Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>
Asher generously introduced me to every single person, and when we shook hands, I searched their faces. for glimpses of recognition, but I couldn’t sense anything out of the ordinary Sometimes their eyes lingered on my huge baby bump, but that wasn’t surprising They were probably all wondering if the pup was Asher’s.
We finally made our way through the crowd near the entrance and found a more secluded seat.
“Sorry about all that,” Asher said, his cheeks reddening slightly. “That must’ve been pretty overwhelming.”
I laughed. “That’s an understatement.”
He winced. “I should’ve given you more warning.”
“It’s okay,” I shrugged. “Kind of confusing, though.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You’re tight with so many people from other packs, but you’re a rogue. I thought rogues were supposed to be outcasts.”
I couldn’t remember anything from my personal life before Stillwood, but I still knew things about shifters. and our history.
I knew rogues were typically spoken about with disdain. They were unwanted criminals, unworthy of associating with traditional shifter packs.
“Not always,” Asher said, and I could sense a darkness settling over his features. “I don’t think most shifters agreed with my punishment. I still don’t really understand why I was banished.”
He shifted in his seat. “My whole family was unfairly punished, too. That’s why my mother and Quinn live in Stillwood with me.” He looked down and shook his head. “I think a lot of people felt sorry for us. Still do.”
“But I don’t understand why were you banished in the first place?”
He met my gaze again, but there was a guardedness there.
“An overzealous Alpha was trying to flex his power. He was young just like me. He thought I was overstepping, but…” Asher stopped.
nat imnariant neau An anxious tingle danced across my skin.
What was he hiding?
“Asher, my man!” A deep voice rang out behind me before I could ask any more questions.
Asher’s face lit up as he rose and wrapped the man in a bear hug.
“Katie.” He gestured between me and the smiling guy beside him. “I want you to meet my best friend, Mason.”
Xander
The tension in the air was so thick it practically choked me.
I was an only child.
That’s what I’d thought my whole life.
Mason is your brother.
Why had no one ever told me about him?
“I thought you only had one mate,” I finally said, not breaking eye contact with my father.
I was still compelling him. I needed the whole truth.
“He did as far as I knew,” my mother answered instead, her voice shaky and her face pale. Zane’s shock radiated through me, mixing with my own like a megawatt jolt to the system. So this was news to my mother, too.
Good to know I wasn’t the only one without a f ucking clue that I had a secret brother.
My mother continued. “In our time, Alphas didn’t have to participate in mating ceremonies. Orion chose me, and I chose him. I thought that bond was sacred.”
Her voice broke, and my heart shattered along with How dare my father keep this from her, from all of us, for all these years?
“Why d did you do this?” I demanded, my eyes boring into my father’s soul.
“I loved her,” he said plainly. “During the Great Wars, the other side found out I was having an affair. They threatened me, so I gave in to their demands.”
“That’s enough!”
My mother rushed between my father and me, breaking our gaze.
My father shook his head like he was coming out of a dream.
The compulsion was broken, but the damage had been done.
“You ended the war to save your own as s?!” A cry of anguish tore from her lips. “You allowed us to go back to our old, disgusting ways…all because you didn’t want anyone to know you’re a cheater?”
l’d never seen my mother come apart like this, and it scared me.
Normally she was the glue that held this pack and our family together, but now that glue was cracking.
“Gabriela, you know what the consequences are for infidelity.”
Banishment to rogue territory at best. Death at worst.
“Not even Alphas are immune to it,” my father said through gritted teeth. “Did you want me to rip our family apart? Did you want me to leave you alone with a child?”
He gestured at me, and my whole body flamed with raging anger.
“Don’t use me as an excuse!” I roared.
“Don’t talk about things you don’t understand!” he roared back.
Zane’s hands fell heavy on my shoulders, holding me back from pushing past my mother and strangling that lying mo therf ucker. I wanted to shake him off, but I knew getting angry would only make my father more defensive.
It was always a vicious cycle with us.
“The negotiations I made to end the war benefitted everyone,” he said, puffing his chest out.
He’d never admit he’d done anything wrong.
He’d never allow his methods to be questioned.
It infuriated me.
“That’s not true, and you know it,” my mother said coldly.
There it was. More cagey mentions of the Great Wars.
More things I didn’t know, even though I was the f ucking Alpha here.
“What the hell does that mean?” I demanded.
My mother breathed deeply, struggling to keep her wolf at bay.
If she lost control in front of my father, he’d never forgive her.
Even though I now knew he’d done so, so much worse.
“It means I trusted your father, and he betrayed me,” my mother said. “How could you love another she-wolf?” she asked him. “After everything you’d promised me?”
Something about her words stung me, too, but I didn’t know why.
I had loved Alice even though it hadn’t felt like it at the end, so her dig at my father shouldn’t have.
bothered me the way it did.
Zane and I had stayed loyal, hadn’t we?
I turned to look at him, and he nodded.
“We did,” he said, though I sensed he wasn’t totally sure, either.
“Look,” my father said, holding up his hands. “I stopped seeing the other she-wolf when the war ended.
When Xander was born.”
Did he want a f ucking medal for that?
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?