The Germaphobic Beta

ONE

Brunette, big green eyes, fair skin, oval-shaped face, and fit. Absolutely gorgeous. Yep, definitely my Mom’s type.

My jaw clenched and my eyes traveled down and then up her body. Expensive clothes, expensive jewelry, expensive shoes, expensive bag, makeup on point.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to smile at her. She smiled back.

I was sitting across from my most recent blind date. My mom desperately wanted me to find a mate and continue the Einar family line. She was on my ass day in and day out about it.

“So... what do you like to do for fun?” She asked in a sensual voice while swirling wine in her glass. I frowned.

-Eat p***y, tell her.

-f**k off, King.

“I… (coughed) I like… organizing stuff,” I said, nodding after adjusting my suit.

-Great! Now she knows you are a weirdo.

“Oh!” she said, widening her eyes. She took a sip of her wine and looked out the window. I took my glass in my hand and stared at it. f**k me! It had a water spot.

Well... there goes the wine.

I put it back down and looked around.

What was I thinking?

Same restaurant, same table, same meal, same lowlights, same stupid background music. Even the girl was almost the same. Another Alpha’s beautiful daughter. I knew these kinds of girls oh too well. Spoiled brats, all of them. When daddy had power, the princess got nothing but the best the pack had to offer. I bet she didn’t have to work for anything in her life.

She took a bite out of her steak and smiled at me while chewing. I forced myself to return the smile. There must be millions of bacteria growing inside that mouth. My face slightly scrunched.

-Mmm… it must be nice and warm.

-Don’t even start!

The asshole in my head was King, my wolf. An absolute motherfucker.

-That was a compliment.

I took a deep breath. He was going to be the death of me. He hadn’t said it, but I knew he hated these dates as much as I did.

-Just because you never bring the p***y back home.

-And I never will, so you are stuck with licking your own d**k for now.

-Feels great, you should try it.

-Ugh! You, asshole! Now I have that image stuck in my mind.

-What? You started it.

-I’m ending it!

(Coughs)

She coughed to get my attention, and I realized I spaced out again. My eyes traveled up and met hers.

“So… do you have any plans for the evening?” she asked, trying to sound sweet.

“Not really,” I answered quickly before she got any ideas. Oh wait, I just said I was free. f**k me! I saw her eyes light up.

“What about you and I go for a walk after dinner? I was told this pack has beautiful parks and a gorgeous city landscape, many empty… pretty places.” She said trailing her fork seductively on her plate, a sensual smile curving up on her red lips.

-Nice

-Don’t!

“You know what, I just remembered, I have this thing I haven’t finished yet. It sort of has to be done by tomorrow. You know, Beta paperwork and stuff. So… yeah, I can’t. It would have been lovely though, but I can’t.” I spoke quickly, swallowing hard when I finished. I hoped she would buy it.

I just wanted to end this charade, take a hot shower and disinfect my shoes. Whoever thought that a rug was a great idea for a restaurant was an absolute i***t. The f*****g thing looks sticky.

She nodded her head politely and continued eating.

I took a deep breath and looked out the window. Wasn’t sure if cracking one open would help with the air quality in this place or just let the contamination in. I continued wondering as I stared at the people walking by, not a single worry as they bumped into each other. It must be nice to touch people without freaking out about their germs.

I too wish I could find the right one, the mate. This girl right in front of me was definitely not it. It would not be that easy for me to choose one. I was, what some people would call, picky. There was only one person who would always come to my mind, but she was off limits. My mom had introduced me to dozens of girls, and none of them were it. Part of the problem was that when my Mom saw a pretty girl from a powerful family, all I saw was germs, lots of them. An enormous ball of swarming germs, to be exact. I was glad the table was as long as it was.

“So, a Beta, hm?” she said with hooded eyes, looking up and down my body.

Oh no! Not again.

“Yes,” I said with my deep voice, putting my elbows on the table and entangling my fingers together. She looked deeply into my eyes and bit her lips. The scent of her arousal spreading in the f*****g air.

