Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???
The light shifted and shimmered, revealing the figure of a woman cloaked in a silver gown. Or was it gold? Or blue, or green?
The colors lit, one after the other, all of them at once.
I could see her face, but not her features. Was her hair long, flowing to her waist, or spread out in tendrils that reached up to the sky to pluck down the stars?
“Shhh,” the Moon Goddess soothed. “I appear to you in the shapes you can recognize, but this is not my true form. Your eyes cannot fathom it. Relax, and I will be seen.”
I did as I was told. I still couldn’t describe her, but I no longer felt the need to fit her into a familiar box.
Her words filled me, vibrating. Like I was hearing them but also feeling each one. Her warmth cloaked me in comfort.
“But there is warning, as well,” she cautioned. “You are unique, my daughter, and your strength is what sets you apart. You have much coming to you, but I want you to be reassured that even in your darkest times, no matter how distant I may feel, I will always be with you. At your side.”
“I have so many questions, Moon Goddess-”
“Mommy! Mommmmmyyyyy!
I sat straight up with a scream, my heart pounding. The meadow and the Goddess were both gone.
And Stella was screaming.
Lanie–
Stella’s nightmare hadn’t been anything specific. A monster under the bed. Xander had thought quickly and took a spritz bottle of my body spray from the dresser and quickly dispersed it as “anti-monster spray” That had been enough to settle her back to sleep…but not me.
I wanted desperately to get back to my dream and the conversation with the Moon Goddess, but no matter how hard I tried, all I did was toss and turn. Finally, when the first hint of light showed through the blinds, I got out of bed and went to the kitchen for some hot tea.
The quiet house was a good solution to at least some of my tension. Unlike the mansion, this cottage in Stillwood that had been the perfect size for me and Stella-even me, Stella and Mason-was way too small for three enormous men, three growing pups, a mother-in-law, and me.
I wanted to tell myself that was part of my problem. Too much noise, too many of us cramped in too small a space. I knew that wasn’t it, though. Like the Moon Goddess had said, something was coming, and I wanted to be ready for it.
I just couldn’t figure out what “it” was.
The thought occurred to me that the only reason I’d dreamed about her was because Mason had put the in my head. It wasn’t like I’d ever had the Moon Goddess show up in my dreams before then. She’d never communicated with me directly like that. Everything had always been a feeling, an intuition.
Had what she’d told me even been real?
Grimly, I poured myself some more hot water and soaked my tea bag. “I guess I’ll find out one way or another soon enough.”
“Mommy?” Stella rubbed her sleepy eyes and ran across the kitchen and into my arms.
“Good morning, baby. You’re up very early.”
“I’m not a baby,” she said with a grouchy pout.
I laughed and snuggled her. “No. I guess you’re not. You’re my big girl. Aren’t you still sleepy? I can tuck.
you back in.”
“No. Izzy and Allie are sleeping.” Stella said, “because they’re still babies. But I’m awake”
“I see. Well, maybe you’d like a piece of carrot cake for breakfast? A secret treat for me and you, since we’re the early birds.”
Stella giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. She nodded, and I kissed her again. I put her in her chair at the table and served us both pieces of Gabriela’s carrot cake.
“Stella, my little love. I hesitated, not sure how to start this conversation or where it would go. “Your bad dream last night…what was it about?”
a monster under the bed, Mommy. I promise. But Daddy made it go away, and I went sleep. And the lady said I was a…hmm.”
“Awhat, Stella?”
“She said I was..hmmm.” Stella concentrated on licking more icing.
I was impatient, wanting answers, but I didn’t pressure her. I ate a bite of cake and tried to give her the time to answer. Maybe she didn’t really know how.
“She said for me to hush, hush,” Stella said finally. She held her finger to her lips and blew out a breath. “Like shhh, shh. Quiet.”
“She told you not to tell anyone what she said?”
Stella tilted her head, thinking about this. “She said me to shhh, shhh.”
To keep a secret?”
