by J. L. Wilder
Marco had healed well. They could defend their cave if need be. And while they were here, they controlled the local resources. They had access to berries, game, and water. They had everything they needed.
They had even begun to keep stores inside the cave. They collected berries every other day, and on the days they didn’t forage for berries, they checked their snares and brought home meat. Wood for the fire was gathered roughly once a week and stacked at the very back of the cave, where it could be kept dry.
And then there was the water.
It was only sensible to keep a store of water nearby. When the weather was bad, or when it was dark outside, they didn’t want to have to leave the cave and go down to the river to drink.
It was Sophie who had come up with the idea of weaving reeds into baskets and lining them with mud. “My pack used to do this,” she admitted as she worked. “We never really used the baskets. It was just something for the women to do to keep us busy. We’d give our baskets to the men as gifts, but they didn’t take them seriously. They wore them on their heads as stupid hats, or sometimes they filled them with beer and competed to see who could drink a whole basket of beer the fastest.”
Marco made a face. “Pigs.”
“Yeah, they were,” Sophie agreed. “But if the baskets could hold beer, they can hold water.”
It had been a brilliant idea, Ryker thought, and one that had completely changed the way the three of them lived. Now they filled the baskets with water each morning and dipped into them throughout the day.
It was almost like having a real home. They didn’t need to go outside every time they wanted something. Everything they needed was in the cave.
They had gotten used to sleeping in a pile, arms and legs draped over one another, Sophie in the middle like the filling in a sandwich, and at first, when Ryker awoke in the middle of the night, he thought it must have been because she or Marco had moved.
But no. They were still asleep, their breathing deep and even.
He was about to settle in and go back to sleep himself when he heard the sound—a scraping, coming from the mouth of the cave.
Slowly, carefully, he lifted his head.
The silhouette of a man could be seen in the moonlight. Someone is here.
Every instinct Ryker had screamed at him to attack, and before he could compel himself to wait, he was on his feet, putting his body between the invader and Sophie.
He trembled. He was inches from shifting. A thought would push him over the edge. But he wanted to remain human as long as the invader did.
Instead, he landed a punch on the man’s jaw, sending him sprawling.
The invader let out a grunt, and Ryker heard a clattering noise as something fell out of his hands. It wasn’t often that he wished for the tools of civilization, but he would have given anything to be able to turn on the lights and see what he was dealing with.
Marco appeared at his side. “What’s going on?” he asked, staring down at their uninvited guest.
“Don’t know,” Ryker bit out. He felt hardly human. “Woke up and found him here.”
“You’d better go sit down,” Marco suggested. “You’re about to lose it.”
“I don’t see the problem with that,” Ryker growled.
“Yeah, I know you don’t,” Marco said. He sounded a little exasperated. “Go and sit with Sophie. I’ll deal with this.”
Sophie. The sound of her name was enough to snap Ryker out of his agitation. He fell back a few steps and looked behind him.
Sophie was sitting up in the space they used as a bed, staring at the newcomer to their cave. “Ryker?” she asked, her voice a little tremulous.
He had to protect her. She was frightened, and it was his job to do something about that. He moved over to sit beside her. “It’s all right,” he said quietly. “Marco’s got this under control.”
“Who is that? Is it a bear?”
A snarl ripped loose from the shadows of the cave. “I’m no bear.”
“Who are you?” Marco asked, his voice steady and even.
Ryker was amazed at how well his fellow alpha was keeping his calm. He had wanted to tear the intruder’s throat out for daring to enter their cave at night. He thought about what might have happened if he hadn’t woken up when he had, and every muscle in his body seemed to tense at the same time.
He might have hurt Sophie.
The newcomer mumbled something under his breath.
“Speak up,” Marco said. “Can’t hear you.”
“Name’s Burton,” the man mumbled.
“You don’t have to talk like you have rocks in your mouth,” Marco said. “Everyone wants to hear what you have to say, Burton. What are you doing in our cave in the middle of the night?”
More mumbling from Burton.
“Listen,” Marco snapped. “I don’t have time for fucking games. You answer my questions—so I can hear you—or else I’ll toss you back out into the rain. Do you doubt I can do it?”
Ryker sort of doubted Marco could do it. He was strong, to be sure, and his injury had healed well. But Ryker had gotten a bit of the measure of their opponent before pulling back, and he seemed to be pretty big and strong himself. He’s another alpha, Ryker thought.
At least, if it came to blows, it would be two against one.
“You have food,” Burton said. “I could smell it earlier tonight when you were cooking. Meat.”
Ryker heard the clattering sound again, and this time he knew what it was. One of Sophie’s baskets had been knocked over, and he had heard the clay lining moving against the floor of the cave.
Apparently, Marco had found the basket now. “You dumped out our water,” he observed.
“Well, I didn’t mean to do that,” Burton said. “That was your friend’s fault. If he hadn’t hit me in the face, I wouldn’t have dropped the water.”
“It’s his fault you came into our home at night?” Marco demanded. “It’s his fault you were stealing from us? Explain to me how those things are his fault. Because the way I see it, he was just lying over there asleep until he discovered you raiding our supplies.”
