Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Chapter 252

Zane

My body ached from the hours I’d spent with the ax. We had enough firewood to heat the entire house for a dozen winters by the time Xander came out and told me that we were giving our wolves a run. Now my muscles ached with a different kind of soreness.

Xander stretched, naked, next to the small stream. He bent to cup the water and drink deeply. I admired the strong lines of his back and shoulders. When he turned around to see me staring, he shot me a wide, arrogant grin.

“Like what you see?”

“Always,” I admitted. “Just thinking how much you’ve changed over the years.

His smile faded and softened. His eyes lit with a glow from his wolf that mine immediately answered. “We

both have.”

“Did you ever wonder what it would’ve been like if you’d had a different Beta?” I joined him by the side of the stream and bent to scoop up my own drink

to swim in, or I felt like I’d have plunged in as deep as I could. Let it close over my

sat next to him. All at once I was wondering if the urge to dive in had been my own, or if it had come to me through the mind link, with me feeling Xander’s feelings more strongly

for me than you.” He nudged my

the water. It ran over our calves.

was born to be your

me with a frown. “What’s going on with you, dude? The Moon Goddess gave you

you’re right. I just….” I kicked at the water a bit and pulled my feet up to the edge of the stream. “You

didn’t answer. Then he mirrored my position, grasping one of his wrists while his arms linked around his knees. He stared out over the stream to the trees beyond. A deer had come out of the woods and stood staring at us, her ears twitching. When heither of us moved, she bent to crop at the

of our lives now, and there doesn’t seem to be much we can do about that. But he could never replace you, Zane. You are my Beta. You are

1/2

since we were pups, I could feel it. I rubbed at my

meant. “I know I just don’t know

what you can do for me, either,” I admitted. “I

us, that would be a betrayal. We don’t love what you had to do…I f ucking hate the thought of you being with her but you did not betray us. You got that?” Xander’s voice rumbled, and his