Feral Alphas (Feral Wolves of the Arctic Book 2) Read online

  “You know that isn’t how this works.” Her voice was nearly a growl, and Ryker realized to his amusement that she was angry with him for pulling away from her, for taking away the kiss that she had been so enjoying. Her fingers twined in his hair and she tried to pull him close again.

  He held his distance. He was stronger than she was. “What do you mean, that isn’t how it works?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. He liked hearing her explain it. It was an explanation that made him feel good.

  “It doesn’t matter how much Burton gives me,” Sophie said, tightening the grip of her leg around his waist, trying to force him closer to her. He could practically feel the ache in her body. “He can only ever give me Burton. He can’t give me Marco, and he can’t give me you. Only you can give me that.”

  The way he felt when Sophie described their relationship that way...there weren’t words for it. He crushed his mouth against hers once more, losing himself thoroughly in her kiss.

  He wrapped his arms around her and sat upright, taking her with him so that she sat astride his lap. Carefully, he lifted her hips, positioned her, and eased her down onto him.

  She sighed with pleasure and went limp against him, draping herself against him like a blanket. Her body contracted around him, squeezing him, and the heat and grip of her sent him nearly out of his mind with pleasure.

  He wanted to lift her up, to hold her away from his body so that he could thrust into her furiously and ferociously. He wanted to give himself over to the instincts of the animal that dwelt within him, to fuck her savagely and desperately. And he knew that there was a part of her that craved that too.

  Instead, Ryker forced himself to remain still. To wait.

  He felt himself throbbing within her. He felt her body responding in kind. How long would they be able to sit, just feeling the way their bodies reacted to one another? How long would they be able to revel in these sensations without taking things further?

  It was a challenge Ryker relished.

  He traced his fingers slowly up and down the sides of her body, occasionally visiting more sensitive destinations—her breasts, the place where her collarbone met her neck, the insides of her thighs.

  She shivered in his arms, obviously helpless and wanting—and yet she remained still.

  “I’m going to fuck you all day long,” he breathed into her ear.

  She tightened around him in response. It thrilled him that he had the power to provoke that kind of reaction in her.

  They remained still—as still as they possibly could—for what felt like hours. Afterward, Ryker thought it had probably only been a few minutes. It was impossible to control the urges of his body when he was with Sophie like this. The way he felt about her was more powerful than anything he had ever experienced.

  He cradled her as he leaned forward, tipping her back slowly until her shoulders and upper back were supported by the ground. Wrapping his arms beneath her knees, he lifted her hips to his and rested his hands on the small of her back. And then, their position stabilized, he finally began to fuck her in earnest.

  He lost himself in the beautiful sounds she was making, in the way her body rose to meet his, in the way she felt as he thrust into her again and again. He truly could have done this all day. There was nothing he would rather have been doing, no desire that could have taken him away from her.

  But eventually, the pleasure of it simply became too much.

  He couldn’t hold back his orgasm anymore.

  He managed to wait until he could see that she was on the verge as well—her eyelids fluttering, her hands opening and closing in a futile attempt to grasp something, her heels drumming against the ground. Though they lived without human technology here in their cave, in moments like this, Ryker could never help wishing he had a camera. He wanted to show Sophie how she looked when she gave herself over to pure pleasure like this, how beautiful she was in the throes of passion.

  He never stood a chance. The moment her orgasm took her, he was lost to his own as well.

  When they had begun to recover, their pounding hearts slowing and their breathing returning to normal, she curled up against him and sighed contentedly. “I needed that,” she told him. “So badly.”

  “So did I,” he admitted. “A week was really too long for us to go without being together. We shouldn’t do that again.”

  She chuckled. “I don’t know why we would,” she said. “If this ceremony goes the way it’s supposed to, I’ll be pregnant soon, and there won’t be any need to do something like this again.”

  “Unless we want to get you pregnant for a third time in the future,” Ryker reminded her.

  She rolled to look at him. “A third time?” she said incredulously. “Are you serious?”

  “You like being pregnant, I thought,” he said.

  “I do,” she said. “But our first litter gave us nine children. If this next one is the same, we’ll have eighteen, all under the age of two. And now you’re talking about going for a third set?” She shook her head. “That’s too many.”

  “Maybe it’s too many right now,” Ryker allowed. “But think about it, Sophie. Think about the environment we’ve created for ourselves.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “The bears are gone,” he explained. “Up here above the sixty-sixth, it’s just our pack and whatever feral wolves remain. There’s no reason we can’t find more betas and incorporate them into the pack, just like we did with Cam and Petra and Chrissy and Robby.” He smiled, thinking about it. “Our pack could be huge. Then there would be more than enough people to help us manage our children.”

  “Lofty ambitions,” Sophie said. “The kind of family you’re talking about wouldn’t be able to live in this cave.”

  “We wouldn’t have to live in the cave,” Ryker said. “There’s nothing to threaten us anymore. We only need the cave to protect us from the weather. With a pack of the size I’m talking about, we’d never have to worry about being bothered by wild animals. They’d keep away instinctively. And there are no shifters who pose a threat to our family now that the bears are gone.”

