Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???
Wheezing and gasping, I almost fell, but he caught me. He would always catch me, I thought a little deliriously as Zane stepped between me and the fence.
He held up a leather pouch and tugged open the top. He pulled out a handful of dust and blew it into the air all around us.
The babies went instantly, eerily silent.
Everything. I realized, was quiet.
“What the f uck?” I managed to say as four guards made it to the fence and pushed through the hole…and kept on running right past us as though we didn’t even exist.
Zane–
Time slowed as the powder I’d bartered with Rhiannon for covered all of us in a fine cloud that smelled a bit like lavender. Me, Lanie, the babies. She turned wide eyes on me as the guards ran past us without even a glance, even when one of the babies sneezed loudly.
Rapidly, Lanie morphed back to herself. No lie, it was a f ucking relief to be looking at the woman I loved instead of that giant goon whose form she’d taken, but I didn’t have time to take her in my arms and kiss her the way I wanted to.
“We’re invisible,” I said. “Shielded, too, somehow, Rhiannon gave me a powder. They can’t see us or hear us. I guess it also took away your transmogrification.”
One of the twins let out a whimper, and Lanie kissed its head tenderly and murmured soothing words. Watching her this way, so maternal, stirred something low in my gut. The uniform that had fit Philips s was way too big on her, and her sleeves hung past her wrists as she cradled both babies.
More guards ran past us, shouting. I gestured for Lanie to come closer to me, and until they’d all passed us.
a stood in one place “Let me take one,” I told her finally when we had a chance to take a breath. We couldn’t stay there, but for the moment, all the guards were gone.
Carefully, we managed to get Isaac out of the sling and bundle him in the oversized guard’s jacket. I was. able to make a kind of baby sling out of it, but carrying both babies was going to get old fast, especially for Lanie, who already looked wiped out.
“We need to get into those trees and walk back to Stillwood,” I told her, pointing.
She nodded and followed me. After a minute, she said, “You do realize how much easier all this would’ve been if you’d p oofed us into being invisible in the first place, don’t you?”
“We couldn’t take the risk of it not working right, or wearing off before you found the twins.” I hated lying to her, but the truth about how I got the powder was not something I could get into right then. It was a story and a confession…for another time, when we weren’t running for our lives.
Her voice was h oa rse. I’m so tired, and my entire body hurts like I’ve been run over by a truck. I almost didn’t make it.”
We’d gone enough into the woods that I thought we could take a break for a few minutes. Careful of the infants between us, I gathered her in my arms and held her close. She shook, but fought a little to get away from me “There’s something you’re not telling me,” she accused.
I had to send up thanks to the go ds that I had a mate who knew me so well, even though right now that was a real disadvantage. She was right. There was a whole bunch of s hit I wasn’t telling her. I hoped I’d never All I could do was pull her close again. I let her breathing match mine, slowing, as the babies quieted in the circle of our embrace.
Finally, she looked up at me with tears streaking her cheeks. 1 was so scared, Zane. I didn’t think I was going to get out there. All I could think about was how I was going to fail…you, and Xander, a-and.”
“I knew you’d never fail.” I tipped her chin up to kiss her lips. “And I was about to let my wolf go in for you when you came storming out of that place.”
“They’re going to come after us,” she said. “Even though I looked like Philips, they’re going to figure out who took the babies, and they’ll come after us. Even to Stillwood, assuming we even make it there on foot with two infants who need to be fed, changed…
Lanie’s voice rasped to silence, but then she straightened up and cleared her throat. “What are we going to do?”
Ss “First, we’re going to get to Stillwood. We have the twins. That’s the most important thing right now. And that, love, is all because of you.” I took a couple of steps back from her to let my wolf come forward and scent the air. “I’m not sensing any guards on our tail.”
“That’s probably a bad thing,” she said. “If they’re not following us, that means they think they know where we’re headed.”
Pride flooded me, so fierce it took my breath away. This was my Luna. Bold, brave, smart, competent.
Thinking on her feet. Exhausted, but not willing to give up the fight.
The truth was, without that powder from Rhiannon, I’d have lost her and the twins back at the fence. I’d made the deal with her because I was willing to promise anything to make sure I had a way to keep Lanie safe if things went south.
I only hoped Lanie would never have to find out what I’d agreed to do.
Xander–
I smelled them before I saw them.
I’d been standing on the front porch of Lanie’s cottage, a mug of coffee in one hand that I wasn’t drinking. The urge to shift and run as my wolf all the way through the woods to find them both had been almost overpowering me. The only reason I hadn’t was because I was an Alpha, dam mit, and I had more self-control than that.
The first moment I scented them, though, I dropped the mug. I didn’t even care about the hot coffee splashing on the way to the ground. I jumped down the few small steps and took off across the small patch of grass, heading for the trees.
