Bound to the Alpha: Complete Edition (Shifters of Appalachia Book 2)

by Viola Rivard

  Lotus called out Sarah’s name in a long whine before saying, “Clover is being very rude and she is not obeying your orders at all.”

  Sarah looked up at Lotus entered the room, just in time to see the girl wrinkle her nose. “Are you sick?” Lotus asked with a frown.

  Nodding, Sarah asked, “Do you think you can get me something to clean this up with?”

  “I will go,” Caim announced, marching purposely from the room.

  Sarah crawled back over to the pallet, groaning as she collapsed onto the furs. She should have just thrown up on them, she thought regrettably. It would have made for easier cleanup. Now she would have to scrub the floor, and the room would probably smell gross for days.

  Never one for boundaries, Lotus came to lie next to Sarah, their faces just inches apart. Sarah held her hand in front of her mouth, not wanting to subject Lotus to her terrible breath.

  “What’s up, buttercup?”

  Lotus snorted. “That is not my name.”

  Sarah smiled behind her hand. “My mistake, cupcake.”

  “What is a cupcake?”

  Sarah wasn’t sure she would ever get used to having to explain things like that to the children. She opened her mouth to elaborate, but Lotus abruptly asked, “Are you having Cain’s pup?”

  Sarah blinked at her, convinced she hadn’t heard the girl right. “What?”

  “Your scent is different,” Lotus said, her face scrunching thoughtfully. “You smell like Dawn did, when she had Snow in her belly.”

  End, Part Two

  Part III

  27

  If Sarah had one talent, it was the ability to keep calm in a crisis. When she was a child and her mother left her, Sarah didn’t kick or scream or cry, she just accepted it and moved on. In junior high, when a bee stung her cousin Wendy, it was Sarah, not the camp counselor, who had the presence of mind to administer Wendy’s EpiPen. When she had crashed her car in the middle of the wilderness, Sarah hadn’t dwelled on the fact that she had nearly died or would probably die in the future, she had just put one foot in front of the other and began walking.

  To Sarah, there were only two options in a crisis. Either find a solution, or keep moving forward until you do. And so, when she found out she was pregnant with the child of her werewolf lover, Sarah did what she always did. She thought of a solution.

  Not bothering to clean up the vomit on the floor, she got up from bed, put on a pair of slippers, and grabbed a fur to toss over her shoulders. Lotus followed her as she made her way down the familiar maze of passageways that led to the moon room. Sarah was aware of the fact that Lotus was talking to her, but she couldn’t process anything that the girl was saying. Her mind was too focused on the task at hand.

  Grace and Jewel were in the moon room, cleaning out the fire pit. When Sarah entered, both females looked up. Grace approached Sarah, her eyes wide.

  “Your scent, it’s…”

  Sarah held up a hand to silence her. “Where’s Hale?”

  Her brows drawing together, Grace said, “He left a while back to see Cain off. He should be back soon if you’d like to sit and rest.”

  “Thanks,” Sarah said, brushing past her. She made for the exit of the room, but Jewel blocked her path, concern in her green eyes.

  “That passage leads outside. You really shouldn’t—”

  Sarah ignored her and marched towards the exit in quick, purposeful strides. Taken aback by her cold attitude, the females didn’t follow her.

  Outside of the den, Sarah’s breath crystallized in the air. The mountainous woods that surrounded the den were nothing but a blur to her, obscured by her poor vision and the fading sunlight of early evening.

  Examining the ground, she noticed three sets of large paw prints that led off into the forest. One slippered foot in front of the other, Sarah followed them.

  Stubborn thoughts and emotions kept trying to worm their way into her mind as she walked. She squashed them down, focusing instead on the soft sound of the stream in the distance, the snow crunching beneath her feet, and the clattering of wind-whipped tree branches. Anything to get out of her own head.

  “What are you doing out here?”

  Briefly startled, she jerked around at the sound of Hale’s voice. Cain’s younger brother stood a few feet behind her, a large bear pelt flung over one shoulder.

