Owned By The Alphas novel Chapter 6

“Is it meant to feel so shit?” I gasped as a weakness spread through me, a heavy, icy feeling taking over as I stumbled.

“Brax,” Nikolai snapped, holding me up.

Why were the other girls not feeling it?

Braxton’s eyes rolled back in his head, that same white swirling from before, coating them. He growled, then sucked in a breath. His eyes snapped back to me, and I looked from hooded lids that tried to close.

“Winter born,” he breathed, walking forward, holding my face.

My eyes fluttered closed as he did the eye thing again.

“What’s wrong, Brax?” Derik snapped.

“The winter is fighting the blood.” He smirked. “Her shadows don’t like us in her body with them.” His eyes went back to normal, and he stepped back.

I shivered at the way he said “shadows.” I didn’t want them anywhere near me.

“We’ve never had a winter-born offering. There hasn’t been one in over a millennium. Will this be a problem?” Nikolai demanded.

I almost hoped he’d say yes and let me go, but he smirked and shook his head.

“No, our blood is stronger. She’ll be fine. But she will be the most powerful offering we’ve ever had.” His mouth went wide across his face, and I blew out a breath.

The coldness subsided, the heavy ache being flushed out with a warmth that I knew was their blood. I pushed back from Nikolai and glared.

“I have no shadows,” I snapped, feeling somehow violated, but the alphas ignored me.

Derik looked up at the moon and cursed. “We’re running late. We need to finalize the branding,” he warned, clearly the more serious alpha of the three.

I flinched at the idea of branding. I’d had to brand the cows at the last calving for the year, and the burned flesh smell had made me vomit.

I wasn’t cut out for farming. I stuck to the wineries, squishing the grapes, taste testing, bottling. There was something therapeutic about it, but I didn’t have time to think about that now. I had to prepare for a brand I didn’t want.

Nikolai nodded, and his fangs dropped. I gasped as the other girls took steps back.

The other two dropped their fangs. Two elongated canines on the top, two on the bottom, their other teeth looking sharper.

Their eyes went red, and I realized what they were doing. “You’re going to bite us?”

I shuddered.

Nikolai nodded. “The bite of your alpha,” he said, walking forward as the others claimed their offerings.

The girls’ screams made me jump, piercing the room, echoing, bouncing off the walls, and I knew that’s what I had heard through the door.

I glanced over at them, Braxton and Derik tearing through their clothes to get to their hip. Derik sank his fangs in first. Then Brax. The girls sobbed, screaming, and I backed up from Nikolai. I hated pain.

“No point in running, Lori.”

“I can’t help it. I don’t want it to hurt,” I admitted, not ashamed of my aversion to pain.

He hesitated, then a smirk crept across his face. “It doesn’t have to hurt,” he offered, and I raised a brow.

“I have a feeling I am going to regret this, but what do you mean?”

He backed me up against the wall, his finger running up my thigh, slipping under my silk nightie, brushing my hipbone.

“We put the bite here so it is not visible to others, keeps the secret, and can be easily covered. But there are other places to put it that aren’t so painful,” he breathed, leaning closer as I swallowed a stuck breath.

“Like where?” I asked, sucking in a breath when he lowered himself down my body, his face in front of my pussy.

He lifted the silk, revealing my damp lace panties. He gave a growl of approval before leaning in.

I gasped as his warm breath teased me, his lips brushing along my thigh before pressing them against the hot skin on the inner of it. I almost moaned at the feeling.

“What now?” Derik snapped.

“Her shadows are whispering to her,” he said, his eyes going back in his head.

“She’s channeling us,” he said as if it meant anything to me.

“I’m not doing anything.”

Braxton nodded. “Yes, you are, Spitfire, you just haven’t learned how to harness those shadows yet.”

“What shadows?”

“The winter shadows inside you. They’re part of you, and yours are fiercely loyal to you. Lucky for you.”

“How the hell is that lucky?” I snapped.

“Because if they weren’t, they would try to destroy all the good parts of you, and then we’d have to kill you before you destroyed us all.

“But that’s enough storytelling tonight, Spitfire. We have a ritual to complete before the sun comes up, and Nikolai is going to ruin ancient traditions and take you on the dinner table if we don’t hurry the fuck up. So, shall we eat?” he asked, as if he hadn’t just told me I was haunted in some weird fucked up way.

What were the shadows? What did that mean? Could they control me?

“Depends, do you have normal food?” I asked, and he chuckled, leading me past the other alphas and through the next door.

My jaw dropped at the next room I was led into. It wasn’t cold, or dark. It was warm and vibrant with a feast laid out for all the offerings, who were laughing and eating.

Fireplaces filled the room with warmth as soft music played in the background.

Like it was a true ceremony. One to celebrate.

I still wasn’t sure what part I was meant to be celebrating, but I was starving, so I ignored my reservations and let Nikolai stride into the room, grab my hand, and lead me to the seat next to his.