Chapter 82: Chapter 81

air.

Zane Xander stumbled backward, and | caught him in my arms.

| walked him over to a chair by the fire and sat him down slowly.

| couldn't imagine a world where Xander wasn’t the Alpha of this pack, and | didn’t want to.

If he wasn’t the true Alpha, then | wasn’t the true Beta, either.

My chest tightened.

Who was | if | wasn’t Xander’s Beta?

| was sure Xander was wondering the same thing about himself and his identity outside of this.

“Orion, when did you find out you had another son?” asked, breaking the heavy silence that hung in the Orion slumped down into the chair across from Xander.

Xander averted his eyes from his father, looking into the fire instead.

“Mason found me,” Orion answered. “There was a photo hidden deep in a drawer of his mother and me together.”

“Do you believe him?” Xander asked through our mind link.

“| don’t know if I’d believe anything he says,” | answered honestly. “But what does it matter?”

Xander’s head dropped into his hands.

“What about Alice? | need to know the truth about her and the twins”

Orion clenched his fist and pounded it down onto the chair, “For Go ds’ sake, speak out loud!” he boomed, “I will tell you what you want to know. But you won’t humiliate me with whispers and compulsion again.”

Xander’s head jerked up to face his father, and the wave of his fury crashed over me.

| placed my hand on Xander’s shoulder, “Don't. I’ve got it,” | told him.

Orion was the biggest f ucking hypocrite, but arguing would only send us around in useless circles.

“How does Alice know who Mason is?” | asked.

Orion pinched the bridge of his nose. “She didn’t find out until after they’d been seeing each other for a while. One night, when she came to see Mason, she saw me there with him and left. She confronted me later.”

“Awhile?!” he cried.

His voice was choked, not with anger, but with intense sadness.

| was stuck on that, too. The whole time we’d thought Alice was in love with us, she'd been f ucking another guy.

her.

Xander’s brother, no less.

My mouth went dry, and my stomach churned.

How were we both so blind?

“So these pups...are you telling us they’re Mason’s?” | asked, my voice shaking.

“There’s no way to know,” Orion answered. “They could just as easily be yours.”

Xander flew up out of his chair.

“Well, it would sure be nice to f ucking know,” he spat “Given the whole next in line for Alpha thing.”

Xander was right.

Regardless of whether the pups were biologically ours, Alice was our mate, and we’d officially claimed No one would ever question the paternity, and the Alpha title would automatically be handed down to the eldest child.

tell-”

Orion sighed deeply. “It is my advice to forget this happened. Alice is gone, and there is no one who will Xander cut him off.

You PUTI” he growled, throwing his hand toward the doorway. “I don’t want to hear another f ucking word from His eyes flashed a dangerous crimson, and his chest heaved with the effort of containing his wolf.

Orion rose slowly, a slight smirk on his lips.

“As you wish, Alpha,” Orion said, and he stomped away.

Part of me wanted Xander to lose control and run after him, then completely tear him apart.

But then our whole pack would dissolve into chaos.

Better to keep it contained within the walls of the mansion.

“Don't ever trust his advice,” Gabriela murmured from the corner of the room.

Xander and | both jumped.

She'd been so quiet, that we’d almost forgotten she was there.

“| don’t intend to,” Xander said through gritted teeth.

“Then what are you going to do about Mason?” she asked.

This wasn't the time for this.

Xander’s rage was hitting a boiling point, and Gabriela was pushing him further toward the edge.

“What are you going to do about Mason?” Xander snarled. “Your cheating husband is responsible for that moth erf ucker’s existencel”

As soon as the words left his mouth, his face twisted up in anguish.

He turned away, grinding the palms of his hands into his eyes.

Xander had never spoken to Gabriela this way, and | never thought he would.

That was no way to treat a Luna, especially not your own mother.

But Gabriela didn’t let her composure slip for a second.

She took a long breath in through her nose, her nostrils flaring slightly.

But when she spoke her tone was cold and even.

“Once you've both calmed down, we need to discuss what to do about Lanie.”