Enslaved by the Alpha: Part Seven

by Rivard, Viola

  Her makeup was poorly done. The dark solution that she always brushed her eyelashes with appeared to have been slathered on, and dry flecks clung to the flaky skin beneath her eyebrows. Her hair, which had always managed to remain perfectly coiffed even after a vigorous fucking, was slightly disheveled, and when she reached up to tuck a flyaway strand back into her bun, he saw that her nail polish was chipped and did not match the color of her earrings.

  She was still an exceedingly beautiful female, and if anything, he thought that the imperfections made her look more attractive than usual. If he cared enough, he might have pointed this out to her.

  “What do you want?” Erik asked. “Why aren’t you eating with the others?”

  “I’m on a diet,” Ila said, her tone unusually serious. “When I saw you in the main room, I noticed that your back was giving you some trouble. I thought you might need a massage.”

  This was unexpected. The whole reason he had stopped, was because he thought that Ila was going to tell him something about his mate. The two of them were often together, despite neither seeming to particularly care for one another.

  He unconsciously flexed his back as he considered her offer. Ila was too eager to wait.

  “Remember? I always used to massage your back after a hunt. I know all of the places that give you trouble. Let me fix them for you.”

  He could use a massage. The part of his brain that advocated for his tired body argued that a massage was not sexual, or at least, it didn’t have to be. But he knew that even if Ila did keep her hands off his cock, his mate would not be pleased.

  While Ila stared at him with the expectant, hungry eyes, Erik’s line of thinking hit a wall. Astrid was his mate, and she was important to him, perhaps the most important thing to him, but that didn’t mean he had to be monogamous, did it? He imagined that she would think so, because for her, sex always had an emotional aspect to it.

  Erik had known that even in the early days, when their relationship had been entirely physical, at least on the surface. After they’d fucked, she had always wanted him to hold her in his arms. Several times, he had caught her looking at his lips with mournful eyes, clearly wishing he would kiss her, and perhaps do all of the other things that human males did for their lovers.

  He doubted his mate would understand that he had no such issues. While there had always been females he had preferred over others, Erik had always enjoyed having multiple partners. When he’d decided to take a mate, monogamy had been the farthest thing from his mind, but he had anticipated that for a certain length of time, he was unlikely to be interested in anyone but his human. Now, he had difficulty wrapping his mind around the concept of having only one female, forever.

  “I could also give you a bath,” Ila said, picking at the polish on one of her fingernails. “Clean all of the places you can’t quite reach…”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Erik said. He moved to walk past her, but she turned around to follow him, keeping pace at his side.

  “Which one?”

  “Both.”

  Erik had to stop short as Ila stepped in front of him. She looked him directly in the eyes, but there was no challenge on her face, only apprehension.

  “When you’re ready, you’ll come to me first, right? You’ll come to me before the other females?”

  Erik didn’t say anything, he only stared down at the hand that she had pressed against his chest. She glanced down, and then quickly drew her hand back, as though his skin had burned her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, staring down at the floor. “You’ll never be ready… Will you?”

  “I don’t know,” Erik said, as much to himself as to her.

  She stepped back, and he could see tears welling up in her blue eyes. For once, her tears were not accompanied by theatrical whining, and he wondered if this was what it actually looked like when Ila cried.

  “I liked being with you,” she said. “Not like Sabine did. Never like that. I just liked the way being with you made me feel. Everyone looked at me like I was someone important. I was someone important. I was your favorite. And now, I’m nobody’s favorite person. I’m nobody at all…”

  Erik should have walked away right then and there. He sensed that he could get away and that she wouldn’t have followed him if he did. But he also felt a measure of obligation towards her, not only because she had saved his mate’s life, but also because he had been careless with her.

  “Everyone begins as nobody,” he told her. “You are at a starting point. Stop wasting time looking back at who you were, and consider who you want to become.”

  He left her in the tunnel, feeling more eager than ever to get to his mate. Now, however, he was hoping that she would want to sleep. He was disappointed when he didn’t find her nestled under the furs in his room, but after a short walk, Erik caught wind of her, and followed the scent trail back to her room.

  Beau lay sentinel outside her doorway. The slender white wolf appeared to be asleep, but as soon as Erik approached, Beau’s ears perked up. Erik was torn between feeling possessive of his mate around the other male and being grateful to Beau for watching over her while he’d been gone. He settled on an apathetic middle ground, and dismissed Beau with a wave of his hand.

  Erik stepped into the room, and there she was. His mate was curled up beneath several layers of furs, sleeping soundly. The clothes that she had made for their pup lay scattered at the foot of the bed, alongside a crumpled pile of her own clothes. As Erik approached he noticed that she had removed the buttons from all of the shirts she’d brought with her, and had sewn them on to all of the pup’s clothing.

  He crouched down and picked up one of the small garments, frowning. Would their pup really be that tiny? Erik didn’t think so. She must have made them wrong.

  Poorly made, and impractical as they were, Erik didn’t lay down until he had picked up each one and carefully folded it. After stacking them neatly on one side of the bed, he climbed under the furs with her, pulled her into his arms, and went to sleep.

