Ties (Running With Alphas Book 6)

by Viola Rivard

  “I know why you did it, and I want to thank you for it.”

  Standing on the tips of her toes, she pressed her mouth to Hale’s. For a few seconds he remained rigid, as if in a state of shock. But when she ran her tongue along the seam of his lips, his body flared to life. He gripped her hips, a growl reverberating through his huge body.

  Backing her up against the stone wall, Hale lowered his head, deepening their kiss. Pushing his tongue into her mouth, he abandoned slow sensuality in favor of devouring her mouth. As his mouth claimed hers, she explored his bare chest, reveling in the feel of hard muscles beneath her fingertips.

  “Fuck,” Hale groaned against her mouth. “You taste like meat.”

  It was hardly the sexiest thing he’d ever said to her, but there was something about the way he said it that made her pulse race. It reminded her that the man who held her in his tight grasp was more than just her mate—he was a predator.

  A rough hand insinuated itself between her thick thighs, moving upwards with purpose. She drew in a sharp breath as his fingers delved past her curls to stroke the nub of her sex. It had been weeks since she’d been touched there and her body lit up. Electric currents of pleasure coursed through her as she suddenly found herself bucking against him.

  When she’d gotten the idea to throw herself at Hale, her only thoughts had been of pleasing him. Her plan had been to go down on him, both as a thank you and as a reminder that she was still his mate. But now, with his tongue thrust into her mouth and his thumb furiously working her clit, all she wanted to do was surrender to the sensations.

  Within moments, Hale took her from mild arousal to being seized by one of the best orgasms she’d had outside of the mating thrall. Without much warning, her body locked up, as if bracing itself. Seconds later, her vision went white as ecstasy came crashing over her.

  As soon as she began to climax, Hale shifted position. He wrapped her legs around his hips and plunged into her with barely controlled force. With her orgasm still pulsating across her body, he began to thrust within her, heightening her body’s response and drawing out her pleasure.

  Loud, animalistic sounds tore from his chest with each thrust. She matched him blow for blow, moaning and grunting as he drove into her. When he climaxed, she was sure the whole den could hear him howl. Rather than embarrass her, it gave her a strange sense of satisfaction.

  Her body spent, she slumped against him. They stayed like that for a few moments, listening to the sound of labored breaths as the scents of their sweat mingled together.

  Hale broke the silence first, his voice rough and scratchy.

  “Was I too rough?”

  Taylor realized then that he hadn’t taken her with his usual wild abandon. While he’d been far from gentle, he had clearly been exercising moderate restraint. Had he been worried about hurting her?

  She looked down to see that his hands had moved from her hips to her waist. While her body had shed several pounds over the past few weeks, her waistline had noticeably thickened. Usually, she didn’t mind her expanding belly, as it was the only evidence she had that her babies were growing. But under Hale’s gaze, she felt oddly self-conscious.

  “You were great,” she said, wriggling from his grasp. She grabbed her dress from the floor and slipped it back on. “Hey, do you think I could sit in while you debrief Lark?”

  “Why?” Hale asked, adjusting his furs.

  She lifted a shoulder. “I dunno, maybe I can help.”

  “Doubt it. She’s the queen of useless information. Alder’s even starting to think she may be working for Whiteriver.”

  “Like a double agent?” Taylor asked, unable to keep the amusement from her voice. “You honestly think Lark could pull that off?”

  Hale gave her a wry grin. “Not a chance. But you know how Alder’s been lately.”

  ***

  Lark’s big eyes were brimming with tears when she saw Taylor. She took a few steps forward and Taylor winced, bracing herself for one of the raccoon shifter’s suffocating hugs. It never came. Grabbing Lark by her upper arm, Alder yanked her back. With a frustrated sigh, Lark slumped back down into her chair.

  Taylor had been in this room before. It was in the upper chambers and the windows had been carved into the mountainside. During the summer, leafy greens had snaked in through the openings, but now the greenery was gone, leaving nothing but decay and dried husks.

  When she exhaled, Taylor’s breath hung in the air for a few seconds, before being swept away by the cold draft. She tightened Alder’s furs around herself. Said alpha had been noticeably displeased when she’d shown up, but didn’t put up a fuss.

  “Your face looks a lot better,” Lark told her.

  Taylor absently caressed her cheek. The wound had taken a while to heal, but Lark was right, it did look a lot better. The first time Taylor had braved a mirror, she’d cried for at least an hour. Thankfully, once the stitches had come out, it looked a lot less grotesque. It had healed to the point where it was now just a shallow red trench across her cheek.

  Alder folded his arms across his chest. “You’re not here to talk to Taylor. Let’s go, what happened this week?”