  Sarah took a few steps forward, bringing his face into focus. He looked the same as he had yesterday, handsome, symmetrical features, wavy blond hair, and striking eyes, one blue and one gold. But there was something in his eyes that she hadn’t noticed before. He seemed guarded, and maybe even a little uncomfortable.

  “I’m ready to go,” she said, pleased at how evenly the words had come out.

  One fine brow arched. “Go where?”

  “Home,” she said, waving her arms for emphasis. “Back to my kind, where I belong. You said you’d take me if I wanted to go. Well, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  Hale’s expression turned irritatingly inscrutable. “I don’t recall saying I’d take you anywhere.”

  Sarah’s hands clenched into fists. “Stop bullshitting me, Hale. Either help me get the hell away from here or I’m leaving on my own.”

  He tilted his chin up, regarding her with mild annoyance. “Alder.”

  Her brow furrowed. She opened her mouth, and then shut it, realization dawning on her. Heat spread over her cheeks, and for a moment embarrassment took precedent over all of her other grievances.

  “I forgot,” she said abashedly. “I have really bad vision. I’ve never seen you up close.”

  Sarah had heard in passing that Hale and Alder were twins, but she hadn’t realized they were identical. She had only seen Hale up close once, but he had the type of face that left an impression. Everything about Alder’s was the same, from his aquiline nose to the sensual shape of his lips. He looked like a younger, fairer version of Cain, and the resemblance helped her to regain her focus.

  She asked, “Can you tell me where Hale is? Grace said he was out here.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Why, so you can ask him to abandon his post and take you away behind Cain’s back?”

  Sarah let out of huff of frustration. “I don’t give a crap about Cain.”

  “Or the pups, apparently. If Hale leaves, there will only be one male to defend the den.”

  The mention of the children stung more than a little. When she had marched from the den, thoughts of them, particularly Snow, had been the hardest to steel herself against.

  Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. “Fine, I’ll take myself. Can you at least point me in the right direction?”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “Assuming you could make it there alive, do you really think you’re capable of raising a wolf pup alone?”

  The cold air burned her eyes as she forced herself not to blink. “Where I come from, people don’t have to have babies they don’t want.”

  “You’re overreacting,” he said, reaching for her arm. “Come back to the den—”

  Sarah slapped his hand away. “I’m not overreacting,” she said, her voice rising. “Your stupid brother got me pregnant on purpose!” She kicked at the snow. “He told me the first time he tried to sleep with me that he could tell when I was fertile, so either he made that up—which would be just as bad—or he had sex with me when he knew that he could get me pregnant.”

  Alder grabbed her wrists. “Calm down.”

  She kicked snow onto his feet. “Let me go.”

  Stubbornly, he held firm, holding her wrists above her head as if she were a disobedient child. She struggled against his grip until fatigue won out. As her breathing steadied and the anger seeped from her body, she became aware of how cold she was. At some point during her struggle, the fur had fallen from her shoulders, leaving only her flimsy gown to protect her from the icy wind.

  Alder’s grip on her wrists loosened, and when he spoke again his tone was coaxing. “My brother wouldn’t have left the den if h
e thought you were pregnant.” He bent down to pick up the fallen fur. “He wasn’t lying when he said that we can tell when females are fertile.”

  He brushed the fur off before securing it around her shoulders. “I’m not saying it wasn’t his fault, but we aren’t humans. Our instincts can be very difficult to control sometimes, particularly when it comes to claiming a mate. I doubt it was his intention to get you pregnant. He probably just lost control.”

  With her head hung low, Sarah reluctantly listened to Alder. He was telling her the things she needed to hear, but not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to be angry and blame Cain for everything, because the only alternative was to be angry with herself. It had been uncharacteristically naïve of her to assume they could have all the unprotected sex they wanted without any consequences.

  “It doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t tell me,” she said, hanging on to her last thread of righteous indignation.

  “You’re right,” he said, squeezing her shoulders. “But I can’t let you go running off on your own. Cain will be back in a week. When he comes back, the two of you can talk about this. If you still want to leave, I’m sure Hale will take you wherever you want to go. Right?”

