He waited, unwilling to entertain her sarcasm with a serious response. The muscles in her face began to twitch, and he was confused, until her chin started to wobble. Then, his body tensed as she began to cry. Her mouth hung open and an endless stream of pitiful sounds flowed from it, as tears rolled down her face.
“What are you doing?” he asked, backing away from her until his back was pressed flat against the wall. “Stop that.”
She cried harder, her mouth now forming barely coherent words in between the sobs. “He loves her. I could tell from the way he looked at her that he really loves her.”
“Who?” Erik grunted.
“Zane,” she said, the name stretching out in a long whine. “He loves her and Ginnifer loves him and they’re going to have a baby together.”
Erik found it rather appalling as well, but it certainly wasn’t anything to cry over. He tried to tell her this, but she didn’t seem to hear him over her own sobbing.
“It’s just one more thing that she has over me,” she cried. “She’s prettier than me, funnier than me, and better at everything. She’s even better at getting kidnapped than me. How come she got kidnapped by a nice guy, and I got stuck with you? No offense, but you’re really mean.”
Erik was dumbfounded. He’d never in his life dealt with a crying female that he couldn’t walk away from, and this experience was exceptionally bizarre. He would not want anyone to think of him as nice, yet when she called him mean, he felt slightly insulted.
While he was trying to decide how to react, she confused him even further. Still crying, she rested her head on his chest and nuzzled against him. Everything in his head told him to push her off and order her to stop once again. However, his hand worked of its own accord, settling on her back and rubbing in a circular motion. It must have been guided by some innate instinct he was not aware of, because she soon settled, her cries becoming soft sniffles.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “She probably doesn’t know it, but I’ve been competing with her my whole life. When I got married and tried to have a family, I felt like I was finally doing my own thing, like I wasn’t orbiting around her for once. But here I am now, single and childless, and she’s in love and about to have a baby…”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Why can’t I have that?”
“You want a mate and a pup?” Erik asked, trying to make sense of her stream of words.
“More than anything,” she whispered.
It was something Erik could not relate to. The tundra was harsh and unforgiving. Some years, prey was scarce. Others, the weather could be relentlessly brutal. Turf wars and poachers made stability near impossible to achieve. To produce offspring in such an environment had always seemed grossly negligent to Erik.
Pups were small and vulnerable things, and the world was large and dangerous. He saw the way Sten constantly worried over his daughter, and it had only reinforced his decision not to take a mate and have pups of his own. How could he be the alpha his pack needed, while spending his days sniffing after his wayward young?
The human was still lying against his chest, her eyes downcast and her expression dull. She was no longer crying, but he almost wished she were. He’d rather she be annoying than depressing.
Erik realized that he could make a strong case for taking her back to She was just as distracting as a pup, albeit, in different ways. She had no sense of smell or direction to keep her from getting lost without supervision. She couldn’t keep herself warm and she couldn’t hunt to feed herself. She relied on him for everything, and if he kept her, that fact would never change.
But while she might have been even more of a burden than a pup, he would not let her go. Erik wasn’t even sure he’d get bored with her. Aside from the fact that she could make him hard with the slightest touch, the thought of her taking another male made him want to draw blood.
Erik wasn’t ready to reconcile himself to being stuck with her, but he also knew that if he wasn’t willing to give her to another male, she would end up becoming his mate. He had limited control over his urges for her, and it was only getting worse as time went on.
His train of thought came full circle. If he was already responsible for her wellbeing and had no plans to give her up, then what difference would it make if they had a pup?
Erik toyed with the idea of having a pup. He pictured a male that looked like him. He could teach his son how to hunt, fight, and lead like a proper alpha. Once Erik grew old, he could pass leadership of Amarok on to his son—provided his son wasn’t worthless, like Zane.
But he wouldn’t raise a worthless pup. The more he thought about it, the more Erik realized that he should have a pup. He was too good of an alpha to not pass his strength and skills down to the next generation.
While he’d been having his epiphany, the human had somehow managed to fall asleep. He wanted to tell her what he’d decided, but he knew it could wait until she woke.
So he woke her.
“Astrid.”
Her eyes sprang open and she shot up, her head banging into his chin. She looked around the room, eyes wild.
“Bears?”
“No.”
Her posture sagged with relief. “Oh thank God. You scared me. I keep forgetting that you know my name.” She laid back down on his chest. “Why did you wake me?”
Erik was still scowling and rubbing his jaw when he said, “To tell you that I will give you a pup.”
He found himself looking at her expectantly, anticipating that this news would make her happy. Instead, she blinked up at him several times.
“What are you talking about?” A look of horror came over her face. “Wait, are you going to steal somebody’s baby? Don’t do that!”
The way her mind worked would never cease to baffle him.
“No,” he said dryly. “I will take you as my mate. But do not assume it will change anything between us. It will simply be an arrangement for procreation.”
She frowned. “That sounds very romantic, but I can’t have kids, Erik. Believe me, I tried for a long time.”
“You did not try with me,” he said dismissively.
