Hidden Alpha [Alpha Mates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Kasey Dean Page B

are you doing? You’re hurting her.”
    Devlin couldn’t speak, and he couldn’t move. He just stared at the mark on her neck. It was a mating mark. Made by a wolf shifter. He sniffed her neck and growled. He couldn’t smell another male, but the mark was enough to make him see red. His grip tightened. She flinched again, and her whole body went stiff. Devlin turned her head enough for Chase to see what he did. He hoped that Chase would have an explanation for what he was seeing. The only explanation he could come up with is that she had already been claimed by someone. And he had a good idea who that someone was. “Look at her neck. Please tell me that’s not what I think it is,” he said through clenched teeth. His gums were starting to ache, and he could feel his canine’s extending.
    Chase lifted his head to look at the mark. He said, “Oh gods. It looks like a mating mark. But she’s not mated to anyone. We know that. We were her first. There is no way that she is mated to someone else. She belongs to us.”
    “Well, it sure as hell looks like a mating mark to me!” Devlin spat.
    Chase reached around Amalya, obviously trying to calm Devlin, and calmly said, “There has to be an explanation. Let’s calm down and talk about this.” Chase looked at Amalya, who was shaking. “Baby girl, where did the bite mark on your neck come from?”
    She sniffled and whispered, “Gavin.”
    At that one name, Devlin lost it. He released her hair and pulled away from her so fast that she let out a scream as she moved and clenched her legs together, as if in pain. Devlin had forgotten that his cock had been part of the way in her pussy when he pulled away, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel sorry at the moment. She knew that another male had claimed her, and she hadn’t told them.
    He jumped up off the bed and started toward the French doors that opened onto the deck. “I have to get out of here,” he said, more to himself than to the other two in the room. With that, he walked out the doors and shifted, heading deep into the woods to sort out what had just happened before he hurt someone. He could hear Chase yelling at him to come back, but he just couldn’t face his two mates right then. He couldn’t believe his mate was already claimed by someone else, especially another alpha. What are we going to do now?

Chapter 9
     
    Chase was torn between the need to trail Devlin and drag him back to talk this out and to stay and hold the now crying Amalya. He was angry, too. Another male, an alpha, had marked his mate, and he was ready to kill him. Although, unlike Devlin, he wasn’t mad at Amalya. He was furious with Gavin. He could tell by her reaction that she didn’t know what the bite had meant, or she would have told them before, when they had talked to her about the claiming. When Devlin had noticed the mark and asked about it, she was confused. When he had claimed her, he felt the threads of their souls intertwine and could now feel her emotions even stronger.
    The pain and sadness he could understand, but he didn’t know where the underlying feeling of guilt was coming from. He tried to pull away a little so he could see her face, but she clung to him as her whole body shook from emotions. He held her for a while, softly rubbing his hands up and down her back while he whispered soothing words to her.
    When her body stopped shaking, he loosened his hold and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes. “Tell me what happened, and we’ll figure it out,” he said as he kissed her forehead.
    Her lip trembled as she whispered, “He left us. I thought he loved us. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make him leave. You don’t have to stay here. You can go after him. I will leave so you can be together without me ruining things.”
    He brushed his thumb along her bottom lip and replied, “Sweet Amalya, there’s nothing to be sorry for. He does love us and will be back. Now please tell me when and why Gavin