Owned (19 page)

“I never told Nate I knew. He was so closed off on that part of him that I didn’t want to tell him I’d figured it out. I had suspicions so I followed him one full moon and saw him shift. His secret was safe with me and it didn’t matter to me.”

“How did you figure us out?” Dean asked as he sat down across from me. Jared had another way of handling the news and started pulling out stuff from the fridge to make breakfast. It was his MO when he was upset, even if he didn’t realize it.

“You really think it’s fair for you to ask
me
questions when you guys are the ones keeping secrets?” My voice was at least calmer than I felt, so I was proud of that. I really didn’t care that they were werewolves, though I’d never been involved with any before. It was the secret keeping. Granted, I understood why they would keep it but they knew pretty much everything about me and I thought we were at the point where they should have filled me in.

“No, not in the slightest but we need to know how you figured it out so we can determine if anyone else has realized it,” Jared explained. “It’s a matter of keeping you safe and whether we can stay here if people know our secret.”

That set off warning bells. I didn’t want them to leave. “Honestly, I wouldn’t ever have figured it out if I didn’t know Nate. It was small things. I realized when you lost control in the barn with me it was the day of the full moon.” Jared flinched as if I’d hit him and I wasn’t trying to rub salt in the wound but to fill them in I had to be honest. “And I remember thinking that no human man could move as fast as you could during our, um, coupling.”

“I’ve never lost control like that with someone, full moon or not,” he whispered. “My wolf was desperate and I only realized later why he was riding me so hard. I’m sorry, Kate.”

“You’ve more than apologized and showed me you didn’t mean to. It’s over, Jared. I’ve moved on with you guys. You wanted to know and it was a factor.”

“What else?” Dean asked when there was a pause in the conversation.

“You guys growl a lot in bed or when you’re pissed off. Kind of like Nate does. The puppies smell you near and roll onto their backs immediately as if showing submission to you. I figured that’s a wolf thing.”

“Yeah, animals have that reaction to us. Luckily, horses realize we’re more man than wolf and are okay with us,” Jared explained.

“And walking in on a conversation where you kept calling me an Alpha Bitch kind of sealed the deal in my mind,” I finished with a shrug.

“I don’t think that’s anything anyone else would have figured out, you?” Jared asked his brother. I sighed in relief when Dean shook his head. “So we’re safe.”

“Yeah, but this makes explaining things to Kate easier.” Dean looked me straight in the eye as if seeing how I was dealing with things. “Promise us you won’t freak out. We’re not asking anything to change right now. We’re just giving you answers you deserve.”

“I’ll do my best. I try to take things as they roll but I have to admit I’m a little hurt. You guys know everything about me. I’ve been completely honest with you and while I get it’s a
huge
secret, I would have thought we were at the point you should have known you could trust me.”

“We do trust you,” Jared said quickly, giving me a wounded look. “This is what Dean was saying earlier. We didn’t want to add anything to your plate. You’ve been through hell, Kate. Would you have dumped all this information on us if the situation was reversed?”

I thought about that for a moment. “I’m not sure. I guess I can’t say until you tell me what’s really going on.”

“That’s fair,” Dean agreed. “You’re an Alpha Bitch. It’s a wolf term for the female in charge of a pack. It’s the same with werewolves. We don’t really live in packs like you might see in the wild, more our pack is our family. While real wolves will back down when a female choses her mate or mates, werewolves don’t normally work that well like that. Until we claim you, every werewolf that smells us on you would want to steal you because Alpha Bitches are so rare.”

I nodded as he explained, one fact not really clicking in my head. “You guys are both strong and confident. Why would I be the Alpha to you?”

“We’re soldiers,” Jared answered as he slid the eggs he’d been making onto three plates. “Even before the military. It’s why there are a
lot
of werewolves in the armed forces. We spend our whole adult lives looking for the man or woman who will take charge and lead us even in our personal lives. It’s ingrained in us to find someone like you, love you, and do everything we can to make you happy and keep you safe.”

“So it’s not me you love but it’s a chemical thing?”

“No!” they both exclaimed with wide eyes.

“We loved you before we knew you were one. We were drawn to you, sure, but that’s normal attraction and chemistry,” Dean added as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Once I made love to you I felt something click inside of me. I wanted to howl and bare my neck to you, begging you to accept me and my wolf. That’s when I knew and Jared said it was the same for him. This isn’t just a wolf thing, Kate.”

“There are wolves that find an Alpha Bitch and don’t mate with her,” Jared said as he brought over the plates of eggs and one of bacon before he went back to working on toast. “Just because we find one doesn’t mean it’s the right fit. With you it is. I hurt you and it’s been killing me that I upset and wounded my Alpha. That’s why I’ve been eating you out constantly as a way to beg for your forgiveness. Basically bringing pleasure to where I brought pain.”

“You act like you didn’t enjoy it,” I grumbled, pushing my food around and not really hungry.

“Baby, you know that’s not true,” he said, his voice getting low and husky. I glanced over at him and saw the desire burning in his eyes. The tent in his sleep pants let me know he really meant it too.

“Yeah, okay. It’s just a lot to take in.”

“There’s more,” Dean sighed. “There’s a reason you are always the boss, Kate. It’s just programed in you. But you need to know you’re basically the boss of us too. We need an Alpha Bitch to keep us in line. There are wolves who never find one and aren’t grounded to a person and go feral. We
want
to follow you and do what we’re told.”

“Explain to me what you mean by being grounded and going feral,” I hedged as I snagged a piece of bacon. I might not have been in the mood to eat with the conversation going around, but my stomach growled and let me know it needed to be paid attention to.

“I’m not sure how to explain it,” Dean said as he glanced at his twin. “You’re better at the rules and understanding what we are.”

