Chapter 251 – Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel PDF Online Free

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I’d spent much of my adult life in this house, and as much as I’d enjoyed living among the wonders of Brightsky, I had to admit that it felt good to be home. Really, really good to have my own space, a place for my belongings. Room to stretch out and breathe that did not include three other adults.

“You good?” Xander asked with a rap of his knuckles on the doorway to the small office I’d claimed as mine. “I’m taking my brother out and about to check out the packlands. Figure we’ll be gone for a few hours, then come back in time for the afternoon meetings. You sure you don’t want to come along with us?”

“Dude. No.” I laughed at his sour expression. “I want to sit on my ass and read a book with a glass of whiskey and a cigar, and I want to do it in this little room, and I want to do it all on my lonesome.

I’ll be ready for the afternoon meetings by the time you get back. Right now, all I want is the sound of my own breathing.”

His lip curled, and he let out a growl, but it wasn’t a serious one. “That sounds fucking amazing. No lie.”

“I’m sure it will be. As soon as you get your ass out of here.” I grinned at him, enjoying the chance to rib him a little bit.

All of this felt good. The ability to take a break. To laugh. Yeah, we had a shit-ton of work ahead of us as the pack adjusted to all the changes we’d be bringing, but hard work was a lot different than running for our lives. In fact, I welcomed the hard work, since during the time we’d been in Brightsky I’d ended up feeling mostly like I didn’t have anything important to do.

Back here in Constantine, I had a good, solid place. Responsibilities. A job.And for now…I had a book, a cigar, and a glass of whiskey.

Well, at least I had the book, the cigar, and the glass. As it turned out, my decanter was empty.

Considering I hadn’t been using my office for months or longer, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was annoyed. I could’ve rang for someone to bring me more, but I figured I could get to my relaxing much faster if I did it myself.

Not much had changed in the mansion while we were gone. New staff faces, but it wasn’t as hard to get around as it had been in Brightsky. I made my way to the storage room without a problem, grabbed a bottle of The Macallan from one of the shelves and took a long minute to admire it with a wide, satisfied grin.

“By the Moon,” I said out loud. “It’s really good to be home.”

“Oh… Sorry.” A soft female voice had me turn. “I didn’t realize you were in here.”

I didn’t recognize the young blonde woman standing in the doorway. “No problem. I was just grabbing a bottle of whiskey.”

“I came to get a bottle of…wine?” She sounded hesitant, then got a more confident look on her face and took a step closer. “If that’s okay. The woman in the kitchen said that the…uh…the Alpha was um…well, it’s a welcome gift? I’m new.”

“I’m Zane. The Constantine Beta.” I looked her over curiously. “I hadn’t heard anything about Xander offering newcomers access to the liquor storage. But welcome. What brought you to Constantine?”

“I heard it’s going to be a sanctuary for anyone without another place. So long as we abide by the rules and are useful and kind.” The girl lifted her chin. “My name is Elleah Whitehaven. I’m a rogue…but I’d like to be part of the pack.”“Welcome to Pack Constantine, Elleah.” I nodded, still studying her. I stepped aside. “What kind of wine were you looking for?”

“Oh. Red.”

I laughed. “Well, we have Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot…you name it, we probably have it. Orion really loved his alcohol.”

“I hadn’t thought much about it. What’s the best?” She paused, looking embarrassed. “I don’t mean the most expensive. Just, like…the best tasting.”

“You don’t drink much, huh?”

She shook her head and bit her lower lip. “Not really.”

I plucked a bottle of a red blend from one of the alcoves on the shelf and handed it to her. “This is a nice one. Fruity, not too sweet.”

“Thanks.” She hesitated. “It was really nice to meet you, sir. I look forward to being a part of the pack, and I promise to do my best to fit in.”

“Great to meet you, too, Elleah.” I watched her walk away down the hall.

Then I took my whiskey and returned to my office where I could enjoy my relaxation. I made a mental note to ask Xander what we were doing about new arrivals, since if we were going to be giving away free bottles of wine to anyone who showed up, his dad’s stash was going to dwindle fast. Maybe that could be one of my new duties, I thought with a grin. Official alcohol orderer.

I made myself laugh at the thought, and then settled in for a few hours of alone time.

Life was good.I just hoped it stayed that way.

Stella–

I could hardly hold back my giggles as I raced down the hallway toward my bedroom. I dodged a few of the house staff who gave me odd looks, but they didn’t try to stop me. By the time I got upstairs, I was out of breath.

I was still getting used to having my own room that wasn’t joined to my parents’ or my siblings’ or grandma’s. My room was small but precious for being so private, tucked up away in an attic space with sloping ceilings and a view that took my breath away. Now I flew through the door and tossed myself on the bed, mindful of the bottle of wine I kept gripped in one hand.

I rolled onto my back and let out another long string of giggles as I felt myself shift back into Stella’s shape. Papa had looked right at me without guessing who I really was. A hot flood of guilt washed over me, but I felt good, too. If my Papa didn’t recognize me, nobody else was going to.

I sat up and looked at the bottle of wine. I had been planning to try some before going out later. I didn’t want my first time drinking to be alone in a bar, just in case my body couldn’t tolerate it. I was going to be in an entire different body shape, which would be hard enough to handle without also being unexpectedly hammered. Of course, I knew I didn’t have to drink at all…but I wanted to.

