Page 10 of The Alpha's Mates

Turning on my foot, I lunged for the window. My arms crossed in front of my face, I prepared for the breaking of glass. It never came. My wrists were jerked backward, my body following and I landed in a heap on the floor. Pain splintered through my body at the harsh contact with the hardwood.

Vera’s gasp and the men’s angry panting was loud in the otherwise quiet room. Looking backward, I saw Soren’s boot on top of one of my chains. “You son of a-”

“You’renotleaving.” He reached down with one massive hand and picked the chain up, wrapping it around his fist. His skin sizzled from contact with the chain. He ignored it, furious eyes locked on me. My body began to slide over the floor. He was reeling me in like a fish.

CHAPTER 6

Atlas

“Calder. Get Vera out of here.” The room was too small for me to deal with three other pissed off alpha wolves and keep Soren’s grandmother safe. Her mates would skin our hides if we allowed her to be injured, even by accident.

Calder hurried Vera from the room, and I heard her muttering, “Good luck.”

Sighing, I watched Reese spin and dig her heels into the floor as she pulled back on the chain, trying to gain her freedom. These two were matched in their stubbornness, it seemed. That meant I would forever be the peacekeeper between them. For some reason, that idea didn’t seem to bother me. As long as we got to keep our mate in our lives, I’d do whatever was necessary to make her happy. I went to sleep too many nights thinking I’d never have a mate. Now that she was here, I was beginning to realize that we’d been waiting forthisparticular female. No other would have suited us the way she did. Wewouldn’t have wanted justanymate; we’d been waiting forher.The Moon Goddess gave her to us and for that I’d always be thankful. Already deep seated emotions were forming, thanks to the magic, and her pheromones.

Sighing, I watched the battle in front of me play out. Unfortunately for Reese, she was barefoot and she kept sliding closer to Soren. It didn’t matter how much she fought, she wasn’t going to win this one. Not to mention my cadre mate was pissed beyond imagining at the thought of her wanting to leave us. His patience for her arrogance and denial were at an end. Mine was holding on by a thread, but in a way, I understood her. In her mind she was doing exactly what we always did. Time and time again we’d sacrifice our time, our safety, our happiness to do what was best for our pack. We may be their leaders, but that came with responsibility for them and Soren took that seriously.

Reese was the same. She was fighting to get back to her females. The desire to allow her to return to them was butting up against the overwhelming need to keep her nearby and safe. Watching her fight my cadre mate, I began to realize something. We were doing exactly what she claimed the others had done, forcing her. We planned to claim her under our Goddess’s teachings, and only after she was begging us, but that wouldn’t change anything for her. She’d still see it as being forced against her will.

Damn it.We needed to do this a different way. Our female was unlike any other I’d met. Which meant we couldn’t use the typical methods to win her over.

Soren usually had a steady head on his shoulders, but we’d waited a long time for our mate. There was a time when shifters found their intended mates as soon as their designation presented. Then they’d have five years of getting to know one another. At eighteen they’d claim each other as a cadre and be united as one.

Soren had just turned thirty-five last week. His patience was gone. Hearing his mate say she wanted to leave had a level of rage descending on him that I hadn’t seen since his fathers and grandfathers had forced us to stay home from the war. Soren and I had just turned eighteen that year, Calder was sixteen. It took days to calm Soren down. I wasn’t so sure it would be as easy this time.

“How about we sit down like rational shifters and discuss this?” I asked in a hopeful tone.

Twin gray glares pierced me before they focused on each other again. “There’s nothing to discuss,” Reese grunted. They both could agree on that point, albeit for different reasons. She was trying to avoid being pulled into Soren’s grasp. She wasn’t having much luck.

I knew, without a doubt, that Soren wouldn’t hurt her. There just had to be a better way of getting her cooperation than the thoughts that were flashing over our mind link.

That’s not a good idea, Brother,I warned him.We weren’t actually brothers, but had known each other all our lives. We’d been born only months apart. The Goddess had meant for us to be together in a cadre and we’d known it since the beginning. We were inseparable.

Fuck off. She’s going to learn to obey.His face was set in a fierce scowl as he jerked Reese the rest of the way, into his waiting arms.

You’re just going to push her away…I bit back a grin as Reese flailed and kicked as he hauled her up.

Soren shot me a dark look as he turned with our mate secured over his shoulder. “Are you going to stop me?” he asked out loud this time.

“No, Alpha.”

“Knock that shit off, Atlas. She’s your mate, too.” He was breathing hard, whether from the anger or the brief tussle, Iwasn’t sure. He didn’t want me deferring to him because he was lead alpha. In his current state he wanted me to work with him to convince her. Only our ideas on convincing her differed.

All I did know was that Reese hadn’t given that fight her all. She was waiting on something.Probably for us to drop our guard.She wasn’t stupid, she knew she had no chance of beating us. We were made for her, just as she was made for us. She had a weakness when it came to us. That and we were the strongest leading alpha pack in the mountains, likely all of Elaria. The Moon Goddess had bestowed us with many blessings, size, strength, and cunning. We didn’t take our gifts for granted, most of the time. Vera was convinced our Goddess needed our help, and that was what we were trying to do.

“Go ahead,” I motioned for Soren to continue with his plan.

Giving me a sharp look, he strode down the hall, his large arm pinning Reese against his shoulder. I grimaced when I saw her lean forward and take a bite out of the muscles in his back. His snarl of pain echoed through the halls.

The home of the Venat Pack leaders was massive. It’d been built big enough for the generations of ruling cadres to live together, while still having enough space that they weren’t stepping on each other’s tails.

Soren’s grandparents lived on the lower half of the house, leaving us the top floor. At one point it’d been split into two, when his parents were still alive. Since then, we’d spread out across the floor and made it our own.

I followed Soren into the room we’d use once we claimed Reese as our mate, officially. It was almost overtaken by the huge bed that stood in the middle. Another, smaller, room connected to it and that was where Soren was headed. Sectioning off the smaller space from the main room were pure silver bars. We’d had it put in, just in case. You never knew when you’d need to hold a shifter prisoner. Maybe if Soren’s fathershad locked Sarina—Soren’s mother—inside their own cell before they’d left she might still be alive.

We’d chosen to put it in our mating room because if any of us ever succumbed to the rage, it was a private place to cool our heels. We’d commissioned Baron to create multiple areas where we could keep prisoners within our village. All outfitted with jail cells made of silver.

Soren reached out, hissing as he ripped open the gate. Reese seemed to realize too late what was about to happen. Just as she started struggling in earnest he tossed her inside.

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