Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>
Lanie
Today was the day I lost my freedom forever.
“Oh my g od. I can’t believe it! It’s finally time!”
My best friend Mindy stormed into my bedroom.
I loved her enthusiasm typically, but today wasn’t the day for it. I’d been dreading the mating ceremony for years.
But now that I was eighteen, there was no way around it.
Due to the shortage of she-wolves, I’d be assigned to my two mates today.
And they could be anyone-from a neighboring pack, or guys I went to school with who had also just turned eighteen.
And getting mated to any of the guys I went to school with?
Gag me. And not in the se xy way.
No one knew how the elders decided who was mated to who.
And sure, some people ended up okay, like my mom and my dads. But sometimes? Sometimes it wasn’t so great. And the elders? They didn’t care. Once a woman was assigned to her mates, that was it for her.
The only way out was death.
And in that case? Lucky guys! They got a new mate.
After all, the purpose was to rebuild the clans after the Great War, so basically, we she-wolves became nothing but incubators. Yay.
I’d find a way out. Eventually. There was no way I was going to just spend the rest of my life having two men using me as their own personal se x t oy.
“You look like you’re going to prison or off to war or something right.” Mindy frowned at me.
“lam.”
“Last Fall’s mating ceremony resulted in the birth of seven pups, and last Spring’s mating ceremony has resulted in three pregnancies so far. We hope this Fall’s ceremony will be just as fruitful.”
The head elder, Aldon, gave a small nod of approval from his place on the stage set up in the middle of the town square. Polite applause sounded.
This whole thing made me want to barf.
But I wouldn’t dare do anything that could bring embarrassment to my family. The elders were known to be a bit…catty…with their assignments if someone displeased them.
My sister was due to be mated in just a couple of years, and I would slice my own throat before I ever did something to compromise her fate.
Mindy practically vibrated with excitement beside me, her gaze focused intently on the stage, her hand in mine. I gave her hand a little squeeze. I hoped we would get to stay in the same town. Being near her would help me through whatever came, even if I was separated from my family.
“Pay attention,” Mindy hissed. “They’re starting now.”
“Lanie Stanton!”
Oh, s hit. Why did I have to be first?
Lanie
I took a deep breath and walked up onto the stage.
My heart felt like it was about to beat right through my ribs.
Dear go ds, please don’t let me faint. Please, please, please don’t let me faint.
I stood next to Elder Aldon and looked out into the crowd, above their heads, not seeing anything or anyone as my eyes fuzzed over.
“Lanie Stanton, it is my pleasure to announce that you have been mated to Alpha Xander, and his Beta, Zane. Wait, what?
I was mated to the Alpha and his Beta?
No, that couldn’t be right.
Everyone knew they were both completely head over heels for Alice. Everyone expected the elders would mate her to them.
I looked back over at Elder Aldon, who was staring at me.
“Ex…Excuse me. I don’t think I heard you. Could you repeat that?”
Elder Aldon stepped closer to me, so his black robe hid the fact that he grabbed my forearm roughly, his bony fingertips digging into my flesh.
“You. Heard. What. I. Said.” He punctuated every word with a puff of onions-and-coffee breath, his grip on my arm increasing. I feared he would draw blood.
“Go,” he growled, shoving me forward.
I swallowed down my fear and turned to face Alpha Xander and Beta Zane, who were sitting on the other side of the stage.
I did my best to hold my head high as I took slow, steady steps toward Xander and Zane-who were both looking at me with a mixture of pain and anger on their faces, their mouths contorted in snarls.
Their wolves shined behind their eyes, and they glared at me.
Xander’s hands were gripping the arms of his chair, looking almost as if he could snap the wood right off. They looked terrifying, and I wanted to run as far away as I could.
I made it across the stage and stood in front of them, bowing my head slightly as I waited for them to speak
to tell me what to do.
Because…they owned me now.
Xander
This. Would. Not. Stand.
The elders had made a mistake, and I would force him to fix it immediately.
If being Alpha stood for anything, Zane and I would at least get the match we wanted.
“You’ve clearly made a mistake, Elder Aldon,” I said, my wolf rising closer to the surface, roiling with anger.
“I assure you, we have not, Alpha Xander.” Aldon lifted his chin, his pointy nose tilted up like a pig sniffing for food.
He disgusted me.
This match disgusted me.
I stood, shoving the little twit of a girl aside and walking toward Aldon, ignoring her gasp as she stumbled.
As I towered over him, he backed up a step.
“Sir… Alpha…the choice has been decided. Once it has been written, it cannot be undone.”
“Anything can be undone.”
Xander
I looked out at Alice. Tears streamed down her beautiful face, and her blue eyes screamed at me in agony. My heart sped up, and I wanted to go comfort her, tell her everything would be okay.
Instead, I looked back to Zane and opened our mind link.
“Go to her,” I told him.
In seconds, he was by her side, holding her and whispering words of reassurance to her.
My chest ached looking at them.
That was my future. Me, my Beta, and Alice against the world, raising our pups, raising the next Alpha of the Constantine Clan.
I turned back to Aldon, allowing my wolf to show its claws.
“You will undo it. Find a way,” I commanded.
Aldon’s wolf flashed in his eyes, along with something else I couldn’t place. But he looked off to the side out into the crowd and then backed down. Had he been in wolf form, his tail would have been between his legs.
“Please, Alpha. Can we speak about this privately, and let us finish the rest of the mating ceremony?” I could barely hear him, and I scented his fear.
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?