  ***

  Astrid woke to her whole body trembling. It startled her so much, that her mind hardly registered Erik’s presence beside her. She tried to remember what she’d been dreaming, but nothing really stuck out. It had been days since she’d had a nightmare, and usually with those she woke up screaming, not freezing.

  “What is it?” Erik asked, taking hold of her shoulders.

  She shrugged out of his grip and then pulled herself into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his torso, hoping to siphon some of his heat.

  “It’s so c-cold in here,” she said. “Can we go somewhere with a f-fire?”

  Erik pried her from his chest. His critical gaze swept over her. “Your skin is hot to the touch.”

  As if suddenly realizing the implications of that, Erik’s eyes widened with alarm. “Tell me you didn’t go near that cesspool of disease?”

  Astrid blinked at him. “Huh? You mean Torok? No, I haven’t been anywhere near him.”

  “Then it was the other one,” Erik said, scowling. “Shila. You should not have let her touch you.” And then to himself, he muttered, “I should not have let her touch you.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Astrid said, gaining some control over her teeth. “It’s only a cold. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been sick up here, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Here, pass me my bag and I’ll take some medicine.”

  Erik dropped her bag down in front of her, and she began pawing through it, looking for something to help with the fever.

  “I think I gave the last of my Tylenol to Shila,” she said as she dug through the side compartments. “I might have some ibuprofen in here. I don’t think that’s the best thing to take while your pregnant, but I imagine it’s better than running a fever. Anyway, when did you get back? I don’t even remember you coming to bed.”

  When he didn’t respond, Astrid glanced up to find herself alone in the room.

  “Geez, you could
have at least said goodbye,” she muttered. “What I wouldn’t give for you to have a cell phone, or maybe one of those GPS tracking devices embedded in the back of your neck.”

  Not finding anything useful, she dumped the contents of her bag out on the bed. No ibuprofen, just a half chewed roll of antacids and an empty box of Benadryl. Why hadn’t she thought to pack more medicine?

  Because you had no idea how far from human civilization these packs really were, and you never thought even for a second that you’d be up here for more than a couple weeks.

  As reasonable as that argument was, she wished that she would’ve left the makeup and the magazines at home and packed more practical things. Hindsight was 20/20, but there was also common sense.

  Eric stormed back into the room, and Astrid’s horror, he was dragging with him a terrified-looking Shila.

  “I didn’t mean to get you sick,” Shila blurted. “I swear!”

  Astrid rubbed her temple with two fingers. Her head was beginning to pound. “You didn’t get me sick. Eric, why did you bring her here?”

  Eric was sneering at Shila. “She used all of your medicine on Torok, so now it will be her responsibility to ensure that you get better.”

  Astrid gave Shila a sympathetic smile. “Shila, you a doctor?”

  Shila shook her head.

  “Do you have any medical experience at all? No? Okay, what about any personal experience with colds or flues?”

  Shila was shaking her head so furiously she looked like she was having a seizure. “No, that’s why I came to you when Torok was sick. I was hoping that you would have human medicine.”

  “It’s just called medicine,” Astrid said. “And this is why you should keep it around. Now, is there anyone in the pack who has any sort of medical experience?”

  Both Shila and Eric said nothing.

  Astrid fell back on the bed and exhaled softly. “Well, it looks like I’m on my own here.”

  While Erik dismissed Shila, Astrid set to bundling herself up in layers of furs. They kept the drafty air out, but didn’t do much else. It felt as though her body was incapable of generating any heat, and she continued to tremble.

  Eric sat down beside her. She wanted to ask him to get under the covers with her, but he looked restless and didn’t appear as though he’d be willing to remain sedentary.

  “What do I do?” He asked her.

  Astrid didn’t remember him being this anxious the last time she’d been sick. Then again, that had been before she was pregnant, before they’d even been mates.

  She infused her voice with this much reassurance as she could muster and said, “There’s nothing for you to do; it just has to run its course. Once my fever breaks, we should be in the clear. Chances are, I’ll be better by morning.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Her fever had broken by morning, but it gave Erik only a small measure of relief. Malina had been in and out of the room all night, offering Astrid food that she wouldn’t eat and giving her water that she would inevitably retch up.

  He hadn’t stayed by her side all night, but he’d been with her more often than not. Halley had tried to come in several times, but he’d turned her away. If his brother ever did come back, the last thing he needed was Sten blaming him for his daughter getting sick.

  The dog had stuck around, and in spite of its smell, Erik hadn’t minded. It lay at the foot of the bed, watching his mate sleep. Whenever Erik looked at it, its tail wagged. A few times, he’d caught himself scratching the space between its ears.

  Astrid had woken a few times during the night and early morning. Usually only to express that she was cold or thirsty. Sometimes she’d slip right back into unconsciousness, which Erik preferred, because otherwise she’d be wracked with sickness.

  It was early afternoon when her eyes fluttered open again. This time, they were more focused and she looked directly at Erik, giving him a shaky smile.

  “You look awful,” she told him. “You should really go take a bath.”

  “Perhaps I will,” he said in an offhanded manner. He handed her a cup of water. “How are you feeling?”

