Mated to the Alpha and His Beta (Lanie Stanton) novel Chapter 263

Chapter 263
Xander
“Just so you know…most of these people will be surprised to see you here,” Mason thought to me and Zane “Because…well…they know that I wanted to..”
“Kill me?” I thought in reply. My chuckle had an edge to it.
He grinned. “Yeah. That. So do me a favor, bro, and hold it together. Okay? These are good people. They’re going to want some explanations, but let me handle it. They’re going to be on my side.”
“Like what, ready to throw down?” Zane thought at us both. Blade rose a bit with a growl.
Mason shook his head. “Nah, nothing like that. I mean, they might be shocked, but they’re not going to come after you two. Unless I give the word, I mean then all bets are off.”
I considered giving him a bit more of a hard time but decided against it. We were here to give Lanie a good time, not to get into a brawl over old fights. Sure, me and Zane would be ready to defend ourselves if necessary, but we didn’t need to have an attitude about all of it.
“Sure, thing, bro,” I sent through the link. “I trust you to keep everyone settled.”
Mason’s eyebrows lifted, but then he nodded. We shared a smile. He reminded me a lot of my father in some ways. In the good ways, I realized. I had a lot of resentment toward my old man that I wasn’t sure I was ever going to fully work through. But I had good memories of him, too, which was more than my brother’d ever
had.
“Hey, there.”
Cautiously, I turned at the sound of a male voice that sounded familiar. “Hank.”
Zane and I had met the older guy the first time we came to Stillwood so I could find out more about the brother I hadn’t known I had. Hank ran the cafe in Stillwood, but he’d also been the go-between when me and Zane showed up to confront Mason.
I hesitated, not sure if he’d want to shake with me-the Alpha of another pack who’d disrupted the peace
in their rogue town. But Hank grinned and moved forward to clasp my forearm with his.
“Glad to see y
you boys found a way to get along. From what I’m hearing,” he added, “you’re doing more
than just getting along. Mason, son, it’s good to see you. It’s been a while.
Mason and Hank clasped forearms. “Hank. Good to see you, too.”
I was aware of eyes on us, and lowered voices. I kept my back straight and didn’t look toward any of the
whispers. Mason had promised he’d take care of any explanations, and I was going to trust him to do that.
“Thanks, bro,” he thought to me.
Hank gave us a curious look, back and forth, then moved forward to greet Zane with a forearm clasp.
When he stepped back, he put his hands on his hips. His eyes narrowed.
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“So I take it you’ve made your peace with each other? I’m not going to have to toss you out of here?” Hank said to all three of us.
“Absolutely not. Xander’s my brother, and I don’t need to tell you that family is more important than old grudges, Hank,” Mason said.
“Mason?”
My brother turned to face a guy about our age. The new dude bristled with faint aggression, and I put a hand on Zane’s chest to stop him taking a step forward. Mason greeted the new guy with a quick handshake, not a full forearm clasp.
“Steven, this is-
“I know who they are. Dude,” Steven said, “why are they here?”
I
“This should be good.” I thought to Zane as we both watched Mason to see how he’d react.
We were both ready to jump in if he needed us, but Mason stepped up with a grin that seemed to settle the other guy, at least a little bit.
“I thought you wanted to annihilate this guy,” Steven said under his breath with a sideways glare at me.
Mason shook his head. “Yeah, well. Things change. Turns out I didn’t have all the information I needed to
make an informed decision.”
Steven blinked rapidly. I heard Zane’s chuckle through the link. This was not the hothead who’d tried to tear us apart right in the street the first time we’d come to Stillwood.
“Your bro’s all grown up.” Zane thought in a teasing tone that had Mason shooting daggers at him. “Acting like a real Alpha, all calm and measure and s hit.
“Yeah, yeah,” Mason thought back. “But it’s better than having to kick Steven’s a ss to protect you two.”
I grinned, enjoying the banter between my Beta and my brother, I took a step toward Steven, my arm extended. The other guy looked confused, but took it.
“Any friend of my brother’s,” I said, emphasizing the word.
Steven relaxed and nodded. “Same.”
Mason’s gaze shifted toward the house. His grin faded. “Excuse me, there’s someone I need to talk to.”
I turned to watch him go. “Who’s that?”
“Huh?” Steven said. “Oh, that guy? That’s Asher,”
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Constantine to confront their father, I went along. And then I found out that Xander and Zane were my mates. originally, and Xander is Stella’s father.” I knew I was babbling a little bit, probably repeating myself, but Quinn looked fascinated. “And Mason is the father of the twins that Xander and Zane were raising”
Quinn rocked back in the glider. “What, what?”
Oh, s hit.
I swallowed hard, regretting that I’d let her give me so many drinks. I cleared my throat, trying to keep my voice steady. “Uh, yeah…Yes. Their other mate-”
“Alice,” Quinn said, reminding me that I had told her that part already. “The one who was also sleeping with Mason.”
“Yes. Well, she had twins. And unfortunately, she died giving birth to them.”
All of our laughter faded, chased away with this solemn news. I’d hated Alice once, with everything I’d had inside me. But I couldn’t hate a dead woman any longer, not even if she’d done her best while she was living to ruin my life.
“What happened to the babies?” Quinn asked quietly
I lifted my chin. “While I was in Stillwood, believing I was Katie, Xander and Zane were in Constantine, not remembering me, either, I can’t get into all the reasons why, because it’s-”
“Complicated, yeah. Sounds very complicated? Quinn interjected softly.
“They were raising the babies they thought were theirs. They didn’t know Alice hadn’t been faithful to
them.”
“And they didn’t know you were here, pregnant.”
I shook my head.” When I went back to Constantine with Mason, he found out for the first time, too.”
“So. three pups. Two mothers. They all must be close to their doubling by now, if not through the first.” Quinn co cked her head at me. “You’re raising another woman’s children?”
only
I wanted to tell her the whole story about the rescue and how it had bonded me to Isaac and Alaina, but !
nodded. “They all belong to all of us, now”
“You’re a better woman than I would be,” Quinn said, She looked over my shoulder, toward the house. She looked back at me. “Not to alarm you, but it looks like my brother finally got here.”
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