs to his white shirt, and silently rolled his sleeves up. He produced another joint, lighting it before lying down beside me, studying my face.

  “I almost wish you were mine, Brae. I so want to play with that darkness you are hiding from us. We can see it, you know? The need to feel the pain that dances in your pretty eyes,” he growled huskily, leaning over to press his mouth against mine, forcing smoke into my lungs. I shuddered at the heat his lips created, which hadn’t gone unnoticed.

  His fingertips trailed around the burn on my chest. They followed the curve of my breast, though he never allowed his touch to move to my nipple that hardened painfully. Eryx’s intense blue gaze watched my face as the smoke billowed out of my lips, curling into the air.

  “You’re so fucking high right now, aren’t you?” he chuckled, leaning over my face to trace his nose over the curve of my jaw. “I used to hate Saint for being the one who got you. I wanted you, Braelyn. I wanted you so fucking bad when we were younger. I always wondered if you’d taste as sweet as you looked or if you’d taste bitter.”

  “You always scared me,” I admitted through chattering teeth.

  “I know, but you wondered about me, didn’t you?” he laughed coldly, dragging his lips over mine once more before leaning back to inhale the weed. His attention lowered to my hardened peaks, and his fingers drew small, tight circles over my stomach. “If Saint lets me kill you, I fully intend to fuck you first. You won’t get out of this life without me knowing what you taste like, Princess. You owe me that much, at least.” He took another drag, watching me through heavily hooded eyes.

  There were tracers from where the cherry of the joint moved, causing my eyes to close as he lowered his lips against mine, snaking his tongue out to coax me to open to him. Eryx didn’t kiss me; he fed me smoke instead. He didn’t move away, holding his mouth against mine as his shirt created friction against the sensitive peak of my nipple. I exhaled, and he captured the smoke with his mouth, pushing it back into my lungs. His lips crushed against mine and his teeth tugged at my bottom lip playfully.

  “Fuck me if you don’t taste like forbidden fruit, Princess,” he growled, sitting up quickly as the door to the room opened.

  “Get your hands off of her, asshole,” Saint growled, stalking into the room.

  I followed Saint with my blurred vision as he leaned over the bed, slowly dragging his heated breath over my skin. He dipped his head to kiss along the curve of my breast and growled against the shell of my ear, “Are you ready to play a game, Brat?” Whether it was fear or excitement, I couldn’t be sure, but it sent a shudder rushing through me. My mind was foggy, and my entire body felt weighted down as if something held me to the bed with an invisible grip.

  “What did you do to me?” I asked, noting that I felt no pain. I felt—free. At the moment, nothing held me prisoner, not even my demons.

  “Loosened your tongue,” Saint chuckled, holding his hand out for the joint. He inhaled, turning to look at me before blowing the smoke into my face. My eyes grew hooded, watching his tongue sliding over his bottom lip, then sucking it between his teeth.

  “How bad do you need to be bent over and fucked right now, Princess?” Eryx asked, his fingers playing with the bow on the stocking of my garter.

  My gaze slid from Saint’s lips to Eryx’s burning stare, then back to Saint as my heart began hammering against my chest. I tried to get up, but they both placed a hand on my shoulders, forcing me back down against the mattress.

  “Relax, I don’t intend to share you, Brae,” Saint scoffed, watch
ing me. “I may want to strangle you, but I sure as shit don’t intend to share you. Not unless you’re a part of this shit, and if that is the case, you will get what you deserve.”

  “I’m just playing with you, Princess. For now,” Eryx said huskily. He studied my face and slowly slid his gaze down my body before scrubbing his hand over his face and then pushing his fingers through his hair. “You should cover her, asshole. You know how I feel about her. This is fucking torture.”

  “Grab a nightgown out of her closet, and hand me the bourbon. She’s still in possession of her mind if her heart is beating that wildly at the idea of fucking you.” Saint sat up to pull his shirt off over his head and dropped it to the mattress. He straddled my body and leaned his mouth against mine. “Can I hurt you, Brat?” His heated stare was burning into mine with a hauntingly familiar expression. “Do you enjoy pain? Is that your fucking kink?”

  “I don’t understand,” I murmured, blinking to dispel whatever the hell was inside the whiskey. He smirked, watching me. “I feel funny.”

