Mated to the Alpha and His Beta (Lanie Stanton) novel Chapter 359

Chapter 359
Mason
Step
My anger was fading with every I took away from our quarters, my Luna, my brother, and my Beta. From my entire life, really. By the time I got into the elevator and up a few floors, I felt like a giant idiot for being so pis sy with all of them. I could remember being so mad, but….it was like I couldn’t hold onto the rage.
I was going to have to apologize.
Some residual fury was still swirling around in my gut, though. The only thing that felt like it might help
was a beer and a sandwich. How long ago had we all scarfed down that enormous meal with Lanie? Hours, and my stomach was empty now. Grabbing a meal would give me an excuse not to head back right away, too.
Instead of heading to Floor Eighty-Seven, I decided to visit the general dining hall. I grabbed my meal from
the selections set up in the buffet and found a seat at a small table toward the back of the room. I didn’t feel
much like talking to anyone, and I kept my back to the wall out of habit.
When I felt the hesitant probe of Lanie’s Luna energy trying to tap my location, I didn’t fight it, but I didn’t
reach out toward it, either. I’d have to face the music soon enough, but I wanted to have some time alone first.
I loved my mate, my Luna, with everything I had inside of me…and if it was just the two of us, the way it
had been back in the beginning, things would be different. Lanie, me, and Stella, our perfect little family unit.
Except it never had been. Not really. Stella wasn’t my pup by blood. She’d always belonged to my brother,
the way Lanie had belonged to him first, too. I’d been able to get used to that. Find a way to love them both
even if that meant sharing them.
But sharing my Luna with two other men was taking more out of me than I really wanted to admit.
If nothing else, the jeans I’d grabbed reminded me that hardly anything I had was truly mine alone. even my clothes. Before finding Lanie, I’d been a Rogue. That meant solitary, not part of a pack. I’d had fi
of course, including Asher, who’d been a brother to me longer than Xander had. He’d have been my Beta i
things hadn’t changed. Still, that had been a lot different than being bound to three other people who could
where you were and what you were doing at all times. Even shielding could only do so much.
Was that why I was so quick to pick a fight with Xander? Close quarters? Brothers fought, or at least I’d always heard they did.
I muttered a curse and drained my mug of dark beer.I wasn’t going to figure any of this out on my own,
and I knew that was a good thing. I didn’t have to rely on myself for everything. I had a support system, even if it was currently pi ss ing me off.
“Mason?”
I looked up at the sound of Gabriela’s voice. She looked cautious, a plate of cake in one hand. I waved for
her to join me. At first, I thought she wasn’t going to. Then she slid into the seat.
“Are you all right? Where’s everyone else?” she asked
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Chapter 359
“Sorry, I didn’t mean… I can see that you’re not all right,” Gabriela said firmly. “What’s going on?”
I leaned back in the chair. This woman had every reason to hate me, but she’d only ever been kind to me. I
was grateful for that.
“It’s been a weird day,” I admitted. “Started off weird with the testing thing Malachi had Lanie do, and it just ended up in a fight with me and Xander and Zane.”
Gabriela’s fork clanged against her plate, and she put it down on the table. “Testing? Lanie? What
happened?”
I paused, studying her. Her voice had gone tight and tense, and although we weren’t connected through.
blood, I could still vaguely get a hint of her emotional aura.
“You didn’t know about it?” I asked her.
She shook her head. Her expression went grim. “Nobody told me about it. No.”
“Malachi was testing Lanie to see if she was able to exert any kind of mind control or compulsion talents.
He had her make Greyson try to hurt Charlotte…and it worked.”
Gabriela’s face twisted, but there was a knowledge in her eyes, too, that told me she wasn’t surprised.
Pain pulled down the corners of her mouth. She lowered her voice and leaned closer to me.
“So…what are we going to do to stop her?”
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