Chapter 170: Chapter 169

Xander My mouth went dry. F uck.

We had been purposely keeping Mason away from the twins. But with him being so busy with Stella and Lanie, we didn’t think he'd notice.

out.”

| glanced over at Zane. His lips were pursed in a tight line.

“Why would we let you touch the twins?” | finally said, in a voice | hoped sounded casual and confident.

“Be careful, Xander,” Zane warned. “You protest too much, and we'll wind up in deep s hit if he ever finds.

“He won't find out,” | snapped back, even though | didn’t feel very confident about that.

I We'd kept the secret that the twins were Mason’s for too long. We couldn’t go back now.

In our minds, they were ours. And the thought of giving them up ripped us in two.

Lanie gave me a curious look, and for a split-second, my heart leaped into my throat. Was our mind link back? It had been gone ever since the spell had been lifted, but the way it worked had always been a mystery tome.

“There’s two of us and one of you,” Zane said to Mason. “We have it covered.”

“I'm sure you do,” Mason spat. “I’m sure you just don’t want my disgusting rogue bas ta rd paws all over your purebred twins,”

| fought back a smile. We could use this “Yeah, maybe we don’t,” | said icily. Lanie’s eyes widened. It was a horrible thing to say, | knew that, but at least it got Mason off our backs.

“And you don’t know what Isaac likes,” Zane said. “You don’t know what Lanie needs.”

Mason furrowed his brows. Zane had been talking about our baby Lanie, but the double meaning was undeniable | hadn’t really considered until then just how confusing it was that we’d named our pup after her.

And now that she’d gone back to her given name and we were in the closest quarters imaginable, it was going to get pretty f ucking awkward and confusing “Maybe she needs a name change,” | threw out, changing the subject, trying to diffuse the tension.

“Might be nice,” Lanie said with a short laugh.

Good it was working. The last thing | wanted to do was upset her more.

And then it came to me. Just like it had that day Alice had given birth I nodded, “It is.”

Lanie smiled. “I love it.” She looked over at Mason expectantly.

He cleared his throat. “It’s a great name,” he said emotionlessly.

Zane e was watching me closely to make sure | left it there. Mason’s response had annoyed me, but at least he was keeping whatever peace we'd established in the last two minutes.

As long as we kept the twins away from him, we could keep that peace, too.

Mason Lanie and | stood together outside the cabin, looking out at the forest beyond the line of enchantment. Not like we could see much of anything. The sun had set a while ago and the air was getting chillier, but still, we stood there silently.

Thankfully, summer was on its way and we’d managed to fill our time today taking Stella for short walks around the perimeter of the cabin, then going back inside while Xander and Zane did the same with the twins.

Once, when we came back inside, we saw that Xander and Zane had rigged a makeshift room for the pups by hanging a couple of bedsheets from the ceiling in the back corner of the living room, of.

| tried to be grateful instead of resentful, but it just felt like another thing they were trying to take control I And to make matters worse, Lanie and | had barely spoken today except to remark on the weather or a bird flying over us or to speculate what Braden might be up to.

Part of it was my fault. The way she’d run up to Xander and hugged him after he knocked that guard out... | couldn’t get it out of my head. Even though she’d chosen to sleep next to me last night, it still felt like a big deal.

But | couldn’t let it hang over us another night.

“Lanie, | want to ask you something, but | don’t think you’re gonna like it,” | said.

Very smooth, Mason. Very smooth.

“Oh, great,” she said, turning to me with a worried expression on her face and sarcasm in her voice. “Can’t wait to hear what this is about.”

“What was up with that hug you gave Xander?” As soon as | said it, | felt stu pid. Two people could hug and it could mean nothing.

But the way she scrunched up her lips and looked down at the ground made me think | was right to ask.

It wasn’t nothing.

“You're the one, Mason,” she said softly. “But there’s a part of me that's still drawn to them. | think | always will be in some way.”

2/3 about Xander and Zane would just push Lanie away.

“But | don’t want them like | want you,” she said, turning to me, holding me there with her gaze. As soon as she said it, | could smell that it was true.

She reached up and caressed my jaw with her fingers. My eyes fluttered closed. Go ds, | wanted her, too. | always wanted her.

“We never got to finish what we started at my house,” she said, her voice a little whiney with need. “Why don’t we finish it now?”

Without speaking, | took her by the hand and led her inside the house.

My co ck was already straining against my pants imagining her straddling me again.

| knew Xander and Zane’s eyes were on us as we walked through the living room. | knew they could smell Lanie’s desire rolling off her in thick waves.

But | didn’t care..