Stella nodded. She ate a bite of cake and pushed the plate toward me. “More?”
“One piece of cake is plenty for a little girl,” I said absentmindedly. I was trying to figure out if she’d seen the Moon Goddess in her dream last night, too, and if so, what did that mean? It was too much. I looked at her. “Little love, you know how proud Mommy is, and Daddy, and Papa, and Abba, too.
be…”
“And Grandma?”
“Grandma, too. You’re growing up so big and smart and strong. But Stella, listen to Mommy. You have to Quiet. Shh, shh, hush, hush, the lady in her dream had said, How could I explain it any better than that?
“Mommy, your face is squishing.” Stella demonstrated with her own wrinkled forehead and pursed lips. “Don’t worry. I’ll be hush hush if someone else comes. I’ll only tell you and my daddies and Grandma thinks from my head. Okay?”
I blinked back tears. “You mean you won’t talk to anyone but any of us? Only to me and your daddies, and Grandma.”
“And to Izzy and Allie,” she added and got a worried look. “I can talk to them?”
“Yes. But nobody else.”
“I know that, Mommy.” Stella said with a grin that erased her prior worried look. “I’m special, and we can’t tell anyone else. It’s a secret”
“That’s right. The silver lady told you that?”
“Yes. She said I’m sun less tree owl”
“Sunless tree owl?” I had no idea what that meant. Then it hit me. Not sunless tree owl.
Celestial The Moon Goddess had visited my daughter in her dreams and told her she was celestial Too bad I didn’t know what that meant.
Xander–
One thing I was definitely missing in this place was the gym. I hated splitting wood, and Zane had taken that over, anyway. But I needed to get out and clear my head, so I decided to go for a run in the morning before anyone else was up.
Hunter was more than happy to come out and play. It had been a while since me and my wolf just hung out like that, alone and running. Smelling what there was to smell. Patrolling the borders of Lanie’s property. He was wary and alert, but there were no signs of any intruders or even strangers. Nothing out of the ordinary.
That was almost as worrisome as if he’d scented danger.
“Where are you?” Zane called to me through the mind link. “Do you need me to meet you somewhere?”
I thought back a series of images through Hunter’s eyes. The trees. The stream. A running rabbit.
Zane chuckled. “Have fun. See you soon.”
By the time I got back to the house, the sun had risen. Inside, I found my mom and my Luna making pancakes for the children.
My Beta was deep in conversation with my brother, both of them looking serious until Zane threw back his head in laughter.
Mason jabbed a finger at him, also laughing.
My family “Xander!” Lanie’s face lit up as she came to the door to greet me with a long, loving kiss. “Mmmm. You’re sweaty. Breakfast is almost ready.”
We’d fallen into a routine, and it was great, but we were still all on edge. Lanie was right; we couldn’t stay here forever, but how should we approach going back to Constantine territory? I was the Alpha, yeah, but I couldn’t make this decision all on my own.
“First, we’re going to go to that birthday party you got invited to. Now that your friend knows you’re back in town, it would be pretty suspicious if you ditched her,” I said this over the towering stack of pancakes my Luna had served me. “And besides, you deserve to do something fun.”
Mom had taken the kids away from the table to get them cleaned up. My mates had all joined me around the platter of food and pot of coffee. Lanie didn’t dig in, only nibbled at a piece of bacon. Waves of uncertainty were rolling off of her.
When she looked up at me, Lily flashed in her gaze. Hunter whined, reaching for her.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” She shook her head, her brow furrowing.
“She really needs this,” Mason thought to me Zane nodded. “It’ll be good for her And we should know her friends. Know if any of them are a danger.”
Lanie scowled. “Hey, you three. Cut it out. I can tell you’re talking about me.”
She laughed and brushed her thumb over my bottom lip.”You practically snarled that.”
“I can’t help it that I don’t love remembering that you had a whole life here without us,” I said with a nod toward Mason. “No offense, bro.”
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?