Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???
“Not on purpose, perhaps.”
“Never,” I said again and got up to pace. I went to the fake windows, this time being careful not to bump my head as I looked out at take night sky. I turned back to my grandfather.
“Seems like you’ve spent so much time living in an illusion you can’t understand what it’s like to feel something real.”
By the Moon, how did he get up from his chair and across the room to stand in front of me no quicker than it took me to blink?
For one single heartbeat? I sta ggered back against the glass with a little shriek of surprise.
I’d pi ssed him off. Malachi’s eyes rimmed with red like they were filling with blood, and his lips pulled back to show off the curving fangs so very different from wolf canines. Same location, far different shape. His teeth weren’t made for tearing and biting. His were as sharp as needles, poised for plunging through skin and into veins. Hollow-tipped like a snake’s.
I felt my muscles trying to stretch and ripple. I bared my own teeth, growing longer. My voice came out as a low, thick growl. Lily was ready to burst free.
“Back the f uck off me, old man.”
“You should show me more respect.” His voice hissed like a snake’s, too.
But, he backed off and turned his back on me to take a few steps away. Another person would’ve been panting, breathing hard with emotion, but Malachi looked as cold as ice.
“Do vampires even breathe?” I muttered, moving away from him without running. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he really had scared me.
I’d kind of scared myself.
“Of course we breathe. Our hearts beat. We are not, as the human legends would have it,corpses.” He turned back to face me, his eyes no longer b loody. His expression twisted a little into something smug. “If we were the undead, we wouldn’t have a bloodline.
You wouldn’t be who you are. You’d be someone simply…
ordinary”
My fists clenched, and i realized my nails had started to become claws. Lily peered out through my eyes, and I soothed her, trying to get her to settle.
“That’s a s itty thing to say,” I told him “But it’s true.” He lifted his chin, and his gaze swept me. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Your vampire the responsibilities. Without knowing the consequences “You think I don’t deserve all three of them?”
My fists clenched again.
“Of course not. Who is the one who told you to seek what your heart desired? To take what you want? Not to settle?” Malachi demanded.
I stalked to the bar on the far side of the room and poured myself a generous slug of it wasn’t tainted with blood. I gulped down half before turning back to him.
My wolf was so close to the surface that I had to make a strong, conscious effort not to shift rig and go for his throat.
Which would be madness. A certain suicide. In my mind, Lily snarled and paced again.
Malachi’s eyes narrowed. The red glow had abated, but he still looked pi ssed off. “Get your beast under control. You need to be able to manage your emotions.”
“Manage…!” I slugged down the rest of the whiskey. “I’d rather have these feelings than be cold-blooded and feel nothing!”
“I feel more than you could ever begin to imagine,” Malachi countered. “You accuse me of not understanding what you feel for your mates? You deny you could ever harm them, yet your rage rises inside you at the slightest provocation. There are parts of you that cannot be tamed, granddaughter. The sooner you recognize that, the better.”
“You’re the one who told me not to settle, I finally sad in a low voice. “And now I have three mates because I let my heart guide me to accept them all, even though it’s not normal! I opened myself up to what the Moon Goddess gave us, and you’re telling me might kill them because of it?”
“I’m telling you what is possible, because of your unique nature. That one day, you might find yourself with needs greater than those they can fulfill. You might need to seek another lover, or more than one.” Malachi tossed up his hands. “I’m telling you that if you do not heed my warnings, Lanie, your love for those three men might be exactly what ends up destroying them.”
Lanie–
Aharsh so b tore out of my aching throat. I wanted to sink to my knees and press my face to the floor. Instead, I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. I forced away my burning tears.
I wish you’d never told me that,” I said. “I wish I didn’t know “Better to understand what may happen so that it doesn’t happen,” my grandfather said with cold gentleness. “I loved your mother’s mother with my entire being When I lost her I thought I would be alone for the rest of eternity. It was inconceivable to me that I would ever find a lover who did more than fulfill my body.
I licked the taste of whiskey from my lips. “But you did”
“Yes.” Malachi tilted his head and turned toward the villa’s front door. “Speak of sun, and she will shine. Braden, come in.”
