Daniel
The Beta manual weighs less than it looks. Maybe that's the joke, thin paper, heavy expectations. I lay it on the conference table and square the corners. My father watches from the end of the room with the same expression he uses on patrol audits.
"Recite," he says.
I open to the tab he marked. "A Beta stands in the space between danger and the pack. He keeps the Alpha honest, the ranks moving, and the truth accounted for. He speaks when silence would harm."
"Again," he says, softer, as if volume is a luxury.
I recite it again and my voice stays steady. He doesn't nod. He flips to the next page and taps a paragraph with one blunt finger.
"Scenario," he says. "An Alpha's personal choice conflicts with pack optics. Do you support the choice, or the pack?"
I kno
