“Here, sweetie,” Osana said as she wrapped a blanket around me. “Get some of this in you. It will make you feel better.

She handed me a cup of tea that smelled delicious – like flowers and mint. I hadn’t realized just how cold I’d been until I was brought into the lodge.

Kitchi had introduced me to Osana, a member of his pack. She was a fox too, with an enormous mane of red curls and the air of a loving mother. She was the pack’s healer.

The lodge was incredible. It sat at the bottom of the slope of the hill and was obviously an older place they’d been fixing up. The living room was filled with warmth. I sat by the hearth where a fire was crackling with pine logs that gave the place a beautiful and homey scent.

Someone in the pack was obviously a carpenter, as several side tables were set around the room with soft lamps on each of them that gave the room a very comforting feeling with spots of light here and there but never overwhelming in their brightness.

“Our leader will be along in a moment,” Kitchi told me from a chair across from me. He was helping me, but still obviously cautious. He was one of the pack’s warriors, that was for sure, and he wasn’t about to relax around a stranger.

The lodge was relatively quiet. I’d seen a few other people when I was brought in the back, but it was just Osana, Kitchi and me right now in the living room as we waited.

I sipped the tea, which didn’t even burn the tip of my tongue. It was delicious and I felt the heat spread through my body like a warm caress.

“Mmmm,” I nodded to Osana, who smiled back at me. “Good. Thank you.”

“Of course, dear,” she said. “So, how long have you been pregnant?”

What!? I froze. Did she just say what I think she just said?

“Pregnant?” I asked her.

“Oh,” she replied, looking a little amused. “You didn’t know? You’re pregnant!”

“It happens that fast?”

I thought back to my night with Aiden and how magical it was, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Of course an alpha that strong would knock me up immediately. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the joy of the revelation didn’t hit me as hard as it should have.

Aiden didn’t know. And would he ever?

“A good alpha will do that to an omega,” Osana giggled. “You must have met a real winner.”

“I did,” I said quietly. I didn’t want to talk about it, and thankfully, before anyone could ask any more questions, another person entered the room.

“Hello,” he said. I turned to face him and saw a handsome alpha who I had to assume was the pack leader. He just had that air about him. “My name is Tate. I’m the leader of this pack. And you are?”

“Billy,” I told him. “My name’s Billy.”

“Nice to meet you, Billy,” Tate told me, striding over to me and shaking my hand. He was strong and wore a gray Henley shirt unbuttoned at the top. “Kitchi here told me about your problems. Kidnapped and sold?”

I could see a fierce intensity in his eyes as he pulled up a chair beside me.

“Yes,” I told him. “My old pack leader Marcellus. He collects omegas who haven’t had their first heat and sells them off at auction. But my heat came and I escaped. I met an alpha and he took me. It was the most beautiful night of my life. But Marcellus found me and took me back. He sold me, and tried to trick the buyer. When he found out…”

“It’s okay,” Tate interrupted. “You don’t have to go through it all. I’m sure it wasn’t pleasant. But this is disgusting. I’ve never heard of such a despicable alpha, and we’ve had our share of run-ins with bad pack leaders before.”

Something about this place just felt welcoming. But there was no doubt this placed was filled with strength. Kitchi exemplified this and a woman like Osana wouldn’t be here if that weren’t the case. Tate seemed like a brilliant and kind person and I found myself feeling already at home.

“They drugged me and left me in the woods.”

“At the water tower,” Kitchi added.

“Well, you are welcome to stay with us, Billy,” Tate said, placing a hand on my knee. “And when you are ready, I’d like to hear more about this Marcellus and these auctions. Something like that should not exist in this world.”

“Thank you, Tate,” I told him, feeling relieved as I took another sip of my tea. “I don’t have anything right now. I can’t offer you anything—”

“Don’t worry about that,” he interrupted. “We have enough to share. And maybe you’ll end up finding this place to be home.”

Suddenly, the front door of the lodge opened and I saw a man standing there, covered in snow and nude. He was another alpha.

“Martin! What is it!?”

“Someone’s coming up the driveway,” he said quickly. “On a motorcycle.”

Kitchi was out of his chair in the blink of an eye. He shifted mid-stride and was out the door before I could process what was happening.

“Alone?” Tate asked as he rose to his feet.

“I think so,” Martin replied. “Maybe an old member of Lucas’s pack? Or Jeremiah’s?

My heart was racing again. I’d just gotten here and settled in and there was already something going down, and for some reason, I couldn’t help but feel it was because of me.

Don’t be stupid, I told myself, trying to relax. This has nothing to do with you.

“Stay here,” Tate told me and Osana as he stepped out into the night. The tension in the air was real and although I was sitting by the fire, it felt like I was outside with them.

I could just picture Kitchi out the window, in fox form, standing at the ready as he looked across the front lawn down the driveway as the unknown visitor approached.

“It will be all right,” Osana said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “They’re tough.”

I sat in my chair and sipped my tea, but when I heard the sound of a motorcycle engine outside, a jolt shot through me.

It can’t be!

I sprang to my feet, raced to the door and peered outside as the unknown visitor came up over the hill. I saw the long black hair and the leather jacket and as the scent hit my nostrils I almost collapsed.

“Aiden,” I whispered.

He stopped his bike and stepped off into the snow. He was hurt, limping and I wanted to race over to him. But I was frozen in disbelief. My throat was tight and my legs wouldn’t listen to me. The complete and utter shock of seeing my alpha was too much to handle, and his scent was taking control of me.

But when he took a step forward, Tate leapt at him and snatched him by the collar with both hands.

“What the fuck are you doing here!?” he shouted, looking like he was about to wring his neck. “Did you follow us here!? Who are you with!?”

“Tate!” I screamed, rushing from the house, stumbling in the wet snow. “Tate, wait!”

“Get your hands off me!” Aiden roared, breaking Tate’s grip with his forearms.

Kitchi reacted instantly, leaping at him and burying his fangs in Aiden’s thigh.

“Ah!” he yelped as I sprinted across the snow.

They’re going to kill him! I thought as I propelled myself forward. Leaping into the air, I shifted and aimed myself at Kitchi’s neck. My fangs embedded themselves in his shoulder and I bit down hard until I tasted blood.

My attack knocked him free of Aiden and we rolled across the ground until I righted myself on top of him. I was bigger than him and already had the advantage. Blood seeped from his wound and I knew that if I bit down harder and tore at him, I could kill him.

But I didn’t want that.

I held him there, incapacitated beneath me, and brought my eyes to Tate’s. Martin had shifted and was ready to attack. Tate took a step forward with his hands out.

“No, don’t!” he screamed. “Billy, don’t!”

“Billy!” Aiden shouted, rushing over to my side. “Oh, Billy! Fuck! I found you!”

He was crying as he wrapped his arms around me, and the warmth of his embrace was almost too much to bear.

I released Kitchi, who whimpered and crawled away from me. I heard him shift back.

“What have you done, Billy!?” Aiden asked me through staggered breaths.

“Billy—” Tate tried to speak, but I looked up at him with tears in my eyes.

“Tate,” I told him. “This is Aiden. My alpha. The father of my child.”

I felt Aiden’s breath catch beside me and I turned to him and faced his look of shock.

“That’s right,” I told him. “Aiden. I’m pregnant.”