Sought by the Alphas Complete Boxed Set: A Paranormal Romance Serial Page 3

  “My name is Lachlan,” he said. “I stayed to watch over you so that you could rest. You’ve been through a lot, Gwen.”

  “How…how did you know my name? Were you looking through my things?” Gwynne reached out for her bag, which she found sitting next to her, seemingly undisturbed.

  “I’m afraid that you will have a good many questions for me,” said Lachlan, moving closer slowly, as though to confront a nervous animal. “But they will all be answered in time. For now, know that you’re safe here. I won’t let any harm come to you.”

  “What happened? I was in the ruins and then…”

  “And then a man tried to kill you. And a rather large wolf threw him off a cliff.”

  “Yes,” said Gwynne. “So it wasn’t a dream.”

  “No, I’m afraid it wasn’t. And I’m sorry that it went so far.” Lachlan sat on the dirt next to the fire and Gwynne pulled her knees up under her chin, though somehow she didn’t feel threatened by this man. If anything, something about him felt familiar like an old blanket or a friend whom she’d all but forgotten over the course of years. Though she questioned how she could ever forget such a gorgeous creature.

  The man continued, “I was too late to keep the attack from happening.”

  “What do you mean, too late? You’re talking like you knew it would happen in the first place.”

  “I had my suspicions that I wasn’t the only one who’s been seeking you. But I wasn’t vigilant enough, or quick enough. That won’t happen again, I assure you.”

  “You still haven’t answered me,” Gwynne said, swinging her legs to her left in order to raise herself to a standing position. “What happened, really?”

  “The man who tried to kill you did so because of who you are and what you mean here, in this place. What your return signifies.”

  “My return? I’ve never been here before.”

  “You have, Gwynne. You don’t remember, perhaps. But I do.”

  * * *

  Encounters 7

  Lachlan smiled, his expression warm, inviting, despite his strange words.

  “I have waited for you for an eternity, Gwen. In this place. It seemed some days like you would never arrive.”

  Gwynne stood now. “Okay, listen,” she said. “Everything that’s happened in the last twelve hours has been weird. Not even weird—I mean seriously nuts. But I’m beginning to think that you’re the craziest part. Which is really unfortunate, because you’re…”

  “Because I am what?” Lachlan’s stood too, his tall form looming over her.

  “You’re too handsome to be a madman, for one thing,” Gwynne blurted out. “But I suppose looks and mental health aren’t linked. Listen, thank you for watching over me as I lay unconscious on the ground instead of, say, calling an ambulance. But I have to go now.”

  With that, she turned away. He’d said he wouldn’t hurt her. What could she do now but hope he was trustworthy, if a lunatic?

  “You would have had me call an ambulance?” said Lachlan, his voice still calm and quiet. “And tell them what? That a man who can transform into an animal attacked you by the dreaded ruins on the hill? That a wolf then disposed of him? That Lady Gwendolyn was attacked, though she’s been dead for hundreds of years?”

  Gwynne faced him again and slumped down as though defeated, hitting the ground hard, her legs under her.

  “You really are nuts,” she laughed, her hands running through long strands of hair. It’s heartbreaking, she thought. A man who looks like that shouldn’t be insane.

  “I’m afraid I’m not. There are things that you don’t know, and perhaps don’t believe. But you will know them soon enough, and you will believe them.”

  “You just said a man turned into an animal. That’s a myth. A legend. It doesn’t really…” Gwynne looked up to see that now Lachlan was taking his shirt off. Strong pectoral muscles and a hard six-pack stared her in the face, reflected bronze in the light of the fire. Before she had a chance to speak he undid his pants.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she asked.

  Lachlan said nothing. Instead he simply stared into her eyes. The effect was mesmerizing and Gwynne found herself frozen, unable to move even if she’d wanted to. There really was magic in this place. And so far it was the strangest sort she could ever have imagined.