  “It’s mugwort and witches thyme. It’s an aphrodisiac and hypnotic concoction for our kind, Braelyn,” Saint admitted, pressing his mouth into the crook of my neck, kissing my wildly beating pulse. “You’ll beg to fuck me, and you’ll tell me whatever I want to hear to achieve that end.”

  Something silky touched my skin, and I looked down at the white nightgown that Eryx tossed to us. Saint crawled over the side of me, leaning against the pillows before reaching for me. He lifted me, slipping the soft fabric over my body, then placing me against his chest. Eryx sat in front of me, the bottle of bourbon held in his lap. I licked my dry lips, shivering against the heat of Saint’s hold.

  “Open that pretty mouth of yours, Princess,” Eryx demanded, holding the bottle up against my mouth.

  I opened it, watching as he tipped the bottle up, forcing me to drink or wear the alcohol. Three long pulls from the bottle, and he removed it, lifting his thumb to trace the droplet of whiskey that escaped my lips. My tongue licked it at the same moment his thumb moved to capture it, connecting. Eryx stared at my mouth longingly as I licked his thumb and the corner of my mouth.

  “Pretty, isn’t she? Like poison ivy, before you know it, you’re covered in the shit, and it’s too late to back out,” Saint growled, causing Eryx to drop his eyes to my mouth, where his thumb remained, even though I’d removed my tongue.

  “How are you going to know when this shit kicks in enough to ask her what you want to know?” Eryx asked.

  “You’re going to kiss her, and if she kisses you back, we’ll know. You terrify her, which means if she’s kissing you, she’s ready to play.” Saint laughed darkly as Eryx lowered his heated stare back to my mouth. “It will be the one time you get to kiss her because we both know she wouldn’t allow it if her mind were working at full capacity, asshole.”

  My eyes held Eryx’s stare while he studied me, scrubbing his hand over his face before he left the bed to deposit the bottle on the dresser. He pulled his shirt out of his slacks and slowly began to unbutton it while continuing to hold my stare. Eryx moved around the room, pulling off his shirt to reveal intricately inked skulls covering his back. It was hauntingly beautiful and so like him to have something like that on his flesh. Lighting the candles, he moved to the door and flicked off the lights. He leaned casually against the wall, watching as Saint ran his hands over the silk that covered my stomach.

  “You always were a lucky bastard,” Eryx grunted, smirking with a terrifying look sparkling in his darkened gaze. “I prayed to Fenrir to make her mine once when she had yet to grow those titties you’re squeezing. She had a spark in her, one I wanted to snuff out so fucking badly.”

  “Your prayers fell on deaf ears. Fenrir doesn’t give any fucks about us, brother.”

  “No? Because I’m pretty sure you returned to find your mate untouched and as pure as the snow that falls on the highest mountain peak of Everest. She remained a virgin by some fucking miracle. Deny it, asshole. I fucking dare you. I scented it, and fuck if it didn’t make my wolf unhinged.”

  “Stop being petty as fuck, and come see if my girl responds to you, Eryx,” Saint grunted as Eryx pushed off the wall and slowly approached the bed like the monster he was.

  Eryx sat in front of me, gradually lowering his mouth to mine as I leaned back into Saint. He pulled back, smiling wolfishly at the way my eyes grew large and rounded at his advance. Instead of forcing it, he lowered his hand to my thighs, holding them while he studied me. No one spoke, and my heart began to calm against the sensation of both of them touching me.

  Heat pooled at my apex, and I moaned while trying to remember who I was with and what was happening. Both men continued touching me, but neither of them did anything else.

  Time passed, and my head slowly rolled back to rest against Saint’s chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. I watched through hooded eyes as Eryx leaned forward, his lips brushing against mine softly. His tongue slipped out, sliding against my lips as he coaxed them apart. The moment I opened them, he devoured me. His kiss was like him, merciless and relentless. My lips moved against his, dueling against him for dominance, and he deepened the kiss until a moan escaped from my chest, filling the silence of the room.

  Eryx pulled away, and I chased his mouth as everything inside of me pleaded for him to continue. Saint’s arm wrapped around my chest, and I watched Eryx, who stared at me like I was Eve, and he was Adam, and both of us were lost in the taste of forbidden fruit.

