Filed to story: Claimed By My Fiance's Alpha Brother (Callie & Cameron) Book PDF Free
“You two are painful to watch,” Ben Thompson called out from across the training floor, his voice carrying enough amusement to make several other warriors look up from their own exercises. “Just kiss her already, Lucas, before the rest of us die from secondhand embarrassment.”
Callie’s POV
The morning air was crisp and carried the scent of approaching autumn as I loaded my overnight bag into the back of my modest sedan. The drive to the northern territories would take most of the day, but this trip couldn’t be postponed any longer.
“I still don’t like this,” Cameron’s deep voice rumbled behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist as he pulled me back against the solid wall of his chest. Even through my jacket, I could feel the heat radiating from his body.
“You worry too much,” I teased, leaning into his embrace and tilting my head back to meet those devastatingly blue eyes. “Besides, I’m practically superhuman now, remember? I can heal people with my bare hands. A little road trip should be nothing.” I assured him, turning in his arms to press a soft kiss to his lips.
Adrian came bouncing out of the apartment building, his backpack slung over his shoulders and his silver-blue eyes bright with excitement for his day at school.
“Mommy, are you really going away?” he asked, his small hand finding mine as he looked up at me with those impossibly beautiful eyes.
I knelt down to his level, smoothing his dark curls with gentle fingers. “Just for a few days, sweetheart. Ophelia and Cameron are going to take care of you while I’m gone. You’ll have so much fun together, you might not even miss me.”
“I’ll always miss you.” Adrian said solemnly, throwing his small arms around my neck with the fierce intensity that only children could manage.
I hugged Adrian tighter, breathing in his familiar little-boy scent of soap and sunshine. “You be good for Cameron, okay? Listen to what he tells you, and remember that I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I’ll be super good,” Adrian promised, pressing a sloppy kiss to my cheek. “And I’ll take care of Cameron too, ’cause he gets sad when you’re not here.”
Both Cameron and I went very still at Adrian’s matter-of-fact observation. Out of the mouths of babes.
“Adrian’s right,” Cameron said quietly, his hand settling on the small of my back with gentle possessiveness. “I do get sad when you’re not here. So come back to us quickly, okay?”
“I promise,” I whispered.
An hour later, I was on the highway heading north, the city skyline of Silver Moon Harbor shrinking in my rearview mirror. The first few hours of driving were pleasant enough -rolling hills covered in autumn foliage, small towns that looked like postcards, the occasional glimpse of distant mountains.
But as the day wore on and I traveled deeper into the northern territories, the landscape began to change. The cheerful farms and quaint villages gave way to dense forests and rocky outcroppings. Towns became sparse, then nonexistent. The roads grew narrower and more winding, and cell phone service became spotty at best.
The GPS on my phone had lost signal twenty miles back, leaving me to navigate by the increasingly unreliable road signs. According to the last marker I’d seen, I should be approaching the town of Pine Ridge within the next few miles, where I’d planned to stop for the night at a small inn.
Instead, I found myself on what seemed like an endless stretch of empty asphalt cutting through a tunnel of evergreen trees. The temperature was dropping as darkness fell, and I cranked up the heater while trying to ignore the way my hands had begun to shake on the steering wheel.
That’s when I saw the lights in my rearview mirror.
At first, I felt a rush of relief. Another car meant civilization, other people, the possibility of help if my ancient sedan decided to give up the ghost in the middle of nowhere.
The vehicle behind me was gaining fast, much too fast for the winding mountain road. As it closed the distance, I could see it was a large truck with high-mounted headlights that flooded my car with harsh white light, making it impossible to see anything else in my mirrors.
I slowed down and moved as far to the right as possible, expecting the truck to pass. Instead, it pulled up directly behind me, so close I could hear the rumble of its oversized engine over my own.
My heart began to pound as the truck’s lights flashed in my mirrors, nearly blinding me. The driver laid on the horn, a long, aggressive blast that echoed through the forest like a battle cry.
“What the hell?” I whispered, pressing harder on the accelerator. But my little sedan was no match for whatever monster truck was pursuing me, and within moments I could feel the vehicle bumping against my rear bumper.
