Chapter 62: Chapter 61

arm.

Lanie Aldon grabbed me roughly by the hand and pulled me through the door, shoving me forward into Xander’s | shivered in the cold night air, Braden’s flannel still the only thing covering me.

“Lanie, are you okay?” Xander asked, as Zane and Braden also rushed to my side.

All| could do was nod.

“You're going to pay for this, Aldon,” Xander growled, Aldon shook his head.

“| saved her, Xander. If Gustav and the other Elders found out about her vampire side, they would kill her on the spot Xander’s face morphed from anger to confusion as he looked down at me.

Zane and Braden’s faces also twisted into surprised expressions.

So this was how they all found out what | really was?

“Xander, |-‘

But he held his hand up.

“Let's just get home.”

Alittle while later, we were back at the Constantine mansion after a long, silent drive.

My stomach was twisted with anxiety.

Now that they knew, did this change things between us?

Would our deal be off?

| stepped inside and Braden moved to enter after me, but Zane placed a hand on his chest.

“No f ucking way. You’ve done enough tonight.”

Braden glanced up at me.

“| want to make sure Lanie’s okay...”

“She’s with her mates,” Xander growled. “We found her. We got her here safe. She doesn’t need you anymore.”

Braden’s voice carried over the wall Xander and Zane had built around me with their bodies.

“If you need me, Lanie, vou know where to find me.”

room.

| nodded even though he couldn’t see me.

“You're not leaving this house any time soon,” Xander said gruffly, leading me by the arm to his living | crashed onto a comfortable chair, and Zane threw a warm blanket over me.

| hugged it around me tightly, grateful to finally be less exposed.

“If you leave this house again,” Zane said in a gentler voice than Xander, “Aldon might sell you out to Gustav or the other Elders, and the Council will put you to death. He’s only willing to keep this between us so long as no one else finds out about your...

lineage.”

He couldn't even say it. He couldn’t admit | was a vampire.

And judging by the way he and Xander had treated Braden, | wouldn’t say they were fans of the species.

“It's not just about that,” Xander said. His back was turned to me, but | could hear the emotion in his voice. “We can’t always protect you if you're out there.”

“You told me to leave,” | said coldly. “You wanted me to wanted with 10 away so you could do what wou Alice Xander spun around to face me.

“Is that what you think happened?” he demanded.

“That’s sure as hell what it looked like,” | said quietly. “Why do you think | ran off to Braden?”

| knew now that everything they’d said to me after we f ucked again meant nothing.

My mating heat called to them just like it did every creature, and they only wanted to protect me now because my scent was luring them in again.

Xander’s eyes flashed with his wolf and something else | couldn't place.

“F uck, Lanie! How many different f ucking ways do we have to tell you we want you?”

The passion in his words pierced straight through me, settling low and hot in my belly.

But | swallowed hard, trying to wash it away.

Once | was out of heat, they'd come to their senses.

They'd crawl back to Alice.

| crossed my arms over my chest. “I want to see Braden. You shouldn’t have kicked him out.”

“F uck no,” Zane growled. “Do you even know what he wanted with you, Lanie? Like really know?”

“...he just...he was giving me...”

But | trailed off.

Truthfully, | still wasn’t sure. Especially after everything Aldon had just told me.

“We don’t know him, and we don’t trust him. If it wasn’t for Aldon interrupting you, who’s to say what he would've done?”

I shook my head.

“You're both being ridiculous. I've been alone with him before, and nothing’s happened. | trust him more than anyone.”

Xander snorted out a humorless laugh.

“That’s f ucking rich.”

Zane fixed me with a stern gaze. “You're not leaving this house, Lanie. That’s the end of it.”

“| only just got free from that slimy ba stard Aldon,” | cried, “and I'll be d amn ed if | let you lock me up here like a prisoner.”

| pulled myself up from the chair, but before | could make another move, Xander dived forward and pushed me back down.

He took my wrists in his hands and yanked them above my head.

Ayelp of surprise escaped my lips.

Zane watched us with blazing eyes as Xander leaned down, his voice a gravelly whisper in my ear.

“Watch me.”