  In a flash, the man before her—the naked man—was gone. An enormous grey wolf stood in his place, tongue panting, bright blue eyes staring into hers with the same intensity as Lachlan’s own had done.

  Now Gwynne moved. She pushed herself up again and backed up until she felt flat stone under her hands. A wall blocked her escape, though escape seemed impossible at this point; how could she outrun a wolf?

  But the wolf didn’t advance towards her. Instead, he tilted his head like a dog might do, inquisitive and unassuming. Almost charming, had it not been for the fact that he was almost as tall as she was and his teeth looked as though they could take her head clean off.

  A few seconds later Lachlan stood before her again, his flesh taut as he stretched to his full height.

  “It’s all right,” he said in his soothing voice. “It’s me. I simply needed to show you. Not all legends are lies, Gwen.”

  “You’re…a wolf.”

  “I am no wolf. I’m a shifter. A morph. There are many in this world. Kapral is another; an eagle shifter. A very dangerous one.”

  “I’ve heard of them, but never thought…the man in the pub said something about a déor.”

  “Most people don’t think we really exist. We don’t make ourselves readily available to humanity in general, you know. The déor is our animal form; our spirit emerging in flesh.”

  “Clearly.”

  “There’s more,” said Lachlan.

  “Oh. Great.”

  “You asked how I know your name. I know it because it’s the one you had hundreds of years ago, when I went to bring you to the lord Rauth. To my pack, to be our mate.”

  “You’re the man who went to get Gwendolyn? You’re the wolf howling in the ruins?”

  “Something like that, yes.”

  “Well, that explains a thing or two.”

  “I spent a good deal of time with the lady before you, before she…” Lachlan seemed crippled for a moment by a deep sadness. “I failed her then. I won’t fail again.”

  “How can you think I’m her? You said that was hundreds of years ago. You said that she died.” Gwynne was relaxing now, though why, she couldn’t say. Something in the man was so earnest, so sincere that she felt a need to protect him. To reach out and embrace him, even, though her guarded stance kept her back.

  That and his nudity.

  Much as it attracted her, she was enjoying the view from afar. The man was designed like a woman’s perfect fantasy; tall, muscular, and blessed with a mouth-watering cock that Gwynne’s eyes were drawn to over and over again.

  “Gwendolyn died in another life. In this one she was born somewhere around the year 1990, to a mother who would eventually leave her behind with some vague directions as to how to find her way to her destiny.”

  “You know about my mother? But how…?”

  “It was I who brought Yvonne Drake forward.”

  “What do you…wait.” Gwynne laughed now, as she didn’t know what else to do. “Forward in time?”

  “Yes,” said Lachlan simply.

  “Now things are just getting ridiculous.”

  “Forgive me. You’ve just now watched me transform into a wolf’s form and you still think anything is impossible?”

  “Time travel is.”

  “Not for me.”

  “Well, aren’t you gifted?”

  “I suppose that’s one way of putting it. Gifted, cursed. My gift has allowed me to search for you for years. My curse has forced me to do so. I am not the only one with this gift.”

  “So let’s say for fun that you really can travel through time. If you knew I was born in 1990 why did you hunt for me for so long?”


  “Because when I pushed your mother forward it was into a time, and even a place, which I deliberately kept from myself. I did not want to know where or when she was as it would have endangered you. As you’ve noticed, there are some who want you dead, Gwen.”

  “Yeah, about that. Why is that again?” Gwynne let out a laugh. It was all so ridiculous. And yet it had all happened.

  Now Lachlan allowed himself to laugh at last. “There is too much to tell, and too little time. I will tell you this: you were intended for the lord Rauth, and for the other leader of the pack, as a mate. The mother of our clan, as it were. I was to bring you to them. And I still can, if you agree to it.”

  “You’re talking about Gwendolyn’s arranged marriage. But I thought it was to one man; not to a ‘pack.’”

