MATED TO THE ALPHA AND HIS BETA - Season 4 Episode 97

Lanie

I grinned at my grandfather. “Bring it on, old man!”

Malachi winced. “For the sun’s sake, Lanie. Please try to address me with a bit of

decorum.”

“Oh, Ancient one,” I teased. “Is that better?”

“Marginally,” Malachi said.

I was feeling good about putting my body to the test and passing it. My muscles that had

been aching were sore but in a good way now. I was pumped up.’

Energized. I felt like I could probably run up the walls and across the ceiling if I tried hard

enough. I felt like I could fly.

“Calm down first,” Malachi added as I bounced back and forth on the balls of my feet.

“You’re so easily

distracted.”

Greyson chuckled, earning him a sharp look from Malachi. Charlotte frowned at him, too,

shaking her head, but then her lips curled into a small smile. She took his hand and

squeezed it. I could tell they were speaking to each other through a mind link. The love

that shone out of their eyes for each other was so

beautiful, it almost moved me to tears.

“Your emotions are out of control,” my grandfather cut into my thoughts. “By the Goddess,

I can

practically smell them. Wipe those sappy tears away, granddaughter. Focus. If you don’t

get yourself under

control, you’re going to hurt yourself. Or worse, one of us.”

“I didn’t think I’d be able to hurt you,” I said, but I did as he commanded and dashed away

my tears of happiness for my friends.

He was right. My emotions were all over the place.

There was no reason for me to be so overcome by them. To my surprise, Braden put an

arm around my

shoulder and pulled me against his hip.

“Stop plaguing her, Malachi. Lanie’s emotions are part of what makes her so unique. She

can’t just turn

them off like they’re coming out of a faucet,” Braden said calmly. “If she didn’t feel so

deeply, she’d never be able to harness her gifts.”

Malachi’s eyebrows went up, but then his eyes narrowed. “Would you like to take

responsibility for her if she allows her emotions to hamper her progress? What if it causes

an accident because she’s too worked up?”

“Hey, you two. No fighting. Braden, my grandfather has a point. I do need to learn to

manage myself. I’m not saying I don’t think I should feel,” I corrected hastily when Braden

looked like he was going to protest. “But

he’s right. If I want to learn how to use my hybrid traits, I need to be focused.”

Malachi shot Braden a smug look. For someone centuries old, my grandfather sometimes

acted even

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Chapter 397

“Let’s try telekinesis,” Charlotte cut in, bringing my attention back to the tasks at hand.

She put a small, weighted ball on a table in front of me and stepped back. “Try to move

this with your mind.”

it.”

“Can you do that?” I asked curiously.

She shook her head. “No, but it is a talent some vampires have. Malachi has it, so you

might.”

My grandfather demonstrated by lifting the ball and setting it down merely by looking at

it. “Now, you try

I did, but even though I stared hard enough to make my eyes hurt, the ball didn’t budge. I

frowned.

“What’s the trick?”

“There is no trick. You can either do it or you can’t,”

Charlotte said. “Looks like you can’t.”

That was a disappointment, but there were many other tests I had to do. My earlierm confidence and good feeling from mastering the fast run was fading quickly as I was

unable to do anything else my grandfather or Charlotte asked me to do. I wanted to cry

again, but this time the tears weren’t happy.

Charlotte hugged me. “Don’t worry about it, Lanie.

Think of it this way. The more we eliminate, the more opportunities you’ll have to focus on

what you can do, without everything else clouding it.”

“Enough of this sappy nonsense,” Malachi said, snapping his fingers. “Let’s test your mind

reading.”

I tried Greyson first, but although I could tell

anything from him. Braden, on the other hand…

e was thinking hard to give me a good chance, I couldn’t get

“I can’t…quite…tell what you’re thinking,” I said slowly as I concentrated. “It’s more like

I’m getting flashes of your feelings.”

Charlotte nodded. “That makes sense. As your grandfather pointed out before, your own

emotions are running high. You’re connected to feelings, especially deep ones.”

“If you can’t discern Braden’s thoughts, then describe his feelings,” Malachi demanded.

I did my best to create that shift in my mind again.

That opening door. But when I looked at Braden’s face, something became so clear to me I

didn’t have to read his mind to guess what he was thinking.

He didn’t want me to share his feelings with anyone in this room, and especially not with

my grandfather.

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