Chapter 242 – Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel PDF Online Free

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“I think I’ll have to call a meeting later in the week,” I started to say, but I was cut short as the big double doors at the far end of the dining room flew open with a bang.

There was a scream.

Xander–

My hand slid over a bare spot on the bed, no longer warm from my Luna’s naked body. I shot up in bed, my heart hammering, before I remembered…we were safe. All of us. Back in Constantine.

With a slight groan, I fell back against the headboard and reached out with the mind link to see if I could sense Lanie’s location. She was in the mansion somewhere. Feeling fine. No hint of danger or fear.

“You okay?” Zane yawned and stretched, joining me against the headboard. He tipped his chin toward the still-snoring Mason. “Look at sleeping furry over there.”

I scrubbed at my face and looked around the luxurious room. It was familiar and strange at the same time. Our quarters in the enclave had been fancier in many ways, but this room was…home.

“We’re gonna need a bigger bed,” I said.

Zane laughed. “Yeah. My ass was hanging over the edge all night.”

Mason stirred with a snort and opened his eyes. For a second or two, it looked like he was going to leap up with his fists out, but he calmed down. He also yawned, ending it with a little yelp, and pushed up on his elbow. “Where’s Lanie?”

“Feels like she’s having breakfast,” Zane murmured. “Which sounds good. If I could manage to get my ass out of bed.”

Mason flopped onto his back. “Damn, it feels nice to just wake up without an alarm. I don’t just mean the kind that comes along with a clock. Just…no alarm, and nothing alarming.”I raked a hand through my hair to get it off my face. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d had a cut, and it was way too shaggy. Now that we were back in Constantine and would be hosting official events and shit like that, I’d need a trim, at least.

Zane looked over at me, sensing my thoughts. “It’s going to feel weird. Getting back to regular business.”

Mason huffed out a low noise and, with a groan, got out of bed. He stretched widely and went to the window to peer out, twitching the curtains back and then letting them fall again as he turned to face us. “Xander, I’m going to let you take the lead on how we approach things, but we are going to need an official gathering meeting sooner rather than later.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “We need to let them all know that you and I will be co-Alphas and what that will mean for the pack.”

My brother’s expression eased. I could tell he was relieved that I’d brought it up so he didn’t have to. Mason and I hadn’t fully discussed how things were going to work now that we’d all returned to Constantine, and the truth was, I couldn’t really be sure yet. I did know that we’d figure it out together.

“The pack is going to be confused,” Zane said quietly. “There might be some pushback.”

“They’ve all dealt with what amounts to a reign of terror,” I said firmly. “Lies. Betrayal. The High Council kept them all scared, all the time, so they could be controlled. Well, that’s not how I want to run things here.”

“No, me neither,” my brother said. “But I am fully aware that I’m the new guy. The bastard son of Orion Constantine. It’s likely some of them are going to have a hard time accepting me for that reason alone. They’ll feel that I don’t have a right to be Alpha.”“It’s not a question of feeling. Our father passed his Alpha powers to me, and then he also passed them on to you when he died. That’s something nobody can argue with, or take away from you,” I told him. “Is it kind of fucked up? Yeah. Will we handle it together? Also, yes.”

Mason chuckled, shaking his head. “You got it, bro. I got your back…and I know you’ve got mine.”

We’d come a long way from my brother hating me and actively planning my demise to this. We both grinned at each other. I got out of bed to stretch.

“The first thing I want to do is establish that Mason and I are a team, one they can count on to keep the pack’s best interests at heart. Two Alphas and a Beta, working together with our Luna. With the shit we’ve been through, we can handle a scared pack,” I said as I rummaged in the dresser to find a pair of sweatpants to pull on.

I felt a pulse of warmth emanating from Zane. Relief. Pride. Friendship. I turned to him.

“Your place is still by my side,” I reassured him. “I’ll make sure the pack sees that. More than that, that they feel it.”

He nodded. “We got this.”

That’s when all three of us heard the scream through the mind link.

“Lanie!”

Lanie–

I almost didn’t recognize the woman rushing across the room to hurtle herself against me. My scream rose, joining hers, turning to a squeal at the last second as my best friend Mindy hugged me so hard she squeezed the breath out of my lungs. Laughing, crying a little, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back as hard as I could.

“Lanie! Goddess, you look so good! I mean, you always looked good, but you look…” Mindy held me at arms’ length, then hugged me again. “You look like a Luna.”

Her words tickled my earlobes. “I am the Luna.”

Mindy’s laughter had an edge of tears as she pulled away again. “I was going to say you looked older, but I thought that might come out wrong.”

“I am also older,” I said. “You look good, too.”

We both hugged each other again, dancing in place. I’d put the thoughts of my bestie entirely out of my head for so long, incapable of giving myself permission to miss her. Now that came flooding back into me with the force of slamming into a brick wall. I wanted to cry, laugh, scream, jump up and down, run around the room…I settled for hugging her hard one more time and then stepping back to take another good, long look at her.

“I’m home,” I said.

Mindy’s eyes welled with tears. “It’s been a long time, bestie. Don’t you dare ever go off like that again.”

