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Claimed by the Pack: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance

Page 11

by Jade Alters


  “Nothing but pretend to be my dog for two weeks and...” I gasped. Chase had seen him too. They were all in on whatever this twisted little game was.

  “You knew,” I said to Chase. “You and Ridge both knew he was in my house this whole time. What was he, your spy? You're sick. You're all sick!” I had my hands on both sides of my head, trying to keep it from exploding.

  “No,” Chase said. “I mean, I knew he was there, but I wasn't spying on you, Cheyenne. I would never do that.”

  I glared at him and then turned on Grayson and said, “You have nothing to say for yourself? You're sick, perverse! You slept with me! You watched me change my clothes! All the while you pretended to be an innocent pup. Oh my God! You're all twisted,” I said, again.

  “Dude, you saw her naked?” Chase said.

  Grayson growled at him.

  I threw my hands up. I was finished, with all of them. Turning on my heel, I started walking toward the apartment. Chase was suddenly on one side of me, and Grayson on the other.

  “Please Cheyenne. I came here for Ridge, before he got the alpha's blessings to see you. But I stayed, because I really liked you, and I didn't know how to explain any of this. But, tonight when you were getting ready to go out with Ridge again, I realized it was just too much. It was too wrong and out of control and I had to do something. I planned on just leaving and not ever telling you. But then I saw you crying, and I felt so bad. I would rather you be angry with me, than heartbroken and looking for a dog that wasn't coming back...”

  I stopped and it took them both a few steps to realize it.

  When Grayson turned back around, I got on my toes and into his face.

  Gritting my teeth and practically spitting venom I said, “You...people, or whatever you are, have been playing with me since day one. I've been kidnapped, lied to, made a fool of, and you say you didn't want to see me heartbroken? Are you kidding? I might be inclined to believe that it was exactly what you all wanted. I don't believe anything that any of you say any longer. I don't want to see any of you, ever again. If you leave me alone, starting this very second, then your creepy little secrets are safe with me. But if I see any of you lurking around me again, ever again, the whole world will know about you, and there will be no place any of you can hide!”

  I was so angry and my heart was beating so hard and so fast that my chest felt like it was going to split wide open.

  I think if either of them had tried to stop me at that point, werewolves or no, I would have ripped them both apart with my bare hands. I stormed back towards my apartment, only to be stopped again, this time by a brick wall.

  15

  Ridge

  “Get away from me! Go away!”

  “Cheyenne, it's me. It's Ridge.” I left Cheyenne at her door half an hour earlier after our date. We shared a kiss that was so electric I swear the energy from it could have been used to light up a small city. I was almost to the compound when I realized I didn't just have the picnic basket on my arm, I also had her little sweater she had taken off earlier and I'd insisted on carrying for her. I debated just keeping it until the next time I saw her.

  I liked the idea of having something with her scent on it.

  But I also liked the idea of having an excuse to go back and see her again tonight...and maybe getting another kiss.

  I was almost there when I smelled the wolves so I began picking up the pace.

  I told myself it was probably just Gray. The stupid pup was still pretending to be her dog and I hadn't quite figured out what to do about that yet. But I had another gut feeling that something was really wrong. I was so connected to her on an emotional level that I could actually feel her angst. I almost shifted, but the last thing I wanted to do was scare her.

  But I ended up doing that anyways when I met her running too.

  I thought she saw me.

  I didn't realize she didn't until she slammed into me and screamed. She was beating my chest with her fists and I realized she was crying.

  “Baby, it's okay, it's me.”

  She drew her leg back and kicked me in the shins.

  “Ouch! What the hell?”

  “Let go of me! Get away from me!” I smelled my two “friends” before I looked up and saw them coming around the back of the apartment building. Grayson was in human form and he and Chase both looked guilty...like they needed their asses kicked.

  “What the fuck did you do to her?” I had hold of her wrists and was having to hold her back so that she couldn't kick me.

