Mated to the Alpha and His Beta

Zane

The room went so quiet | swore | could hear the sound Xander’s eyeballs made when he blinked.

His growl broke the silence, rising up and up, nearly into a roar that was suddenly cut off as quickly as if he’d clapped a hand over his mouth. Lanie stood from the table.

“Shh,” she said. “I love you, Xander, but in this, you cannot fight me.”

He fell back into his chair, slumped in defeat. He shook his head in amazement, then broke into a wide, proud grin. “My Luna. Goddess help us all, Lanie, you’ve got so much power.”

“More than I’ve ever seen,” his mother murmured in admiration, but | caught a hint of worry flash 0 face before it smoothed back to neutral.

“What if the potion goes wrong? We already lost you because of a spell that took away your memories My voice sounded solemn, because | was working hard not to sound accusatory. | knew how much all of this was taking out of Lanie, and the last thing | wanted to do was pile on any more worries for her.

I shot a covert glance at Mason to see how he’d react. After all, the only reason he’d met Lanie was because she'd been living as Katie. Even though the four of us were slowly finding ways to make all of this work, it had to sting that we all hadn’t been forced to forget each other, he would never have had the chance to

even touch her.

Lanie shook her head. “I understand, but we won't have to worry about that. It’s a small, targeted memory loss, only in place during the time the potion is active. It protects you, but it will wear off when the potion

does.”

“You're sure?” Mason asked.

“I'm as sure of this as | can be. It won’t undo any major memories, but Zane won't be able to recall that he took something to make him sterile. Also temporarily,” Lanie added firmly.

“If | can’t remember that | won’t be able to make her pregnant, how can we be sure | won't back out at the last minute?” | posed this question, not because | believed I’d dishonor our pack with such cowardice, but because...well, because all of this was f ucked up, and | wanted to cover all my bases.

“If you were going to do that, then we wouldn't have to do all of this other sh it,” Xander said. “Frankly, I’d rather have you risk breaking that binding spell than taking this wolvesbane b ulls hit.”

When Lanie gave him a long, significant look, Xander held up his hands and looked chastened.

“But if our Luna says this is the best option, then that’s what we'll do,” he said.

Mason rocked his chair back on two legs. “Why the aphrodisiac?”RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

“We want her to believe he’s enthusiastic, even if we all know he’s not going to be. Zane’s mated to me, and through me, Xander. And to you, Mason, in a way. For him to have sex with another person not part of our

And honestly...for me.”

She cleared her throat and gave us all an honest, vulnerable look. | wanted to gather her into my arms. and kiss away the frown turning down the corners of her lips.

“If | know that he has no real choice, that he almost can’t help himself...” Her voice trembled and caught. Xander put his arm around her, drawing her close, and kissed her temple.

He let his lips rest against her skin. “I get it. | feel the same way. If it's something he can’t really control, it

won't feel so much like...

“A betrayal,” | finished for them, my own voice rough and cracking.

Xander put his other arm around me. “We both know you're not betraying us.”

“The more eager you are for her, the more she'll believe it’s real,” Lanie said. “She'll agree to your te

“Fine. So I’m going to forget why I’m so h orny for a witch, and I'll do my best to make a baby with h she doesn’t figure out that we stopped my swimmers from reaching the target. Am | missing anything? my tone light. “Oh, other than the fact apparently this stuff is going to make me nasty sick for a few hours before it kicks in, and it might kill me slowly, over time.”

Tegs.

“You're not missing anything. | think that covers it,” Mason said and let his chair thump back onto all four

Aping came from Lanie’s phone. She pulled it out, tapped the screen and studied it for a few seconds.

“It's time to pick up the wolvesbane.”