by J. L. Wilder
Robby was right. Marco felt a surge of guilt. The way he had been behaving over the past week had been so self-indulgent.
But it would stop now. Everyone was suffering. He knew that. He wouldn’t prioritize his own pain. He would take care of his pack. That was what he owed to them as their alpha.
He got to his feet. “All right,” he said. “I’ll go down to the river for a few hours.”
“Good man,” Robby said. “Do you want me to go with you?”
“No,” Marco said. “There aren’t enough of us anymore to double up on jobs. Make sure someone has the kids, will you?”
“Of course,” Robby said. He hesitated. “Maybe come back before it’s dark?”
“I’m not going to run off,” Marco said.
“Right,” Robby said, a note of relief in his voice. “I mean...I didn’t think you would. I just...”
“Everyone’s spooked,” Marco said. “I get it. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. And if you need me before then, you can find me at the river.”
He stepped out of the cave. The day was perfect for fishing—warm but not hot, the air very still. Marco was good in the water. It would be easy to bring up an impressive catch today. He jogged down toward the riverside, to his favorite rock, already thinking about how it would feel to return to the cave tonight with his arms full of fish.
It won’t totally make up for the way I’ve been acting lately, but it will definitely be a start.
But when he reached the water, he drew back, concealing himself behind a tree.
There was a woman in the water.
A quick scan of the scene revealed the pile of clothes on the ground, and Marco knew that she was naked. She was submerged up to her neck at the moment, so he couldn’t see anything, but he closed his eyes anyway out of respect as he stepped out from his hiding place.
“Excuse me,” he called.
A splash and a giggle. “Hi,” she said.
“I’m Marco,” he said, not knowing what would be appropriate to say under the circumstances.
“You don’t have to cover your eyes like that, Marco,” she said. “I’m just swimming. And maybe trying to catch a fish.”
He hesitated, then uncovered his eyes. There wasn’t much point to the idea of staggering around blind in the woods. “Do you live around here?” he asked her. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“I live wherever I want,” she said mildly. “You’re with that big pack that lives in the cave about a mile that way, aren’t you?”
“You know about us?”
“You’re not exactly secretive.” She disappeared under the water for a moment, then came up with a large fish in her hands. It struggled, but she tossed it up onto the bank before it could slip free. “Will you catch that for me?”
Marco moved forward and got a hand on the fish, stopping it from flopping back into the water.
“Thanks,” she said.
“I don’t know your name yet,” he pointed out.
“Felicity.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” she said. “Want to split a meal?”
He wasn’t especially hungry, but he didn’t want to reject her kindness. “Sure.”
Felicity disappeared under the water again. When she emerged, she was at the bank, pulling herself up onto the land.
Marco turned away.
“What’s the problem?” Felicity asked. “You’ve never seen a woman before?”
“I’m mated,” Marco said. Even if she’s gone, it’s still true.
“The frizzy-haired blond girl?” Felicity asked.
Marco frowned. She was clearly describing Chrissy. “You really have been watching us.”
She shrugged. “If you were on your own near a pack you didn’t know, you’d watch too. So? Is she the one?”
“No,” Marco said.
“I thought the skinny one was with the blond guy.”
She meant Petra and Cam. “She is,” he said. “They are.”
“Well, your pack doesn’t have any other women,” Felicity said. “Who are you mated to?”
“She’s not exactly...around right now,” Marco said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means it’s not your business and I don’t want to talk about it,” Marco snapped.
“Jesus, okay,” Felicity said. “You don’t need to be like that about it. I was just taking an interest.”
She was up on the bank now, naked and dripping. “Can you just put your clothes on?” Marco asked.
“No,” Felicity said. “I’m not going to get them all wet. I’m going to let the air dry me off first. Is it really that hard for you to be around me?”
Marco sighed. It did make him uncomfortable. Sophie was his mate.
But then, it’s not as if I’m never around Petra and Chrissy when they’re naked. There wasn’t a lot of privacy, living together in a cave the way they did. It had never been awkward because Petra and Chrissy were family. There was no chance he would ever look at them sexually.
Did he see Felicity that way?
The answer came to him as soon as he’d posed himself the question. Of course not. He couldn’t possibly think of anyone sexually besides Sophie. She was the only one who held any appeal for him. He had imprinted on her, and that wasn’t gone just because she was.
So what did it matter, really, what Felicity did or didn’t wear?
“You’re right,” he told her, relaxing and facing her. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have taken it so seriously.”
“No worries.” She was pulling some tinder together for a fire, and as he watched, she leaned over to her clothes, fumbled around for a moment, and pulled a lighter out of a pocket.
Marco stared. He hadn’t seen one of those in a long time. He and his pack started fires the natural way, using friction, and they fought to sustain their fires because it was hard work to get them going again if they went out. But Felicity simply flicked her lighter and the flames began.