  “Fine by me.”

  Sarah’s head whipped around. Hale was leaning against a nearby tree, a small smile playing on his lips. How the heck did they keep sneaking up on her like that?

  “How long have you been there?” she asked him.

  Hale shrugged in response. Sarah noticed that he was carrying two fat hares that looked like fresh kills. A month ago, the sight of a dead rabbit might have made her tear up. Now it just made her stomach growl.

  Smirking, Hale pushed off from the tree. “Come on, little sister. Let’s get some food in you.”

  28

  Grace and Lotus were gone when they arrived back at the moon room. Jewel was still there, accompanied by Snow and a grumpy-looking Caim.

  At the sight of the children, Sarah felt a renewed rash of shame. In her blind anger, she had almost walked out on them without any explanation. She wasn’t by any means a parent to either of them, but Snow in particular had become very attached to her, and it wouldn’t be fair to leave her without so much as a goodbye. She mentally vowed that before she left for good, she would speak with them first.

  Unaware of Sarah’s emotional turmoil, Snow scampered over to her with a big, toothy grin on her face. The little girl raised her hands up in the gesture Sarah recognized as ‘pick me up’ and Sarah complied. Holding Snow’s small body against her chest was miraculously therapeutic, and Sarah felt some of the tension leave her body.

  “I cleaned your mess,” Caim informed her, looking none too pleased about it.

  Sarah felt the corners of her lips tug at his disgruntled expression. “Thank you.”

  As Sarah moved to sit next to the small fire, Hale tossed the hares to Jewel. Skillfully, she caught one in each hand.

  Hale said, “Gut those for me, beautiful.”

  Jewel stood, rolling her eyes. “Such a charmer.”

  “I’ll walk with you,” Alder said to Jewel. “Night watch is mine anyway.”

  Sarah watched as Alder and Jewel left. Caim glanced back at Sarah and Snow before following the duo, shifting back into his wolf form in mid-stride.

  “He’s very independent,” Hale said, offering Sarah a cup of water. She accepted it, not realizing how thirsty she had been until she had downed the contents in one prolonged gulp.

  She thanked him and set the cup on the floor as Hale sat down beside her. The queasiness in her stomach returned as she watched Hale casually lick at his bloodied fingers.

  “Caim likes you,” Hale said, still focused on his fingers. Matter-of-factly, he added, “All the pups do. You’ll make a good mother.”

  Sarah frowned. “Lots of kids like circus clowns, too. That doesn’t qualify them all to be parents.”

  Hale gave her a sideways look. “Circus clowns?”

  “Never mind,” she said with a sigh.

  Her mind was still a chaotic mess, but her nerves had calmed since earlier that evening. Now thinking a little more clearly, she was glad that it had been Alder and not Hale that she’d run into. She wasn’t particularly interested in hearing Cain’s excuse, and it was hard for her to imagine wanting to stay, but making such a huge decision immediately after receiving the shock of her life was probably not a good idea.

  Sarah turned her attention to Snow, who was busying herself by picking at the fabric of Sarah’s gown. Gently, she pulled the little girl’s hand away, pressing a kiss to it. Sarah turned to Hale, planning to ask him if he could get Snow’s doll, but she paused instead.

  While the young male cleaned the blood from his fingers, she took the opportunity to examine his features, searching for the resemblance between him and his daughter. There were flecks of gold in Snow’s brown eyes, and they shared the same dimpled chin. But with her dark hair and pale skin, it was clear that she favored her mother.

  After seeing the close bond between Cain and his son, it was strange to Sarah that Snow and Hale could sit side by side without expressing any interest in one another.

  Before she could consider them any longer, Clover came barreling into the room. Sarah sucked in a breath as Clover enveloped her and Snow into a tight hug.

  “I knew it!” Clover exclaimed. She turned to Hale, sticking out her tongue. “I told you! You’re washing the floors for a week.”

  “I never took your bet, runt,” he said flatly.

  “Oh, Hale,” she said, sounding disappointed.

