Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???
Stella raised her hands again to let those swirling, glittery orbs float up from her palms. I had no idea what they were, only that a sense of relief came along with them. I was able to understand the situation from multiple viewpoints all at once. It wasn’t quite like being able to see every timeline and outcome, but I felt how hard it must be for our little girl to have to sift through everything to find the truth.
“And what if they’re not?” Lanie asked in a small voice. It trembled, not with weakness, but with the force of her emotions. They poured out of her in slow, pulsing waves that I found hard to keep at bay.
She turned toward Stella. “What if we run off and make it to safety, and everyone left behind here is destroyed the way they intend to kill the spiders?”
“You’re forgetting something, love.” I stepped forward. “That hasn’t happened yet. The High Council made the decision to do it, which is what has let Stella figure out what steps we should take. Right?”I looked at Stella, who nodded. I could tell that she was doing her best to let her mother figure it out on her own. It was the only way Lanie would agree. If she believed it was the right choice.
“So you mean we could stop them? Before they hurt the spiders, before they cut the power to the enclave?”
Lanie asked.
Stella nodded and put an arm around her mother’s shoulders. “I think so, Mother. That’s what I’m seeing.
Of course, every decision we make also changes the path ahead. But this is the one that leads to the best outcome, at least for now.”
Lanie’s struggle was still clear on her face. She shrugged off Mason and Xander and hugged Stella.
Then she buzzed back and forth again, moving fast with her vampire speed. I felt a breeze as she passed.
I wanted to reach out and stop her, but I didn’t dare get in her way. She’d have bowled me over.
And I didn’t want to feel like I was forcing her into any decision.
The Alphas weren’t as generous. Both of them stepped in front of her at the same time. She ran straightinto them, almost knocking them out of the way. They were only able to stop her with sheer, brute strength.
Each of them grabbed her by an arm and held her in place as her feet kept moving for a few seconds until she stopped.
They set her down.
There was a moment when it looked like she was going to fight them, or at least yell at them for getting in her way, but once more, Stella created those shimmering, soft orbs. We all stopped, paused, centered ourselves in our daughter’s sphere of serenity. Earlier in the bedroom as we were falling asleep, I’d felt a sens of deep connection with my mates. Like we were all aligned and in tune.
That sensation was even stronger now, and this time, it included our daughter. We were more than a pack a family, a team. We were all joined in a way I couldn’t truly describe…I just knew it was because of Stella.
“I’ve seen us prevail,” she said now to us all. She grinned. “They’re still tapping into Gabriela’s third eye. Which means we can manipulate what she sees to our advantage. We can totally set up the High Council to fail.”
Gabriela–
The enclave’s optometrist was a cyclops, which was a little surprising. Not only had I never met any of the famous one-eyed clan, I’d never heard of one going into any kind of medicine.
The most I’d known about them was that they were mountain folk who kept to themselves.
“You’re in good hands with Dr. Alonius,” said the receptionist, a petite Fae with a cheerful smile. “He’s been part of Brightsky almost since it began. Have a seat. He’ll be with you in just a few minutes.”
“I’ve been putting this off,” I said with an embarrassed smile. “I’m not sure why.”
As I took a seat in the comfortable waiting chair, I felt the urge to run out of the office rising in me again.
It had taken everything I had to make the appointment in the first place, and now that I was here, all I could think about was how horrible it would be if something bad happened to my eyes. No matter how I tried to tell myself it was foolishness, I couldn’t stop myself from imagining, over and over, that when the doctor put the lenses in front of my eyes to test my vision, the glass would break and shatter splinters into my eyeballs.It was enough to make me run screaming from the waiting room. Only the pain in my head kept me in the chair. I knew something was going on with my vision, and I didn’t want to risk it being something important.
In the office, Dr. Alonius beamed a broad smile at me. His large eye, centered in the middle of his bald forehead, shone with good humor through the single bifocal lens. I felt much more at ease.
“Go ahead, ask me,” he said as he settled himself on a rolling stool. “Everyone wants to.”
‘I’m not sure…..”
“Why does a man with only one eye go into optometry?” Dr. Alonius laughed with a hearty guffaw.
“Well, the answer, my friend, is that when you only have one, you want to be extra sure you take good care of it. I decided I wanted to do the same for as many others as I could.”
“You’re making me feel a lot better,” I admitted. “Ive been having some weird anxiety about my eyes. I know an eye exam shouldn’t hurt, and yet…”
“No fear. I’ve got you.” Dr. Alonius scooted forward to begin the exam.
