Mated To My Human Beta

3. Rogue Match

-Blake-

My heart stopped for a moment before Axel started to run wildly through the dense trees.

He jumped over the boulders and bushes, jumping over the boulders and bushes. Fear filled me and, for just a second, I tried to imagine a world where Arya wasn't a part of it. A disturbing, frustrating part, but still... It didn't look bright without her. I felt a twitch in my stomach.

She was the light. My mom was right. We weren't like her, but she was still the biggest part of our lives. All our lives. Including mine.

"Why is she always getting herself into trouble?" I growled under my breath. "Keeping her alive is a full-time job. Someone must pay me."

"Because she is Arya," Axel said, but there was no bitterness in his voice like there was in mine. We finally stopped when we heard voices.

Axel looked out from the cover of the trees... and my heart stilled and then started racing again. Axel snarled.

What the actual f.uck?

She was laughing and the sound I heard before... was that a scream of excitement? She was not in any danger. She was hugging a half-naked guy. She pulled back and smiled.

"Hey there handsome, what are you doing here?" Her voice came out flirty as fu.ck. What the hell was wrong with this woman? Why couldn't she behave like a normal person would in the face of a threat? Why did she always do things I couldn't predict or understand?

"We were running and then I heard you. I knew it was you. I have been looking for you for weeks," the tall guy, who was only wearing trousers, said. She didn't look like she minded that he was otherwise naked. I gritted my teeth.

"Well, it is me, but you can't be here, Dash. You know, this is a pack territory, right?"

"Well, fu.ck packs and their territories. This is Earth and they can't claim a space and just call it theirs."

Arya chuckled and shook her head.

She waved the rabbit in her hand in front of him. "Want a rabbit for all your trouble?"

She already got her rabbit, too. She won

"She told me I can't kill the rabbit and now she is offering it to him?" Axel sounded mildly peeved by the attention this stranger was getting.

That was how I felt all the time.

"Welcome to the other side, Axel," I said with a scoff. Axel bared his teeth.

"No, I don't want a rabbit. I just wanted to thank you for... you know that time when you saved my sister," the man said, and his eyes softened as he looked at Arya. "She always asks about you. I can't thank you enough, Arya Tamran. You were like a god-send."

Hmm. God-send? It was the devil that sent her to my pack that snowy day fifteen years ago. Everything in our lives changed that day.

The three wolves surrounding the man nodded as they shook their heads.

"Who are they?" Arya said as she smiled down at the wolves. They were massive, and they could tear her from limb to limb without blinking, but she was looking at them like they were overgrown puppies.

"They are my friends. The light brown one is Myla, Hester's sister. The dark brown one is Hester. The one next to him is his mate, Bethany."

She was talking with him like they were long-lost friends.

"Where is your sister, Dash?"

What kind of fuc.king name was Dash? Dash... I didn't like it, not one bit. I also didn't like the twinkle in her eyes when she talked with him.

"I took your advice and sent her to a boarding school. She will be safe there until she shifts," Dash said, his voice appreciative. "I think your two guard dogs are getting ready to attack or something. Tell them I mean no harm." He looked straight at Axel.

"Axel, Sam, stand down. They are friends."

"Really," Dash said as Axel and Sam walked out of the hiding place. Dash's eyes widened as he looked at Sam, and then at me.

"Alphas. They are Alphas, Arya."

She shrugged. "Their dad is the Alpha. They are alright," she said before she turned to Sam. "Why don't you shift? Axel, run along." She looked at Axel with a grunt. "When you shift, it is just going to spoil my mood. So off you go, Axel."

"Rude. Just so rude," I growled under my breath. Axel glared at Dash, and just stood there like a rock, refusing to move. No way in hell was I going to leave. I didn't like the way this man looked.

"Go. And you, what are you doing here? Didn't you hear me?"

Axel co.cked his head and gave her a look.

"Fine. Don't look at me with those big eyes. You can stay. But no funny business. NONE. And do not shift."

***

-Asher-

My heart was pounding as I looked into the dark brown eyes of the stranger. They were so dark they were black and I felt like I would drown. I felt sweaty and strange. My stomach twisted nervously.

"Why don't you shift?" Arya was looking at me, waiting for me to move. But I didn't want to shift. I wanted to turn and run, just run as fast as I could. I feared I might do something embarrassing in front of Arya's new friend, and I didn't want that.

Sam trembled as the stranger's eyes met his. His delectable looking lips pulled up and I was asphyxiating. His lips were... no, no, no.

"Here," she said as she grabbed the trousers from the backpack she had brought along with her with some clothes and food. After growing up among wolves, she had learned some useful tricks. She was smart, my best friend.

"Go. And you, what are you doing here? Didn't you hear me?" She looked at Axel and Axel shook his head and gave her a look. This was what you would call puppy eyes.

Axel wouldn't leave even if the Earth split open into two, not when a handsomely hot, half-naked stranger was standing so close to Arya, smiling at her, praising her.

Axel looked tensed, his muscles clenched together, as if he was readying himself to attack. He looked furious, and I shook my head. I just couldn't understand his dynamic.

I walked away thinking about my best friend and my brother.

She hated my brother. My brother hated -- well, or so he said to everyone who listened -- her. But Axel was so possessive of her and she liked Axel. It was so confusing and complicated. I was not made for too many complicated stuffs. I was a simple man, with simple feelings.

