She's My Beta and My Mate

Chapter 6: Helping the Healer

Zariah

Training is getting more intense. Some of the warriors seem a little worried about it, but I think it's a good thing. If and when we go to war with Dark Eclipse pack, I want to be ready.

Alice has some errand she has to run for her mom, so I set out for home by myself. I have a lot of friends, but Alice is definitely my best friend. Most of our friends are not in our training group. It would be nice to have some of our other friends in our training group so on days like this one when she's not there I don't have to walk home alone.

As I make my way to my house, my mind goes back to the discussion we had the night before during the movie. Everyone thinks that Micah was being such a jerk for not telling me congratulations on finding the path on the mission yesterday. I don't really think he was being a jerk for once, but it did hurt my feelings. Just for once, I'd like to think that he acknowledges how hard I work and that I'm good at my job.

I'm wiping my brow with a towel and have my head down, feeling kinda sorry for myself, so I'm not really looking where I'm going until I almost run into someone. I see the tips of a pair of spotless tennis shoes in front of me and come to a halt.

Looking up, I see that it's James, and I'm pretty close to colliding with him, though I have a feeling he could've stepped out of my way if it had come to that. “Oh, sorry!" I say. “I was so not paying attention."

“It's no problem, Zariah," he says with a smile that tells me he would've moved aside in time. “How are you today?" he asks. “Looks like you just came from training."

“Oh, yeah, I did," I say, hoping I don't smell too bad. I did work up quite a sweat—like I always do. “I'm good, thanks. How are you?"

“I'm doing all right, thank you. It's just...." He shakes his head and looks around for a second like he's a bit lost. “I was trying to find Alpha Micah. He's not in his office, and I am at a loss for where in the world the last healer was keeping the extra gauze. I have some, but that's something I'll probably be needing a lot of, and I don't want to ask Alpha Micah to order more if there's some in the storage room, and I just can't find it."

I think about where it could be for a moment. The old healer was kind of strange when it came to where supplies were kept. “You know, I have an idea where it might be," I say. “Have you looked in that smaller storage room? The one right off of the office?"

“The one on the other side of the bathroom?" James asks me, clearly puzzled as to which one I mean.

“No, the other one. Here, I'll show you," I say, already heading toward his offices, which are attached to the healing center.

“Oh, Zariah, you don't have to do that," he says, following close behind me. “It looks like you're on your way home."

“I am," I tell him, “but it's no big deal." The healing center isn't exactly on the way to my house, but it's okay. It'll only take me a few minutes if I am right about where the gauze might be.

“Are you sure?" James asks. He's so polite, for a moment, I find myself asking why can't Micah be more like him?

“Of course," I say, smiling at the healer. I adjust my gym bag on my shoulder. “It's no problem."

“Thanks a lot," he says, and I can tell he really means it.

As we walk, I find it very easy to talk to him. He's such a nice guy. “How are you liking it here so far? Is everyone being nice to you?"

“Yeah, everyone's great," he says. “I had dinner at Alpha Micah's house last night. That was fun."

“Oh," I say and nod. I try not to show him how that really makes me feel. Micah never includes me in his little band of friends when he invites people over for dinner and strategizing. It's like he has forgotten that I will be his Beta soon enough.

Forgotten or doesn't want to accept it.

I don't know why he doesn't like me.

“What did you do last night?" James asks me. “Anything fun?"

“Yeah, I watched a movie with some friends," I tell him, smiling. It was fun, even if we did end up talking about a not-so-fun subject. “You should come sometime. You'd really like Greg, I think. He's a nice guy—like you."

James laughs. “I don't think I've met him yet."

“He's an Omega warrior. He tends to hang out a lot with us girls, which makes some of the other guys give him a hard time, but that's because they're not in touch with their feminine side," I explain. I have the idea in my head that James is man enough to hang out with a bunch of girls and not feel like a sissy afterward.

We arrive at the healing center, and he opens his office door. “He sounds like a nice guy," he says, but he seems a little uncomfortable. I walk through the door, and I give him a look, like maybe he wants to say something else to me. He doesn't.

So I say, “I'm not trying to fix you up or anything. Greg is straight. I didn't think you'd want to date him."

James lets out a deep breath. “Okay, good. I just… didn't want to offend you or anything because you were being really nice. I'm honestly kind of… not really into anyone. Most healers aren't."

I smile at him. “That's cool with me," I say, and he seems to relax even more. “This is the closet I was talking about," I tell him, and he follows me across the room. I drop my bag by the door.

“Oh, right," he says. “That one. I forgot that one was even there."

I open the door and turn on the light. “I think it might be up here." I go to pull down the box that I think might have the gauze in it, and the entire box tumbles down, spilling rolls of gauze all over me.

We both explode in a fit of laughter. I am a sweaty mess covered in gauze, and I've probably been little help. “Are you all right?" James asks me as we both pull the packets of gauze off of my forehead and out of my hair.

“I'm fine," I reassure him. “I'm so sorry! This is such a mess." There are probably a hundred packets of gauze of various sizes all over the closet floor now.

“It's fine," he says. “It's no big deal."

We are both still laughing as we pick them up when we hear someone clear their voice.

We both turn around to see Micah standing in the doorway of James's office. He has a very serious look on his face, as if we've done something wrong. I have no idea what he might be angry about, but both of us stop laughing immediately.

“Alpha Micah," James says, jumping to attention. “Is everything all right?"

“One of the Omegas was hurt while he was on patrol. I need you to come with me right away."

“Of course," James says.

“I'll clean this up," I say.

“You don't have to," James tells me.

“I will." I give him a small smile that I hope tells him he didn't do anything wrong, and that whatever is wrong with Micah is my fault, not his, and he heads off.

I turn my head to look at Micah and catch his eyes before he turns to go. I'm not sure what the look in his eyes means, but for a moment, I think I might see something there I've never seen before. But no. That would be ridiculous. Why would he have that expression in his eyes?

Why would he be jealous?