The Broken Beta (Book 2 Of Forest Wolf Series)

Freddie’s POV  Flashback~    It’s the one day that every werewolf looks forward to, their eighteenth birthday. This cold February day is mine. I woke up early with a pounding headache. I got up out of my bed and went to the bathroom across the hall from my room in my mom’s house. I got a cup of water and downed it to help make the headache go away.     “Good morning sunshine,” I hear in my head.     It was my wolf’s voice. I finally had access to him. I would now be able to shift, be a warrior and find my mate.      “Good morning. And what should I call you,” I asked.     “My name is Beau. Are you ready for this awesome first day together,” he asked back.     “Heck yeah,” I said. “I need to get ready for school. After school I plan to have a party where I will get to let you out for the first time.”    “Sounds like a plan.”    I quickly got dressed for school and headed out the door after telling my mother bye. My mom’s name is Michelle. She’s a short caramel skinned woman with champagne colored eyes. She works as the secretary for the Elders of the pack in the Elders Council Building. She maintains filing systems for them, organizes files, prepares documents, and schedules appointments. She’s almost like a secretary and a librarian because the elders manage papers and books about the pack and werewolf history.     The pack school is large and houses all the grades from kindergarten through high school seniors. It’s made up of three large red stone buildings, has two gyms, a massive library, and even a weight lifting room.       The weather that day was a little cold and slightly windy. The wind made it a little colder which I didn’t like. I wanted it to warm up a little before my party tonight. When I got to school, I found my best friend, Duncan, at his locker getting books out for class. He was a junior in high school at the time and the new Alpha, Calvin’s younger brother. I was a senior along with the Alpha and his Beta Lane.     “Happy birthday man,” Duncan said in greeting.     “Thanks,” I said with a small smile.      “So what’s your wolf’s name? I know that you've already talked to him.”    “His name is Beau,” I answered.      “Awesome. Your party tonight will be great,” he said confidently.     “I’m looking forward to it.”    The bell rang at that time and we high-fived before going our separate ways for class. The morning classes drug by making it hard to sit still. I was happy when it was finally lunch time. I grabbed my food and ate in the cafeteria with Duncan before we went out to the school courtyard. When we got out there, I felt Beau starting to pace in my mind.     “What’s up with you,” I asked him.     “I feel our mate is close,” Beau answered.     I looked around but no one stood out in the area. I sat down next to Duncan to start up a conversation when the sweet smell of peppermint grazed my nose. I inhaled the scent deeply and smiled enjoying how it felt against my senses. I scanned the area looking for the source of the scent. That’s when I noticed Audrey walking through the school courtyard. I mean, I finally really noticed her. She had creamy white skin, light brown hair and big chocolate brown eyes. She is so pretty.     I heard Beau howl out in my head, “MATE.”     I stood up abruptly and took a few steps toward her. She stopped in her tracks and looked up at me. Her eyes went wide as she swallowed hard. She took a few small steps toward me.     “Hi, Freddie,” she said softly.     “Hey, Audrey,” I said back.     “So you're my mate,” she said with a small smile.     “It seems so,” I said holding my hand out to her.     She took my hand and I felt the electric tingles run from my hand through my arm. We were told growing up that this happens when mates touch.      “Tonight is my birthday party if you would like to come,” I said, trying to keep my cool.    Internally I was so excited that I didn’t have to look very hard for her. The future might look very bright for us.     “I’ll be there,” she said smiling brightly at me.      The bell rang shortly after that.     “I’ve got to get to class, but I’ll see you tonight,” she said sweetly.     I reluctantly let go of her hand and watched as she walked into the main school building. I turned to Duncan so we could walk to our next class that we had together.     “Dang man, you just turned eighteen and were lucky enough to find your mate on the same day,” Duncan said in a happy tone.     “I know,” I said in almost disbelief.     We walked into class and took our seats next to each other. The rest of the day flew by and school was done before long. I walked home to get ready for my party, making sure to pick clothes out that I didn't care when they got ripped up. My mom came home from her job soon after I got ready. We were soon off to the party site to meet with everyone and for me to shift for the first time.     I was nervous and yet excited to shift. I knew it would hurt and that to make it better I shouldn’t fight my wolf. I would need to let him take over completely. It would break all my bones, stretch my muscles and my skin to let him out. I also couldn’t wait to see if I was an Omega or a Beta. It didn’t matter what I was, because I planned on being a warrior either way.     