What the heck? Ajax had seemed so into her yesterday. What could possibly have gone wrong?
She waved frantically at Mackenzie, but Mackenzie was lost in her own thoughts, staring into space.
With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the ceremony. She’d go find Mackenzie afterwards.
The wolves melted into human form. Their fur disappeared, their snouts sank back into their faces, and their pointy ears shrank and rounded. Their tails vanished, and then they were naked men crouched down on the ground. They stood up, completely un-self conscious about their nakedness.
The humans behind them marched up and solemnly draped the red robes over their naked bodies.
One of the werewolves grabbed the microphone. A human in a blue ceremonial robe walked up to stand beside him.
“Greetings, everyone, I am Jeremiah Kramer, Lupine Master of Ceremonies at the 237th Alpha Claiming Festival,” the werewolf intoned. “I wish you all a successful festival, and the greatest of luck to all Alpha Pairs in finding their Forever Mate!”
The crowd cheered loudly.
He unrolled a long scroll. “The Alpha Claiming Festival is an ancient, time honored tradition, which benefits all races.”
The human unrolled his own scroll and read from it. “I am Thomas Marsh, Human Master of Ceremonies at the 237th Alpha Claiming Festival. Humans benefit from the protection of our Werewolf Brethren, who keep us safe from attack so we can live in peace and prosperity.”
The crowd cheered again.
The werewolf read from his scroll. “Werewolves would die out if it were not for humans. Our harmonious intermingling ensures the survival of our species.”
The crowd broke into loud howls, cheers, and wolf whistles.
“They need a scroll for that?” Amelia whispered. “I’m pretty sure that would take like five seconds to memorize.”
“Hush up, sexy wench. It’s tradition,” Holt whispered back.
“You hush up, sexy wolf. I can bitch about tradition if tradition means I don’t get my morning shower.” She returned to her videotaping.
“She’s got a mouth on her,” Clayton smirked. “We’ll have to find a really sexy way to punish her for it.”
She felt a delicious rush of heat at the thought of that, but it was instantly followed by a dull sense of sorrow. She’d just met the two of them, and already she knew that leaving them was going to be horrible. If only she could stay…but the future of her family depended on her return, and even if it didn’t, the werewolves of this world had forbidden anyone from coming over, and sooner or later, she’d be found out.
The ceremony went on for several more minutes of scroll reading, punctuated by loud cheers from the audience.
Humans and werewolves and Mages all lived in harmony, the Alpha Claiming Festival ensured the survival of all races, blah blah…the professor side of her brain was fascinated, but the human side of her brain was struggling to stay awake on two hours of sleep and not enough coffee.
As soon as the ceremony was over, she said to Clayton “I need to go find Mackenzie. I’ll meet you back at the Love Shack in an hour.”
Before he could protest, she dove through the crowd and made her way through to Mackenzie, who was strolling aimlessly, with a miserable expression on her face.
Chapter Eight
“Mackenzie, wait up!”
Mackenzie turned to look at her, and let out a long, heavy sigh. “Oh. Hey.” She had circles under her eyes and her hair was sleep rumpled, but she didn’t look as if she’d had a delightful night of sex.
“What the heck happened? Everything was going so well yesterday!”
“I know, that’s what I thought too.”
Mackenzie, shoulders slumped, let Amelia lead her out of the crowd to a quiet spot under a shady oak tree, and they sat down on a huge gnarled root.
“Tell me what happened,” Amelia insisted.
Mackenzie blinked back tears. “I honestly don’t know. Ajax and I went out in the woods together yesterday afternoon, and we, uh…it was amazing. I thought it was amazing. Apparently he didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Afterwards, we went to a little restaurant called Dan’s Taco’s. It’s on the festival grounds. Anyway, I was sitting there waiting for him to come back with my food. Everything felt so totally, perfectly right with him. Like I was a puzzle piece that had finally found my puzzle, and I fit in perfectly.”
