by J. L. Wilder
It felt terrible to be talked about like this, as if she was just an object whose only reason for existing was to procreate. A part of Sophie wanted to protest, to cry out that it hadn’t been anything like what the bears were describing. She hadn’t just gotten herself knocked up. Her babies had been created out of love.
But she remained silent. She didn’t want to share that with them. They had no right to it. It belonged to her, and to her alphas.
“What are we going to do about it, Pete?” Dina asked. “If she’s really pregnant, that means she’ll be giving birth to a bunch of baby wolves. We don’t want that.”
Pete shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a pet dog or two. They could do my hunting for me.” He grinned, showing his teeth. “This group will have disbanded by then, and I don’t love the idea of going back to doing all my work for myself. Maybe I’ll take a couple of the pups with me when I go and train them up.”
Fury surged through Sophie. She let out a cry and lunged at Pete, the wolf within her rising up. She wanted to scratch his eyes out. She wanted to claw his face off for suggesting what he just said.
But the chains brought her up short, the metal biting into her wrists and jerking her back into her human self. It was impossible to shift while she was bound like this. She couldn’t let go of the pain that wracked her body every time she tried to move. It was like another tether, tying her to her human body, holding her inner wolf at bay.
Pete chuckled. “Down, girl,” he said. “Heel.”
“I’m going to kill you,” Sophie said. “I’m going to murder you in your sleep.”
He shook his head and turned away. “She’s feisty,” he said to Dina. “I kind of like it.”
“Oh, keep your hands off her, you old pervert,” Dina said. “You know what she is. She’s a used-up omega wolf. What on earth could you possibly want with something like that?” She wrapped her arms around Pete’s waist.
He disentangled himself from her grip. “Could be interesting, that’s all,” he said. “A little variety. And you know I like them wild.”
“Fucking hell,” Dina said. “Let’s go get a drink. I don’t want to hang around the wolf girl any more tonight.”
Pete nodded and slung an arm around Dina’s shoulders. “Sounds good to me,” he said. “Don’t worry. She’s not going to give us any trouble.”
“And you’re sure those pups aren’t going to be a problem?”
“I mean, we have some time to think about it,” he pointed out. “If we decide it’s not a good idea to keep them, we can take care of them in a few days.”
“Come near me,” Sophie growled, “and I’ll start biting things off.”
Pete chuckled. “You’re right,” he said to Dina. “Let’s get a drink.” The two of them walked off, not sparing a glance back to see whether or not Sophie was watching them go.
Once they had left her, all the anger and the energy drained from her body. She fell to her knees, then curled up on her side, drawing her legs up close to her chest. Tears streamed down her face, and she had to breathe deeply to keep herself from vomiting.
I will never let them take my babies. I’ll never let them make pets of my children.
But how was she going to stop them?
The only way she could think of to keep her babies out of the bears’ hands was to end her own pregnancy somehow. But that was unthinkable. Monstrous. These were the babies she had made with her alphas, and she would sooner cut her own arm off than do anything to harm them.
But what options did that leave her?
What was she going to do?
She lay in the dirt, finally giving in to the horror of her situation, and let herself cry for a good long time.
No one is coming to save me.
I’m not going to be able to break free of these bindings.
This is my life now. I belong to the bears.
Perhaps she should consider herself lucky that she had had any time at all with her alphas. After all, it could have happened differently. Dina had found her before she had found Ryker. Dina could have taken her hostage then and there. And if that had happened, there would have been no love. No pack. No family. No babies.
Only pain.
I’m glad it happened, she thought fiercely. I’m glad I knew my alphas. I’m glad I had the chance to belong to them, even if it was only for a short while.
Whatever happened now, she would try to face it bravely. She would try to be someone that Ryker, Marco, and Burton could be proud of. It was the least she could do now that she had reached the end of the line.
She closed her eyes.
And then opened them with a start.
She couldn’t possibly have heard what she had thought she’d heard.
She sat up slowly, listening carefully, her heart pounding.
Someone out there in the darkness had whispered her name.
Chapter Eighteen
BURTON
The sight of Sophie tied to a tree was enough to send Burton’s blood roaring through his body.
Marco pressed a shoulder into his, and Burton knew his packmate was trying to tell him to wait.
But she had been crying. How could he wait? He was going in, and he was going in now.
He pushed past Marco, ignored Ryker’s teeth snapping at his heel, and lunged for the bears.
He had the element of surprise on his side. They had been sitting around their fire, drinking beer and telling ribald jokes, and the last thing any of them had expected was to see a wolf come flying out of the woods with claws and teeth out. It was clear that they weren’t ready for him, that they didn’t know what to make of him.
Some of them fell backward onto the ground. Burton was aware of spilled drinks, of a howl from one member of the group as he stumbled into the fire. But all of it was background noise. He could only focus on what was important.
The biggest of them.
If this group of bears had an alpha, this man would be him. He didn’t seem to command the others, to rally them around him, and Burton didn’t know whether he was dealing with a leader or just a meathead. But right now, it didn’t matter. Whoever and whatever this man was, he was the biggest threat to Sophie. He was the biggest obstacle to their getting her back.
