Unexpected Alpha (Gay M-Preg)

by Chris McHart

  On one hand, it was funny how similar the situations were, but on the other hand not at all. Back then, he’d escaped a mating with Gerome only by luck, because the king had forced Gerome to take Luis as a mate. This time, there was no one there to save him.

  This time, he had to take care of himself.

  The big animal looked at him with dark eyes. It growled quietly but didn’t seem to want to attack. Instead, it slowly paced in front of Josh like it was waiting for something. What was it planning?

  “I know this probably isn’t the best time, but could you… Could you show me how to get to the village?”

  It was probably stupid to ask, but Josh couldn’t help himself. He just wanted to go back to the village, to Anthony. He wanted to be in his arms and forget he’d met the old alpha.

  No matter what Anthony had said to him.

  He shook his head as he remembered what his mate had accused him of. Maybe not Anthony after all. Someone else. No one, even, as long as he was safe.

  The cat went to his right side, getting closer and closer. Josh avoided it, stepping to the left, but the alpha got behind him. Slowly but surely, it began guiding Josh in one direction, accompanied by growls and bared teeth.

  Josh stumbled across branches and roots, his heart racing. The alpha was leading him somewhere, had something on his mind. But what? He didn’t want to know. He just wanted this nightmare to stop. The alpha wouldn’t tell him how to get back to the village, that was sure.

  A quiet growl cut through the air, and this time Josh looked to the left. Another panther had joined them, and as he looked around, he noticed he was surrounded by a group of at least five big cats. They all growled quietly, joining the alpha. Those were the ones Anthony had cast out of the pack, those who preferred to follow the alpha rather than acknowledge the new laws. Now they were back, and they’d captured him.

  Josh put his hand to his mouth as he became more and more aware of the hopelessness of his situation. It got darker and darker, and in a few minutes he would hardly be able to tell where he was being led to. Then again, even if he knew where he was heading, what would it do to help him? Nothing.

  He stumbled on, herded by the quiet growls of the big cats behind him. Tears ran down his cheeks, but he didn’t even have the strength to wipe them off. Why should he?

  A roar cut through the air.

  In front of him stood someone he hadn’t expected. Ash and D, breathing heavily. They stared at him, then at the old alpha behind him, and their faces were white with horror. Josh could see D’s lips moving. He mumbled a quiet damn it without a doubt. Ash also looked like he couldn’t believe what he saw.

  Neither of them could beat the alpha. If anything, Ash might have had a chance, but Josh doubted it. And D… Even if he fought his father, he was pregnant. He was already in his fifth month, making it too dangerous to shift. No one knew what’d happen to the children. He couldn’t risk it. That meant all three of them were at the mercy of this crazy man.

  Why had they done it? Why were they following him? Why did they try to find him?

  They had put themselves and their babies in danger.

  The alpha growled again, a deep rumble that made Josh’s hair stand on end. They didn’t stand a chance.

  Panic took over, and at the same time, ice raced through his veins. They’d all die out here. It was impossible the alpha would let any of them escape. They’d been there when his pack had been taken from him. He wouldn’t let them forget it. And even if they came out of here alive, they’d end up being prisoners. Pictures appeared in his head, of Alex’s kidnapping and the things that had happened afterward. Why did it have to happen again? Would it be better if they died here?

  His gaze fell to Ash, who murmured quietly. His gaze was locked on the alpha, and his hands glowed slightly. Josh had rarely seen Ash really use his powers, but it was impressive to watch him now. He seemed completely lost in his magic.

  Was he trying to fight the alpha? Would he actually attack?

  D growled, though not as deep as his father. “No matter what you’re up to, I wouldn’t do it if I were you. You once got the grace to be cast out. I don’t think you’d get it again.”

  The alpha stared at his son, slowly shaking his head.

  “You don’t believe it? Do you really want to know what happens when Anthony finds out you attacked his mate?”

