Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Goldie

“Goldie!” Aldair barks, the sound sending a tremor of need rushing through me, but I keep running. If they want me, they’ll have to catch me.

I know what they are now. The pieces all fall together in my mind, and I know what will happen when they catch me.

My senses feel heightened, like I’m stronger, faster. My vision in the darkened forest is better than when I ran from my village. My hearing has improved.

“I can’t fight it!” I hear Ky groan, their pounding footsteps growing louder as they hunt me.

“Don’t fight it. Can’t you scent her? She wants this,” Cillian tells his brother, sounding ecstatic.

“We’re monsters!” Ky snaps, the bark of anger and pain in his voice has me letting out a whine. I want to turn and jump into those monstrous arms of his, but if they want to claim me, they have to earn it.

“Don’t leave me again!” I shout back at them, the frustration of the last few days hitting me, as my instincts guide me through the trees.

“She’s faster. Stronger,” I hear Cillian chuckle. “Oh, Goldie, when I catch you…” His words trail off, sending a thrill through me.

“If I let you catch me!” I yell, swerving left, toward the cottage, but a new scent fills my lungs, and I swerve right. Damp earth and clean air. There’s a cave… somewhere dark, cool… protected…

I head for where I think the entrance could be, spotting it just a few moments later, when a massive fur covered arm snatches me around the waist and off my feet.

I snarl, fighting against the hold, when a deep growl fills my body from the chest that rumbles against my back.

“Settle Omega, settle.” Cillian’s words are layered with his delicious growl, his voice thicker, heavier than before. I look down at the arm holding me, clawed and covered in fur, and a shiver travels through me. My fingers dig into the soft texture as I clutch at the arm holding me.

“Little mate…” Aldair says from behind me, and I grin in triumph.

They caught me. They’re worthy mates.

They’ll protect me and my young. Our young.

“Show me,” I whisper. They know what I want. I caress the fur on the arm wrapped around me, and Cill grunts. “Show me the true form of my mates,” I demand.

“Once you see us…you’ll change your mind,” Ky whispers, and the snarl that leaves my lips is filled with pain and anger.

“Don’t tell me what I feel, Kylan. Show me, claim me. Knot me !” My words are more forceful than I intended. “Or reject me,” I quietly add, because I won’t claim a mate that won’t claim me back.

Three angry growls fill the air around me, and I sigh in relief, breathing in their scents. It settles me, excites me, grounds me…

“You left me alone for days…starved me of your touch. Denied me what I needed. Don’t growl at me like that, you’re the only ones to blame for my words. Are you going to reject me? Or claim me…” I hiss, and as branches snap under the quiet steps of my Alphas, I lift my chin, waiting for them to show themselves, finally.

Aldair’s massive form is the first to come into view. He stands at over seven feet tall, with black fur so dark it reminds me of the darkness of the forest at midnight. His ears flick up, before he drops them low to his head, and the urge to caress the fur there is overwhelming.

His arms cross over his chest, as he looks down his long snout at me. When he speaks, I see his mouth full of gleaming, sharp white teeth.

“Well, Little Omega?” The slick between my legs should be answer enough, but the pheromones I release to match his fill the air around us, and I stare into his warm brown eyes, meeting his Alpha challenge with one of my own.

“And what about me, hmm, golden girl?” Cillian’s grip shifts as he grabs me with both hands on my waist and spins me around. I meet his eyes, the same gray eyes of his other form, and smile. His fur is highlighted with browns, and if he’s shorter than Aldair, it’s by no more than a couple of inches. The grin he gives me looks menacing in this form, but I bite my lip.

“Can you lick me the same way Aldair did, while in this form?” I challenge, before reaching up and grabbing his ears, tugging gently. “I can just imagine holding these while you feast,” I say, my voice filled with a purr.

“Oh, you’re a naughty little thing, aren’t you…” Cillian teases, and I watch the way his mouth moves as he talks. I want him to sink those sharp teeth into my skin… “Time to reassure my little brother, sweet mate,” Cillian whispers, and I nod.

When Cill places me on my feet, I take a deep breath and turn toward my kind-hearted mate.

“I can’t see you if you hide,” I whisper as I tilt my head forward to peer into the dark.

“I hurt her like this. I scented your blood, and I lost control. Five years ago, I lost control, and Ma paid the price,” Ky argues, still hidden behind the tree.

“Because of me,” Aldair says, pounding a fist to his chest. “I am the one who found the bloodied rags, and brought them home.” I’m curious about what bloodied rags Aldair is referring to, but I’ll save that question for a less intense moment.

“Besides, you’ve never killed anyone. Aldair ate Snowball when he went through puberty,” Cillian adds, ever the jokester.

