Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>
Over my dead body.
Literally.
Before yesterday, all I’d been thinking about was doing whatever I needed to do to protect my parents and my sister, but those thoughts were long gone. Now wasn’t the time to be self-sacrificing for others.
Now was the time to figure out a way to escape this utter madness.
And I was going to start by meeting with Braden this morning If vampires had been kept from us, what else had been kept from us? I was pretty sure the High Council was behind it-they were behind everything. And since so much of our history was lost in the Great Wars, it would have been fairly easy for them to create whatever narrative they wanted.
Apparently, that new narrative left out some pretty interesting things.
I hated thinking that we’d been lied to, but I’d laid up all night thinking about the eight million things that had just happened. and I couldn’t come up with another reason why none of us would know anything about vampires.
Or did they?
Did only certain people know? Did my parents know? What about Xander and Zane?
The more I thought about it and all of the possibilities, the more my head spun, and I couldn’t let myself sink into the quicksand of what-ifs.
What-ifs didn’t do anything but make you doubt everything and everyone, and I didn’t want to start viewing everyone I knew as some sort of deceptive accomplice.
If they were, I’d deal with that later.
For right now, I just needed to talk to Braden again to learn more about the chunks of our history that had been left out of what we were taught.
Something told me I could trust him, that he was one of the only people I could trust right now. Hell, maybe he was the only person I could trust. Now, I didn’t even have Lanie, because her mates would be able to read her thoughts. Even if she didn’t want to betray me, she would This sucked.
Braden and I hadn’t set up a specific place to meet, but I assumed going back to where we’d met would be the best bet. Plus, since we could scent each other out, I was sure we’d find each other. This time, I didn’t shift to get there, and instead walked. So, ya know, I’d have clothes on during today’s rendezvous rd still be able to scent him, but just not as strongly than if Lily were in control Before I could see the lake, I could smell Braden. Was it that I was looking for it? Or that his smell was more potent than I’d realized before?
Regardless of the whys and hows, the scent caused immediate desire to shoot through my body, settling between my legs. Could he smell me, too? Did my scent affect him the way his scent affected me?
I hoped so. Now that I’d had sex, I wanted more of it.
And since I wasn’t going to be getting it from my “mates”, maybe Braden was an option.
There were n no viable options for me among my own kind, that was for sure.
Even if there were someone I was attracted to or someone who was available, no one would touch me with a ten-foot pole. I was completely off-limits for them even thought Xander had said I was free to “have fun” as he put it, so long as I didn’t get knocked up with ba st ard pups.
But who the hell was going to dare to touch the cast-off mate of the Alpha and the Beta?
No one, that’s who.
“There you are.” Braden stepped in front of me.
I’d been so lost in my thoughts and the scent of him that I hadn’t even seen him.
“Hi” I said, a bit more shyly than I intended.
Tm glad you came. I was worried I might have scared you off with, you know, my whole existence.” He waved a hand up and down his body, a boyish, lopsided grin spreading across his face.
His very attractive face.
I blinked Then blinked again.
F uck, all I could think about was his very attractive face buried between my legs like Zane’s had been.
This was no good.
I needed to get my s hit together and focus on why I was really here.
He titled his head, a lock of dark hair falling over his forehead, and I had to fight the urge to reach up and brush it back.
“I brought a blanket with me” Braden turned and started walking away from me, and da mn his a ss looked good in his jeans. He was wearing pretty much the same thing he’d been wearing yesterday, and I wondered if he had some sort of lumberjack fetish I sure as hell might now.
At the edge of the tree line, overlooking the lack, he’d spread a large, thick, red blanket, even taking the time to weigh down each corner with a large rock. He gestured for me to sit, and I lowered myself, folding my legs beneath me and hugging my oversize black cardigan around me a bit tighter, even though I wasn’t remotely cold.
He sat down across from me, spreading his legs out in front of him and leaning back on his elbows.
“So, where do you want to begin?”
Xander “Let’s go out tonight.”