  Anthony would tear him to pieces, that much was clear. Although… he believed Josh had betrayed him. Maybe he’d just be happy to get rid of him. That thought almost hurt more than the knowledge that he was about to die.

  Tears appeared in his eyes as his mate’s face popped up in his mind, how much hate was in his eyes when he’d yelled at him. Maybe it would’ve been more merciful if it just ended today. He wouldn’t have to live with being rejected by the man he loved.

  But Ash and D were here, and if he knew his friends, they wouldn’t leave him alone. They’d defend him, fight for him. In return, all three of them would die, and he couldn’t let that happen.

  He just didn’t know what to do. Slowly he began to walk towards D and Ash, inch by inch, so the alpha wouldn’t know he was up to something.

  He hadn’t gotten far when the alpha growled again and took a threatening step towards him. Josh froze on the spot and didn’t dare to even breathe. “Let them go. If you want revenge, take revenge on me. Leave them alone. They have nothing to do with it. I’m the alpha’s mate. You wanted me, didn’t you?”

  He never thought he’d ask his father-in-law one day to kill him to protect his best friend and his partner.

  Josh walked slowly toward the alpha, completely calm, step by step, his heart rate finally slowing down. That was what he would do. He couldn’t let Ash and D die because of him. He wouldn’t let that happen. When the alpha was busy with him, they’d be able to escape.

  The alpha’s dark eyes watched him, but he didn’t react.

  Josh kept walking slowly toward him. “It’s Anthony you’re trying to get back at, isn’t it? He took everything from you: your land, your pack, your power. You must be mad at him. Incredibly angry and disappointed that your own son stabbed you in the back. It must be unbearable to lose everything you’ve built for years.” He swallowed and got even closer. He could only hope the alpha couldn’t see through what he was up to.

  He held his hands loosely at his sides, and even though fear made him freezing cold, he was calm. The alpha didn’t yet react to his words. Nor had he attacked.

  “How does it feel to be an outcast? How does it feel to have to leave the pack you’ve lived in all your life? How does it feel to suddenly be nobody anymore when you had so many people look up to you before?” He paused, stared into the eyes of the former alpha, and swallowed.

  Why isn’t he responding?

  He had to attack Josh, had to get the big cat to deal with him so Ash and D could escape. If that didn’t work, he didn’t know what to do.

  “How does it feel to be a nobody all of a sudden? When your own son has defeated and chased you away?”

  A loud roar ripped through the air, and the alpha jumped. He had two, three big jumps up to him, and Josh had just enough time to catch his breath before the alpha would reach him.

  He closed his eyes because he didn’t want to see what’d happen next. He didn’t want to see those big fangs before they hit his neck.

  Anthony’s face appeared before his eyes one last time, and this time he didn’t stare at him with contempt, but it was the image of him holding Leon in his arms when he gave him the bottle a few nights ago. All this love and warmth lay in that picture, and that was what he wanted to see when he died.

  Time seemed to stand still as he waited for his certain death.

  But nothing slammed into him.

  Instead, another loud roar cut the air, and Josh opened his eyes. A panther, much smaller than the alpha, had jumped him and tried to bring him to the ground. His gaze flew to Ash, and even more panic seized him than before.


  D and Ash hadn’t escaped. D had shifted, putting his children in danger.

  Damn it, why hadn’t they just fled when they could?

  “No!” His cry broke through the battle sounds, but neither the alpha nor D stopped. It was clear that the smaller panther stood no chance against his father. It only took a few seconds and D was on his back, the alpha’s fangs at his throat. D stared at him, his body relaxing as he gave up the fight. He just seemed to expect the inevitable.

  A second cry mingled with his shouted NO! and he and Ash started running. Ash was murmuring something, but Josh didn’t pay attention. He threw himself at the Alpha, tried to pull him down from D. It was like trying to move a mountain.

  He pulled at the alpha’s front paw and on his ear, but the animal didn’t move. It didn’t even twitch. It focused only on his son.