She rolled her eyes at him, something she’d likely picked up from her sister. “I’m sure you’re quite virile, but I don’t ovulate, so there’s no way you could possibly get me pregnant.”
Erik leaned back against the wall. “I am quite virile,” he said, closing his eyes. “And I will give you a pup.”
“It doesn’t work that way. And even if I could have kids, what makes you think I would want them with you?”
Why wouldn’t she want them with him?
“I am an ideal sire.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’d have great looking kids, but you’d probably make a terrible father.” The last part came out as a mumble, as though she realized too late that it would probably piss him off. “None of that really matters though. Like I said, I can’t have kids, so it’s a moot point.”
“You will be carrying my pup before the winter is out,” he told her. “Now, sleep.”
“Wanna bet?”
Why had he woken her up?
“I don’t make bets.”
“If you can manage to get me pregnant, I’ll stay. But if you can’t, then come spring, you have to let me go. One of your wolves has to take me to the nearest town.”
Erik groaned and rubbed his face. “Why would I accept a bet in which I had nothing to gain?”
“If you’re so sure of yourself, why not accept? Unless of course, you’re not so sure about your virility.”
He hoped she could see him glaring at her.
“If I accept, will you let me sleep?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
Erik knew that by springtime, the bargain would be long forgotten, and he did not spare it a second thought. For the first time in days, he let himself relax completely. He fell asleep listening to the soothing sounds of the snowstorm and of his soon-to-be mate’s breathing.
CHAPT
ER EIGHTEEN
Even Erik’s furnace of a body was not enough to stave off the cold entirely. Astrid woke shivering, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. She brought her knees to her chest and tilted her head up to peer at Erik. His face was as hard as stone, and if not for the heat that radiated from him, she would have thought that he’d died in the night.
As she hesitated to wake him, she thought back to the night before. What he’d said to her had come completely out of left field and she was still amazed by how well she’d handled it.
“I will give you a pup.”
She’d played dumb when he’d said it, but really she’d been stalling him while her mind reeled at what he’d said. Where had that come from? Had seeing Zane and Ginnifer together suddenly activated Erik’s biological clock?
In any case, he’d picked the wrong woman for the task, and so long as he honored his end of their bargain, she’d be on her way back to Miami by springtime. And she would have managed it all by herself, with no help from Ginnifer. Who would have thought that her infertility would one day come in handy?
Too cold to stall much longer, Astrid tentatively began trying to wake Erik. She gently shook his shoulder, all the while mumbling a chant of, “Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me.”
The alpha growled and she let out a gasp in response. She remembered that the last time she’d tried to wake him, he’d nearly strangled her, and her hands flew to cover her fragile neck.
But Erik had no intention of hurting her. While his eyes remained shut, he shifted her in his lap, positioning Astrid over his rigid arousal. He squeezed her rear, his thumbs hooking around her hips to rock her pelvis against his. She bit down on her bottom lip, struggling not to react.
“I’m hungry,” she said, pressing her palms against his chest. “Can you go find some food?”
Erik flexed his hips, grinding his erection against her warm center. Voice husky, he said, “Later.”
Astrid swatted a hand at his bicep. “If you start that, I’ll starve by the time we’re done. It’s been over a day since I’ve eaten anything.”
He opened one eye, his lips twisting with irritation. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“A lot happened yesterday. Between the bears and Zane and my sister, there was never time. I was going to ask you last night, but then there was the snowstorm and I was afraid you’d get lost while hunting or decide not to come back for me and then I’d freeze to death—”
Erik placed a hand over her mouth. “Stop talking about dying. Why do you always think you’re going to die?”
She pushed his hand aside. “I don’t know, maybe because I’m stuck in the middle of the arctic and being held prisoner by a werewolf.”
“You are not my prisoner,” he said, scowling. “You are my mate.”
“God help me,” she muttered.
He leaned in to nip her neck. Astrid grumbled, feigning annoyance to keep from exposing her arousal. She felt a pang of disappointment as he lifted her off his lap and set her down on the ground, before standing.
“I will hunt for you,” he said, stretching his arms. “Wait here.”
She hastily wrapped the pelt around herself before Erik’s heat could escape. “How long will you be gone?”
But he was already shifting and heading out of the cavern.
***
Even in winter, Siluit territory was ripe with prey. Erik didn’t have to go far to find a suitable meal. He took a few moments to gorge on his kill, before tearing off a fat limb and heading back to where his mate waited for him.
Mate.
He liked that. It still surprised him that in the span of two short weeks, he had gone from not wanting anything to do with humans, to now wanting a mate and pup of his own. From the moment he’d accepted responsibility of the human, the leaps had been easy to make.
First, he’d intended on using her body and then passing her off to another male. But after he’d had her, he had wanted her again. And again. And again. He had not stopped wanting her, and although he’d had her only a short time, he recognized that what they had was not something to be cast aside.
Once he had decided to keep her, he’d had to accept that she would become his mate. And with a mate would come pups—though ideally, only one. Even with his new predilection for fatherhood, he had no desire to have a bunch of yapping pups running around his paws.