  “Much better, much better.”

  Erik’s eyes narrowed in scrutiny as he watched her take a small sip and then move to set the cup aside. He intercepted her hand, pushing it back towards her face.

  “Drink more.”

  “Maybe later?”

  “No, ‘later’ was last night. You haven’t had anything to drink since before I came back from the hunt.”

  “I don’t feel thirsty,” she protested. She tried to push his hand away, but succeeded only in dropping the cup. She grimaced as the water spilled onto the bed. “That wasn’t on purpose.”

  Erik ran a hand through his hair. “Are you hungry?”

  She shook her head. “I’m still pretty tired, actually. I might just rest for a little while longer.”

  “Don’t you at least want to relieve yourself?” he asked.

  She paused thoughtfully. “No. I don’t have to pee.”

  That bothered him more than anything. Even being dehydrated, she should have had to have gone at least once in the past day. He wished Sten were back. His brother might not have been a healer, but having lived among humans, he knew a hell of a lot more than Erik about sickness.

  The dog had snuck its way up the bed to lay beside Astrid. She rubbed its back with a shaky hand, a far-off and troubled look on her face.

  “In high school, everyone thought my sister was a lesbian.”

  What? “What?”

  “It was my fault,” she said. “There was this boy, Justin Delany. He was so handsome, I mean, not like you, but he was cute for a teenage boy. Anyway, he was one of those guys that didn’t let his good looks keep him from being nice to chubby girls like me. I’d had a crush on him since middle school.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  She shot him a look of annoyance. “Got somewhere better to be?”

  Erik had a lot of better places he could be, but nowhere he’d rather be, so he remained silent.

  “Okay, so I kept my feelings a secret for years, but I had this fantasy that once we were seniors and above the politics of high school, that I’d go to my locker and he’d be waiting there to ask me to prom.

  “Lo and behold, a week before prom, it happened! He was there, waiting at my locker. I remember, I almost tripped over my feet to get to him. He caught me before I fell and it was like something out of a movie. And then, he asked me if I thought that my parents would be okay with my little sister going to senior prom with him.”

  Astrid paused to cringe at the memory. “I was so upset. I didn’t cry, I mean, I did later in the girl’s bathroom, but that’s not important. For a split second, I was so angry and jealous of Ginnifer that I told Justin that our parents would probably say yes, but he shouldn’t ask them because they didn’t know that Ginnifer was gay and it would put her in an awkward position.

  “I guess he told a few people and rumors started flying around. By the time she started her junior year, everyone thought she was a total lesbian. Other lesbians were asking her out on dates, and when she turned them down, they’d think she was stuck up. She got bullied a lot, guys would come up to her asking for advice on weird sexual things. She had a really tough time in high school because of it, and she didn’t do anything to deserve that. No one deserves that… Anyway, she never knew how the rumor got started, I was always too ashamed to tell her.”

  Erik had paid attention to the entirety of his mate’s rambling story, if only because he was glad to hear her awake and alert. Just when he’d stopped questioning what the hell her point was, she slapped him with it.

  “When my sister gets here, can you tell her that it was me, and that I’m sorry?”

  “That’s what this is about?” he asked, glaring. “You can tell her yourself.”

  “Sten and I kissed.”

  It was too quiet in the room, and her words had been too clear for him to have mistaken the
m for anything else. He sat perfectly still, even his mind seeming to grind to a halt.

  “Well, it’s more like he kissed me,” she said, refusing to look in his direction. “I didn’t ask him to do it or come onto him or anything, but I didn’t stop him, so…”

  “When?”

  “I dunno,” she said, appearing surprised by his calm reaction. “Maybe a few nights before you came back with Torok?”

  “After you became my mate?” he asked, his voice taking on a hard edge.

  Astrid braved a glance at him. Her cheeks were flushed, but the color was uneven and splotchy on her sickly pale skin.

  “Yeah, but it wasn’t sexual. He only did it to prove a point.”

  “And what point was that?”

  His anger was tinged with irony, as only yesterday he’d been contemplating receiving a massage from Ila under the logic that it wouldn’t be sexual, and so his mate shouldn’t be bothered by it. However, there was a huge gulf between him receiving a back massage and his mate kissing his brother.

  “That I love you,” she said, looking into his eyes now. She blinked several times, and then smiled. “There. I said it! It’s out there now, and you know what? No matter what you think, I feel pretty good about it.”

  She fell back on the bed and stretched her arms up over her head. “What are you thinking? Did I freak you out?”

  Erik was no longer looking at her face. He was looking at her hand, the one that had been bitten. There was a rash on her palm, but what held his attention was the long red line that ran from the bandaged area, past her wrist, and down her arm. It was not the first time he’d seen a line like that, and while he wasn’t sure what caused it, he knew what was going to happen.

  Astrid followed his gaze to her arm, and her smile faded.

  “Oh…” she said in a small voice. “That doesn’t look good…”

  Erik covered her with a fur and stood, saying nothing as he left the room. She didn’t call out for him, which was good because he wouldn’t have gone back in. He needed to be away from her in order to think straight.