No Claim: A Dark Reverse Harem Romance (The Alpha Brothers Book 2) Read online

  “No,” I reply. I need to see how he reacts, how he cares. I look around for Letric, Alaric and even Misty, but there is no one else here.

  “Don’t you want Annie safe?” he asks.

  “You won’t hurt her,” I reply. I know it deep in my soul that he won’t, and I also know this is not how I want us to have our first real talk. It has to be on my terms. I’m too angry, in too much pain to just walk to him and let him control the world again.

  “Are you really brave enough to call my bluff?” he asks. “Sweet Elodie, you know I’ve killed worse than this child to get what I wanted.” I don’t reply or even react to his taunt, because that is all it is. A taunt, a threat, but it’s not real. I know the real darkness in Alpha, and the look in his eyes isn’t that right now. See, they all made a mistake keeping me so close, making me fall in love with every part of each of them, because I learnt too much. I know them, and that makes me more dangerous than Alpha could ever know. This isn’t a game he is going to win. The stakes have changed, and I am no longer a pawn. I’m a queen.

  “Where are your brothers?” I ask. “Did they not want to see me again?”

  “Close by,” Alpha growls out.

  “You know what I want, and we can have an alliance. You submit to me, then you can go back to your island and live out your days with Misty, Alaric and Letric in peace,” I reply, keeping my voice neutral. “You wanted peace, change within all packs. You can have that now.”

  “Misty is dead. I snapped her neck myself,” he replies, and my hands tighten as shock ripples through me. For the first time since I came out here, I drop all my pretense, my hidden emotions, and just feel the moment here as I stare into Alpha’s eyes. Misty is gone…why would he do that? She was everything he wanted. I might be an alpha female now, but I wasn’t back then, and to their knowledge Misty was the only one. My only sister—even half-sister—is dead. Why does that make me happy?

  “What?” I reply, not knowing what else to really say because I can’t tell him that makes me happy. It doesn’t matter right now. Not in this moment where I need Alpha to tell me I’m more to him than just a woman in his bed.

  “Are you upset to hear your sister is dead? She died just after her lips touched mine for the first time,” he tells me, and I tighten my hands in fists. Not at hearing she is dead, but that she dared to kiss Alpha. My Alpha. God, why am I so possessive of them all? The thought of them kissing anyone but me makes me want to lose my mind.

  “He is just playing a game with you, Elodie,” River gently tells me, reaching his hand out and brushing it against mine. I glance up at his river blue eyes, ones who can almost instantly calm me.

  “River, I’m surprised you are still alive. For now, at least,” Alpha says, though you can’t miss the deadly cruel tone of his voice which is different from how he speaks to me. Even now.

  “Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Alpha,” River bravely replies.

  “Elodie doesn’t suit you, pup,” Alpha retorts. “And if you try to take her from us, we will see how many pieces I can rip you into—”

  “Enough!” I shout, regretting it a little when Annie looks even more scared, and yet Alpha keeps his eyes locked on River, and River does just the same. “Let Annie go and submit to me. Then this will all be over.”

  “We will never be over, little Elodie. Never,” Alpha says, and leans down, whispering something into Annie’s ear before, to my surprise, he lets her go, and she runs off into the forest without looking back once. “But I will never submit to anyone.”

  “Then we have a problem,” I reply, crossing my arms. “I won’t give up my pack, my right to be alpha.”

  “What happened with Alpha Tanner? How did he make you like this?” Alpha asks. “What happened to my sweet Elodie who loved to fuck me to make me happy?”

  “What do you think he made me like?” I ask, knowing he is only trying to rattle me, to make sure he can get under my skin with harsh words.

  “Cruel and less sweet than you were,” he replies. “So much more like him, if anyone.”

  “Maybe you should have come after me a week earlier, and you would have found out what happened to me,” I retort. “Oh, but I was never enough for you to come for me. You had Misty; even if she is dead, you still didn’t come for me.”