“Okay, okay,” Burton said. “Jesus.”
“So what gives you the right?” Marco asked. “What makes you think you can come here and take things from us? We worked hard to get what we have.”
“You don’t know what it’s like out there,” Burton said. “You don’t know what it’s like to be hungry. You don’t know what it’s like to be afraid, to have no idea where your next meal is coming from. None of you have any idea.”
Sophie made a small, angry noise. “I beg your pardon?” she said.
Ryker tensed. “Be quiet,” he hissed at her. Until she had spoken, it hadn’t been clear whether or not Burton even knew there was a woman in the cave with them, and that wasn’t information Ryker wanted to hand over.
But she was pushing past him, getting to her feet, striding over to where Marco knelt holding Burton to the ground. “You think I don’t know what it’s like to be hungry?” she demanded. “You think I don’t know what it’s like to be afraid?”
Ryker had never seen her like this—defensive, fierce, angry.
It was kind of attractive.
But then, so was everything she did.
“What could you know about it?” Burton demanded. “You live in the shelter of a cave. You have two big, strong guys providing for you. What could you possibly know about hardship?”
“I wasn’t born in this cave, you know,” Sophie said. “I had a life before I met Marco and Ryker.”
Ryker winced. He would have preferred not to have his name spoken aloud either.
But Burton didn’t seem to care about knowing his enemies’ names. He was staring at Sophie. “Where did you come from, then?” he asked, and the tone of his voice was completely different. “Did you live in the wild?”
Marco seemed to wake up to the danger. “Hey,” he said sharply. “Don’t look at her. She’s not for you to
look at.”
“Sophie, get back over here,” Ryker ordered.
Sophie took a few steps back, then seemed to decide that she had met the conditions of Ryker’s order. She stopped. “We should give him something to eat,” she said.
“Are you kidding?” Marco demanded. “He snuck into our cave at night to steal from us.”
“Because he’s starving,” Sophie said.
“He isn’t starving,” Ryker said. “You were starving when I found you. He’s just...hungry.”
“Okay, he’s hungry then,” Sophie said. “And we have meat, and we can help.”
“So you’re the nice one,” Burton said.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Sophie said. “I definitely haven’t decided that I like you. And you were stealing from us. You may as well admit that.”
“All right,” Burton said. “I was stealing.” There was no remorse at all in his tone.
“Give him something to eat, Marco,” Sophie said.
Marco shook his head. “Absolutely not,” he said. “I love you, Sophie. But no. I’m not feeding this guy after he snuck into our cave while we slept.”
“Damn right,” Ryker agreed.
Sophie sighed. “Fine,” she said, sounding thoroughly exasperated. She went to the corner where the meat was kept and gathered something up in her hands. Then she returned to Burton’s side.
“Don’t give it to him, Sophie,” Marco said.
But it was a caution, not an order. Marco wasn’t commanding her. Ryker could feel the lack of power in his fellow alpha’s words. And it was enough to make him hold back on giving an order of his own.
Sophie stepped forward and handed the meat to Burton.
Ryker saw the moment she froze, her body tensing up, as their hands made contact. At first, he misunderstood what he was seeing and thought that Burton had done something to hurt her. He jumped to his feet and started over, fully intent on beating the other man senseless.
Marco caught him by the arm and restrained him. “Wait,” he said, his gaze fixed on Burton. “Just wait.”
Burton and Sophie stood very still, staring at each other. After a few moments, Burton lifted a hand and gently touched Sophie’s cheek.
“Oh,” Sophie said quietly as if an unexpected realization had just dawned on her.
And at that moment, Ryker understood.
It was Marco who put words to it first. “He’s imprinted,” he said softly. And then, louder, “You’ve imprinted. Haven’t you?”
Burton looked over at Marco. “She’s yours,” he said, sounding completely mystified. And then he glanced at Ryker and added, “Or is she yours?”
“It’s a little bit complicated,” Ryker said. His head was spinning. The thief had imprinted on Sophie? What did this mean? Were they going to have to allow Burton to stay here too? Had their pack just gained another?
As much as he didn’t want to believe it, the answer to that question seemed all too obvious. Sophie and Burton were moving closer together, their gazes still locked. They seemed to have forgotten that anyone else was there with them.
“Sophie,” Ryker said firmly.
“Yeah?” she said vaguely.
“Look at me.” It was one of the firmest commands of his life. He had to recapture her attention right away before things got completely out of hand.
She turned to him, looking dazed.
“We’re going for a walk,” he said. “Marco, can you give Burton something to drink, let him eat his meal? We’ll all talk when Sophie and I return.”
“Yeah.” Marco sounded just as gob smacked as Sophie had. “Sure thing.”
Ryker turned and walked out of the cave, trusting that Sophie would follow him.
She had to jog to keep up. “Slow down, Ryker,” she said.
“Keep up,” he countered.
