The Missing Beta

Chapter 8

~King~

“What's on the agenda today?” I lean back in the chair across from my father's desk. I cross my legs, letting my right ankle rest on my left knee. My dad will be stepping down soon, and when he does, he will pass the pack over to me. Katarina will be my Luna, and I can't wait for all of that to be the case.

His office door opens, and Dominic walks into the room. He walks over to me, nodding to my dad before sitting in the seat next to me. Dominic will be taking over as the Beta when I get in place. We are both excited to carry this pack.

“I wanted to give you two a heads-up.” The look on my dad's face tells me that whatever he wants to say to me is extremely serious. I'm starting to get nervous. I sit up straighter, letting my feet hit the floor. I feel Dominic shift next to me, but I keep my focus on my dad. I swallow, trying to keep my breaths even. “Eddison and Shawna have found him; they found Aston.” I'm on my feet before I can even register to move.

“Where is he?! I have to see him!” Dominic reaches out to me right as my dad opens his mouth.

“Son, you need to wait.”

“Wait? What do you mean? You just told me that my best friend is back after all these years. I need to go see him.”

“Sit!” The Alpha command washes over me, and I find myself lowering into my chair. I can't wait until his command doesn't affect me anymore. I sigh and hang my head. “You can't go rushing over to see him. Right now, Eddison and Shawna will be dealing with him. He… he has amnesia.” My mouth goes dry, and my eyes dilate.

“Amnesia? What do you mean?” Thank the Goddess for Dominic because that’s the question I can't get out of my head.

“It seems that he doesn't know who he is or that he's a werewolf. As far as I know, he has no recollection of his life before nor does he have access to his wolf.”

“Is… is his wolf dead?” Dominic looks at me with horror in his eyes, but I had to ask the question.

“We don't know. We don't want to rush him, but hopefully we can put him in touch with a witch that can see if he still has his wolf or not. We agreed to let him take his time and hopefully his memories come back.”

“I hate to bring this up, but what about Katarina?” I look at Dominic with my mouth hanging open. He hunches his shoulders and holds his hands up in defense. “I'm sorry, but it's a valid question.”

“I mean, yeah they were fated to each other. Since we've been together, she hasn’t gotten the pull to anyone. I’d imagine that without a wolf, there's no bond. Maybe losing his wolf killed their bond.” My dad sighs and runs a hand down his face.

“We won't know anything until they see each other. If she feels the pull, we have our answer. If she doesn't, I say we leave things as is.” I nod, and Dominic does as well. This is a crazy situation, but the best part about it is that my best friend is back.

KING?!

What is it, Ana?

I'm with Katarina, and she's fainted!

Where are you?

We're in the garden. I cut the mind link and stand up abruptly.

“It's Katarina. She's hurt.”

“Go, son. We will talk later.” I rush out of his office to find my love.

~Chandra~

I make sure my hand is steady as I move the eyedropper over the cylinder. This potion is highly temperamental. It could do significant damage if you get any portion of it wrong. The last thing I need is to blow myself up or worse. Yes, there's worse than that.

I'm Chandra Grim, a witch of the Circle of Elysium Coven. What I'm working on now is frowned upon by the coven. I tend to do things on the side that my sisters would not approve of. I have my reason for doing what I do. I have my reasons and my experiments.

The knock on my door startles me, almost causing me to drop the eye dropper. “Fu.ck! WHO IS IT?!” The door creaks open, and a small, sweaty face pokes in.

“I… I'm sorry, ma'am. You have a phone call. They've called multiple times, so I believe it's urgent.” Fu.ck! This mixture is time-sensitive, so knowing my luck, I will have to toss it and do it all over again.

I carefully place the eye dropper down, making sure I don't jostle it or put it too close to anything else. I motion Yanna inside, keeping my face down. If I look at her, I may rip her face off. I've done it before, but it's a bi.tch to fix.

Yanna places the phone on my desk, and I glance at the screen. My heartbeat picks up when I notice the number that’s been calling me. The phone starts ringing, and it’s the same number. I pick the phone up with shaky hands and connect the call.

“Have you lost your fu.cking mind?! You had one job, one fu.cking job and you couldn't even do that!”

“Wh…what do you mean?”

“Don't fu.cking play dumb with me! The word is that Aston was found! He's supposed to be fu.cking dead!” FU.CK!

“Uh, I don't know how that could be. Let me look into it and get back to you.”

“You better!” The call is disconnected, and I drop my head. I'm royally screwed.

So, I was hired to do a job. I didn't see it as a job because I would also benefit. I needed a test subject and was offered a wolf of Beta blood. The only way it could have been better is if I was gifted an Alpha. I jumped at the opportunity, and I was asked to kill him.

I swear it was my plan to make sure he ended up dead, but after all the years I was able to experiment on him, I was able to achieve part of what I was working on. I couldn't end my greatest accomplishment to date. I had to see how things worked out. I released him and checked on him once or twice a year. It's been two years since I let him go, and everything was still the way I had left it. Now he's been found by his family, and I'm fu.cked.