When I reached behind a tree, I quickly pulled up the trousers and walked back towards where the man was. My skin flushed as I thought of him. My heart tilted.

What was happening to me?

I felt like a timid rabbit hopping along to meet a big, bad wolf.

"He is big, and judging from the fact that he is a rogue, he might be a bit bad."

Arya put her arms around me as I finally calmed myself down and walked to where she was.

"Dash, meet the best person in this whole wide world. Asher Thorne," she said as she snuggled closer to me. I inhaled deeply, allowing her familiar scent to calm my heated body and racing heart. I didn't want this man to think I was a freaking pervert or something. I wasn't. I liked both men and women, but I was never really- really so attracted to someone before. I dated here and there, but no one piqued my interest. I was hoping it would change when I met my fated mate.

"Hi Asher, it is nice to meet you," he said in a voice that made me just want to melt like a freaking snow. His eyes went to my naked chest before he looked up and his eyes gleamed in appreciation. Did he just check me out?

"Yes, yes, he did."

"Hi Dash," my voice came out in a low whisper.

His eyes darkened when I said his name, darker than before. Oh, why was it so hot in here?

Arya looked at me and then at Dash and her eyes sparkled in mischief. Oh hell.

"How old are you, Dash?" she asked.

"I am twenty one," Dash said and bit his lips, still not looking away from me. My body heated in response to his looks. He was hot and built. There was a slight stubble on his jaw that made him look delectable. And roguish. Everything about him made my c*ck react like it had never before.

Sam moaned in my head and licked his canines. "That ass looks like... it wants a bite."

"Oh, Sam. Quit it. I am already aroused as it is."

"He is delicious."

"Oh, that is good, and do you like men?"

I choked on air, and she pounded me against my back, until I was both coughing and gasping for breath.

Just like that? Why would she ask him that? She was my best friend, and I truly, dearly loved her, but sometimes, this woman lacked finesse and grace. Just no.

"You will break him," Dash said with a smile.

"Oh, he is built like a tree even though he looks scrawny. He could take it," she said with a chuckle.

No way in hell was I scrawny.

"I do like men. Especially the hot ones," he said, and his eyes never left mine. I swallowed. "And he is perfect. Not scrawny at all."

My throat felt thick. My c*ck was hard. He shouldn't look at me like that, or I would just- just c*m right here, and that would be terrible, wouldn't it?

Arya chuckled and turned to look at me with a wink. "Are you single? Do you have a mate?"

"Arya... shut up," I hissed under my breath. My cheeks flamed. Dash laughed, his laughter loud and free.

"I am single. I haven't found my mate yet. Maybe my mate is not yet twenty," he said and shrugged. "I am not ready to settle down, anyway."

A wolf could only scent his or her mate when both of them reached the age of mating. Twenty. The other wolf could be twenty-two, but he wouldn't still recognize his mate if the mate was only nineteen.

The three other wolves looked bored as they looked at Dash. He rolled his eyes and they howled in unison before they ran away. Arya looked at me and at Dash.

"I almost forgot. I have to- you know... finish my chocolate cake or it will go bad," she said, waving her hand, looking awkward as hell.

She had a subtlety of a dinosaur wearing steel boots, marching along the asbestos.

Dash chuckled, but didn't comment as Arya looked down at Axel. "You will give me a ride, won't you?" she asked him and Axel nodded, and he looked not so tensed anymore.

Now that he could see Dash was interested in me and not in Arya, he could finally poop peacefully. I grinned at the wolf, showing all my teeth and mind-linked my brother.

"You can now sleep at night, Blake. I mean, Arya is still single, and the handsome stranger is not interested," I said and Blake growled in response.

"You are innocent, Ash. Did she not tell you? Ayden and Arya-"

I looked at Arya and she was looking straight at me. She knew I was mind-linking Blake. Her lips went flat.

What did he mean Ayden?

Of course, Ayden flirted with her every chance he got, but the again, Ayden flirted with anyone with breasts.

I narrowed my eyes at Arya. Did she say something to my brother? Blake didn't sound so good. He almost sounded jealous.

"Ayden?"

"I think they are together."

No way in hell Arya would hide that from me. Or Ayden. I only had three friends, and two of them were my brothers.

"What? But-" I looked at him with a frown. He looked upset about it.

"And she told me she is not a virgin."

I choked again. It is just... madness. This house was full of crazy idi.ots who just didn't know just how much was too much information.

I absolutely didn't need to know that my best friend wasn't a virgin. But I was sure as hell that she was. He must have said something to frustrate her and she would have retaliated.

It was better to stay away from their feu, or they would make me mad, too.

"They are not good for my health, Sam," I said to my wolf.

"Yeah, but we love them still."

"Let's go, Axel. And Asher, stop talking."

"I didn't say anything," I said as she climbed on Axel and wrapped her hand around his neck. She waved at me and Axel bounced off, making her laugh, before he disappeared beyond the trees.

I turned to Dash.

"I am sorry. That was, just-"

"Don't look so scared. I am not that scary, am I? I am only slightly bad. Want to go for a run?"

"Is that a date?" I blurted out and then bit my tongue. I didn't mean to say that out loud, not at all.

He gave me a grin. "If you want that to be a date, it is. Or it is just a friendly jog."

There was nothing friendly about what I felt for him. Nothing.

"It is a date then."

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