Amelia could certainly understand that sentiment. It described to a T the way she felt being with Clayton and Holt.
“I was sure he was going to ask me to meet his brother next. I was sitting there waiting, and waiting…and he never came back.”
Amelia let out a squawk of outrage. “What?”
“Even worse. Some guy came over with a tray of food and said that Ajax had been called away on an emergency, and he wouldn’t be able to talk to me again. Right after that, this girl came over with a huge smirk on her face and told me that she and him were getting together, and he’d already invited her to meet his brother. She said she hoped I’d enjoyed being his last meaningless fling, and then she turned around and walked off.”
“And you didn’t punch her face in?” Amelia was boiling over with fury.
“I should have, now that I think about it. Just because of that mean look on her face. I was too busy trying to remember how to breathe.”
“Is this…typical behavior at the Claiming Festival?”
“No!” Mackenzie let out a long, shuddering breath. “Not at all. An Alpha is never supposed to lie or lead a woman on. If he’s only looking for a fling, he’s supposed to say that up front. And they always do. They have no reason to lie to a woman, they’ve got girls everywhere who are eager to jump into bed with them. Alphas are generally true gentlemen. They’re expected to lead by example, and being honest is a big part of that. Lying is really frowned on with werewolves. It shows weakness.”
Amelia stifled a groan. Great. Her whole presence here was one big lie. Clayton and Holt would absolutely hate her if they knew the truth.
She couldn’t let this go on any longer. She needed to go home.
“Something must have happened,” she suggested to Mackenzie. “He seemed fine when he went to get you food, and then he disappeared? He never came and told you personally. There must be a reason for that. He didn’t strike me as the cowardly type.”
Mackenzie shrugged unhappily. “Me either. I don’t know. Maybe there was some kind of alliance that I don’t know about. Sometimes a pack that wants to ally for political reasons, or business reasons, makes an arrangement with a wealthy or powerful human family. An arranged marriage. They’re not the happiest of marriages, but they’re done for the good of the pack.”
“Ugh. Sounds awful. But it still wouldn’t excuse him leading you on.”
“No, it wouldn’t. Maybe it was just me. Maybe I read too much into…everything.” She let out a long, heavy sigh. “It’s too bad it’s too early to start drinking. Although I’m tempted.”
“I swear to God, if I see him…”Amelia was furious on Mackenzie’s behalf. “Do you still have to stay here? Are you allowed to go home early?”
“Of course not. The rules very specifically say that. However, I can stay in the women’s quarters and sulk for the rest of the festival, which is what I plan to do.”
“I’ll come visit you,” Amelia promised. “You want me to come with you now?”
“No, but thank you. Just being able to talk it out made me feel better. Thanks for being there for me.”
“Absolutely. And seriously, if I see Ajax, I’m going to give him what-for. What a douche.”
Mackenzie managed a smile. She glanced at the love bites on Amelia’s arm, and said “Congratulations, by the way, I didn’t mean to be so wrapped up in myself.” She got up and headed off to the women’s quarters.
Congratulations?
What exactly did those love bites mean? Amelia wondered uneasily.
Amelia heade
d over to the Love Shack. She kept snapping pictures on the way; she desperately needed to get her mind back on her mission here. She had a great memory, she’d be able to write an entire research paper just on what she’d seen already, but that was no excuse for slacking off.
She needed to make some kind of excuse to Clayton and Holt, and then sneak off. She really should leave without even meeting them, but somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to do that. She just wanted to see them one more time, to fix them in her memory forever.
With an aching heart, she forced herself to walk faster. No sense in delaying the inevitable.
At the Love Shack, she found Clayton and Holt already waiting for her. They’d both been cheerful earlier; now they looked annoyed and exasperated.
“There you are! We have to go,” Clayton said to her. At her startled look, he added “All of us. We need to settle a family business dispute.”
“You want me to go with you? Are we even allowed to leave?”
“For family emergencies, yes. And of course we want you to go with us. I see how all these wolves are looking at you.” He looked around and let out a defensive growl, and a couple of wolves who’d been looking at her quickly glanced away.
