Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???
“My gut was correct in telling me something was wrong,” the Ancient vampire said.
Lanie let out a small noise. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
I could sense her anxiety rolling off her in strong waves. Zane could, too, and I sensed him sending out a few pulses of Beta energy. They didn’t seem to be working.
“There is a town not far from here. Very remote. So remote,” Malachi said, “that everyone in it single building. The entire town is in one building, can you imagine? Nothing like Brightsky.”
Us.
“The point,” Lanie snapped.
The vampire looked strangely giddy and didn’t even take offense. “We have sources there who And they’ve said that multiple new faces have arrived there over the past few days. That’s not at typical.
Not this far out in the middle of nowhere. Certainly not without a reason. It’s not a tourist spot.”
Lanie nodded toward a light fixture. “What happened earlier today with the lights?”
Her grandfather turned to face her. “Power surge, I suppose.”
“Is that common?” Mason asked.
Malachi frowned. “No. But it’s not impossible. Even technology as advanced as we use here in the enclave can be strained from time to time when there’s a big draw on the power source.”
“Was there?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know.
No wonder Charlotte wanted our input into the security here. Clearly, they’d all gotten too used to being “safe,” which was the ripest time for something bad to happen.
Lanie–
“Little cars are listening, love,” I said as calmly as I could to Xander, trying to remind him that the children were present.
I didn’t want our pups to be scared, even though it was all I could do to keep myself from screaming at my grandfather that I needed to talk to him. Stella’s small hand crept into mine and squeezed. When I looked down at her, she was smiling brightly up at me.
Because she knew I was upset? Or just because she was my sunny-faced angel? I bent to scoop her up, staggering a step under her weight. She was getting too big to be carried, but I didn’t want to put her down. It could be the last time I ever picked her up.
I rubbed my nose against her cheek, and she hugged me hard.
“Love you, Mama,” she said, which was a nice change from being called Mother.
Malachi, Xander, and Mason were muttering about the lights, power surges, the evidence of strangers in the nearby town. Alpha stuff. It was clear I’d have to wait my turn.
“Xander,” I repeated. “You and Mason should go with Malachi somewhere else to talk about this.”
Mason looked over at us. He put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “She’s right. Malachi, we should take this back to the conference room.”
this.”
Xander frowned, meeting my gaze. He nodded silently and used our link to think, “Sorry, love.”
“I’ll call for an emergency meeting of the leadership council,” Malachi said. “They all need to be told about The three of them left the room.
I caught Zane’s eye as he turned away. His face was pulled into a mask I couldn’t interpret. H
angry, More like he was disappointed.
“Papa?” Stella said in her high, clear voice. “Will you play with me and Allie and Izzy?”
He smiled and walked immediately toward the stacks of board games on the bookshelves. “Of c Stella gave me another grin. I still couldn’t figure out if she was reading me, or if she was making what she wanted him to do. It made sense that he’d agree to play with them. It wasn’t out of character anything like that. Even so, something in the way she looked at me made me think she was manipulating situation.
I had to stop myself from doing this. No matter what my daughter was able to do, I had to find out, not keep guessing and making silent assumptions about her motives. She was a child, for crying out loud!
Il [e)
Another knock came at the door, and I answered it. It wasn’t the food this time, either, but Greyson, who stepped through the doorway when I stood aside to let him in.
fine.”
“Everything okay?” Greyson addressed Zane. “You took off so fast. I wanted to make sure you were all Zane and I exchanged looks.
“We’re all good. The power surge startled us, that’s all,” Zane said. “That is what happened, isn’t it?”
Greyson nodded. “I’d assume so, since the lights were only out for a minute.”
“Come on, Allie and Izzy. Let’s go play in my room,”
Stella said and took her siblings by the hands. She shot a look at me over her shoulder right before she closed the door.
I let out a breath I’d been keeping held tight in my throat. My entire body felt slumped but tense at the same time. It might only have been a power surge like my grandfather and Greyson both said, but there was no question it had felt more dangerous than that. All four of us had felt it.
Greyson lowered his voice., “Charlotte let me know that Malachi got word about the new arrivals in Standard.”
“That’s the name of the town?” Zane asked.
Greyson nodded. “The closest one, yes. We consider them a port of entry to the enclave. It’s so remote, the only people who go there have to have some reason for it.”
“Maybe those new people have a reason,” I said.
“New arrivals could also be the reason for a power surge,” Greyson replied. “Brightsky supplies Standard with power for the entire town.”
“A few extra people could deplete the power so much it causes a surge in the enclave?” Zane sounded suspicious.
“Im not on the tech team, so I can’t answer you with complete confidence, but it’s my understanding tha we create the power.
Solar, geothermal, steam, even methane dumps from the farm levels.” Greyson ticked th list off on his fingers. “It all gets sorted and ported, as the tech team says. A portion of it is sent to Standard, where it’s stored. So, yes, if they got new folks in town who used up the normal power stores, it would send a bump over here.”
“Still feels wrong,” Zane thought to me.
Tagreed.
I also thought we had bigger things to worry about.
Xander–
Mason and I had left the conference room in such a rush that we hadn’t taken the laptop or other notes.
While we were gone, Charlotte had tidied it all up. I bet that she looked through it all, too. That’s what I’d have done. Nothing we’d been prepping was a secret, anyway.
Malachi took his seat at the head of the table and looked around as everyone settled into their chairs.
“Some of you may have already heard that our contacts in Standard have sent some information.
New arrivals. Unexpected ones.”
“What other information do you have on them?” I asked bluntly.
Malachi shrugged. “What other information do we need? New faces in a town that houses only a few hundred residents, all of whom work for the town?
Every one of them documented and a known entity?
It’s clear these new people, whoever they are, present a threat.”
“If nothing else, they’re putting a strain on our resources,” said Charlotte.
I pulled the laptop toward me and opened the lid. I created a new document and began typing up a fresh list. “How so?”
“The town gets all of its power from the enclave,” she said like the answer was obvious.
I shot my brother a look. Mason had started scribbling notes of his own.
“That probably explains the lights,” Mason thought to me.
“We need more info about this town.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of that. Honestly, it’s the first time I’ve heard anything about Standard at all,” I said to the entire room. “First rule about your security team is that they should be told everything and anythin that could be important.”
“Sounds to me like this town is pretty important,” my brother added.
Malachi might not think too highly of wolves, but at least this time he nodded in acknowledgment.
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?