Page 33 of The Alpha's Mates
My head snapped over and I looked at Emma, who was still glaring at me for daring to think I could leave her behind, and the four men standing at her back. “You think—”
“Why not?” Vera asked with a shrug. “Emma is with you for a reason. Griff and his cadre are linked to her. They’ve been members of this pack since birth and Griff is Atlas’s cousin. Why not them? You need five more for this journey.”
I studied Atlas and Griff. They couldn’t be more different. If Vera had said that Griff and Calder, or even Soren himself, were related it would make more sense. Maybe Griff had gotten all the surliness in the family while Atlas had made off with the good nature. Either way, I was thankful for my cheery mountain of a mate. He smoothed out the short fuses of the other two.
“Quest,” Emma interjected with a grin. “It’s a damn quest.” Excitement bubbled up in her words.
Soren gave me a resigned look, before addressing Griff. “Fine. Be ready the day after tomorrow. We leave at dawn.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Emma’s cadre spoke in unison.
My best friend gave me a smug smile, then wrapped her arm around my waist. “We have plans to make,” she told me. With that, our fight was forgotten.
I looked over my shoulder at the two sets of males who were standing there watching us walk away. Life was sure turning out much differently for us both than I thought.
CHAPTER 16
Reese
Huffing out a long breath, I stirred in my comfortable bed, inside the safe mountain mansion I was currently living in. How had I gotten to this point? Not that I was complaining. I’d never complain about regular meals and hot showers. Add in the comfy bed? I was glad to be here. Even if the sexy shifters who were my mates were low key driving me mad.
There’d been a short blip of time in the middle of the night where I’d nearly gone and crawled into bed with one of my mates.My mates.It seemed like we’d gotten here so fast. They’d been potential enemies and now were future lovers. Not knowing which mate to choose and not wanting to hurt the others’ feelings had been the only reason I’d managed to resist and remain in my own bed.
This was becoming harder, but for the first time in my life something was simmering inside my chest. Was that happiness?I wasn’t sure, but it was as foreign as being able to fully drop my guard while sleeping, something I hadn’t done since early childhood.
The mattress shifted and something brushed my arm, causing my eyes to snap open. Sucking in a gasp of surprise, I studied the gray wolf in my bed. “Hello. I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to be in here.”
His ears flicked then pinned themselves back to his head. That move alone, along with the heady scent of a campfire, told me this was Soren’s wolf. All three of them looked so similar it might have been hard for most to pinpoint which male this magnificent creature belonged to without the others to compare.
I had no such trouble. My hand reached out of its own accord and buried itself into the soft fur of his neck. “I wasn’t kicking you out, you know. No need to be so grumpy.”
He let out a canine grumble and shifted closer to my body. His huge form was taking up a good portion of the bed.
“I just overheard Soren saying that none of them should introduce their wolves to me just yet. He thinks you won’t behave yourself.” It didn’t matter that I’d seen their wolves before. Meeting them while not in a life or death situation was completely different. They didn’t have anything to keep their attention, so it would naturally stray to me.
The wolf let out a snort of displeasure. He dipped his head, resting his chin on his paws. His dark eyes closed as I scratched behind his ears.
“Oh!”
His head jerked up, eyes alert, a low growl rumbling around the room as he searched for danger.
“Sorry,” I patted his head, “but you’re hurt.” Touching his front leg gently, I examined the large gash there. “How did that happen? And why haven’t you shifted…” I looked up into amused eyes. “Because if you shift, Soren won’t let you out againand you wanted to meet me,” I told him, answering my own question.
His muzzle dipped in a form of acknowledgement. He yawned, showing off large incisor teeth. Fangs like those could rip me apart in seconds. But our wolves were mates, the same as our human halves were. He’d never hurt me.
“Then I better clean this up if you’re planning on sticking around for a bit,” I said. Shoving off the bed, I went into the bathroom and rummaged under the sink until I found what would be suitable for cleaning his injury.
Grabbing a clean towel, I settled back on the bed, legs crossed under me, as I focused on his wound. I kept up a steady stream of small talk. “You’re much easier to speak to like this,” I told him. Soren would be hearing all of this and would retain it for later. “The fact that you managed to wrest control from him is impressive,” I told the wolf, looking up and nearly bumping noses with him as he inspected what I was doing.
“What do you think,” I pulled the towel back and showed him the wet fur that was now devoid of blood.
A wet tongue slid across my skin from clavicle to forehead. Laughing, I scratched his ears again. “Thank you.”
“How am I supposed to know?” an agitated voice asked from the hallway.
“Well, where else would he be?” That was Atlas’s slightly less amused than normal voice joining Calder’s.
A knock sounded at my door. I looked into the deep gray eyes of the wolf. “Jig is up. Want me to open the window so you can go run through the forest?”