Burton was vaguely aware of Ryker and Marco to the left and right of him, choosing targets of their own, but he couldn’t focus on their fights. It took all his attention to keep track of the man in front of him. He couldn’t let the bear gain the advantage. Not even for a moment.
Then, with a roar that seemed to shake the trees, the man shifted.
For a moment, shock and fear got the better of Burton. A giant bear erupted before him, filling his vision. It was at least twice his own size, and Burton knew that the fight was as good as lost. Taking this bear on by himself, there was no way he could win. He didn’t have a chance in hell.
“Burton!”
That was Sophie’s voice.
She was afraid too, he realized, for herself and for him. She was depending on him, and he couldn’t let her down.
He faced forward and dug in, ready for battle.
The bear lunged, its massive paws coming together in a clapping motion that made every instinct in Burton’s body scream at him to skitter backward. He lunged forward instead, meeting the bear head-on and locking his teeth around its throat.
The bear let out a cry and shook itself, trying to loosen Burton’s grip. Burton hung on, even as blood flowed over his muzzle.
Claws dug into his back. The bear was trying to pull him loose.
He bit down harder.
This was his only chance. To take down something so much bigger and stronger than himself—the only way to do it would be an attack like this. If the bear broke free of him even one time, it would have the advantage, and then the fight would be as good as over.
He heard a howl and didn’t know whether he was hearing Marco or Ryker, whether they were winning or losing their own fights. He didn�
��t know what he would be facing if he did manage to bring down this bear. He hadn’t stopped to take a count of the bears in the group before plunging into the fray, but he had known there were more of them than there were of the wolves.
He thought the element of surprise might have come to their aid, at least somewhat.
But if he brought this bear down, would another take its place? How many could he hope to fight?
If we can just get Sophie out of those chains, maybe she can run home, he thought. And then...
Then what? Maybe one of the alphas would be able to disengage and follow her while the others held the bears back.
It wouldn’t be him. Burton knew that. He wouldn’t leave Marco or Ryker to die in this fight. He would stay by their side. He would give his life to see Sophie freed.
He had never expected to feel like that toward anyone, and the realization sent a surge of strength through his body. He curled his torso around, dug the claws of his hind feet into the bear’s chest, and raked downward.
The bear howled in pain and staggered backward, and then the ground was rushing up to meet them.
Burton jumped free at the last possible second, landing several yards away from the bear and pivoting to look at him. The bear was struggling to get back on his feet, but he seemed unable to do so. He shook his massive head a few times as though trying to clear it, staggered, and fell again.
Okay. Burton felt confident enough to look away for a minute. He assessed the situation around them.
It wasn’t good. They were still badly outnumbered. Marco was fighting two bears on his own, both of moderate size, and Ryker was locked in a struggle with three smaller ones—most likely women, Burton thought, but they appeared to be competent fighters. He thought there had been one or two other bears in the group when he had made his entrance, but perhaps they had fled.
This isn’t a pack, he reminded himself. There’s nothing holding them here. There’s nothing holding them together.
It was the first clear advantage that his own group had in their favor. They could rely on the fact that none of them were going to screw the others over, that no man would be left behind.
He assessed the other two fights and decided that Marco and Ryker were holding their own, at least for the moment. He was too afraid to resume his human form, knowing that he would have to rejoin the fray at any moment, but he hurried over to Sophie’s side, locked his teeth around the ropes that bound her wrists, and bit down.
She sobbed and flung her arms around him. “Burton!”
He allowed her to hold onto him for a moment, part of him wishing that he could run away with her. But he couldn’t leave, not if there was a chance for all three of the alphas to get away. He pulled out of her arms, leaving her to free her own feet from their restraints, and turned toward Marco and Ryker.
He had a split second to decide, and it was Ryker’s fight he chose, because he thought he would be able to make the biggest difference there the most quickly. He leaped forward like a ballistic missile and plowed headfirst into the gut of the nearest bear, sending it staggering back and reducing Ryker’s opponents to two.
He heard Ryker’s howl and recognized it as one of triumph, even as he stalked the bear he had pulled away from the fight. The bear feinted at him a couple of times, but he bit back hard, and it was clear that the bear’s heart wasn’t in it. After only a few moments, it turned and shambled off into the woods.
Burton didn’t give chase. He had no interest in killing bears. If it wanted to leave, to leave them alone, that suited him just fine.
He turned his attention to Marco instead.
The two bears Marco was fighting were not as large or as powerful as the one Burton had taken on—Burton’s opponent now lay bleeding and unconscious on the ground, thankfully, and it didn’t look as if he would be returning to the fight. Still, they were large and powerful, and Marco was just barely managing to hold his own. The fight was about to turn against him.
Burton jumped up onto the back of one of the bears Marco was fighting, digging four sets of claws into the animal’s flesh and hanging on as if he was a backpack. The sound the bear made was closer to a scream than a growl—it was almost human. It began to spin around in circles, trying to shake Burton off.
