Twin Alphas: Claimed (A BBW Werewolf Romance) (8 page)

She spotted a fair number of women who had the same kind of love bites that she did, visible on their necks and arms. The women all had sleepy, deeply satisfied smiles on their face – probably just like hers.

She watched as a dozen wolves marched down the aisle that led up onto the stage, climbed the stairs, and ambled over to a microphone stand. There were a couple of dozen humans standing on the stage; about a dozen of them were holding up crimson robes.

              Noticing that there were plenty of people in the crowd with their cell phone cameras and video cameras trained on the central dais, she grabbed her camera and trained it on the crowd and began recording.

              “Tourist,” Holt teased.

              You have no idea, she thought.

              “Hey, this a momentous occasion,” she said.

              Across the way, she saw Mackenzie. Mackenzie was standing alone, arms folded across her chest. Her demeanor had completely changed. Yesterday she’d been all perky and happy; today her expression was pure misery.

              What the heck? Ajax had seemed so into her yesterday. What could possibly have gone wrong?

              She waved frantically at Mackenzie, but Mackenzie was lost in her own thoughts, staring into space.

              With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the ceremony. She’d go find Mackenzie afterwards.

The wolves melted into human form. Their fur disappeared, their snouts sank back into their faces, and their pointy ears shrank and rounded.  Their tails vanished, and then they were naked men crouched down on the ground.  They stood up, completely un-self conscious about their nakedness.

              The humans behind them marched up and solemnly draped the red robes over their naked bodies.

              One of the werewolves grabbed the microphone. A human in a blue ceremonial robe walked up to stand beside him.

              “Greetings, everyone, I am Jeremiah Kramer, Lupine Master of Ceremonies at the 237
th
Alpha Claiming Festival,” the werewolf intoned. “I wish you all a successful festival, and the greatest of luck to all Alpha Pairs in finding their Forever Mate!”

              The crowd cheered loudly.

              He unrolled a long scroll. “The Alpha Claiming Festival is an ancient, time honored tradition, which benefits all races.”

              The human unrolled his own scroll and read from it. “I am Thomas Marsh, Human Master of Ceremonies at the 237
th
Alpha Claiming Festival. Humans benefit from the protection of our Werewolf Brethren, who keep us safe from attack so we can live in peace and prosperity.”

              The crowd cheered again.

              The werewolf read from his scroll. “Werewolves would die out if it were not for humans. Our harmonious intermingling ensures the survival of our species.”

              The crowd broke into loud howls, cheers, and wolf whistles.

              “They need a scroll for that?” Amelia whispered. “I’m pretty sure that would take like five seconds to memorize.”

              “Hush up, sexy wench. It’s tradition,” Holt whispered back.

              “You hush up, sexy wolf. I can bitch about tradition if tradition means I don’t get my morning shower.” She returned to her videotaping.

              “She’s got a mouth on her,” Clayton smirked. “We’ll have to find a really sexy way to punish her for it.”

              She felt a delicious rush of heat at the thought of that, but it was instantly followed by a dull sense of sorrow.  She’d just met the two of them, and already she knew that leaving them was going to be horrible. If only she could stay…but the future of her family depended on her return, and even if it didn’t, the werewolves of this world had forbidden anyone from coming over, and sooner or later, she’d be found out.

              The ceremony went on for several more minutes of scroll reading, punctuated by loud cheers from the audience.

              Humans and werewolves and Mages all lived in harmony, the Alpha Claiming Festival ensured the survival of all races, blah blah…the professor side of her brain was fascinated, but the human side of her brain was struggling to stay awake on two hours of sleep and not enough coffee.

              As soon as the ceremony was over, she said to Clayton “I need to go find Mackenzie. I’ll meet you back at the Love Shack in an hour.”

              Before he could protest, she dove through the crowd and made her way through to Mackenzie, who was strolling aimlessly, with a miserable expression on her face.

              “Mackenzie, wait up!”

              Mackenzie turned to look at her, and let out a long, heavy sigh. “Oh. Hey.” She had circles under her eyes and her hair was sleep rumpled, but she didn’t look as if she’d had a delightful night of sex.

              “What the heck happened? Everything was going so well yesterday!”

              “I know, that’s what I thought too.”

              Mackenzie, shoulders slumped, let Amelia lead her out of the crowd to a quiet spot under a shady oak tree, and they sat down on a huge gnarled root.

              “Tell me what happened,” Amelia insisted.

              Mackenzie blinked back tears. “I honestly don’t know. Ajax and I went out in the woods together yesterday afternoon, and we, uh…it was amazing. I thought it was amazing. Apparently he didn’t.”

              “What do you mean?”

              “Afterwards, we went to a little restaurant called Dan’s Taco’s. It’s on the festival grounds. Anyway, I was sitting there waiting for him to come back with my food. Everything felt so totally, perfectly right with him. Like I was a puzzle piece that had finally found my puzzle, and I fit in perfectly.”

              Amelia could certainly understand that sentiment. It described to a T the way she felt being with Clayton and Holt.

              “I was sure he was going to ask me to meet his brother next. I was sitting there waiting, and waiting…and he never came back.”

              Amelia let out a squawk of outrage. “What?”

              “Even worse. Some guy came over with a tray of food and said that Ajax had been called away on an emergency, and he wouldn’t be able to talk to me again.  Right after that, this girl came over with a huge smirk on her face and told me that she and him were getting together, and he’d already invited her to meet his brother. She said she hoped I’d enjoyed being his last meaningless fling, and then she turned around and walked off.”

