The Beta's Blood: Rewritten

Chapter Twenty Three

The next few weeks didn’t rush past so much as they folded neatly into one another. Ace found a rhythm. It surprised her, how quickly it came. One day she was still unpacking boxes and learning everyone’s names, and the next she was waking up before dawn, checking in with patrol, reviewing the training schedule, approving supply requests for the greenhouse district, and drafting talking points for Alpha Kai’s calls with neighboring Alphas.

Somewhere in there she was babysitting two pups, organizing a community clothing swap, and reminding the kitchen not to serve pork on New Moon nights because three elders “just didn’t sit right” with it. She was busy. But for once, busy didn’t mean drowning. It meant useful.

Kai was gone on business, sometimes for a day, sometimes more because he actually could be gone now. He could meet with trading partners, travel to the human side for licenses, smooth over disputes between packs that didn’t trust each other, because he had someone here running Winter Moon smoothly. And that someone was her.

When she wasn’t sure about a protocol or whether she could overrule a district leader, she called Clara, Kai’s mother. Soft-voiced, always calm, and yet sharp underneath, Clara had this way of explaining things without making Ace feel like a pup. She asked about Ace’s sleep, not just her work. She sent soup when Ace had a cough. She sent dumb memes when she knew Ace was homesick.

It helped fill the gap where her own family should have been. They still weren’t answering. Not her mom. Not her dad. Not Aaron. The silence hurt less than it had at first, but there was still a bruise there. She just learned to work around it.

So when 4:15 a.m. flashed on the clock that morning Ace bolted upright in bed, muscles primed. Ace threw on leggings and a hoodie. By 4:30 she was outside, breath fogging in the predawn chill.

Winter Moon’s land was quiet at this hour. The kind of quiet that hummed. The kind that let you hear snow fall. A new powdery layer was coming down, soft and lazy, dusting her braid and lashes as she shifted and loped along the border in wolf form.

She checked every post, greeted the warriors on night duty, and met the night supervisor just as he logged his report. “Nothing serious,” he told her, rubbing his gloved hands together.

“But we had a rogue sighting two nights back, just past the east ridge. Smelled like a traveler. Didn’t cross, didn’t challenge. Patrol stayed on him till he moved on.” Ace’s wolf flicked an ear. ‘Keep an eye on that ridge,’ she linked calmly. ‘I don’t like repeat visitors.’

“Yes, Beta.” By the time she circled back toward the main grounds, the sky was a pale gray-blue and the gym lights glowed warmly through frosted windows. She caught the faint sounds of weight plates clinking. She smiled. Delta Brad’s early today.

She pushed the door open, wiping melted flakes from her hair. “Morning, Brad... oh.” Not Brad, it was Alpha Kai.

He was barefoot on the mat, skin damp with sweat, one hand guiding a barbell down into a slow, controlled press. No shirt. Just low training sweats hanging off his hips. The heat of the gym made steam rise from his skin.

For one heartbeat, Ace forgot what air was. He glanced over, a slow smile pulling at his mouth. “Good morning, Beta.” “You’re back,” she said, because that was safer than put a shirt on, Alpha, my brain is tired. “Your flight landed late?”

“Just after midnight.” He set the weights down, rolled his shoulders, wiped his brow with a towel. “Couldn’t sleep.” “Because of-” “Amelia,” he finished for her, voice flat and tired. “It’s always about Amelia.”

He said it without venom. Just exhaustion. Like a man who’d had the same argument too many times and didn’t have the energy to tell it again.

Ace crossed the floor and laid a hand on his shoulder. Not possessive. Not pitying. Just there. He covered it with his own, eyes closing for a second. “I’m so tired of this, Ace,” he said quietly. “I keep trying to do right by the bond, and she keeps… not.”

“I know,” she said, and she meant it. “You don’t have to figure it out in one day.” Before he could answer, a blast of cold air hit the room. “Ace... oh! Alpha,” Delta Brad said, stomping snow from his boots as he came in. “You two are early.”

Ace snatched her hand back like she’d been caught stealing cookies. “I was just here to tell you I can’t make training this morning,” she said quickly. “I’m reading to the preschool pups, and I have a briefing with Alpha since he’s finally back in town.”

Brad grinned. “You’ll be missed.” “But I’m still hosting game night,” she added, pointing a gloved finger at him. “So no excuses.” “Not excuses here,” he said making her laugh. She glanced at her watch.

“Okay, I have to grab breakfast with my grandma before she thinks I’ve abandoned her-” “Wait, Ace!” Kai called, dragging his shirt over his head as he jogged after her. The second the door opened, the cold slapped him and he shivered. “Can I come too?”

She looked at him, amused. “Don’t you have Alpha things to do?” “Don’t you make my schedule when I’m home?” he countered, falling into step beside her. “I don’t make it,” she said, smirking. “I just arrange it.” “Same thing.”

She hit her key fob and the sleek black Challenger they’d picked up two weekends ago chirped in the snow. Kai’s brows lifted, impressed. “Making good use of your Beta pay,” he teased.

