The Black Forest's Beta

Chapter 4

I heard another door and I pulled my face out of Beta Raphael’s chest, he set me down, but took my hand in his. I pulled up my left pant leg with my free hand, I began balling it up as I got nervous. I could hear the noise of the full eating area as we got closer. I could tell it was packed full of wolves, more than we had in the Cold-stone pack. My breath came faster and my heart thudded in my chest. I felt my stomach twist and knot itself. I stopped and tried pulling my hand from Beta Raphael, he turned around and his eyes fell upon me.

“Emmaline.” He spoke softly as he slowly pulled me into his chest, giving me time to pull away if I wanted to.

“I don’t wanna go in there.” I whimpered while inhaling his calming scent.

“I know miele (honey).” He sighed, he pulled away lightly and looked me in the eyes. “We can take our food somewhere else to eat, but I don’t know what you want, or like. All the food is in there.” I found myself shaking my head. “I understand that you’re scared, and I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

(Go with mate.) Cassie said, her soft voice echoing in my brain. “Okay.” I said weakly with a small nod. I gripped his hand with both of mine as we walked, Ozzy stayed silent, walking behind me with his left hand on my back. By the time we made it to the eating area I was sweating nervously, Beta Raphael gently pushed me behind him, I felt safer and I loosened my grip a little on his hand.

“You’re so brave.” He cooed down at me before he led Ozzy and I in. I wanted to cover my ears at the noise everyone talking made.

“BETA RAPHAEL!!!” I looked over at a large man who was sitting next to Alpha Gunter. All heads turned our way and I wanted to cry, so many people were looking at me, some of the females glared, causing me to tremble and whimper lightly.

I jumped in fright when hands landed on my shoulders. I looked back only seeing Ozzy, he rubbed my shoulders with his thumbs trying to help. “C’mere.” I looked at Beta Raphael, he gently pulled me with him to a long table full of different types of food.

“Woah.” I heard Ozzy say at the same time as me. My mate chuckled and grabbed one plate and handed another to me, he began loading his with food, I took a small amount of food seeing as I wasn’t used to eating all that much. I looked at Beta Raphael’s plate in shock, he had an entire mountain of food on his plate. I could see he had large muscles through his shirt, plus he was tall and from my time spent walking behind him I knew his ass was well rounded and plump.

He chuckled when he looked down at me, as I gaped at his plate, he then motioned to the door with his head. Ozzy and I followed him from the dining area to a more secluded room with only one long table and a few dozen chairs.

“This is Alpha Grey’s meeting room, we shouldn’t be bothered here.” I smiled at my plate and sat down in a random chair. Ozzy sat on my left while my mate sat on the right, I began eating, taking small bites as to not disgust my mate. I looked over at Ozzy and nearly choked when I saw how piggish he looked.

“Ozzy.” I said firmly while handing him a napkin I had grabbed. He widened his eyes while pouting his lips slightly, his unruly hair fell down in front of his face making him look like a puppy.

“No pouting.” We both looked at Beta Raphael who was giving my brother a warning look. He sent me a small smile and a wink, my cheeks heated and I turned back to my plate and finished my food. I was still slightly hungry, but I decided eating only a little would be fine seeing as I wanted to keep weight off. “Is that all you’re eating?” I nodded without looking up at Beta Raphael. “Fanculo quella merda” (f**k that s**t!) I gasped as he loaded some more food onto my plate.

“I can’t eat all that.” I said in exasperation. He narrowed his eyes and pointed to my plate as he chewed on a piece of meat. I huffed and took a few more bites, spitting out what I didn’t like. I moved to push the plate away, but a growl from him stopped me.

“You need to eat miele.” He sighed while running his hand through his dark locks. “You are too thin and underweight to shift properly, even if you weren’t injured shifting would be unwise.”

“I’m not underweight.” I said crossing my arms over my chest.

“If I lift up your shirt will I be able to see each one of your rib bones?” He took my silence as an answer and made me eat more. “I have one rule for you to follow Emmaline.” I pouted as I looked at him. “That rule, you need to eat until your tiny belly is ready to burst. You need to put on some weight.” I huffed and took around ten more bites of some of the food I liked, I pushed the plate away and sighed, just as Beta Raphael wanted, I was about to burst.

“I don’t think I could even eat another chocolate bar.” I said while Ozzy chuckled.

“What is this called Beta Raphael?” Ozzy asked, pointing to a food we both enjoyed.

“That is spinach ravioli in pesto sauce.” He said looking at it with a small sneer.

