Pledge to Me

Chapter Six

And so it started.

After the morning...situation or whatever that was, the three of us had cleaned up in silence. I couldn't even look at them and something about being exposed in front of them, even though I hadn't cared before and they had quite literally seen everything, I found myself tugging the blanket around myself, hiding my nudity.

Maybe I was trying to hide from the truth that had just come screaming at me without warning.

We were all alone out here. I was all alone out here with two unmated Alphas and not fucking suppressants. It's only a matter of time before instincts kick in. I thought them taking theirs would be enough, and I had seen them taking it so that could be it, but something else was happening between us. We couldn't deny it anymore.

I wasn't foolish enough to believe this silence, this poor attempt at continuing on like nothing happened would be enough to patch up the gaping hole we had just ripped open in our dynamic. But I wanted to stay in the delusion as long as possibile. I mean who wants to jump headfirst into that shit show?

But then the gifts started appearing. Offerings.

I had been working on the walls, filling in the gaps with clay while they went off to refill the water supply and check the traps Leo had set. When taking my first break, I noticed a small pile of rations near my stuff in the bedroom. Thinking nothing of it, at least not as much as I should have, I ate one of the rations and got back to work.

A little later, I noticed an assortment of flowers lying right next to the pile of rations, with little feathers. Then there were pretty stones, you know, the types with cool designs that were likely tumbled in a flowing stream of water for a really long time?

When it escalated to a bowl of wild berries and fresh kills, I had to draw the line.

Rushing out of the cabin, I caught Leo by the arm on his way back out into the trees.

"You giving me roadkill now? What is this? Some kind of barbaric mating ritual? What the fuck man?" I hissed.

Leo's eyes were something else in the afternoon sun. The stare was animalistic, pupils near slits as they focused wholly on me. But I wasn't afraid of him. Why? Because this dumbass was too busy trying to woo me to hurt me. All his work would have been for nothing.

"You need to keep your strength up," he grunted, before turning back to the trees.

"Bullshit! You and Anders are giving me all your kills. I don't need your damn offerings. I can feed myself. I can hunt myself. I had the same fucking training as the both of you! If it's not split evenly between us, I'm not fucking eating it!"

"Don't be stupid, Micah," Anders chided, appearing from behind. Shirtless and smudged with dirt and sweat, he leaned against the tree opposite us, arms folded and ankles crossed casually.

"I'm being stupid? How the fuck is giving one person more food than anyone can eat while starving yourselfsmart?" I barked back.

Anders's eyes narrowed but the corner of his lips remained uptilted.

"You'll need your strength. Or have you forgotten that your heat is coming?" His dark brow rose in challenge and I absolutely fucking hated it.

"I don't need any special treatment. I can handle it on my own. Focus on keeping yourselves fed and I'll go hunting myself." I pushed past Leo heading into the forest myself, but a hand locked around my bicep shoving me back into the tree. Leo's face was all I could see, eating up my entire field of vision.