Page 5 of The Alpha's Mates

His hold on my neck prevented me from looking back at him, but my eyes flashed up to his cadre mates. A smirk spread over the mountain’s face while Calder glowered at me. They watched with interest as their leader ground his hips against my ass.

“Let me go, or kill me,” I demanded, tired of their mind games. Tired of my body’s betrayal.

That caused the two standing in front of me to growl with fury at my order, but Soren just chuckled. “No, to both of those options.”

There was no chance for me to argue, or do much else, because his hand tightened until he blocked off my air. My eyes widened and I grabbed his hand, trying to pry it from my throat.His position from behind me allowed him to easily wrench my neck up, making it more effective. He’d just said he wasn’t going to kill me, but was choking me.

Black dots danced in front of my vision and one of the men said something, but the lack of oxygen had my ears buzzing too loudly to hear what.

Soren used his free hand to brush a lock of my hair away from my ear. The gentle touch was so opposite of what his other hand was doing it threw me off. His lips brushed my ear. “Go to sleep.” The command in his tone plus lack of air pushed me into unconsciousness.

My eyes snappedopen and my hand went to my throat. The skin felt bruised and ached beneath my light touch. I was a shifter, so it’d heal as soon as I took my wolf form.

Closing my eyes, I urged my wolf to come out so we could get out of here. I needed to meet up with my pack. She stayed stubbornly at the back of my consciousness, refusing to come forward.

What the hell?

“You’re not allowed to shift.”

My head snapped over toward the voice. It was Atlas. In human form his hair was dark brown and his eyes were a honeyed brown. He had on leather pants and a tight dark shirt. Probably the only thing good to come from humans was the clothes. We didn’t need or use most of their technology—and shifters had been the first to discover electricity—but the clothes they preferred most of my kind did as well.

I didn’t speak, just glared at Atlas. Until I figured out what their end goal was, the less I spoke the better.

He shook his head and walked over to the bed. That was when I realized my right leg was shackled to a sturdy wooden post at the foot of the bed. Inside I smiled. That might hold an omega, but no way would it hold me. I didn’t want him to realize their mistake, however, or it would mess up the escape plan that was forming inside my mind.

He set down a plate on the nightstand next to where I was laying. His eyes dipped down, skating over my body.

Cool air danced over my skin, making me aware of the fact that I was still naked. I grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed and pulled it up to my chin, narrowing my eyes on him.

“You’re not to shift,” he told me again. “Eat the food and drink every drop of the water in that glass. One of us will be back shortly.” With the orders given, he left the room. I heard the distinct click of a lock engaging.

“Don’t shift. Eat and drink. Who do these guys think they are?” I muttered as soon as he left. “I don’t answer to them.” If they thought they were dealing with a meek little omega, they were about to realize their mistake.

Closing my eyes, I focused on my wolf, but she was refusing to cooperate. With a sigh, I left her alone. I’d have to do this as a human then and figure out what her problem was later.

The food next to me was making my mouth water, and as much as I wanted to ignore the man’s instructions, I needed to eat. Alphas burned through a lot of energy in a short amount of time and we needed to continuously eat to keep our strength up. I wasn’t any different in that regard.

Picking up the heaping plate, I ignored my dirty hands and started shoving food into my mouth. As soon as the meat hit my tongue my taste buds sang. Salty, gamey flavor exploded inside my mouth. The fight—and refusing to submit to their alpha commands—had depleted my reserves. This was the only way I was going to get out of here. Whereverherewas.

Finishing the food, I licked my fingers clean as I studied the shackle on my leg. I wiped my hands on the bedspread to get the remaining grease off and tugged at both halves of the metal cuff. It refused to give. Huffing out an irritated breath, I grabbed the chain, ignoring the way the silver dusted metal burned my palms, and gave it a firm yank. Neither the chain nor the post it was anchored to gave way. Giving a frustrated breath, I tried again. The shackle itself didn’t burn my skin the way the chain was, but iron alone wouldn’t be able to hold me. Maybe it was alloy? It didn’t matter, I was getting out.

The scent of pine and citrus was battering at my senses, so I knew I was in someone’s room, not just a guest bedroom. The smell made me want to roll around on the covers until I’d mixed my own scent into the fabric. Instead, I focused on escaping.

CHAPTER 4

Soren

“You realize that’s not going to hold her for long, right?” Atlas asked as he walked into my office.

Calder snarled as he continued pacing back and forth. Finding our mate and realizing she wasn’t some docile creature had put him in a foul mood. “She’s going to stay because we told her to stay,” he said with another low growl.

I chuckled, causing his eyes to snap over to me. “She’s an alpha,” I told him, then paused to let that sink in. It shouldn’t have surprised me, not given the prophecy my grandmother liked to pull out at every given chance and show me. “She’s not likely to listen to anyone.”

“How is that even possible?” Atlas asked, his brow furrowing.

“Later,” I told him, my sensitive hearing picking up the sound of a rattling chain. She wouldn’t break the chain, but the wood post would be toothpicks in another hour. Sooner probably. Then she’d be free, and with a silver dusted iron chainas a weapon. “I just need her to stay put long enough for Grams to speak to her.”

“Why Vera?” Atlas asked. “Why aren’twegoing in to speak to our mate?”