She skewered her fish dispassionately on a stick and began to cook it. “So,” she said. “Your mate. You said she’s not around?”
“I also said I didn’t want to talk about it,” Marco said.
“Yeah, okay,” Felicity said dubiously. “Except that you’re the one who brought it up in the first place, and you’re the one who was being completely weird about me taking my clothes off to swim. And that makes me think you actually do want to talk about it.”
Marco hesitated.
“Come on,” she said, her voice softening slightly. “I can be a good friend, you know. Everyone needs someone they can confide in.”
He sighed. She was right. It would be good to talk to someone about what had happened. It would be good to let out the things he had been feeling with someone who hadn’t also been hurt.
“The truth is,” he said, “my mate ran away.”
“Oh, no,” she said sympathetically. “Are you going to go after her?”
“I can’t,” Marco said. “I have the rest of my pack to think of, not to mention my children. I can’t just leave them to fend for themselves. And besides...she made her choice. She wanted to go. I may not like it, but I have to respect that, right?”
“Well, that’s impressive of you,” Felicity said.
“Is it?” Marco asked.
“You’re the alpha, right?”
“How closely have you been watching us, exactly?”
“Closely enough to know who the alpha is,” she said blandly. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” he admitted.
“Well, most of the alphas I’ve met would absolutely chase down their mates if they tried to run off. In fact, a lot of the alphas I’ve met think they have the right to force their mates into submission.”
“I’d never have done that,” Marco said quietly. “She knows I wouldn’t have done that. That isn’t why she left.”
“No, hey, I’m not saying that’s why she left,” Felicity said. “I’
m just saying that you seem like a pretty rare specimen, for an alpha. The fact that you would actually let your mate go like that, that you’d respect her right to make her own choices...I don’t know. That’s pretty special.”
Marco shrugged. He didn’t see what was so special about it. Surely anyone who actually loved their mate would show her that much respect. How could you claim to love someone if you forced her to do something against her will?
“I’ve never met a man like you before,” Felicity said. She scooted a little closer and held out the fish to him. “Take some.”
He reached out and took the meat from her hands, and as he did so, their fingers touched.
She stroked his palm, looking up at him.
Is she making a pass at me?
No. He must be misunderstanding the situation. They were talking about Sophie, about how devoted he was to her. Even in her absence, she completely owned his heart.
Felicity knows that. I’m making myself clear.
But just in case he wasn’t, he pulled his hand away from hers, slowly, hoping he wasn’t offending her.
She gazed at him. “I’m bothering you, aren’t I?” she asked.
“You’re not bothering me,” he said, though it wasn’t exactly true.
“I get it,” she said. She leaned back and braced her palms on the earth, arching her back slightly. “I know what I look like.”
His breath caught. It was impossible not to notice the shape of her body, the curve of her breasts, her erect nipples, still wet from her swim, and her hair dripping down over her shoulders.
It was impossible to ignore.
And in spite of himself, his body was responding.
It was nothing close to the way Sophie made him feel. He knew that he could resist her. But the mere fact that his body was awake to her presence in this way made him feel like a traitor.
He got to his feet. What was he doing here, anyway? Sitting down with this stranger, sharing her food—why hadn’t he just said no and gone home when she had offered her fish?
Because you said you would stay out of the cave.
That’s no excuse. There’s no excuse for this.
“Are you going somewhere?” Felicity asked, frowning.
“I should get back to my family,” Marco said. “They’re on their own without me. It’s not right for me to stay out here alone.”
“You’re not alone,” Felicity said.
That’s the problem. “Maybe I’ll see you another time,” Marco suggested. “Are you planning to stay in the area?”
She grinned and rose to her feet. “I thought I might,” she said. “How would you feel about that?”
He didn’t want to let her see that it would have any impact on him at all. “We’re not protective of our territory,” he said. “As long as you’re not a threat to our pack, you’re free to stay in the area as long as you’d like.”
“A threat?” Felicity laughed, moving close to him once again. “How on earth could I be a threat to a pack as large as yours? There’s nothing I could do to hurt you.”
The words sounded true, and yet something about what she was saying made Marco feel extremely uneasy.
Maybe it was just the fact that she was so close to him, her body still fully exposed, leaning into the space he occupied almost as if she were asking him to touch her.
That can’t be right. She knows about Sophie. I’m misunderstanding the situation. My mind must be completely backward. Sophie leaving has really messed me up if I think random women in the forest are asking me to touch them.
He had to get away from this situation. There was no way it was going to end well.
“It’s all right,” Felicity said quietly. “It’s all right that you want me. Your old mate is gone. You’re allowed to be happy.”
She is trying to tempt me!
Marco turned and ran back toward the cave.
Chapter Eleven
SOPHIE
The barn door opened, and the crack of light that came in burned Sophie’s eyes. She had grown used to the dark in the week she had spent as a captive.
