Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???
How can you ask me to trust her?”“She would never hurt our children!” Xander snapped at me, sounding truly angry, probably because I’d called him s tupid.
Oh, yeah? Well, so was I. I put my hands on my hands and stood my ground with him. “Of course she wouldn’t, if she could help it. But what if she can’t help it, Xander? What then?”
“Because I trust our daughter, something you were telling us to do not ten minutes ago!”
Xander growled.
“Mother. I know this is hard. If there was another way, I would offer it, but I’ve seen the various paths.
The only ones that work are the ones in which we leave Alaina and Isaac here.”
me?”
Tears filled my eyes. “How are they going to feel when I tell them I’m going away and not taking them with Stella hesitated. “They’ll be with their beloved Grammy. You can tell them we’re going away to do grownup things. They’ll understand.”
“It will be a lie,” I said.
Mason stepped closer but wasn’t foolish enough to try and pull me against him. “It’s not a lie. We will be doing grownup things.”
I eyed him with a frown. “And Gabriela won’t want to come with us? If we tell her the High Council is coming, she’s not going to want to stay here if none of us are.”
“We’ll tell her that we’re taking Stella away for her own protection. Because she’s a Celestial and more important,” Xander said.life.”
“Compromised or not, I believe with my whole heart that my mother will protect our children with her very “The High Council wants our children because they’re hybrids. What makes you think they’d just give th up?” I demanded.
Hubris.
The whisper tickled the back of my neck at the base of my skull. I instantly went on high alert,but nobody in the room had spoken or even used the mind link. Vaguely, from far off, I heard the sound of my name being called, but I stumbled forward and landed on my hands and knees…
On a soft carpet of pine needles.
Mason–
“Katie!” The name flew out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying.
My Luna, my beloved mate, had crumpled to the floor. She curled onto her side with her knees to her chest, like an infant in a crib.
Behind me, I heard Xander’s roar of surprise,but I was the first one to reach her. I threw myself onto the floor at her side and slid my arm underneath her shoulders. When I pulled her onto my lap, she rolled bonelessly onto her back. Her arms and legs flopped. Her eyes were closed.
She wasn’t breathing.
“No, no, no…” I heard my own voice muttering and crying out. Through the mind link, I heard the same coming from Zane and Xander.
I expected my brother and our Beta to be at my side, but neither of them joined me as I rocked my Katie in my arms for a moment, desperate to see or feel any signs of life. She was limp and unresponsive. I probed her mind through the link and got no response. I pressed my fingers to her pulse, but there was nothing.
She was not dead. I would not allow her to leave us this way. With a strangled cry, I slid her onto the flooron her back so I could resuscitate her.
“Wait, Abba. No!” Stella cried when I tipped Katie’s head back to clear her airway. “Stop!”
I was aware of Stella moving toward me, but I ignored her. I’d fight her off, if I had to, and if Xander or Zane tried to get in my way, I’d fight them, too.
“I. Said. Stop.” Stella’s voice gonged like a bell.
“F uck that,” I growled. “Katie’s -”
A force that felt like a giant fist grabbed me by the back of my collar and hauled me to my feet.
It yanked me back and away from the woman on the floor. And then, by the void, it held me in place while l fought it.
“You let me go right now,” I demanded.
Stella hadn’t moved an inch. Her hair had started softly floating up and around her,crac kl ing with energy. A rainbow nimbus surrounded her. She held out one hand in my direction. The other toward Zane and Xander,who were frozen in place.
“Not until you all three agree to leave her alone.
You can’t help her right now.”
“F uck that,” I said again, this time under my breath.
The three of us stared at our Luna on the floor.
She hadn’t moved. Stella knelt next to her and smoothed her hair off her face. The force holding me back didn’t break, not for a second,even when Stella didn’t seem to be paying attention.
A chill shuddered through my spine at the enormity of that young woman’s power. Yes, we’d all been told she had the abilities of every supernatural, but I’d never seen or felt anything like this. I shot a glance at my brother. He was grimacing.
“We have to fight her. I don’t care if she’s our daughter, we have to help Katie,” said through the mind link.
“Her name, by the way, is Lanie,” Xander thought fiercely at me. His wolf blazed in his eyes and voice, and his face rippled with the force of the beast trying to come to the surface.
“Both of you, knock it off. There are more important things right now!” Zane’s snarl reached us both through the link.
In the face of three adult wolves fighting for control, anyone else would have run. Not Stella.
Our Celestial stood calmly, holding us back with no more effort than if we were toddlers throwing tantrums.
“I can hear you plotting, but please, fathers.Stop fighting. I don’t want to have to hurt you,but I can’t allow you to interfere right now.”
Slowly, I stopped my struggle. Zane followed.
At last, Xander went quiet, too.
The three of us stood panting, our fists clenched. But none of us kept fighting to get to our Luna.
Clearly, there was no point. Stella was far too strong.
Lanie…Goddess, I’d called her Katie, and the shock sent ripples of emotional pain straight to my heart.
She’d been my Katie first, just as the woman standing over her had been the baby I’d been willing to raise as my own…even before I knew they both belonged to my brother, My chest heaved. “Stella. Let us help your mother.”
Stella shook her head. “She doesn’t need our help. You need to leave her alone, at least for now.”
Zane took a single step. When that worked, he took another until he knelt by our Luna’s side. He stroked her hair back from her face.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“The Moon Goddess has taken her,” Stella said.
“When will she bring her back?” Zane demanded.
Stella nodded, then paused, tilted her head and shook it slowly. She frowned. “I don’t know.”
Lanie–
I was alone with the scent of the forest and what felt like a breeze across my face. The trees sang in low murmurs as the wind passed through their branches. Peace, calm, serenity…
when was the last time I’d felt any of that? So long ago that I couldn’t recall a time when I’d felt only comfort. No anxiety.
“Moon Goddess?”
I reached for her and got only silence in return.
Slowly, I turned in a circle. I knew I had to be experiencing this in my own mind, and that she hadn’t transported me physically. I wore a soft gown of pale-green fabric, knotted at the shoulders. Around my waist, a golden cord nipped the dress against my hips, and the hem was so long only the tips of my toes peeped out.
My hair cascaded down my back in ripples and waves.
I thought I must look something like a goddess,myself.
I wanted to run. To fight. To scream and argue.
I wanted answers. Safety. Knowledge.But Goddesses don’t answer to those they protect; I could only wait for her to show me what she wanted me to see.
The Sun rose and set, and the Moon followed.
Years passed in the span of minutes. I walked through the trees and slowly became aware of Lily at my side. My hand rested on her head,and I let her lead me.
In front of me, the trees parted to show me a meadow full of flowers. The sun shone brightly overhead.
Had I ever communicated with the Moon Goddess under the light of her sister Sun? I could only remember her voice ever reaching me in the Moon’s silver glow. Right now, the golden light beckoned me, and I went into the meadow.
Lily snuffed in my hand and licked. Then she ran away. I reached for her, but then I let her go.
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?