The Fractured Beta

Chapter 2

The wolf looks slightly skinny but he still has good muscle tone, indicating that he hasn't eaten in a couple of days, instead of being continuously malnourished, his coat is thick and luxurious with a certain sheen to it, so she knows that unless he has just recently become a rogue, he is not a rogue. Rogues often have dull colours and the coat itself is scrappy and unhealthy looking.

Thea stands behind the tree, just two silver eyes peering out from behind the trunk as she looks over the wolf who still hasn't acknowledged her existence. His heart rate hasn't changed, his breathing hasn’t increased, so she knows that he hasn't even noticed her presence unless he doesn't consider her a threat, but she knows that in his condition, everyone and everything is a threat.

Thea knows she should just leave it, leave him and just walk away, her curiosity has been satiated, she should just walk away without looking back, every bit of her training, everything she has ever been taught tells her to walk away, but that is not what a conscience tells her.

She is not about to leave something so beautiful to die a painful death without any dignity of fight.

It would be a pity to lose such a beautiful wolf. His unique coloring is one of the most handsome she has seen. She knows she needs to intervene or else he will die in this spot. If he was going to be rescued by his own pack he would be by now.

She closes her eyes tightly and wills herself to walk away, but, of course, she knows that she is fighting a losing battle against herself. Thea is too kind to walk away and if she did manage to do so she would be haunted by dreams of this beautiful creature, so in the interest of getting a good night's sleep she has to help.

Anyway, what has she got to lose? The wolf is already near death. He isn't going to kill her, even if he does, does it really matter? She will die knowing she tried. It might save her from her own fate, that dreaded rule.

Plus, it is a very good excuse not to go back to the pack for the time being. Any excuse not to go back to Trey she will take, even if it is throwing herself straight into a dangerous situation.

Thea links back to her pack before she even makes a move.

'Alpha Trey, I won't be coming back tonight'

The deep voice through the link comes straight back out of her. No matter what Trey is doing, he will stop everything to respond to Thea, especially when she is doing something that he will be against. Even in the link, he has a ruthless type of authority, every word is a barking order, there isn’t a gentle side to Trey, even to his so-called mate-to-be. He has never thought to soften the blow of their mating, to try and be a good person and make Thea like him.

He doesn’t want love or even like, he only wants obedience.

'Where are you?'

Thea rolls her eyes. If Trey could install a tracking device on her she is sure he would have by now. In fact, he has tried it once. He failed miserably and never tried again. Thea can only assume it is because he will know exactly where she is when she becomes his mate.

'Just out'

If Thea wanted him to know that, she would have let him install the tracker that night instead of getting in the fight she did with him. The fight hurt, but in the end she came out alive and minus a tracker, so she considers it a victory.

'You better not be f*cking anyone'

Thea rolls her eyes, she can do whatever she wants for the next three weeks. Until then, all she is, is the beta. She is nothing to him. She is his beta only. She deserves freedom as much as any other beta in any other pack deserves.

Only after three weeks will she belong to him. For him to say such things when he is probably bedding a she wolf at this very moment is very rich. Say one thing, do another.

Thea doesn’t care at all who Trey beds, she doesn’t have a jealous bone in her body when it comes to that man. Being jealous would require feelings, feelings that she doesn’t possess in the slightest. As long as Trey stays away from her, he can do whatever he pleases.

It just frustrates her that it is one set of rules for her and another set for him. Alphas and their double standards. Males all think that they can stick their d*cks in anything that moves, but goddess forbid if a female was to do anything of the sort.

Thea isn’t about to poke the bear, or wolf to be precise. If she told him she can do whatever she wants the only result will be her getting hunted down and her freedom restricted further. Thea knows when to keep her mouth shut when it serves her own purpose. There is a difference between being strong and being stupid.

'Of course I'm not'

'I will be checking'

'Like hell you will be Trey, are you crazy?'

'Just don't touch anyone else Thea'

Thea has tried to stay calm, but comes out sounding incredibly sarcastic.

'Yes sir Alpha sir'

Thea drops the link and blocks him. She tolerates somethings to serve her own agenda, but he always has to push it too far and she will never agree to such things. She hates reporting her whereabouts but she knows that he checks on her every night. If she is not where she said she's going to be, then he will send out a search party. She doesn't know where she will be tonight. She doesn't know how long this will take and she just really doesn't want to be in the same pack house as Trey for a night. It will be a nice break.

Thea steps cautiously towards the wolf, trying to speak as low and as calmly as possible, trying to sound as least threatening as she can in a soft coaxing voice. Her soft voice nearly has a sing-song quality to it.

'Hi, my name is Thea. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just going to check on you, okay?'

She approaches one slow and steady step at a time, making more noise this time. She doesn't want to startle him, making her presence well known. Surprising such a dangerous creature will have no good consequences.

“Are you hurt? Is it painful? It looks very painful”

Thea rolls her eyes at her own stupid question, half of his leg is damn near removed, the bear trap must have nearly chopped completely through the leg. The whole limb only just hanging on, the bone is actually visible even at a distance, the flesh and muscle is all exposed. Thea has never actually seen such a bad injury. The closer she gets, the worse it looks.

Of course it hurts. What type of stupid question is that? There is no way that it couldn’t.

But since she has no idea what else to talk about, she just keeps saying gentle words waiting for him to finally pay attention to her. Footsteps coupled with a constant voice is enough that as soon as he wakes he'll know that she's non-threatening, that he doesn't have to hastily lash out. Well, that is what she is hoping at least. So she just keeps saying a constant stream of words in a gentle voice, nearly sounding like she is speaking to a baby instead of a full-sized wolf. The last thing she wants to do is actually fight with this wolf, so she is doing everything she can to keep that from happening.

“You are a very beautiful color, why haven't you shifted back? How long have you been here? How did you get here? Where are you from?”

Finally, after what seems like the longest time Thea arrives at the wolf, she slowly crouches down, extending a small tanned hand out and places it gently on the wolf's cheek the second that her hand touches the wolf, his eyes snap open revealing a pair of the most dazzling green eyes she has ever seen her life.

Thea is momentarily shocked by the beauty of that set of eyes. Never in her life has she seen a set of eyes so close to the colour of an emerald.

Emerald eyes are open wide just watching, while Thea is just in a state of shock, her silver eyes just staring, her mouth open wide as she looks at those set eyes that are perfectly framed against the misty grey coat. She thought he was beautiful before, but this just adds an extra element to it.

He doesn't move, he doesn't attack, he doesn't do anything. Green eyes just stare into silver eyes for what seems like an eternity.

Thea shakes her head as she finally comes back to reality. It doesn't matter how beautiful his eyes are, he is still in a bad way and she still needs to help him and convey the fact that she is not here to hurt him, just because he hasn't attacked doesn't mean it won't.

“I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help you. My name is Thea”

The wolf just blinks, just looking at Thea, taking her in, she has the face of an angel, soft features, a beautiful soothing voice, gorgeous thick dark hair, but by far the most dazzling feature of all is her big silver eyes that are framed by long dark lashes. Those eyes hold genuine concern. Those beautiful eyes are the picture of innocence and the epitome of beauty.