Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Zane

We stood frozen in place while the whole crowd gasped and murmured amongst themselves. What the f u ck was Gregory trying to suggest?

Alice was our only mate.

She was the only she-wolf we'd ever been with.

“What the hell is he talking about?” Xander asked as he turned around to face me.

His face was twisted up in confusion.

“Probably making up some b ullsh it to get us back for the investigation stuff,” | reassured Xander. But as soon as | said it, a tingling sensation ran from the tips of my fingers and up my arm, wrapping I

around my neck.

Blade scratched at my insides like he was telling me not to ignore the feeling.

Xander clutched at his chest.

“Is it Hunter?” | asked. “Blade is acting weird, too.”

He nodded. “Something about this doesn’t feel right.

Why were our wolves suddenly going into fight mode?

Did they know something we didn’t?

Suddenly, Gabriela rushed onto the stage and pushed us back.

She waved two massive guards over to handle Gregory and Lucas while she ushered us away from the

crowd.

Of course the one time we really needed Maxim and Monroe to back us up, they were away on business.

Once we were inside a car and racing back home, Xander finally asked Gabriela, “What the f uck was that

all about?”

“Yeah, we had one mate,” | said. “Alice. And we didn’t f ucking kill her.”

Gabriela shook her head.

“| know,” she said calmly. “They were projecting. Gregory and Lucas are the ones who killed two of their mates. They’re just getting you back for not letting them take Alice as their mate.”

It was the same thing I'd suggested to Xander, but even coming from Gabriela, | didn’t quite believe it.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Xander said, but he was twisting his hands in his lap. He was still uneasy, too. 1/2

Aldon had given us the option, given their checkered history with she-wolves, but we’d decided against it.

“You know if we’d banished them, they would’ve been sent to one of the rogue towns like S are no hierarchies or fixed rules like we have-they would’ve taken advantage of that.”

My stomach turned over imagining them terrorizing rogue towns, taking who and what they wanted

without consequence.

There

“They would’ve taken another mate to abuse or kill. And there would be no Elders or Council to punish them. No Alpha to protect the weak she-wolves they would prey on.”

Xander nodded.

“You made the right decision,” Gabriela reassured us

She had a soft spot for rogues and their territories, unlike most Constantine wolves, who acted like rogues were so far beneath them that they might as well not exist.

“Speaking of Stillwood,” Xander said, “Did Maxim and Monroe have anything to share from the gathering at the lodge last night?” “They've just arrived back at the mansion,” Gabriela said. “They'll meet you in the library to debrief.”

A few minutes later, we approached the entrance to the library, where Maxim and Monroe were standing

with their mate, Mindy.

We rarely spoke to her, mostly just brief hellos when we passed in the hallways.

But in the last few months, we’d barely seen her at all.

Mindy kissed them each on the cheek before turning to leave.

At least they seemed to be doing well.

Someone in this house deserved a happy ending...

“Maxim, Monroe,” Xander said curtly as we approached the three of them, “We need the report on the

regional gathering.”

But when Mindy saw Xander and me, her face turned a deep shade of red and her eyes went wide.

“Oh, it’s a good thing you two didn’t go,” she said ominously.

Maxim and Monroe exchanged worried glances.

“| met a woman there who looked exactly like Lanie.