The truck rammed me again, harder this time, sending my car lurching forward and nearly into the trees on the right side of the road. I fought to keep control of the wheel, my knuckles white with strain as I tried to maintain my course on the increasingly treacherous road.
The truck hit me a third time, and this impact sent my car skidding sideways across the asphalt. I felt the wheels catch on something -a pothole, a piece of debris, I couldn’t tell what -and suddenly the world was spinning.
Everything happened in slow motion and at lightning speed simultaneously. The car rolled once, twice, the sound of crashing metal and shattering glass filling my ears as the world turned upside down. I felt the seatbelt cutting into my chest, felt my head slam against something hard, felt the taste of blood fill my mouth.
Then everything went black.
Callie’s POV
When I came to, I was hanging upside down in my seatbelt, my head throbbing and warm blood trickling down my forehead. The car had come to rest on its roof in a shallow ditch, steam hissing from the crumpled engine.
Through the spider-webbed windshield, I could see boots approaching. Heavy work boots that moved with deliberate, unhurried steps.
Fear shot through me like ice water as I realized my situation. Alone, injured, trapped in an overturned car in the middle of nowhere, with whoever had just run me off the road walking toward me like they had all the time in the world.
I fumbled for my seatbelt release with shaking fingers, gasping as the mechanism finally gave way and I tumbled down onto the car’s ceiling in an undignified heap. Glass crunched under my hands as I tried to orient myself, tried to find a way out.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
The voice was rough, amused, and completely unfamiliar. A man’s voice, though I couldn’t see his face through the damaged windshield.
“Looks like a pretty little thing got herself into some trouble,” another voice added, and I realized with growing horror that there were at least two of them. “Good thing we happened to be driving by.”
I managed to crawl toward what had been the passenger side window, now partly open thanks to the crash. If I could squeeze through, get into the forest, maybe I could hide until they gave up looking for me.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, sweetheart,” the first voice said, and suddenly a hand was grabbing my ankle, dragging me back from the window opening. “It’s dangerous out there in the dark. Bears and wolves and all sorts of nasty creatures.”
I was yanked from the car and hauled to my feet, swaying as a wave of dizziness nearly sent me back to the ground. Two men stood before me, both wearing flannel shirts and jeans that had seen better days. The taller one had greasy brown hair and a scraggly beard, while his companion was shorter and stockier with mean little eyes that reminded me of a rat’s.
“Looky here, Dale,” the shorter one said, circling me like I was livestock at auction. “She’s even prettier up close. Nice car too, before we messed it up. Bet she’s got money.”
“Please,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady despite the fear clawing at my throat. “I don’t have much cash with me, but I can get you whatever you need. Just let me go.”
Dale laughed, the sound harsh and grating in the quiet forest. “Oh, honey, this ain’t just about money. Though we’ll be taking whatever you got.” His eyes traveled over me in a way that made my skin crawl. “But a pretty little thing like you, all alone out here… well, seems like a waste not to have a little fun first.”
The shorter man, whose name I didn’t want to know, stepped closer and reached out to touch my hair. I jerked back instinctively, and his expression darkened.
“Now, now,” he said, his voice taking on a threatening edge. “Don’t be unfriendly. We’re just trying to help a lady in distress.”
There was something else in the air. Another scent, cleaner and more powerful, approaching fast through the trees.
The sound of breaking branches and rapid footsteps made all three of us turn toward the forest. Someone was coming, moving through the underbrush with purpose and speed that suggested either extensive wilderness experience or supernatural ability.
“What the hell -” Dale started to say, but his words were cut off as a figure burst from the tree line.
The newcomer was tall and lean, dressed in dark jeans and a black leather jacket. But it was his hair that caught my attention first -golden blond, almost white in the darkness, catching the light like spun silver.
“Gentlemen,” the stranger said, his voice carrying a cultured accent that spoke of education and refinement, though there was an underlying tone of barely controlled violence that made my would-be attackers take an involuntary step backward. “I believe the lady would prefer that you leave her alone.”
“This ain’t your business, pretty boy,” the shorter man snarled, though I noticed he was keeping his distance from the newcomer. “Walk away and pretend you didn’t see nothing.”
The blond stranger tilted his head slightly, as if considering the suggestion. “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he said pleasantly. “You see, I have a terrible weakness for damsels in distress. It’s a character flaw, really, but there you have it.”