As if on cue, Braden peeked around the door.
“Am I interrupting?”
“Come in,” Malachi repeated and held out his hand.
Even though Braden and I had already talked about his relationship with my grandfather, it still gave me a little cringe when they kissed.
I know that made me kind of a jerk, but I couldn’t really help it. Once upon a time, I’d thought maybe Braden and I had the possibility of something..
My grandfather was right, I realized, horrified.
I loved Xander, Zane, and Mason with everything inside of me, but even back then I’d been drawn to Braden, too. If the Moon Goddess had truly intended for me and my three mates to be together all along, even if I hadn’t known that Mason was waiting for me,she did. How and why could she have let me want Braden, too?
“Hey, hey,” Braden said, soothing, as he took my arm.
I hadn’t realized how hard I was shaking. He guided me to the couch and settled me on it,then poured me a fresh glass of water from the bar. He pressed it into my hand while Malachi watched with narrowed eyes.
“What did you say to her?” Braden demanded of my grandfather. “Look at her, she’s trembling.”
“You’re right, I muttered, meeting Malachi’s gaze. “I mean, I don’t want it to happen, but I understand…. feel that it could. Do I have a choice? Could I stop it?”
“Keep training,” he said. “And you’ll find out.”
It was not the answer I was hoping for, but it was better than a definite no.
Malachi moved nat in Aradan to nut an arm around his waleteirer Ararian Innn an n and frunht mu desire for him for way too long. I was foolish to do so!
“He brok my heart. More than once,” Braden said and nudged Malachi with his hip. “Every time I thought maybe, just maybe he might be into me, he’d dump me again.”
“You said you weren’t together romantically until after the last time we saw each other,” I said.
Braden’s eyebrows went up. “Well…yeah.
Romantically, like this. I didn’t mean we hadn’t ever f ucked. When a vampire sires someone, it’s usually because they’re lovers.
But it wasn’t until more recently that this old f uck actually decided he was in love with me.”
Malachi rolled his eyes. “Impertinent. I’ll take care of you later.”
I held up a hand. “Please, no flirting in front of me.”
Athought struck me. “You sired Braden. Will I be able to sire someone?”
“I don’t see why not.” My grandfather let go of Braden and went back to his chair. Braden followed to sit in the one next to his.
Is it always because you’re lo e you’re lovers?”
Braden frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“You were saying how my vampire energy could end up draining them. Would I be able to sire my mates, turning them into vampires?”
The words shot out of me, rattling like marbles in a jar. My entire body was shaking. I felt my expression turn into a horrified mask. “What would it do to them if I made my wolf mates into vampires? What if I didn’t mean to…but it just happened?”
“I have no idea,” Malachi said quietly. “But you should be very, very careful.”
I put my head in my hands.
“You can’t accidentally sire anyone. It has to be done with consent, you see,” Malachi said. “You cannot sire someone who does not concede.”
“But I could compel them to consent,” I said, lifting my head to stare at them both. “Couldn’t I?”
They shared a look Braden frowned My grandfather looked thoughiful.
“You’d have to be able to compel someone to go completely against every instinct for self preservation, Even their morals. You’d have to be able to compel someone to counter their own soul, Malachi said finally. “1 think we should find out exactly what you’re capable of Xander–
Lanie had called us all to the training grounds without much of an explanation, but once let it all out. She needed to test her ability to compel people.
Of course I wanted to be there. If Lanie was going to be exploring any new range of absolutely going to be with her to make sure nothing went wrong.
powers, “It’s going to be fine, love,” she said, hanging back from the others for a minute. “I promise you. My grandfather would never risk me, and Charlotte would never risk her mate.”
“Why can’t they have you test this on me?” I grumbled back at her.
She slipped her hand into mine and leaned against me. “Because I’ve already shown that I have the ability to compel you. We already have a connection.
My mind shot back to the night we’d met the dealer who was giving us the wolvesbane we needed to break the agreement between Zane and Rhiannon. That felt like a lifetime ago. She’d had to compel me that night to get me to back off, but I’d also agreed to do it once I felt her strength.
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?