Xander


    We were running out of time.


    Zane and | had spent hours looking through the byws, and we were no closer to a solution.


    | had no idea what we were going to do.


    But if we didn’t mate with Lanie tonight, we wouldn’t have a choice.


    And | didn’t do well with not having a choice.


    Not one bit.


    I''m sure it was the Alpha in me who wanted to have everything my way no matter what.


    | know for sure that I''d expected to have my way when it came to Alice.


    We''d bided our time and waited. And waited. And waited...for four mating ceremonies after we''d started sleeping with her when


    she turned eighteen.


    | sighed somewhat wistfully.


    “I know,” Zane said.


    Sometimes our bond was a curse. It''d be nice to have my own thoughts and feelings without him always being in tune to them.


    And then there was the annoying Alpha thing where if | felt something too strongly, it would push those


    emotions out to the whole pack.


    That was...not awesome.


    “Remember when we first saw her?”


    I smiled. “I do.”


    “The f ucking pigtails and ice cream cone.” Zane chuckled.


    “She knew what she wanted, and she knew how to get it.”


    ac


    It was forbidden for anyone, no matter their age, to sleep with a she-wolf until she was eighteen, and then’ she-wolves were


    mated.Còntens bel0ngs to N?(v)elDr/a/ma.Org


    But sometimes, there was a bit of a grace period, depending on when their birthday fell. And for Alice, she


    had six months of freedom before she was mated.


    And she’d decided that those six months would be spent with us.


    And phyd


    She''d made her move, and we''d been toast, panting after her with our tongues hanging out.


    We''d been inseparable since.


    Most Alphas chose their mates, although it was a bit of an unspoken rule. If an Alpha and his Beta were pretty


    set on a particr she-wolf, it was more than likely that the elders would assign that woman to them.


    After all, it was beneficial for them to have happy Alphas.


    So what in the f uck had happened with us and Alice?


    “Xander.” Zane’s clipped tone snapped me out of my thoughts.


    He tapped his finger on a notation below one of thews.


    How had we missed this before?


    We both looked up and at each other, nodding.


    It was a bit harsh, but it was the only way to get what we wanted.