Chapter 234 – Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel PDF Online Free

Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???

My words stuck in my throat. I pushed away from the table and got up to face all four of them. They were talking to each other through their dam ned mind link.

I could sense it. I wrapped my arms around me against the sudden chill.

“Fallen Crest is the dead city,” I told them. “Nobody goes there. It was forbidden by the High Council ages ago-”

“As if we give a single tiny f uck about what the High Council wants,” Lanie said.

I shot her a look so fierce she winced. “It was forbidden by every High Council or Leadership Court or Noble Senate of every single supernatural kind that has such a governing body. Every. Single. One. It’s the only thing that everyone has ever agreed on in totality.

You can’t go there.”

“We have to. It’s where Stella says she will be safe,”

Lanie shot back at me with her wolf blazing in her eyes.

“By the Moon and the stars above, how? The Moon Goddess herself abandoned Fallen Crest. It’s nothing but a wasteland, inhabited only by the dead, and if you go there…” I stabbed my finger at each one of them. “You’ll all be dead, too. You might as well simply slice off your own heads right here and now.

Save me the heartache of wondering what has happened to you.”

“Mom. Don’t be hysterical,” Xander began, but I whirled on him.

“You watch your mouth,” I snapped. “Your father used to speak to me that way, and I didn’t put up with it, from him. I tolerated a lot, but never that.”

Zane got up from the table to take away my unused mug. He poured it into the sink. When he turned back around, his gaze was sympathetic but strong.

“Lanie’s had a vision from the Moon Goddess, and Stella has confirmed that Fallen Crest is where we have to go. There’s more than our lives at stake. If we can’t get Stella safe from the High Council, the entire world is in jeopardy. If you take a minute to think about it!” he said, “I know you’ll be able to see that. Because you know them. You know what they’re willing to do.”

The tension in the air between all five of us popped like a balloon stuck with a pin. And, like a stuck balloon, I deflated. I sat back at the table with my hands folded. The life I’d imagined only an hour ago would have to be put on hold for the greater good.

It wasn’t the first time I’d changed my life to help save the world…but by the Goddess, I prayed it would be the last.

Lanie–

My heart ached at the way we’d had to treat Xander’s mother, but there was no other way for it to go. We’d had to dance a careful ballet of the truth interwoven with half-truths and semi-truths. Our choreography skirted outright lies, but just barely.

She had to know where we were going so the High Council would follow, and she had to be convinced that staying was the best protection for the twins. We also had to convince her that we couldn’t tell Malachi or anyone else.

“He wouldn’t let us go,” I told her. “Not alone. And Stella was very clear. It has to be the five of us only. Nobody else.”

Gabriela had put the twins to bed while we finished quickly packing. Stella had not returned, and although I suspected Gabriela didn’t really believe she was paying homage to the Moon Goddess in her temple, she also didn’t keep pressing us for more details. Now, Xander’s mother finished spreading peanut butter and jelly on some bread to make sandwiches we could take with us. I hadn’t had the heart to tell her we didn’t need them.

“If he doesn’t stop you from leaving before you get out the front gates, he’ll figure out you’ve gone before you make it to the portal town,” she said.

Her knife moved over the bread, adding more layers. Her hands were steady. They’d been shaking a few minutes ago.

“We have a safe route through Standard,” I told her carefully. “Through the maintenance tunnels.”There was no way for us to know if she was transmitting our words to the High Council through the scrying device. Every word we said and every item we chose to take with us had to be specific and purposeful. We wanted them to know where we were going, what route we were taking, and what time we planned to leave. Like everything else, some of what we said was true. The rest of it…we didn’t even fully know.

The Moon Goddess had convinced me to place my trust in Stella and also my own instincts, and so that’s what I was determined to do. It wasn’t easy. I had to keep taking slow, deep breaths while at the same time keep my expression from giving away my anxiety to Gabriela. I also had to show some nervousness, because there was no way I’d be able to convince her that I wasn’t worried at all.

This dance had so many steps, and I hadn’t practiced them nearly enough. I felt way too clumsy to be performing it. All I could do was keep stepping, even if it was over an abyss.

“How will you stop the enclave’s security systems from alerting your grandfather that you’re leaving?” Gabriela asked. She folded waxed paper around the stack of sandwiches and tucked them into a tote bag. She lifted it, hefting its weight, and put it on the table with a laugh. “I haven’t made this many PB&Js since Xander was going through puberty. He and Zane ate me out of house and home. My two boys.”

Her voice cracked, and I went to her. I didn’t think she’d let me hug her, but she did. I held her tightly, hoping we were doing the right thing.

Gabriela extricated herself from me. She cleared her throat and wiped at her eyes. “The twins will be safe here. I’ll take care of them.”

“I know you will. And when we come back—”“Don’t,” she said firmly around a tremor in her voice. “Just don’t, Lanie. I can’t bear to hear a promise you can’t make. Not in good conscience. Accepting that promise means I’m letting you lie to me, and I can’t have that.”

I nodded after a moment. She was right. We both hated it, but looking into her eyes, I saw that she also understood it.

“Lanie,” Xander said from the doorway. “Mom. We have to get going. Stella will be waiting.”

We hadn’t told his mother that Stella could speak to us through a new mind link. That was one piece of information we didn’t want the High Council to suspect. We did, however, want them to be on alert that we were heading out.

