The Beta's Inner Alpha

Chapter 5

With every step, I can feel Balor’s speed increase, almost as rapid as my heartbeat. The air is flowing over us swiftly, making his fur tickle my skin. I refuse to open my eyes, so rely on my other senses to determine where we are.

I can smell the mix of grass, dirt, and a few wildflowers that are spread out in front of our pack house. I can feel as Balor dodges branches and jumps over logs as we make it into the forest area surrounding the house. The water babbles gently while the many paws thunder. If I wasn’t so scared, it’d be amazing.

I hold his black fur as tight as I can, fearing that at any moment, it could be my last. My heart is pounding in my ears and I can feel my palms getting sweaty. I keep my eyes closed and focus on my breathing. The last thing I need is to pass out while still so far off the ground.

I know that the run usually only lasts about 10 minutes, but it feels like hours have gone by. I don’t dare open my eyes in fear of getting dizzy. It feels like I have counted my breath over a thousand times before I feel Balor slow down. I can only hope that slowing down means it will be over soon. I still don’t open my eyes even when I feel us stop until I hear that familiar bass .

“Ash, what are you doing?”

I slowly open my eyes to find my family standing in front of Balor. They look small from so high up, which I kind of like as I always wanted to be taller than my dad.

Dad starts to step forward, keeping his face and tone friendly, but I can tell he isn’t happy to see that I joined the run.

“You know that it’s not safe. Get down here, and we’ll take you up to bed.”

I nod my head, as I’m more than ready to be done with this, but I stop as I can feel a rumble under me. Balor is growling at my dad.

Dad stops in his tracks. My family and a few pack members that are nearby look over in shock to hear him growl at anyone, let alone his Beta.

I see Dad’s eyes glaze over, a sign that he's mindlinking.

“W…Wait, don’t you think this is something we should have discussed?” Dad says out loud, so I can only guess that the mindlink was between him and Balor. Dad continues to cautiously move forward, filling me with dread as I hardly ever see him this concerned.

“Why don’t you let Ash down and we’ll” before he can finish his sentence, Balor heads back towards the forest line. I barely have time to gripe his fur again to prevent me from flying off.

I can hear Dad hollering behind us, but I can’t tell what he is saying with the mix of the wind blowing and the distance that Balor has already put between us.

I can tell that we’ve passed all the areas we already went by earlier and continue going beyond. I haven’t been further than the small brooke that was in the forest in a long time. It’s not forbidden or anything, but I don’t have the best memories of going beyond that point.

I don’t want to remember that at this time, so I go back to focusing on my breathing. I can feel that we’re now on an incline, so we must be running up one of the many hills on our land. This hill must have some trees on it, as he’s weaving about.

I finally feel him stop again, so I open my eyes to see the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. We’re at the top of the highest hill on our land, giving us a birds eye view of everything. Everything is bathed in moonlight, and I feel so close to the stars, like I could just reach up and grab one.

Balor grunts before he lowers himself to the ground. I take this as my cue to get off, which I’m happy to oblige. After I’m safely on the ground, he walks off to a nearby tree and walks behind it. I can hear the sound of shifting, so I turn back around to give him privacy.

I look back up at the sky and walk around in a circle, trying to see every angle of the moon I can. While in the middle of my twirl, I feel my foot bump into something.

I look down to see what appears to be a small picnic. There is a basket with flowers in it, a tray with finger food, and a bottle of something chilling in a bucket. I’m not sure if I’m seeing things, as this almost looks romantic.

While I'm absorbed in my thoughts, I hear him clear his throat, mere inches away, and I nearly jump out of my skin.

Not thinking, I raise my elbow over my left shoulder as I turn around, getting my momentum to swing my right arm and punch the fool who snuck up behind me. Lucky for myself and Donovan, he has quick reflexes and blocks my hit.

He starts to laugh, “Man, glad I didn’t have to experience your legendary right hook. I’ve heard many tales of you knocking out the guys in your training class.”

Realizing I nearly punched my Alpha, I start to apologize profusely.

“No worries, I shouldn’t have gotten so close to you without making my presence known. You just looked so cute with your face scrunched up that I didn’t want to disturb you.”

He flashes his best boy next door smile, the one that always makes the girls squeal in delight. I know objectively that he is handsome, but I’ve never felt any butterflies when talking to him. All the girls I know always ask me how I can be so close to him without melting. To me, he’s just my best friend, an older brother figure, and now, he’s my Alpha. Those eyes are my favorite part of his looks, but even then, it’s just because they remind me of his father.

I notice that he’s wearing a suit again. It’s more casual than the suit he was wearing for his ceremony. The suit is the same green as my dress and he’s wearing a black button-up shirt. He looks nice but overdressed for a picnic on a hill.

He’s still holding my fist from when I attempted to punch his face in. I try to pull away, uncomfortable with all this touching, but he doesn’t let go.

I can’t take this anymore, “Alpha Donovan, what’s going on?” I say this with a slight bow of my head to stop looking directly into his eyes.

I could see a slight frown when I called him Alpha, but I feel uncomfortable and speak formally when nervous.

With his other hand, he puts a finger under my chin to force me to look back up at his eyes.

“I’ll always be Donny to you, no matter what.”

“Fine, Donny, what’s going on?”

I don’t like where this is heading and can feel the tension building in the air.

He takes a deep breath before taking both of my hands in his.

“Aishling Kelley, you’ve been by my side for so long, and I want that to stay like this forever. I love you. Please, be my chosen mate.”