  It surprised Sarah that even their own sister couldn’t tell them apart at a glance. Than, all at once, she realized what they were talking about. Had they seriously made bets about whether or not she was pregnant?

  Struggling to bite back her anger, she asked, “Everyone knew?”

  “I did not know,” Meadow said, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

  Clover said, “We weren’t sure, but we were all kind of hoping…” she trailed off, her face falling. “You don’t look happy, though.”

  Sarah looked between the three of them, her head throbbing. It drove her crazy that everyone was being so cavalier about her pregnancy. For lack of anything better to do, she fell back onto the floor and flung an arm over her head.

  * * *

  Though it’d seemed hopeless, the night had improved. Most of the pack was considerate of the fact that Sarah didn’t want to talk about being pregnant, and from time to time, she was able to put it out of her mind as well. She knew that it wasn’t the type of problem that would solve itself, but decided the best thing she could do was to sleep on it. Problems always seemed more manageable after a solid rest.

  Despite how tired she was, rest didn’t come easy the next morning. Most of the pack had gathered in Meadow’s room to sleep. The clutter had been pushed back against the walls, and Jewel, Fern, Clover, and Grace had stretched out in their wolf forms on the floor.

  Sarah shared the bed with the children and Meadow, the latter of whom was none too happy about the sleeping arrangements. When she wasn’t taking up half of the bed, Meadow was kneeing and elbowing Sarah throughout the morning. After several sleepless hours, Sarah selfishly picked up a conked-out Sable and placed the pup between her and Meadow to act as a buffer. It worked out pretty well, because the first time Meadow elbowed Sable, the pup bit her arm. As far as Sarah could tell, Meadow stayed on her own side of the bed from then on.

  Sleep still eluded her, though. Thoughts of Cain were at the forefront of her mind. They weren’t the angry thoughts she wanted to be having, but rather the sad, pathetic, wishing-he-was-there kind of thoughts. She tried to tell herself that the only reason she wanted him there was so that she could yell at him, which actually turned out to be mildly reassuring.

  When she eventually fell asleep, Cain was waiting in her dreams. His husky, masculine scent surrounded Sarah as he embraced her. He kissed away her anger and her hurt, until she
was lax in his arms, and then he simply held her.

  Waking up, Sarah felt sick, not just with the nausea of early pregnancy, but sick with longing for Cain, and sick with herself for missing him in spite of everything that had happened.

  After stewing in her sickness and self-loathing for a few moments, Sarah tried to sit up, but Snow stubbornly clung to her gown. Sarah braced herself on her elbow before carefully attempting to detach the little girl. She tried to pry Snow’s fingers from the fabric, but Snow let out a soft growl and tightened her grip.

  “Need help?”

  Sarah glanced up to see one of the twins crouching down next to her. For once, she wasn’t startled.

  “Sure,” Sarah said, her voice a little raspy. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “I’m sorry, but…”

  “Alder,” he supplied, brushing the canopy net aside.

  Sarah noticed that most of the wolves were gone from the room. Only Meadow and the children, sans Caim, still remained sleeping. She watched as Alder reached out to pinch the back of Snow’s neck. She almost protested the gesture, but stopped when she noticed Snow’s hands loosen. As her small body went limp, Alder gently lifted her, placing her down on the furs.

  “That’s a neat trick,” Sarah whispered, impressed that Snow hadn’t so much as stirred.

  Alder smiled, and it seemed much more genuine than his brother’s perpetual grin. “One of the many benefits of having a wolf pup.”

  She raised a brow. “There are many?”

  He took her hand. “Come. You look like you could use some fresh air.”

  Sarah nodded, letting Alder help her up. Her stomach lurched as she stood, and she reflexively gripped onto Alder’s arm for support.

  He asked, “Do you want to lie back down?”

  “No,” she said with a slight shake of her head. “I think I’ll be okay.”

  Placing a hand on her hip, Alder guided her over to her slippers, and then out into the passageway. The air was much cooler in the tunnel, and Sarah could already feel her condition improving. Alder’s scent, and his strong, steady demeanor, reminded her of Cain. She begrudgingly found his touch comforting.