  “I am speaking of a marriage of sorts, yes. And it’s rather complex, the bond between mates. It’s not what you think of in human terms, that of a man and a woman joined in a verbal ceremony for life. This ceremony is a…physical one.”

  “It sounds like you’re talking about a woman and a bunch of men.”

  “Well, two men. Two shifters. Two pack leaders, or alphas as they are sometimes called. You would be shared between them.”

  “And you’d have me go back in time to these leaders…” she began.

  “Or bring them here, to you. The important thing is that the ritual take place.”

  “Ritual?”

  “The mating.”

  “You’re setting me up to have sex with a man, men, I’ve never met?”

  “Sort of, yes.”

  “Oh my God.” Gwynne was hit with completely incompatible emotions then; the notion of being shared between two shifters; two men like this one, for sexual purposes was enticing, arousing. But it was insanity. They were half-wolf. And who knew what they were like? Possibly violent, primitive, cruel. And let alone the fact that they allegedly resided in another century.

  “I won’t rush you. I won’t force you,” said Lachlan, taking a step forward. He smiled warmly, as though recalling a memory. “You know, many years ago you and I had a similar conversation. You were stubborn then, as you are now.”

  “I’m not stubborn,” she said, noting the irony of her own words. “Fine, maybe I am. But you understand that times have changed. Women don’t just go off to marry strange men and have their babies.”

  “No, not normally. But this is your fate.”

  Gwynne paused for a moment and recalled her mother’s words. “Your fate will become clear. Seek out your story. .” The man before her was so beautiful that she wanted to eat him. Between his legs she saw a savoury, delectable cock that made her go wet with desire. And she was considering telling him to leave her alone. But maybe she shouldn’t. Maybe she couldn’t, even.

  “Why is it that I’m supposed to be shared by two men? Why not just one?”

  “It is tradition for the two leaders to share the mate of the pack. There are reasons for this: likelihood of procreation, for one. Pleasure, for another.”

  “Pleasure?”

  “Theirs and yours. Hers. There is a reverence shown for the female, you see. We are not entirely selfish, we males.” As he spoke, Lachlan’s cock shifted a little and Gwynne found her eyes drawn downwards. As the blood rushed towards his thick member, it firmed between his legs and stood now, pointing at her as though beckoning.

  “Who is this second alpha?”

  “I am.”

  * * *

  Encounters 8

  Gwynne went silent for a moment.

  This was the strangest proposal of her life. Could it really be that her fate, as dictated by her mother or some greater external force was to be lover to two shifters? What woman in her right mind would refuse such a thing? But then again, what woman would agree to it?

  “I genuinely don’t know what to say,” she replied. “This is crazy.”

  Just then a noise broke the stillness of the night. It sounded for a moment as though a hawk had cried out overhead.

  “We need to go,” said Lachlan, pulling his pants on over his erection. Holding his shirt in one hand, he reached for her with the other. “Now.”

  “What? Why?”

  “He’s come back. Kapral is here.”

  “Shit.”

  “Come, I’ll lead you to a safe haven.”

  With that, Lachlan began to jog, pulling his shirt over his head. Gwynne kept up as best she could, running alongside him as they headed uphill. Dawn was beginning to break on the horizon, which meant that she could see better than before. It also meant that their hunter could see them better.

  “You fought him off before,” she said. “Couldn’t you do it again?”

  “I could. But my first priority is your protection. I don’t want him to have a chance to be near you. I took him by surprise last time; this time he’ll be more clever.”

  Lachlan could smell her heavenly scent as they ran; that scent that he’d known so long ago. But now infused within it was fear, and he knew that he needed to provide her with comfort and safety.

  After a few minutes the sun began to rise over the horizon. “Where are you taking me?” asked Gwynne.

  “To a small cottage I know. It sits empty. I often use it when I’m here. It belonged to a family member of mine.”

