Chapter 195: Chapter 194

Mason | threw myself to the ground, the stabbing pain in my chest almost too much to bear.

But beneath the pain, | felt something else. Power.

It was unlike anything I'd experienced before.

I'd just broken out of silver chains. How the f uck does that happen? They’re supposed to suppress a wolf's power, not make it supercharged.

And then, all of a sudden, the pain receded. But a warm glow still hummed in my chest.

“What the f uck was that?” Xander asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

| stood up slowly, feeling like I'd just been reborn, but | hadn’t even shifted and healed myself.

Lanie still stood beside me, a shocked look on her face. | shook my head, baffled.

“| don’t know,” | said. | glanced at Rhiannon. Had it been magic?

“Don't look at me,” she said weakly. “Whatever that was, it came from within.”

Gabriela walked down from the porch with Stella in her arms.

“Alpha power,” she said in a soft voice, almost as if she didn’t want to say it at all.

“Alpha what?” Xander asked in a strange tone.

Gabriela bit her lip and glanced from Xander to me. “Every Alpha holds on to some residual power, even if they hand over the pack to a successor. It remains with them until they die. And then...

She trailed off, her lips forming a tight line.

“And then what?” Zane asked, his brows knitting together.

“And then it gets passed on to the next Alpha in line, Gabriela said. “When Orion died, his Alpha power had to go somewhere. And it went to you, Mason.”

S hit. Did that mean....?

“No f ucking way is he the true Alpha,” Xander snapped, laughing mirthlessly. He cut his eyes at me. “That’s a joke. The title is mine.”

Then why did the power go to me?

“I'm Orion’s son, too, remember?” | stared Xander down. “Why wouldn’t | be the true Alpha?”

“We didn’t know what time Mason was born,” Gabriela said distractedly.

Lanie’s eyes never left mine. If | really was the true Alpha, would this change things between us?

[e)

“And now we do,” Gabriela said. “Mason was the firstborn. If he wasn’t, then he never would've gotten that power.

“What the hell does that mean?” Xander growled. | could tell he was seething, but so was |. Here was another f u cking thing Orion and my as s hole brother had stolen from me. “Are you saying he’s the true Alpha?”

Xander cast around desperately for an answer. | had to fight back a smile. I'd be lying if | said | wasn’t enjoying watching him squirm.

“Sounds like it’s possible,” | said.

Xander turned on me, clenching his fists. “You stole my f ucking mate, and now you're after my Alpha title?!” he snarled.

“You stole my f ucking babies!” | cried.

“Hey!” Zane shouted, stepping between us. “This isn’t the time to fight.” He looked from Gabriela to Malachi. “Isn’t there some way to tell who the true Alpha (s? Some magic or something?”

Lanie “Compel me,” | said suddenly.

Xander and Mason both looked at me with raised eyebrows. “A true Alpha could do it, right?” | asked. “So try it out on me.”

Until Xander and Mason got some answers, they'd be at each others’ throats constantly. Better to find out now and move the f uck on.

What did it matter to me who was Alpha? Mason was my true mate whether or not the title really belonged to him.

Malachi shrugged, and Gabriela looked unsure.

“| suppose it would work,” Malachi said. “It’s fairly easy to tell wnen someone is under true compulsion.”

“| don’t want to control you,” Xander said, looking at me with intensity.

“Me neither,” Mason said. “It wouldn't feel right.”

| shrugged. “We've already done just about everything together. | trust you guys, and I give you my permission.”

Xander and Mason both looked uneasy, | couldn’t believe they were getting so hung up on this after the huge f ucking battle we'd all just fought.

“Listen to her. It's the quickest way to find out,” Rhiannon said from behind us. | kept forgetting she was there. She was still tied up: | assumed because no one knew whether or not we could trust her.

“You can uncover the true Alpha with magic,” she continued. “But it’s a long and tedious process.”

We didn’t have time for that.

“No funny business, you two,” Braden said, pointing his finger from Mason to Xander.

Zane rolled his eyes. “They know her better than you do, genius,” he snapped.

Mason stepped in front of me first, his face twisted up in a frown. | could tell he was nervous.

“It's okay,” | said, taking his hands and squeezing them. “Do what you need to do.”

He nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry for leaving you,” he said. “I never should have done that.”

Mason looked me dead in the eyes, and | could swear | saw a flash of that same eerie gold that had danced in his eyes just before he'd broken the chains.

“Will you do what | tell you to do?” he asked me.

It was like I'd gotten lost in his eyes and couldn’t find my way back out..

“Yes, Mason,” | said. Why wouldn't | do what h he said?

“Good,” Mason said, “Now slap me as hard as you can.”