Mated to the Alpha and His Beta (Lanie Stanton) novel Chapter 400

Chapter 400
Zane
“What happened?” I demanded at once.
The voice on the other end of the phone cleared her throat. “I think it’s best if you just come down here.”
“Is she hurt?”
“She’s not hurt, nothing like that,” Myrna assured me.
“I’m the school nurse, and I can honestly tell you she seems in perfect health. But her teachers asked me
to call you to come pick her up.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can get there.”
The school nurse had said Stella was in perfect health, so that could mean she’d eaten too many snacks
and had a belly ache or something. Or, more likely, she’d misbehaved in some way. The nurse hadn’t sounded
too shocked, so that made me feel a little better. She probably saw kids getting up to hijinks all the time.
Bad enough to get sent home, though?
I thought about using the mind link to alert my Luna and my Alphas that Stella was in trouble at school,
but then I decided against it. They were all busy, and I was her parent as much as any of them, even if I had no
biological ties to her. Quickly, I cleared away my snack bo and started hunting for the boots I’d kicked off
earlier.
my
Da mn, this was the problem with wearing the same size as both Xander and Mason. One of them must’ve taken my favorite boots. I found an older pair instead and put those on. I grabbed my phone, too, just in case
someone needed to get ahold of me while I was out.
Oops. There was a call from the school and also a text.
No wonder they’d finally called the house phone.
The voicemail and text didn’t say anything more than what Myrna had told me on the phone, so I guessed that whatever Stella had gotten into couldn’t be that serious. Still, I was worried enough that when the elevator
was taking way too freaking long to arrive on our floor, I chose to take the stairs instead
Popcorn and soda sloshed around in my stomach as I ran up the stairs. When I came out into another hallway, I was a little turned around. Cursing Brightsky’s labyrinth of corridors, stairwells and public spaces, I navigated as best I could toward the school. I reached a locked door, though, preventing me from accessing the corridor beyond. It didn’t have any signs saying why it was restricted or anything on it, and this was the first time I’d ever encountered something like that.
Cursing a little under my breath, I backtracked. Even though I hadn’t been too worried at first, the longer it was taking me to get to the school, the more uneasy I felt. Even if it wasn’t something serious, the idea that my little girl could be sick and waiting for her Papa made me pick up my steps.
1/2
Chapter 400
accessible from one central point, which was great for safety but a pain in the a ss when you needed to get to your sick kid. I could see some of the different classes through the windows, but there was no way to get in there from here. I didn’t spot Stella, either.
At last, I made it all the way around to the front entrance. I didn’t recognize the three adults sitting in the vestibule. One man, two women. I gave them a nod as I passed, going to the front desk.
“I’m Zane Constantine. I got a call from the school telling me there was a problem with my daughter,
Stella. I’m here to pick her up.”
The receptionist looked…scared? Startled? She stood up and cleared her throat. “Yes, well, um, thank you
for coming right away.”
“What’s the problem? Is she sick?” I braced myself for bad news about her behavior.
The receptionist looked past me. She cleared her throat again. “No. Well. I mean…”
Irritated, I leaned a little closer. “I came right away because someone named Myrna called to tell me there
was a problem with my daughter. I’d appreciate it if you stopped beating around the bush and told me what’s
going on. Where can I pick her up to take her home?”
“She’s…” the receptionist tipped her chin behind me to the vestibule.
I turned and saw the same three adults who’d been there when I came in. Two women, one man. I
frowned, scanning the area for any sign of Stella, but the three strangers were the only ones waiting.
“Hello, Papa,” said one of the women as she stepped forward. She had a clear, warm voice and looked like
she was at least twenty years old.
“What the…” I began but couldn’t say more than that.
I was too shocked.
The adult woman was Stella.
2/2