Kalina ~ Book Four

Sylvie didn't know what time it was, but based on the exhaustion in her bones, it had to be near morning.

The shifters had disappeared sporadically, returning with the afterglows of marking, and her mates hovered on the fringes as she made simple conversation with everyone from Fray’s pack that she could.

It was so refreshing. And without knowing a thing about her, it seemed to go well. They liked her for the most part. One of the male shifters squinted at her like she was too much for his tastes, and she moved away with a shrug. She probably was, and she was okay with that.

“Hey,” she waved at a short blonde shifter who had been sneaking peaks at her for the last five minutes.

The shifter looked around before returning the small wave. “Hi.”

“What’s your name?”

“Caroline.”

“I’m Kalina.”

“I know.”

Sylvie edged closer and rubbed her eyes before stifling a yawn. “Do you guys do this kind of thing a lot?”

Caroline shook her head. “Not really. Only on holidays.”

The music slowed. It had been doing that for the last thirty minutes until it almost sounded like a lullaby. Rosie had fallen asleep in the corner, curled against another unmated wolf shifter.

“Have you always been a part of Alpha Frasers pack?”

When Caroline's brows furrowed slightly, Sylvie suppressed a yawn again, hoping it would make her look more curious than snooping. It was a tactic she had seen used in her classroom repeatedly. Look cute or sleepy, and people get more lenient. Of course, when she caught her students doing that, she called them out.

It worked on Caroline, too. She replied, “No, I came from a Western pack. There weren't many of us, and our Alpha abandoned us.”

“What! How could they do that?”

“It happened to all of us,” Caroline muttered. “He was never meant to be an Alpha. He just wanted power. My Grandmother told me before we left Beihllua that there were only five Alpha’s for each species. Alpha Fraser is one of them, so I thought this would be my best bet.”

Sylvie nodded and smiled tightly. She didn't know that; Rosie told her that Rowan’s grandfather saved the shifters by calling Kian's mother to open a portal to the Earth realm. There was no doubt in her mind, though, that he would have been the Wolf Alpha.

“But what about the new shifter types? They wouldn't have their own Alpha, would they?”

The traditional shifter species were Wolf, Bear, Tiger, Lion and Fox, but new species appeared after they started turning humans. Natalie was a Panther, and some of the more recent arrivals in her pack had been Ocelots, Mountain lions and even Hyena’s. When the three hyenas shifted and communicated with their whooping and giggles, Sylvie always got cold shivers down her spine.

Caroline shrugged but looked at Sylvie as if she knew her secret. Not who she was per se, but that she wasn’t who she pretended to be. Her scent had been masked well enough that no one could tell her heritage, but her questions made her sound ignorant.

Shit, shit, shit. Maybe she could play it off like she wasn’t taught her ‘shifter history’. That could help. But Caroline continued talking unphased, a small smile on her lips.

“It’s all different now. Anyone can pick the Alpha they want, born or turned. We’re pretty mixed here.”

“Same,” Sylvie replied softly. She wondered what shifter Caroline was but thought better than to ask. Then Caroline would know she wasn’t a real shifter.

She turned and found Rowan’s eyes on her, pausing as if receiving a mind link. Even without it, she could understand him. It was time to go home.

“Sorry,” she said to Caroline. “I have to go now, but it was so nice to meet you, Caroline.”

Caroline smiled, the corner of her eyes crinkling. “You too. It’s nice talking about our history. Everyone here prefers not to.”

Sylvie’s heart squeezed. “The past is just as important as the future,” she said, squeezing Caroline's small hand. “Someone told me once, people we love, and I suppose our past can never die because their memories become our own, and the image of our people stays alive in the minds of those who loved them.”

Caroline’s eyes swum, but Sylvie had to pull away. “I will see you again,” she promised, darting after the retreating shifters. She caught up with Kian, who had a dead-asleep Rosie in his arms and fell into step with him. “What a night.”

Kian laughed lightly. “You can say that again.” Sylvie’s stomach dropped, but when she peered sharply at him, there was no malice. No judgement or jealousy, just an easy smile. She exhaled and searched the procession, looking for Rowan or Elias, finding them in conversation at the front of the pack.

She fingered her mate bonds through the fabric of her cobalt dress, and they both turned to look at her. Rowan winked, and Elias nodded before they turned back to look the way they came. So they weren't mad. Good.

As they padded outside, Sylvie raked her gaze across the shifters. They were light. More had chosen to stay. It stung. No matter how Sylvie tried to spin it in her head, it stung badly. And it made Fraser more formidable, too, with her shifters— his shifters skills and fighting ability.

She’d really have to work on winning him over now. There hadn't been infighting while she had been in the pack, but their history proved their capacity. The Beihllua realm was bathed in blood after they had been done with it. All because of prejudice against two species mating with one another.

She swallowed as Kian tucked Rosie in the back seat of the second Hummerzine. Maybe Sylvie would get a ‘private’ conversation on the way home. She rubbed the base of her neck and turned back to the hospital, choking back a sob when she spotted Claudine. An apology wrote itself across her face, and Sylvie clenched her teeth.

She dragged her feet over to her, ignoring Claudine's mate, Will, beside her and her new Alpha behind her, offering a sympathetic look of his own.

