by T. S. Ryder
Across the room, she could hear the two wolves snarling and yipping as they bit and clawed at each other. Flinching at the sound of teeth sinking into flesh, she sank down behind the counter with a shudder, snagging onto a dish towel to bind the wound on her foot. Nate would be fine. There was no way he would lose.
The fight continued for just a few minutes longer, and with a final shriek and a horrible crunch the world went silent.
Trembling, Clara felt her breath hitch and she grabbed Jeremy’s discarded knife as a form moved around the counter. Brandishing it at her potential attacker, she let out a relieved noise when Nate held up his hands.
“Woah! Hey, it’s ok! It’s me,” Nate panted, wiping the blood on his face away and waiting until she let the knife clatter to the ground before pulling her into his arms. “Are you ok?” he rasped, pressing his face to her shoulder and allowing her to crumble into his arms.
“He was going to kill me!” she croaked, shock rolling through her body while his powerful form cradled her to his chest gently. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, Nate nodded, scooping her up into his arms with a shudder.
“I know he was. I’m so sorry, Clara,” he whimpered, carrying her into the bedroom and quickly swaddling her in a blanket. “I’m taking you to the hospital. I’ll call someone to take care of that bastard.” He closed his eyes, a shudder rolling through his form. “I thought he was my best friend, and then I saw him standing over you like that. I never thought he would do something like that to anybody,” he croaked, as he held her shaking form to his chest.
“You saved me,” she whispered against his chest, tears staining his shirt as his grip tightened around her shaking form.
“Course I did, you’re my everything,” he whispered against her shoulder, trotting down the stairs towards his car. Melting against his chest, Clara allowed herself to be enveloped in his comforting embrace. She didn’t think she could ever be more in love with a person than she was in that moment.
Chapter Seven
Recovering for the next few weeks left Clara with a lot to think about. Mostly, her relationship with Nathaniel, and the growing love she had for the life growing inside of her. The attack had left their lives in a sort of chaotic jumble. Their business life was put on hold in favor of pacifying the police, the media and their coworkers with an explanation of what had happened and how Jeremy had wound up dead on the floor of Nathaniel’s apartment.
Fortunately, the majority of the scandal had wound up pushed under the rug in favor of an investigation into Jeremy’s motives. The police settled on some sort of crime of passion and determined that Jeremy was simply jealous of the relationship that Clara and Nate had. Clara honestly didn’t care what they thought. She just wanted things to go back to normal.
By the time that the investigation was over and done with, Clara had just reached her nine-month mark. Just before their child entered the world, Clara decided to resign from her position within the company.
Of course, she didn’t have any intention of stopping her career forever. She had every intention of returning back to the hustle of corporate life but decided she would rather spend the first year or two of their child’s life at home. Nate had been reluctant to let her leave the business for so long but agreed that if he couldn’t be at home with the baby, at least she could be.
“Riley, don’t put that in your mouth, hun,” Clara scolded, scooping her daughter off the ground with a frown when the baby snagged onto a stick she found on the grass of their back yard. At only six months old, the child was already completely mobile. Her father’s genes allowed her to progress far more quickly than an average child.
This, of course, left Clara needing to give the child far more attention than the average baby required. She didn’t mind, of course. The little growls and squeaks that the child let out were endearing, and she couldn’t think of a single day that she didn’t wake up happy to hold her little girl in her arms.
“How are my girls this morning?” Nate grinned, wrapping his arms around his lover’s waist and kissing their daughter’s face with a chuckle while she squealed and hid against her mother’s shoulder.
“Just fine. We need to get her something a little sturdier than the baby teething rings, though. She keeps destroying them.” Clara chuckled as Riley chewed on her own fist with little razor-like teeth. “She takes more after you, I think.” Nate laughed at this, shaking his head.
“Wait until she starts randomly changing shape,” he grinned, winking at his flustered wife with a laugh. “Nonsense, she’s got your eyes, your hair. She is very much your little girl,” he insisted, kissing Clara’s cheek and scooping his daughter into his arms. “How bout we start lunch, huh?” he asked Riley, who let out a babble of excitement and clung onto her father’s fingers.
Smiling, Clara watched as her lover moved inside, her heart fluttering softly in her chest. She had never thought she’d be so happy living a life like this. She had insisted that she would never get married, let alone have kids, and yet there she was, watching her husband and daughter dance in the kitchen with a warm feeling in her chest.
Of course, her life was still far from traditional, she mused, laughing as her husband let out a squeak of pain when the child sank her newly grown teeth into his finger. Shaking her head, she moved inside. It looked like her husband needed her to rescue him, and she was more than happy to do so.
On her arm, she could feel the mark that combined her and her mate start to flood with warmth, her eyes sparkling as she moved up to her mate and scooped her child into her arms. Her world was a bit strange, but to her, it was perfect.
*****
THE END
Paranormal Menage Romance: Her Two Alphas
Description
A curvy virgin given away by her father PLUS two Alphas ready to share a mate PLUS a wolf looking to sacrifice for love.