  “Bitterness doesn’t suit your pretty face, either,” he replies, and for the first time since I stood out here, his words hurt a little bit. I don’t say anything, but I do look away into the forest, knowing the Luxa Pack are hiding there. Can Alaric and Letric see me? Do they want to say something?

  “This conversation is over if you are going to just insult her,” River growls. I pull on my reins, turning my horse around and galloping back through the doors, hearing Alpha’s words so loud that he could have spoken them into my ear. It’s like he can train the wind to carry his messages, making sure I can never really escape him.

  “You are mine, Elodie. I always get what is mine.”

  Chapter 9

  Elodie

  “Alpha Elodie, how lovely to meet you,” a man says the moment I walk into the throne room with River, Pela and Angel at my side. I spent the rest of yesterday in bed, running over everything Alpha said, and my morning sickness stayed with me all day instead of just the morning. It’s like my baby can tell he was near and is punishing me or something. I push away thoughts of Alpha to look at the man in front of me that I could guess is in his late sixties, maybe older, with long grey hair and a serious expression. He wears a long blue cloak which, as I look at the other men in the room who all seem a similar age, I notice they are wearing the same cloak. All of the others are sitting down, keeping their eyes on the papers in front of them, and it is clear this man is their leader.

  “I’m afraid I do not know your name,” I reply, knowing I should have asked River to go over all their names with me at some point.

  “Han, leader of the north side of your pack. I manage the farm, river and mainly the food source for the pack,” he says, offering me a hand to shake. “My daughter, Pela, speaks very fondly of you.” I shake his hand and smile, knowing what he is saying without words. He helped the children and his daughter, most likely making sure no one noticed and told the old alpha.

  “Ah, I see. Shall we sit down?” I ask.

  “I hope it isn’t too impolite to mention this, but you do look like your father. You even carry yourself in a similar way to how he did. I was a good friend of your father’s, and I mourn him to this day. When news came to me of you, I was delighted to meet his daughter,” he says, stopping me from going to the table. I am curious about my father, and I have so many questions to ask my mother. She should be the one I ask first though, but perhaps I can talk with Han alone sometime after.

  “Maybe we can talk alone in the future, and you could tell me more of my father?” I ask him.

  “It would be an honour,” Han replies, nodding his head at me in a respectful way before going to his seat. River pulls out the seat at the top of the table, and I sit down before he steps back and stands near me. Pela and Angel do the same, though they choose to guard the doors instead.

  “Now, we need to discuss your betas first. It is important you are protected by more than one beta and your new friends,” a man says, though he doesn’t introduce himself which I think is incredibly rude.

  “They aren’t my friends, they are my betas. I will choose two more if and when I meet suitable betas,” I reply, and very slowly his pale cheeks turn red.

  “Females cannot be betas! It has never been heard of in pack history. As a female wolf with no mate, you would do well to take strong male wolves as your betas before choosing a mate, that is,” Han instructs, lifting his head high and surprising me a little with his attitude towards female betas. I know it is going to take a long time for the pack to come over to my way of thinking that all wolves should be equal. In the last two days, we have had a big number of the pack leave, but when River looked into it, he found it was a lot of men, and the
women have decided to stay. We are making changes which will force the Xan Pack to be better, but it doesn’t mean they will smile while the changes happen.

  “Who says I will take a mate?” I ask, crossing my arms and sitting back in my seat.

  “History, my child—”

  “One, I am not your child; I am your alpha. Two, if you second guess my choices again, I will kill you. Do you understand?” I wait for his nod, because at the end of the day, I can’t let anyone speak to me that way, to challenge me and suggest I need to make changes that I do not. “You are not my beta; therefore, you do not advise me. You may have known my father, but I am not him either,” I reply, looking over at River who flashes me a little smirk before I wait for this wolf to reply.