“See those bites?” he called out, to nobody in particular. “Claimed! Got it?”
“I am capable of saying no, by the way,” she said, not sure if she should be flattered or insulted by his jealousy.
“Of course you are. We just don’t want all these guys hitting on you. You’re the prettiest girl at the festival, and not all wolves know how to respect boundaries,” Holt said soothingly, sliding his arm around her waist. She couldn’t help herself; she leaned into him. She loved pressing up against his hard, muscular body.
Then it hit her sleep-fogged brain.
Claimed.
They owned her. They’d claimed her. She was theirs.
She really, really needed to get the hell out of here.
“I should just stay here and wait for you,” she said. That would give her the perfect opportunity to sneak home. Her heart squeezed at the thought. Being with them felt so right, so fun, so natural – but she had no choice, and she’d be better off cutting this off now rather than dragging it out.
“Absolutely not. No way. We just found you. We’re not leaving you behind.”
“I’m pretty tired,” she protested, but Clayton grabbed her hand and began leading her out of the bar. “I could go back to your cabin and crash until you get back.”
“You can sleep on the way,” Clayton suggested. “It’s a three-hour drive. And it’s our cabin, as in, all of us.”
“I really want you to meet our family. They’re going to love you,” Holt said, so eagerly that she couldn’t bear to say no to him, and she couldn’t think of a single way to get out of this. Also, Clayton’s grip on her wrist was like iron and before she knew it, she was in the parking lot, climbing into the back seat of their pickup truck, with Holt sliding in next to her.
“You can use me as your pillow,” Holt said happily.
“Hey! I get to be the pillow on the way back,” Clayton called out, as he pulled out of the parking lot.
Chapter Nine
When they pulled out of the parking lot, they had to answer to the men guarding the gate at the front entrance to the festival. They had to state why they were leaving, give the name of their pack, and promise to come back that evening before dark.
Once they pulled out, she settled in against Holt, but then sat back up. Mackenzie’s situation was still bugging her.
“Hey, I have a question. Mackenzie got together with Ajax yesterday, and it seemed like everything was going great. When I saw the two of them, it seemed like he couldn’t get enough of her,” Amelia said. “Then they got together in the woods, and afterwards he took her to a restaurant, and then he literally ditched her there. And then, some girl came over and claimed that, basically, Ajax and his brother were going to settle down with her and Mackenzie had just been a fling. So here’s my question. Why would an Alpha do that?”
“I have no idea,” Holt said. “I would have to say that the only reason he’d do that is if he never intended for them to get serious. Clayton and I have both had our fair share of brief encounters here over the years.”
“Did you lead the girls on to think that you wanted anything more?” she asked.
“Good God, no.” Clayton’s voice held genuine horror at the thought, and she actually could feel his shudder of horror running right through her body. It was like she was inside his head. She completely, totally believed him, because she really felt as if she could feel what he was feeling.
“Never,” Holt echoed fervently.
“I always let the women know that I wasn’t looking for anything serious,” Clayton said. “I mean, I wasn’t a dick about it, but I would tell them that I was just here to have fun, and I completely understood if that wasn’t what they were looking for. If they wanted something more serious, they’d bow out and go elsewhere.”
“I swear to God he really seemed into her. Why would he act like he wanted more and then change his mind?” She turned to Holt questioningly.
“It’s possible that she just thought that he wanted more,” Holt said. “I mean, sometimes women want to be with an Alpha pair so badly that they’ll just make stuff up. That blonde woman you saw Clayton with, she was one of those.”
“Hey,” Amelia said indignantly, pulling away from Holt. “Don’t compare Mackenzie to that woman. From what I overheard, she was deliberately trying to manipulate you guys. And Mackenzie didn’t make anything up. I’m telling you, I saw it too. Ajax acted exactly like you guys acted when you first met me. He only had eyes for her. He was jealous of her paying attention to anyone else.”