  “I told her the truth,” Grayson said.

  “You're all sick!” she yelled. “I'm sure you all had plenty of laughs at my expense. But, it's over now. Let go of me and go away or I swear to God I'm telling everyone on this island what you really are.” The rage in side of me was quick. It burned like acid and sliced at everything inside of me.

  I let go of Cheyenne and without even checking to see if anyone was around, I shifted.

  Chase saw it coming and he shifted too, jumping in front of me and Grayson as I lunged at him.

  Gray was always a little slow on the uptake, even in the wild.

  At that moment however, I was too angry to see him for who he was, a confused pup that I had raised. I saw a challenger, a wolf that was trying to take my mate, and trying to hurt her in the process. I hit Chase first and we rolled in the grass, claws ripping at fur and flesh and teeth gnashing. It was only seconds later before Gray joined us, obviously on Chase's “team” trying to subdue me. I was too angry to be subdued.

  I had Cheyenne.

  She was mine...

  I felt it in her kiss, and in less than an hour they had ruined that and they were going to pay for it.

  I could hear her screaming, but it was just background noise as I slashed and tore at my former friends. The anger blinded me and all I could smell was the scent of Chase and Gray's fear.

  They thought I might kill them, and they may have been right...but then suddenly a burst of freezing water hit me right in the face.

  In shock, I unclenched my jaws and let go of Gray's flesh. He rolled away and Chase started to come at me, but I saw the stream of water hit him too.

  It wasn't enough to knock us back physically, but it was cold and shocking. I followed the water until I saw the source of it.

  Cheyenne had gotten the hose from the side of the building and turned it on. It was one of those big hoses the island ordinances made every building have in case of fire, hooked directly to a main water line. She was holding onto it with two hands and the look on her face was pure determination.

  Strangely, as I saw her pretty eyes flash in my direction and she turned the hose on me once more, my heart swelled with more love for her than I'd ever felt.

  “Are you going to stop this?” she yelled. Chase and Gray were already lying in a docile position on the ground. I was the only one still trying to move.

  The fight had gone out of me, I wanted to move toward her.

  I stopped and did the same thing my pack mates had done.

  I lay down in a submissive pose, just long enough to get her to stop.

  She didn't take her eyes off of us as she turned off the hose, but as soon as the water was off and she'd taken her hands off the hose, I shifted.

  I could see Gray and Chase doing the same out of the corner of my eye.

  The scratches and bites all over my body were already healing and I assumed theirs were doing the same. They'd be much more sore and bruised than I was, probably for days, but they would heal. Even if Cheyenne hadn't turned the hose on us, I would have stopped before I ripped open anyone's throat. I didn't want to kill my pack mates, my best friends...Only slightly maim them.

  As wolf shifters we can heal ourselves quickly, thanks to our incredibly hot metabolism. It's why we live so long.

  But there are ways to kill us.

  We can be starved to death, dehydrated, stabbed through the heart so the flow of the healing blood is interrupted...or, as wolves, we go for
the throat. Once a wolf's throat is ripped open there's too much blood loss for him to heal properly.

  Sometimes he can pull himself together enough to keep breathing for a while, but if it's done right, he'll either die on the spot, or very soon after. Now that the rage was receding, it was quickly being replaced by the shame of attacking my friends at all.

  “You're insane,” Cheyenne said, “All of you.”

  It was at that moment that I realized, though we were all bleeding, Grayson was the one she was approaching. Although he was no longer her dog, but now a bloody teenager, she was kneeling down next to him, using part of her sweatshirt to stop the blood that was oozing from a wound in his neck. He was staring up at her and I could feel the love pouring out of him, so strongly that it seemed to wash over and dilute the jealousy I was primed to feel at that moment.

  I looked over at Chase.

  He was watching her too, and I felt his own envy toward Gray and his admiration for Cheyenne...more than admiration...his connection.