  Lark gave a meek shrug of her shoulders. “Snow’s doing well. Silas took us for a walk and we gathered stones and she made this bracelet for me…” She trailed off at the sight of Alder’s impatient glare. When she spoke again, her words spilled out quickly. “One of the beta wolves fell out of a tree and hurt his leg, Olivia caught a really big fish, we found a bird’s nest and ate eggs for lunch one day—”

  “Did anything useful happen this week?” Alder asked. “Did you overhear anything? Is there some sort of schedule we can exploit?”

  Her face fell. “They mostly just talk about finding food and there’s not really a schedule for anything. They don’t even sleep at the same time. It’s actually quite chaotic.”

  Before he could say anything else, Taylor put a hand on Alder’s shoulder.

  “You mentioned that Silas took you and Snow out for a walk,” she said. “Does he do that often?”

  “Almost every day, but never at the same time,” Lark said with a frown.

  “Why does he do it?”

  “I don’t see how this is important,” Alder interjected.

  Ignoring him, Taylor waited while Lark considered the question.

  “Well, Snow cried a lot the first couple weeks. When he started taking her out for walks, she stopped crying so much. Now she almost never cries. They’re her favorite part of the day.”

  Taylor rubbed her chin. “And what do you do on the walks?”

  “Sometimes we collect useful things. Snow knows how to make a lot of medicines, so sometimes we get stuff for that. Other times, we just collect interesting things.”

  “Does Silas ever talk to you?”

  “Me? Not really. He did a lot, at first. Asked me a lot of questions about Halcyon—I didn’t tell him anything useful, I swear.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” Alder sighed. He’d sat down in one of the chairs, though didn’t look the least bit relaxed. He never did anymore. “Taylor, we’re taking her back to the border in less than an hour and she’s already answered all of these questions.”

  Taylor refused to back down. “You’ve had weeks to interrogate Lark and it’s gotten you nowhere. At least give me a chance.”

  He looked annoyed, but let her continue.

  “So,” Taylor continued. “You said that he used to ask you a lot of questions. But he doesn’t anymore, right?”

  “Yeah, now he mostly talks to Snow.”

  “About what?”

  “Lots of stuff. Mostly about her pack—”

  “He’s fishing for information about my brother,” Alder surmised.

  Taylor asked Lark, “Is that what you think he’s doing?”

  Lark considered the question for a full minute. It was clear that no one had asked it before. “Um, I guess I did at first, but…he seems to just want to know stuff about her.
You see, Snow and Silas have a lot in common. They both lost their moms when they were little, they were both sick a lot when they were kids, and they’ve felt a lot of pressure to be something they’re not.”

  Alder appeared uncomfortable. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Silas is under a lot of pressure to be an alpha. I think it’s really overwhelming for him sometimes. And Snow, everyone in her pack expects her to be a wolf, but she doesn’t feel like one. Anyway, they have a lot to talk about and they, uh, get along very well.”

  Taylor brought her hand to her mouth. “Oh. Wait, but she’s barely a teenager.”

  Lark grinned sheepishly. “Silas is the same age as Glenn, believe it or not. It’s really not much of a stretch.”

  Alder looked between the two women, his brows drawn together. “What are you talking about?”

  Ignoring him, Taylor asked, “You don’t think he’s manipulating her, right?”

  “Not a chance,” Lark said. “Snow’s really smart and Silas, he’s not really a bad guy. He’s actually sort of…lonely.”

  “They’re not, you know, doing anything, right?”

  “Doing what?” Alder asked irritably.

  So dense.

  “No, no,” Lark assured her. She tapped her nose. “I would know for sure.”

  Hale arrived a few seconds later. Fully garbed in furs, he was dressed to travel. “We’re almost ready to go. Anything useful this week?”

  Alder and Taylor answered at the same time.

  “No.”

  “Yup.”

  Both alphas looked at her with surprise. Taylor gave a triumphant smile. Whether she realized it or not, Lark had given them something remarkably useful.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “I don’t like this at all,” Alder grunted.

  Smiling to herself, Taylor pulled the furs from his shoulders, revealing his broad, toned back. The overcast days of early winter had stolen the golden sheen from his skin, but his body was no less remarkable. She put her hands on the back of his neck and began a gentle massage.

  “Trust me, this is a very good thing,” she said, keeping her voice soft and soothing. Her hands moved out to his shoulders. The muscles were rigid with tension and required much more pressure.

  “She’s right,” said Hale.

  Alder’s twin lay sprawled out on the bed, furs beside them, stark naked. Taylor kept her eyes focused on Alder’s back, not needing the distraction.

  Hale continued, “If Silas cares about Snow, he’s not going to hurt her. If we wanted to go in there and take her, we probably could. I doubt he’d kill her just to spite us.”

  During her talk with Lark, it had become apparent that Snow and Silas were forming some sort of relationship. When she’d conveyed this to Alder, he had gone from denial, to anger, to begrudged acceptance over the course of an hour.

