Her abandoned Beta

Misty (10 years ago)

*Summer*

“What's your name ?” He asks, his voice low and deep in the surprising quiet of the car, calling forth all manner of secrets.

I nearly laugh, only then realizing that we have never been properly introduced. I shouldn't have even spoken to him, much less clambered into a car with him. Unexpectedly, I am hit with an unwelcome feeling I am not the first girl to do so. “Miss Summer”.

“Fancy name”. He mumbles.

“I'm a fancy one. What's your name ?” I ask back.

He looks at the road. “Dion”.

I suspect he is far too complex for so simple a name. “What's your surname ?”

“Tempest". He simply says.

I furrow my brow. “I overheard my brother talking with a friend this afternoon about a Tempest and a gaming hell. Is that yours ?”

“My brother's. Aaron”. He answers.

“He said it's a secret place”. I continue.

With the occasional streetlamp guiding us, I can make out his shrug. "It's not exactly a licensed Alpha’s club".

“But if people can't find it …”. I mumble.

“Oh, they will find it. It appeals to the fancy wolves because it's not quite proper. Makes them feel as though they're bad and mad and living dangerously”. He chuckles low. "When they haven't a clue what living dangerously is truly like".

I suspect he knows, suspect he knows very well. I am probably a fool for trusting him, and yet for some reason I have never felt safer in my life. “Why didn't you kill Misty ?”

He tugs on the brim of his cap, bringing it down lower as though the half-moon in the black velvety sky would blind him. “Dunno. Seemed a waste of a good horse. But you can't tell your father, ever. My boss would see me in prison”.

"You did it without his permission ?" I ask.

“Nah, I had his permission, but he would say I didn't in order to protect his business, his license. Like I told you earlier, if we don't do the job, we get reported. They would close us down, find someone else more trustworthy". He explains.

I study his profile, limned more by moonlight now than streetlamps, the latter becoming fewer.

I don’t want to consider that he might be taking me out of the city, or out of the country entirely. Why am I not feeling some unease ? What spell has he cast over me ? I seldom speak to servants, much less commoners, and yet here I am, intrigued by a man who has only recently left boyhood behind.

“Why do you do such a cruel thing ?” I ask.

“I don't see it as cruelty, but mercy to put a beast out of its misery. I have a way with horses, of talking with them, calming them. I send them to horse heaven without them even knowing they're going to take the journey”. He says softly.

I shake my head slowly. “But there are other ways to earn a living”.

“Someone has to take on the unpleasant tasks, so folks like you aren't even aware they exist”. He mumbles.

I hear a bit of disgust in his voice, knowing I might be deserving of it because I have been sheltered and protected. If I am to be honest, I would go so far as to say that I am spoiled. My father had announced at dinner that he had already managed to purchase another horse for me and it will be delivered by the end of the week. I never go without for long.

“How is your arm ?” He asks, the genuine interest in his tone taking me by surprise, and I imagine him whispering to the horses with the same amount of caring.

“It hurts a bit”. The jarring of the car adds to the discomfort, not that I am going to complain to him about it. “I was given a dose of laudanum before retiring. It puts my mind in a fog, no doubt the reason I came out with you tonight”.

This time he shakes his head. “You came out with me because you want to see your horse. Did the bone break ?”

“Yes, it was ghastly. Pierced the skin. I didn't swoon though. I was quite brave about it”. I am rather proud of that fact, even if the truth is that the sight had dulled my senses to the point I had scarcely been able to believe it was my arm, in spite of the pain throbbing through it reassuring me that it was.

In near total darkness now, he flashes a grin, captured by the moonlight, and I believe it the most magical thing I have ever seen. The laudanum is having a strange way with me, drawing me toward this young man with his gentle charms. “You're a brave one”. He says.

“Not really. I've never been out this late, never been alone with a man, practically a stranger at that. I'm beginning to get a bit anxious that my father is going to find out”. I say with a sigh.

“He won't. I can slip you back into the residence without anyone being the wiser”. He promises.

I think of his bag, I know the residence had been locked up tight for the night, yet he had managed to get in. “Are you a thief as well ?”

Something I should have thought to ask earlier.

“I once were. Until my mum found out. Now I make an honest living”. Grinning, he glances over at me. "It's not as exciting”.

“But safer”. I point out.

He nods. “It is that. I'll never end up in prison doing what I do now. As long as you keep our little secret”.

“I will. I promise”. Besides, his secret is now tied in with one I need to keep for myself.

