Lessons in Love

Chapter 4: A Run

POV: Beta Ben Westlake

I walked away from the house nervously. I knew she wouldn’t call. No matter how bad things got, she never did. I almost turned back, but that wouldn’t end well either. I wouldn’t be able to sit there and watch him act like the prick he was without reacting. I’d pick a fight with him and make it worse for her later. I couldn’t help myself sometimes. If he beat me, then he didn’t beat her. She'd told me once that didn’t make things easier for her. It only made things less violent.

I walked toward the lake and stripped down, putting my clothes in one of the lined wooden boxes that littered trail heads around the lake for just that purpose. I shifted into my wolf form and stretched my tired muscles. My wolf form felt more natural than my human form as I started to run. The thick scent of moss and the fresh scent of the lake filled my nose and helped to ease my mind a little. I took off along the trail at an unnecessary speed, trying to outrun thoughts of what my father might be doing.

Staying at the house would have escalated things, I kept telling myself. Three years ago, I had been having dinner with my mother when my father had come home drunk and ready for a fight. He had grabbed her roughly, and I had stepped in. I had pushed him away from her, picking at wounds I knew would get him to go after me. It had escalated quickly, and before I knew it, we had shifted and destroyed the dining room furniture. We ended up in the hospital for the night.

My mother told me after that it wasn’t a good look for the Beta of the pack to be brawling with anyone, let alone my father and former Beta. Marcus had gone out of his way to hide the reason we had ended up in the hospital, something about a Rogue attack, but the neighbors had to have heard or seen something. Since then, mom didn’t like me hanging around when he was drunk. It was a hard pill to swallow. I knew she was trying to protect me, but it left her exposed to his violence and abuse. She was no match for him.

To be honest, my father and I were evenly matched. As former Beta, he still had a commanding presence and was built like a tank. I was quicker, more agile, but I had to be. His paws hit heavy, and he could knock you out in a single blow if you weren’t ready for it. Something I had learned the hard way, I thought, pushed my body harder as I headed up a bit of hill.

I remembered coming home from training one night, hungry and tired, and walked in on him beating her. I had growled at him and pulled my mother away, screaming at him to leave her alone. My father had laughed at me. His laughter had ended abruptly, and he had swung at me with a heavy fist, knocking me out. When I had woken up, my mother was on the floor next to me, bloodied and sobbing. I had been sixteen at the time.

I had tried to get my mother to reject him, but the reality of it was that if the man didn’t accept the rejection, it rarely broke the bond. Neither she nor I thought he would reject her. They’d been mated for almost thirty years, meaning the bond was heavily engrained between them, whether they loved each other or not. There was a chance that one or both of them would not survive losing their mate. We had a lot of single, older men in our pack. Men whose mates had died years ago, and they had all survived. Not to mention the literature on abusive mates. It was well documented that if a man didn’t treat a woman well, she could reject him without his consent with no reprisal from the Goddess. Still, my mother wouldn’t risk it.

I made my way around the west side of the lake and caught Rick’s scent on the trail. I tracked the scent to the top of the hill where I knew there was a cave about half a mile back from the trail. When I was nine, I ran away from home. I had hidden out in that cave, and Rick had come up here and hung out with me. I slowed down to step off the trail and moved further up the rocks to the outcrop where the cave was. I hadn’t gotten all the way up when I heard Rick’s voice in my head.

“How’s your mom?” He asked knowingly.

“She was okay when I left, but he was drunk.” I replied through the link as I mounted the last of the rocks and saw him laying there in his wolf form. He was a dark grey wolf, and even in the dark, his green eyes seemed to almost glow at me.

“You okay?” He asked.

I lay down and looked out over the lake below. It was overcast, and the lake looked dark and ominous below us. “I don’t like leaving her with him when he’s drunk.” I said honestly.

“I’ll go back with you if you want.” He offered.

“No, he was filling up on sandwiches and cookies when I left. He’s probably already passed out. I’m going to sneak into the yard and peer in the windows like a criminal on my way back.” I gave a mirthless laugh. “How are you doing?”

“Fine.” Rick said with a tone that made it sound like my asking was unnecessary.

“You seemed preoccupied earlier.” I tried to sound nonchalant.

“I’m solid, Ben. You don’t need to worry about me.” He tried to deflect.

“Rick, you don’t come up here when you’re fine.” I said, sitting up and looking at him. “Whatever is bothering you, you can tell me.”

He snorted aloud and stood up, shaking out his fur and stretching. He stood there, looking out over the lake in silence for the moment. “I’ve been coming out for a run in the evenings sometimes to clear my head before bed.” He said. “It helps me sleep better.”

“Are you having trouble sleeping?” I asked.

“I said it helps me sleep better.” He repeated sternly. We stayed there in silence for a while longer, me unsure what to say to that and him shuffling his paws in place.

"Rick, I'm not trying to piss you off. I just ... I know you as well as I know myself. Something is bothering you. Whatever it is, I'm here for you." I told him.

Rick scratched behind his ear, silently contemplating my words. "I'm okay, Ben. Emma's having a hard time. I went to see her after work. She doesn't say much, and today, she was crying. She misses her parents." He said quietly.

"That doesn't sound easy on you either." I said.

“Ben, really, I'm fine. I’d tell you if I wasn't okay, co-alpha.” He said quietly.

It had been months since one of us had called the other that. It was our childhood dream to be trained together, be officers together, and, one day, co-alphas. As kids, it was a promise to lead together. As we got older and became officers, it really had become a promise to be there for each other, to always have each other’s backs.

“Co-alphas.” I said back, as was customary. “Wanna come with me to break into my parents’ yard?”

“Always!” He chuckled, and we started the journey back.