  “U-understood, Alpha Elodie,” the man mumbles before lowering his head. I look back at River, and a long growl leaves my lips as I see a large hand wrapped around his throat. Alpha steps forward from behind River, lifting him in the air as he does. River struggles, fighting his grip, and I try not to show how much it upsets me. River is having a strange effect on me these days, and I’m more than just protective of him because he is my closest friend here.

  “You will speak to me, to us, Elodie,” Alpha demands, his voice as dark and twisted as the expression on his face. He is furious, and it almost makes me want to smile like River is doing. River doesn’t need my help, Alpha just doesn’t realise it yet. I had to make a plan to get the Alpha Brothers here, on my terms, to talk. When River suggested this idea, I was wary, but it turned out the right thing to do.

  “It’s a trap!” Letric growls from the side, and he walks out, his hands in the air with two of my guards’ swords held at his neck and side. Alaric comes out the shadows on the other side in a similar position. I try not to spend too much time running over their black clothes, the cloaks that are dark blue, and how each of them looks more stressed than the next. Alaric has large bags under his eyes, and he looks pale. Letric doesn’t look any better. Are none of them sleeping?

  “I wanted to speak to you after our disagreement yesterday. Thank you for walking straight into my trap. Now sit down, Alpha.”

  Chapter 10

  Elodie

  “You won’t hurt them. I can call your bluff as much as you called mine yesterday, little Elodie,” Alpha replies. “You can’t kill those you love, and that is your true weakness.”

  “River knew you as children and knew how you escaped from the pack, because he helped you. We left that entrance open on purpose because I want to speak to you on my terms. If you hurt River, this conversation will be over,” I reply, “because you are right, I won’t hurt those I love, but I will avenge them. Don’t test me.”

  “Lucky she likes you, pup,” Alpha cruelly tells River before throwing him on the ground a few feet away. He quickly gets up as I scan him to make sure he is okay, but he keeps his eyes on Alpha as he walks back to my side.

  “Why don’t we all sit and have a conversation,” I suggest, waving a hand at the seats at the end of the table. There is silence after my suggestion, and I have no choice but to lean back in my seat, seeing the nervous looks of the other people in the room. They didn’t agree to my plan, and I highly doubt they want to be here, against the Alpha Brothers who they wouldn’t stand a chance of stopping.

  “We missed you, Elodie.” Letric is the first open to finally saying something, but he has to say words that hurt. Dammit. I reluctantly pull my eyes to his, seeing how vulnerable his expression is, and I’m sure it mirrors my own. Until I saw Alpha outside the pack, and he told me that Misty is dead, I’ve been doubting every action I make. I don’t know if they are the heartless monsters I’ve desperately tried to convince myself they are. I gulp down the building emotions of hurt, betrayal and damn annoying love I have for these men, knowing it will do no one any good for me to show them any emotions right now.

  “I will talk to you alone,” Alpha remarks, walking over and stopping right next to my chair. “Make them leave before I do,” he says. Before I’ve even said anything, I hear the chairs being pulled back, but none of them make a move to stand. They are scared old men, which I understand why they would want to get out of here.

  “Leave. I don’t want blood shed here,” I say, pulling my eyes to Han and seeing the utter relief in his eyes. He nods once in agreement, getting up, and the others are quick to follow him out of the door.

  “Pela, Angel, you may leave us,” I tell them as they stand holding the door open, waiting to be told if leaving is the right decision. At least some of my pack are loyal. They nod once before going out of the doors and closing them shut behind them.

  “And River needs to leave,” Alpha demands.

  “No, River stays, or I do not,” I quickly reply to Alpha, my voice firm and unmoving.

  “Are you that scared to be alone with us, Alpha Elodie?” Alpha replies, and no one could miss the sarcasm over the word alpha.