Although my father has never taken a strap to me as he had my brother, if he finds out about tonight's little excursion, he might very well take action that would prevent me from sitting for a week.

"Why did you goad her ?” He asks unexpectedly.

I lift a shoulder, embarrassed to admit the truth. “Why does any girl do anything unwise ? I wanted someone's attention”.

"One of your many swains ?” He suggests.

His tone is a bit confusing, as though he is irritated by the notion I might have a beaux. For some reason, I am reluctant to confess that Zac is a suitor, probably because he isn't really, not yet. Besides, it lessens my guilt about being out and about with this young man if I label the Alpha as merely a friend. “I don't have any admirers. At least not yet. I'm only fifteen. I haven't even had my first season”.

"Fifteen”. He mutters beneath his breath. “A mere child”.

That irritates me. “I'm not a child. I'm very nearly fully grown. How old are you ?”

“A good deal older than you”. He mumbles.

“How much older ?” I push.

He sighs. “I'm twenty-one”.

“That's not so old”. I tell him.

“Old enough”. He murmurs.

He turns the car onto a road much narrower than the one we had been on. Ahead looms a large building. Across the front, huge white letters that spell Tempest reflect the moonlight. “What's this ?” I ask.

“My brother's brickworks factory”. He says.

"Aaron owns a factory and a gaming hell ?” I ask.

The amused grin again. “No. My other brother Kai owns this, fancies himself a builder with plans to take the worst parts of the city and make them posh”.

“How many brothers do you have ?” I ask curiously.

He smiles. “Three”.

“I can't imagine it. There's only my brother and I. He's nine years older and seldom wants anything to do with me”. I tell him.

“Do you want him to ?” He asks.

I laugh at his bluntness. “No, not really. When he does find time, he teases me unmercifully”.

“It is a law that brothers must tease their sisters”. He grins.

“Do you have sisters ?” I ask.

He nods. “Two”.

I assume his teasing of them isn't nearly as irritating as Braze’s of me. I actually welcome the occasions when we go for months without seeing each other, when he has either been off at school or is seeing to one of the family's estates in our father's stead, learning all he needs to know in order to be a proper Alpha when the day comes.

“I hope you don't find my saying this offensive, but you don't speak like a laborer”. While his diction is far from the haughtiness of a high pack wolf, it does reflect a certain amount of education, more than I would have expected from someone who slaughters animals for a living.

“That's my sister Gina’s doing. She's obsessed with ensuring none of us sound like we come from the gutter. She firmly believes we have to speak properly if we ever hope to make something of ourselves”. He explains.

“And what will you make of yourself, Dion Tempest ?” I ask.

With a wink, he gives me another flash of a smile. “That remains to be seen, Miss Summer”.

He brings the car to a halt, sets the brake, and climbs over me and out. No one seems to be about as he holds up his arms. I scoot over until he can bracket his large hands on my narrow waist while I place my small hands on his broad shoulders. Slowly, ever so slowly, as though he is in no hurry, he lifts me down until my feet touch the earth.

For the briefest of moments, he seems to be studying me, and I wonder if he is ever going to release his hold on me, isn't certain I want him to. No one has ever looked at me as he does … with such intense interest, as though I fascinate him. It is rather thrilling to be the object of such attention. Finally, he drops his hands and steps back. “My brother has wagons and horses for hauling the bricks. Over here”.

I follow him to a large paddock … not a proper stable, although I can see what appears to be some sort of wooden shelter in the distance. The horses I see standing around are much bulkier than the ones in my father's stables, but then I suppose they need the muscles for hauling something as weighty as bricks. Then I spot the elegant white mare with her silver mane, and my heart leaps with such joy I am surprised it doesn’t burst through my chest. “Misty ! Here, girl ! Here, sweet girl !”

The horse trots over, and I pet her, pressing my forehead against hers. “I thought never to see you again. I suppose after tonight that will be true, but at least you've not been taken from me completely. I'll know you're here, frolicking about, having a grand time with your new friends. I'm sorry I treated you poorly, tried to use you to gain attention. Oh, sweet girl, I shall forever miss you".

Throwing back her head, Misty neighs, and I can’t help but believe the horse understood every word I had spoken and is expressing how much she will miss her mistress too. Then the mare scampers away.

With happiness and relief spiraling through me, I turn to Dion. “Thank you for sparing her”.

Then without thought or reasoning, in my gladness, I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him.