The Beta's Arrival

Chapter 2

Helen’s POV

It’s been hours and Diane is still not back. I thought she would be back by now. Then came a knock at the front door. I raced to answer it, hoping it was Diane. As I swung the door open, I was met by two warriors with downcast expressions. “Is everything alright?” I asked, confused.

“Are your parents home?” one questioned as he looked over my shoulder.

“Yes, just a moment,” I responded as I went back into the house to get my parents.

They came back with me to the front door. “How can we help you?” Dad asked, his voice strained. He was worried. Something was wrong.

“May we come in?” the warrior said in a calm tone, but his gaze was anything but calm.

“Of course, right this way,” Mom said, motioning for them to step in and leading them to the living room.

We all took our seats and sat silently for a few moments before Dad lost his patience. “Please would you kindly explain why you are here?”

I watched as the warriors exchanged looks and then refocused on us. “Your daughter, Diane, was found about thirty minutes ago.”

“Where is she then?” Mom cut in nervously.

“She was not found breathing,” one answered with his gaze downcast. “Our sincerest apologies for not reaching her in time.”

“NO!” Mom broke down in tears.

“What happened?” Dad asked calmly. I watched as he clenched his fists, doing all he could to control himself and his wolf.

“We do not know all the details. We were sent to inform you that she is at the hospital,” the warrior tried to explain, but it was easy to see that they knew more than what they were saying. There was only one reason that they weren’t explaining it more clearly to us. James had done it. He has truly gone too far.

“At the hospital correct,” Dad said as he stood abruptly.

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

“Take us to her,” he ordered them. We may not be the true Betas of this pack, but our commands still carried weight.

They bowed and stood, leaving the house, and we followed close behind. She was gone. They weren’t saying it, but they would have said she would be okay if she was still alive. They would have said it, but I couldn’t cry, not now. If I cried, then she would really be dead to me.

We made our way to the hospital after getting in the car and following the warriors. The car ride was tense. It took too much time. It was almost too much to breathe. My mom was doing her best to stop herself from crying, but she was still shaking in the front seat while Dad focused on driving. “Please be okay,” I whispered to the Moon Goddess.

Soon we arrived at the hospital and got out of the car. The warriors led us inside and to a room at the end of one of the many hallways. The closer we came to the door at the end, the thicker the air seemed to become. Soon, the door opened and we were let inside. The warriors remained outside the door and we were met by the Alpha. He had positioned himself so that we were unable to see Diane. With a twitch of his hand, nurses pulled the curtains around her bed.

“Alpha, you are so gracious to have come all this way,” my dad said with a bow.

“Yes, well, this is due to my own offspring, and so I felt it was my duty to be here for you and your family,” he responded stiffly.

“Thank you,” he said with another bow.

“Alpha, would it be possible to see our daughter?” my mom inquired.

“Before you do, I believe you should brace yourselves,” he said, appearing uncomfortable.

“Is she... gone?” I whispered, praying he would say no. She had to be okay.

“Open the curtains,” he ordered the two nurses, who had remained in the room.

We nervously stepped forward to see she had a tube protruding from her mouth and she had so many bandages wrapped around her body. “She’s alive,” he told us.

“Will she ever come off the tube?” Dad asked.

“The doctors are optimistic,” the Alpha answered.

“I see and the future Alpha?” We couldn’t take our eyes off Diane. She was only sixteen. She deserved so much better.

We waited for the Alpha to respond and after almost a minute passed it felt as though he wasn't going to say anything on the matter. “Alpha?” Dad tried to press calmly.

“Yes, I will see to it that James is punished for his crime,” the Alpha finally answered. However, his tone made me feel like he wouldn’t do anything. There was nothing we could do to press the matter any further without possibly upsetting the Alpha.

“Thank you, Alpha,” Dad said with a bow.

“I will leave you with your family now,” he said gruffly as he took his leave from the room.

We all waited a moment as the nurses also left. Then we stepped forward to see Diane. I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped my lips. She appeared so much worse than I had seen from the doorway. The bits of her skin that could be seen were bruised. Her lips were bloody, and her eyes were swollen. I didn’t understand how one wolf could do this to another wolf. Especially not one from their own pack.