Great!

-Oh! She wants the d**k.

-I can f*****g smell it from here. My nose scrunched.

Ah! What had my mom gotten me into?

-Mmm… You should give it a lick.

-The f**k?

-Yeah, come on, live a little, lick it, I want a taste.

-Ah! f**k you! You are disgusting.

-Nah, f**k her instead, make it nice and dirty. Give it to her in the…

 I cut him off.

-Yeah sure, I’ll just risk myself catching a disease so you can feel my meat get wet. I don’t think so.

-You are a f*****g werewolf, you can’t get sick.

-Still...

I shook my head ‘No’ repeatedly. It was not the first time I had this kind of conversation with the horny beast that lived in me. I didn’t f*****g want this.

She finished chewing and smiled sweetly at me.

How am I going to get out of this mess?

-OK, OK, I’ll fix it.

-Wait! No! King? King...

I saw her smile drop, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

-KING!

My eyes widened. What did he just do?

-There, you’re welcome.

The girl gave me a fake cynical smile, stood up, walked around the table, and threw a glass of water across my face. It got all over the right side of my face and I felt it dripping down my neck.

-Ah f**k! She drank from that cup! I was about to freak out.

I took a deep breath and tried not to lose it. It was like I could almost feel the germs moving on my cheek. King laughed in his raspy voice and I cursed his ass. Well, that was not a first. I watched her storm out of the restaurant, push the doorman out of the way, and slam the door on her way out.

-What the f**k did you tell her?

- (Smirk)

-Motherfucker!

I would have gone to the bathroom to clean my face, but that could have been a trap.

First, there was the door handle. I wasn’t going to touch that s**t. That meant waiting for someone to go in or out so I could sneak in. Once inside, there’s the f*****g faucet. If it was not automatic or if there weren’t paper towels, then I was massively f****d, not to mention I could be trapped inside. Even if the faucet was automatic but the soap dispenser wasn’t, I was f****d again. Without paper towels, I wouldn’t be able to open the door so I’d be stuck until someone came by.

-f*****g i***t.

Taking a medium-size sanitizer bottle out of my right pocket, I squeezed it, pouring plenty on my palm. I then meticulously cleaned my hands, including the back, in between my fingers and inside the nails. I counted to sixty to make sure I was doing it right.

-You look stupid rubbing your hands, like a f*****g fly.

I then poured some more out on my hand and cleaned my face with it. The potent smell of ninety percent alcohol burning our nose.

-Motherfucker!

-I can’t hear you laughing now, d**k-bag.

-f**k it! It was worth it.

I put the sanitizer back in my pocket and stood up. After fixing my jacket, I walked out. My mom paid in advance, tips included. She knew the last thing I wanted was to let someone else touch my credit card.

If there was one good thing about this restaurant, it was the doorman. Bless him. I waited for him to open the door for me, and I finally left that hell behind me. At least for today.

It was almost seven in the evening, but I wasn’t heading home. I still had work to do. The excuse I made was a half-truth. The pack building was just a short four minutes walk from the restaurant so I decided to walk back.

I put on my face mask and continued to walk on the sidewalk. I avoided bumping into people as I walked and especially tried not to step on the cracks.

-Don’t even know why I put up with you.

-You say that as if you had a freaking option. Neither of us has it, so suck it up.

Our wolves had a mind of their own. They were part of us, but at the same time, they were their own separate beings. It was like sharing two bodies and two minds in the same entity. Much like …

-A parasite.

-I was going to say alter ego, but Nah, a parasite is a perfect way to describe you.

Our wolves were the ones that held the magic. They gave us power, strength, and the ability to communicate with others of their kind as well as with humans telepathically. We called it a mind-link.

Every other werewolf had a reliable wolf with them. One they could always trust, especially to relay messages to others. Normally, our wolf’s personality would match ours. In my case, it was different.

-You are a p***y and I’m not.

-You are a disgusting motherfucker and I need things clean and organized.

