My Young Beta [cover and first 4 chapters only]

4| Orders

| Micah |

“Arg…” I groaned out in response to the ringing of my phone. The tone was accompanied by the most annoying sound as it vibrated against my bedside table.

I floundered around for a bit, finally able to grab my phone without opening my eyes or lifting my head.

“Yo?” I grunted as I swiped to answer.

“Micah?”

I cracked an eyelid, pulling the phone back enough to check the caller ID. “Oh, hey Caleb. What’s up?”

I sat up with effort and sat back against my headboard. I glanced around my room- it was a shambles. Flickers of the previous night flitted but didn’t land in my memory. Holy goddess, what did I take?

“I know you're busy with the agency, but I need you to come to home and be my stand in Beta.”

I rubbed my eye with my free hand. “Huh?”

My brain was nowhere near catching up to this conversation. Stand in Beta? What the f**k does that mean?

“What happened to Ada?”

Caleb was quiet. “She’s… missing.”

“Missing?” I woke up a little more. My brother's best friend and Beta was close to our family. I remembered her fondly from when I was a kid.

Caleb sighed, “It’s complicated. I don’t know yet where she is or when she will return. I can’t leave the pack exposed like this- I need someone I can trust to stand in until she comes back.”

My forehead creased. “And you want me?”

Caleb chuckled. “Yeah, Micah.”

“Oh.” I felt a strange sensation. It was nice to be thought of for such an important task. “Well thanks, but as you said I’m really busy with the agency.”

There was dead silence on the other end. I looked at the phone quickly to make sure the line was still connected.

“Are you being serious?” My brother asked incredulously.

I looked around the mess that was my room. “Well-”

“I’ve booked you a flight. Jonah already has an interim CEO he will be putting in place.”

My jaw dropped. “The f**k?”

“I need you Micah. You need to step up, little brother, and this is how you do it.”

I barked a laugh, “Being CEO of a massively successful company, not enough stepping up for this family?”

Caleb was quiet again. “Don't make me pull rank as your Alpha.”

“Caleb-” I floundered for words. “With Asher, I'd be more of a liability-”

His tone became harder. “If there was anyone else I could trust, I'd let you off the hook.” Any boost of my ego from before was completely dimmed. “Micah, come home.”

~*~

I was loath to find Jonah put our dad's old Beta in place as CEO while I was to be gone. The guy was a dinosaur- I could only hope he didn't undo all the good work I had done the year I'd been in charge.

Caleb had graciously splurged for a red eye in economy on a human flight. I upgraded it, so I sat in comfort, flirting shamelessly with the attendant for much of the evening flight, in business class.

“So that was when I realized I wanted to travel,” the attendant said softly, leaning in. I'd talked her into sitting with me as I had a spare seat next to me and almost all the other passengers were asleep.

“So, I quit and started this,” she had her dark hair pulled back with side part, her fringe dipping across her forehead. She was made up well, as you would expect to be stationed in business class, even on a domestic flight. “I mainly only do domestic though, so haven't been too far afield yet.”

She giggled prettily.

“Mmmm,” I hummed, taking a quick sip of my bourbon before returning my rapt attention back to her. “What's on the bucket list? Where would you like to go?”

“Oh,” she rolled her eyes, “I don't know… everywhere. Where have you been?”

I actually hadn't traveled far either. “I've had some business in London and Singapore- but I don't usually get to travel for fun.”

I dangled my hand over the arm of the seat between us, letting the top of my finger just brush her knee. A flush crept up her neck, her breath hitching and the unmistakable scent of arousal rising in the space between us.

She glanced back, checking that everyone on our side of the plane and in eyeline were asleep.

I let my hand drop lower.

~*~

Caleb had organised for someone to pick me up from the airport. The meathead barely said a word, which was fine for me. I snoozed on the long drive to the pack. It was a couple of hours away from the closest human airport.

I felt a strange tug as we entered the border of my brothers pack- my sworn pack. I could feel Asher stir in me. Feeling a response from him felt good. Maybe coming to a pack after so long would do him good. Maybe it would do me good too. I hadn’t even stepped into this pack when I swore in. My brother had come to me and then I had gone to college and then onto work. He had offered many times for me to come back- even just for a quick visit and full moon run.

I looked around with interest as we drove up the center of the pack, through the small, essentially suburban rural town that was the Winding River Pack. A river curled around the northwest of the packland, which is where it got its name from. We entered from the south. It was a nice pack. I hadn’t been here since I was a kid and I could see some newer buildings, telltale signs the pack was prospering.

It was close to lunch when I arrived, my brother, his wives and their kids waiting for me out the front of the large white packhouse building.

“Uncle Micah!” the twin boys, Josh and Jared, ran up and half tripped me. I laughed at their excitement, returning their hugs. I had hosted the family a few times of the last couple of years, making sure to make it extra fun and it seemed to have paid off. I was still considered the cool uncle.

My nieces, Fiona and Felicity, not twins, were next, me swooping and picking up little Felicity. I gave a little nodding bow to my sister in laws, “Luna Lucy, Luna Maria.”

Both women greeted me in unison, “So good to have you here.”

I gave them both a quick side hug and kiss with little Flick still in my arms. I then tried to pay attention as all the kids tried to talk to me at once.

“We’ll swear you in, go have lunch, and then I’ll take you around the pack, through the training grounds- get you acquainted,” Caleb said, ignoring the hyped voices of his kids.

I glanced back at my brother, having been distracted pulling faces at Flick as I tried to hear three stories at once. “Oh right. I’m here for a job, aren’t I?”

My brother gave me a lazy look, me casting a winning smile back. This was going to be a blast.

~*~

Hello

Thank you for your interest in My Young Beta.

The rest of this book is being released within My Future Luna. Come over there to see when our two leads meet! Updates start April. You can also find more news on Heathens of Eden on the social site, including character images.

Eve