Owned by the Alphas Short Story: The Masked Alphas
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Jen Cooper
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The Invite
Lorelai
To Luna Lorelai Valarian and the Alphas of the Werewolf Territory, Derik, Braxton, and Nikolai.
You are cordially invited to the annual masquerade ball held in the castle of Vampire Territory. You may bring as many wolves as you like.
Please dress in formal attire. Masks are mandatory.
Arrive by carriage at six o’clock.
Food and drinks will be provided.
Hope to see you there,
Lucien.
I frowned down at the beautiful black parchment. Silver cursive was neatly written across it with our invitation. I had never heard of this ball.
Apparently, they held it every year.
“I think you’ll find this is just the first year that anyone else has been invited, Spitfire,” Brax said, leaning back in a chair in the library.
He had his foot up, resting it on one of the other chairs as I wrote in my notebooks.
Derik was reading over by the window and looked up, his eyes on the letter that had been delivered by Anetta.
“And we have been invited this year?” Derik asked.
I held up the invite.
“Yes,” I said.
He stood, putting his thick book on human history down on the window seat next to him. He strode over and looked at the invitation.
Brax was not reading, he was being distracting. His shadows lifted my skirts, tracing over my leg underneath them.
I sucked in a breath as he intentionally brushed the sensitive place between my thighs.
He grinned and I shook my head.
“I’m here to do something other than have sex, Brax. Keep your shadows to yourself,” I scolded.
His grin grew but he withdrew his shadows.
I missed them as soon as they weren’t touching me.
“Which is exactly why I went for a run, Little Luna,” Kai said, striding in and bringing my lips to his. He gave me a deep kiss before pulling back.
RJ came in behind him, sweat on his brow, sticking his strands of black hair to his forehead.
“I’m getting so much faster,” he puffed, his shorts on, his feet muddy.
“You are,” Kai grinned, ruffling his hair, “But you’re slow on your shift. If you want to beat your brothers, you need to beat them into your wolf.”
RJ rolled his eyes, “Alaric doesn’t even want to race. Says he doesn’t need to prove he is the fastest, he just needs to make sure he is. And Zale lets me win half the time so I never know if I actually beat him,” RJ whined.
“Keep practicing, Rowan. If you want it enough, you’ll beat them,” Derik smiled at him.
“Yeah but Uncle Derik, Alaric says it’s all about control and being better at it. He says practicing is a waste of energy,” RJ explained, huffing as he sunk into one of the chairs.
“Then he will not be winning for long then, will he?” Derik winked before lifting the parchment and handing it to Kai.
“A room full of masked vampires? Funny joke,” Kai grumbled and chucked the invite back on the table.
“I’d like to go. I’ve never been to a masquerade,” I said, thinking of how exciting and mysterious it would be to be faceless for a night.
To not see anyone’s true identity until they wanted me to. It gave me a thrill. Especially since it was with the vampires. That added a new element to it that I hadn’t expected to enjoy. But I did.
Brax smirked, “I think our Luna is rather excited about a trip to the vampire’s castle,” he teased, probably feeling exactly how excited I was.
“RJ, go find your brothers and sister. It’s almost time for dinner,” Kai said.
RJ screwed his face up, “Enzi is with Althea in the gardens.”
“Is there something wrong with the gardens?” I asked, smiling a little at the sour look on his face.
“No. But if they’re there then Zale will be there. He is obsessed with everything Althea says but sometimes she is wrong. If I tell her then Zale gets mad at me.”
I smiled. We had noticed a little crush developing between Zale and Althea. It seemed harmless but we were keeping an eye on it.
It was cute to see them growing up so well and so fast. Cute and terrifying.
“Find Alaric first. Then he can go with you to the gardens,” I offered.
“Fine,” he huffed then got out of the chair and raced out of the room.
I smiled after him a second before my Alphas distracted me.
Kai’s lips stole mine again as Derik lifted me from the chair so he could sit there and place me on him.
Brax’s shadows went back to my skirts, lifting them out of the way.
“I was busy,” I laughed against Kai’s lips.
Derik’s hands slowly undid my corset.
“We can be busy together,” Kai grinned.
“If we can go to the masquerade ball. Together,” I bargained.
“I’ll escort you, Beautiful,” Derik whispered in my ear.
I shivered against him, his fingertips brushing my skin where he undid my dress.
“I’m not scared of vampires,” Brax smirked, his shadows still caressing me.
I licked my parted lips before Kai kissed them again.
“I am not scared of vampires. I just don’t want to spend this specific night with them instead of naked with my mate,” he said, kissing me deeply again.
His tongue delved inside my mouth and I moaned a second before what he said, registered.
“I’m always naked with you. Why does this night matter?” I asked, nodding to the invitation.
“It is a night we usually spend fucking,” Kai grinned.
“It is meant to be a night the moon is hidden, Beautiful. We take it as a sign that we are to hide too,” Derik explained in a much better way.
I stopped kissing Kai and looked over my shoulder at Derik, “Hide? How?”
“We shift. We fuck as wolves. We spend our nights in the forest,” Derik said.
“What about the children who don’t shift yet?” I asked, thinking of the kids. Ours could shift because of my magic in their veins but most couldn’t, not at their age.
“They make masks. Wolf masks at school and wear them at night. We let them stay up and have roasted marshmallows and candy. Before we go, we each give them a treat to thank them for protecting the city while we are in the forest. Not that they do, the elders do but it makes them excited,” Brax said.
I had never heard of such a tradition and I had been with them for years now.
“How did I not know of this?” I asked, raising a brow.
“We haven’t done it in a while. During the winterborn war, everything that left the city unprotected was forgone. But this year, we could restart that. Go to the ball while the children stay home and eat candy,” Derik smiled.
“They would enjoy that,” I grinned.
“And what about the part where some of the children prank us for when we come back from the forest?” Brax raised a brow.
“They do that?” I laughed.
“Poison Ivy is their favorite,” Kai groaned.
I laughed again, “We should start the tradition again.”
“Good, fucking in the forest as wolves it is,” Kai said, kissing me.
I let him but then pulled away, “No. We go to a masquerade ball while the youngsters eat their treats and trick us. I think it could be fun,” I smiled.
I hadn’t seen the tradition, so even if there were pranks involved, I wanted to experience it.
We had said goodbye to the wars. We could bring back the traditions that meant something more.
“We’re going to the ball, Beautiful. Even if I have to drag Kai there myself. We will give you this,” Derik promised.
I grinned then leaned back into him.
I wound my shadows around Brax’s tugging them closer to me then pulled Kai’s mouth down to mine.
“Good. Now can you give me something else? Because your mate wants to say thank you,” I whispered before letting them ravage me like the animals they were.
