Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Xander

“She has got to be kidding”

“She's not, Alpha,” Maxim said into his headpiece, which played over the intercom in my office.

| closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to dampen my immediate rage. That wound’t get us anywhere right now, and I knew Zane would agree. | could already feel him trying to send calming waves of energy toward me.

“Let's just go to her, Xander.” Zane sighed. “I’m sure she’s reeling from everything that happened this morning, and she’s feeling hurt and defensive and powerless. And humiliated. The least we can do is meet her somewhere she might feel a bit more comfortable.”

| grudgingly grunted out an affirmation.

Deep down, | was worried that being in her rooms again, surrounded by the lingering scent of our lovemaking and her being in heat, would be more than my wolf could resist.

Then again, now that we’d fully claimed Alice and she us, all attraction to any other she-wolves should be null and void. Wolves mated for life, and the claiming superceded all other previous sexual interactions,

Of course, since I’d never gone through this before, | was relying on what I'd read and been told.

It was time to put it to the test.

F uck.

F uck. F uck. F uck with more f u cking f u ck on top.

Lanie’s scent hit me like a punch to the gut.

Apunch from a polar bear. Or a sumo wrestler.

The force of it took the wind out of my lungs and da mn near had me gasping for breath.

Preferably in air that wasn’t absolutely saturated with the essence of Lanie.

| didn’t have to look at Zane to know he was feeling the same thing.

We were more f ucked than ever.

But we'd discuss this predicament..later,

“Well?”

Leave it to Lanie to not wait for her Alpha to speak first.

“This type of insolence and attitude will not be tolerated”

She raised an eyebrow in that challenging way of hers she had Even in her pajamas, she was fierce and prideful and... everything | wish Alice was at times.

F uck.

Where were all of these negative thoughts about Alice coming from? | loved her, dam mit.

“Why don’t you just tell me what will and won't be tolerated and what I’m supposed to do now so we can get this over with and | can be on my way.”

My lips curled into an amused smirk.

“Be on your way? Where do you think you’re going?” | asked.

“Back home. Or fill get a job and an apartment. Wherever else that isn’t here since you've decided to cast me off like trash.” She tilted her head and tapped a finger on her chin thoughtfully. “Oh, that’s an idea. Maybe I'll take up trash collecting. The garbage taking care of the garbage?”

| narrowed my eyes, and Hunter raised his hackles inside me. | stalked toward her until we were nose to nose, making sure every ounce of Alpha power contained within me oozed through my every pore, through my voice.

“You will not speak of yourself that way”

She remained silent-for once-her eyebrows furrowing in a look of confusion.

| understood that. The whiplash of my emotions and behavior as confusing me, too.

Zane stepped forward, pushing calm toward me.

“| think what our Alpha is trying to say is that it wouldn’t reflect well on him to have his mate in such an untenable position.” She took a step back. “What do you mean, his mate?” she said slowly

There was a pregnant pause as | concerned how best to answer her. Clearly, she didn’t fully understand what had happened this morning.

Zane opened his mouth to respond, but | cut him off.

“You are still the mate of the Alpha and the Beta, and you will behave as such. You will remain here, and you will fulfill any roles, duties, or tasks we ask of you. You will comport yourself as a member of this household at all times. Do | make myself clear?”

Lanie’s eyes widened to the point of her face looking almost humorous, their emerald color flashing with surprise.

“But.. But... You rejected me.”

“We did no such thing. We exercised our option to claim a second mate. While we chose not to claim you fully, you are still our mate and are expected to act as such.”

All of the color drained from Lanie’s already pale skin, to the point where her face looked almost translucent.

“But... No.” She shook her head back and forth almost manically. “No. | will not just stay here and have no life while you-” Her voice cracked, and emotion | hadn’t been sure she was capable of behind her tough-girl facade trickled through. Her face, her demeanor changed, and | watched her shoulders curl forward, her aura becoming that of someone defeated, hopeless. “| cannot simply be some fraction of myself, kept in a gilded cage because you wanted someone else more than you wanted me. | deserve to live a life, and | deserve to find...something.”

“You'll be plenty busy helping raise Alice and our pups.

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