Zane


    When our food arrived, Lanie invited Greyson to stay, but he excused himself.


    “Thank you, but no. Dragons don’t need to eat as often as wolves do,” he told us. He chucked Isaac under


    the chin, making him giggle. “Especially little wolves.”


    While my Luna was setting out the meal, | walked Greyson to the door. We both stepped into the hallway beyond. | closed the


    door most of the way behind me. | could still hear my Luna murmuring to our children, and theirughter. It was a good sound.


    “| hope | didn’t overstep bying here,” Greyson said. “It’s just that you ran out so fast. | could tell your


    mates had messaged you about something important.”


    | shook my head. He’d given us an exnation for why the lights had been acting weird. It was a good one, even if | did still have


    my suspicions that it was something more than a simple power surge.


    “Nah. It’s cool,” | said. “Thanks for checking up on me. It’s...good. To have a friend.”


    Our eyes met and held for a few long, tense seconds


    The instant | said anything negative about Xander or Mason, | knew things would change forever, so again | bit my tongue. |


    wasn''t ready for things to change, even if it felt like every day we got closer and closer


    to something being permanently different.


    Greyson looked solemn. “Good friends are a real gift.


    | hope you know that you can rely on me, Zane. | realize you have your pack-”


    “Not anymore.” | shook my head and frowned, wondering if we’d ever make it back to Constantine...


    and if we did, would they even ept us? We''d all be as likely to be thrown into prison as return to the


    way things had been. Another thing that was forever changed.Belongs to ? n0velDrama.Org.


    “Maybe not the one you grew up expecting to help your Alpha lead, but you, Xander, Mason, and Lanie.


    Your children. Xander’s mother. Those are all your pack.” Greyson looked thoughtful. “Because it’s not simply who you''re born to,


    is it? Its who you make a family with. Who you allow into your life.”


    | hadn’t thought of it that way before, but he was right. “If that’s what makes up a pack, then I''d say it


    includes you, too.”


    He grinned and put a hand over his heart. “I’m honored.”


    Greyson held out his hand for me to shake. When | grabbed it, he pulled me close for a hug. We pped


    each other on the backs and parted, both of usughing. He gave me a little salute as he walked off down the


    1/2


    hallway.


    It did feel good to have a friend. Someone | could count on. How long had it been since I''d had a real, true


    friend other than Xander? | wasn’t even as close with Mason as | was to my first Alpha.


    Had | ever been that close with anyone else?


    Still thinking about this, | went back inside. All three of the children were seated at the table, digging into


    the tes Lanie had filled for them. She’d set a ce for me, too. She’d even poured us both sses of wine.


    For a single second, the entire scene imprinted itself on my mind, like a sh photo. So bright it stung my eyes. | actually


    flinched.


    | could imagine me and Lanie and our children just like this for the rest of our lives. Around a table,


    sharing a meal,fy and cozy and domestic.


    Just us.


    Blinking, horrified, | shoved the thoughts down deep.


    de paced and huffed, letting out a low growl | had to press my lips together to repress. | couldn’t tell if


    he was angry at the way those thoughts betrayed my mates, or if he was agreeing with me.


    “Zane? Sweetheart?” Lanie’s brow furrowed in concern. “Everything okay?”


    | strode to her and took her in my arms for a long, slow kiss that drifted apart rather than broke. | pressed


    our forehead’s together. Her arms went around me.


    We breathed in together. Out. | took her hand and put it on my heart, and | put mine on hers. They were


    beating in the same rhythm. Perfectly synced.


    “My love, what''s going on?” She thought to me, and only to me.


    Lanie and | had been through more together than anyone else. She’d never shoved me aside for anyone


    else. Never ignored me. Never made me feel less than | was worth. Was it really so wrong of me to think abou


    what it might be like if we were together without the others?


    The pain stabbing in my gut and my heart told me that yes, it was. | shoved the thoughts away again.


    Harder this time.


    Without an Alpha, there was no Luna, and Lanie could never stop being what she was. The same way I''d


    never be anything more than what | was. Always a Beta.


    Nothing more.