Dale pulled a knife from his belt, the blade gleaming wickedly in the darkness. “I said back off. There’s two of us and one of you. Do the math.”
“Mathematics was never my strong suit,” the stranger replied, and I could hear the smile in his voice even though I couldn’t see his face clearly. “I was always more of a hands-on learner.”
What happened next was too fast for my human eyes to follow completely. One moment the stranger was standing twenty feet away, relaxed and conversational. The next moment, Dale was on the ground, his knife spinning away into the darkness while he clutched a wrist that was bent at an unnatural angle.
The shorter man tried to run, but the stranger moved like liquid lightning, intercepting him before he’d taken three steps. There was a brief struggle, a pained grunt, and then he too was on the ground, curled up and whimpering.
“Now then,” the stranger said, brushing invisible dust from his jacket as he stood over the two groaning forms. “I suggest you gentlemen return to whatever hole you crawled out of and forget you ever saw this lady. Because if I hear about you bothering innocent travelers again…” He left the threat unfinished, but the menace in his tone was unmistakable.
Dale and his companion didn’t need to be told twice. They scrambled to their feet and disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind only the sound of crashing branches and fading footsteps.
I stood there in the sudden silence, my heart still hammering against my ribs, trying to process what had just happened. The stranger turned toward me, stepping into a patch of moonlight that finally illuminated his features.
He was breathtakingly handsome, with classical features that looked like they’d been carved by a master sculptor. High cheekbones, a strong jaw, eyes that seemed to shift between blue and gray in the moonlight. But it was his hair that truly caught my attention -that impossible shade of golden blond that seemed to glow with its own inner light.
“Are you injured?” he asked, moving toward me with fluid grace that spoke of predatory power barely held in check.
“I… I think I’m okay,” I managed, though my voice was shaking badly. “Thank you. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t shown up.”
“I have a fairly good idea,” he said grimly, his gaze flicking to my overturned car. “Can you walk? We should get you somewhere safe and call for help.”
I took a tentative step and immediately swayed as pain shot through my left ankle. The stranger moved forward instantly, his arm sliding around my waist to steady me, and the moment his skin touched mine, I felt a jolt of recognition that nearly knocked me off my feet.
“Easy there,” he said gently, his voice softer now, concerned. “You’ve had quite a shock.”
“My name is Callie,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper as I continued to stare at him. “Callie Knight.”
The moment my name left my lips, the stranger went completely still. The arm supporting me tightened almost imperceptibly, and I heard his sharp intake of breath.
“Callie?” he said, his voice filled with shock and disbelief. “My God… Callie? You’re really Callie?”
Callie’s POV
The stranger’s warm blue eyes held a familiarity that made my heart skip, though I couldn’t place why. Something about his presence made me feel safer, but the fact that he knew me when I didn’t know him sent anxiety spiraling through my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear nervously. “You seem to know me, but I’m afraid I don’t remember your name.”
“Caleb,” he said gently, his smile never wavering. “Caleb Morrison.”
I repeated the name silently, waiting for some spark of recognition, but nothing came. Just the same frustrating blankness that had haunted me since the accident. My wolf stirred restlessly, sensing something important that my conscious mind couldn’t grasp.
“Caleb Morrison,” I said aloud, testing how it felt on my tongue. “I wish I could remember you. I’m so sorry -“
When Caleb first looked at me, his eyes practically sparkled with excitement, like a golden retriever who’d just spotted their favorite person after a long absence. But as my words sank in, I watched his expression deflate like a balloon losing air. His shoulders dropped slightly, and for a moment he looked exactly like a disappointed puppy who’d been told their human couldn’t play.
“Oh,” he said softly, then quickly shook his head and gave me a gentle, understanding smile. “No, no, don’t apologize, Callie. It’s been so many years, hasn’t it?” His voice was patient and kind, though I could still see a flicker of wistfulness in his warm brown eyes. “Maybe it’s silly of me to expect you to remember a scruffy little boy from so long ago.”
The genuine care in his tone, mixed with that hint of boyish disappointment he was trying so hard to hide, made my throat tight with emotion. “You mentioned my family earlier. You knew about my real parents, about what happened to them. How do you know so much about my situation?”