I had thought about it extensively and decided that whoever assigned this motherfucker to me, instead of matching my personality, matched my subconscious. King might as well be a manifestation of my irrationality, all my fears, dark urges, and shame wrapped together in one big hairy talking d**k with heavy saggy balls that I had to drag around.

-Accurate.

-Leave it to the gods to f**k me up.

-Not their fault you’re messed up.

I reached the pack’s building and nodded to Ned, our doorman, in greeting. Good man. He found his mate just 6 months ago and already had a child on the way.

-Good to know others get to put their d***s to good use.

I took a small tissue out of my pocket and pressed it to the button of the executive elevator. I held the tissue in my hands so I could use it again for the buttons inside. This elevator was used only by pack members who worked in the Alpha’s office as well as mine.

My brother, Alpha Aaron Einar, had three secretaries. Two of them, Scarlett and Natalia, were just for f*****g. The third, Minka, was the one that would actually do all the work, his included. I felt sorry for Minka. The poor woman had no life.

I had to admit, having sensitive hearing and being forced to sit next door to that orgy day in and day out was no fun at all. I knew for sure King enjoyed the moaning and grunting.

-Guilty. (Smirk)

I only had one assistant, Kane, and one secretary, Mildred. Mildred was a sweet middle-aged cat lady. She always wore floral-patterned dresses and big round glasses. She was about my mom’s age. I always found it more comfortable to be around her than to be around my own mother. Even with the awful cat smell and cat hair all over her belongings.

Aaron did jack s**t for this pack. Most of his responsibilities fell on my shoulders. I would usually stay way past working hours just to make up for the sizeable gap my brother left every f*****g day. He was just the figurehead of the pack, a façade. Everyone knew that when there was an issue, I was the man they’d turned to.

-We

-Yes, we.

When it came to battle, King always had to step in as well. Dolion, my brother’s wolf, was as horny as King but way dumber. And King was a dumb f**k, if you ask me.

-Hey!

-Strong and brave but dumb as f**k, and you know it. 

I felt King growl at me and I didn’t care.

The bell-like sound from the elevator distracted me from my thoughts. The elevator doors opened, and I stepped in, pressing the button for the top floor with the tissue. As the doors closed, I moved to the center, avoiding touching the walls.

The workload wouldn’t be that bad if it wasn’t because I had to clean up after the man child Aaron grew up to be. I shook my head in disappointment.

I had to work hard for my Beta position, beg, almost. My father refused to name me Beta for the longest time. My dad thought I was a screwup. To him, I would never be half the man Aaron was, but I was not interested in becoming like Aaron either.

My brother was what you could call an Alpha. Prone to anger and violence, a man w***e, dominant, always risking his ass for some stupid unimportant reason. He f*****g loved the attention. Aaron was always in the front, right in everyone’s faces, displaying his “power” and “strength”. He demanded obedience. Aaron wanted to be the one talking, even when he didn’t know what the f**k he’d be talking about. Dense, as only he could f*****g be. Full of his own s**t. A ridiculous macho. Oh! Dad loved him. Aaron was his clone. My dad was one of those too, an “Alpha”. Aaron would forever be his favorite child. His pride!

Me? Not so much.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, I stepped out and used the same tissue to open the door to my side of the floor.

“Good evening, Mildred. It’s getting late, you should head home. I don’t want Mr. Godfrey thinking I’m overworking you.” I told her in a cheery voice and a smile she could not see because I was still wearing a mask.

“Oh, shut up! I’m almost done. Why are you back?” she said, then pointed her index finger at me. “I told you to go home. I’m sure T already cooked for you.”

“I just need to finish something simple. It’ll be quick.” I said trying to convince her and hoped she wouldn’t kick my ass for it.

Mildred nodded slowly, her eyes narrowing. “Half an hour and not a minute more.” She told me and I smiled. “And take your mask off for goodness’ sake, I can’t see your face.”

I did as she told me. I was not getting on her wrong side today. Most of the time, my life depended on this woman.

“There! That’s my handsome boss,” she said in a childish voice, and I smiled again. She treated me as if I was her nephew. We both laughed.