Ryker had apparently dispatched the two smaller bears he had been fighting—Burton hadn’t seen what had happened there—because he now jumped into the fray. And suddenly, the numbers were on their side.
Claws flashed. Blood splattered. Roars and howls filled the woods.
Amid the chaos, Burton heard the horrible, inescapable sound of Sophie calling his name. He would have done anything to run to her side. But they were going to win this fight. That was clear now. He couldn’t break off and go to her until it was over.
The bear he was fighting staggered and fell to the ground, unconscious. Defeated.
And then the woods were quiet.
Burton backed away and hunkered against the ground, fighting to catch his breath, his head swimming.
A hand came to rest on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” a voice asked urgently.
He looked up. It was Marco.
Burton felt reassured by the presence of his packmate, but he couldn’t figure out how to answer the question that had been asked. He was too busy, his thoughts racing too quickly.
“Try to shift back,” Marco said. “The aftermath of battle will be easier in human form. You need to relax, let your guard down. Don’t worry, Ryker’s tying up the bears right now. Most of them ran, but the ones who are left aren’t going to be any threat.”
Burton focused on his friend’s words. A moment later, he felt the familiarity of his human form taking shape around him. This more complex mind was better able to deal with everything that had been thrown at him in the last several minutes, and as he lay on the ground, recovering his breath, he felt himself begin to calm down.
Marco was examining him. “We’re going to need to clean up your wounds,” he said. “But I think we can make it back to the cave first. I don’t want to stay here a moment longer than we have to.”
“Is Sophie all right?” Burton asked anxiously.
“She’s fine, I think.” Marco turned away for a moment, and then Sophie appeared at his side. She knelt down, leaned over Burton, and kissed him gently.
“You came to get me,” she said.
“Of course we did,” Burton said.
“We wouldn’t let you go,” Marco said. “You know that. You’re our omega.” He wrapped an arm around her. Burton sat up and leaned into her shoulder.
The three of them watched as Ryker finished tying up the last of the bears. “We’ll starve if you leave us like this,” she growled.
“I don’t give a damn what happens to you,” Ryker said. “You kidnapped our omega. You don’t deserve an ounce of our mercy.”
“You sure about that?” she sneered. “Because we showed her mercy, you know. We let her keep those pups she’s carrying. We could have ended her pregnancy, but we didn’t. I call that mercy.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in. Then Burton whipped his head around to look at Sophie.
“Pregnancy?” Ryker asked, his voice hoarse with sudden emotion.
“Is that true, Sophie?” Marco asked quietly. “Are you pregnant?”
“I was going to tell you,” she said softly. “I was going to tell you tonight when you got back from your hunt. We’re going to be parents.” Her eyes filled with tears. “That was the worst part of all of this—the thought that they might have taken me away from you for good, and that you would never know about the babies.”
Burton’s head spun. Babies. He was going to be a father.
He had never conceived of himself in that way. He had never imagined having children. Hell, he still thought of himself as a child half the time.
But now the idea of his babies growing within Sophie took hold. It was beautiful. It was captivating. He thought of her body swelling, ripening, growing big
ger as she got ready to give birth.
That was what these bears had tried to take away from him.
Not just his omega, but his family. His future.
And they had the nerve to ask for mercy.
“Don’t untie them, Ryker,” he said, struggling to his feet. He was surprised by how cold his voice sounded. He couldn’t remember ever hearing that kind of detached anger from his own mouth before. It was a little frightening. “Leave them to die. It’s more than they deserve.”
But Ryker hesitated.
“It’s Sophie who ought to decide,” he said. “She’s the one they hurt. She’s the one they threatened.” He looked at Sophie. “We’ll do anything you want, Sophie. What do you say?”
Sophie shivered a little. Burton leaned into her, doing his best to give her what strength he had.
“Let them go,” she said at last, her voice quiet. “You can’t leave them to starve. You have to untie them.”
Burton looked at her in shock. “After what they did to you? You’d let them go free?”
“If we don’t, we’re no better than they are,” Sophie said. “If we do this to them, we’re exactly what they’ve accused us of being—a danger to their way of life.”
“I don’t know if that follows,” Marco said, his tone measured and gentle. “We would never have bothered them if they hadn’t bothered us first. It’s all right to defend ourselves.”
“We have defended ourselves,” Sophie said. “We’ve taken back what they tried to take from us. Our freedom. Our family. And now we can have our lives back.” She turned to look at the bear who had exposed the news of her pregnancy. “If we let you go, Dina, and return home to our cave, are you going to leave us alone?”
The bear—Dina—bore a sulking expression. “Yes,” she grumbled.
“You can’t trust her,” Burton said.
“Burton’s right,” Ryker said. “You can’t trust a bear.”
Sophie shook her head. “I don’t want this interspecies rivalry to go on,” she said. “I do trust her. I know she’s not my friend. But I believe that in this moment, she means what she says. She doesn’t want another fight like this one any more than we do.”