Trapped Between Two Alphas Read Free Page B

in their
whole lives.
    “She’s
human,” Kris said.
    “And
she’s dying.”
    Matt
folded his arms over his chest. Did Cynthia suffer with her illness? She didn’t
appear to be in any kind of pain. It hurt him deeply to think of her hurting.
He’d kill anyone who tried to lay a finger on her.
    “You
can change her,” Leonard said. He was Kris’s second-in-command. They’d all
grown up together and had prepared themselves to take their places in the pack.
    “That’s
dangerous even for women of our own kind,” Matt said.
    Most
of their packs were males. Women were not capable of going through the
transition from human to wolf. The shock and pain of the first transition
killed them. Their own mothers had been human.
    “A
female werewolf is rarely heard of,”
Arnold
said. “The transition could kill her. Mating her might be the safest option.”
    Matt
shook his head. “No, I scented her illness. It’s far too progressive, and she’s
not strong enough to fight it.”
    Human
mates could survive and live a long healthy life that lasted centuries rather
than decades. His own father had lived over one hundred years. They aged slower
than most humans, which was why they lived far enough away from the nearest
town. Few people saw them and never asked questions. They aged naturally until
they hit their first turning. Matt had turned at eighteen, and the aging slowed
down. He was nearing fifty in human years but looked no older than thirty-five.
    “Then
we need to claim her,” Kris said.
    “She
has no knowledge of our kind.”
    Kris
shrugged. “We’ve got a limited of time to get her used to us. She’s not
repulsed by us, as otherwise we’d have sensed it.”
    Matt
couldn’t argue. She’d not argued with his hand on her. He’d wanted to do far
more than hold her hand, but the small touch had been enough to keep his beast
at bay.
    “We
call a truce then. No more fighting while trying to claim her?” Kris offered
him his hand.
    Staring
down at the hand in front of him, Matt grasped it. For Cynthia he’d do
anything. Even strike a deal with his sworn enemy in order to
claim her. He’d felt the bolt of electricity run through him the moment
they were all touching.
      He shook Kris’s hand.
    They
had a woman to claim.
    ****
    Kris
walked back to his home feeling calmer than he’d felt in years. Cynthia called
to him in ways he couldn’t describe. Her beauty outshone all the women he’d
been with. Leonard walked by his side. His pack travelled close behind him.
    He
would change and then make his way over to where Cynthia lived. He and Matt
were going to take her out shopping in the town over from them for her to get
her groceries. The thought of spending time with her filled him with a buzz.
    “What’s
the matter, Leonard?” he asked.
    His
second-in-command disapproved of what was happening. Kris felt it deep down in
his core.
    “I
worry what the human will do. She’s affected both you and Matt. It doesn’t feel
natural to me. I’ve never heard of two alphas sharing a woman. This could be a
trap.”
    Kris
stopped and glared at his second. “Trap? What kind of
trap?”
    “The
human hunters could be lulling you into a false sense of security.”
    Grabbing
Leonard around the throat Kris pulled him in close. For the longest time this
man had been his friend. “You scented her, Leonard. Did you smell deception on
her person?” He growled the words in his face.
    He
felt angered that one of his pack members could think something so awful about
his woman. Cynthia wasn’t like that. Her scent was filled with the innocence of
vanilla and the sweetness of honey.
    Leonard
shook his head. “Calm down, my Alpha. I meant no disrespect. The rest of the
pack is nervous about the hunters. They’re unstable, and none of know what is
causing the hunts. I heard three wolves went down last month at the height of
the full moon. Do you have any idea what could cause that? No human is a match
for us.”
    Kris
let him