              “And you didn’t punch her face in?” Amelia was boiling over with fury.

              “I should have, now that I think about it. Just because of that mean look on her face. I was too busy trying to remember how to breathe.”

              “Is this…typical behavior at the Claiming Festival?”

              “No!” Mackenzie let out a long, shuddering breath. “Not at all. An Alpha is never supposed to lie or lead a woman on. If he’s only looking for a fling, he’s supposed to say that up front. And they always do. They have no reason to lie to a woman, they’ve got girls everywhere who are eager to jump into bed with them.  Alphas are generally true gentlemen. They’re expected to lead by example, and being honest is a big part of that. Lying is really frowned on with werewolves. It shows weakness.”

              Amelia stifled a groan. Great. Her whole presence here was one big lie. Clayton and Holt would absolutely hate her if they knew the truth.

              She couldn’t let this go on any longer. She needed to go home.

              “Something must have happened,” she suggested to Mackenzie. “He seemed fine when he went to get you food, and then he disappeared? He never came and told you personally. There must be a reason for that. He didn’t strike me as the cowardly type.”

              Mackenzie shrugged unhappily. “Me either. I don’t know. Maybe there was some kind of alliance that I don’t know about. Sometimes a pack that wants to ally for political reasons, or business reasons, makes an arrangement with a wealthy or powerful human family. An arranged marriage. They’re not the happiest of marriages, but they’re done for the good of the pack.”

              “Ugh. Sounds awful. But it still wouldn’t excuse him leading you on.”

              “No, it wouldn’t. Maybe it was just me. Maybe I read too much into…everything.” She let out a long, heavy sigh. “It’s too bad it’s too early to start drinking. Although I’m tempted.”

              “I swear to God, if I see him…”Amelia was furious on Mackenzie’s behalf. “Do you still have to stay here? Are you allowed to go home early?”

              “Of course not. The rules very specifically say that. However, I can stay in the women’s quarters and sulk for the rest of the festival, which is what I plan to do.”

              “I’ll come visit you,” Amelia promised. “You want me to come with you now?”

              “No, but thank you. Just being able to talk it out made me feel better. Thanks for being there for me.”

              “Absolutely. And seriously, if I see Ajax, I’m going to give him what-for. What a douche.”

              Mackenzie managed a smile. She glanced at the love bites on Amelia’s arm, and said “Congratulations, by the way, I didn’t mean to be so wrapped up in myself.” She got up and headed off to the women’s quarters.

              Congratulations?

              What exactly did those love bites mean? Amelia wondered uneasily.

              Amelia headed over to the Love Shack.  She kept snapping pictures on the way; she desperately needed to get her mind back on her mission here. She had a great memory, she’d be able to write an entire research paper just on what she’d seen already, but that was no excuse for slacking off.

              She needed to make some kind of excuse to Clayton and Holt, and then sneak off. She really should leave without even meeting them, but somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to do that. She just wanted to see them one more time, to fix them in her memory forever.

              With an aching heart, she forced herself to walk faster. No sense in delaying the inevitable.

At the Love Shack, she found Clayton and Holt already waiting for her.  They’d both been cheerful earlier; now they looked annoyed and exasperated.

              “There you are! We have to go,” Clayton said to her. At her startled look, he added “All of us. We need to settle a family business dispute.”

              “You want me to go with you? Are we even allowed to leave?”

              “For family emergencies, yes. And of course we want you to go with us. I see how all these wolves are looking at you.” He looked around and let out a defensive growl, and a couple of wolves who’d been looking at her quickly glanced away.

              “See those bites?” he called out, to nobody in particular. “Claimed! Got it?”

              “I am capable of saying no, by the way,” she said, not sure if she should be flattered or insulted by his jealousy.

              “Of course you are. We just don’t want all these guys hitting on you. You’re the prettiest girl at the festival, and not all wolves know how to respect boundaries,” Holt said soothingly, sliding his arm around her waist. She couldn’t help herself; she leaned into him. She loved pressing up against his hard, muscular body.

              Then it hit her sleep-fogged brain.

              Claimed.

              They owned her. They’d claimed her. She was theirs.

              She really,
really
needed to get the hell out of here.

              “I should just stay here and wait for you,” she said. That would give her the perfect opportunity to sneak home.  Her heart squeezed at the thought. Being with them felt so right, so fun, so natural – but she had no choice, and she’d be better off cutting this off now rather than dragging it out.

              “Absolutely not. No way.  We just found you. We’re not leaving you behind.”

              “I’m pretty tired,” she protested, but Clayton grabbed her hand and began leading her out of the bar. “I could go back to your cabin and crash until you get back.”

              “You can sleep on the way,” Clayton suggested. “It’s a three-hour drive. And it’s our cabin, as in, all of us.”

              “I really want you to meet our family. They’re going to love you,” Holt said, so eagerly that she couldn’t bear to say no to him, and she couldn’t think of a single way to get out of this. Also, Clayton’s grip on her wrist was like iron and before she knew it, she was in the parking lot, climbing into the back seat of their pickup truck, with Holt sliding in next to her.

              “You can use me as your pillow,” Holt said happily.

              “Hey! I get to be the pillow on the way back,” Clayton called out, as he pulled out of the parking lot.