“I liked it.” Ozzy said with red cheeks.

“When we get back to Germany I will make it for you correctly.”

“How is it made wrong here?” I questioned.

“Alpha Grey’s wolves use frozen Ravioli and store bought pesto. In the Dark-moon pack we make everything by hand, the cheese and spinach filling and the sauce.” He said looking at me with a strange expression.

“Can you cook?” He nodded, I wanted to ask him tons of questions. When I was about to speak however the door to the room opened and Alpha Gunter, and six other large men walked into the room. I felt myself cower as they came closer.

“Beta Raphael.” My mate bowed his head to the stranger, his blue eyes found me and I looked down at Raphael’s hand to where it rested on the table. “I am Alpha Grey.” His hand moved toward me quickly and I flinched, my eyes closed on instinct and my body tensed.

“I’m Ozzy, this is my sister Emmaline.” I felt sparks in my right hand and I looked down at Beta Raphael’s large hand, cupping my own. His skin was bare, at least on his hand, I could see the veins that ran under his skin. His touch was soothing as I used my left hand to play with his warm hand.

“That is a rather uncommon name.” I heard Alpha Grey comment.

“My sister Lorelai was obsessed with Ozzy Osborne when my mom was pregnant with me, Emma liked everything Lorelai did so when the doctor asked what my name was they both said Ozzy.”

“You have another sister?” I nodded at Raphael’s question.

“She left us when she turned 18, I was only 13 myself, Ozzy was 9.” I said tracing his large veins. “I don’t want to talk about her.”

“Then we don’t have to.” His voice was soft compared to the angry tone I took when talking about my sister. “Alpha Grey, do you have any shoe stores around here?”

“Yeah there is one down the road.”

“Thank you, with your approval Alpha Gunter, I would like to take Emmaline and Ozzy to New York so they can get clothes before we fly home.”

“Is that wise? New York is one of the most populated cities in the world.” Alpha Gunter asked, making me nervous.

“I believe it is Alpha. I would like Emmaline comfortable in clothes that fit her for the long flight home, and when we get back we’ll have too much work to catch up on to go shopping.” His hand squeezed mine gently. My heart fluttered at the small action, I found myself reconsidering wanting a mate. “Before we do that, we’ll have to get them both suitable shoes.” I looked down at my feet and wiggled my bare toes.

“I agree, walking around the streets of New York barefoot would not be wise.”

“Can Emma and I get movies too?” I smiled and looked at Raphael hopefully. I loved being able to watch movies, I had only seen a few, seeing as I was cleaning the dining room when they brought in the projector. My favorite had been The black Stallion. His reaction was to smile and nod. I squeaked happily making him chuckle, I turned to Ozzy who was beaming.

“Since we’re stopping in New York we might want to head out.” I stood up and looked at our plates which were empty, except for mine.

“What about our plates?”

“I’ll have Margret take care of them, don’t fret.” I nodded and let go of Beta Raphael's hand with my left, leaving him holding only my right.

“Thank you Alpha Grey.” Ozzy said from behind me.

“Anything for a friend, eh Gunter?”

“You know you're welcome in our home whenever.”

“I’ll come over in a few weeks, you know I can’t refuse Oktoberfest.”

“Who can resist scaring tourists who dare venture into the black forest looking for werewolves?” Everyone but Ozzy and I laughed at the joke, one of the wolves I hadn’t been introduced to, said.

“We’ll see you soon then.” Alpha Gunter remarked,

“Pleasure as always Alpha Grey.” Beta Raphael said with another bow of his head.

“You too Raphael.” I let him lead me out of the room, he was following Alpha Gunter, the rest of the Dark-moon wolves followed us. Ozzy was walking behind me, his hand in my left.

Alpha Gunter got in the driver’s seat, a dirty blonde wolf with green eyes slid in the passenger seat while Ozzy, Raphael and I sat in the middle row. The two remaining wolves, one had black hair with blue eyes and thin lips, his dark honey colored skin had multiple tattoos on it. The other wolf was another blonde man with porcelain skin that was a tinge paler than mine. They both had on dark clothes and stoic expressions as they sat silently.

I tapped Beta Raphael’s shoulder, he looked down at me questioningly and I motioned for him to come closer. He leaned down so his ear was right next to my mouth. “Who are the wolves sitting behind us?” He coughed and gave me a shy smirk.

“Tobias.” He said pointing to the man with the blonde hair. “And Keifer, the man in the passenger seat is our Gamma Elias."

