Page 48 of Claimed By the Alpha Wolves

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Faye,” Cayson says, and when I meet his eyes, I see a rare, genuine sincerity there. He must keep it hidden, buried under his joking personality.

“Well, what do we have here?” a voice says, and I turn to see Ezra strolling up the path to the pavilion.

“Oh, no,” Cayson says, groaning and falling back on his back. “Speak of the devil.”

“Oh?” Ezra says, glancing between the two of us with a smile on his face. “You were speaking about me?”

“No,” Cayson says, sitting back up, just as I say, “Yes, Cayson has really been gushing over you.”

Cayson lifts his hands from his face and gives me a dirty look.

Ezra sits down next to us, grabs a plate, and starts eating, all while Cayson is glaring at him. And for such a serious man, Ezra is grinning like a fool as he crashes our picnic.

“Don’t you have an omega to eat with?” Cayson asks him dryly.

Ezra smiles. “We finished. I already walked her back to her room like a gentleman… and bribed the right person to learn where you two would end up.”

“Gentleman, my butt, crashing a damn picnic,” Cayson mutters.

“I do believeyoucrashed our boating outing, then crashed both our boats, not me. Turn around is fair play,” Ezra says, followed by a smirk.

Laughing, I dig into the food with a hunger I haven’t felt in years. There’s just something about their banter, about these two men, that just puts me at ease. I don’t know how to explain it.

When we finish all the food, Cayson puts it away while still muttering to himself about irritating wolves who don’t know when to leave, which just causes me to laugh harder.How can such a big man be so funny? So unthreatening?I’ll never know.

“Well, that was fun, but why should the fun end? Should we go for a run?” Ezra asks, jerking his head toward the nearby thicket of woods. “I’ve been dying to stretch my wolf all day.”

Both of their gazes fall to me, and for some reason, the idea of shifting in front of them sends a hot flush of lust through my body. I take a deep breath, trying to calm the feeling.

After a long moment, I get to my feet, brushing off the leather riding pants they insisted on dressing us in. I haven’t shifted since arriving here, and itwouldbe nice to relieve some stress with a run.

“Sure,” I say, watching as joy spreads across their faces. “Why not?”

TWENTY

Faye

Who would have thought Faye could be so fast?Ezra sends, pure joy coating the thought.

He was right about shifting. It feels impossibly good to be running through the woods, dodging the trees, smelling and seeing and taking in every enhanced sense. Even just hearing another wolves’ words in my mind feels strangely comforting, reminding me of my youth spent running with the other kids in town.

Since Miles died, I’d shifted less and less. I don’t know why, especially now when it feels so good.

Cayson and Ezra are running on either side of me, their scents mixing together and washing over me, all warm spices and wood smoke. We run down the side of a hill, and Ezra jumps on me playfully, taking extra care not to hurt me as we roll down the side of the hill. Cayson jumps into the pile, pushing Ezra off of me and nuzzling into my neck.

I wonder if anyone in my pack runs like this, exploring and having fun together.I know there are frequent hunting parties, but it’s not the same as spending time together just for the sake of it, stretching our legs and running through the trees.

All at once, memories of running with my brother flood into my head, and I can’t stop thinking about what it was like to laugh and play with him, the two of us sneezing as we ran through the fields of flowers outside our cabin. The two of us wrestling with each other, or catching the scent of a rabbit and giving chase, laughing like idiots.

My brain returns to the present moment when I see something small and white flash out of the corner of my eye.

Over here, I say, catching the scent of a rabbit and turning, running as fast as I can toward it.Even though we won’t kill it, the chase is always fun.

The rabbit is terrified–I can smell the fear rolling off of it–and I wonder for a moment if that’s what I smell like to the alphas.Probably. Omegas are barely a step above prey. At least that’s what my grandmother always used to say.

I can feel Ezra and Cayson gaining on me and I run faster, wanting to catch the rabbit and show it to them. Show them that I’m not as weak as everyone thinks. I’m actually pretty good at hunting small things. It’s probably because I understand them, know what it’s like to constantly be running from something bigger.

Cayson jumps over the top of me, reaching the rabbit just as it dives into the hole. I can feel Ezra’s amusement as we watch Cayson paw at the hole, desperately trying to get the rabbit that’s long gone. I sit back and watch him continuing to dig, even though he’s never going to be able to dig far enough to unearth his prey.

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