Beta Tara

Chapter 3

I open my eyes and look at the white tiled ceiling above. I hear a constant beeping noise. I am in the pack hospital. I look to my side and sitting there is Olivia, on the phone with what sounds like my dad. I look at my arm and see that I am hooked up to a vital signs monitor. "What happened?" I try to sit up but immediately get a rush of pain to my head. Ow! I think as I grab my head, "Oh! Thank the Moon Goddess" I hear her mutter, she then says something into her phone that I can't make out and hangs up. She looks at me with worried eyes, "How do you feel?" She holds my hand.

"Fine, outside of this massive headache. What happened?" I stare at her blankly.

"I’m not sure. I was walking away from you when all of a sudden I heard a thud and there you were, on the floor passed out." She pauses for a moment and after she assesses that I am okay she jokes, "You know, if you really didn’t want to wear the dress you could have just said so, no need for the show." I laugh dryly. I don’t understand what happened. I was feeling completely fine…

Suddenly Cerys barges in, "Tara! Are you okay?" He rushes over to me and checks the monitor with my vitals. "Yeah. I’m fine." I reply to him closing my eyes because his fussing is making my headache worse.

"Your dad is on his way, what did the doctor say?" He looks over at Olivia.

She is currently distracted messing with all of the doctor’s items and putting on a doctor white coat that was hung up. "Olivia!" he shouts in frustration. She drops the stethoscope that was in her hands and turns to look at him, standing tall and alert, "Uh, no news yet Alpha Cerys. The doctor has yet to come back after taking some tests." She then salutes him like a human soldier and looks over to me and winks. I put my hand to my mouth as I stifle a laugh. Cerys pinches the bridge of his nose in stress and sighs.

I look at her sternly now but give her a soft smile. I look back to Cerys, "Cerys, don’t worry about me. I know you have a lot of things on your plate right now. I am fine, really." The doctor then walks in and greets Cerys upon seeing him, "Alpha Cerys" she then looks back at me, "Beta Tara, you're awake, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, Doctor Alvarez, just a slight headache."

"Hmm…" She looks down at her chart, "Everything on your chart seems to be normal. Although your blood sugar is a little low. Did you eat anything this morning?"

I immediately get annoyed thinking about Adonis and the apple, "Just an apple." I sheepishly tell her.

She looks at me squarely in the eye unamused, "Beta Tara, I am well aware that you are having your first shift tonight. Now, I don’t know if they told you — but I'm sure they did — this is nothing to take lightly. It is going to take a lot of energy and it is going to be very painful. You need to eat more than "just an apple"", she repeats.

She looks at Olivia and Cerys, "Make sure she eats her lunch today and make sure she doesn’t skip dinner either." She looks back over to me, "I will give you some medicine for the headache. Other than that, you are good to go. I will go get your discharge papers.” She then excuses herself, "Alpha Cerys, Beta Tara" She glares towards Olivia who is still wearing the doctor's white coat, "Olivia." Then as quickly as she came in she was quickly gone and out the door.

I look at Cerys, "Cerys, can you call my dad and tell him not to come? I know you guys have a lot going on at the pack house right now—" Olivia rolls her eyes, "—just let him know that I’ll see him at home." Cerys looks at me strangely, his eyes look softer than usual, he gives me a soft smile and kisses my head, "Okay... But, please eat something, I am gonna call the pack house and have them prepare you something."

"Okay…" I look at him wide-eyed.

He exits the room and I look over to Olivia, who is looking at me with her jaw dropped. She is standing and points at where we last saw him at the door and asks, "What was that?!" she gives me a sly smile. I know her and I know what she is thinking. I look at her with the same confusion and answer, "I don’t know… Maybe he's just getting sentimental. You know he’s always been a little bit sensitive. We aren’t kids anymore and soon our relationship is going to change." I sigh thinking about our roles coming in the way of our friendship.

In a swift motion she sits back in the seat, "Oh! How I wish the Alpha would kiss my head like that!" Olivia throws the backside of her hand to her forehead and exaggeratedly sinks in her chair with an exasperated sigh. She quickly sits back up and grins at me, "How I wished that that hunk of a man was my mate when I turned 18 last month, fingers crossed that he’s yours, so you can get some of that!" She raises her eyebrows a couple times with a devious smile.

I laugh, “Oh, shut up!”

I throw my pillow at her and start to get up from the hospital bed. I touch my hand to my head where he kissed me and I blush a bit. I never really thought of who my mate would be if I’m being quite honest. I guess I wouldn’t mind if it was Cerys… I never thought about being Luna? Though… I could easily then boss Adonis around. I let up a smirk. I shake my head and refuse to think of it anymore. I will be Cerys’ Beta and that's it. Though…

As I exit the pack hospital I tell Olivia that I am going to go home. I am suddenly feeling a little nervous about my shift tonight. She tells me that she will hit me up later and starts heading back towards the school. I start to walk home towards the pack house.

The Jade Moon Pack is a fairly large pack, we are located in a valley surrounded by mountains and dense forest. We have a training facility, a hospital, pack schools, a couple of shops, bars, and some small villages located closer towards the mountains. Currently its the summer time but because we are located towards the center of North America, it tends to be a lot cooler in the valley.

I look up to the sky as I let the summer breeze hit my face. It feels wonderful to be outside. This last year I have been so stressed with keeping up with my studies and beginning to assume the role of Beta. It feels great to just have a moment and to take a breather. As I finally approach the pack house, the wonderful smell of lunch hits my nose and I am suddenly starving.