  “Brae,” Saint’s voice sounded miles away, even though his heated breath fanned against the sensitive shell of my ear. “Why was Carlson here?”

  “To claim me,” I admitted, wondering why Eryx wasn’t touching me. He was staring at my body, his eyes a mixture of midnight and crimson that called to the monster within me.

  “No, he was here for something else. What did he come for?” Saint asked, running his hand down my stomach. “Come on, Brat, focus on me.”

  “My father called him here,” I stated, closing my eyes. I arched into the heat of Saint’s touch, needing him to stop the ache growing in my belly.

  “To pick up a shipment?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “Was he here to pick up a shipment?”

  I shook my head, trying to dispel the concoction muddling my thoughts. “Maybe, but I don’t know. They argued, and Carlson was angry. Harold offered me to Carlton to assuage his pride. He came here to take me and to mend the bridge Harold had tried to burn down.”

  “Do you know what your father and Carlson did together?” Eryx asked, watching my body move against Saint’s touch. “Do you know what they sold, Princess?”

  “I wasn’t allowed to help them with the business,” I admitted.

  Eryx’s eyes darkened as he lifted his stare to hold mine. “Did you sell us, Braelyn?” He snarled, his face becoming sinister. “Did you help him sell us?”

  I blinked, shaking my head as my tongue grew heavy at his words. “I don’t understand,” I muttered, closing my eyes as Saint’s touch promised me release, even though he wasn’t touching me where I needed or wanted him.

  “Do you know where your father kept his shipment hidden?” Saint asked, his hand lifting my gown while the other slipped beneath it, cupping my sex.

  “In the fields, but we’re not allowed to go there,” I supplied, gasping loudly as he applied pressure against the pulse between my thighs.

  “What fields, Brae?” Eryx asked, his words guttural while he inhaled the scent of the arousal Saint was creating. “Braelyn, I need you to focus on me, Princess. Where are the fields?”

  “Behind us, where the meadow is,” I uttered, baring my shoulder for Saint to kiss my throat. “You can’t go out there. Harold forbids it. It’s the killing field,” I continued, arching further while Saint pushed his fingers against the panties that were soaked from my need of him to make me come.

  “The killing fields?” Eryx continue
d, his eyes heavily hooded, but there was anger dripping in his tone. “Why do you call them that?”

  “Because he did, and he is the alpha. When the wind howls, you can hear the ghosts keening and screaming for help. The soon-to-be damned call to be saved, but no one can save us because the demons are too strong. We’re already damned and soon-to-be-dead. No one cares that we cry out for help.”

  “We’re? More like you helped daddy hide the bodies,” Eryx growled, his eyes turning cold as the lust left them.

  Pounding started at the door, and I turned my body closer to Saint’s as it opened. Sian walked in with Phenrys on his heels. Bowen stood in the shadows, meeting Saint’s stare. No one spoke, watching as Saint continued running his hand over my belly.

  “We found them,” Sian stated, shaking his head.

  “Where?” Saint asked, his hand pausing as the other slid through my sex, hidden beneath the nightgown I wore.

  “Behind the lodge in a wide-open field, buried in storage containers,” he announced, and Saint pushed me aside as he grabbed his shirt, glaring down at me.

  “And here I was praying you weren’t a part of this shit, Braelyn. You were fucking knee-deep in it, weren’t you?” he hissed, his eyes filled with hatred as he and the others stared at my limp form. “Bring my mate with us, Eryx. She doesn’t get to play dumb anymore. Feed her the tonic that reverses the effects. The rest of you, grab supplies and call in the medivac helicopters. If they’ve been in the ground for very long, they’ll need more medical attention than they can get here. Grab the heating blankets and meet me out there.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I had shit that tasted like acid forced down my throat, and then I was walking barefooted through the meadow. Eryx didn’t stop, not even when pine nettles stuck into my foot. The wind howled, biting into my exposed flesh as we moved further out of the lodge, toward the secondary field behind a small copse of trees.

  My hair whipped against my face and a shiver from the cold sent goosebumps over my arms. I could make out voices in the distance, along with the scent of people gathered. Peering up at the waning moon, I exhaled as I pondered where and to what I was being marched.