She's My Beta and My Mate

Chapter 7: Fun Police

Micah

It seems pretty clear that James and Zariah enjoy each other's company. They were having a good time looking for whatever they were looking for in the closet together.

As James and I hurry out to the spot where the Omega was injured during a patrol, I try not to let it bother me.

Why should it bother me? Zariah is allowed to talk to whoever the h*ll she wants to talk to, after all.

I don't care.

Why would I care?

“Is everything all right, Alpha?" James asks. “It seems like something is bothering you."

“Oh, uh, no, nothing's bothering me," I say, forcing a smile. “Everything is fine. Well, except for I'm worried about Brice."

“Right," James says. “What happened?"

“He was on patrol and fell and twisted his ankle," I say. “Some of the other guys were going to try and help him up, but he's a pretty big dude. Since you have magical abilities, and he's not that far away, we thought it might be best for you to just come out and see if you can heal him some before he tries to get up."

“That is probably for the best," James says. “My powers aren't able to completely heal everything, but I'm sure I can help him out enough that we'll be able to get him back on his feet."

“Thanks," I tell him and give him a tight-lipped smile.

A few minutes later, we arrive on the scene. Brice is on the ground, and there are four other Omegas gathered around him. It's a bad sprain. In fact, it might even be a break. James kneels down, and a second later, that pink glow is coming off of his hands. I stand back and watch. Everyone oohs and ahhs in fascination.

It is impressive, I'll give him that. James is a pretty amazing guy.

Who wouldn't be enthralled with a guy like that who has magic coming out of his hands?

I can't blame Zariah for wanting to get to know him better. Not only can the dude heal people through his touch, but he's also pretty good-looking, I guess. Not that I spend a lot of time checking out other guys. He's pretty muscular, too, for a smaller guy. He's nice and funny.

He's a regular catch, I suppose.

I shake my head and try to stop thinking about it. Hey, on the plus side, if Zariah likes James, then maybe she'll stop bugging the crap out of me.

Not that I think she likes me, but she sure does like to chase me around, asking me questions and trying to get me to do stuff.

If she had a boyfriend or a mate, maybe she'd have less time for that.

And maybe she'd stop this nonsense about wanting to be my Beta, too. I know it's her birthright, but it's not the right job for her. She may be strong and a good fighter. She's certainly smart and a good leader.

But a Beta's job is extremely dangerous.

She needs to take a role where she has less of a chance of getting hurt.

Once I'm sure that Brice is going to be okay, I walk with him and the other Omegas back to the village where they help him into the healing center so James can wrap his ankle and help him get some crutches. As I'm leaving the healing center, I look around, wondering if Zariah is still in James's office.

She's not in there.

I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank the Moon Goddess. Heaven knows I didn't need to run into her again.

***

Zariah

Alice is on the phone, and we are making plans to go dress shopping the next day. We have the day off from training because the Moon Goddess Ball is coming up quickly, and we all need to make last-minute preparations.

“Sorry I couldn't walk home with you," she says.

“No, it's fine," I tell her. “I ran into James and helped him find some gauze." "Oh, James?" she says in a singsong voice.

“It's definitely not like that," I say. “He told me he doesn't like… anyone."

“Oh," she says, dropping her teasing tone. “Well, that's too bad."

“I guess. But he's got to be true to himself."

“That's true. Did anything else exciting happen?"

It's almost as if Alice can read my mind. I contemplate telling her about Micah coming in and how weird he was acting, but I don't know if I should. I'm pretty sure I can't convey his weirdness over the phone. Especially without it sounding like I want her to come to a specific conclusion. “Not really," I say.

“What does that mean?" Alice asks.

She can read me like a one-syllable word. “Uhm… well… Micah came in while James and I were in the closet laughing."

“Why were you and James in the closet laughing?" Alice asks, missing the entire point.

Maybe I am more like a multisyllabic word than I initially thought.

“Because the box of gauze fell all over me, and it was funny. That's not why I mentioned it, Alice."

“I know. Alpha Micah came in. And?" she asks. “Did he say something?"

“Yeah, he was really kind of rude to James. He just sort of growled at him and ordered him to come with him. It was like he was the fun police, and we had gotten caught having some, so we were in trouble."

“Hmm." I can practically see the face Alice is making when that noise leaves her mouth. “That's odd. Why would he be mad that you guys were laughing?"

“I honestly don't know."

“Do you think there's any chance that Alpha Micah could think you were laughing at him?"

“No," I say, sure that he couldn't have thought that. “We were literally not talking about him at all. Unless his name is gauze."

“Oh, my gauze!" Alice jokes. “I don't know then. Did you ask James if he thought it was odd?"

“I didn't get the chance to. He left right away."

“Maybe you should ask him what he thinks," Alice offers.

“Maybe. Or maybe I should just let it go. I could be reading too much into it. You know how Micah gets, especially when it comes to me. It's like he doesn't think I should ever do anything—let alone have fun or laugh." I have no idea why he's that way now. We used to have fun together. We used to run around in the woods and jump over the streams together.... Those times seem like so long ago, even though it hasn't been that long since we were kids.

“I'm sorry, Zariah," she says. “I don't know what he's thinking most of the time. I wish he'd stop being so rude to you."

“I know. Me, too," I say. “At least I got to go on the mission the other day. Hopefully, I'll get to go on the rest of them from now on."

“Hopefully," she agrees. “Now, let's talk about dress shopping!"

We make plans to go find our dresses, and I try to let the situation with Micah slip to the back of my mind because, after all, it's just one more instance where Micah was rude to me.

I should be used to it by now.