  “You doubt?” Alder repeated.

  Taylor could feel his muscles tense beneath her fingertips again and worked quickly to ease his distress.

  “I’m with Alder on this,” she said. “I still think it would be a bad idea to go storming the castle. But I do believe that if Silas really cares about Snow, he’ll want to do what’s best for her.”

  “He doesn’t care about her,” Alder corrected. “He’s just using her.”

  “Maybe, but maybe not.” Taylor hesitated a moment before saying, “You should let me talk to Silas.”

  There was that tension again. “Absolutely not.”

  “Why not?” she asked, still working to unknot his back. “I could go with you when you go to pick up Lark next week.”

  “Because it’s not safe.”

  Taylor jabbed her thumb under his shoulder blade, causing his muscles to spasm. “I always worry about you when you go to the border and you always tell me that it’s perfectly safe. Are you saying you’re lying to me?”

  “I think we should bring her,” Hale said, coming to her defense yet again. This time, Taylor did look his way, favoring him with a warm smile. “You helped us to get Lark into their den and now you’ve figured out one of Silas’s vulnerabilities. I’m all for seeing what else you can come up with.”

  Addressing Alder again, he added, “We can bring extra wolves. She’ll be safe.”

  To Taylor’s relief, Alder released a long sigh and nodded. After stretching out his arms, he turned to face her. There were dark circles under his eyes and his face possessed none of its former vibrancy. She said a silent prayer that somehow, she’d be able to resolve this and bring Snow home safely. Maybe then, she’d have her Alder back.

  “I’m sorry,” Alder said, reaching out to stroke the curve of her neck. “I should have more faith in you. I’ve been a terrible mate these past few weeks.”

  Taylor blinked back tears. “It’s okay. I can imagine what you’re going through. I don’t know what it’s like to be a parent, not yet, but I do think about them a lot.”

  She placed a hand over her belly. “I think about what they’ll look like, what sorts of things they’ll say, what kinds of things they’ll like to do… They’re not even really here, but somehow they’re already the biggest part of my future. And if anyone were to take that away from me, I don’t know what I’d do.”

  Alder pulled her into his arms and laid her back on the furs. Placing his hand over hers, he leaned in to kiss her.

  “I will never let anyone take them from us,” he said.

  She knew that in the world they lived in, it was impossible to make such a promise, but it was comforting just to know that he cared. She snuggled up against his chest, reveling in his warmth.

  Just as Taylor was getting comfortable, she heard the furs rustle. She looked up to see Hale standing, his expression neutral.

  “I’m gonna go get something to eat. You two want anything?”

  She wanted him to lie back down, to spend some more time together with the both of them, just like they used to. But maybe that was too much to ask. For now, she finally had Alder and she’d take what she could get.

  “I’m fine.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  The frosted grass crunched beneath Taylor’s feet as she climbed down from Alder’s back. She kept her hand clenched in his fur as the Halcyon wolves stalked ahead, laying the deer carcasses on the ground in front of them. Three fresh kills with thick puncture wounds in each of their necks. According to Laurel, they would be enough to feed the whole of Whiteriver for nearly a week.

  Taylor stared down at them, her nose wrinkling at the sight of blood oozing out onto the ground. She had been blissfully eating meat for a full week now, but she still couldn’t stomach seeing what her dinner came from.

  Her stomach turned against her and she clamped a hand over her mouth, stifling a gag. Normally, she didn’t resist the urge to vomit, but given her present company, she put forth an effort.

  On the far side of the field, Whiteriver wolves stood, watching them. In the early morning light, she could make out at least five wolves, but was sure there were more hiding amongst the trees.

  It was easy to tell which one was Silas. Tall and muscular, he stood out in front of the others in his human form. He wore heavy black furs and had his chestnut hair tied back.

  His amber gaze and the gazes of all the Whiteriver wolves, were focused squarely on Taylor. She had expected that. They were probably wondering what the heck she was doing at the border. She was wondering the same thing.

  Their attention made her nervous. Not just because the stakes were so high or even because she still wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to say, but because she had suddenly remembered how terrible she was at public speaking.

  Part of her wanted to shrink back, let Alder pick Lark up per usual, and go back to the den in shame. Her pride wouldn’t let her. Nearly every member of Halcyon had been dragged out this morning to act as her bodyguards. Like the Whiteriver wolves, most of them hung back in the trees, but Taylor could feel their stares boring a hole into her back.

  Taylor
swallowed and cleared her throat a few times. Laurel put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Remember, you don’t have to yell. He’ll be able to hear you if you speak normally.”

  Taylor nodded in understanding, but when she finally worked up the nerve to speak, she still found herself awkwardly raising her voice.

  “I brought you some food,” she said, waving her hand at the deer. “Well, actually, my pack brought it. And hunted it. I just came up with the idea.”