Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Lanie

“lve been on the dark web,” | said.

Zane’s jaw dropped. “The f uck is that?”

“How the hell did you manage to get onto it?” Mason demanded.

Xander growled. “You were where?”

Gabriela, on the other hand, only nodded with a secret smile. “I wondered if you were holed up in the doing something like that.” “Something like what? What's she talking about?” Xander swiveled to stare at her.

“The dark web for wolves is all backdoor entries, really illegal-” Mason began.

“The f uck!” Xander interrupted with a glower. His big fist pounded the table, making all the bowls and

silverware jump.

| sent a surge of soothing calm out in short pulses. He blinked rapidly and sat back in his chair. Gabriela’s grin got bigger, and | could feel her pride rolling out of her.

“How did you even know about it?” Mason asked

| broke a slice of garlic bread into bite-sized pieces so | could let myself really savor each one. Now that my raging hunger had eased a bit, | wanted to enjoy the food. Every bite | took sent small bursts of energy through me. It felt like I’d been an empty cup, and now | was being filled to the brim.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“| started just with some basic searches, but I’d heard about the underground resources a long time ago,/ mean, everyone’s heard of the dark web, right? Even if you never accessed it.” | let the warm butter coat my tongue, followed by a luxurious sip of wine.

Zane’s eyes had been following the movement of my lips and throat, and now his gaze connected with mine. “You were able to get there using what, your laptop?”

I

14 took some time. And money” added. “You're going to see a hit to the accounts. It'll look like we

subscribed to a bunch of different...um._toy boxes.”

“Toy boxes? Like, for the babies?” Zane asked, sounding confused.

Gabriela snorted soft laughter and shook her head.

“Toys for the adults.” | corrected him and was tickled to see what looked like it might've been a blush creeping up his throat into his face. “Some of the subscriptions are real, so we'll actually get the boxes. There will also be some makeup kits, curated clothing boxes, stuff like that. And oh, | invested in a mushroom farm. |

also think that’s real.”

“Af ucking mushroom farm,” Xander said in a voice full of admiration and wonder.

“The money went to all those things, but it was really paying to get the codes and locations of how to get into the dark web,” | explained. “Like Mason said, it’s illegal. | couldn’t just log on,”

| shivered for a second, thinking of some of the information that had come up on my first searches; things | didn’t want to see and hoped to never see again.

“How did you figure out how to do all this?”

Tm not sure. | just...knew.” | sat back in my chair and held out my wine glass for a refill, which Zane took care of immediately. “I can’t really describe what it was like, only that | started getting these images in my mind. One after the other. Almost like when we communicate through the mind link, but without words...at least, not words in a language | speak. And yet, | had no trouble understanding it.”

A fresh outpouring of pride and understanding swelled toward me from Gabriela. Tears glinted in her eyes. | felt something else, too...a small sadness. Bittersweet regret. The faintest tinge of envy colored outer edges, but when our eyes locked and she nodded at me, it went away.

“The Moon Goddess has been guiding you, my daughter.”

“That’s how | knew where to look and what to do.” | replied and took her hand.

For a few seconds, we were the only ones in the room. Two women, bound together in the supporting light from the Moon Goddess. A spark leapt from Gabriela’s fingers to mine, and we both gasped and shivered. Gabriela opened her mouth to speak, but the voice that came out did not sound like hers. Deep tones hummed all through it, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Our fingers linked, zapping more energy.

“The hand of the Goddess has guided you, Lanie. You are tapping into your true Luna powers. The more you use them, the closer you will become to the strength and power of the Goddess herself.”

Gabriela and | cried out at the same time. We pulled our hands apart with a cr ackle and flash of glittering light. An electric heat rolled all over me, there and gone as fast and fierce as a lightning bolt.

That’s when Gabriela’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, showing only the whites. Her head fell backward as her body shook so hard it rattled the table. Then, she fell forward, face down on the table with a

thump.