Now that I knew this face and body could fool even one of my fathers, I wanted to try everything that life could offer me. Drinking, dancing, flirting with strangers. All of it.

First, though, a glass of wine. Just one, while I freshened up my hair and makeup. I’d already looked up the bars in town to make sure they were close enough that I could get there easily without needing to ask my parents to borrow a car.

I didn’t even know how to drive.“Stella?”

I jumped up and off the bed at the knock on my door. The bottle of wine in my hand suddenly felt very heavy. I set it on the desk with a thump. “Come in!”

My mom poked her head around the doorframe. “Just checking in on you.”

“I’m fine.”

She frowned. “You look a little flushed. Are you—”

“I’m fine,” I said again, more firmly this time. I cleared my throat and softened my tone as her eyebrows raised. “Sorry. I just…I’m really okay.”

“Is it because your clothes aren’t right?” My mom’s frown deepened. “I told you, we can go shopping again, just the two of us…”

I looked down at the ill-fitting jeans and top. “Oh, no…they’re fine. I mean, yeah, they don’t… Mom, I really just would like to be alone!”

The shouted words hung in the air between us, which surprised me. They felt so heavy, I was sure each one would plummet to the ground and stab the hardwood floors with the force of bullets.

Instead, all that happened was my mother took a step away from me.

“Of course,” she said in a stiff tone unlike any I’d ever heard from her before.

It was so obvious that I’d hurt her feelings, and I wanted to cry. At the same time, I wanted to shout again. To drive her back, out of my room. I wanted her to leave me alone so I could try out this wine and get my face on the right way so I could go out and try to meet friends.

“I just thought we could spend some time together,” my mom said. “That’s all.”“Mom, I love you, but I’d just like to be by myself. I don’t need you to try to be my best friend. Even if I am a grownup now, I’m still your kid.”

I tried to keep my voice light, but it came out harsh and grating. It was honest, though. I could see she understood that. It didn’t make me feel any better, but what had happened was done.

Her gaze cut over to the bottle on the desk. Her eyebrows arched even higher, but the corners of her mouth turned down lower. “I’m not sure I care for your tone, young lady. As you pointed out, you might be grown up, but you’re still my kid.”

My mother had rarely raised her voice to me. I’d been a model child, of course. I’d only ever gotten in enough trouble to keep anyone from suspecting that I might look like an infant or a toddler, but I was, in fact, fully aware of everything. She’d never had to discipline me for being truly naughty.

I don’t think either one of us liked this very much.

But neither one of us was going to say so. No matter what kind of talents I had, once cruel words were spoken, I couldn’t take them back.

“I’ll just leave you, then,” she said.

I nodded. “Close the door on the way out, please.”

She did.

Stella–

Once my mom left the room, I locked the door. I uncorked the wine and poured myself a little glass.

My first sip made me wrinkle my nose. It wasn’t the first time I’d ever tried some, but it was supposed to be the first time I really tried some.

The next sip wasn’t much better, but I turned on the clock radio that had been in this room when my parents told me it would be mine. That meant the radio was mine, right? The desk, the bed, the chair, all of it? Mine, mine, mine.

Hey. Maybe those sips of wine had been bigger than I thought they were. Standing in front of the mirror, I watched my features ripple and change. For a moment, I looked exactly like my mom. Then my fathers, one after the other. Just the faces, though. No way would my fathers’ huge bodies fit inside these clothes.

By the third “sip,” I’d drained the glass. I was feeling pretty good as I danced to the tunes coming out of that radio. Music I’d never heard before, something catchy, with a great beat. I tried snapping my fingers along with it, which was easier than getting my feet coordinated.

Outside, night had finally fallen, which meant I felt okay sneaking out. I took a few minutes to shift and make sure everything was where it was meant to be. Then I stuffed some pillows under my covers and shut my door behind me.

Nobody stopped me as I left the mansion. My navy ballet flats crunched on the gravel of the driveway as I hurried as fast as I could without looking suspicious toward the road. I didn’t need a map to guide me. I could rely on the tracking and guiding skills of several different supernatural types. All I had to do was point myself in the right direction.Okay, so maybe drinking half of that bottle of wine on a mostly empty stomach hadn’t been the best or brightest idea I’d ever had. I felt good for now, though. Light, almost like I could fly.

Well, I could fly, couldn’t I?

I could sprout wings, like a griffin shifter. I could make myself lighter than gravity, or I could give myself the ability to control the air currents under my feet. Instead, I kept one foot moving in front of the other along the road, reminding myself that the entire point of all of this was to blend in. Look natural. I couldn’t do that by flying to a downtown bar!

Downtown looked different at night than by day. There was still a bustle of people moving along the sidewalks, but most of the shops that I’d visited before were closed. So was the ice cream shop.

The three bars, however, were all open with bright lights spilling from the windows.

I paused to listen to the music. With my regular hearing it was a bit of a jumble, but when I tuned in with some more specialized skills, I could differentiate between the songs. An upbeat tune that felt good for dancing competed with a slower song with more instrumentals, and the final bar was playing songs with voices that sounded a little bit like whooping and hollering.

I picked the bar with the dance music. My heartbeat pumped a little bit quicker as I moved closer. I mingled with the people on the sidewalk, holding my breath when any of them looked at me.

Nobody gave me more than a passing glance, though.

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