The Beta's Second Chance

Distant Relation

Khason

“Excuse me?” Ivy snapped, her voice louder and sharper than I’d ever heard it. She’d never so much as spoke loudly to her father before. But I understood her outrage. My gaze snapped to Dawson.

“Yeah, uh, what the f*ck?”

Dawson heaved a sigh, looking at me. “You’re well aware of the fact that you are one of the most capable fighters and tactical minds that we have at our disposal.”

Not our disposal, Daws! Yours! I am your Beta! You’re that willing to let me wander into the firing line for another pack?

Ivy expressed about the same to her father. “‘Independent, ranked, but not invaluable’? So expendable, is what you’re saying? If we die, no harm, no foul?”

Stohn rolled his eyes, as if his daughter were no more than a child throwing a tantrum. “You have not spent your life training just so you can sit in this house like a pampered princess. You refuse to find a mate, secure the future of this pack, obsessed with your childish, immature dream of becoming Alpha when I die. It’s time for you to grow up. Do your duty to this pack, and put them first before your ridiculous ambitions. At least make yourself useful in defending it. Your life is a worthy price to pay if it saves Summer Hunt.”

Ivy flinched as if he’d hit her. I moved to stand, but Dawson gripped my arm.

“Sit. Down.” He snarled, full Alpha authority in his voice. My legs gave out instantly, and I dropped back into my seat, glaring at him.

“Dawson, this is bullsh*t!” I snapped, my body tense.

His angry eyes met mine, cold and hard and…like his father’s. “You wanted this, Khason. You wanted to come down here, to make yourself useful. Well, now you can be. You could be the deciding factor in this war.”

“And if I die?”

Dawson swallowed, and I saw for just a moment, a flicker of worry in his blue eyes. But then, quick, but not quick enough for me not to notice, his gaze flicked to Noble.

Wow. F*cking wow. I knew what that meant. If I died, the Beta would pass to Noble, and life would move on. If I died, it would be nothing more than upsetting. Not a problem. Not a factor.

My jaw tightened and my hands curled into fists. Dawson had been many things over our lifetime. Quiet, stoic, irritable. Rash, temperamental, moody. But he’d never been detached. Unfeeling. At the moment, I didn’t even give a f*ck what was wrong with him. All that my mind could process was that he was sending me on what could very well be a suicide mission. And he was more than willing to take that risk.

So, when you told me not to die, that was horse crap? 'Don’t die unless it’s convenient to you'?

“Enough.” He snapped out loud, returning his eyes to the table. “You are my Beta, and you will do as your told.”

Stohn looked surprised but approving at Dawson’s harsh words. Even as Ivy looked devastated.

“You will have tomorrow to prepare yourselves and gather what you need for your journey. Coordinate your backstory together and make sure it is iron clad. Once you depart, we will expect updates from you regularly. If we do not receive these, we will assume you have been captured or killed, and prepare for war.”

“Once we have what we need, we’ll plan for your return to safety.” Dawson finished. Both Ivy and I were silent. Her body was rigid with rage. “Any questions?”

“Yeah.” I seethed, glaring at my cousin. “What’s your plan for explaining this to Gaia? She’s gonna hate the f*cking air you breathe.”

His slow, furious gaze slid to me. “Wanna try that again?” He asked, his voice murderous.

“Tell me I’m wrong.” I spat. “She brought me back from death itself and here you are just throwing me back into it’s jaws. She’s going to be even more disappointed in you than I am-”

“Speak again,” he whispered. “And I’ll beat your ass myself. Clearly, being down here has made you forget that your role is to follow my orders. And keep my mate’s name out of your f*cking mouth. You don’t know anything about her, about us. You will do as I say. And you will remember, again, that this was your choice.”

Is that what this is? Punishment for leaving? He didn’t respond, returning his eyes to the table, but I slid closer. Dawson, please. What the f*ck is going on with you? Talk to me! No matter what, we’ve always been able to talk to each other! Why are you being like this?

