Chapter 204: Chapter 203

Mason I'd only been stuck here with Xander for a few hours and already | was struggling to control my temper.

I'd put Stella to bed while Xander scowled at me. Clearly, he’d wanted to do it, but bedtime was my thing.

“Now that you're back it is,” he’d said, trying to cut me down and remind me that I'd abandoned Stella. | didn’t need reminding. |

felt like s hit about it every other minute.

But Gabriela was still resting in Lanie’s room so | held myself back from arguing with him.

Now we were both sitting silently, him on the couch and me at the dining table while Stella snoozed in her bassinet.

Neither of us wanted to go to sleep and leave her. It was like we were trying to prove that by staying. awake through the night, we were the most attentive father.

And sure enough, as soon as Stella got to fussing, we were both dashing toward the bassinet ready to scoop her up and comfort her, but Xander beat me to it.

He picked her up and draped her over his shoulder. She quieted briefly before starting to fuss again, “Give her to me,” | hissed. “I know how to get her back to sleep.”

| reached out for her, but Xander dodged me.

“Hell no, it’s my turn,” he snapped. Stella wriggled in Xander’s arms, and her cries got louder. “You're upsetting her.”

“You're the one upsetting her!” | said, my voice louder than | meant it to be.

“Just let me f ucking take this,” Xander growled. “She’s my daughter.”

My anger was bubbling up, about to hit a boiling point, when Gabriela walked in and sn atched Stella right out of Xander’s arms.

Without a word, she rocked Stella gently until she finally quieted down and drifted back to sleep. Gabriela placed a finger to her lips and motioned for us to join her outside.

Sh it, we were in trouble.

“You two need to get your sh it together,” she said bluntly, looking from me to Xander. “You're already fighting, and Lanie and Zane have only been gone a few hours.”

was.

We both hung our heads like shamed children but didn’t argue. Gabriela was right, of course. She usually “This mission might take them days. They’re going to come back exhausted, maybe even hurt, and they’re going to need you,” she said sternly. “Imagine them walking into a scene like that.”

“You're right,” | said. “I’m sorry.

Xander nodded. “Me too.”

Her stern expression softened. “I know tensions are high, and | know neither of you chose these things that have happened to you,” she said more kindly, “but you both are the true Alpha, which means you ca share your responsibilities. You don’t have to carry these burdens all on your own.”

| hadn't really thought of it that way. | was so used to seeing Xander as the person who'd stolen everything from me and denied me the life | deserved. Working together without some ulterior motive felt almost unnatural.

“You both love these babies, and you both love Lanie wouldn't you rather have all of them in both lives than fight so much that you split them all up?”

your Xander and | both looked at each other. We nodded slightly then looked away. Of course we'd rather have it all, but neither of us was very good at sharing.

“You're both Alphas now...you need to act like it.”

Lanie “Dam n, this place is even more intense than | was picturing,” Zane said.

| swallowed hard, but the lump in my throat remained The Hyrbid testing facility was massive and prison-like, with tall fences, barbed wire, and tons of security.

| felt the hard bulge in my pocket, the potion bottle Rhiannon had given me. This was our ticket inside, but taking down a guard felt more impossible than ever now that we'd seen the size and scope of the place.

Even if | did make it in, | had no idea where the hell the twins even were.

“We should shift,” Zane suggested. “Our senses will be sharper, and we'll be more ready to attack when the time comes.”

| nodded, but before we moved, we saw a group of guards marching around the front of the facility.

But they looked...familiar.

“Are those?” | trailed off.

“Human military uniforms,” Zane finished.

What the hell? Since when were humans involved in shifter affairs?

Zane’s eyes widened as he took in the marching soldiers.

“This is much bigger than any of us realized...