Diane let out a small whimper and Mom immediately took her hand and gently squeezed it to let her know we were there. “Sweety, mommy is right here,” she said, trying hard not to cry, but failing.

Diane tried to open her mouth to speak, but due to the tube, she couldn't. “Shhh...” Dad tried to soothe her. “Don’t try to speak. You have a tube in your throat to help you breathe. Just focus on resting.” Dad was also struggling to keep his tone even.

I had to turn away. I couldn’t look at her anymore. This was all my fault. If I had just given in and started to see James. I didn’t have to mate him, but I could have dated him. It may have appeased him for at least a time. Then maybe he would find his destined mate and I could find mine after.

Then I saw a shadow. I knew that shape. I had grown up with him. We had been best friends, but now... now we weren’t friends. We were nothing. I waited for him to move on, but he remained, and then I saw he was coming over to the door and was about to open it. Quickly, I lunged for the door. Part of me wanted to pull it shut, while the other part wanted to slip out into the hall and speak with him.

I was in the hallway in the blink of an eye. “What are you doing here?” I hissed at him.

James appeared taken aback by my tone and stepped away from me. “Why are you so mad?” he asked, trying to appear confused.

“You kidn*pped my sister, and then we find her barely alive here in the hospital,” I growled at him as I stepped closer to him. Right now, he wasn’t the future Alpha and he wasn’t my ex-best friend. He was a criminal.

“I didn’t kill her,” he responded with a shrug.

“You didn’t... you didn’t kill her!” I shoved him against the wall.

Our faces were so close I could feel his breath brush against my cheeks. “I brought her to the hospital,” he said proudly.

“Have you lost your mind!? She’s not breathing on her own. She has bruises and cuts all over her body. She is practically covered in bandages. And you... you think the fact that you brought her here washes away all that you did!” I yelled as I stepped back far enough that I could slap him.

The sound of my hand connecting with his cheek echoed down the hallway. His eyes widened in disbelief. “How dare you!” he roared at me.

“How dare I? How dare I? How dare you! You tried to kill my sister!” I hissed back at him.

In an instant, he had thrown me against the wall and pinned my hands with his own. “I returned her. You should be thankful. I could have let them kill her,” he said with a smirk.

I felt my heart drop into my stomach when he said ‘them’. Who were they? “Them?”

His rage disappeared from his gaze and was replaced with confidence. “You don’t think I was the only one with her for the last twenty-four hours, do you?”

“What have you done?” I shuttered at the thoughts that passed through my mind and then I prayed that I was wrong.

“I did nothing really. I told them to take care of her however they wanted to,” he whispered into my ear. He was too close.

Without giving it a second thought, I raised my leg and kneed him hard between the legs. He let go of me and nearly tumbled to the floor. “You let them do whatever they wanted to the sister of the girl you say you love,” I growled at him and then I raised my leg and brought it down, striking him in the head.

He hit the ground hard. In a second, he was pushing himself back up and spitting out blood. “I do like it rough,” he said with a bloody smirk.

“Then you’re going to love this,” he threatened as I lowered my stance and raised my fists.

Before I could really begin to beat the s**t out of him, I heard the Alpha’s voice bellow from down the hallway. “Helen! Stand down!” he commanded, and instantly my fighting stance relaxed.

“What is going on here?” he asked as he glared from his son to me and back again.

I opened my mouth to respond, but James cut me off. “She was just trying to tell me that what I did was wrong,” he said as though it were no big deal that he had hospitalized my younger sister.

“He let others harm her,” I said as I stepped forward. “Please Alpha, he needs to stand trial. Wolves from the same pack don’t do this to she-wolves in their pack.”

“I understand that you are angry. You have every right to be. But you do not have the right to tell the Alpha of your pack how to handle this case,” he responded calmly to me, but I could feel the threat hidden within his words.

“My apologies, Alpha,” I said, bowing deeply.

“Do not fret. I will not hold this against you. You are still very young,” he chuckled. The Alpha was scary and you wouldn’t want to cross him, but he also wasn’t an unfair Alpha.

“Thank you, Alpha.” I continued to keep my head bowed.

“Go and be with your sister and family. I will speak with my son,” he said as he patted me on the shoulder.

“Yes, of course.” I bowed once more before heading back into the room.