No response. Nothing. Stohn watched the two of us, the closest to pleased I’d ever seen him. It took everything I had not to slap that smirk off of his face. Instead, I rocketed up out of my seat, launching the chair across the room and into the bookshelf behind me, and was stalking up the stairs before anyone could stop me.

I expected Dawson to follow. To find me. To come to me and talk as he always did. But no, as the sun slipped below the horizon and my room turned dark and cool, there was no nudge at my mind, no knock at my door.

I’d never felt so completely alone.

My phone buzzed and I heaved a sigh, glancing at the screen. What I saw had me pressing it to my face a second later.

“Little G?”

“…is everything alright?” Gaia’s sweet voice had me smiling instantly.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I dunno. I just…felt…wrong.”

I frowned. There was still no telling exactly what the extent of Gaia’s newfound power was. But it certainly was unnerving. “I’m fine.”

“And Dawson? He’s not answering his phone…”

“I…he’s fine too…I think.”

“You think?” Worry filled her tone.

“We…aren’t quite seeing eye to eye right now.”

“What? Why, what happened?”

I tensed, pausing in my pacing. “I…should really let Daws tell you. It’s not my place.”

“Khason Cole Vargas, I am your Luna, and you will tell me what’s going on right this damn second!”

I grinned. Mother’s ass, it was good to hear her voice. I could imagine her angry little face, like a baby wild cat. Cautiously and without much detail, I explained what was going on.

Gaia was silent for a full minute before she said, her voice dark as midnight, “I’m going to kill him.”

“Gaia-”

“I’m going to feed him his balls!”

“Whoa, easy, little mama! It’s gonna be okay!”

“Okay? Okay? I used unchecked power to save your life in the spring, and he’s just gonna throw you to the front lines? This is stupid! This is reckless, it’s…” The fire evaporated from her voice all at once. “It’s…not like him. At all.”

My smile faded and I sank onto the edge of my bed. “No.” I breathed in agreement. “It’s not.”

There was a knock at my door. I inhaled, wondering if my Alpha had at last come to apologize for being a douche, but I didn’t scent him. Instead, the scent that reached me had me saying to Gaia, “I have to go, G. Talk to Daws, I’ll touch base later, okay?”

“Love you, Khase. Please, please, don’t do anything stupid.”

I grinned. “I love you too, but you can’t ask me to go against my very nature.” I hung up, crossing the room in five strides and pulling the door open.

Ivy’s face was like stone as she stood as far away as possible in the hall, leaning against the opposite wall. My eyes scanned her for any sign of hurt.

“Do you ever wear a shirt?” she asked, her eyes narrowing as she took in my torso, still bare from the training ring. The corner of my mouth tugged up.

“Forgive me, I wasn’t expecting company.” I muttered.

“Come on.” She ordered simply, and started off down the hall. Confused but intrigued, I followed, my surprise only growing as she started up the stairs, leading me towards her rooms.

I hadn’t paid much attention to the rooms when I’d first been in here. Obviously, I’d been rather distracted. But I looked now. Her wooden double doors stood open and the room was vast, open and airy. The half closest to the doorway resembled an office, a large table horizontal across the space, with several chairs, and littered with papers, maps, charts, letters, and other things. Then the entire room stepped down towards the back, the far wall…non-existent. A large, round indent in the floor was filled with a padded area, pillows and blankets. A bed, but the size of a small pool. Beyond that, the roof stopped and the room extended into a balcony that displayed a magnificent view of the ocean. It was wide and sprung, like a training room floor, and indeed, she had a collection of training equipment arranged across one half, while the other featured a cushy looking sitting area, and a dining table.

Back inside the room, I noted two doors going off to my right, what I assumed were her bathroom and closet.

Ivy noted my gaping. “It used to be a training room for the Alpha’s family. Mine never used it, so when I turned sixteen, I turned it into my room. My sister was furious about how massive it is, but shut up when she got my old rooms.”

