Page 16 of The Alpha's Forced Pregnant Mate

Laura grabbed my arm as I started to follow him out of the cabin. “Are you sure about this?” she whispered.

“No, but what choice do we have?”

“None,” she sighed, “I guess. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Me neither,” I said, “But Julian isn’t going to hurt me. At least not yet.”

“If you say so.”

We followed Julian into his cabin. I was surprised to see how warm and homey it looked. He’d told me it was empty, and that had been the truth. There was nothing personal anywhere. The fridge was empty, there was no mail on the counter or coffee table, and everything looked newly cleaned.

But the living room had two camping chairs, a sofa, a coffee table, and a big-screen TV. There was a stack of DVDs next to a DVD player, and a pile of video game cartridges next to the Xbox. The kitchen had the bare essentials—a coffee maker, a microwave, and a small stove.

“This is nicer than I expected,” I said, walking over to peek into his fridge. As I suspected, it was empty. “Basically, what I’d expect from a bunch of men living together without a woman’s touch. What do you all eat?”

“We, uh…we hunt.”

I stilled, shutting the fridge as I stood up straight. Hunting and eating a rabbit in wolf form was one thing—hell, I’d done it once or twice myself—but using that tactic as their main form of sustenance was crazy. “Really giving yourself over to the wolf out here, huh?”

“It’s efficient,” Julian shrugged, crossing his arms as he leaned against the counter. “And it gives us a chance to run wild. But I’ll make sure to get groceries.“

I frowned, turning to look at him. “Don’t you ever get tired of it?”

“Of being a wolf? Never.”

“But do you ever miss the human side? The modern conveniences I mean?”

“Sometimes, but I don’t let myself think about it too much. We have what we need out here.”

“Except food.”

He sighed and nodded. “Well, yeah, but we’re working on that. Our nearest town is two hours away, so we don’t have a lot of options.”

I turned away from him and walked over to the DVD collection sitting next to the Xbox. There were a bunch of action movies, mostly superhero or alien stuff. I sighed at the lack of variety, but I wasn’t surprised. Men were so predictable. “So you’re all living out here, miles from civilization, hunting your food, and playing video games. Sounds like a bunch of frat boys.”

Julian shrugged. “We are a little. We have fun, but we also work hard. This isn’t just a vacation spot, it’s our home.”

Laura crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “Sounds like a great time,” she said dryly.

We were getting too far off-topic, and while it was fun to pick on Julian, we couldn’t let our guard down around him. Not really. With Julian, Laura and I were operating off the ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ principle. As soon as the demon threat was dealt with, Julian and the Reckless Stalkers would fall right back into the enemy category. For now, though? We were uneasy allies.

“Let’s talk about what we’re doing here,” I said, sitting down on the couch. It was surprisingly comfortable.

“What do you want to know?” he asked, moving over to lean against the back of the couch. He stood close enough to me that I could feel the heat coming off his body.

“We’ve been fighting demons for a while,” I said, shifting slightly away from him. I needed some space between us, even if it was just a few inches. “You told me you’ve been having issues with them for the past few weeks, and that you have some hot spots out here, whatever that means.”

Laura dropped herself into one of the camping chairs while Julian sighed and started pacing. “We think they’re keeping tabs on us. The few altercations we’ve had didn’t seem to be pointed, but instead, out-of-control demons or just the result of unintended run-ins. I don’t think we have anything they want—and I say we as in the Reckless Stalkers. But I think they also know wolves are the enemy, and other wolves DO have what they want. Witches. I can show you where we’ve had a few fights and where I think they camped out to watch us before we ran them off.”

I tapped my fingers on the arm of the couch in thought. “I’m not sure what I’m going to find, but it’s better than nothing. Anything else I should know?“

“They aren’t particularly strong. A few good hits will take them down. Most of them don’t fight, they just run. That’s why I think they’re lookouts and not meant to be engaging us.”

I glanced at Laura. “That sounds like what we’re dealing with at home. Except for the running part. The ones in our territory want blood.”

Laura clicked her tongue. “You mean they want Faye and Sienna, and they’re happy to spill blood to try and get to them.”

“Correct.” I turned to Julian, who seemed surprised with my direct look. “Listen, I don’t intend on talking about the Red Canines with you, but I do want to ask something that I’ve been unable to get an answer about from anyone else. Why in the world are they after Faye and Sienna so heavily but they leave the Canine’s witch Saul alone? I was led to believe he’s rather powerful.”

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