The Beta's Redemption?

2. Overhearing, overseeing

Bianca

I insisted on going to the Ivory Moon pack by myself. It was hard to convince my overprotective dad, but I succeeded. It turned out that I was as stubborn as him.

A smile formed on my lips. I was so excited to meet Alpha Mateo! Even though he wasn’t as good as the Royal Beta, he was a remarkable warrior and I would soon have the chance to train with him!

Alpha Mateo and Luna Agatha welcomed me to their house and guided me to his office. It was a beautiful, modern and edgy place, overly decorated with paintings, sculptures and fancy objects, like the ones we see in movies, which wasn’t something very common for pack houses. Werewolves were well known for their practical side and our Pack Houses were mainly made of wood, with traditional and rustic furniture.

But Alpha Mateo’s Luna was a witch and surely the house had her special touch.

“I like the change, I am all for new things,” my wolf Dawn barked in my mind.

I agreed with her, it was my first time away from my pack since my bad break-up with my ex and I wanted to embrace this experience and have some me-time. Me, my wolf and the training grounds.

“No males allowed!” Dawn agreed. We both wanted to focus on our training to become a great warrior and future Gamma.

“I am so happy to have a lady warrior this year, we only had men in the last group—too much testosterone. Don’t get me wrong, but it was hard,” she looked around dramatically and fanned herself as she said her last words, which attracted a low growl from her Alpha.

I had to contain my chuckles at their little demonstration of whatever-was-happening between them.

“Anyway, dear! I am happy to have you here! We need more women warriors to put these naughty wolf boys in place!” she smiled, hugging me in some kind of bear hug with much more squeezing-strength than I expected from her.

She wasn’t short at around 5’6”, like me, but she was on the skinny side, a contrast to my curvier and toned body.

I was a bit confused by her antics, but I hugged her back and smiled.

“No one can’t say she isn’t a very warm person,” Dawn chimed in.

“We want to welcome you here, my dear. You will stay on the second floor with the other trainees, and if you need anything, please let us know.” Alpha Mateo added, wrapping his arm around his Luna’s shoulder, bringing her closer to him. They were both very nice.

Suddenly, the delicious smell of coffee and sandalwood entered my nostrils and my wolf and I froze for a second.

“Could it be our mate?” Dawn wondered, as she started pacing back and forth in my mind. She was hyped, swishing her tail agitatedly.

“This smell?” the words escaped my mouth at their own accord.

“Oh, it’s my new perfume, Fruit Passion 212, do you like it?” Luna Agatha asked. I looked at her a bit disoriented, and the smell faded away as fast as it came.

I nodded politely, not really believing that it was her perfume. It might not have been my mate, but it was something else.

Something that I couldn’t brush off. Something that was imprinted on my mind.

~ * ~

Tyler

Today was what I should consider a good day: no toilet duty, only gardening. I had to rearrange the stupid plants in the seedbed on the pack house facade.

“The Royal Summit is in two weeks and we have to act fast!” Bjorn, the Beta of the Deep Water Pack whispered, looking around and back at the three ranked wolves beside him. They either didn’t notice my presence or didn’t care. I guess omegas are truly invisible for Ranked Wolves.

Bjorn’s Alpha was Kane, a very serious and so-called conservative man, who prized pack hierarchy and the good and old values.

The four of them were alone in a sitting room, but the windows of the house were quite thin and having my ear pressed against it made hearing them not that hard. Even though I was reduced to a pitiful omega, my senses were still of a Beta, very sharp.

I took a better look at their small group. I have seen the other two men before at meetings and social events. But something else called my attention; among them was an old acquaintance, the former Alpha of Crescent Moon Pack, Fergus. He had a glass of whiskey in hand and was comfortably lying on an accent chair, his feet on a coffee table. Besides him stood his former Gamma and Alpha Gabriel.

They were all very conservative males. I wondered what they were doing here in this pack. Alpha Mateo certainly didn’t share their mindset, and everyone knew it.

“Have you talked to Alpha Mateo? Will he join us?” Fergus asked, louder than necessary. He was never a bright one.

“Of course he won’t. He doesn't see eye-to-eye with us. What could we expect of an Alpha mated to a witch?” Alpha Gabriel scorned, his arms folded in front of his chest as he paced around the room.

“Neither Alpha Gabriel nor I mentioned anything about our ideas, we only tried to assess his intentions. We should move on, before that omega successfully subverts the order in our realm. You know how soft the Queen is, she would surely agree on taking our rights over our omegas. ” The Gamma added, shaking his head.

That omega, he must be talking about Clair. I’ve heard that she and Hunter were fighting for omegas rights and advocating for them among the other packs.

Changing one pack and climbing the hierarchy to be the only omega in history to become a Luna wasn’t enough for her. She had to play the hero and change the world for omegas. She had to change the whole Realm and of course, the event they mentioned, the Royal Summit, would present the best opportunity to do so. I have been to this kind of summit. It happens only once every ten years and what is discussed there could both become the law or change the law.

I looked at my hands covered with earth and huffed quietly. It wasn’t my problem anymore. I failed.

I grinned to myself, now I only hoped she would make laws to prevent the same omega from cleaning a filthy toilet for two days in a row. That would be all the change needed, the rest was bullsh*t.

Alpha Gabriel’s words brought me back from my thoughts. “Talking to him wasn’t our goal, Fergus. I’ve already told you that. Meeting on a neutral ground will help to avoid suspicions after everything is said and done. That’s why we aren’t meeting at Alpha’s Blake Pack or mine.” Alpha Gabriel huffed impatiently.

“I get it. I get it, I am not stupid! When are we going to kill the wench?” Fergus asked, taking a long sip of his whiskey.

My eyes popped open and I moved away from the window, leaning my back against the wall. So that was their plan; to kill Clair, and this way prevent her and Hunter from doing and changing things.

Even though they were asking for it by challenging the natural order of things, by challenging many powerful Alphas and ranked wolves who wanted things to remain the way they were, it didn’t go down well in my stomach. They were mated and marked. If Clair died, Hunter would suffer like hell.

Truth be told, I never stopped caring for him, even after he became a completely different person, challenging everything we believed in, that Alphas were Alphas, Betas were Betas, and Omegas were born to be Omegas, and serve us. And this natural order shouldn’t change.

Otherwise, chaos would reign and everything would be destroyed.

I went to pick a couple more seedlings and place them on the seedbed by another window, still lost in my thoughts. In the end, change would be prevented and things would go back to normal.

Yet, they wouldn’t get back to normal for me. I cursed my fate, I was a Beta turned to an Omega. Could there ever be anything worse than that? I didn’t know that in the next few minutes I would find out that certainly there were many things much, much worse.

After arranging other plants and washing my hands, I headed to the pack house. I was exhausted and looking forward to my break.

But as I was passing by Alpha Mateo’s office, something made my legs stop in their tracks. I inhaled the intoxicating scent of chocolate cookies and vanilla: warm, delicious and unique, except I was fully aware it wasn’t food that I was smelling. I took a few steps away and pressed my back against the wall in the hall as I glanced into the office on the other side.

The door was ajar, only enough for me to get a glimpse of her jet black hair falling down her luscious curves in waves. She turned around slightly, she was talking to Alpha Mateo and Luna Agatha. I could hear their voices, but my mind was too hazy for me to process their words. From this angle, I could have a better look at her: olive skin, fleshy lips, and beautiful hazel eyes.

Damnit! She was perfect.

And for the first time in two years, my wolf showed some sign of existence as his guttural growl reverberated in my mind, “Mine!”

The j.erk added a few more words before going silent once again and returning to the depths of my mind,” She's got a great as.s!