  Sophie was quiet for a long moment.

  “I have to admit, it sounds nice,” she said. “Growing our family in that way. In both of those ways. I’d like to be able to have as many children as you’re willing to give me.” She laughed. “Even though the idea of having so many feels a little bit crazy right now.”

  “You’ll be the mother of a nation of new shifters,” Ryker said. “The Arctic Wolf Pack. Owners of a territory that used to be purely wild. Remember what I told you about the way shifter packs used to form, with the omega at the center?”

  “The way ours is set up,” she said. “As opposed to the way the southern packs are, with everything revolving around the needs of the alpha.”

  “Right,” Ryker said. “Our pack, the Arctic Wolves, will be the one to restore that tradition. And someday, when our many children grow up and go off to form packs of their own, they’ll carry the tradition with them. They’ll change the way the shifter world works. And all of that will begin with you.”

  A slow smile spread over Sophie’s face. Ryker could see that she was intoxicated by the idea he’d described. “We could change the way the world is for omegas,” she said. “No one would ever have to go through what I did with Josh’s pack. Every omega could have the kind of life I’ve had here with you.”

  “Exactly,” Ryker said, pulling her into his arms. “That’s the way it ought to be."

  Chapter Three

  SOPHIE

  When Sophie awoke the following morning, Ryker was gone.

  She looked around. Marco should be here now—he was the only alpha she hadn’t been with yet—but she didn’t see him anywhere. “Marco?” she called out.

  Someone nearby her snorted. “Not exactly.”

  “Don’t be rude, Chrissy,” another voice admonished.

  Sophie sat up, noticing as she did so that someone had d
ressed her in her sleep. It must have been Ryker. “Chrissy?” she asked. “Petra? Is that you?”

  Petra stepped forward into the pool of light coming from the mouth of the cave. “It’s us,” she said, smiling. “We thought you’d never wake up.”

  “The alphas must really be wearing you out,” Chrissy said.

  Sophie didn’t want to admit it, but the truth of the matter was that Chrissy was right. She was exhausted, even though she’d gotten a full night’s sleep. Her body still craved her alphas, but she also felt as if she had run a marathon.

  “Isn’t Marco coming?” she asked.

  “Not right now,” Chrissy said. “They have other plans for you.”

  “What do you mean, other plans?”

  Petra rolled her eyes. “Do you need to make that sound so ominous, Chrissy?” she asked. “You’re talking like we’re about to lead her off to be tortured for information or something.”

  “Where are you taking me, though?” Sophie asked. She looked down at the dress she was wearing, a simple white cotton shift that she had never seen before. “And whose dress is this?”

  “The dress is yours,” Chrissy said. “Petra made it.”

  “You did?” Sophie turned to her friend. “Out of what?”

  “I had Cam get me the fabric,” Petra said. “I thought you’d like to have something new for this part of the ceremony.”

  “For what part of the ceremony?”

  “Well, because our pack is new, we discussed it and decided that we needed to come up with rituals and traditions that we liked,” Petra explained. “Because today is the last full day of your mating ceremony, we’re having a feast.”

  “Really?” Sophie was stunned. She hadn’t expected anything like that. She and the alphas had been snacking on the rations they’d stored in the cave for the past couple of days, keeping their energy up, but not worrying too much about actually enjoying their food. She had been planning to eat leftover berries and dried meat for breakfast before engaging in the third part of the mating ritual with Marco.

  But now, at the word feast, her mind began to run wild with the possibilities. What would they have for her? Fresh meat, no doubt, and berries straight off the vine. Her mouth watered at the thought.

  And she would be able to see her whole family. That was even more appealing than food. Though it had been good to be able to focus on her own needs, and the needs of her alphas, Sophie couldn’t help missing her children. She was eager to see them, to verify with her own eyes that they were doing well in her absence.

  She got to her feet. “Do we go now?” she asked Petra.

  “We were told to bring you along as soon as you were awake and ready,” Petra said. “Are you ready? Or do you need some time to prepare yourself?”

  “No, I’m ready now,” Sophie said eagerly. “Let’s go.”

  Chrissy led the way out of the cave. Sophie followed and Petra brought up the rear. It was good to have betas as a part of her pack, she thought, especially beta women. Though she loved her alphas more than she knew how to describe, it was nice from time to time to share company with people she could feel were her peers within the pack structure.

  Of course, it wasn’t exactly that way. Sophie understood that, as the omega, she was objectively more valuable than any other member of the pack. The whole group would likely fall apart in her absence. She was what had united them, and she was what held them together every day.

  But that wasn’t something she had to think about when she was with Petra and Chrissy. They were her sisters, nothing more. She loved them.

  Chrissy broke into a jog. Sophie hurried to keep pace with her, but it was difficult. Chrissy had always been naturally athletic and preferred to hunt and even fight alongside the men of the pack when the occasion called for it.

  “Slow down, Chrissy,” Petra called, clearly exasperated. “You know we can’t keep up with you, for God’s sake.”

  “Run faster,” Chrissy said, but she did slow down a bit. “I’m hungry. I want my turkey.”