Erik shifted as he entered the cavern. No sooner was he in human form did the human slam into him, wrapping her arms around his chest. He froze, unsure how to react. Did she think that because they were to be mates, it gave her license to be affectionate towards him? Did she expect him to reciprocate?
He remained tense, two conflicting urges warring within him. Part of him wanted to push her off and explain that such gestures would not be part of their arrangement. The other part of him—his damn wolf—wanted to wrap his arms around her and draw her in close. This would, of course, merely be a segue into fucking her, but it was still at complete odds with his nature.
“I’m s-so glad you’re back, I’m c-cold. Can you please hold me before I turn into a popsicle?”
Erik begrudgingly obliged her. She hadn’t wanted to hug him. She was just cold. Why did that piss him off so much?
With one arm still around her, he motioned toward the meat shank, which had fallen onto the floor when he’d shifted. “There. Hurry up and eat.”
She glanced down at the shank, but made no move to grab it. Instead, her nose wrinkled. “It’s raw. Aren’t you going to cook it?”
“If you want cooked meat, build yourself a fire.”
“I don’t know how to build a fire,” she said, her lips pursing. “And even if I did, there’s nothing here to make a fire with.”
Erik gave her a pointed look.
“But…” she looked at the shank, and then back at him. “I can’t eat raw meat. I’ll get botulism.”
“Botulism?” Erik found himself asking. Then, he shook his head. “No, I don’t care. I spent nearly an hour hunting muskox. Eat it, or it will be the last time I hunt for you.”
Her eyes widened. “You killed an entire muskox? You must have wasted so much meat.”
“It was a calf.”
“A calf?” she repeated, mouth falling open. “You killed a calf? Why would you do that?”
“Because anything else would have been highly impractical.”
He didn’t know why he was even answering her. For some reason, it was becoming harder to dismiss her questions, no matter how idiotic they were.
“Besides,” he said, “it’s far from the first time you’ve eaten a calf.”
She looked at him as though he’d just slapped her. “You fed me baby muskox?” She brought a hand up to her lips. “Those poor little things… And their mothers—oh my God, how awful.”
Erik felt a headache coming on. “Either eat it, or don’t. I do not care.”
“I’d rather starve.”
“Fine.”
***
After backtracking to the inlet, Erik spent the remainder of the day and the better part of the night following the near-buried trail of his pack mates. He’d sent Sten, Sylvestre, and Yves back to the den, and their trail served as an easy marker for the path home.
Last night’s snowstorm had transformed the landscape, and had dumped a massive pile of fresh snow on the region. Even Erik, with his long, powerful limbs, was tired by the end of the day. He followed the trail all the way back to the large cave that they’d stayed in the night before encountering the bears. Examining the scent trails, he could tell that the others had stopped in on their way back, likely to avoid the storm.
Typically, he would have shoved his discomfort aside and pressed on, but no sooner had he entered the cave did the human hop down off of his back. In her usual dramatic fashion, she collapsed into a heap on the floor and curled up into a ball.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be warm again,” she moaned. “I hate this.”
His earlie
r frustration with her had long-since faded, replaced by a calm determination. He tossed a small bundle at her feet, and then waited for her to open it. She sat up, and unwrapped it gingerly. Her lips flattened when she saw the muskox shank. It was perfectly preserved, and if anything, bordering on frozen after the long, cold trek.
“I told you, I’m not eating it,” she said.
This time, Erik was prepared for her unreasonableness.
“Eat it, or I’ll leave you here.”
She went still. Quietly, she asked, “What?”
Erik remained firm. “We’re at least four days out from the den. If you refuse to eat, you’ll probably die anyway. Why should I bother watching you die a slow death when I can simply leave you to freeze in the night?”
Her expression sobered. “Yesterday, you wanted to have kids with me—and today you’re going to let me die?”
“Why would I want pups with a female who would sooner starve herself than eat a fresh kill?”
She was silent for a few moments. Erik watched as she composed herself, crossing her legs and folding her hands neatly in her lap.
“I’m not going to let myself starve,” she finally said. “No more than you’re actually going to leave me here to die, so let’s quit bullshitting each other.”
“Do not presume to tell me what I will or will not do.”
She shook her head. “Why can’t you just take me back to Siluit? At this point, I’d rather be beholden to my sister for all eternity than have to deal with being your slave for another day.”
“You are not my slave, you are my—”
“Mate?” she asked, giving the word an ironic slant. “I don’t know a whole lot about your kind, but I’d be willing to bet that they don’t threaten to abandon their mates.
“I know I’ve been a bitch today,” she said, leaning back against the wall. “I feel like it’s always one step forward and two steps back with you, and it’s exasperating. I get it. From your perspective, I’m weak and pathetic. I can’t hunt for myself, I can’t build a fire, and I probably couldn’t walk a mile outside without getting lost, but that’s all because I’m out of my depth.
Enslaved by the Alpha (Shifters of Nunavut Book 2) Page 15