I nodded my chin towards the…sleeping pit. “Interesting bed.”

“You would notice the bed.” She sighed, striding to the large table and beginning to shuffle through papers. “Sometimes I prefer to sleep in skin, sometimes in fur. My bed grants me space for either.”

Hmm. I’d never thought of such a thing, unless I’d slept outdoors. But I supposed this room was practically outside. The open back wall reminded me of some kind of treehouse.

“What do you do if it rains?”

“There are folding glass doors that can be used to close off the balcony, if there is an intense storm. But most of the time, I just watch the rain from under the canopy.”

I couldn’t fight a grin. She was so…wolf-like. Sleeping under the stars, in fur, in the closest thing to a den I’d ever seen. She noted my expression and rolled her eyes. “You know, I didn’t invite you up here to discuss my decor. Get over here.”

She spread a map out on the table. I moved to her side as she began to trace her finger along the lands of the Summer Hunt territory. “I say we move this way. Diagonally up through Summer Hunt and come out into Blood Moon. Move east and then back down into Nightfall, avoiding coming back into Summer Hunt. From there we move south, down into Desert Storm, and then back west Blue Sky and back North into Crescent. That way, no scout could ever track our movements directly from here.”

I frowned at the map. I understood her reasoning. She had an analytical mind, it was refreshing. However, the journey she outlined was a complete loop around the western side of the country. It would take…two weeks at a run. Three at a walk. And if we were truly nomads, we would have zero reason to be rushing. It would be just as much of an alert as if we walked right into Crescent.

“You don’t agree?” She raised her dark brows, examining my face. I tried not to be distracted by her eyes on me, and I folded my arms over my chest, half sitting on the edge of the table and rubbing my fingers against my stubble absently.

“No…no, it’s a sound plan but…will cost us time. Time I fear we don’t have. It might be less indirect, but I say from Nightfall we move directly into Crescent. Move south as we cross from Blood Moon but…it’ll save us days, maybe even a week. We can spend some nights travelling, running, to make up time, when scouts won’t see us. Especially in Blood Moon; there’s no way any enemy scouts could be anywhere nearby. We slow down in Nightfall, make ourselves look a bit more aimless while we wander towards the boarder.” I looked at her for her thoughts.

She looked torn, chocolate eyes darting over the map as she chewed her lip. “It...it’s more risky.”

“It is. But…and I’m not trying to be a d*ck, but I don’t think we can trust Crescent not to make a move on Summer Hunt for an entire three weeks while we travel. By the time we made it there, it might be too late.”

She sighed, but nodded. “Okay. Alright, fine. We need a list of provisions.”

“I mean, it can’t be too extensive. We’re supposed to be rogues.” She scribbled notes as we debated back and forth what supplies we could bring, what would be believable. Then we moved on to backstory. By this point the sun had slipped below the horizon and my regular lack of sleep was catching up with me. I ended up sprawled on her couch while she paced before me.

“We…ran away?” She offered.

“From where?” I stifled a yawn. “Wherever it was, we’d have to make sure it wasn’t a pack Christiano knows well.”

“Blood Moon!” She halted, looking triumphant. “Then Dawson could cover for us.”

I shook my head. “Why the hell would we have run away from Blood Moon? Dawson has a reputation for the strength and security of his pack.”

She frowned. “Okay…from Nightfall then?”

“Too close to Crescent. Too easy to verify. We have to launch away, somewhere that can’t be fact checked.”

“Alright, how about we came from overseas then?”

I nodded slowly. Despite our best efforts, it was difficult for us Lycans to maintain any connections to packs in other countries. It was a good way of keeping anyone off our trail. “Why?”

“Um…pack war?”

“Why would we flee so far? What about the rest of our pack?”

“Dead!”

“All of them?”

“Mmmhmm, and we feared we’d be hunted down as well. It was a fierce rivalry, they sought to wipe us out.”

I considered. “It would have had to be a very small pack, or news of such a thing would have travelled, even here.”