  Sophie turned back to Petra. “Turkey?” That definitely wasn’t one of the usual foods they found to eat around there.

  Petra grinned. “You’ll see,” she said. “We’re nearly there.”

  They broke through a cluster of trees into a clearing by the side of the river. It was a place Sophie had visited before, but it looked so different—so transformed—today that she stopped short with a gasp.

  “Do you like it?” Petra asked, smiling.

  Sophie couldn’t find words.

  Five tents had been set up around the perimeter of the clearing, forming a semicircle that faced the campfire at the center. Logs and rocks had been arranged to provide seating around the fire itself, and the majority of Sophie’s family was gathered there, some with babies in their arms. They looked up as she arrived, and Marco was the first to his feet. He hurried across the grass and swept her up into his arms.

  “I missed you,” he murmured in her ear.

  She clung to him. “I missed you too.” It was amazing how, even though she had never been out of the company of one of her alphas, a part of her felt as if she had been alone for the past two days. It was the part that belonged to Marco, she knew. She couldn’t be complete unless she had all three of them.

  She turned in his embrace and looked over at the assembled group around the fire, her mind quickly tallying all the babies she saw. “There are only five,” she said anxiously. “Where are the others?”

  “Cam’s got them in their tent,” Marco said, clearly in no doubt as to what she was talking about. He pointed to one of the tents. “That one’s the baby tent during the day. That’s where they all go when they aren’t out and specifically in the care of one of the adults. And we’ve always got someone stationed in that tent, watching them.”

  “I want to see them,” Sophie said.

  He smiled. “I knew you would. Go ahead. But then come out and get something to eat. We’ve got quite a spread here.”

  Sophie didn’t want to leave Marco’s arms, but the need to see her children was overpowering. She pulled free of his embrace and jogged across the clearing to the tent he had pointed out. Lifting the flap, she crawled inside.

  Cam, Chrissy’s younger brother by birth, lay on his side, offering his finger to one of the babies. “Hey, Soph,” he said, smiling as he looked up at her. “You made it. I guess that means we’re allowed to eat our breakfast now.”

  Sophie grinned at him. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said. “I didn’t know this was happening!”

  “Yeah, we wanted it to be a surprise,” Cam said. “It was Chrissy’s idea, actually.”

  “It was?” Chrissy was always so tough and difficult to connect with emotionally that it was tough for Sophie to imagine her coming up with something like this.

  “Chrissy always hated the way southern packs treated omegas,” Cam said. “She’ll never tell you this, but she really cares that you’re being treated well here. It’s one of the main reasons she’s willing to stick with this pack. She likes being a part of building a pack structure that values its women instead of kicking them around.”

  Sophie’s heart warmed. “I had no idea she felt that way,” she said.

  “She wanted to make sure this mating ceremony felt like a holiday to you,” Cam said. “Like more than just doing your duty for the alphas. She wanted to make sure you felt celebrated.

  “God,” Sophie said. “I’m going to have to thank her. That’s amazing.”

  “No, don’t thank her,” Cam said. “She definitely doesn’t want you to know any of that stuff. The last thing she wants is some touchy-feely conversation about it.”

  Sophie laughed. That did sound like the Chrissy she knew. “Fair enough,” she said. “I won’t mention it. But I’m glad you told me.” Sophie had struggled at times to find common ground with Chrissy, who was always so standoffish. It was wonderful to know that her friend cared so much about her experience.

  She tur
ned her attention to the four babies lying on the ground before her. “How are they?” she asked Cam.

  “They’re doing great,” he assured her. “There haven’t been any problems at all.”

  “They’re adjusting all right to being out in the open like this?”

  “Oh, they can’t tell the difference between this and the cave,” Cam assured her.

  “But you must feel the weather more severely out here,” Sophie said anxiously. “And we had that storm a couple of nights ago.”

  “It wasn’t a problem, I promise,” Cam said. “Most of them slept right through it. Didn’t notice a thing.” He grinned. “They sleep through the night pretty well for babies so young. I wonder if that’s a shifter thing?”

  Sophie’s mind had stuck on something else. “You said most of them slept through it?”

  Cam nodded. “Caleb was awake,” he said. “But you know how he is. He’s more observant than the others. Sometimes I feel like he’s months older than they are.”

  Caleb. He was Sophie’s oldest child—if only by seconds—and in the months since his birth, it had become increasingly clear to both Sophie and to her alphas that he was likely to take the role of alpha in the new generation. He seemed astonishingly aware of everything going on around him, as though he was already trying to drink in as much information as possible in order to position himself as an effective leader.

  Which was a crazy thought. He was only months old.

  Still, it fascinated Sophie to watch him.

  “Where is he now?” she asked Cam.

  “With Burton, I believe,” he said. “He almost never sleeps during the day. I suppose I can’t blame him. This is so different from anything he’s experienced so far in his life, and he’s eager to take it all in.” He grinned. “The rest of them don’t even seem to know anything different is going on, but Caleb’s definitely picked up on the fact that something is happening.”

  “He’s brilliant.” Sophie bent over to kiss the foreheads of the four children in front of her. “And the others are doing all right? Everyone is okay?”