Mated To My Human Beta

9. In or Out?

-Arya-

My body was still tingling from his touch, but the words he just said rang inside my head repeatedly like a broken song.

I have had enough of you, enough of you…

Fu,ck him. I wouldn't let him confuse me, or hurt me. I had cried enough for him seven years ago.

This was nothing. Now, we live only to hurt each other. It was as if we were afraid that if we talked like normal people, we just couldn’t hate each other enough. I took a deep breath. This wasn’t new, the pain and the anger that followed. We should really do what my father asked- stay the hell away, but could I?

“I am glad you are finally happy, Blake. Don’t worry. In two years, I will permanently be gone from Silver Shore,” I said with a wince. I knew I would miss Luna Brienne, Asher, Ayden, Lola, Emily… but I knew that my life at Silver Shore would end when I came here to Alerean.

If I find an Alpha who is willing to take a human Beta, I would move to his pack. If I didn’t find anyone, I would go back to the human world. I wouldn’t go back to Silver Shore when Blake was the Alpha, and I just couldn’t live there with him and his Luna. I knew that much.

“Only if someone chooses you,” he said, looking angry, looking desperate. Why? What? I was usually good at gauging the emotions of others. I was perceptive. I had always been, but somehow, my compass was always malfunctioning when it came to Blake.

“You think no one will?” I said as I pressed my palm against his chest and pushed, but the fu.cker was like a fu.cking boulder.

“I know.” His words came out without any reluctance.

“If that happens…” I trailed off. “I promise you, Blake, I will still not be a part of Silver Shore.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I will leave Silver Shore, with or without finding an Alpha.”

He looked at me as if I had gone insane.

“What are you-”

“How much clearer do you want me to be? I become a Beta and go to a different pack, or I will simply find a place for myself in the human world.”

Maybe it was time. I am a human, but I have never been to or belonged to that world. Maybe I should just embrace who I was.

“Does my Mom know about this? Your Dad? Ash?”

“No, only you do, because you are the only one who wouldn’t try to talk me out of it or be sad about it. I will tell them when it is time. I still have a few more years,” I said and pushed him away, and this time he moved. He didn’t even resist.

I pulled the door open, feeling like I was suffocating. This room was too small to contain his big aura.

He simply stood there as I looked out the door and watched as some of them were already moving in line towards the ground. Some of them stopped and gave me a nod or a look before they moved past my room.

I saw Asher and my father coming back with my bags and suitcase. Half of the bags were full of what Luna Brienne had packed for me to eat.

I looked at the small fridge. The paint was peeling, and it was on its deathbed already. It couldn’t even contain a part of what was in the bag.

“Thank God you are still alive,” Asher said as he dragged my suitcase inside. “Did you pack a brick in this?”

“No. That is just my books,” I said, and he nodded with a shake of his head. “What did you do to my brother?” Asher asked as he saw Blake still glaring at the walls.

“Nothing,” I whispered.

“Arya, I talked with one of the trainers, and he said there was a guest house just a few minutes away. We will stay there, and then we can go and meet your trainer later, okay? You need your rest, too,” my father said as he motioned to Asher and Blake. “Blake, come on, let’s move.”

“Move your ass, brother,” Asher said as he lightly punched Blake on his shoulder, and Blake hissed and growled. “It is just me. Do not bite my head off.”

“Sorry,” Blake grunted and nodded. With one last look in my direction, he followed my father out. I locked the door behind me and fell on the bed, and tried to fuc.king get some shut-eyes, but behind my closed eyes… the a.sshole danced like a freaking chicken.

The room was suffused with his scent.

I didn’t have the enhanced smell or sight or hearing, but somehow, I could smell him with every breath I took.

I hate him.

“I need a new Alpha and a new wolf to take my mind off this bloody asshole. He must have done some kind of witchcraft,” I mumbled to myself and closed my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep.

I woke up when someone pounded on my door. Stretching groggily, I stood up and padded across the cold floor and opened the door to find Asher standing there with two cups of steaming hot coffee. He handed one to me as he walked in. This was why he was my best friend.

“You only have ten minutes for the meeting. Are you ready?”

“I am as ready as I can be,” I said, and I could feel his contemplative gaze on the side of my cheek, burning a freaking hole in my face.

“What? If you want to say something, spill.”

Asher was usually tight-lipped about his feelings with everyone. But me, I was the one who was always blessed with his incredible honesty. Sometimes I would have just taken a smack in my face than his brutal honesty.

“I don’t know who is more stubborn, you or my brother?” Asher said with a snide smile. “You two just-”

“We just make people speechless. I know,” I said as I closed my eyes with a grunt. Blake was something I couldn’t escape, no matter how much I wished it. He was everywhere, and as if it wasn’t enough, even my own freaking brain was my enemy.

“You know what you two need? A kick in your asses that will somehow restart your brains. This has become more than just a silly feud. Now you two are hurting each other left and right,” Asher said as he speared me with a sharp look.

I looked down at my fingers, hating the fierceness of his look.

“Did you talk with Dash again?” I asked, and Asher snorted.

“What a pathetic attempt to change the topic, but yes, I talked with him, and we were going out tomorrow,” Asher said with a straight face, but I could see his lips pulling up in the side, and a soft pink blush creeping up his cheeks. He was totally adorable. I pinched his cheeks, shaking his head from left to right, and the Alpha-pup growled.

“I am thrilled for you.”

“But why? We all know it is fleeting,” Asher said with a grumble.