“Take these,” Gabriela said, handing him the tote.

When he peeked inside, surprise and pleasure wreathed themselves across his face in a broad smile. I’d never seen my Alpha smile that way before. It lifted my heart and broke it at the same time. It was the grin of a boy whose mother had made sure he had everything he could possibly want or need.

It faded quickly, replaced with a sterner expression. He hugged his mother and kissed her cheek.

“Thanks, Ma.”

Mason and Zane bustled through the doorway. Each had a backpack slung over one shoulder. That was all we were taking with us—one small bag each. According to Stella, we would find whatever else we needed along the way.

According to Gabriela, it might be all we needed for the rest of our lives.

Zane–

The four of us moved as silently and quickly as we could along the quiet corridors of Brightsky. At this time of night, not many residents were around. Every time a new light cast its glow ahead of us, showing us the way, my heart felt like it was being stabbed.

We hadn’t even kissed the twins goodbye. They were sleeping when we left, and Lanie had thought it would be better not to wake them. She said we’d see them again before we knew it, and I wanted to believe her.

The spiders were still alive, and although their tiny lives were not the only ones we hoped to save, knowing they were still here reminded me over and over again of that one reason why we were leaving.

Stella was waiting for us. Not in the Temple of the Moon, but deep down in the caverns that housed the steam baths and pearl farms. We all took the stairs to avoid running into anyone in the elevators who might question what was feeling more and more like an escape…like we were running from.

Not running to.

I hated all of this, but I’d been shoving my emotions down so I could focus on making sure my Alphas and our Luna were taken care of. Mason and Xander were shifting into soldier mode, and that triggered me into full-on Beta. Watching their backs. Anticipating their needs, their every move.

Over all of us, Lanie spread her Luna love and light.

Down and down we went. By the time we got to the bottom, even the spiders’ light had gone more dim as fewer of them guided our way. I drew in a long, deep breath of dank air as we came out into the stone alcove Stella had sent us directions for using our mind link.She waited quietly on the other side of the alcove. Her hands were linked neatly in front of her, and she stood perfectly still. I’d been carrying the backpack Lanie had packed for her, and she took it from me with a soft smile.

“Thank you, Papa.” She slung it over her shoulders and hitched it into place. “Are we ready? We’ll have to move quickly. You told Grammy we were leaving through the tunnels in Standard?”

“Yes,” Xander said.

“Then they’ll be gathering there to stop us. We won’t have much time after they realize we’ve actually bypassed them. But they know we’re heading for Fallen Crest, so I expect them to be on our trail within the day. Let’s go.” Stella turned toward a small opening in the stone wall.

We followed her, walking in single file. Stella, then Lanie, then Xander. The corridor was so narrow that my shoulders brushed it on each side and Xander, with his massively broad frame, almost had to walk sideways. Mason brought up the rear. We weren’t expecting any trouble yet, but I was ready for it, just in case.

We came out into a large cavern with a soaring ceiling. It reminded me a lot of the one Greyson had taken me flying in. That felt like a lifetime ago. This one had a set of stone steps carved into it that led upward, curving around a series of columns carved with oversized designs. Huge faces. Wings, tails. I saw wolves, too.

Just as we got to the bottom of the stairway, Stella paused and turned to face us. “I don’t want you to worry about going up the stairs. I won’t let any of you fall. I’ll tether us, using the powers of the Oreads. Mountain nymphs.”

I looked up and up. “Ugh. Wolves aren’t meant for heights.”Stella laughed gently. I laughed with her, surprised that there could be any humor around us right now. She took the first step. Lanie followed. When they made it up the first five or six steps, Xander–

went after them. That left me.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, even though there was no railing and the sheer drop was high enough that, if the tether Stella talked about failed, we’d all fall to a painful, broken death.

“One step at a time, love.” Lanie’s voice slipped into my mind through our group mind link. “Keep moving upward and onward. We’ll make it.”

“I’ll keep us safe,” Stella thought, her voice smooth and steady.

When we finally got to the stop, all of us except Stella were breathing heavily. I paused to look over the side, feeling the pull of gravity tempting me to tumble head over heels. An answering pull kept me in place, safely beyond the edge. Stella’s tether.

She was already moving on, our Luna following. It was my turn to go, but I took one last look down into the depths of the cavern below. Then I turned back and took those steps, one at a time. We’d made it this far…But we had a lot farther to go.

As we approached a dimly lit doorway a few feet away, Stella paused. She pitched her voice low.

“We need to move faster. They’ve decided not to wait for us at the tunnel exit in Standard. They’re coming for us now.”

Mason–

I might not have ever had a pack under my command, but that didn’t make me any less of an Alpha than my brother. The instant Stella told us the High Council was planning to infiltrate the tunnels, the two us got into position, flanking our pack. Zane also instantly moved into Beta mode between us.

We might be the Alphas, but we were under the command of a Celestial. We all turned to face her.

She was concentrating hard, her eyes narrowed and expression twisted.

“I thought there’d be more time before they moved,” she muttered. “Something has changed. Give me a minute to Seek.”

“What’s she talking about?” I thought to Lanie through our mate link.

Our Luna shook her head, her eyes focused with laser precision on our daughter. “I don’t know.

Give her a minute.”

<< Previous Chapter

 

Next Chapter >>

---