Blue Moon Alpha

The Beta

No longer having any desire to train, Jackson turned and started heading back to the pack house. In his mind, Loki, his lycan, started singing. “Another one bites the dust, and another one down, and another one down, another one bites the dust.”

“Shut up, furball; you know this makes things harder for you, too, right? We are the same person.” Jackson did not attempt to hide his irritation as he linked his other half. “Now, we must find a new Gamma and a lead guard as soon as possible. Ideally, it would have been one of the girls, but it is clear that they are not returning.”

“That may be so human, but I am in charge of fighting and strategy; you must deal with personnel issues. Or you could always have your Beta do it; oh wait, she is more interested in filling a different type of position.” Loki flashed scenes of the Beta's recent bad behavior in his mind. Jackson groaned over his lycans' apparent dislike of his Beta Lilly.

Lilly, the daughter of the Alpha of the Dauphin Pack, had been selected to be saved because of the love and care she showered her pack with. Every member had mentioned her name as the person that protected them from their Alpha near the end. When they had found her, she had been near death but managed to pull through against all odds. That strength, teamed with her kindness, was the reason she had been chosen to help Jackson. Unfortunately, she had started to change over the last few months, and not for the better. Little comments about how the Beta had Alpha blood and the Alpha was a Beta, or how incomplete the pack house was without a Luna, had begun to cause Jackson irritation.

When Marcus had taken over the pack, he had made it clear that blood was less important than actions, and Jackson swore to maintain the same commitment. Added to that, someone had started rumors that he was taking her as his chosen mate. When he had first heard this rumor, he had made it quite clear that he had no intention of taking a chosen mate, but it still seemed to spread further and faster than he could control.

In the back of his mind, Loki continued. “Yeah, as if we do not know who started the rumors that she would be Luna. Come on, man, open your eyes and look around. How far does she have to go before you realize what is happening here?”

“You don't know that. When we asked her, she denied any knowledge of the rumors, and no one has stated that they heard the rumors from her directly. They only talked about how good she would be in the role.” Jackson did not know why he was defending her, but he hated how often Loki would verbally attack the young woman.

“Get your head out of the sand. You are a bigger fool than I could have ever guessed. Why did the Moon Goddess curse me with a human in denial?” Annoyed at his opinionated lycan, Jackson put up his mental wall, blocking him from his mind.

He had been attacked last year and dosed with so much wolfsbane that his wolf had died. Usually, this would have resulted in the shifter's death, but he had been saved and gifted a lycan soul by the Queen and the Moon Goddess. Recently there had been times that Jackson wondered if it was indeed a gift. The loudmouthed Lycan was always ready for a joke, and many would think that Loki was his perfect match, but Jackson had too much on his plate at the moment to deal with his antics. Just last week, they had been sitting in a meeting with the elders, and Loki had decided to start giving them nicknames and theme songs. It had resulted in Jackin having to force Loki from his mind before he lost control of his laughter in the room.

By the time he reached the time he had reached the entrance of the pack house, Jackson felt slightly more in control of his wolf and his life. It sounded like Travis had an idea for his replacement, so he was not leaving him in a lurch. He would handle this like he had handled everything else since taking over by presenting a calm front and only falling apart inside.

Bypassing the main hall, he headed straight for the stairs to the Alpha floor, taking them at a run. He needed a shower and fresh clothes before he headed to the dining hall for breakfast with the pack. That was his main priority, and coffee, lots and lots of coffee. When he reached his floor, he suddenly stopped.

Down the hall, he could see that his bedroom door was cracked open, something that he never allowed. Moving as quietly as he was able, he made his way toward the door, hearing the sounds of someone in his room. As he got closer, he caught the scent of grass and spring dirt, a dead giveaway as to who had entered his room without his consent.

“I told you! That woman will not stop until she takes control of this pack in any way possible. She knows that she has no chance against us, so she is trying to make the rumors true. Let me have control, and I can stop her.” Jackson wanted to bang his head against the wall. He did not need this today.

”Absolutely not. You are not going to do anything to her.” While Jackson did not think that he would hurt her, Loki had proven to be unpredictable. If he took control, there was no way to know precisely what he would do.

“Fine, but you need to end this, or I will take control and do it myself. If that happens, I will not be nice. Do you understand me, human?” The threat present in the words was crystal clear as Jackson felt the lycan fade into the background of his mind. He knew this threat was not idle, having experienced him taking control in the past. He did not know if it was because of the Lycan's strength or because he was born a wolf, but it seemed as if Loki could take control more quickly than the wolf had been able, a fact that made Jackson uncomfortable.

Pushing the door open, he prepared himself to scold his Beta for entering his room without permission, but the words died in his throat as he saw her stretched out in his bed. She was naked and sleeping in such a way that he was sure she had arrived the night before, expecting to find him there.

Holding back a growl, he strode into his room, furious that she had gone this far. He walked into the room, looking around for her clothes. When he saw them sitting folded on his dresser, he picked them up and walked to the sleeping form on the bed.

Taking a deep breath, Jackson released the strongest Alpha growl he could manage, waking the woman and causing her to cower before she even realized what was happening. “What the hell do you think you are doing in my room?” Not addressing the state of her clothing or lack thereof, he threw the clothes at her, storming past. “You have until I return from my shower before I allow Loki to deal with this situation. Remember, you have been told that this room is off-limits. Only my mate and myself will ever be allowed in here, and you are not my fated mate.”

He continued to grumble as he gathered his own clothing for the day, preparing to shower. Of all days, for her to pull something this blatant, it had to be when he was dealing with everything else.

“If you try to get into the shower at the moment, she is going to try to join us, and I will have no recourse but to kill her.” Loki’s words and intent were evident as he spoke to Jackson.

“She is not that desperate. She knows that we would never fall for something like that.” Jackson’s comments felt false even to himself. Her attempts had gotten increasingly desperate and were reaching the point that he would have to address them more harshly than he wanted to.

Luckey, for both of them, she was gone before he reached his shower, having grabbed her clothes and ran out of fear of Loki. He ignored how her scent permeated the room and knew that he would have to change his sheets as soon as he returned. If he asked an Omega to do it, the pack gossips would have a field day thinking he had invited her to his bed, and that would start pushing him harder to make her his chosen mate. He was serious when he said that only he and his mate would ever be allowed in his chamber, having witnessed the level of desperation that some people went to gain rank.

“She is going to create more problems.” Loki’s grumbled words echoed in Jackson's mind, and while he wanted to dispute them, he was starting to believe that he was correct.