Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>
I walked up to him slowly, the scent i’d been craving wafting over me on the cool fall breeze.
Even though I wasn’t in my wolf form, his smell was still strong enough to send pleasant chills down my spine.
As I got closer, his eyebrows knitted together, and I thought he was going to call me out on my dirty thoughts “What’s wrong?” he asked.
I was taken aback, and his question made me feel vulnerable in a different way, like he could see straight into my soul. When I didn’t answer right away, he smirked.
“l can scent your distress, remember?”
How could I forget? He’d said it’s what had “intrigued him the first time we met.
“Guess I can’t get away with anything around you, can I?”
I sighed and went to plop down onto the ground, but Braden grabbed my arm before I could.
“Here,” he said and reached for that same red blanket he’d had the last time we met. He spread it on the ground, then patted it. “Much more comfortable.”
Warmth bloomed from my chest at the gesture and I could feel myself smiling.
He sat down next to me, and I was overcome with the urge to tell him everything.
“Xander and Zane took another mate. Their first love, Alice. The words were tumbling out before I could stop them. “The High Elder has commanded them to have pups with us bath. They’re going to start making every wolf pair take two mates.” For a split second, I regretted my word vomit, but then I remembered why I’d come here..
I’d wanted to tell someone who cared and could maybe even help. And for some reason, the first person I’d thought of was Braden.
I didn’t know how I expected him to respond, but I was surprised by the sympathy in his expression.
“Those ancient ba stards,” he said, his voice dripping with more vitriol than I’d heard before. They’re returning to the old practices.”
This is what I’d come for. More information, more confirmation that the Council had a plan..and none of us wolves were in on it.
“What old practices?” I asked him.
“You want to know what really happened during the Great Wars?” Braden took a deep breath. “Then here goes nothing…
Braden Those sick as s holes.
The look on Lanie’s face when she told me they were reverting to the old practices. Normally I liked seeing her all fired up. but not about something like this.
Not when I thought the Council had moved past this.
“Are you actually going to tell me, or just tease me some more?” Lanie crossed her arms and coc ked her eyebrow.
I wanted to run my finger across her face and smooth it back out.
But instead, I told her what she’d been dying to hear.
“A few hundred years ago, the mating practices were even more barbaric than they are now. There were fewer she-wolves, too, so some would be assigned to three or four men.”
Her eyes darkened, and I could tell what she was thinking.
I hated confirming her worst fears.
“Their only jobs were to cook, clean, and most importantly, f uck if they didn’t produce pups, then they were worthless.” Lanie’s eyes widened, and her mouth formed a little “o” of surprise.
For just a moment, I reconsidered telling her everything.
It struck me again how beautiful she was and how, if she knew all that I knew, she might not come back here again.
But it wasn’t fair to trap her here like those barbaric wolves had trapped their mates.
I’d have to find another way to make sure she came back to see me….
I continued on.
“Over time, the she-wolves, and eventually some of the men, stopped putting up with the Council’s b ulls hit and they started being mated to fewer wolves, taking some leadership positions, getting more power of their own, but most of the men weren’t having it Awide grin spread across Lanie’s face.
“And instead of backing down, the she-wolves started a f u cking war?”
I nodded. “Bingo”
“Dam n.. that’s kind of bada ss. Her face twisted into a look of confusion. “Wait, but how the hell do you know so much about this and I don’t? You’re not even a shifter”
Her emotions were rising like an angry tide washing over me in hot crashing waves.
“And what about the witches? And why did you fight in the war I reached out and placed my hand over hers She froze and looked up at me, and when our eyes met, it was all I could do not to lean in and kiss her.
“I said I’d tell you. And I don’t break my promises.”
Lanie
My heart stopped.
Braden’s touch was cool, but not unpleasant.
It reminded me of the crispness of fall air, the way there’s something warm and comforting in the chill.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to break away from his gaze.
It was making me want to do things I shouldn’t.
Kiss him, touch him, let him touch me more. Everywhere, even…
I took a deep breath, He was finally telling me about the Great Wars, but now that rd gotten what I wanted, I was overwhelmed by everything! didn’t know Of course the Council didn’t want to teach young pups the truth about the Wars-she-wolves had essentially been treated like se x sl av es, a nd things were hardly any better now!
And the fact that a full-on war started once the women pushed back it did bode well for my future, or Selena’s.
“The werewolf Council and the High Elders weren’t just trying to oppress she-wolves,” Braden’s voice brought me back to the present, “they were trying to oppress other supernatural beings, too.”
I arched my eyebrow and Braden removed his hand from mine.
I missed it instantly.
“So this is where the witches and vampires come in?”
“Indeed,” he nodded. “Once the women started fighting back, the witches and us vampires did, too. We tried to take away some of the male shifters’ power and influence, after all, a lot of it was never theirs to take, and it almost worked. But not without some loss along the way”
A dark cloud settled over Braden’s features.
“What did that mean for the vampires? What did that mean for you?”
“There were some… concessions from both sides in order to end the war. I’m not proud of it. But our people were dying, and the war needed to stop, and-”
I cut him off.
“Why are you making excuses? My heart pounded. “What kind of concessions are we talking about here?”
why Immediately, regret settled deep in the pit of my stomach.
I was scared to hear what his answer would be now.
Lanie
“Just tell me, Braden,”
If it turned out he was as terrible as the shifters who enslaved female wolves before the Great Before we got in too deep.
Int t Wars, then at least I’d know His green eyes darted around, looking anywhere but into my eyes.
“I fought alongside the she-wolves when the war started, most of my kind did, but in the end, we all had to throw them under. the bus to save our own people.”
My heart sank..
I’d come to Braden for help in escaping our horrible mating practices. But it turned out he was partially responsible for them…
He glanced back up, and his face was twisted with pain.
“The wolf shifters were too powerful. Some of them were dying, too, but not like the vampires. They killed so many more of His voice was strained, and I wondered how many people Braden had lost in the wars.
Had he lost his mother? His first love? A child?
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?