Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Chapter 28
Lanie
I still couldn’t process what had happened yesterday and the bul ls hit that had spewed from Xander’s mouth about my helping to take care of their demon spawn with Alice.
Over my dead body.
Literally.
Before yesterday, all I’d been thinking about was doing whatever I needed to do to protect my parents and my sister, but
those thoughts were long gone. Now wasn’t the time to be self-sacrificing for others.
Now was the time to figure out a way to escape this utter madness.
I
And I was going to start by meeting with Braden this morning
I
If vampires had been kept from us, what else had been kept from us? I was pretty sure the High Council was behind it-they
were behind everything. And since so much of our history was lost in the Great Wars, it would have been fairly easy for them to
create whatever narrative they wanted.
Apparently, that new narrative left out some pretty interesting things.
I hated thinking that we’d been lied to, but I’d laid up all night thinking about the eight million things that had just happened. and I couldn’t come up with another reason why none of us would know anything about vampires.

Or did they?
Did only certain people know? Did my parents know? What about Xander and Zane?
The more I thought about it and all of the possibilities, the more my head spun, and I couldn’t let myself sink into the
quicksand of what-ifs.
What-ifs didn’t do anything but make you doubt everything and everyone, and I didn’t want to start viewing everyone I knew
as some sort of deceptive accomplice.
If they were, I’d deal with that later.
For right now, I just needed to talk to Braden again to learn more about the chunks of our history that had been left out of
what we were taught.
Something told me I could trust him, that he was one of the only people I could trust right now. Hell, maybe he was the only
person I could trust. Now, I didn’t even have Lanie, because her mates would be able to read her thoughts. Even if she didn’t want
to betray me, she would
This sucked.
Braden and I hadn’t set up a specific place to meet, but I assumed going back to where we’d met would be the best bet.
Plus, since we could scent each other out, I was sure we’d find each other. This time, I didn’t shift to get there, and instead walked. So, ya know, I’d have clothes on during today’s rendezvous rd still be able to scent him, but just not as strongly than if Lily were in control
Before I could see the lake, I could smell Braden. Was it that I was looking for it? Or that his smell was more potent than I’d realized before?
1/2
Regardless of the whys and hows, the scent caused immediate desire to shoot through my body, settling between my legs. Could he smell me, too? Did my scent affect him the way his scent affected me?
I hoped so. Now that I’d had sex, I wanted more of it.
And since I wasn’t going to be getting it from my “mates”, maybe Braden was an option.
There were n
no viable options for me among my own kind, that was for sure.
Even if there were someone I was attracted to or someone who was available, no one would touch me with a ten-foot pole. I was completely off-limits for them even thought Xander had said I was free to “have fun” as he put it, so long as I didn’t get
knocked up with ba st ard pups.
But who the hell was going to dare to touch the cast-off mate of the Alpha and the Beta?
No one, that’s who.
“There you are.” Braden stepped in front of me.