Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Zane

“Humans are a part of this, too?” Lanie asked. “What does that mean?”

Truthfully, | didn’t know exactly. This operation was obviously bigger than we'd originally thought, which meant that breaking in there was probably even more dangerous.

But if we got too bogged down in how deep this all went, we might psych ourselves out or lose sight of why we were really there. “It means we need to get in there and get the twins,” said. “That's what we came to do. Anything else we learn along the way is just a bonus.”

My palms were sweating. | tried to push away thoughts of what would happen after we’d rescued the twins. It was bad enough that the Council was after us, but the human military, too? That was way too big to comprehend.

glanced over at Lanie. She was chewing her lip, and her eyes were glassy like she was stuck in terrible thought spiral.

“Lanie?” Her head snapped up. “Are you ready to shift?”

She nodded.

some

“Should we target a human guard?” she asked. “At least one of those military guys was wearing the armband Braden told us about.”

Before he left, Braden had informed us that only high-ranking guards with a special armband were allowed access to every part of the facility. In order to guarantee the twins’ rescue, Lanie was going to have to transform herself into one of them.

“That’s not a bad idea,” | said. Humans had guns and combat training, but they’d never be as strong or as fast as a fellow shifter. “It would be a hell of a lot easier to catch one of them off guard and capture them.”

“Great,” Lanie said, though her voice sounded a little shaky. “Then let’s do it.”

We fell back farther into the woods and stripped our clothes, Lanie being careful to zip up the potion intol her jacket pocket. My eyes briefly traveled over to her, keenly aware that her perfect body was totally on display. She caught me looking and smirked. Was she even blushing a little?

Her scent was still overwhelming and intoxicating, almost making me forget what we were there to do,

| would've loved nothing more than to take her right there. Because f uck it, we might get killed by a soldier soon, but | knew we couldn’t waste any time.

“Here goes nothing.” | said, reluctantly throwing my head back and letting Blade take over.

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Slowly and silently, we crept closer to the facility again, keeping our ears and noses out for any guards.

After about an hour of silent watching, we finally saw a couple of guards who seemed like they were

switching shifts.

One of them was a military guard, and sure enough, he was wearing a special armband. | nodded toward

him and Lanie crouched low, preparing to follow him.

We watched closely as he climbed into a car and pulled away.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

We gingerly scooped up our clothes in our teeth and padded through the trees as quietly as possible,

following the car as it pulled out on the mountain road, traveling back the way we’d come, into human territory.

He finally pulled off onto a dirt road that led deeper into the woods, to a tiny cabin. We watched from a

thick gathering of trees as he climbed out of the car, glanced around, and walked inside.

We needed to shift back to humans to get inside the cabin and use the sleeping powder on the guard to

knock him out.

| positioned myself behind a huge tree and transformed. Lanie followed suit and we both pulled on our clothes quietly. “Do you think he’s alone?” she asked through our mind link so we didn’t have to speak aloud. “I didn’t hear anyone else inside. “| didn't, either,” | answered. “But we should both be prepared to attack, just in case.”

I let my canines and claws drop, my wolf hovering at the surface, and Lanie did the same.

We slowly crept closer to the cabin, peeking in one of the windows

Inside, the guard was lying down on the couch in the front room, sleeping.

“D amn, this might be easier than | thought,” | said. “He’s passed out.”

| motioned for Lanie to follow me, and we moved around to the back door.

| tried the handle and miraculously, it opened.

“You think he’d have better security,” | said.

“Maybe he does,” Lanie warned.

We moved from the cramped kitchen into a little hallway, keeping our footsteps as light as possible, me in the front and Lanie just behind me.

“The front room is just through here,” | said. “Get ready.”

| pulled out the sleeping powder and stepped into the front room, but the couch was now empty.

What the f uck?

Behind me, | heard the co ck of a gun and a quick gasp.

When | spun around, the guard was there. With a gun to Lanie’s head.

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