Mated To My Human Beta

1. Beyond Blake

-Arya-

Laughter. Loud, mocking laughter. My blood boiled. This wasn't a joke. I wasn't a joke, but he had always considered me a joke, and I hated it. My lips twitched in displeasure and disdain.

"Are you insane, Dad? Or sick? Should I call Doctor Reba?"

"I am still your Dad and your goddamn Alpha," Alpha Emerett Thorne said with a soft growl. It was a warning. An Alpha would never take disrespect, not even from his own son and the future Alpha. Blake still wasn't the Alpha. He should understand that.

"Her? My Beta? You are blinded by your affection for her, Dad. I can't have her as my Beta. How would she protect me if I was ever in danger? How would she protect our pack? Well, she can't even protect herself." His voice was cold.

"She is strong and the best warrior in our pack. You know that, Blake. You have seen her train with the other wolves."

Blake laughed. He just laughed. Like it was all a joke. Like I was a joke.

My eyes stung with unshed tears as anger coursed through my veins. My body trembled with the intensity of my emotions. I tugged at my blonde hair with frustration. But I refused to cry, let my vulnerability show. I clenched my fists tightly, my nails digging into my palm, determined not to give him the satisfaction. I wasn't f*****g weak.

I bit my lips so hard I felt the metallic tang of blood. The tears stopped.

"Yeah, in a controlled setting, where everyone worships the ground she walks on. In the real world, the wolf world, she wouldn't last a minute. If she is attacked by a rogue, she will die in a second, and that can't happen dad." His voice had softened a bit. "You know what happened when-" He stopped and I shook my head, my anger doubling when I realized what he was going to say.

How dare he talk about what happened seven years ago when he had left me after that? I hated that.

My heart felt as if someone were repeatedly punching it. What more could I do to fit in, to belong here? How else could I prove to him that I wasn't weak or fragile, as he always assumed?

Well, I don't fuc.king need to prove anything to him.

"She will get better. She is still so young. You know she has potential."

"Potential..." he scoffed. "Of a potato. Also, Dad, you forgot the most important thing. She can't be my Beta because she won't have my back. She would rather stab me in the back if given a chance. If I am going to be the Alpha, I need a Beta I can trust, a Beta to whom I can delegate my duties. She is not that. I promised Josh that he would be my Beta, and he will be. Ask her to go and sink her claws into someone else. Oh yeah, wait, she doesn't even have claws." His voice was mocking.

As.shole. A stinky, rotten as.shole. My heart felt like a storm ravaged port as I clenched my fist. I wanted, more than anything, to run away, but I couldn't. I wouldn't.

I was no coward. He was the coward here.

"Come on, Blake, just think about it. Arya is-"

"Arya is Arya. And Dad, you and Mom and Beta William spoil her senseless. She needs to get it in her head that she isn't invincible. I- you know," he said and his father sighed. "She is, after all, a human in a pack of predators who can rip her into two-"

I might be a human in a pack of predators. But I am no prey.

"f**k you," I muttered under my breath. I had heard enough.

I could kill him in his sleep, and maybe Asher —or Ayden— would be the Alpha.

And Asher wouldn't complain about me being his Beta. He was my best friend, and I knew he would not think twice or say mean things behind my back. Neither would Ayden.

I pushed the door open and ran inside the study. I knew exactly what I wanted first. I jumped up on my way to Blake and grabbed the dagger hanging on the wall before stopping in front of the future Alpha. His piercing blue eyes, with a hint of anger and surprise, widened as he looked at me.

His eyes were so f*****g beautiful. Like broken sapphires burning with a freezing intensity that could send shivers down your spine. They had a kind of power to penetrate the souls of those who dared to meet his gaze. Well, I wasn't afraid, though. I had never been. He was handsome as hell, but I would rather not go there. He had enough women, as it was.

He looked startled as I pointed the dagger straight at his right eye.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't plunge this straight into your eye?"

"Because..." He took a subtle step closer, and his hand came to my neck. I could feel his sharp claws softly scratching against my neck. He squeezed a little as if he were proving a point. I looked into his frozen blue eyes, with a hint of silver stardust in them, and cursed. "I can kill you before you even think about that."

"Want to bet, you crummy piece of nasty s.hit?" I hissed, and he gave me a crooked smile full of darkness. If his father weren't here, this scene would have been different. Bloody, too.

"Blake, get your hands off her," Alpha Emerett said in a growl that was followed by a sigh. "And Arya, put down the dagger, please."

I didn't. He didn't either. We glared at each other. His lips parted to reveal his canines. He could try to intimidate me all he wanted, but I had grown up among wolves as long as I could remember, and Axel — his wolf — would never hurt me, unlike this asshole.

"For Goddess' sake, you two aren't children."

"No?" I said as I looked at Blake with a scoff and pushed his chocolate brown hair, which was falling on his forehead, up with my dagger. He flinched a little, but didn't move as I pressed the tip of the dagger against his forehead. His hand around my throat tightened further. "Well, I only see a whiny baby who goes around complaining to his daddy because he doesn't have the balls to talk to a human girl. Do you want a lollipop? Well, suck my-"

Blake growled and bristled.

"ARYA." A voice warned.

I sighed and took a step back from Blake.

"It is him," I said as I turned to look at Luna Brienne, my lips in a pout. Her eyes melted.

"Yes, it is always him. Now darling, why don't you come eat your favorite chocolate cake and calm down? I asked the cook to bake it, especially for you."

"You spoil her. That is why she is such a brat. She just tried to kill your son, and look at you, Mom! You are feeding her a chocolate cake. For what? For trying to kill me?"

"Stop being so dramatic," Luna Brienne said to her son before she turned to look at me.

