Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Chapter 24

Chapter 24
Lanie
I picked my way back “home”, trying to reconcile everything that had just happened.
1…couldn’t.
None of what Braden had told me made any sense. How could I not know of the existence of vampires?
Er, masas dima or whatever he had said.
Sure, I had no proof of anything he told me, but he definitely hadn’t smelled like anything I’d encountered before, and that in and of itself was proof of…something.
But if vampires existed, what about…
Oh, s hit. What else was out there that I didn’t know about?
And why didn’t I know about it? Did my parents know about vampires and whatever other witches and
fairies and trolls and-
I was getting ahead of myself. Way ahead of myself.
I couldn’t wrap my brain around vampires, let alone anything else right now.
Calm down, Lily demanded. You’re starting to hyperventilate.
I stopped walking and sank to my knees, the damp earth and scratchy leaves on my bare skin centering
me a bit.
shirt.
You need to let me shift back. We need to try to get his scent off you.
Lily’s words didn’t register with me until I looked down to see that I was still wearing Braden’s flannel
F uck. She was right. It was better for me to stroll back in naked than to show up wearing a strange shirt

with an even stranger scent. The last thing I needed was even more attention than I was already going to be faced with after this morning’s absolute disaster.
I snorted. Well, at least discovering that vampires existed had managed to overshadow my humiliation
momentarily.
Get it together. Someone is going to see us. Let me take over. Now.
With a shake of my shoulders and a cr ack of my neck to steel myself, I took the flannel off and shoved it
under some leaves and behind a rock. Lily took over and the shift was even quicker than usual. She must
have been anxious as hell to shake the masas dima scent off.
Meanwhile, once we shifted and Lily proceeded to roll around in the leaves and dirt, part of me wilted
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Chapter 24
inside at the loss of that sp icy, musky aroma I hadn’t realized had seeped into my nose.
We’re safe now, she said.
The words “It’s time to get back now” remained unspoken, and I was a bit grateful for her rare consideration instead of being the battle ax she usually was.
It’s now or never. I urged her forward with my thoughts and we started trotting out from the tree line,
across the vast lawn of Xander’s house, and toward the front door. May as well make an entrance instead of trying to slink through the back.
As if I could slink through the back.
There was no way they didn’t have people watching for me.
“Lanie!”
Mindy burst from the front door and ran toward me. I desperately wanted to hug her, but the last thing I
needed was to turn into a blubbery mess. No way in hell was I going to let Xander or Zane or Alice or any of
their entourage see me cry.
Mindy and I reached each other, and she dropped to her knees beside me, for once ignoring the fact that
her pants might get dirty and mar the perfect-looking image she always portrayed. When her arms wrapped
around Lily’s neck, Lily rested our chin on her shoulder and nuzzled into Mindy’s neck and chuffed lightly.
At least she didn’t whine and let Mindy know just how upset I was. I didn’t think I could take even Mindy
knowing how hurt I was. But based on her actions right now, she didn’t have to be told.
“It’ll be okay,” she murmured and stroked Lily’s neck. “I promise. Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out.”
Lily didn’t warn me she was ceding control, and the next second, I was sitting on the ground and Mindy
was stroking my hair.
Thank go d wolves didn’t give a s h it about nudity for the most part.
“And now I get to face everyone,” I said quietly, not sure what else to say.
“F uck them.”
I pulled away from her hug and looked at her face, searching her eyes for anything I could suss out.
“What’s being said?”
She bit her lower lip-a sure sign that things weren’t great. “Not a whole lot.”)
I raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
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