I raised an eyebrow at Alice and tried to keep from telling her she was insane.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now,” Zane said gently. He was sitting on the leather couch in my office, thumbing through a book that he clearly wasn’t reading.
Alice sat on the couch with him, curled up in the corner, pouting “But there’s nothing to do here.” She sniffed a little and looked over to me, where I sat behind my desk sorting through the new documents I had to sign regarding all of the new matings.
Even though the Elders decided all of the matings, the legal paperwork still had to be signed by the Alpha. I had stacks of papers to go through, and news from other packs to catch up on regarding their mating assignments and outcomes, and I didn’t have the time or patience to deal with an Alice who wasn’t getting what she wanted.
“I’m sure I can come up with some items you could attend to as the new lady of the manor…”
She wrinkled her nose. “Like what?”
“Well, you’re going to need to become acquainted with the staff, you’ll need to start thinking about the winter ball. The guards’ mates live on the premises, so you’ll need to look at attending their get-togethers and learning what they do to support the guards. There’s a list somewhere of all the things my mother does every year that will fall to you now.”
My father had stepped down as Alpha as soon as I was able to take over the pack. He was still strong and able, but after the Great Wars, he was done with politics and leading. He wanted to enjoy his life with his Beta and my mother, and from the moment I’d been born, he’d been counting the days until he could hand it all over to me.
Typically, he would have waited until after Zane and I had found our mate, but since everything had changed after the Great Wars, he figured to hell with tradition, that in the interim, my mother could continue to handle Luna duties. Especially since she loved doing it so much and enjoyed connecting with our pack and planning events. I anticipated she’d still want to play a large role in helping Alice wherever and whenever she could while Alice learned the ropes over the next year, “I have…duties?” Her brow furrowed and she looked back and forth between Zane and me, confusion lining her delicate features.
“Yes. You’re a Luna now.”
“I thought I’d just, like, have pups for you and that was that.”
Zane looked up from his book and chuckled. “No, love. There’s a lot more to being a Luna than providing pups. How do you- “Don’t worry, love,” I cut Zane off. “My mother will guide you through everything. I know it’s a lot to take in, but you’re smart, capable, and amazing. You’ll be perfect at it.”
“What the hell? Zane glared at me.
“The last thing we need is for you to imply she’s st upid and then have to deal with her complaining that you’re being a bully. We both know how these arguments end and how we have to make it up to her to soothe her ego, and I don’t have time for that right now”
“Fair enough,” Zane replied. “Oh, s hit.”
Through our Alpha/Beta bond, I sensed his heartbeat skyrocket, and he held his breath as he looked at me, obviously trying to hide how frantic he felt.
And then it hit me.
Now that we had claimed Alice, she could hear our ur inner conversations with each other.
The dialogue we were so used to having wasn’t just ours anymore.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, waiting for Alice to comment, trying to figure out how we were going to dig our way out of the hole we’d just created.
But Alice remained quiet, sitting in the corner of the couch, still pouting and picking at her cuticles. A sure sign she was upset, since she always kept her hands perfectly manicured.
“Alice, love. I’m sorry. I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed…” I said through the mate band.
Silence.
F uck.
“You know how insensitive he can be when he’s hungry and when he has a little bit of work to do.” Zane said with a teasing smile, putting his book down and leaning over to rest a hand on her bare knee. She looked up at him, still scowling, then looked over at me again.
“Why are you both looking at me like that?
“Because we’re apologizing.”
“For what? Does that mean we’re going out tonight then?” She sat up a little straighter, flipping her blonde hair over one shoulder running her fingers through it.
“No. Xander was a bit of a jerk, so he’s trying to apologize for that..”
“I mean, I wouldn’t say he was a jerk when he told me about all of the things I have to do. But he is being kind of a meanie for not going out tonight.”
What the hell was going on with her? How could she just ignore what I’d said about her complaining? Any hint of reference to her complaining was typically a trigger for her, even when said in jest.
And then it hit me, and I froze, disbelief and shock making my head buzz and my ears ring.
She couldn’t hear us through the mate bond.
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?