  Gray and Chase were connected to Cheyenne, my mate, almost as strongly as I was. Or maybe as strongly, and I just didn't want to see that.

  Was it possible that she was meant for us all? I thought about Chelsea and the alphas and wished I had asked more questions of them, about how their relationship came about and how they tolerated sharing the love of their life with someone else.

  I was sure the men's close friendship had something to do with it, maybe everything. They loved each other as much as they loved Chelsea, just in a different way.

  I never imagined that I would be able to share my mate with anyone else, but in that moment, there was so much warmth and love rippling through the four of us, that I had to wonder.

  Maybe it was worth exploring...that was, if we hadn't completely blown it with Cheyenne for good. I looked back at her and Gray and concentrated on her this time.

  She definitely felt something for him...but he'd been her pet.

  Would she feel the same way about him as a man? She turned her head suddenly to look at me and in a commanding tone that I'd never heard her use she said, “Get him into the apartment. I need to clean up these wounds.”

  “He's healing...” Chase started. Cheyenne whipped her head in his direction and it was almost like daggers were shooting out of her chocolate brown eyes. I saw Chase do something I'd never seen before, cower to a female.

  “We'll get him,” he said, struggling to his feet. I got to mine as well, deciding things would be better if I just kept my mouth shut for now.

  Chase and I lifted Gray underneath each arm, and the three of us, naked as the day we were born, followed Cheyenne to her apartment. I was just thinking how glad I was that it was such a quiet place when the door three down from Cheyenne's opened and a middle aged woman stepped out. Her eyes widened when she saw us and I smelled Cheyenne's anxiety as she said,

  “Excuse us Mrs. Garrett. My friends had a little too much to drink tonight.” The woman's eyes looked like saucers as she watched us walk inside and I heard her say,

  “I wonder what the hell they were drinking,” as Cheyenne closed the door. My poor, beautiful mate would be the talk of her complex by morning, I was sure. But since I still planned on changing her address soon, I wasn't worried. As soon as the door was closed Cheyenne said,

  “Go put him on my bed, I'm going to get some bandages and antiseptic.” Neither Chase, Grayson or I thought to argue with her.

  Her tone left no room for it.

  We took him into her room and I felt another surge of jealousy when we lay him down and I thought about him being so comfortable there in her house...in her bedroom. He curled up like he owned the bed and I rolled my eyes. Chase picked up an afghan from the bottom of the bed and threw it over him and Cheyenne yelled from the other room, “There is a rack in my closet with a couple of robes. Put them on!”

  We looked at each other and Chase was the one that went over and got the robes out. He had a fuzzy gray one in one hand and was holding out a soft, satin pink one in my direction. I growled at him and he handed over the gray one.

  By the time Cheyenne came in, we were covered up. She had a little plastic box in her hands and ignoring Chase and I, she sat on the bed next to Grayson and began taking things out of the box. First she took out a bottle of water and I watched in jealous fascination as she slipped her hand underneath his blonde head and pulled it up slightly before pressing the bottle to his lips and saying, “Drink.”

  Grayson did as he was told.

  After she was satisfied he had enough water she wet one of the bandages out of the box and began to delicately dab at his wounds.

  I was oddly aroused watching her. Her touch was so soft and the look on her face, well, that was even softer. I felt her feelings for Gray pouring out as she tended to each one of his wounds, even pulling the afghan down to the top of his pelvis to tend to a bit just at the top of his right thigh.

  Grayson had his eyes closed, but the little shit was almost smiling. I looked at Chase again and this time he rolled his eyes.

  It seemed to me that Cheyenne spent way too much time on Gray's wounds than she needed to, while meanwhile Chase and I had wounds of our own that she seemed to be ignoring. When she finished at last, she stood up and finally looked at the two of us. I was shocked when her pretty lips turned up into a smile and she said, “You two look ridiculous.”

