Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Zane

“Alice, love.” | lifted her chin and stared into her tearful eyes. “Go with them for now. We'll address this after the ceremony. We'll find a way...”

Her chin quivered and she closed her eyes briefly, sending fresh streams of tears down her porcelain cheeks. My gut twisted.

| brushed the backs of my knuckles across one cheek, then the other, wiping her tears away.

“It'll be okay. | promise,” | assured her.

| stalked back onto the stage to take my place next to Xander. There was no way | could stand down there in

the crowd and watch as she walked over to Gregory and Lucas.

Especially since it was Gregory and Lucas.

They would tear her apart.

Alice would be their third mate.

In just over a year’s time.

Their first mate had been assigned to them last Fall and had mysteriously disappeared barely two months

into their mating.

While we all had our suspicions, the Elders had decided that the young Mary had simply run away as there had been no evidence of foul play. They never bothered to take into consideration the fact that Mary had been seen by multiple people with bruises on her arms.

Last Spring, they had been assigned a she-wolf whose mates had just passed away in a car accident. Most thought it was too soon for her to mate someone else, but the Elders had thought it best for her to be mated right away, saying that “having a purpose in life would help her.”

She lasted three months before she was found dead in the woods behind Gregory and Luc a s’s cabin.

The Elders ruled it a suicide, blaming it on her depression and grief and instability.

When Xander and | had gone to view the scene in the forest, we knew that was a lie.

I'll never forget the pain that remained in her lifeless eyes, and I'll never forget the smug way Greg and Luke had just shrugged when we asked them what happened.

ay

3 5 dyk og

Xander’s low growl brought me out of my thoughts, and | refocused on the here and now. Lanie was standing closer to us now, staring blankly at nothing.

tanie was

| glanced at Xander. He was intently focused on Alice, who was now standing between they took turns manhandling her like she was a piece of meat.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

I saw red.

And there was nothing | could do right now.

If we weren't careful and we p issed off the elders, everyone in our pack would die.

e