“Breakfast.” The voice belonged to Brett. He put a metal dish on the floor and nudged it toward Sophie with his toe.
She had refused to eat for the first twenty-four hours, but she had quickly given that up. It accomplished nothing, and she had her children to think of. The food they were giving her was terrible stuff, but it would sustain her, and that was what was important.
Today’s bowl looked as if they had simply opened a can of condensed soup and dumped it in without adding water. There was a part of her that felt like gagging at the sight of it. But that part was trumped by the part that was hungry. She picked up the bowl and drank the soup down.
Brett laughed. “Looks unpleasant,” he said nastily. “I bet you’d be happier eating in wolf form.”
She absolutely would have been. As a wolf, her taste buds were much less discerning. Food was food, and she would have been able to focus on her hunger and ignore the fact that what she was eating was disgusting.
But she had been forbidden from shifting, and it was a rule she was too frightened to break. Brett still had a gun. She could see it hanging from the waistband of his pants, where he could access it quickly and easily. All it would take would be a single shot to end her life and the lives of her babies.
The babies were everything to Sophie. They were all she was living for now. They were all she thought about, day in and day out. The only thing that mattered.
She still hoped to get back to her alphas. More than anything, she longed for the chance to break away from her captors and run north, to find Ryker, Marco, and Burton again. To find her family. To reunite with the children she had been torn away from. The fact that she might not get to see them grow up was absolutely excruciating. She could hardly bear to think about it.
Instead, she focused her thoughts on her new litter.
As long as she cooperated, as long as she tried her best to do what her captors wanted, they would allow her babies to be born. And though she didn’t trust them to have her best interests in mind after the babies’ birth, they would need her. She was the one whose body would be able to feed these babies for the first few months of their lives. It wouldn’t be realistic to take them away from her.
So she would have her children. As long as she cooperated.
She would have Ryker’s and Marco’s and Burton’s children.
And meanwhile, somewhere up north, she had to hope—she had to believe—that they had hers.
Someday the pack would reunite. She didn’t know when. Perhaps not for a very long time. But it would happen. They would find each other again. And the new babies would meet their fathers and their older siblings.
She had to believe that. She couldn’t let go of that idea. If she did, there would be nothing at all to live for.
As much as it killed her to do it, that meant going along with every order Brett and Josh gave her.
Every order but one.
She had refused to sell out her alphas by discussing their fighting techniques. It hadn’t been hard to say no to that. In truth, she didn’t know a lot about the subtleties of the ways they fought anyway. She knew they were all strong, but what was the difference? Sophie wasn’t a warrior. She didn’t know.
Josh had been back several times, pressing her to name the alpha she wanted to save, offering again and again to let just one of them live if she gave him the information he wanted. But she wouldn’t respond to that either.
Of course, it would have been impossible to actually choose a favorite alpha. She needed them all. Speaking a name would have been condemning the other two, and Sophie couldn’t do that.
But she also feared what Josh might actually do with the information. If he wanted to leave one alpha alive, he could do that without any input from her. There had to be some reason he kept coming back to her about it, asking her again and again for her opinion.
He would use her answer to di
vide the pack. It was the only thing she could think of. He would tell her alphas what she had said in an attempt to get them to turn on one another.
She wasn’t going to have anything to do with that. Her only hope was that her alphas were sticking together in her absence. She knew that, if they didn’t, the pack would go to pieces.
She finished her soup and shoved the bowl back toward Brett. Though she’d been released from the chair she had been tied to several days ago, she still had no interest in approaching him. Not while his hand was so close to that gun. If he decided she was a risk to him, Brett was the kind of person who would definitely shoot first and ask questions later.
“What do you say?” Brett taunted her.
“Thank you.” She didn’t need to pick a fight with him, and it rankled her less than he probably thought it would to utter words of thanks. They both knew she didn’t mean it, so what difference did saying it make?
“Good dog,” Brett sneered. He picked up the bowl and turned away. “See you at supper time,” he called over his shoulder as he walked out, slamming the door behind him.
The fact that they only fed her twice a day had been an adjustment. Living up north, Sophie had gotten used to several small meals throughout the day and snacks of nuts and berries whenever she wanted them. She sucked her teeth. The taste of the soup had been disgusting, but now that it was gone, she savored the bits that remained in her mouth. Gross food was always better than no food at all.
She retreated to the back of the barn. She had found a small pile of straw there on her second day of captivity and had made it into a serviceable bed. It was scratchy and far from comfortable, but it beat the hell out of sleeping on the concrete.
It would have been better to shift and sleep as a wolf, of course—she would have been able to arrange her body into a comfortable position that didn’t involve shoulder blades and hipbones pressing into cement, and her coat would have kept her warm—but even when no one else was around, she was afraid to violate the order they had given her not to shift. If someone came through the door and saw a wolf...