Free The Alpha's to Share: A BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance by Alanis Knight Page B

far into the mountains I’m not certain.”
     
    “Backpackers, maybe,” Callie remarked.
     
    “Hm?”
     
    “Backpackers,” she repeated. “Sometimes they travel for miles through the forest or mountains looking for remote places to camp in privacy.”
     
    “Interesting,” said Seth. “I didn’t know humans could be so adept at survival.”
     
    “Some can,” she said. “Me? I’d be screwed if I ended up alone in the forest. I have no idea how to find food or shelter or clean water… I’d be dead in days, if not hours.”
     
    “Please don’t speak of your death again,” Seth said immediately, his stomach aching at the thought. His face contorted with dismay.
     
    “Oh, sorry,” she said, a little confused. “I didn’t realize it would affect you so much.”
     
    “Callie, there is something you need to understand about shifters,” said Seth. “We form bonds much faster than humans. We… we can sense feelings and emotions on a level that humans cannot. It makes it much easier, and faster, to grow close to someone. I feel like I’ve known you for years already.”
     
    “Wow, I never realized that,” she said quietly.
     
    “I know that it may take some time for you to…”
     
    “Wait,” she interrupted him. “I think you’re expecting more from me than I’m prepared to give. I like you, I really do. I’m attracted to you, no doubt. But if I just agree to be your mate so soon, it would be for all the wrong reasons.”
     
    “You don’t have to agree to anything you’re not prepared to agree to,” Seth assured her. “You may stay here as long as you like, and I will not pressure you into anything.”
     
    Callie glanced through the doorway into the den and then looked back at him. She swallowed hard. She truly had nowhere else to go. So she steadied herself and entered the den with Seth following behind her.
     
    “This little hallway leads to the common room,” he explained. “It’s the place where we all gather for meals and meetings.”
     
    At the end of the short hallway, Callie entered a huge cavern. Along the wall she saw a rocky cliff rising with a stacked stone pathway leading upward. In the center was a huge bonfire, which was currently not burning. Overhead she saw an opening covered by a grate, which she guessed was meant for ventilation.
     
    “Most of our meals are cooked and served here,” Seth told her. “The pinnacle overhead is where I sit when I wish to be alone but still able to oversee the activities. As my mate, you would be able to sit there with me if you wished.”
     
    Callie heard a commotion down a corridor, and soon two young wolf pups came barreling through the room. One was clearly chasing the other, and the first dodged between Callie’s legs and nearly sent her toppling backward.
     
    Seth bellowed with laughter as the second pup darted between her legs and the pair circled around the unlit bonfire and disappeared into the darkness.
     
    “Are they yours?” Callie asked curiously.
     
    Seth cleared his throat and said, “I do not have pups. They are orphans, brother and sister, who we took in after our pack killed their parents.”
     
    “Killed their parents? What happened?”
     
    “Their parents were part of a rival pack who tried to claim our territory,” Seth explained. “We had no choice but to defend ourselves, and their parents were unfortunate victims. But we couldn’t let the pups starve.”
     
    “So you took in the children of your enemy,” she muttered in awe. “Very noble of you. Do they know?”
     
    “They do,” he said. “They were very young when it happened, but they adjusted very well. We made sure to tell them their parents fought very bravely, and that we never wanted to kill them. They understand.”
     
    “What are their names?”
     
    “The little white one is the girl,” he answered. “Her name is Snow. The gray one, the boy, is named Hunter.”
     
    “Hunter and Snow,” Callie said. “I like