“Hi.” I said shyly while keeping a tight grip on his hand.

“We’re happy to see that you’re doing better Miss Emmaline.” Keifer said with a gentle smile. Hearing him say my full name felt wrong, I only wanted my mate to call me that.

“Please, call me Emma.” I said with a shy grin, my cheeks turned red as I looked at Beta Raphael’s hand. “How long has it been since you left the Dark-moon pack?” My question was pointed at my mate who used his thumb to caress my hand.

“We left two and a half years ago.” Alpha Gunter answered. “We’ve been all over the world.”

“Are all of you looking for your mates?” Ozzy asked.

“Everyone except for Raphael now.” Gamma Elias chuckled.

“And myself.” Keifer added. “I know my mate is in our pack, she is quite a few years younger than myself. She turns 18 in a month.”

“How do you know she’s your mate?” I asked turning to look at Keifer who smiled dreamily.

“Evangeline is the apple of my eye. She came to our pack nearly seven years ago from her home in New Orleans with her father.” I smiled as he went on to describe Evangeline while we drove to the shoe store.

When we finally got there Beta Raphael slid from the car and lifted me up like a child. I giggled as he carried me into the store. He brought me to an isle and began looking at shoes. I laughed when he held up a pair of red ones.

I shook my head and pointed to a pair of pastel rainbow tennis shoes. He chuckled and pulled a box from the shelf and we pulled one of the shoes on my feet. “Too small.” I said with a pout.

“Okay.” He said grabbing a different box with the same kind of shoe in it. I smiled happily when they fit.

“They fit!” I squeaked happily. He chuckled at my reaction as we put the second shoe on my other foot.

“Du bist so verdammt süß.” I looked down at my shoes as I held my pajama pants in my fists.

“What does that mean?” I asked as we walked to a different isle where Ozzy had found himself a pair of shoes.

“You are so damn cute. I tend to speak German, rarely ever do I use my native tongue or English” I nodded as I grabbed Ozzy’s box. “Though miele is Italian.” I smiled up at him as we all walked to the counter.

“What does miele mean?” Ozzy asked as the cashier rang us up.

“Honey.” Beta Raphael replied smoothly. “Emma is mi miele.”

“Emmaline.” I said correcting Beta Raphael who tilted his head and pouted. “I like the way it sounds with your accent.” He bit his lower lip as his eyes lit up.

“Emmaline.” I smiled as a new feeling flooded my body, the way he said my name was different than the other times. It sounded so much better, I licked my lips as a strange tingling sensation tickled my thighs. I looked at Beta Raphael from behind my eyelashes and he growled while his eyes turned a dark shade of black. I had seen that look on peoples faces before and I flinched and backed a few steps away from him. His wolf was struggling for control, meaning I had really pissed him off.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered while hugging myself.

“Cash or Card?” I heard the cashier ask while I avoided eye contact.

“What did I do?” I looked at Beta Raphael who whined, he looked pained as the cashier handed him the receipt.

“I saw your eyes, you got angry.” I said softly as I stayed far enough away from him.

“Ozzy, take these to the car please.” I didn’t want him to go, but he complied and left me with Beta Raphael. “My eyes didn’t change because I was angry miele.”

“Why else would they change?” I asked not believing what he said.

“What do you know about arousal?” He countered my question with a question.

“That it smells like trash.” I huffed, he chuckled and stepped closer, making me step back.

“Not all the time, when an unmated female gets aroused, the scent is addicting and mouth watering. When a wolf catches her scent, especially if they’re mates it gets hard to control said wolf. Silvio caught the smell of your arousal miele, he wanted to make and mark you, that is why my eyes turned black.”

“Did my eyes turn black?” He shook his head as I looked up at him.

“I believe if your wolf was stronger they would have been.”

“Really?” I asked while reaching out and taking his left hand in my right.

He smiled at the small action and squeezed lightly. “Definitely.” I returned his happy expression as he turned his hand and wove our fingers together. My hand was small compared to his, but I don’t think either of us minded. “Now that, that is settled we should be on our way.” I nodded as he led us back to the car.

“Are we all set?” Alpha Gunter asked, turning to look back at us.

“ja, musste nur ein paar Dinge erklären.” (Yes, I just had to explain a few things.)

“Then off we go to New York city.” I yawned and leaned on Ozzy, not wanting to make the unmated wolves in the car feel sad about not having their mates like Beta Raphael, I still kept my tight grip on his hand though.