Claimed For Their Pleasure (Omega Prey #6) - L.V. Lane Page 0,4
matter what I feed them. They make a mess with it.”
“I don’t understand why everyone tiptoes around her,” I say. My voice lowers to a whisper. “You don’t think Jack will mate her, do you?”
My mother places an arm around my shoulder and hugs me. “No, lass, I don’t. A fool could see Jack is in no state to think about mating again. I think he is hoping that Nola will step up as a leader within the clan. Her father was well-loved and held a high status afore he died a hero.”
“I don’t think she will ever step up,” I say sadly.
“Me neither,” my mother agrees.
A sudden wailing brings a halt to the conversation. William has tipped his milk, and it has spilled all over Greta.
The children keep me busy for the next while. Then I spend the afternoon with some of the clanswomen in the herb cottage, as it is called, where we keep all the healing roots and herbs.
I return home at dinner time and help my mother with my siblings. There are six of us in total. Greta and William are the youngest and stay with my mother and me most of the time. While the older three boys, Amos, Karl, and Doug, help my father in the workshop. Doug is only eight, but loves to watch my father and brothers when there are no lighter duties for him to do. When my father goes out logging, only Amos, as the oldest, is allowed to go with him. The other two mope around when they must stay behind, although it won’t be long before Karl can join him.
Ordinarily, I love the banter between my siblings, but I’m feeling out of sorts. Once dinner is over, and we have cleared up, I go to my bedding nook with a lamp, pull my curtain across, and read my treasured book. It’s a story of a princess who mates with a shifter lord. Together, they have wondrous adventures. I never get bored despite reading it so many times that the pages are worn. The wolf lord has been betrayed and captured by the Orcs. His daring mate must lead the rescue. It is a fanciful tale, and I enjoy it very much. I imagine I am the princess, disguising myself as a boy as I infiltrate the Orc citadel where my mate is held.
They have chained the shifter lord, for everyone knows a bound shifter cannot shift. All our heroine needs to do is free his bound wrists, and he will be able to take them both to safety.
I know what will happen. I have read the book many times, but I still get a wriggly sort of tense when the Orc guards pass the alcove where the princess is hiding.
“Lamp out, Jessa,” my mother calls.
Engrossed in my story, I didn’t realize that it had gone quiet on the other side of the curtain. Turning out my lamp, I return it to the hook before placing my book on the small alcove where I keep my personal treasures.
I wriggle deeper into my bed.
Usually, I fall straight asleep, diving into a dream world I conjure for myself. But tonight, the dreams won’t settle as my mind keeps looping over the day’s events.
I can hear Nola’s laughter as she spitefully made fun of my stumble. But I don’t linger on that.
I have dreamed of Brandon for so long. He has starred as the hero in every story I have ever played inside my head. I want him so badly, but he barely notices me. And when he does notice, it is only so that he might tease me.
Restless, I toss and turn, but sleep still evades me.
I find another story weaving in and out of my mind. One with a great Alpha and a Beta shifter who fight to claim a lass. The two men hate each other, for their clans are at war. I push and pull at this story of my making, but I can’t find a pattern that will give it the happy ending it deserves.
The gentle murmur of my parent’s conversation rouses me when I hear my name. I do not listen in on them often, but I am curious and carefully clamber around in the bed so that my ear is against the wall nearest to them.
“She is growing up, Ed,” my mother says softly. “She’s not our baby anymore.”
I hear my father’s huff. “She has shown no signs yet then?” he asks.