  Chase and I looked at each other again. He was the one in pink satin, I didn't think I looked too bad. “Cheyenne,” Chase said, being the first one of us to speak. “I'm sorry, for everything.” The smile fell from her lips and she frowned. She looked at me and then back at Chase and said,

  “I just don't understand why you picked me. There are plenty of women on this island to mess with, why me?”

  “Because,” I said, “It's never been about “messing” with you. We have real feelings for you, Cheyenne. I love you.”

  “Me too,” Chase muttered, and then from the bed came Grayson's sleepy,

  “And me.” I growled at them both and went on,

  “The three of us have been strays most of our lives, Cheyenne. Before that, we were raised in the wild, under the old rules. Things were so different, and some of it is not just learned, but in our blood. We're all trying hard to be “normal” humans, but I can't even explain how difficult that is. But we are, Cheyenne, human...for the most part. And I...” I stopped and looked at my stupid friends. “We, care so much about you.”

  Cheyenne looked from one to the next of us and sighed. “Sit,” she told me and Chase as she sat on the bed. Chase and I jockeyed for the spot next to her and just as I was about to growl at him, she threw me a look that stopped me. We finally sat and she said, “If this is not a trick...if you're not just playing with me, then what are my options here...my choices, to keep the three of you from killing each other?” she looked at Gray and said, “And pretending to be my dog.” Gray smiled. He still had his eyes closed. “It's not funny!” she scolded, but I could see real affection in her eyes when she looked at him.

  “We could...” Chase started, and then stopped.

  “We could, what?” Cheyenne said.

  “I was just thinking, you know about Chelsea and our other alpha's relationship, right?” Cheyenne cocked an eyebrow and nervously Chase went on, “I mean, you might not want all of us, but if you did, they've set a precedent. Maybe there's more than one mate out there for some people. I know how strongly I feel about you. I felt it way back when Ridge first introduced us in the bar. We're not like humans in that we don't have to really get to know someone before we develop our feelings. We feel first...and I've felt for you since day one. I'd be okay with you loving my two best friends too...I mean of course, if you were so inclined.”

  She raised her other eyebrow. I could feel chaos coming from her, and I couldn't get a read on what she was thinking.

  She looked at Gray then and said, “Open your eyes, pet.”

  Grayson had another little smile on his
face as he pulled his eyes open.

  She rolled her eyes at him, but again, I saw the affection there.

  “What's your take on this?”

  “I feel the same way as Chase. I knew Ridge wasn't going to like it, but the second you found me downstairs, I knew you were more than just my friend's mate. I would gladly live as your dog forever, just to be close to you.” I'm not sure, but I think her eyes filled with tears when he said that. Little shit. She turned those watery, beautiful eyes on me then and said,

  “And you?”

  “I am head over heels in love with you, Cheyenne. I have known from the second I saw you that we belonged together. I want you more than I've ever wanted anything, or anyone. I'm not good at sharing,” Chase and Gray both snorted and I said, “Shut up, it's my turn.”

  Cheyenne bit her bottom lip, like she was hiding another smile and I went on, “I hate to share. I'm selfish and arrogant. I know I am stronger and better looking...” the guys snorted again, but this time Cheyenne let out a little laugh too.

  Slightly hurt, I went on. “Women want me. I expected you to just want me. I was surprised and confused and hurt when I realized that you also feel something for my mates. But like the dog there, I'd be more than willing to change my life and my beliefs for the chance to be with you. I'll share with these idiots if it means having you.”

  She was quiet for a long time. The sound of the clock ticking in the living room and our breathing was the only sounds in the apartment for too long. My imagination was running wild with all the possibilities, and I was so nervous that none of them were good. At last she said, “I have a lot of questions.”

  “Ask, we'll answer them,” I said.

  She shook her head and said, “No. I want to talk to Chelsea.” Chase, Grayson and I looked at each other. I was sure they were all thinking the same thing as I was.

  Chelsea wasn't happy with any of us right now. It was possible, and highly likely, that she'd tell Cheyenne to run for the hills.

 

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