When we got to the party site, I was happy to see my best friend was there with his whole family. Duncan was with his parents, the former Alpha and Luna of our pack, along with his younger sister, Jamie, and his younger brother, Sean. The current Alpha, Calvin, was there with his mate, Brea, and his Beta Lane      Soon after I showed up, Audrey walked up next to me. All I wanted to do was spend time with her. I took her hand and introduced her to my mom and everyone else as my mate. Alpha Calvin then said we were welcome to move into the packhouse in a room until we graduated high school and got our own place. We decided that we would like that and would move in the next day.       It was finally time for me to shift as soon as the sun was down. It was my family’s tradition to shift as the sun went down and the moon started to rise. I took my place in a clearing as everyone watched. My mom held a robe for after my shift and run was over.     I took a deep breath to settle my nerves then told Beau, “Alright time to shine.”     “You got it. Just relax as much as possible.”     I did as he instructed then felt the searing pain of my skin on fire. I felt my bones start to break one at a time. I could hear them crack which freaked me out slightly. I felt my muscles stretch to great lengths as the shift took control. I finally let a roar of pain slip past my lips. Then it was all over. Everything was calm and the pain had stopped.      I stood there tall and proud on all fours. I looked down and saw dark gray fur covering my wolf’s body. The Alpha, Luna and Beta shifted along with my mother as she dropped the robe she was holding. We went for a pack run all together. As we ran, I realized that I was larger than my mother and the Luna. I compared my size to Beta Lane and realized I was a Beta like my father.     My father had died in a rogue battle a few years ago. It had been tough on my mother. I knew the only reason she was still alive after that type of loss was because of me. She didn’t want to leave me all alone. She was a great mom for always thinking of me.     The next day Audrey and I moved into a room in the packhouse. I felt bad for leaving my mom at home on her own but she insisted that I move forward with my life. Things were awkward between me and Audrey. She didn’t want to sleep in the same bed so I had a large couch brought into the room. She slept in the bed while I slept on the couch each night. We never mated, never kissed and I never got the chance to mark her because she was so distant. I would ask her why and she would say just to give her time. So I did.      It didn’t take long and she was staying out all night, not returning to our room we shared. When we did see each other, she was rude and aggressive with her words. She would constantly scream at me that I was a loser and that I would never amount to anything. Every day at school she would avoid me. I didn’t know what I had done to deserve such treatment.     I didn’t tell anyone about what was going on, not even Duncan. I wasn’t sure what I needed to do. One night Duncan came to the packhouse to hang out with me. We were in the common area when I felt a pain shoot through me. My chest was on fire and I fell to the floor screaming out in excruciating pain. This pain was worse than the first shift.      “She’s with another,” is all Beau was able to whimper out in my head.     Duncan flipped out worried about what was going on. He helped me up off the floor and asked, “What’s wrong, Freddie?”    “Audrey. She’s with another,” I gasped out barely able to breathe.     Beau cowered in a corner of my mind while he whined and cried all night for our mate. How could our mate have done this to us? Why wouldn’t she just reject me if she didn’t want me?     That night I didn’t sleep at all. I knew what I had to do and it would hurt just as much as what she had just done, but it had to be done. A rejection can kill a wolf but I wouldn’t stick around for her to continue to treat me and Beau the way she had already. I waited in our room for her after packing all of my things. I was going to go back to my mom’s house.           When she finally showed up, I was standing in the middle of the room and said, “I, Freddie of the Trinity Forest pack reject you, Audrey, as my mate.”    I felt the mate bond burning red hot in my chest at those words and I knew she could feel it too. She grabbed at her chest in pain. Her face held a grimace. I was happy to cause her pain after what she had just done.     She managed to say in response, “I, Audrey of the Trinity Forest pack accept your rejection.”     We both fell to our knees screaming out, as the pain of our mate bond being broken took over us. Once it had stopped I stood up on shaky legs, grabbed my bags and left without even checking on her.     She was nothing to me now. Her abuse and actions had left me without a mate, a family and hope for a happy future. From here, I stayed closed off from the females in the pack except for Jamie, my best friend's sister who I’ve always been close with. If I end up with a second chance mate, which is unlikely, I would want it to be someone as caring as her.