Xias had a sudden horrible thought. “Can my alpha talk to them like this?”
Zhuang shook his head. “Only the birth parent can. You gave birth to them. You have a special bond with them that no one else does. Their sire can’t communicate with them until they shift for the first time.”
Xias grew woozy when the blood drained from his face.
“No, no.” Zhuang was right there to grab him. “That didn’t come out right. Their alpha, whoever that might be at the time, can communicate with them once they shift for the first time and become full shifters. There’s no reason to think it will be your former alpha.”
“But if he’s not their alpha, they’ll be deemed rogue and they’ll be hunted down and killed.”
“Then we’ll just have to make sure they have an alpha by then.”
“Who, though?” Xias could feel his panic taking hold as fear for his cubs swamped him. “I don’t know of any other alphas.”
“But you do, mate.” Zhuang had a small smile on his face as he caressed Xias’s cheek. “Me.”
“You have your own clan?”
Zhuang sighed. “I guess I do now.”
“I’m sorry.”
Zhuang’s smile wasn’t forced, but it didn’t seem happy either. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, mate. I always knew this could happen. Hell, my father has been trying for years to get me to step up to the plate and form my own clan. He’ll be thrilled.”
Xias frowned. “Can you do that? Just decide to form a clan and have it be so?”
“There’s a little more to it, and a whole hell of a lot of paperwork, but yeah. I’m an alpha. I have the right to lead my own clan. All alphas do. We just need clan members to lead.”
“I’ll be your clan. I mean, me and the cubs. We can be a clan for you.”
“That’s the plan, mate.” Zhuang nodded behind Xias. “Go make sure they’re ready to go. If the weather’s cleared, I want to head out. We really need to get to council headquarters. I don’t like the idea of anyone having a prior claim over you.”
Xias was all for that. He’d like to leave his alpha in the past like a bad memory. The man was a monster and Xias wanted nothing to do with him.
Xias swallowed tightly when Zhuang shifted and padded out of the cave. He hadn’t realized until the man was gone just how cold he was, and scared. He hated feeling scared, but he was so used to it, he often wondered if there was any other way to feel.
He walked over to the corner where he’d hidden his cubs and gently stroked his hand over each of them. Even in furry form, they were the most precious things he’d ever seen. He’d loved them from the moment he knew he carried them. That would never change, and he didn’t care if they were boys or girls or whatever. They were his.
He gave each of them a gentle shake. “Time to wake up, babies.”
The yawning and stretching was adorable. Xias wished he had more time to let them rest. The last twenty-four hours had been exhausting for all of them, and it wasn’t going to end anytime soon. Xias prayed for the day when his babies could just play and sleep and be cubs.
Xias froze when he heard a noise near the entrance of the cave. The cold shiver that worked its way up his back warned him that something wasn’t right. Xias pushed the cubs as far back into the small crevice as they would go.
“Ssshhh, babies,”he whispered through that parental bond he had with them. “Not a sound.”
He wasn’t sure they understood him at their young age, but they would feel the tension in the cave. They had learned since they took their first breath what danger felt like, and when to be quiet and still. It wasn’t something a child should ever have to learn, and it saddened Xias that they had.
He quickly moved farther into the middle of the cave, afraid whoever might be coming in would see him standing guard and know where his cubs were. The longer they stayed hidden, the better.
Xias sucked in a shaky breath when a dark figure filled the opening of the cave. He knew he’d made the right decision the instant that figure took shape. Xias was ready to fight for the lives of his cubs. He didn’t care if he died. If he could hold his alpha off long enough for Zhuang to return, the cubs might have a chance.
He swallowed tightly when three enforcers stepped in behind Osamu. The alpha’s enforcers weren’t chosen at random. Most often, they weren’t even chosen from the clan. They were handpicked by the alpha for their cruelty and their ability to follow orders.
“Where’s my son?” Osamu snapped out.
“I would assume he’s back with your clan.” Xias’s cubs weren’t the only ones the alpha had forced someone to give him. There were others.
He knew he was probably going to be hit for his words, but they had just slipped out. Something inside of him had changed, and he no longer considered the cubs as belonging to his alpha.