It wasn’t the first time I’d had my eyes examined. Wolves don’t tend to need glasses until we get much older, but a number of years ago I’d suddenly had a flare up of strange vision anomalies that felt very much like what had been going on lately. I told the doctor about them when he rolled his stool out of the way after he’d finished the exam.“I can’t see anything going on, so I can set your mind at ease about problems with your eyes themselves. As for needing a prescription,you’ve got superb vision, Gabriela. No need for glasses. Not even readers.” The doctor tilted his head to study me. His expression was calm, but his brow furrowed in concern. “Have you seen the Brightsky medical staff about the headaches?”
“Should I?”
“If you’re truly concerned, but…” He coughed lightly into his fist. “Look, it’s a bit out of line for me even to say anything, so feel free to put me in my place. But is it possible you’re having…anxiety attacks?”
My eyes went wide, and my eyebrows went up.
Way up. “Anything’s possible.”
“It’s just that I know you and your family have had some hardships to deal with. All of that tension could lead to headaches and changes in your vision. I do want to relieve you, though. I can see nothing to worry about with your eyes themselves.”
I was relieved, and let out a breath I’d been holding while I waited to hear the verdict on my vision. It stuttered out of me on a flurry of soft giggles that grew louder, until I had to clap a hand over my mouth tohold them back. After a moment, Dr. Alonius joined me. The two of us laughed hard for a minute more before we tapered into a comfortable silence.
“That was unexpected,” he said with another bright grin.
liked this man. He had a calming, easy demeanor and gentle way about him that was so different than Orion had ever been. I blushed, realizing I’d been staring.
“I’ll walk you out,” Dr. Alonius said as he stood and offered me his hand.
I took it. His was so much bigger that it fully engulfed mine. He squeezed mine gently before letting it go.
“Maybe I should get your number,” he said quietly as we stared at each other. “Just in case,I mean.
Um, if any of these readings turn out to be…um… of concern. I could call you.”
I couldn’t hold back my smile. “I’d like that.”
With a spring in my step, I headed back home.
For the first time in what felt like an entire lifetime, it felt like I might actually have a good future ahead of me. A home here in Brightsky.
Friends.
The possibility of something even more.Happiness.
Lanie–
“What do you mean, we’re going to say goodbye to the twins in front of Gabriela?” My jaw had dropped, gaping wide, and I shut it with a snap.
I clipped my tongue between my teeth and tasted blood, but that was a better flavor than the bitterness in my words.
“We have to make sure she hears us and sees us, so it’s relayed to the High Council,” Stella said.
I spoke to her in the tone of voice I’d used on the rare occasions when she’d thrown a temper tantrum.
Calm, but firm, and clearly letting her know that I was disappointed in her. “I understand that part, Stella. But you’re asking me to leave them behind?”
She’d quickly laid out the plan to us, but I was not convinced that it made sense. My mates seemed to believe that leaving the enclave was a good idea, and I was having a hard time getting behind that, too.
Leaving Alaina and Isaac here though, while we ran off…I couldn’t do that.
“Gabriela will stay with them.” Stella said.
“Lanie, just hear her out,” Zane began, but I made an angry gesture to make him go quiet.
“How can you even think I’d be okay with this?” I demanded of the three of them. Then, I turned to my daughter. “I don’t like this, Stella.
You’ve grown up, but your brother and sister are little more than babies-”
“They’re stronger and smarter than you give them credit for, Mother.”here!”
“Because they’re hybrids!” I cried. “They’re special. Like you. Which is exactly why we can’t leave them I crossed my arms over my belly and hugged myself tight. I shook my head, not meeting the eyes of any of my mates. I couldn’t bear to look any of them in the face. “I swore when I rescued them from that cursed testing facility that I would never abandon them. They would never be alone like that ever again.
I vowed to protect them and love them like they were my own, and that’s what they are. They are my children as much as you are, Stella. And now,what you’re asking… It’s too much. I won’t do it.”
“They’ll be safer here than anywhere else, Lanie. And we can’t really fight with two children in tow. It’s better if they remain behind.” Mason tried to reach for me, but I shrugged myself out of his grip.
“My mother will take care of them,love,”
Xander said.
I ducked away from Xander’s reach, too. I whirled on him. “Your mother is compromised!
This entire plan revolves around that fact, which you seem to have conveniently or st upidly forgotten.
Whether she knows it or not, Gabriela is a tool for the High Council.
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?