“But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real,” I said as I stood up and grabbed Blake’s jacket. I glared at it before I threw it at Asher. “Give that to your brother.” I had had enough of his scent distracting me. I needed to keep a clear head for my interview with my trainer and Alpha Vincenzo.

I grabbed a thicker sweater from my suitcase and put it on. Asher and I walked outside of my room and I noticed the air was filled with the growls and the clangs of metal. The wolves had already started their day, and it didn't sound too pleasant.

I saw a bunch of she-wolves and he-wolves wrestling with each other. It felt like such an unfair match, but I understood it. Real life was unfair.

We finally reached the administrative building, and my dad and Blake were already there. The same woman who greeted me earlier today gave me a curt nod and motioned us towards a room. My stomach twisted nervously as I walked towards the room, the three men following me like they were my bodyguards.

I hesitantly knocked on the door and a sharp voice asked me to come in. We all walked inside.

Alpha Vincenzo was a tall man, and he might be around my dad and Alpha Emerett’s age. I had heard that he had handed his pack to his son and come here to Alerean to work with the wolves and other occasional shape-shifters that graced the halls of Alerean.

“Miss. Tamran, welcome,” the Alpha said, and gave me a strong handshake. I was almost trembling from fear and excitement, but I was glad my voice didn’t shake when I greeted him and my trainer.

Lysandra kept staring at me as the Alpha recited the rules and everything else to my father. I twitched in my seat as my father kept giving me a look, as if to say, are you done yet? Can we go back now?

And here he advised Blake that I was a strong woman who could take care of herself.

After a while, Lysandra stood up. She was taller than most she-wolves I have seen in my life. She had a strict face and even stricter eyes.

“Miss. Tamran. We don’t care if you are a wolf, a cat or a human, but we do care if you are unskilled,” she said in a voice that was almost like a growl.

She walked out, and the Alpha asked us to follow her. We followed her to a field. This one was empty, and I realized why I was here with a start.

“I don’t care that you don’t have a wolf. Strength isn’t the only thing that will help you out in this world. Sometimes smartness will help, sometimes one quick decision will save you. So show me you have what it takes to survive Alerean and the world of the shifters.”

“Do you mean…”

“Your admission won’t be approved until you convince me you are tough and you have what it takes. Me, I am not starting with a 0. I am starting with a minus hundred. Go.”

“What do you want me to do?”

She motioned to Blake. “You, go fight her. And do not pull your punches, because I will know.”

“And then what? You will only let me stay here if I win?”

“Who said anything about winning and losing? You will be allowed to stay only if I am impressed by your skill and your brain,” Lysandra said, as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “You can start now.”

I glowered at Blake. I was itching for a fight, and maybe I would use this to get rid of these feelings running rampant inside me.

“What about weapons?”

“Find your weapons,” she waved her hand around. The place was empty, except for a f*****g tree. What did she want me to do? Fashion a stake from a branch?

“But-”

And then I remembered I did have a weapon.

“Stop complaining, Miss. Tamran. It is making me lose interest. Do you think you will always have an armory readily available when you are attacked in the middle of a shopping trip gone bad? Or maybe you are on a date and someone has decided they want a taste of your blood. Will you go on a date with a bow and arrow? Or a sword?” Her voice was derisive. Even though she had a point, I didn’t like the tone of the voice she used to make that point.

I gritted my teeth as Blake snarled at me. It looked like he was f*****g enjoying this. His eyes gleamed. He didn’t shift, though. I knew why he didn’t. Axel would have shown me some mercy… Blake just looked like he wanted blood. My blood.

He crouched lower, his eyes tracking my movements.

“Well, you are wrong,” I said to Lysandra as I pulled the dagger Alpha Emerett had gifted me. The silver one infused with concentrated aconitum. “I have lived all my life with wolves, and I might miss wearing a shoe, sometimes, but I never forget to carry a weapon,” I said with a shrug as I twisted the dagger between my fingers.

Her eyes flickered for a second, in curiosity, maybe, but she didn’t show anything else.

“GO.”

Blake watched as I moved towards him, my steps calculated. He grabbed me by my shoulder and twisted me around until our bodies were pressed together. It took me a moment to concentrate — we were f*****g fighting, and it was not that kind of fight. I pulled away from him and took a step back with a grunt.

“You think you will win against me?” he ridiculed me as I stalked him with my eyes, my dagger pointed at him.

“I could have taken your eye or your other eye out if I had wanted,” I said as I stared at his c**k and he growled at me. “I didn’t, only because I love Luna Brienne too much to do that to her son.”

I growled under my breath as he rammed against me. I quickly balanced myself from meeting the ground and sidestepped when he tried to grab me by my neck. I knew he was a good warrior. He had trained as long as I had, and he had a wolf that strengthened him more than I was, but what I lacked in strength, I made up in speed.

So it went on for a minute.

“For someone so fuc.king powerless, you sure have so much to say,” Blake said as he circled me like a hawk.

After a few minutes into the fight, I had carefully analyzed his pattern. He always went for offense. He didn’t have the patience to wait for my attack.

I moved under his legs as he hurtled towards me. I could almost hear the horn blaring in the background as he came at me like a fuc.king freight train. His eyes flashed.

He was fueled by adrenaline and whatever residual anger for me. He pulled me into a headlock and then pressed me down to the ground, his hands caging me on both sides.

“I might not have a wolf… but…”

“But what? What else do you have? I can break you in two if I want, Arya Tamran, and you better remember that.”

He gripped my hand and pulled the dagger away from me and threw it away with a frown.

“Do you yield, human?”

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