“I hope I never have to.” I knew better than to make a promise that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep.The High Council had been soundly and permanently defeated, but I’d seen way too much out there in the big world beyond Constantine to ever think there was no possibility that something else might happen. I pushed those thoughts away for now, though. Whatever might happen in the future, for right now, we were all safe and sound.

“I’m starving,” Mindy stated. “I’m going to get myself one of those buns and some coffee and probably a whole plate of other goodies… The buffets here are amazing, please tell me you’re not making any changes to the way they do breakfast here!”

“That’s the second time this morning already that someone’s asked me if I’m going to make any changes to the way things have been running.” I followed her to the buffet so we could both load up our plates. “Why is everyone assuming that?”

Mindy looked over her shoulder at me as she piled her plate with cheesy scrambled eggs. “Well, Gabriela had her ways of managing the mansion, and when you all were gone, the mansion chatelaine took over. Now that you’re back, as Luna, you get to decide how things work. Oh, Goddess, they’ve got blueberry muffins today.”

“I promise to keep the muffins,” I said with a laugh as I watched my friend add an enormous muffin to her plate.

Mindy gave me a serious look. “I’m so glad you’re back, and not just because you said that.”

We both laughed and carried our plates to the table and took our seats. She dove into her food at once. I’d never seen Mindy eat like that, but before I could ask if she might have a special reason for her hunger, I heard heavy footsteps thundering toward us.

My three mates barreled into the room, Xander in the lead with Mason hot on his heels and Zane bringing up the rear. When they saw me and Mindy at the table, our forks paused halfway to our mouths in surprise, Xander let out a grunt.“Damn it, Lanie. You scared the shit out of us with that scream!”

Mindy blinked, looking at the three men. They were all familiar to me, but I tried to see them through her eyes. They’d all aged, too, of course, but they’d also gotten—”

“By the Moon,” Mindy breathed. “They’re huge!”

I laughed, watching my mates relax when they saw I wasn’t in danger. They had all gotten bigger.

Thicker in the arms and chests, legs like tree-trunks. My heart thudded with a sudden, fierce influx of love. It burned inside me hot enough to flood my entire body with heat.

Mindy turned to me with wide eyes. “And they’re all three mated with you. How do you…I mean…”

She coughed into her fist as her blush deepened. Mindy and I had shared most every detail of our lives when we were younger, so I could practically see the wheels spinning in her head now. I didn’t need her to finish her sentence, but she leaned closer to whisper to me anyway.

“Fit,” she finished. “How in the world do you all fit!”

“Very nicely,” I promised her in a low voice laced with laughter.

I watched her gaze go beyond the three giant men stalking into the dining room. She looked surprised then confused, then surprised again. She turned to me.

“Who is that?”

Zane–

I’d never had much chance to get to know Lanie’s best friend, but watching the two of them laughing together was a real treat. The four of us had been a tight-knit unit and a team, but I could tell Lanie had longed for female companionship. Seeing her with her best friend made me realize how lucky I was that Xander was not only my Alpha, but also my best friend.

Lanie had her arm around Stella’s shoulders as she introduced her to Mindy, who understandably looked boggled. Her mouth hung wide open for a few seconds before she caught herself. She finished chewing and swallowed, then got to her feet.

“This is baby Stella?” Mindy asked, shaking her head and looking astounded. “I expected all the pups to be bigger, obviously, but this is way, way more than any doubling!”

Stella’s light laughter tinkled through the air. “Everyone was surprised. But it’s me. Baby Stella.”

“All grown up,” Lanie said.

We hadn’t told anyone in Constantine that Stella was a Celestial, but rumors about her advanced aging had managed to get here ahead of us. Maxim and Monroe, Xander’s most trusted High Guards, had been among the first he’d contacted when we were on our way back home. They’d been able to fill him in on some things we could expect.

They’d told him there’d been news coming to Constantine about the destruction of the High Council, but that the details had been sketchy, and they were doing as much damage control as they could until we got back and could fill everyone in on the truth. As Mindy’s mates, they must’ve made the choice not to tell her much, since she was so clearly shocked.It was obvious that Mindy was bursting with questions, but she only nodded and got up to hug Stella before she sat back down at her chair. Lanie took her seat again, too.

“Where are the twins?” Lanie asked Stella.

“Still sleeping if you can believe it.” Stella laughed. “They were wiped out. But I bet they’ll be up all night tonight!”

Mindy’s eyes got even wider. “The twins…baby Lanie—er, Alaina—and Isaac…they’re not all grown up, too, are they?”

“They’re bigger than they were the last time you saw them,” Lanie assured her, “but they’re not quite as grown up as Stella.”

The three women chatted while the rest of us helped ourselves to the buffet.

“This is new,” I said to Xander as he stacked thick, savory, cheddar and jalape?o waffles on his plate.

He grinned. “Yeah. But I like it. Lanie, love…keep this morning buffet!”

She rolled her eyes but did it with a smile. “I think I need to make a general announcement. I am not planning on changing anything! At least not until I’ve had the chance to settle in!”

At the sound of heavy footsteps, I looked toward the doorway. I tensed automatically, and so did Xander and Mason. But when I saw that it was Maxim and Monroe, I put my plate on the table and went to greet them. Xander joined me, while Mason held back a little bit.

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