"Well, she has two other better sons. She failed at the first attempt," I said as I grabbed the cake, took a quick bite, and moaned. Luna Brienne chuckled. "Oh, Luna, this is... have I died and gone to heaven?"

"You will go to hell. Heaven is not a place for a demon like you."

"I will meet you there, then."

He growled before he turned to his mom. "Do I get a cake?" He pierced his mother with a look that might have frozen an entire ocean. She gave him a sheepish look and a shrug.

"Well, you can ask Cook Deborah."

He walked away, grumbling about favoritism.

"But he is right." I turned to look at Alpha Emerett. "Without trust, it is just impossible for us to- you know... I can't be his Beta, but I want to be a Beta. Alpha, I want to go to the Order of Alerean."

I had been thinking about it for a while. I knew it would be hard, but I was ready to get out, make my mark at the seams of the universe.

"No," Luna Brienne said as she caressed my cheek. "That is no place for... a human girl."

"You too, Luna?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that, but please, Arya. Just think about it."

"I don't want to think about it. I will go to the academy, train, and I will be a Beta. It is okay if I am not a Beta in my pack. But I will be a Beta. That is all I have wanted all my life. To follow in my father's footsteps. To not be an oddity."

"You are not an oddity," Luna Brienne said.

Alpha Emerett sighed. "Arya, you know the Luna is right. She will never stop you from doing what you want to chase your dreams. But you also know why she is stopping you now. Alerean Institute is... it is a rough place. Even wolves don't want to go there."

I shook my head. "I will talk to my Dad. You don't have to worry about me, Alpha. I will be alright."

All my life I had wanted only one thing and no one would stop me from getting what I wanted. Especially not Blake. He wasn't the only Alpha in the world.

If it wasn't Silver Shore, I would find a Gold Sand or whatever.

I walked out of the study, thinking about Alerean. I knew it would be hard, but I had decided. Two years. I could do it. And if I failed, I would have at least tried. I wasn't made to sit on the sidelines and watch others chase their dreams.

"No matter what he says... f**k him."

I marched towards Blake's room, intending to finish what we had started a while ago. Asher stopped me when I was closer to Blake's room.

"What happened? You look like you are going to explode."

"Your brother happened."

"Ah, brother," Asher said as he put his arm around me. "Now, where are you going, Miss. Warrior?"

"To kill him."

Asher turned me away from Blake's room.

"He is still my brother, Arya. My brother."

"Well, if he dies, all my problems will be solved. You will be the Alpha, and then I will be your Beta."

"Except... I don't want to be the Alpha. Don't be selfish, Arya Tamran."

"Don't be purposeless, Asher Thorne," I sang as he pulled away from me with a grunt. "Now, come with me."

"I am not going anywhere with you, especially not while you have that dagger in your hand. What are you- what is your plan?" Asher said with a deep frown. "Come on, Arya. He is Blake. You two were best friends when you were little."

Best friends, my ass.

That was in the past, all in the past, before he decided that I was not strong enough to be his friend or anything else. Seven f*****g years, and I still couldn't understand anything. That made me even more furious than before.

I sucked in a deep breath and shook my head. I had a life beyond Blake and his ideas and views of me. That was why I had to get away from this place. It was about time I got the hell out.

Silver Shore had been my home for as long as I could remember, but a part of me always wanted more.

As much as I loved my home, I knew deep down that my destiny lay beyond its boundaries. There was a yearning in my heart for something bigger, something greater, and I was determined to chase after it.

I was destined for extraordinary things. I held tight to this belief, it kept me going. No one was going to tell me otherwise. Not Blake, not anyone else.

"Now you are my best friend, and you are legally obligated to do this for me. Come on. Knock," I whispered under my breath as I pushed Asher in front of me. He hesitated for a second before he knocked and then gave me a pitiful look.

"Who is it?"

"Blake, it is-" Asher started.

"The door is open, Ash."

I kicked the door and was momentarily distracted as I looked at Blake Thorne in nothing but his boxers. His dark brown hair had become darker from the shower and was tousled. Water dripped from his hair, down his chest, down the soft trail leading to a treasure chest.

Even just in his boxers, he exuded an unmistakable air of dominance that commanded attention. He was Alpha material alright.

Blake was built like an agile animal. All those hours of training had done him a world of good. He stood like a predator, long and lean and lithe and always ready for a hunt. His body was made to teach a woman all kind of things, things that would make her pant and moan and blush so hard. Well, I wasn't the blushing type, but still...

My eyes fell on his boxers, and I had to make myself look away. It was hard. Even though he was an a.ss, he still had a nice body, and I was hormonal.

Asher moved, and Blake's eyes widened when he saw me and then looked down at himself.

"Get the hell out, Arya. What are you doing here?" he hissed as I pushed Asher away.

"Umm... shou-should I go?" Asher said with a wince as he kept looking at me and his brother.

"Yeah, you probably should. Close the door behind you."

"Cl-close the door?"

"Did I stutter? CLOSE the damn door."

"Are you insane? Sorry, wrong question; I know you are. But get the hell out of my room, Arya, or..."

I moved closer to him, and that was a wrong move. He smelled tempting.

I cleared my throat as he kept looking at me, his eyes narrowed. His mouth was pressed together in a dark, dangerous frown.

I pointed the dagger at his chest, and he shook his head with a sigh.

"Don't worry. I am going to sink my claws into someone else. Oh, wait, I don't even have claws, do I?" I said as I pressed the tip further into his skin, and he hissed. I saw a small drop of blood. But he was a werewolf. He would f*****g heal.

"Arya, can we talk later when I am dressed?"

"I don't care either way. I have seen better."

He growled, and his eyes flashed.

"And Thorne, should I ever want to stab you, rest assured it will be in your chest, never in your back. That is your preferred style — stabbing in the back."

!!!