  Slowly and deliberately, he seemed to increase the pressure on D’s throat, no matter how hard Josh kicked him. Why didn’t the alpha react? Was he so eager to kill his own son? How could anyone be so heartless? Josh looked around, grabbed a stick, and started beating the alpha, not even caring where he hit him, but it didn’t work.

  Ash didn’t help him. He murmured something and his fingertips glowed more and more. Why didn’t he do anything? Was he trying to enchant the alpha? If he did, it definitely didn’t work, because in a few seconds D would be dead.

  “Leave him alone! He didn’t do anything to you. Take me! You’ve always wanted me!”

  The alpha seemed to ignore him. What the hell was he supposed to do? Tears ran down his face, but he didn’t stop hitting the alpha. That he couldn’t wipe them off didn’t matter, as long as they managed to get D away from the alpha.

  His heart raced, and his whole body shook. Why didn’t that damn shifter move? Why? The alpha growled deeply, and D’s eyes got larger as he cut off his air. Ash’s chanting grew louder, his fingertips glowing red by now.

  But it didn’t help. Whatever Ash was doing, it didn’t help. Josh raised his hands, hitting the alpha square across the head. The branch broke in two and the piece not in his hand flew into the trees.

  What were they supposed to do? They were out of time and no matter what he tried, it didn’t seem to impress the alpha. Josh looked around in panic, but he didn’t know what else to use for defense.

  He couldn’t let D die!

  Another, even louder roar tore its way through the forest, and Josh’s head flew up. Not a moment later, a huge body hit the alpha and threw him down from D.

  Anthony was here. Anthony had come to save them.

  Ash murmured on while Josh dropped next to D, who was lying on the floor, breathing heavily. He carefully stroked his head and before his eyes the man changed.

  “What have you done? You should have fled!” More tears ran down Josh’s face as he looked at D. He couldn’t stop sobbing when he pulled D into a hug, even though he was so damn angry because his friends hadn’t taken their chance.

  “Couldn’t let you die.”

  “You’d have killed yourself for that? And what about your children? You’re not supposed to shift! What if they–“ He couldn’t talk any further. A loud sob came out of his throat.

  Ash knelt next to them and pulled his partner’s head to his shoulder. “It’s all right. It’s all right. I can feel them. They’re healthy, and nothing happened to them.”

  Josh looked up. What? “How do you know?”

  “The moment I saw you, I knew D was going to shift. I’m not trained in fighting, so I knew I wouldn’t be much help to him. But I knew he wouldn’t give you up without a fight. None of us would. I figured D was our best shot at getting out of this thing. So I put protective spells on him and the little ones. Even if it didn’t look that way, I had everything under control. The alpha wouldn’t have been able to really bite.”

  “You can do that?” D stared at his partner like he didn’t know what to make of it.

  Leaves rustled behind them, telling him someone was moving, but a quick glance revealed it were only the other shifters, vanishing back to the forests. “At least all my lessons paid off.” Ash gently laid his hand on D’s round belly and rubbed over it. “But promise me you won’t do that again. I don’t know if it’ll be all right next time.”

  D nodded and pulled Ash in a short kiss. “Thank you.”

  Josh shook his head. “You would’ve sacrificed yourself and the lives of your unborn children to save me, even though you knew we wouldn’t have had a chance if he defeated you. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “It would’ve been impossible to watch him kill you. It was the only thing I could do.”

  “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but you still shouldn’t have.”

  “I know. But I did it anyway, and I would do it again anytime.”

  Josh nodded and looked up to see how the fight between Anthony and the alpha continued. Apparently Anthony managed to get the alpha on his back in exactly the same position as D had been a few minutes ago.

  But this time, Ash didn’t stand by and mumble protection spells.

  Before their eyes, Anthony growled and then lowered his head. There was murder in his eyes, and at that moment Josh understood. The first time he’d spared his father. This time, he wouldn’t get that mercy.

  Anthony’s gaze met Josh’s, and without breaking eye contact, he slowly bit down. He took his time, let his father feel what he was doing to him, and Josh closed his eyes.

