Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>
Alittle while later, we were back at the Constantine mansion after a long, silent drive.
My stomach was twisted with anxiety.
Now that they knew, did this change things between us?
Would our deal be off?
I stepped inside and Braden moved to enter after me, but Zane placed a hand on his chest.
“No f ucking way. You’ve done enough tonight.”
Braden glanced up at me.
“I want to make sure Lanie’s okay…”
“She’s with her mates,” Xander growled. “We found her. We got her here safe. She doesn’t need you anymore.”
Braden’s voice carried over the wall Xander and Zane had built around me with their bodies.
“If you need me, Lanie, vou know where to find me.”
room.
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me.
“You’re not leaving this house any time soon,” Xander said gruffly, leading me by the arm to his living I crashed onto a comfortable chair, and Zane threw a warm blanket over me.
I hugged it around me tightly, grateful to finally be less exposed.
“If you leave this house again,” Zane said in a gentler voice than Xander, “Aldon might sell you out to Gustav or the other Elders, and the Council will put you to death. He’s only willing to keep this between us so long as no one else finds out about your… lineage.”
He couldn’t even say it. He couldn’t admit I was a vampire.
And judging by the way he and Xander had treated Braden, I wouldn’t say they were fans of the species. “It’s not just about that,” Xander said. His back was turned to me, but I could hear the emotion in his voice. “We can’t always protect you if you’re out there.”
“You told me to leave,” I said coldly.
Alice Xander spun around to face me.
“Is that what you think happened?” he demanded.
“That’s sure as hell what it looked like,” I said quietly. “Why do you think I ran off to Braden?”
I knew now that everything they’d said to me after we f ucked again meant nothing.
My mating heat called to them just like it did every creature, and they only wanted to protect me now because my scent was luring them in again.
Xander’s eyes flashed with his wolf and something else I couldn’t place.
“F uck, Lanie! How many different f ucking ways do we have to tell you we want you?”
The passion in his words pierced straight through me, settling low and hot in my belly.
But I swallowed hard, trying to wash it away.
Once I was out of heat, they’d come to their senses.
They’d crawl back to Alice.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I want to see Braden. You shouldn’t have kicked him out.”
“F uck no,” Zane growled. “Do you even know what he wanted with you, Lanie? Like really know?”
“…he just…he was giving me…”
But I trailed off.
Truthfully, I still wasn’t sure. Especially after everything Aldon had just told me.
“We don’t know him, and we don’t trust him. If it wasn’t for Aldon interrupting you, who’s to say what he would’ve done?”
I shook my head.
“You’re both being ridiculous. I’ve been alone with him before, and nothing’s happened. I trust him more than anyone.”
Xander snorted out a humorless laugh.
“That’s f ucking rich.”
Zane fixed me with a stern gaze. “You’re not leaving this house, Lanie. That’s the end of it.”
“I only just got free from that slimy ba stard Aldon,” I cried, “and I’ll be d amn ed if I let you lock me up here like a prisoner.”
I pulled myself up from the chair, but before I could make another move, Xander dived forward and pushed me back down. He took my wrists in his hands and yanked them above my head.
Ayelp of surprise escaped my lips.
Zane watched us with blazing eyes as Xander leaned down, his voice a gravelly whisper in my ear. “Watch me.”
Zane
Dam mit, Lanie.
I almost stopped Xander from holding her back, but it was more important than ever that she stay close. All we wanted to do was protect her, but she had to f ucking fight us every step of the v way.
She could never just accept that we wanted to be her mates and protect her like mates were supposed to. “You chose Alice. You aren’t my mates.”
F uck. She’d heard me.
I needed to get my emotions under control, otherwise she’d know everything I was thinking.
“Not this s hit again, Lanie,” Xander snapped as he released her from his grip.
I stood abruptly. “Yeah, we’re done talking about Alice.”
“But it’s true,” she argued. “The only reason you feel so protective of me is because of my mating heat.
Aldon told me it’s especially powerful since I’m a hybrid.”
I turned away from Lanie, scrubbing a hand down my face.
Xander and I hadn’t even had a proper chance to discuss that elephant in the room.
Our mate was a f ucking vampire.
And yet…I felt no different about her now than I did yesterday.
But I had a feeling she’d never believe that no matter how many times Xander and I reassured her. “We’re talking to you through mindspeak, Lanie,” Xander said, his frustration growing by the second.
I could feel it seeping in through my pores, making my fists clench at my sides.
Xander bent down so his face was level with Lanie’s, their lips inches apart.
I found myself moving closer again too, bending down so I was level with the both of them.
There was that invisible cord again, tightening around the three of us.
“Do you think THIS is because of your mating heat, too?” Xander asked, a wicked smile curling up on his lips. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but that makes no f ucking sense.”
Lanie turned her head away from Xander and her gaze locked on mine.
Her lips pursed in a tight line.
“For all we know, it’s some weird vampire talent I have,” she said aloud. “You didn’t claim me. It can’t be the mate bond.”
“Or,” I said, not tearing my gaze away from hers. “Is it that our bond is so strong, so fated, that we didn’t need to claim you like we would another she-wolf?”
Her stony expression faltered.
She wanted to believe me so badly, but something was still holding her back.
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?