Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???
I dialed my mother’s number as I left for the elevator to meet Mason, but my call went right to voicemail. I. called again, thinking she might notice a second ring, but she didn’t pick up this time,cither. I sent her a text, but a small red exclamation mark showed up to let me know my message didn’t get through.
“And you should know,” Zane thought to us both.
“Stella is going to surprise you.”
Zane–
“They’re all on the way. I was finally able to get your mother through our mate link.” I paused, looking at my now-adult daughter. “Can you still hear us when we talk through that?”
Stella had helped herself to some cut-up fruit from the fridge in the kitchenette. She paused in pouring herself some hot water for tea, then nodded.
“I can hear everyone’s thoughts. All the time. Even when I don’t want to. But yours and Abba’s and Daddy’s and Mother’s are indistinct when you’re talking through the bond. I can hear you, but I usually can’t decipher what you’re saying. Which, honestly, I prefer.”
Stella laughed, sounding a little embarrassed. She poured us both mugs of tea and sat at the table. I took the chair across from hers and pulled my mug closer to me, even though I really wanted something much stronger than tea.
“That must be hard,” I told her. “Hearing thoughts all the time.”
She shrugged and frowned a little bit, and in that expression I saw very clearly the little girl she’d been.
This was going to take me some time to get used to…
and I had to wonder how hard this was for her. One minute to be a child, the next an adult in the span of mere hours.
Could she hear what I was thinking just then?
“I try not to,” she said aloud. “Sometimes, like just now, what you were thinking was so loud and so strong, and it was about me. I heard it before I could stop myself But mostly, Papa, I try to be polite and not listen in.”
“Has it always been like that for you?”
She nodded after a moment and lifted the mug to her lips. She winced at the heat, then pursed her lips and blew lightly. I could feel the cold breeze from all the way across the table, and I let out a mutter of surprise.
Again, my daughter looked embarrassed as she set down the mug. “I can make things cold if I need them to be. Or hot.”
“Stella…” I trailed off, not really even sure what I meant to say. “You are extraordinary. I always knew that, of course. That you’re so special. But…”
“But now you can see it right in front of you, and you can’t deny it or pretend it away. I understand. I’m sorry it’s such a shock to you, Papa. I didn’t mean for it to be.” Stella paused, tilting her head as though she was listening. “They’re almost here. Then I’ll be able to tell you everything. I’d like to do it when we’re all together, if you can be patient enough for that.”
“Of course, I can. If that’s what you need,” I told her.
Stella smiled, but tears gleamed in her eyes. “That’s why I had them call you first, Papa. Because I knew you’d be able to wait without demanding everything from me right away. Daddy is going to be a little more difficult, I think.”
We both laughed at that, shaking our heads. She was right. Xander was going to flip his lid when he saw her. That was why I hadn’t simply told him what happened through our mind link.
“He’s got to see it for himself,” I told her. “But he’ll be okay. He’s your father, Stella. He’s going to love you, no matter what. We all will. Were you worried about that?”
Her hesitation showed me that was true. She might be adult-sized with a grownup’s maturity, but there was another glimpse of her childhood in that expression. A little girl’s fears that something she’d donewould take away her parents’ love.
“People don’t like those who are different, Papa.”
“Oh, Stella.”
“The teachers at school didn’t like me. They might have told you otherwise,” she cut in with a sharp look at me. “But I could tell, even before I grew up, that they really didn’t know what to make of me. I tried hard never to show them what I could do, but it was hard.”
“We aren’t people. We are your family. Your pack.
We’ll stand by you no matter how big you get,” I told her fiercely. A sudden thought slammed into me about supernaturals I’d heard about but hadn’t yet met. I had to assume they were real, though, since all the others turned out to be. “Are you going to get any bigger?”
She burst into laughter. “Papa!”
“You could be part Giant, for all I know,” I teased, but there was a real question in my voice.
Stella shook her head. “I promise not to outgrow you”
That hadn’t answered my question about if she could get bigger or not, but I accepted it. We both chuckled a little bit. Then her head tilted again, and her eyes narrowed.
“They’re here,” she said.
Lanie–
My vampire running skills were far from being perfected, and I’d had to slow down halfway home to catch my breath. I made it the rest of the way in decent time, though. Xander and Mason showed up outside our door at the same time.
We greeted each other briefly with hugs and kisses, but then I pushed open the door. I was eager to get inside, terrified of what I might find.
In all the things I’d imagined, the sight that greeted me was not one of them.
“Hello, Mother.” A willowy young woman with Xander’s smile stood up from the table.
Zane had been sitting across from her, and he stood up, too. He didn’t say anything, not even through our mind link. He didn’t look half as confused as our other two mates.
Xander’s jaw dropped. “Huh?”
Mason took a few automatic steps forward, his fists up before he caught himself and put them back at his sides. “Stella?”
“Mother, Daddy, Abba. It’s really me.”
“Did you get in touch with your mom?” Zane asked Xander.
“She didn’t answer.” Xander sounded full of wonder.
He crossed the room and took both of Stella’s hands in his as he looked her up and down. “I can’t believe this.”
She looked past him to me, and her expression creased. “Mother?”
“I’m here, baby.” I flew to her and gathered her into a hug.
My arms might not have been used to the size of her but she could never outgrow the space in my heart. Stella wept, and I joined in. Happy tears? Scared? It was hard to tell, but we rocked together as she held onto me as tightly as she ever had as an infant.
“I love you, Stella, my little star. My precious angel.
You could be a hundred feet tall, and you’d still be my little girl.
She laughed through her so bs. “Papa already asked if I was going to get to be the size of a Giant!”
I held her at arms’ length and pretended to give her a stern look. “Well, are you?”
N
Mason came up behind us. “Can anyone tell me what in the world is going on?”
“You told us she was going to surprise us, but I didn’t expect this.” Xander pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I need a drink,” Mason said. “Whiskey, anyone?”
Xander raised a hand. “Me.”
Zane did the same, and after a moment, so did I. A second after him, so did Stella.
“You might be taller,” Xander told her, “but I’m not sure I’m ready for you to be tossing back shots.”
Stella laughed and dipped her head. “Oh, Daddy.”
“Oh, Daddy,’ she says.” Xander shook his head and crossed to the small bar cart to pour everyone a round.
“Like I’m the one being unreasonable!”
His words were strong, but his tone was teasing.
We all gathered around to toss back a single shot of whiskey, our newly grownup daughter included.
This was a celebration, after all, even if the three parents weren’t quite sure what it all meant.
Stella shuddered. “Ew. I think that’s enough for me.
I’m sure you all have many questions. Mother…it might be best if you start off sharing what you already know?”
Heat rushed into my face as my three mates turned to look at me. I swallowed hard. “About that…” Xander frowned. “Lanie, was there something you weren’t sharing with us?”
I knew he was thinking that it wouldn’t have been the first time. I lifted my chin to meet his gaze squarely with mine. “I was trying to find out some more information and get some confirmation from my grandfather before I told you things that might not be true. I found a book…”
I wasn’t sure what else to say. All three of my mates were glowering at me, and I supposed I couldn’t blame them. “I’m sorry, my loves. I just didn’t want to worry you if what I was reading turned out to be fiction. And then there was the power surge and everything else, and we all got distracted, and I guess I was just trying to take things one step at a time.”
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?