“Tempest is waiting for you inside. You should have just gone home. I missed the chance of seeing her face when she realizes you stood her up.” Mildred giggled.

“Ok, I got it. Go home.” I ordered before heading to my office.

I stood in front of my office door and took a deep breath.

Here we go again.

I opened the door and found my mom sitting in one of the visitor’s chairs.

There’s an imaginary line in my office and nobody was allowed to cross it. She knew it well. Only I could pass it. I had a designated space for visitors with two rows of three elegant leather black armchairs. There was a seventh chair closer to my desk. That chair was mine and mine alone. No one could touch it.

“Mom…” I stared. As soon as she heard my voice, her fingers stopped tapping on her cellphone.

“Don’t ‘Mom’ me. How did it go?” she asked, looking up from her device. She had her still dark brown straight hair neatly styled in a meticulously formed low bun. Not one hair out of place.

I pulled up the left side of my upper lip towards my nose. The mental image of my blind date’s mouth chewing and the memory of the way her arousal spread in the dense air, making my stomach turn. I would facepalm myself, but I haven’t cleaned my hands yet, and I was assuming my mom would not let me get to my private restroom inside this office to do so either.

“Mom, she… It’s not going to work, OK.” I said with a sigh and gesturing ‘no’ with both hands. I knew she was about to get pissed.

“No, Idris. Just tell me you liked her and that you’ll mate her,” she said before her dark eyes stared into mine. The only reaction she got from me was a blank stare and silence.

“Idris Einar, she was perfect! Do you even know all the trouble I had to go through to find you that date? I bet you scared her away too.” She stood up before continuing with her rant.

“Her father is an important ally. That was a nearly perfect opportunity to strengthen the pack. I don’t want to hear another, ‘But King’ excuse from you.” She got closer to me.

“Control your f*****g wolf, for f**k’s sake! You are a grown man!” she condemned. Her tone escalated as she spoke, losing some of her composure for a brief moment but regaining it quickly after. She took a deep breath.

-Yeah! Don’t blame it on me. How dare you, Idris? King mocked her, and I remained quiet. There was nothing I could have said to her that she would want to hear.

“We are running out of options here, Idris. Nobody is getting younger. Your father and I need to see you carry the Einar family line before we die, or even worse. What are we going to do if you die without an heir! I can’t even!” She said dramatically and placed her hand on her chest as she gasped.

“Well… I guess the only heirs you’ll get would come from Aaron. I’m sure he’ll find his mate soon. That’s if she doesn’t send him to hell as soon as she realizes the minuscule size of his brain.” I said in a matter-of-fact manner with a humorous tone that I could tell my mother did not appreciate.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Stop joking around, Idris! You know well enough how serious all of this is. Knowing the nature of your... character, I took the liberty of contacting another candidate already. Her father is the Alpha to the most powerful pack on the western coast. I don’t care if you like her or not. This one you will mate, OK.” She walked back to the chair where her belongings sat.

“I’ll arrange a meeting for you two. It is set.” She picked up her handbag and got ready to leave, waving her hand at me as if to say, ‘get out of my way’.

I can’t believe her.

“What if I find my mate and you have already forced me to mate someone else?” I asked, hoping to discourage her from this stupid plan, but I knew my mother wouldn’t back down.

“Then you’ll reject her at once. I doubt the heavens can make a better match for you than this one.” She turned and faced me. “I won’t tolerate you having a mediocre mate, Idris. We have a family name and a reputation to uphold. Everyone’s eyes are on you. I believe you know that well enough by now.” she lectured as she fixed her blazer.

“Power, my dear, that’s all that matters.” She said with her usual indifferent and condescending tone. It could never offend me to be called a son-of-a-b***h.

“The meeting will be scheduled for the day after tomorrow. Same restaurant, same time. Be there, be presentable, and try not to look like an idiot.” she voiced from the door without looking at me before leaving the office and closing the door behind her.

I took a deep breath, filling my chest with air before blowing it all out at once.

Fuck!