  No matter what the man had done to him, he didn’t want to see it. He pressed his forehead against D’s shoulder and waited until the sounds stopped.

  When the forest was as quiet as before, he dared to open his eyes. In front of him stood Anthony, still in his animal form. The other shifters who’d come with the alpha seemed to have vanished. They’d shown that they shared the beliefs of their alpha, but they didn’t really stand behind him.

  The dead body lay a few feet away, and Josh quickly turned his gaze before he got sick. Instead, he stared at Anthony again, who shifted back into his human form.

  Anthony had killed his father to save him.

  “I’m going – there’s a creek over there. I’ll go and wash up quickly.”

  Ash nodded to him and Anthony disappeared. Ash turned back to Josh, pulled him to his feet, and put his arm around him. D got up slowly, too. Josh wanted to yell at him, to tell him how stupid he’d been to fight his father, but he understood why D had done it. He would’ve done the same thing.

  “Let’s go.” Josh started walking slowly. He stopped after a few steps and looked around. Looking at Ash, he asked quietly, “Um… Which way is the village?”

  “We’ll wait for Anthony, then we’ll all go together.”

  Josh looked at the ground. That’s exactly what he wanted to avoid. “I want–“ He didn’t finish the sentence.

  It didn’t matter what he wanted. Ash and D wouldn’t go home without Anthony, and he didn’t know which direction the village was in, so he’d have to wait.

  That didn’t mean he’d talk to the man who was his mate. There was nothing left for them to say to each other.

  Josh nodded and waited until Anthony showed up a few minutes later. He’d washed himself as well as he could and now came to them with his head bowed.

  “What do you want to do with…?” D nodded towards her father.

  “I’m gonna ask someone to take care of this. I hope Lindsay and Jeremy can handle it. As much as I’d like to say I’ll do it myself, I don’t think I can. Even though he was a terrible man, he deserves to be buried properly. I just can’t give him that.”

  D nodded, looking like he couldn’t do it either.

  Josh understood only too well. After everything the two brothers had suffered from their father, everything that had been done to the pack, it was still too much to bury him.

  There were things that were unforgivable. Even though Anthony thought Josh had betrayed him, the alpha had still attacked his mate. That, too, was unforgivable.

  �
�I’ll make sure to let them know.” Ash seemed to have no problem taking over, and both Anthony and D nodded at him gratefully.

  “Can we go then?” Josh was impatient. He wanted to go home to his kids, hug them and just hold them. He’d believed he’d never see them again, and it still lingered in his body. Shivers still ran down his back whenever he remembered the alpha’s huge fangs.

  He’d really believed his last seconds had come and that he’d never see Hanna laughing or Leon waving his fists around again. Not to mention the child he carried under his heart. The last memory of what he’d had with Anthony.

  Tears threatened to spill down his cheeks, but he wiped them away. He wouldn’t embarrass himself by crying in front of Anthony. If Anthony didn’t want a future with him, he’d get through this alone. He didn’t need a man who didn’t think much of him.

  Ash came up to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Will you be all right?”

  “I think so.” Josh nodded and managed to pull his mouth to something like a faint smile. It probably looked more like a grimace, but it seemed to reassure Ash. The anxiety Josh could see in his eyes at least subsided a little.

  Arm in arm, they set off, and Josh stumbled more than he walked. If Ash hadn’t kept his arm around him, he would’ve landed on his face more often than he could count. So they managed, even though his legs trembled, until the village finally turned up. The adrenaline was wearing off, and by now he was so weak he could barely stand on his feet.

  His hands trembled, and he was freezing cold. He relied heavily on Ash as he led him to the village and then to his house.

  Despite his exhaustion, he noticed how he began to smile when he saw his children in the living room. Hanna played happily with D and Ash’s children on the floor, while the babysitter carried around Leon, who’d apparently just drunk his bottle. His eyes kept closing, and Josh knew from experience that it’d only take a few minutes for the little one to fall asleep.