Curvy Elena Aldana is about to be mated to not just one, but two Alphas. Except she doesn’t know about it. Her father has made the deal. She doesn’t want to. Until she sees them – tall, broad-shouldered, and muscled. Hmm, her virgin lady parts might like this after all.
Lukas and Will are ready to share a mate, both for their own reasons. Lukas is in massive debt and, though not his fault, he needs wealthy Will’s help. And Will? He gets what he wants, and that’s a family.
But bad things are afoot. A rare astrological event has brought forward the soul of the Geisterwolf, an ancient Alpha who will sacrifice a living Alpha's mate to bring his own lost love back. And this time he's chosen Elena.
If Will and Lukas can't bind together to fight for her, Elena will be dead within a month…
They can’t fail.
Chapter One – Will
I could do with a smoke.
Will Evans didn't bother to hide how bored he was. He leaned his chair onto the back two legs as he loudly yawned. It wasn't like this meeting of the Alphas actually included him in any capacity.
Most of the other Alphas were old, white-haired and stuck in their ways. His opinions were about as welcome as yellow snow. They saw him as an entitled upstart. And maybe he was, but he was an Alpha just like them. Why shouldn’t he speak his mind? He supposed that he should be grateful to be even invited. Only the Alphas of the most powerful packs were present.
They must want money from him. His pack wasn't especially large, or especially powerful. But he was loaded. Oil had been discovered on his packlands just before his parents both died, and the wells were putting out over a thousand dollars a day. And suddenly everybody wanted a piece of him.
"As we know, Venus, Earth and Mars are coming into alignment," the Wolf that had organized the meeting, Xavier Knight, joint Alpha of the Rocky Ridge and Lakeland packs, stood at the front of the table, looking grave. "Most of you know what this means. For those who don't, it means that the Geisterwolf will be returning."
Will couldn’t help himself. He let out a loud snort. Was this meeting called to talk about a sil
ly superstition? As if a planetary alignment would 'call forth' some supernatural creature from beyond the grave. This was a waste of time.
"The Geisterwolf," Xavier continued, ignoring Will, "will select one of our mates for its sacrifice, and all of us must stand together to protect her. As soon as the planets are aligned, the Geisterwolf will appear and attempt to take an Alpha's mate to bring back his own lost mate. My partner, Timothy, has been researching how to defeat the creature once it arrives. We have certain defense measures that we can put into place. If you suspect that he is after your mate—"
"Can we get to the point where any of this has to do with me?" Will interrupted. "All this mysterious, mystical, long-dead ghost Alpha coming back to steal another Alpha's mate is all well and good, but I don't have a mate. So why am I really, here, Xavier? What do you guys need my money for? Renovating your old farmhouse? Flying everybody to Russia?"
A few of the older Alphas frowned at him, and a couple of them muttered under their breaths. But the fact that none of them actually spoke against him only proved his point. They were after something, and it was more than likely dollar signs.
Will stared down Xavier. He never had much to do with the other Alpha, despite them being of comparable age. Probably because his parents never really let him socialize with people outside of their own pack. Not that Will liked hearing about how his father should have mated his mother over and over again.
"You're not the only one here who doesn't have a mate," Xavier said, his expression and voice completely calm. "I believe that it is only through unity that we can resist this threat."
"Doesn't have a mate." One of the older Alphas, a man named George, snorted. He stood and pointed an accusing finger at Will. "I know for a fact that you have not one but two women that you're sleeping with. If you were any sort of decent character, you'd choose one and take her as your mate instead of continuing on with your disgraceful habits."
Will rolled his eyes at that. As expected, the fact he broke the Alpha mold was the point of attack against him. He pushed his chair back a little more, flexing his muscles so the tattoos he had inked over his biceps rippled. "So it's okay for Alphas like Xavier and Timothy to both share a mate, but not for two females to share me?"
"The difference, I think, is that we are actually mates. From appearances, it looks like you have no intention of taking a mate." Xavier remained utterly calm, his expression neutral, no judgment in his voice.
Will hated that about him, how nothing seemed to ruffle his feathers. "So you're mated to Timothy, too?"
"Yes. We were paired as mates by our parents before we were born."
"Maybe the Geisterwolf will go after one of you for his new mate then," Will snapped. He let the chair drop back to all fours with a thud, then stood. He wasn't a piggy bank they could crack open whenever they wanted some extra cash. "Have fun swapping your wives' tales."
Will stomped out of the room. They were all a bunch of weak-willed, simple-minded idiots. Sooner or later it would have ended up that they wanted money from him, and he wasn't about to share his pack's wealth with those who never so much as acted like they cared about him or his pack before. Not one of these Alphas had come to his parents' funeral, and not one of them had ever offered advice on what it was like to be an Alpha.
They were too busy telling him what a screw up he was to tell him anything useful.
Once he was outside, Will ruffled through his pockets, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He leaned against the wall as he took his first drag, holding it in his lungs for a moment before blowing it out in a cloud of smoke. His smoking was yet another reason they hated him. He wasn't perfect and didn't pretend he was, so he obviously wasn't worthy of his position as Alpha. It was only when he sucked in a second breath that he realized that he wasn't alone in leaving the meeting.