Ivy tapped her pencil on her bottom lip, distracting me for a moment. “But still…why come here?”

“…distant relation?”

“In another pack? That’s unusual.”

“…Not as unusual as you’d think.” She raised a quizzical eyebrow at me, sinking down on her black leather ottoman. I sighed. “My parents…they were married, but not mated. It wasn’t the best relationship. In fact, it was kind of shitty. My dad…wasn’t a great partner. An awful one, actually. He and my uncle, Dawson’s dad, they kind of brought out the worst in each other. Anyway, when I was a kid, my mom got pregnant again. It was a girl. My dad, he…would hit her. Beat her, actually. And then one time, he beat her so badly that she lost the pup. She was…devastated. More than that, she was done. So…she left. Left my dad, left the pack…left me. I’ve never seen her again since.”

Ivy’s mouth was a round ‘O’ of astonishment. She pressed a hand to her chest. “She never…came back for you? Didn't try to take you with her?”

I laughed bitterly. “She was an untrained female and I was my father’s only heir to the Beta rank. There was no chance he’d ever let me go. He’d kill her first, she knew that. After my dad died, I had Dawson try to do some digging, figure out where she ended up but…no luck.” I swallowed a dense lump in my throat and glanced over at her, surprised to see her eyes shining with emotion. Not that she was sorry for me but…more like she was sorry with me. Her hand flicked towards me and then she caught herself, returning it to her lap. “So…anyway. My point is, it does happen. Having a relation in a different pack. We could say we don’t know which pack they’re in…just that they’re in this country. And we’ve been searching.”

Ivy hesitated, like she didn’t want to change the subject, but could tell I was done with discussing it. She nodded slowly and cleared her throat. “You...you said that your Uncle was Alpha Dawson's dad?”

This time my laugh was genuine. It had slipped my mind that the relation wasn’t common knowledge. “Yeah. Daws and I are cousins. Practically brothers, we grew up together.”

She blinked in surprise. “Cousins as Alpha and Beta? Brothers as Alpha and Beta? How the hell did that happen?”

“It’s a long story. I’m sure we’ll have time for it on this long ass trip we’re about to take.”

“Hmm. Alright. Back to business. Who’s relation should we be searching for? Mine or yours?”

We spent hours discussing every detail of our backstory and plans, until the sky was beginning to lighten and I lost minutes at a time by blinking for far too long.

My body was stiff from lying on the couch by the time I got up and shuffled towards the door. Ivy followed, opening it for me.

“Ive…there’s one more thing.”

“Mmm?” She blinked her sleepy eyes up at me and I had to take a second to fight the near overwhelming desire to kiss her. To pick her up, carry her to the bed, wrap myself around her and fall asleep with her in my arms. “With us travelling together…we will be asked what our relationship is. We could never pretend to be related, we look far too different.”

“Couldn’t we just be travelling companions?” She muttered, looking slightly grumpy. The corner of my mouth lifted. She was adorable.

“Perhaps. But then every male we meet will assume you’re free for the taking and…I don’t need to tell you that rogue females are not exactly respected by unmated males.”

She paled slightly at my implication. I felt bad immediately. “I don’t mean to alarm you, I just-”

“No, you’re right.” She stared at the center of my chest. “Well, I suppose…we could just…tell them we’re mates…”

All the best lies hold a kernel of truth. But we had never made such a pronouncement. I’d only told Dawson. I only looked at her, letting her think it through. I wouldn’t pressure her. Because her voicing it out loud might very well solidify the bond.

She was silent for so long that I stepped into the hall. “Think about it. You can tell me tomorrow what you decide.” She nodded and I turned to go.

“Khase?” I looked back. She’d never used the familiar name with me before. “I…I’m sorry about all of this. This can’t be easy. This isn’t even your pack.”

I shrugged, giving her a grin. “It’s my Beta grunt duty. Plus, it gives me more time with you.” I winked at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Ass.”

“Been called worse.”