Page 61 of Owned By Four Alphas

“Oh,Castien!” she ran forward, pulling him into a hug. He squeaked in shock, awkwardly patting her back.

“There, there… don’t…um, please don’t cry!”

“I can’t help it!” her voice cracked as tears escaped her. “I’m just…just so happy to see you! You’re so amazing!”

He laughed nervously, pulling away from her, his gaze flitting from her face to Malek.

Her mate paced up beside her. “You trust him?”

“Of course I trust him,” Selena said, wiping away her tears, “he’s my friend!”

Castien blushed, his high cheekbones turning rosy. “Wow! That’s…I mean…I consider you a friend too!”

It was apparently enough to set her bawling again, and Malek licked her cheek with his rough tongue. “Don’t cry, little mate, you’re alarming him.”

She sniffled, trying to get herself under control, but that was a hard task these days. She blamed the pregnancy. Or her exhaustion. Or both.

“Come on,” said Castien, “I’ve set up camp in one of these houses whilst I try to figure out a route through the mountains! I’ve nearly got it.”

Selena followed him into the building, with Malek padding in behind them, still reluctant to change from his true form, apparently.

As night fell, he watched them as they poured over books, and Selena’s heart soared at the familiar activity.

“You’ve made so much progress!”

“Well, I’ve been here a few days,” Castien said, “there’s not much else to do. I didn’t want to go in unprepared.”

“Very sensible,” she said, eyeing Malek. “When was the last time you ate?”

Malek lifted his head, his eyes narrowing. “About a week ago.”

“Maybe you should go hunting now, while it’s dark. I don’t know how much food there would be for you once we’re in the mountains.”

Malek’s eyes turned to Castien, and Selena could practically smell his displeasure.

“Come on, I promise we won’t go anywhere! You’ll be gone, what? An hour? Maybe two? It would be good to get your strength up.”

“My strength is fine, little mate.”

They argued back and forth for a little while more, Castien sitting awkwardly pretending to be entranced by a book. Eventually, the argument that he wouldn’t want to hunt for a good while after she had given birth won out, and reluctantly he crept out of the house just as dusk began to fall.

“If anything happens,” he said, looking to the sky. “If I come back and you’re not here…”

Selena groaned, “If you come back and I’ve somehow disappeared, you have my full permission to light enough bonfires to stretch between here and the Marble Halls to get Kaelen’s attention. Is that a deal?”

That seemed to appease him, and with a warning snarl that had Castien trembling in his boots, Malek melted into the darkness.

Selena turned back to the books with an apologetic shrug. “He just doesn’t want anything to happen to me.”

“That’s understandable,” Castien said, “he just wants what’s best for you and your baby. All your mates do. It’s been rather annoying, actually.”

Selena rolled her eyes, “Okay, I know they’ve been overbearing, but they haven’t been that…”

She trailed off, Castien’s words finally sinking into her brain. A small warning alarm sounded, and she instinctively shuffled a bit further away from him.

“Anyway! Maybe we should…”

“Incredibly annoying, actually,” Castien continued, getting to his feet and bolting the door. A frisson of dread ran down her spine.

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