Shades of Green

Chapter 3 The Voice of Alpha

Hope woke up at 11:30 am. She had thirty minutes to get dressed and head to the cafeteria to wait for Victoria to get out of class. She had pulled an all-nighter to finish all her homework assignments the night before. Now she can just focus on Victoria and their friendship for the rest of the day. Walking more like running out the door, Hope almost forgot her wallet and key.

"Get it together Hope!" She said to herself, trying to calm her nerves down, pacing herself now so she didn't draw any attention from the people in the hall. By 11:50 am. Hope was sitting on the bench in front of the cafeteria. She pulled out her phone, sent a quick text to Victoria that she was waiting in front, then she opened up her social media to see if anything interesting was happening. Hope was so focused on her phone she didn't see the Alphas from yesterday walking towards her.

"Well, I see one half of the prettiest wolves on campus seems to be waiting on someone. Now the question is: Is she waiting for the other beautiful half or the handsome Alphas she saw yesterday?" The Alpha that she fell into yesterday said.

"Well, that is easy to answer," a voice said behind the Alpha's. The Alpha's and Hope looked to see who's voice it was. Only to see Victoria standing there with her hand on her hip and glaring up at them."The other half, seeing that the Alpha's from yesterday are nothing but f-boys, and I am more than sure she wants nothing to do with them. I am sure she wouldn't even want to be seen talking to them. We do have a reputation we are trying to build." One of the other Alpha's walked over to her and glared down at her.

"F-boys?" He said with a warning tone in his voice, glaring at Victoria.

"Yes, you heard me. Boys or Alphas in this case. Let me break it down just in case you don't know the meaning. They exist, therefore they THINK that means they have the right to claim any female in their path." Victoria said as she walked over to Hope and pulled her off the bench.

"I fear you have the wrong impression of us." The third Alpha said with a tone that seemed to make Victoria and Hope's spine shiver.

"Well, I apologize if that is the case, but just the same, we are clearly in your way and want to give no impression that we are interested. Now, if you will excuse us, we are needed somewhere." Victoria said, pulling Hope behind her.

Once they got into the cafeteria they both took a breath. "Whelp, that was interesting," Hope said.

" You're not kidding me, I thought they were about to use their Alpha command tone with us." Victoria said, clearly shaken a little.

"Not going to lie, I thought so as well. Especially that second Alpha, that tone started rising, after you said f-boy." Hope said, starting to see the humor in their almost encounter with Alpha's using their command tone on them.

"My Dad always warned me when an Alpha starts to change his tone, that's when you get out." Victoria said.

"Isn't your Dad a Beta?" Hope asked.

"Yes, but it wasn't his first pack," Victoria said as she was placing food on her tray. "His Pack Alpha was very controlling and would be extremely mean to the Beta's at times."

"Oh, I am sorry that your Dad went through that." Hope said as she put the last thing she wanted on her plate and they headed to their seats. "I would like to hear the story if you would like to share it. I don't want to pressure you or anything."

"You're fine, it was told to us many times as a reminder of how one should treat their Betas in their pack." Victoria said as she sat her food down and her book bag on the back of her chair. "My Dad always went out of his way to make sure the Beta's felt at home. Checking on them mentally and making sure they had all their needs. It wasn't until I was old enough to understand why he did those things and the story behind his actions." Victoria said as she started to eat and talk at the same time. "He told us that he loved his pack with all his heart. They had met in high school and decided when they turned eighteen they would form a pack right after high school. They did. He said it was the most beautiful pack wedding one could ever see, he would say. Five Alpha's, four Omega's and three female Beta's and two male Beta's. As time went on and the honeymoon stage started to leave the Pack Alpha started to become possessive over the Omega's and the female Beta's. No one thought anything of it at first, they all thought it was cute and then he started to make the Male Beta's leave for the Omegas heats and the Alpha's ruts, no matter how much they begged him for them. One thing led to the next and all the Betas were told they couldn't sleep in the pack bed anymore. My Dad said no matter how many times the pack or an individual would confront him, the Alpha did as he pleased. So, since my dad wasn't mated, he could go to the court house and sign a paper to say he had become a lone wolf."

"Wait, I thought you could only do that if that was your family pack, not your pack?" Hope said with her mouth full of her sandwich.

"No, just in case any abuse happens and the wolf wants to get out of the pack like my dad, you can separate yourself from any pack. As long as you're not matted, if your matted you have to go through court proceedings and a doctor is there for the bonding breaking", Victoria said, picking up her drink.

"Oh, I see." Hope said.

"Cough, Cough"

"Are you OK?" Hope said as she patted Victoria on her back.

"I am good, thank you. I got choked on my drink. I think I drank it too fast." Victoria giggled. "Back to my Dad's story. His old pack searched everywhere for him. When they finally found him, he was already being courted by my family pack. The Pack Alpha and My Pack Alpha got into a fight over the way he treated his pack. He also told them to leave and to leave my dad alone, because clearly he only wanted to control people, not love them. The last my Dad had heard, all the Beta's had left. The other Alpha's and Omega's were tired of losing the people they loved and so they went to court and got him removed from the pack all together. So they had to have a wolf doctor there in order to help with breaking the matting bond. Well you know, once you mate it's almost deadly to break it." Victoria said as she was finishing up the last of her lunch. "My Dad misses some of his old pack mates from time to time, but he said that my Family Pack was like his second chance at love, and also he wouldn't have the beautiful children that he does if he had stayed in his original pack."

"Wow, Victoria, that is an amazing story. Does he know what became of the Pack Alpha?" Hope asked.

"Not to my knowledge, but my Dad might be keeping it from us because I don't think his story ends well. I do think sometimes he thinks of what life would be with them and what their children would be like if things were different."

"I hate what happens to the pack in general," Hope said. "Even more, that the Betas were singled out."

"My Dad said that it doesn't matter what is going on in life, check on your Betas. It's very easy for them to feel like a third wheel seeing they don't have heats or ruts and they don't really need a knot to feel fulfilled, but they need everyday care just like any Alpha or Omega. Do you feel like that?" Victoria asked Hope.

"I never knew what it was like to be different. Everyone in my family pack was equal. I have never experienced being a third wheel. Now favorites, YES!! My parents would let my little sister get away with everything." Hope said.

Victoria laughed and started to put her tray together to take to the window to be clean.

"Don't we all?" as she got up with her try. "So are you going back to the dorm or do you have more stuff to do?"

"I am done for the day. Would you like to come to my dorm? You can do your homework there if you need to," Hope said.

" OK, sounds like a plan. Then we can come back here for dinner, and you can come to my room," Victoria said.

"I would like that. I have already done all my assignment work, but I can go ahead and read the next chapter of each class until you're done." Hope said.

"Sounds good, but you can be on your computer or social media. It won't affect me doing my assignments," Victoria said as they walked out of the cafeteria. She jumped down on one of the steps, turned and reached out her hand. "Lets hold hands while we walk back to the dorms." Hope paused, looking at her hands and then up at Victoria she smiled.

"O.K" as she reached out and took Victoria's hand. They both walked back to the dorm hand and hand laughing and giggling at the silliest things that caught their attention. The whole time, Hope's hand tingled and her insides buzzed with excitement. There she knew Victoria was going to mean more than a friend.