  Gwynne could see the enormous bird circling overhead, as though plotting out his trajectory. She knew that he was well aware of their location and wondered what magical properties this cottage held that could possibly fight such a creature off.

  As she saw the house, she knew. It was made of stone and its windows were coated in prison-like wrought iron bars.

  “Jesus,” she said. “That place looks pretty maximum security.”

  “It will do,” said Lachlan. “For now. Until you decide what you’d like to do.”

  “I…” Gwynne stopped herself saying anything more as they ran. The hawk had begun to issue threatening nose dives above them, having no doubt seen where they were headed. He was trying, she knew, to cut them off.

  The last hundred metres were the worst; the bird came at them, swooping down at Gwynne like a dart as Lachlan held him off. He was reluctant to shift, knowing that his human height was a greater deterrent to Kapral than his wolf would have been. He ran directly behind Gwynne, shielding her from attack, taking a few blows to the back in order to protect her. As they neared the cottage, he yelled, “Go in!”

  She threw the door open, not daring to look back as Lachlan flew in behind her and slammed it. The door was heavy wood with iron hinges, and he thrust a large bar down on the inside to secure their safety.

  “You’re bleeding,” Gwynne said, noting that his shirt was torn in various places.

  “It’s all right. I’ll be fine,” he said, peering out a window. The bird was still overhead, confounded by his inability to find a weakness in the building.

  “Let me look at you, at least,” she said. “Take off your shirt. Is there a first aid kit in this place?”

  “In the bathroom, under the sink.”

  As the hawk flew off Lachlan turned and removed his stained cotton shirt. He pulled a wooden chair away from the small kitchen table and sat in wait for his nurse.

  Gwynne emerged from the bathroom carrying some cotton, medical tape and something in a glass vial.

  “This might hurt a little,” she said as she studied his wounds. Nothing, at least, was terribly deep but there was always a risk of infection.

  “I can take pain,” said Lachlan, grimacing slightly. “This wasn’t exactly my first fight.”

  “I can see that.” Gwynne had spotted a series of scars on his muscular back, evidence of more than a few slashes over the years. “What the hell do you get up to?”

  “We’ve been at war for a long time, our clan. That’s one reason you’re…Gwendolyn…was so essential.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Gwynne as she dabbed at the open wounds, cleaning up dripping blood. “At war with whom?”

 
“A neighbouring group of shifters, vying for territory. The history books like to cover the monarchy’s battles, but not the others. But they are important. The clan has held out against us for decades. And their leader is terrified of what might happen if we win.”

  “What might happen?”

  “We will advance into his land. Drive him out.”

  “So what? He’ll just go somewhere else.”

  “It is his intention, though, to take over the lands that the humans occupy. The area where Trekilling stands, for one.”

  “So they’re wanting to advance on the human population? Isn’t that a bad idea?”

  “Terrible.”

  “So why would they do it?”

  “Power. Greed. Any reason you can imagine. But if it were to happen it would alter the fabric of the entire country once and for all.”

  “So all of this happened hundreds of years ago? And this Kapral…he’s come through time like you?”

  “He has. There are various ways of doing it. Portals, if you will. Not everyone is capable of using them, but he is. And he’s found one.”

  “I don’t get it though. Why does he want me dead? Why am I such a threat to him?”

  “Because of who you are, Gwen. Because of your blood.” Lachlan turned to her and took her wrist in his hand, preventing her from dabbing his wounds further. “You are the clan’s chance at victory. Our best chance.”

  “Explain something to me then,” she said, sitting on a chair opposite Lachlan. “I…Gwendolyn…died, in the other time. But your clan survived. Everything is fine. So why do you need me now?”

  “On the surface things appear fine. But in your time another great war is brewing between shifters. And if it should come to pass, many lives, human and shifter, will be lost. Rauth is a man of great strength. A warrior. But a peaceful leader. He doesn’t want mayhem. He doesn’t want the world to know of our existence.”