Lanie had baby Alaina strapped to her chest. Next to them, Zane carried Isaac. I had them both in arms, squeezing, before I said a word. I didn’t think I could speak, actually. All I wanted to do was make sure they were all okay.
“Whoa, there,” Zane said into my ear. “We’re okay. We’re all fine. Xander, you have to let go…
But I couldn’t. The thought of losing them. My mate, and the man I also loved, and our pups… Only when Isaac let out a mewling squeal did I ease off, but I kept my hands on both Lanie and Zane.
“We’re fine,” Zane reassured me again through the mind link.
From behind us, I heard a rough growl. In the next minute, I was jostled out of the way as Mason pulled Lanie into his arms and then turned to Zane with his eyes flashing. He held out his arms.
“My pup,” Mason said, adding after a second, in a lower voice full of gravel, “Please.”
He and Zane shared a look, and Zane handed over the baby. Mason cradled his pup to his chest and pulled Lanie close to him again with his other arm.
Then we were all hugging, four adults and two fussing infants, and Lanie was weeping happy tears.
Zane’s arm went around my waist. Mason and I were hip to hip, and I didn’t even want to punch him.
“We need to get these babies inside and cleaned up. Fed,” Lanie said in a voice h 0 ars e with tears still streaming down her cheeks.
Her eyelids fluttered, and I sensed her st agger before I actually saw her knees start to buckle. Moving as one unit, coordinated as warriors on a strike, Zane scooped Alaina out of her arms, and I caught Lanie as she started to topple over.
She nestled against my chest. She smelled disgusting, like sweaty male human, but I didn’t f ucking care She was home.
My mother waited on the porch, her anxiety palpable.
“You two,” she barked, pointing at Mason and Zane. “Get those babies fed. They’re famished. Xander, you It had been a long time since I took orders from my mother, but we all did exactly as she told us. In the tiny bedroom, I’laid Lanie gently on the bed. She was clearly fighting unconsciousness, and she clung to me as I sat next to her right.
“The twins…”
“They’re with Zane and Mason. Their fathers.” The word slipped out of me before I could stop it, but it felt Lanie let out a gasp of relief and shuddered against me. “Oh, Xander, I was so scared!”
“You’re here now, I won’t let anything happen to you. None of us will,” I whispered fiercely and pressed my forehead to hers.
When her mouth met mine, wide open and eager, it was all I could do not to strip us both naked and take her then and there. This wasn’t the time, though. Carefully, I pulled away from her to cup the back of her neck and look into her eyes.
“You need to rest until you feel strong enough to take a hot bath. I’ll bring you some water,” I told her.
From outside the bedroom, a baby’s wail rose.
“Stella!” Lanie gasped and struggled against me while I held her back. At last, she fell onto the pillows with a gasping sigh.
“Xander, I want my daughter.”
“I’ll bring her to you,” I promised, “First, you have to relax. Let us take care of you.”
Asmall smile quirked the corners of her lips. Her eyes were shadowed with exhaustion, but dam n, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. The only one I could ever want again.
Asoft knock at the doorway turned me to see my mother holding a basin. “You leave this poor woman alone, Xander. I’ll help her get cleaned up. Go you have someone else to take care of too. Several someones, I’d say.”
Heat slithered through me as I stood, my hand lingering in Lanie’s. She squeezed my fingers and gave me a smile, a stronger one this time.
“Go,” she said with a knowing glint in her eye I knew better than to argue with either of these women. In the doorway, I paused to look across the living room to where the two other men hovered over the babies in their bassinets.
“Zane,” I said.
Zane–
At the sound of my name, I turned. Xander’s eyes blazed, and those long f ucking legs brought him across the room to me in seconds. I was pulled against him and crushed against his chest before I could do anything but just let him.
I let him hold onto me, and my arms went around his broad back as he buried his face against the side of my neck. I didn’t even f ucking care that Mason was watching us.
I’d been Xander’s Beta for so long. A brother. A best friend. We’d shared women and more than that. In that moment, it didn’t matter that my muscles ached with exhaustion, that I reeked of sweat, or even that I was anxious to check on Lanie and make sure she was really okay.
All that mattered was Xander.
He only pulled away when Mason coughed, clearing his throat. Xander’s lip curled, and his eyes blazed as he looked at his half-brother. The Alpha tension wound up so tight I had to step between them, a hand on Xander’s chest to hold him back.
Mason, on the other hand, only shook his head and let out a soft huff. “I’m glad you’re back, Zane. Thank you for taking care of my pups and for bringing Lanie back to me safe.”
“Back to you?” Xander growled, and again, I held him back.
“Cool it,” I murmured through the mind link. “You’re on edge. Mason’s not the enemy. We have other enemies to worry about.”
Xander shot me a look and stalked out the front door. I could see his big form pacing on the porch. He was transmitting his fury, fear, relief…an onslaught of emotions that every one of us felt, including the babies, who all started fussing again.
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?