Claudine dashed down the steps and met her halfway, pulling her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Sylvie sniffled, pulling her emotions back. This was meant to be a happy day for Claudine. It wasn’t about her.

“I just thought with my history with Rowan's pack…” Her voice hitched, and Sylvie nodded, stroking her hair.

“It’s okay.”

“I needed a fresh start.”

“I know, Claude. Does Rosie know?”

Claudine shook her head, and Sylvie dropped hers with a heavy exhale. She’d have to break the news when she woke. The fear of it almost hurt more than the event itself.

“We’ll visit you,” Sylvie said, lifting her head to search her face. “As much as we can.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Claudine pressed her lips to Sylvie's cheek, her mouth brushing Sylvie’s ear. “You will always be my Alpha.”

When they pulled apart, the women squeezed each other's hands one last time, and Sylvie heard the silent message. The deal still stood. She was still with her, and if anything untoward happened in that pack, Sylvie would know about it.

Claudine nodded to someone over Sylvie’s shoulder, and she knew it was her mates. She stifled her sadness as Claudine returned to Will, and they both waved once before retiring inside.

Alpha Fraser kept a soft expression as he padded down the stairs, his hands in his pockets.

Before he could even speak, Sylvie stared him down fiercely.

“Take care of my girl.”

His face flickered, but he nodded. “You have my word. And I hope I have yours.”

“About what?”

“We’ll see each other again.”

Sylvie bit the inside of her cheek but nodded. Claudine and the Animae dimidium meae would bring her back to see Fraser again.

“We will,” she promised.

Sylvie woke with a start, naked in her bed, snuggled between two of her mates and blinked tiredly as the trill of a million birds assaulted her ears. She must have fallen asleep on the drive back.

The memories of the party flooded her brain, and her belly flipped. The way she behaved… The way she felt.

“What is it, Princess.”

She grumbled wordlessly and buried her face in her hands.

“Speak, woman,” Rowan said with a gritty voice thick with sleep. He hadn't called her that in years. She pulled her hands back and propped herself onto her elbows.

Elias appeared from the bathroom in nothing but a towel and the beading droplets of shower water, his black curls dripping onto the carpet.

“Something to say, kitten?”

She pursed her lips and shrugged, flopping back onto the mattress. “I feel like I’ve done something bad.”

Elias appeared at the side of the bed, a smile tugging on his lips. “Is that so?”

“I feel like I emotionally cheated on you all.”

Rowan grumbled and rolled over, throwing an arm across her belly. “You didn't.”

“I liked talking with him. And I- I thought he was attractive.”

Kian laughed softly, turning and kissing her neck before getting up and heading to the bathroom himself. “That’s not a crime, Princess. A blind man could see how attractive that lion shifter was.”

She followed him with her eyes as he stripped in the bathroom doorway, the old scars striped across his back a permanent reminder of the cruelty of her kin.

“Lion shifter.”

Rowan growled softly in her hair and twirled his fingers in it. “We can use that,” he said. “If we need to.”

“You think Fraser will be a problem?” Elias said, leaning forward to trail a finger down Sylvie’s body. Down her neck, around the swell of her breast to her navel and down to her inner thigh before slipping them between her legs.

Rowan lifted his head and brought it to her nipple, flicking his tongue across the hardened tip. “Undecided. If he decides he wants territory, he might have the power to take it. Right now, all I sense from him is a desire to protect his own against the humans.”

“That and a curious desire of our mate,” Kian called from the bathroom.

Elias’ eyes flashed as he curled his finger inside her, and her back arched.

“What’s his story?”

Rowan continued his tortuous licking of her nipple, only pausing to say. “Descendent of the Lion Alpha, William Fraser and the infamous Billy Fraser, his grandfather.”

Lick.

“He killed many shifters in the Beihllua wars.”

Kiss.

“Fraser, however, seems fairly removed.”

Suck.

“His morals are similar to mine.”

Bite.

“His tastes are similar to mine.”

Sylvie moaned as his tongue and Elias’ fingers worked in tortuous synchronicity, swirling over her erogenous zones.

“It was something else seeing your hands on another man.” Rowan groaned.

“Yeah?” she almost whined.

“The way you touched his hair.” He mimicked the action, burying his fingers in the wisps around her face, his eyes gleaming gold.

Her cheeks flamed, “I didn’t notice.”

“The way he stared at you when you weren’t looking. Like you were a gift, he was dying to rip open with his teeth.” Elias added.

“She did look ravishing, didn't she?” Rowan said, nipping the sensitive skin of her breast.

Elias hooked his finger inside her and caressed her walls. “Did you like him? Or the freedom he gave you.”

Kian appeared from the bathroom, skin damp and cock hard. “It’s both,” he said, making it to the edge of the bed where her toes curled in the duvet. He bent down, kissing wetly up her legs until his tongue took over from Elias’ fingers.

She buried her fingers in his coils as he flattened his tongue against her clit. God, he knew just how to touch her.

Elias bent down and pushed his tongue into her mouth, tasting her, and she reciprocated, letting her tongue dance with his. She moaned into his mouth as Kian brought her to bliss.

Elias pulled back a gleam in his eye. “Don’t forget what I said, Kitten.”

She panted as the aftershock of orgasm rocked her. “What,” she breathed.

“We know how to share.”