  “The last time you had an alpha meeting, you ripped the alpha’s heart out. I’m being cautious,” I reply, and Alpha only smiles in a rather creepy way as he sits in the seat Han was just in, but he presses his leg against mine. The small contact feels good, and I hate myself for it. Alaric and Letric sit on the other seats, and River sits on my other side, facing Alpha. The guards keep their swords close to Alaric’s and Letric’s necks, never flinching or acting scared as they keep their word. They will die to make sure I have a bargaining tool. Alaric somehow keeps me looking at him, because he looks so shocked. When he finally talks, it isn’t exactly what I expected him to say.

  “When were you going to tell us about our baby then?” he asks.

  “Eventually,” I say, and Letric smiles, and for a moment I smile back at him before Misty’s smug expression fills my vision. Along with how their father hurt me, nearly killed me, and planned to make sure I would want nothing more than death when he was done.

  “So Alpha Tanner was your father,” I add in, feeling the need to bring that up because they never told me. I wish they had.

  “And we all know who your father was, and who your mother is,” Alpha replies. Good, at least we are on the same page.

  “Is my mother still alive?” I ask.

  “Yes, and wants to see you,” Alaric answers, and I suck in a breath. I almost convinced myself the brothers would have killed her, so I’d never have to have a talk with her. I don’t want to know why she abandoned me and chose to bring Misty up instead. Anything she tells me is going to hurt.

  “What do you want?” I ask. “Why are you here exactly?”

  “You trapped us, so surely it is what you want that is important here,” Alaric retorts.

  “I want you to respect me as alpha and submit to me. I want peace more than anything else. I don’t want my baby born into war and pain,” I honestly answer.

  “Our baby,” Alaric rather coldly corrects me, and I finally look to him. “That baby is not just yours, Elodie.”

  “Its fathers left me to be beaten, tortured and likely killed by their father. You do not get any claim on my baby because I’m the only one that fought to keep him alive!” I say, feeling frustrated.

  “How do we know it is ours? You are close to River now,” Alpha retorts rather than trying to make an apology, and I grit my teeth, reminding myself that he is just trying to aggravate me.

  “I’m not a few weeks, I’m at least a month or further along to have a bump under my clothes. Though I do not like your suggestion,” I calmly reply, which seems to annoy him.

  “We didn’t come here to argue with you or fight you. We miss you, that is the truth of it. I’m so relieved you survived and killed our father,” Letric says, and I look over, seeing nothing and hearing nothing but truth in his words.

  “You miss me?” I ask Letric. “Is that truly all you came to tell me? And expect me to believe?”

  “Believe what you want, but we are sorry,” he replies. “So fucking sorry for everything.”

  “He is not sorry one bit, and t
hat is the problem,” I nod my head at Alpha and meet his eyes.

  “I want to be in the baby’s life. We will not be leaving today,” he says after a long pause.

  “Do you assume I’m so heartless that I will stop you knowing your child?” I reply.

  “I feel like we don’t know you at all. We have no fucking clue who we let into our beds and into our heads,” Alpha states, leaning closer. “I had no idea how dangerous you are. If I did, I would have killed you when we met.”

  “Liar,” I whisper, feeling a hot tear fall down my cheek. “You knew exactly who I was and how dangerous I was. You may all claim you don’t want a mate or want someone to love you, but it’s not true. You all crave love, pure and simple love, because of what Tanner did. So, do not blame everything on me, Alpha. I’m not the one running scared here.”

  “We aren’t running,” Letric interjects. “If you will have us as guests, then we want to stay here in the castle until after the child is born. Then we can come up with a new plan.”

  “You did just say you won’t keep us away from the baby,” Alaric smoothly adds, using my own words against me.

  “I did,” I say, and pull my eyes to the guards. “Let them go, please, and then leave.” The guards instantly do as I requested and walk out of the room, the doors swinging shut behind them.

  “If you stay here, your pack cannot enter the pack unless an alliance is made. We will have pack fights if it is any other way,” River states, offering his advice which is pretty dangerous in front of these wolves that look inches away from trying to kill him.