The Blessed Beta

11: A Battle To Win

**TORA**

I can't shake the uneasy feeling as we start walking out of the pack house. The Alpha is weird. The way he answered our questions. He gave me an uneasy feeling but then again he ensured me that he hadn't had any people missing. The Beta seemed sure too.

And then that deal I made. I made a sacred deal and asked for a Beta favor, which should never be taken lightly. I had to make it. I had to ask.

But what is eating at me is what Estelle said right before she left me standing in the room.

It plays over and over in my mind. The way her coffee brown hair was sort of dull but fell in the most beautiful waves against her back and shoulders. How her doe brown eyes filled with a sea of unshed tears for me, because of me. Or because of the past, she was trying to get away from.. But at least she trusted me.

'Okay, I will wait for you. But I am begging you.. Don't take too long.'

That one sentence replays over and over in my head. The look in her eyes, longing for me not to leave her. A lifetime of pain hidden away in those chocolate oases. But I let her walk away. I let her leave that room without so much as a kiss goodbye. I let another man, the Alpha of all people, claim my mate. What is wrong with me?

"She is going to be okay, Tora. Even if I don't agree with you leaving her there with Alastar. She is going to be safe because of you." Jericho says as we are pulling into our pack house driveway.

"I don't agree. She is your mate. I wouldn't have cared if the King claimed her, I would have taken her. She is made for you by the Goddess. And you, my friend, are an i***t for leaving her. I mean I'm glad you asked the favor. But still, you're an idiot." Cree says. And he is right. I am an i***t.

But there is a throbbing in my head, in my chest. It's dull but there. Almost as if the ache of being away from her is finally hitting my body. My head is splitting but only coming in pulses. Like every few minutes, it gets worse. Something doesn't feel right.

When I go to walk inside I feel like the energy from my body is being drained to the point Jericho and Cree have to help me in the door. One on each side holding me up as I am walking through the door.

"What happened to him??" I hear the screech from Adrianne but I don't answer. She is the last person I wanted to see right now.

"We don't know. We started walking inside the house and he just started to collapse." Jericho said, shooting a warning to Cree, probably about me meeting my mate. It's my job to tell Adrianne, not theirs. And I will. First thing in the morning. All I need now is some rest.

"He needs to rest, find him in the morning, Adrianne," Cree tells her as they drag me through the packhouse and up the stairs to my room.

"Jer, we might need the pack healer," Cree says. And all I can do is hear her voice, calling for me.

"Hold him down. I can feel Argos trying to come to the surface." Jericho says, worry striking every word. My body is going numb. I can feel my wolf trying to force himself forward and I am doing my best to hold him back.

**CREE**

Something is very wrong. Argos and Tora are fighting over his body and it just happened out of the blue.

"If they continue to fight over his body, the battle could rip him to shreds. We CAN'T let that happen!"

Jericho nods, and mind links the healer who is in the room within seconds. His palms are shaking but glowing a gold color.

He starts chanting his incantations to see what he can do to stop the shift from happening.

His eyes turn completely white and the only words that come out of his mouth are. "Estelle. Estelle. Estelle." It feels like the wind is swirling around the room. I watch Tora's eyes change but they don't change from his crazy yellow, they just get darker. Almost like honey.

"Argos. Stop trying to shift. You're going to kill Tora.." I plead but nothing changes.

"HE MET HIS MATE AND HE LEFT HER THERE?!?!?!" Soran, the healer growls. He starts whispering something in Italian.

"How do you know that? And what does that matter?" Jericho asks, running his hand through his hair.

"The only thing that is going through Argos' or Tora's mind is Estelle. Which can only mean one thing. The distance from his TRUE MATE is causing him to fight himself. The distance is causing him to fight against trying to protect her and trying to keep himself here. We need to get her here as soon as possible. Or even a scent, something that is hers. " Soran says, sighing in exhaustion. "And if we don't get something soon, you won't have to worry about Argos shifting and killing him. He will SURELY die of a broken heart." My eyes are as wide as the moon at that revelation.

"What are you talking about?? Yeah, she is his mate, but I have never heard of this before. I know of plenty of mates that have been apart and this not happening." Jericho says after he is done mind linking warriors to keep everyone out of the packhouse in case of Argos' shifting.

"Estelle is Tora's TRUE MATE. Meaning that the Goddess chose her for Tora. And that is it. He will never get another mate. So they cannot have this great distance between them. The sooner you get her here the quicker Argos will stop fighting him. But you need to get something at least with her smell on it to calm him down slightly." And then I remember that when Tora was talking to Alastar's Beta he asked for something that smelled like her. And the Beta weirdly delivered and promised to look after her and to alert him if anything ever happened to her.

I run as fast as my feet will take me to the bags outside the packhouse door and grab the item that he sealed in a bag. Running back up the stairs I hear Adrianne trying to mind link me. Trying to ask me how he is doing but I just scoff.

"Here!" I say tossing the garment to Soran. He says something under his breath and Jericho says whatever he is saying is going to enhance the scent to last longer.

'Jericho, how the hell are we going to get Estelle here? The Alpha has claimed her. How are we going to get an Alpha's chosen mate HERE, to be with her TRUE MATE??'

'I don't know but we have to do something, or Tora is going to die.' He says and tears are filling both of our eyes. We can't lose our best friend. Or the best Beta this pack will ever see...

'God dammit, Tora. Push Argos back..' I say, trying to reach him. 'Argos, stop fighting him!!'

FUCK...