Chapter 59: Chapter 58

Zane | was shocked Xander hadn't already ripped Braden’s head off.

Or that Orion hadn't, either, for that matter.

Between the three of us, we could’ve taken him easily.

But then, surely, the rest of the pack would've known something was off. | could feel through our bond that Xander was about to lose it...if he didn’t calm down, that fury would infect everyone soon enough.

Still, | understood his frustration.

How could we just now be learning about vampires? And why the f u ck was our mate meeting with one alone?

“Follow me,” Gabriela instructed. “I'll take you to Lanie.”

Braden and Orion followed, but before Xander could exit, | grabbed his arm and pulled him back to me.

| threw my other arm around his neck and rested my forehead on his. His chest was heaving and his eyes were still flashing with his wolf.

“Just breathe. Save that rage for when we find Aldon.”

He squeezed his eyes shut tight and a low moan of pain escaped his lips. | could swear | felt it pierce my soul.

“I need to find her, Zane,” he choked out. “It’s so f ucked up. | know she was with Braden, but | don’t even care. | can’t do this without her.”

The thought of losing Lanie sent a tornado swirling in my head and a vise-like grip around my chest.

“I know. | can’t, either.”

“G ods, how can this be possible?” Xander whispered. “Mere days ago, we didn’t even know she existed, and now we're following a f u cking vampire to go find her?”

I snorted out a laugh and as we separated, | saw that Xander was wearing a sad smile.

“Stop me if you think this is crazy. Stop me if you think we shouldn’t do this.”

I shook my head.

“I'm not going to stop you today.”

Lanie “You're lying to me.”

| didn’t see how | could be born part vampire and never know it “When you sensed Braden the first time you met, what did you feel?” Aldon asked.

| recalled the way his scent had lured me in and wrapped itself around me. It was intoxicating and inescapable.

Not that | wanted to escape.

Quite the opposite, actually.

| would never say this to Aldon, but the look on his face told me | didn’t have to. | was flushed and biting my lip to keep my thoughts from drifting further Dead f ucking giveaway.

“You wanted him, didn’t you?” Aldon said, his eyes glittering.

That skeevy b stard.

“Or at the very least, you trusted him. Otherwise | wouldn’t have caught you in the predicament you were in earlier.”

His eyes were boring into me so hard, | wondered if he was trying to see straight through the thin fabric covering me.

“What's your point?” | asked, wrapping my arms tighter around myself.

“Most shifters detest the smell of vampires,” Aldon explained. “Their scent rings alarm bells in their brains and creates an immediate sense of distrust.”

That couldn’t have been further from my experience with Braden.

| trusted him immediately, but | had no idea why.

“And why do you think he just showed up out of thin air when vampires and wolf shifters’ paths haven’t crossed for years?”

Aldon asked.

| suddenly felt very stu pid for not asking any of these questions myself.

“He told me he’d smelled my distress,” | said, but | knew from Aldon’s wicked smile that there was more to the story.

“No. He was looking for you, s tupid girl.” His voice dripped with contempt.

| suddenly wished Xander and Zane were here to shrink him back down to size.

“Why would he be looking for me?”

Aldon snorted out a sarcastic laugh. “Because you came of age.”

My heart stopped, then banged against my chest.

Of course...he was just another man trying to f u ck me as soon as | turned eighteen.

| shouldn’t have been surprised, but a cold knot formed in my chest all the same.

“When you turned eighteen, Lanie,” Aldon said, slowly moving toward me. “Your vampire abilities surfaced. | could smell it all over you at the mating ceremony.”

| remembered the way he’d grabbed me, squeezing my arm so hard he’d almost drawn blood and the way he spoke to me like | was nothing-less than nothing.

“That’s why you treated me like sh it the day of the ceremony?”

He nodded. “I couldn’t say anything. No one else knew vampires existed. And until | knew more about you and your family, |

couldn’t say for sure how or if this would affect your mating”

So he'd stayed quiet even though he could’ve outed me right there at the ceremony.

But why? Why protect me?

Why go digging for more information when he could’ve just sold me out to the Council?

“Are you gonna share what you learned with the class?” | asked.

He stepped even closer to me, but | didn’t feel scared anymore.

If he’d brought me here to hurt me, he would've already.

“Your mother made a deal with a witch at the end of the Great Wars,” Aldon said. “The witch agreed to put a spell on her that would cloak her vampire side so it didn’t emerge in her offspring.”

When | spoke, my voice was smaller and more scared than | wanted it to be. “Then why am | like this?”

“That...” Aldon said, “is what I’m here to tell you.”