“You ate him!” I gasp, whipping my head toward the massive Alpha. He lifts his chin, and huffs. “Well heck, at least you didn’t eat Alma’s favorite pet,” I say, shaking my head, and my surly Alpha winces.

“Ma forgave you, you need to forgive yourself,” Cillian adds, offering me his strength as he stands at my back, one clawed hand on my shoulder.

Reaching for a rock from the forest floor, I pick up the sharpest one I can find, and slice it across my outer forearm before anyone can say anything or stop me. Three concerned growls fill the air, and I’m once again lifted into the air.

The wound only drips blood for a moment, before closing quickly.

“Woah,” I whisper, because that’s definitely never happened before.

“Goldie, are you okay?” Ky asks, as he rushes me, looking for my injury. He forgot he was hiding from me, more concerned about my safety than me seeing him.

“Better now,” I whisper. As in their human forms, Ky is the largest of them. His fur is highlighted in white, even the tips of his ears are white, and I smile.

He’s very cute. His amber eyes meet mine as he realizes what's just happened, and I smile. Cillian places me back on my feet, but spanks my naked ass.

“Very bad,” he hisses, but I ignore him.

“Mate me,” I say, staring into my Alpha’s eyes. “Or reject me.” My words end on a whine, the thought alone sending pain shooting through my heart.

Kylan bends low, and lifts me into his arms, I wrap my legs around his waist, and my arms around his neck. When he heads toward the cottage, I shake my head.

“In there,” I whisper, nodding in the direction of the small cave opening. I know he knows what I mean, because I could scent them all over this area.

“Are you sure?” he asks, and I nod, and we both let out our purrs at the same time.

“Oh, wow…” I whisper when I see the inside of the cave. I’m still wrapped around Kylan, and I refuse to release him as I look around. “A nest,” I murmur, the feeling of rightness in my chest makes me purr louder.

“We have one for you in the cottage too. We can take you there instead”, Aldair offers, but I shake my head.

“No. This is perfect.” I scramble out of Ky’s hold and start grabbing some of the items laid out around the cave. Different articles of the guy's clothes, blankets, and pillows are waiting on the low rock shelves along the wall. Rubbing my face against one of the shirts in my hand, the freshness of the scent tells me they were recently brought here. I can’t help rushing over to the large stuffed mattress that makes up the floor and stacking my collection of items around the edges to build it up, repeating the process until it’s almost perfect.

All it’s missing now is…us.

“You look magnificent right now, Goldie,” Cillian growls, and I preen from his praise as I kneel in the center of the nest.

“I need you,” I say, making them all groan.

“We can’t shift back yet. The scent of your need makes our instinct to protect you too strong to push down,” Kylan says, looking ready to bolt again, but I shake my head.

“Like this. I want you just as you are now. Make love to me, Kylan. Claim me as your mate, and give me your mark,” I beg, worrying they’ll still change their minds, but thankfully, as one, the three of them move into the nest that's the perfect size for the four of us.

I’m surrounded by these three massive, monstrous Alphas, and all I feel is a sense of home and love.

These Alphas are everything I’ve been needing all my life.

“You were scared of us once,” Aldair says, as he settles, his long legs stretching in front of him. I frown. I think I would remember that… “You were only four. We found you in the forest, crying. My brothers got a little too excited, scared you off,” he clarifies, and I gasp. I slap my hand over my mouth and look between the three of them.

“I remember… Oh, that's just fucking brilliant!” I shake my head in exasperation at my stupidity, tears filling my eyes. The pain in my chest is so intense, that I curl into myself. Cillian is quick to scoop me up into his lap though, rocking me gently, as Ky scoots in close to his brother’s side, letting out his purr. Aldair remains where he is, but leans forward, letting out his pheromones to soothe me as well.

“What’s wrong, my golden girl, tell us. I’ll rip the person who’s making you cry apart with my teeth and gift you their still beating heart.” Cillian’s gruesome vow has me chuckling and shaking my head.

“You’re never going to beat the monster allegations, if you keep talking like that,” I say, and my playful Alpha shrugs, his sharp teeth on full display as he grins at me. The sight should be terrifying, but I know these three men.

None of them will ever harm me. I know that in my soul, just like I know they are mine, and I am theirs.

“I’m afraid the only person you’d be ripping apart is me.” I sniff, resting my head against his chest and running my fingers through the fur there. “When I was four, my mother died. I thought Alma had died with her. Three days later, a stranger was moving into my mother’s home. Ten days after that, they held a funeral for my mother. That was the first day my stepmother hit me. I ran into the forest, wanting to be near my mother. I was going to keep running, but I fell.” I look up at Cillian, the truth hitting me right in my heart. “As I sat there, sobbing, I heard a strange noise. Then I saw these monsters… They chased me all the way back to my village, and I thought I would die. I spent the next sixteen years terrified of the forest.” I let them absorb the words.