“That is odd,” Holt admitted. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe they got together and the chemistry wasn’t what he had expected, or something.”
“Hmph.” Amelia was still annoyed. “I will use my purse for a pillow, thank you.” She leaned her purse against the window, propped her head on it, and was asleep within minutes.
The next thing she knew, Holt was shaking her awake.
She yawned and stretched and looked around as Clayton pulled to a stop. They were at the end of a dirt road, in an area with broad pastures.
“Red River Pack. Bunch of assholes,” Clayton growled. “Their property borders our property, and the property of our Wards.”
There were two groups of men standing and yelling at each other. As she climbed out of the truck, she saw that they were standing near a fence which had been knocked down. One of the groups of men was standing on one side, and one group was on the side closer to Clayton and Holt. A chubby, round-faced woman was standing with the closer group.
As she followed Clayton and Holt, she saw that in both groups there were men wearing the leather necklaces, and also men with no necklaces. Humans.
She realized that all of the wolves in Clayton and Holt’s group had a necklace with a similar pattern of animal teeth and beads. The wolves in the other group, the Red River Pack, had their own special necklace design.
Clayton and Holt walked up to one of the humans. “Ben. Where are our dads?” Clayton asked irritably. “Why aren’t they here to deal with this?”
“There was a big fire at the Henderson’s family barn, and they had to go deal with that,” Ben said. “Then we came up here to find our fence was knocked down and half our herd wandered onto their land.” He was a man in his fifties with brown hair shot through with gray, and a drooping handlebar mustache. He had “cowboy” written all over him.
“That’s awfully interesting timing.” Clayton shot a look at the men on the other side of the fence.
“Your men trespassed on our Ward’s property. I’m within my rights to kill them,” the apparent leader of the wolves snapped. He was a tall man with a hawkish face and stringy black hair. He spoke with an aggressive tone, face thrust forward, eyes glowing with anger. Amelia realized that th
ere was another wolf standing in their group who looked exactly like him. Twin Alphas. They were in their thirties at least; probably already mated, which meant that they wouldn’t have to be at the Claiming Festival.
Wards must be what the werewolves called humans.
“Well, since you pulled up all our fenceposts so you could lead our cattle on to your property, it’s a little hard to tell where the property lines are right now,” Ben snarled.
The hawk-faced man lunged forward, and Clayton and Holt leaped in his way and blocked him. Their faces went hairy and their jaws thrust out. They growled and snapped, and the man’s face also lengthened. His twin ran over to join him, and both of them went through that rippling thing where their faces turned halfway hairy.
After a minute of snarling and growling, the two men took a step back, hands balled into fists. Amelia realized she’d been holding her breath, and let it out to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Timmons, Karl, if you step foot on our property again I’ll rip out your throat so it doesn’t heal up.” Clayton’s tone was harsh and menacing.
One of the wolves suddenly took a swing at Clayton, and missed. Holt lashed out so fast that Amelia literally couldn’t see his hand move, nothing but a blur of motion, and the werewolf’s nose exploded in a spray of blood. He staggered back and as Amelia stared, his nose reset itself and the blood quickly stopped flowing. So, apparently werewolves healed super fast.
Holt stood with his his fists still raised, glowering.
“Do that again,” Clayton begged. “We just got pulled out of the Claiming Festival, and I’m itching for a fight.
“Give us back our cattle, you bunch of thieves!” Ben shouted.
“Finders, keepers,” one of the men sneered. “Losers, well, that pretty much describes you guys.”
“Hey, hot stuff, want to be claimed by a real wolf?” one of the hawk faced guys said, openly leering at Amelia.
That did it. Clayton melted into wolf form, and lunged for the man’s throat. The man shifted back, snarling at Clayton. Holt shifted, and suddenly there were a dozen wolves on each side, circling and snapping at each other. The men were shouting and gesturing, and it was about to turn into an all out brawl.
Twin Alphas: Claimed (A BBW Werewolf Romance) Page 6