AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Nine
Analise
Their voices reached into my exhausted slumber. I’d never intended to go to sleep at all, but sitting there in the warm comfortable room, wearing cozy sweats, with a tummy full of delicious food had put me out. The alphas in the kitchen spoke in low tones, words I couldn’t quite make out that blurred into a soothing murmur. My brain couldn’t keep hold of consciousness, no matter how hard I tried. My last coherent thought was that if I got an hour or so’s rest, I’d be better able to escape after they went to bed.
I likely wouldn’t have managed that catnap if not for the alphas pausing by where I slept on their sofa to talk dirty to each other. My assumptions they were bachelors waiting for a mate fled when one of them used the term for the other. I lay still, hoping they still believed me asleep, but they were so busy teasing one another about some plan they had for sex later that my presence had interrupted, I probably could have opened my eyes and watched.
Then, as if they hadn’t been saying things that made my cheeks burn—something else that could have given me away—they switched topics to the weather and the lack of water over the past months.
But once they turned off the lights, I dared to peek. They disappeared down the hall past the bathroom, the relevant portion of their conversation ringing in my ears. Snow. The storm had not stopped at the pass, and if it picked up even a fraction of the force it held in the high reaches, I’d be trapped here by morning.
That could not happen. They would have endless time to interrogate me and to decide whether to return me to my father’s tender mercies—and those of my groom and his father. Did alphas stick together? I wished I knew for sure. The moon still lit the front yard, but snowflakes indeed drifted to the ground then, as the wind picked up, they made it to the window and stuck there. Still not the storm of above, but this could be just the beginning.
The male voices faded, and I waited for the sound of a door closing, but it didn’t happen. They probably wanted to hear if I woke and got up to mischief or tried to escape. With every passing moment, the storm could be making it less possible for me to leave, but I had to balance that against my hosts, captors, whatever stopping me. I needed to wait a little bit and give them a chance to fall asleep. Deep asleep, with any luck.
Alphas. Two of them. On any other night, I probably could have traveled over their lands and beyond without getting caught. At least our pack didn’t post sentries unless there was a know threat, so if they were anything like us, they’d never have known I was even there.
I lay back and watched.
Waiting was hard. Staying awake and waiting was harder. But finally, I judged enough time had passed to make a try to leave. Pushing down the blanket covering my legs, I sat up, on the alert for the slightest sound from the other part of the house, or from me. The gale outside rattled the windowpanes, and might cover any accidental creaks of a floorboard, so I stood and listened again. No sound at all from the alphas, which I tried to convince myself was a good thing, that they slept peacefully.
Or did they lie wakeful, as I had, listening for me to make a move.
Goddess, I wish I knew.
I hesitated, danger on all sides. The alphas who could return me or decide to hand me off to one of their own who might be worse than Rod and his father. Sawyer and Tadeo were handsome and for a moment earlier, I’d wondered about offering myself to them as mate, as bedmate, as housekeeper. If they would only not send me back.
Even if I had those skills. I’d never so much as picked up my own toys, much less scrubbed a toilet or swept a floor. My father regarded that as beneath my status as pack princess, and even my mother’s suggestions that I should know how to clean a house in order to run a house later fell on deaf ears. Not that it would help. The alphas had made their position on a housekeeper clear, valuing their privacy over the convenience of not having to clean up after themselves. Or cook.
As I lingered in front of the sofa, I tried to imagine what it would be like to prepare meals for these two. I would present beautiful platters of food, and they would clap and congratulate me.
My wolf snorted inside me at the idea.
Again…they didn’t want staff here.
I either left now or hoped they would grant me shelter until the storm ended and then let me go on my way alone. And while they might be sympathetic to my unhappiness with my planned mating, I feared as responsible alphas, they’d want to be sure I was telling the truth. I could see no good end to their contacting my father or the Elder Ridge alpha. It could only lead to my return to live in hell or strife between whatever pack this was and the others.
So I had no choice.
But I did need to know for sure if Sawyer and Tadeo were asleep before making a run for it. Decisive, now, I tiptoed down the hallway toward the open door at the end, keeping close to the wall, as if it could hide me from whoever lay in the bed. Beside the doorway, I flattened, listening.
This room was on the eastern side of the house, and the storm was blowing in from the west, so there was far less wind noise, no rattling panes, at least yet. Just the easy breathing of two men who had found their place in life and their mate. I tried not to envy them. Everyone had challenges, including this pair. Being alpha offered a lot of responsibility, with the welfare of all members of the pack in their hands.
I was ashamed to admit my father did a less-than stellar job in his capacity as leader since Mom died. I could remember a time when they were out and about in the pack every day, making sure everyone had their needs met, ensuring harmony when there were arguments, standing up for the downtrodden.
Mom used the time granted her by the household help Dad insisted on to help others.
Cyndra? Used the time for shopping, primping, and bossing people around.
But this was not the time to consider such things. It sounded as if the alphas were asleep, and I turned to go when a grunt made me freeze.
“Sorry, that was my elbow.” Sawyer, already I knew his voice. “Did I wake you?”
“No. I’ve got too much on my mind to sleep.” Tadeo sighed. “You might as well. I’ll keep an ear out for any mischief from our guest.”
“Do you think she’ll try to leave with the storm closing in? It would be more than foolish.”
Tadeo’s voice was low, and I sidled closer to the doorway so I wouldn’t miss what he was saying. “We’ll know more tomorrow, after we talk to her, but I think our little Analise is desperate enough to try it.”
