Mated to the Alpha and His Beta (Lanie Stanton) novel Chapter 466

Chapter 466
Mason

The party we’d meant as a small celebration, a welcome home, a token of our appreciation to the pack…yeah, that little shindig had gone on until long past moonrise. Hell, some revelers were still going as the sun rose.

I’d grabbed a few hours of shuteye, but the room here in this mansion felt strangely too small. The biggest bedroom I’d ever had, and the walls had closed in on me while I tossed and turned next to my sleeping mates.

Finally, when the birds chirping outside sounded louder than an alarm going off, I got out of bed and made my way to the kitchen.

Some of the staff were already up, of course. Someone had to make the bread and get the coffee brewing. I startled a pair of chatty women dressed in maids’ uniforms as they replenished their cleaning caddies.

“Good morning, Alpha Mason! We were just…um…ahem, we’re getting to work right away!”

I had to stifle my laughter, but I also felt a little bad that they looked so obviously worried that I was going to scold them. Or worse. I wondered if my brother had been the sort of Alpha to come down hard on the staff, or if that was a throwback from Orion.

Every time I thought I had this Alpha gig down pat, something new cropped up to remind me that wishing and wanting to be something wasn’t the same as training to be something.

“No worries,” I told the maids, who giggled behind their hands.

“Can I serve you some breakfast, Alpha Mason?” A younger man in the house uniform of black trousers and a white button-down approached me hesitantly. I recognized him from the night before, when he’d been dancing wildly with…yep, one of the maids.

Man, I missed the days when I could party all night and still wake up at the crack of dawn looking like I’d slept for twelve hours.

“I’ll just grab some coffee. I can get it myself.” I stopped him from heading into the kitchen on my behalf.

He looked a little taken aback. “It’s just that Cook is kind of…protective. About her kitchen.”

“I’m the Alpha,” I told him dryly. “Somehow, I think grabbing myself a cup of coffee shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

“Yes, sir.”

The maids and the young man all left me. In the kitchen, I found the cook hovering over the oven, talking a mile a minute about the sourdough loaves in several pans on the racks inside. I found the coffee pot and helped myself, only to turn around and see who was taking up so much of her attention.

“Stella,” I said happily. “Good morning, little star.”

“Morning, Abba!” she said cheerfully.

Talk about looking fresher than a daisy. I suspected Stella hadn’t slept at all. Did she even have to? I wasn’t sure, but I suspected that she could get along on no sleep for a lot longer than I’d ever been able to.

She hopped off the counter and gave Cook a big, warm hug. The older woman gave me a side eye but didn’t complain about me helping myself to the coffee. She put a couple of fresh blueberry muffins into a handled basket and gave it to Stella with an admonition to come back any time.

“You’re too thin,” Cook scolded.

Stella laughed and hugged her again. She linked her arm through mine and leaned against me. “C’mon, Abba. Let’s go out into the back garden and have our breakfast. Have you been out there yet?”

“I haven’t been much of anywhere yet,” I reminded her.

Either she’d been exploring, or her Celestial talents gave her an unerring sense of direction, because my daughter led me through a maze of hallways and through a double set of doors. Beyond was a high-walled courtyard with a garden in full bloom.

“Kind of like Brightsky, huh?” she whispered as she nudged me with her elbow.

“Kind of.”

We found seats on a curving stone bench in front of some red and white roses in full bloom. Unlike Brightsky, there was no artificial sun here to make them grow, and once more I was reminded that I had no idea what time of year it was. How long we’d been in the enclave. It might’ve been a year, or two, or three months…

Stella cocked her head to stare at me. “Abba? Are you all right?”

I sipped my hot coffee. It was perfect. Delicious. Fit for an Alpha, as a matter of fact, and I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling under my breath.

“I waited my whole life to be here,” I told her. “And now that I’m here…”

“It feels weird, doesn’t it?” she asked quietly.

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Chapter 467
Stella