“You’re angry with me.” She sounded frightened. “Ryker...I didn’t mean for it to happen. I wasn’t even thinking of him like that. I promise. I just wanted to give him something to eat and send him on his way! I never would have done it on purpose.”
“Wait,” Ryker interrupted. “Calm down. I’m not upset with you.”
“You are upset,” she protested. “I can tell. I know you. I can read your face.”
“Okay, yes, I’m upset, but I’m not upset with you. This is a mess, Sophie. I’m pissed off that it’s happening. But it’s not your fault. I don’t blame you.”
“You don’t think it’s my fault?”
“I didn’t set out to imprint on you,” he said. “And you weren’t trying to lure me in. Right? It just happened.”
She nodded. “Do you regret it?”
“Of course not. Hey.” He took her arms and pulled her close, cradling her against his chest. “And neither does Marco. That’s the way it was with him too. And now the same thing is happening again.”
“I don’t know why,” she said. “I don’t know why everyone I meet seems to imprint on me.”
“Well, first of all, it’s not everyone you meet,” he pointed out. “That Josh guy never did.”
Her face relaxed a little. “That’s true.”
“And the reason we’ve all imprinted on you is that you’re a powerful omega,” he said. “You should be proud of that.”
“Even if it means we have to live with a thief?”
“That’s going to be hard,” Ryker said. “I don’t know exactly what our pack does from here. I don’t know how we’re going to deal with this new development. But we’re going to deal with it. If he’s someone you need, then he’s someone we all need. He’s part of the family. And we’ll figure out how to make that work.”
Sophie leaned into him. “I don’t deserve you,” she said quietly. “I don’t deserve you or Marco.”
Ryker shook his head. “That’s the thing I’ve been trying to make you understand,” he told her. “You deserve everything. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all this time.”
Chapter Eleven
BURTON
“So, what?” Burton asked. “We’re a pack now? Is that it?”
Marco glared at him. “I don’t know where you get off complaining about the structure of our group,” he said. “You’re lucky we’re letting you stay at all.”
Burton sighed. He hadn’t even been complaining. It was exhausting trying to win the favor of Ryker and Marco when they so clearly didn’t want him around.
Frankly, he was stunned that he had been permitted to stay at all. He hadn’t expected it. Even after imprinting on Sophie, he had assumed they would send him on his way. In fact, he had assumed they would be even hastier to speed him out of their lives now that he’d imprinted on their omega.
And it had definitely been weird. They hadn’t left him alone with Sophie. Not once. It felt like he and Sophie were teenagers trying to sneak bursts of physical contact under the eyes of disapproving chaperones.
It didn’t help matters that Burton was a few years younger than Ryker and Marco. He and Sophie were barely into their twenties. The older alphas treated Sophie like she was something to be sheltered and protected, which Burton supposed only made sense. But they treated him like an errant kid who needed to be kept on a leash.
Today, he had been allowed out of the cave. That didn’t happen every day, so of course he had jumped at the opportunity to go out and check the snares with Marco.
Of course, he reminded himself, I don’t actually have to stay in the cave all the time just because they tell me to. What were they going to do about it? Burton was an alpha too, after all. They couldn’t give him orders. He didn’t have to submit to them.
But he had chosen to do what they’d asked of him anyway. Again and again, he had cooperated with what Marco and Ryker had wanted.
He wasn’t sure exactly why. It wasn’t like they were allowing him to get any closer to Sophie as a reward for good behavior.
He supposed that he could just sense, somehow, that his place in the pack was becoming more secure. That every time he w
ent along with what one of the other alphas wanted, their distrust in him decreased incrementally.
But that didn’t mean he was wild about the fact that this was a pack.
“Sophie wants a pack,” Marco said, although Burton hadn’t continued to pick at the issue. “We should give her a pack. If you really care about her, you’ll want to give her what she wants.”
Marco had been using this kind of language for days, and Burton absolutely hated it. “You know I care about her,” he said. “Stop acting like I have to prove it at every turn.”
“You do need to prove it,” Marco said. “You can’t possibly think that Ryker or I are going to let you stay with us if we ever get a hint that you don’t love Sophie the way we do. That’s the only reason you’ve been allowed to stay with us as long as you have.”
“It’s the only reason I want to stay,” Burton pointed out. “What do you think I’m hanging around for? The pleasure of your company?”
Marco let out a low growl and turned away. “Just finish checking the snares so we can go back to the cave, all right? I haven’t had my breakfast yet, and if I’m going to be expected to put up with you all day, I should really eat something.”
Burton turned toward the closest snare and checked it. It was empty. “No dice,” he reported.
“Christ,” Marco said. “I’m going to have to go fishing, aren’t I?”
“I mean, probably.” Burton wasn’t about to let Marco make him feel guilty about the fact that the snares were empty. That wasn’t his fault.
“You should learn to fish,” Marco said.
“Okay, I’ll work on that.” Marco hadn’t offered to teach him, and Burton couldn’t honestly say that he wanted to be taught. Not by someone who was acting like this toward him. He just wanted to get away from Marco. “Why don’t I go gather some berries and acorns and shit like that to go with the fish?”
