Claimed by the Alphas: Part Six by Viola Rivard Read Free Book Online Page B

right away. Her chamber wasn’t as hot as the main room, thanks in part to it being farther underground and also due to the fact that it wasn’t crowded with warm bodies.
     
    Lately it had taken a great effort for her to do much of anything. She had surpassed the fun part of pregnancy where everything was new and exciting, and landed smack in the middle of fat and miserable. Her life could be reduced to a series of constants. She was constantly hot and sweaty, she constantly had to pee, and the baby was constantly kicking, and her breasts were constantly sore and uncomfortable. By now, Mila didn’t care what the gender was or even who the father was, she just wanted the baby out of her.
     
    She nudged her belly. “What do you think, should we be lazy bums and go back to sleep, or should we go upstairs and find some food?”
     
    Somewhere along the line, she had made a habit of talking to the baby. It had started mostly when she was alone, but after a while she’d stopped caring and started chatting with him whenever the mood struck her. She had even made up little songs to sing to him, like the go-the-heck-to-sleep song, and the stop-kicking-my-bladder-and-go-the-heck-to-sleep song. Mila knew that he didn’t understand anything she was saying, but she really felt that he knew when she was talking to him.
     
    Although she felt more miserable every day, she couldn’t bring herself to resent the baby. As far as she was concerned, he was the only person in the den who was probably as uncomfortable as she was.
     
    Tonight, the baby didn’t move when she spoke to him. It wasn’t strange, as he seemed to only sleep during the night. She had tried explaining to him that he was supposed to be nocturnal, but it was no use.
     
    Deciding it was too hot to go back to sleep, Mila got up and searched around for something passably clean to wear. Her back had been aching for days, and this evening it was worse than ever. She groaned and leaned against the wall, reaching back to try and find the stubborn spot in her lower back. The ache dulled after a moment, and she was able to get dressed. She waddled from the room, intending on eating copiously, getting a nice back massage, and then cooling off in the lake with her friends.
     
    ~~~
     
    A good alpha always sees the sun off , his father used to say. His father had always lectured him more than the others, and that particular lesson was a reminder not to oversleep, as being an alpha required constant vigilance. If only he had listened.
     
    Caim had recently fallen into the habit of oversleeping, and it had everything to do with his mate. She had been sleeping well into the night the past few weeks, and did not like to be left alone. Caim also did not like to leave her alone, which was why he would usually wake her up with him. Lately, it was becoming increasingly difficult to awaken her. Only Asch could pull her from their pallet without protest. When Caim tried to wake her before she was ready to get up, she cried. A lot.
     
    So, on the nights when Asch led the hunt, Caim would stay with their mate. Usually he would roll over and go back to sleep, but when he could not go back to sleep, either because he was not tired or because something weighed heavily on his mind, he would stay up and watch Mila. He was particularly fascinated by the swell of her belly, which currently fostered his unborn son.
     
    Were he the pack’s only alpha, he would not indulge in such things. He would order one of the females she favored to stay by her side until she awoke, while he tended to hunting and whatever issues had arisen since he had slept.
     
    But he was not the only alpha, and he trusted Asch implicitly to see to the welfare and stability of their pack on the nights that it was his responsibility. So when he woke late and to the smell of unfamiliar blood in his den, Caim had feared the worst. But as he entered the main room, he realized that his trust in Asch had been sorely