"What do you want?" he snapped at the Alpha had followed him. Luke something or other. With a family scandal that was worse than Will's, it surprised Will that he didn't take more flak from the older Alphas.
At least I'm open about having two females, and I'm not unfaithful to my mate.
"I'm Lukas Shultz, Alpha of the Cedar Grove pack."
Will took another drag, eyeing Lukas. He was about the same age as Will, although he had been Alpha for a shorter period of time. Cedar Grove was one of the largest packs around, and notoriously also one of the most broke ones. Yet another Alpha wanting money.
"Want a loan, then? Or maybe a mate from one of the members of my pack so you can try to get some free cash from us?"
Lukas narrowed his eyes. "All that money shouldn't go to an arrogant son of a—"
He cut himself off. Will was used enough to such insults that he only laughed at it. What did he care about this tiny little Alpha and his tiny little problems?
Lukas inhaled deeply, clearly fighting to calm himself. "My proposal is far different. Everybody knows that the River Basin pack are few in number, due to the massive land restrictions that you face. You lose members every year because there isn't room for them. My packlands are extensive, and I have a strong place in the council of Alphas, at least as far as numbers go."
"So you want me to buy land from you?"
"No. I suggest that we merge our packs, the way the Rocky Ridge and Lakeland packs did with Xavier and Timothy."
Will dropped his cigarette and crushed it beneath his foot. "Oh, so you're proposing to me?"
Lukas glowered at him, then pulled a photograph from his pocket. He held it out for Will to see. The Alpha's brows rose. The picture was of a beautiful woman. Built thick and strong, the way he liked them, with long, glossy black hair, pale eyes and skin the color of rich prairie earth. She wore a simple flower dress in the photo, but Will grinned as he imagined her in stocking and garters–and nothing else.
"This is Elena Aldana. She and I were arranged to be mates when we were babies. She's human, but as you can see she's very strong."
Will took the picture from him. Human. He had always thought Alphas that took humans as mates were ridiculous, as there was no human, no matter how well-versed in the ways of Wolves, that could really understand what it was like to be a Wolf. But if this Elena had been promised as a mate to Lukas when they were babies, she had to have been raised as part of the pack, right?
"So, what? You want to give me your mate in exchange for our packs being merged? Do you expect me to give you one of my women in exchange?"
"Are you being an idiot on purpose, or is it just your default setting?"
Will flicked the picture back at him. "Well, you're not proposing, so what is it? Come on, boy, speak clearly."
He grinned with amusement when a red flush rose up Lukas' cheeks, his hands clenching at his sides. "How can I be clearer? I said that I was suggesting a relationship like that of Xavier and Timothy. They may technically be mates, but there's nothing really between them. It's more that they're mated to the same woman. If we both mated with Elena, our packs would be merged. It would be beneficial to the both of us."
Will fumbled in his pocket for a second cigarette. "So you want to share a mate? Are you going to be the one to stay home and watch after the babies while I take care of pack business?"
Lukas ground his teeth and glowered at him. "You would not even have to give up your side females. Provided that they were fine with the fact that any children they had by you wouldn't ever be your replacement in the pack."
That wouldn’t work. If he was going to have a mate, he would have to break it off with Catherine and Harriet. He wasn't going to be unfaithful to his mate. Was he willing to give them up, though?
Yes. They were both beautiful girls, but neither of them could give him certain things–such as an heir.
"Well. Maybe I'd be willing to give it a try. On one condition."
"Only one?"
Will shrugged. "It's a pretty big one. If we're going to share Elena as a mate, she has my baby first. And that baby inherits the leadership of both packs. Agreed? Or
do you have to discuss it with her first?"
"I don't need to discuss anything with her, I am the Alpha of my pack." Lukas took a deep breath. "If that's what it takes, then yes. We are in agreement."
He stuck out his hand. Will grinned as he shook it. Now all he had to do was meet this delectable Elena Aldana.
Chapter Two – Elena
The jolt of the gun vibrated up Elena's arm, making her grin. She always loved this sensation, putting in the last nail of her project. She stepped back to admire her work, powering off the nail gun she had been using. The crown molding was perfect. Now all she had to do was fill in the nail holes and paint the whole thing. Some of the guys on the team didn't want to work with a woman when they first joined up, but she had been working construction since she was twelve years old and she knew her stuff better than most of them.
The foreman stepped into the room. "Aldana, the boss wants to see you."
Elena scowled. Just when she was getting into her groove. She set her equipment to one side. For years she'd had problems with the guys stealing her stuff since she always used the high-end products that they were too cheap to buy, but getting everything in pink had solved that problem. Unconventional, but effective.
Not that Elena didn't like pink. In fact, it was her favorite color. She'd have painted her truck a sparkly pink if her father had let her.
"It's a work truck," he had told her, though she had paid for it with her own money and was reimbursed only half her gas costs. "You're not during around to my sites in a pink truck. I have a reputation."
It made her blood boil, but when you worked for your father, sometimes you just had to play by his rules. The fact was that he wasn't as young as he used to be, and he needed her to help keep the business running.