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

water wasn’t deep enough 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

me than you.” He nudged my

water. It ran over our calves. I curled my

I was born to be your Beta.

The Moon Goddess gave you to me the same way she gave Lanie to us. What’s the point in worrying about things that

edge of the stream. “You have a brother now. You have another

Xander 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

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 my best friend. And I love

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me the truth because, just like it had been since we were pups, I could feel it. I rubbed at my eyes, pressing the heels of my hands into

“I know I just don’t know what to

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

hate the thought of you being with her but