Chapter 313: Chapter 313

Kander $50 basically Malacht doesn’t know shit. He scowled as he tipped the bottle of whiskey to pour us all a drink.

“Have some,” he said.

Lanie shook her head when I offered one to her. “At least not now.”

“How can you be sure he’s telling the truth?” Mason took a glass, tossed back the amber liquid, and held it out for a refill. “Are you sure you can trust him?”

Zane kissed Lanie, sending some beta energy to us both. I relaxed into it, but Mason resisted before relaxing. Zane had shared a book; it was still taking my brother some time to accept Zane’s role. He would have to work on it. Obviously, he wanted Zane to be his Beta, but something was holding him back.

“If he’s any good, if we can’t trust him, we might as well leave here right now. And then what? Where else do we go?” Mason growled, his voice tinged with a hint of Lily’s growl, and his eyes flashed.

“You need to relax,” Lanie stopped and grinned when her eyebrows flew up. “I was going to say relax, but if you have something else in mind?”

To my relief, seeing my Luna upset, she laughed.

She just smiled and looked over at the stocked bar. “First, I'd love a glass of red wine.”

“Out,” Zane said at once.

When we’d seated on the couch with our drinks, Lanie put her feet in my Beta’s lap. He began rubbing her soles, really digging in, and her moan of pleasure rippled through the room, an answering echo in the air.

“I don’t want to leave,” Lanie said after a few sips. She sighed and let her head fall against the couch while Zane’s fingers worked their magic. She tilted her head, one eye closed, as she looked at me. “How are you all feeling?”

I sipped the smoky elixir, missing the flavors while trying to put my thoughts into words.

“Whiskey, I'll say that. This top-shelf stuff is incredible.”

“The food’s out of this world,” Mason retorted as Zane massaged Lanie’s toes. “Had a steak the size of my head for lunch.”

Mason snorted. “Guess now we know how to keep you happy: a slab of beef and a bottle of whiskey.”

“Mason, love, tell me what your instincts say,” Lanie murmured.

For a minute, he didn’t answer, but each time he seemed to need it. Finally, he shrugged.

“Fuck if I know. Fine, I like it here. I don’t want to. I don’t want to trust anyone here, especially not an Ancient who killed our father. But finding out how many of them are there...my mind’s fucking blown, okay?”

“Us,” Lanie corrected gently. “Not them. Us, supernaturals.”

“Us,” I added. “And my mind’s blown, too, brother. Just so you don’t feel so alone.”

We raised our glasses to each other, too far apart to clink them but toasting anyway. Mason shivered as he sipped. His smile was grim.

“Damn, but you’re right about the whiskey, though,” he said.

Zane lifted each of Lanie’s feet and kissed them before settling them back into his lap and reaching for his own glass off the coffee table. His Beta strengths supported us all. He sipped before speaking.

“It feels right to be here,” he said. “I felt it as soon as we got here, and I keep feeling it, more and more. I want our children to grow up knowing about other supernaturals. I don’t want them isolated and lied to, the way we were. I’m with you on that, Lanie.”

She nodded and took another slow sip of the wine. Her cheeks had flushed. I could smell a rising heat from her, and again, my cock twitched.

“I do feel they’re safe here,” she said.

“For now,” Mason put in. “Are we going to tell Gabriela what Lanie learned today?”

I shared a look with Lanie. Somehow, finding out our daughter had inherited witch blood through me via my mother had left me less upset than I would've been even a few weeks ago. “She deserves to know, doesn’t she?”

“Yes. But let Malachi do it, I think,” Lanie said. With a grin, she rubbed her foot against Zane’s crotch and giggled when he groaned. “Right now, my loves, do you realize something very, very important?”

I drained my glass and put it down, already having a hint of her meaning. “What’s that?”

“Our children are in school, and your mother has her own entire set of rooms for when she visits, wherever she is. We are, for the first time ever, totally and utterly...alone.”

I was already on my feet, followed by Mason, and then Zane, who scooped her into his arms. “Bedroom,” I growled.