Jared nodded and thought about it a minute as he put the toast on the plate and walked over. He sat down on the other side of me as he moved the plate closer to me as if telling me to take what I wanted first.

“You told me the reason you first let me hold you when you weren’t into letting people touch you was that I made you feel safe. Your world was spinning out of control and holding on to me gave you focus, helped you, and made you realize you weren’t alone.” I nodded in agreement and he continued while Dean started eating. “That’s what it’s like for us. That’s why a lot of wolves join the military. We’re almost lost when we become adults.

“Good little wolves crave leadership and until we find an Alpha, bitch for us because we’re straight, but there are wolves who find an Alpha male if they’re gay. Loving you, pleasing you, being with you, keeps us from being lost and gives us a purpose.”

“And going feral?” This was a plethora of new information to take in. They both were basically pledging their undying devotion to me if I’d accept them. Yikes!

“You ever see movies where there’s that crazy guy who’s lived alone too long and hides away from the woods? Everyone knows that they’re a little off and stays away from them. That’s what I mean by feral. A wolf is no longer able to live in society because their mind and emotions have unraveled from looking for their Alpha for too long. They’ve had to try to be their own Alpha and it’s too much for them and they go crazy basically.”

“Some aren’t secluded-in-the-woods crazy,” Dean said sadly. “Some turn into monsters, trapped between forms and angry at the world because they never found happiness. They want humans to pay for the way they are and blame having to keep what we are a secret for not finding their Alpha.”

“That’s so sad,” I whispered. Then I flinched as I thought of Nate. “Is Nate going to go feral? Can I stop that?” Then I flinched for a whole other reason. Both Acker brothers were giving me angry, dark looks. “Okay, I guess not. Explain it to me.”

“The only way for you to stop it is if he joined us in your bed,” Jared growled as his hands curled into fists. “You basically just asked us if you could fuck someone else.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that,” I sighed as I rubbed my temples. “Cut me some slack. You didn’t say this was all sexual. I mean, you said love and to please me but I didn’t realize it meant as a couple. I didn’t know if Nate being around me now that we know what I am would help him keep control or whatever.”

“It might if you were claimed,” Dean hedged, glancing between Jared and I. “I’ve heard of it working before. But if we didn’t mark you as ours we’d pretty much do nothing but fight with Nate over you. Things might get ugly.”

I was a little lost on that one. I jumped to my feet and took my plate, needing to move around now. “Okay, slow down a bit. I’m sorry I upset you but I don’t understand all of this. You’re basically saying, and forgive my crudeness, but I’m trying to piece this all together, that once you fucked me you wanted to roll over and beg to be mine always?”

“Yes,” Jared answered, not liking the way I put it if his tone and expression told me anything. “It’s not just about the sex though. We fell in love with you first.”

“I know. I’m saying the wolf in you felt that way though.”

“Yes,” he agreed with a nod.

“And that’s because your wolves recognize me as an Alpha Bitch that would take care of you and basically give you the structure and command your wolves need to keep in line?”

“Yes,” Dean answered. “That and they love you as much as we do. It’s not just that we found
anyone
who could deal with us and give us what we need. We found
the
one to do it.”

“Okay,” I mumbled as I shoveled some eggs in my mouth. “Now claiming me, is that pretty much what it sounds like?”

“Probably,” Jared hedged as he glanced at his brother. “We’d shift into wolves, let them sniff you, and then leave a permanent claw mark on you that showed you were ours. Then we’d turn back into men and pretty much fuck you all day so you smelled like us and to complete the bonding between us. It’s permanent, Kate. There’s no divorce or undoing it once we claim you.”

“I figured that.” I stuffed some more food in my mouth so I didn’t say something bad because I was feeling slightly overwhelmed and that was generally when I stuck my foot in my mouth. I glanced at their matching hesitant expressions and realized there was more. “Okay. Lay the next part on me.”

“You’d become a werewolf if we claimed you,” Dean blurted out. I stared at him with shock, the plate slipping out of my hands. He moved faster than a human could have and caught it. Yeah, that was cool.

“How? From everything you guys have been telling me I thought you were born this way. Not bitten and changed like in the movies,” I whispered as I took my plate back. It wasn’t that I was so hungry that I wanted it. It was more like my mini shield right then to protect me from what was going on.

“We were born this way and it’s not like the movies. We can’t go around biting people and making them like this,” Jared clarified. “But if we claim you, mate with you, we’d open something inside of you. We’re not really sure
how
it happens, just that it does. There’s a reason we would follow you, Kate. There’s something inside of you that would let this work.”

That wasn’t making sense to me and I let that show on my face. Dean tried again. “Our parents used to say it was how fate or god or whomever made sure that there wasn’t inbreeding between werewolves. We can’t mate with another wolf. There’s a latent gene in you or something magical that would allow you to be one of us once we claimed you.”

“So you can’t mate another wolf but mating me would make me a wolf?” That was kind of roundabout logic. I set down the plate and rubbed my temples. Jared stood and went over to the counter where my migraine medicine was, opening them, and getting out two pills for me. He grabbed my coffee and handed it all to me. “Thank you.”

“To answer your question, yes. We don’t know why that is though. Sure, there are legends and theories but who really knows all the answers in life? Even humans don’t
really
know how they came into existence. I mean, was it Adam and Eve in the garden or evolution? No one can know without a doubt for sure and not think they’re as wise as god or whoever is in charge.” Jared gave me a sad smile, knowing this was a lot to take in.

“What does it mean to be a werewolf?” I asked quietly before taking my medicine. I felt a doozy coming on for sure.

“Well, you wouldn’t have to take those anymore,” Dean answered, gesturing to my hand that no longer had the pills. “We don’t get migraines or sick. We’re immune to diseases.”

“Always a perk,” I chuckled.