Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>
“Something along those lines,” I responded.
“I’m sixty-two.”
My eyes widened, and I stuttered, “But…but how?”
He threw his head back and laughed, then put his hands on his hips in an almost preening way as he grinned at me.
“I take it you’ve never heard of the masas dima before.”
“The masa what?”
*Masas dima. We prefer the Arabic name we were created with, not the stereotypical, sensationalized ‘vampire’ that pop culture uses.”
exist.
I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped to the ground.
There was no such thing as vampires. None. They were a myth, a legend.
The only supernatural beings that we had proof of were other types of shifters. Everything else? Didn’t I said the only thing I could think of.
“You’re f u cking with me right now.” I narrowed my eyes. “What kind of shifter are you? You’re not wolf, and I don’t recognize your scent. But I’ve only been around bear and lion shifters.”
Braden’s laugh had a group of birds in a nearby tree flying away as fast as their little wings could take them into the sky. He composed himself after a minute, shook his head, and took in the expression on my face.
“Wait, you’re not joking, are you?” He furrowed his brow. “You seriously don’t know about the existence of other paranormal beings other than shifters?”
Something in the confused look on his face told me that he was telling the truth. Had he been a wolf, I’d have been able to scent a lie out, but his scent never changed.
Rather than admit to my ignorance, I stayed silent.
Which was probably an admission in itself, but whatever.
“I think this is a conversation for when you have more clothes on and aren’t quite so…emotional.”
“Excuse me?” I didn’t know whether to be angry at him for pulling a typical man move and calling me emotional, or curious as to how he could tell what my mood was before I shifted.
“I know, I know. It’s cliche for me to call you emotional.” He held his hands out, palms up, in a gesture that I think was meant to placate me. “I mean no disrespect. I can sense emotions, and when I came upon you, I could sense very strong emotions from you.”
“Are you sure you weren’t just sensing my anger and irritation at someone sneaking up on me while I was relaxing?” I glared at him and crossed my arms over my chest, co cking my hip.
The as shole threw his head back and laughed at me.
F ucking. Laughed.
“Oh come on. We both know I didn’t sneak up on you. There’s no way you didn’t smell me before you saw me, and I was making no attempt to quiet my footsteps on the leaves.” He plastered a c ocky grin on his face. “It’s okay to admit you’re upset about something. Boy trouble, love?”
Braden The look on her face was priceless.
And knowing that I’d put it there and set her off-kilter was the icing on the proverbial cake She was glorious.
Full of attitude and defiance and curiosity.
And, da mn, she was beautiful.
I’d never seen hair like hers. It was the color of cin namon, full and thick and wild, and hung down to her waist. I wanted to wrap myself in it and nothing else as I pumped in and out of her, nipping at her neck.
Did she taste as good as she smelled?
Go d, I wanted to sink my fangs into her and get a little taste.
She still hadn’t spoken, and her mouth was slightly agape, as if she wanted to say a million things but couldn’t settle on just one.
“So, boy trouble it is, then.” I smirked at her and winked.
And watched her just about blow a gasket.
Go d da mn, she was fiery.
“You don’t know anything about me,” she snarled.
“I know enough.”
She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.
I’d tweaked her enough…for today.
I’d see her again. I’d make sure of it.
But I had to be careful. If she could smell something different about me, that meant others would as well.
Apparently, we’d overestimated how much wolf shifters knew about other species.
How could they have erased so much information so quickly? It’d only been twenty-three years since the Great Wars.
“I’ve given you a lot to digest. What with finding out that my kind exists and all.” I casually stuck my hands in my pockets and pulled my shoulders back. “Why don’t you take some time to think about all of this and meet me back here, say, tomorrow morning?”
Lanie
I picked my way back “home”, trying to reconcile everything that had just happened.
I…couldn’t.
None of what Braden had told me made any sense. How could I not know of the existence of vampires? Er, masas dima or whatever he had said.
Sure, I had no proof of anything he told me, but he definitely hadn’t smelled like anything I’d encountered before, and that in and of itself was proof of…something.
But if vampires existed, what about…
Oh, s hit. What else was out there that I didn’t know about?
And why didn’t I know about it? Did my parents know about vampires and whatever other witches and fairies and trolls and-
I was getting ahead of myself. Way ahead of myself.
I couldn’t wrap my brain around vampires, let alone anything else right now.
Calm down, Lily demanded. You’re starting to hyperventilate.
I stopped walking and sank to my knees, the damp earth and scratchy leaves on my bare skin centering mea bit.
shirt.
You need to let me shift back. We need to try to get his scent off you.
Lily’s words didn’t register with me until I looked down to see that I was still wearing Braden’s flannel F uck. She was right. It was better for me to stroll back in naked than to show up wearing a strange shirt with an even stranger scent. The last thing I needed was even more attention than I was already going to be faced with after this morning’s absolute disaster.
I snorted. Well, at least discovering that vampires existed had managed to overshadow my humiliation momentarily.
Get it together. Someone is going to see us. Let me take over. Now.
With a shake of my shoulders and a cr ack of my neck to steel myself, I took the flannel off and shoved it under some leaves and behind a rock. Lily took over and the shift was even quicker than usual. She must have been anxious as hell to shake the masas dima scent off.
Meanwhile, once we shifted and Lily proceeded to roll around in the leaves and dirt, part of me wilted inside at the loss of that sp icy, musky aroma I hadn’t realized had seeped into my nose.
We’re safe now, she said.
The words “It’s time to get back now” remained unspoken, and I was a bit grateful for her rare consideration instead of being the battle ax she usually was.
It’s now or never. I urged her forward with my thoughts and we started trotting out from the tree line, across the vast lawn of Xander’s house, and toward the front door. May as well make an entrance instead of trying to slink through the back.
As if I could slink through the back.
There was no way they didn’t have people watching for me.
“Lanie!”
Mindy burst from the front door and ran toward me. I desperately wanted to hug her, but the last thing I needed was to turn into a blubbery mess. No way in hell was I going to let Xander or Zane or Alice or any of their entourage see me cry.
Mindy and I reached each other, and she dropped to her knees beside me, for once ignoring the fact that her pants might get dirty and mar the perfect-looking image she always portrayed. When her arms wrapped around Lily’s neck, Lily rested our chin on her shoulder and nuzzled into Mindy’s neck and chuffed lightly.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?