She slid into the driver’s seat with a smug little grin. “Somebody has to.” He laughed, settled in, and, for a second, they were just two wolves driving through snow-dusted mountains at dawn, the pack house behind them and the future wide open.

Grandma Jean opened the door to her Beta Suite before they even knocked. “Oh, hello, sweetheart,” she sang, pulling Ace into a hug that smelled like cinnamon and laundry. “Did they already deliver breakfast?”

“They did,” Ace said, hanging her jacket. “You always order too much.” Jean waved her off. “Can’t have my Beta starving.” She looked around Ace and her smile widened. “And look who it is. Haven’t seen you in a while, Alpha. We’ve missed you.”

Kai bent, letting her hug him too. “I’ve missed you,” he said honestly. “And looking so lovely this morning too.” “Oh hush,” Jean said, but she was beaming.

They moved toward the kitchen, where plates were already laid out next to fluffy eggs, potatoes, fruit, fresh biscuits. Jean bustled around, ready to request extra food from the kitchen staff, but Ace waved her off and opened the pantry.

“He can have mine,” Ace said. “I bought granola yesterday.” Kai opened the fridge to grab a water and froze. “Holy s**t, Ace.” The fridge was full. Not with food. With bottles. And the freezer? Also bottles. And mixers. And juice.

“It looks like a liquor store in here,” he said, incredulous. Ace closed the pantry with her hip. “It’s for game night,” she said, like that explained the tequila. Kai’s eyes sparkled. “Second time you’ve said ‘game night’ today and yet no invitation.”

Her grandma chuckled, stirring her coffee. “Well, don’t be rude. Invite him.” Ace sighed dramatically, turned to him, and delivered the flattest invitation ever spoken. “Alpha Kai, would you like to come to my house for game night tonight?”

His face lit up like a pup’s. “Why yes, Beta Ace, I would. Thank you for inviting me.” They were barely seated when Ace’s phone buzzed against the counter. Unknown. Again.

She frowned, thumb hovering. “Who’s calling this early?” Kai asked around a mouthful of eggs. “I don’t know. I keep getting unknown numbers.” “Well, have you answered it?” “No. It’s probably someone trying to sell me a timeshare.” “Give it,” he said, holding out his hand.

She slid it over. He answered, all Alpha. “Hello?… This is Alpha Kai of Winter Moon. Who’s calling?” he said, tone cool but polite. Silence. He tried again. “Hello?” Nothing. He frowned, hung up, slid the phone back. “No idea.” Ace sighed. “Weird.”

She glanced at her grandmother, a question already in her eyes. “Have you talked to Mom at all? Or Dad?” Jean’s face softened immediately. She reached for Ace’s hand. “I’ve called. They haven’t picked up yet.”

Ace swallowed, staring at her bowl. “Oh.” Kai set his fork down, watching her carefully. “They’re still not talking to you?” he asked gently. Ace forced a smile. “It’s fine.” It wasn’t. But saying it out loud made it ache more.

Jean squeezed her hand again. “They’ll come around, love. Stubbornness runs in that family.” “In our family,” Ace corrected, the word our making her chest ease just a bit.

Ace glanced at the time. “I should change and head to the preschool,” she said, hopping up. “They get cranky if I’m late for story time.” Kai leaned back in his chair, smiling. “I’ll see you later, then.”

She pointed to him on her way out, eyes narrowed in mock threat. “Seven o’clock. Don’t come empty-handed.” “What should I bring?” “Laughter,” she said dramatically, tossing her braid over her shoulder. “And liquor.” He laughed. “Yes, Beta.”

The rest of the day rolled forward like all her new days did. She changed into jeans and a cozy sweater for the kids. She drove to the community center, read The Moon Chose You to fifteen wide-eyed pups, helped a nursery worker wipe sticky hands, then swung through the training grounds just long enough to reassure Brad that yes, she was still hosting game night and no, he could not “pre-roll” ahead of everyone else.

Between tasks, her phone buzzed again. Unknown. She stared at it longer this time. “What are you?” she muttered. She didn’t answer. She didn’t want another problem today. Not when things were finally good. Because they were good.

She had a job that mattered. A pack that loved her. An Alpha who trusted her enough to sleep in her bed when his heart was too heavy to carry alone. A grandmother close enough to hug whenever she missed home. A mother-in-spirit in Clara, checking in from wherever she and Kai’s father were traveling. Friends who asked her to read to their pups. Delinquents like Mitchell who wanted her at their football games. Warriors like Allen who made her laugh.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, Ace realized something. She hadn’t just joined Winter Moon. She’d woven herself into it.

At moments, she still got homesick. She still missed her mother’s kitchen and her father’s lectures and Aaron’s dumb arguments. She still missed Felix. But that ache didn’t get to decide her life anymore.

Not when a whole pack was relying on her, and a man with ice-blue eyes was willing to answer unknown calls for her at 7 a.m., and a group of wolves was waiting to drink her liquor and talk trash over game night. This was hers now. And she was going to show up for it.