“We terrified you,” Kylan says, confirming the horrible truth.

“I was four, Ky. I didn’t know any better. And the stories of the monsters in the forest only made that fear worse, even if they were only meant to be an old wives’ tale to keep children in line,” I sound defensive, so I soften my tone. I’m not trying to upset them. “If I had known the truth, that the monsters in the forest were kinder, gentler, and not at all more dangerous than the people I was surrounded by in the village, I might have run sooner,” I scoff at my foolishness.

“You couldn’t have known, Goldie…” Aldair shakes his head, but I can’t stop the tears that fall anyway.

“Ignorance is no excuse.”

“In your defense, I was going to eat you,” Cillian says matter-of-factly. “You were the first human I’d seen besides Ma, since…well, since our parents were murdered.” Cillian holds me tighter to him, and when I shiver, he pulls a blanket over me, tucking me into it, still in his lap.

Maybe I should be embarrassed that I’ve been naked this entire time, but I’m not.

“I just believed what I’d been told and didn’t question it. I should have. I should have kept running that day. You might have been scared of me at first, but I don’t believe that you would have hurt me, Cill.” I shake my head, looking up at him. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” I ask. Now that they’re all so close, my fever has subsided, and I calm. Settled. I’m still desperate for a knot, but…this is important.

“Our home was attacked by humans that hunt monsters. Our people put up a good fight, and killed most of them, but my parents, like many of those who had young children, ran. They took the same form of the ones who were hunting us. We’d never seen them like that before. We made it far, but the hunters caught up. Killed our mother and then our father. Ma told us a few years ago that she found the bodies of several of the hunters. Our father killed them, and Ma found us, before he succumbed to his injuries,” Aldair says in a tone that suggests he’s removed himself from the pain of the memories over the years.

“Ma raised us after that, as you already know. There were some rough patches,” Cill says, and I nod.

“Like Snowball…poor Snowy,” I tease, hoping to lighten the mood some. Cill and Ky snort out a chuckle, but Aldair sighs dramatically.

“Yes, like Snowball,” he grumbles. Aldair hesitates a moment before sitting forward to lean closer to me. Embarrassment colors his words some when he begins. “Despite how our paths crossed as children, I was drawn to you even back then, Goldie. I spent years watching from the shadows as we grew, seeing your kindness with animals, wanting to know the ‘you’ hidden beneath the shame of your parents' hatred… And I watched how those who should have loved you…who could have helped…” He chokes on his anger before continuing. “I helped where I could, chasing off men that tried to follow you into the edges of the trees where you gardened. I feared what would happen if they saw me and what it could mean for my brothers and Ma if we were discovered. How you would feel if you saw my monstrous form…” His brothers give him mixed looks of confusion and surprise. “And the time that I found the bloodied rags from your first…um…cycle,” he chokes out the last words.

“The day I attacked Ma,” Ky adds.

“Oh…oooooh.” My eyes go wide. Recalling the day when I had believed I was dying, when I found blood in my undergarments at sixteen. I panicked, before I realized what was happening. Animals have heats. They bleed so they can breed. I asked a kind, older woman who used to live a few houses down before she passed away the following year. She was quick to reassure me that I was in fact not going to die… “Oh, no…” I trail off, looking over at my sweet Alpha.

“He lost control because of me. I acted foolishly on instinct and gathered your bloodied clothes… I didn’t realize they would set Ky off. He went half feral, Ma tried to calm him, and he lashed out. It was the scent of Ma’s blood that ultimately snapped him out of it.” Aldair is clearly ashamed of this, and so is Ky.

“It was an accident,” I argue.

“An accident that could have ended in death,” Ky argues right back.

“But it didn’t.”

“But it could–”

“But it didn’t!” I insist, pushing away from the comfort of Cillian’s chest, so I can meet Ky glare for glare. His nostrils flare, his amber eyes glowing, and I smirk. “Mistakes happen. You learned from yours. When was the last time you hurt someone? Was that it?” I ask, and he nods. “Time to stop punishing yourself. We can’t change the past.”

“I could say the same to you.” Kylan lifts his chin, and I clench my jaw. He’s got a point.

“Fine. You forgive yourself for losing control, once …” I emphasize the word, but keep talking before he can speak. “And I will forgive myself for not knowing you three were waiting for me all this time.”

“Fine,” Ky barks, and I whoop in victory.

“Fine,” I echo, and then perk up. “Now, who’s going to give me their knot first?”