The Beta’s Alpha Mate

Sixteen

Grayson’s POV

The next morning, Julien seemed fine, but didn’t say a word about talking to the others about us. I went back to my room to change, and he got ready in his own room. Everyone had decided to eat breakfast during the meeting, so I didn’t expect to talk to him alone again until later this afternoon.

In all of the craziness with Julien yesterday, I had yet to find an opportunity to talk to Daniel privately, either. Our meeting with Helix’s pack today was specifically about the rogue attacks and the Omega issue, though, and I couldn’t in good conscious allow such a big piece of information to stay secret. I needed to somehow identify him, without letting them know how I found out.

I was lost in my thoughts when I nearly walked into Julien, who was waiting for me outside the conference room.

“Oh, hey there,” I greeted him.

Smooth. Fang rolled his eyes.

Julien’s heart was racing; I could hear it from where I stood. He was nervous about something. Suddenly he took two steps toward me and wrapped me in a hug, burying his face against my neck. His breathing evened out, and I smiled a little bit at being able to calm him down so easily.

“Okay,” he said after a minute. “Now I’m ready.” And to my surprise, he took my hand and interlaced our fingers before leading me into the conference room. I tried to hurriedly fix my expression so I didn’t look completely blindsided. I realized Julien’s quietness this morning had just been nerves, not a change of heart. He was really going to tell our friends that we were mates. Now my heart was the one beating so loudly I was sure it might explode.

Almost everyone was already seated around the conference room table. I mostly kept my eyes on the floor as we entered, not wanting to embarrass Julien by grinning widely at everyone as we made our entrance. I snuck a furtive glance or two to see their reactions, which were varied.

Keely, who had just stopped by to drop off some document for Brea, was grinning like this was the best thing to ever personally happen to her. Brea was giggling at us, and Kade’s mouth was actually hanging open, while he stared daggers at both of us, too. Marcos and Cory looked mildly confused, but both smiled politely at us.

Meanwhile, Alpha Helix was smirking, as if he’d known all along. I mean, maybe he had - he’d seen Fang that night, and had seen plenty of Hunter while at Alpha training. I wondered if he saw who I chased after and decided it wasn’t his place to say anything. Then again, I was too preoccupied with looking into the crowd to even notice Julien had shifted near me, so it’s also possible Helix never gave our small group of friends a second glance that night.

“Well, well, well,” Helix said, holding back a laugh. “This is new.”

“With all due respect, Alpha,” Kade asked, bowing his head at Julien. He turned to me. “Since I can’t say this to him, Grayson, what the f**k is this? And why am I just now finding out with everyone else?”

Julien’s face flushed. He looked like he was regretting his decision to tell them anything, but I refused to let go of his hand at this point. We were in this together.

“Can we get our breakfast first and then explain?” I asked.

Keely was already prepared and waiting to hand me two mugs of coffee and two big plates of bacon and eggs. Goddess bless that girl. I thanked her and we sat down. She waved goodbye as she headed out to catch up with the others, who were going to explore the town and go on a run later.

I munched on a piece of bacon as I started to speak. “I got seriously injured in a rogue fight when I was younger, and it happened to be the weekend of Julien’s first shift. I was hospitalized that whole weekend, and then he was at Alpha training school for three years, so I had never seen his wolf before the night of the mate ball at Clear Lake,” I started. “And consequently, I didn’t recognize him.”

Julien smiled at me, squeezing my hand under the table before he took a turn speaking. “I never expected my mate to be someone from my own pack. I forgot Grayson wasn’t there when I first shifted. Plus, I’ve only ever dated women, so I was surprised when it clicked that he was my mate. I reacted poorly and just bolted. My plan was to take a few hours and get my thoughts in order before talking to him and accepting the bond. I didn’t anticipate him following me. Hunter, my wolf, wouldn’t stop yelling at me, so I blocked him entirely, along with everyone else. So I never saw or scented the rogues, and never got Grayson’s mindlinks for help. The next thing I did was run back to my room to think, and then I felt Grayson hook up with Bennett.”

I flinched slightly at the memory. I was so drunk, I’m not even sure I could have picked Bennett out of a lineup if he hadn’t stuck around for breakfast.

“The next morning, I planned to talk to Grays, but then I found out about the rogue attack, and Grayson hooked up with Bennett again, so I decided to postpone saying anything.”

I shook my head. “Of course, obviously we all know Juls would never leave someone to fight rogues alone, and I would never intentionally betray the mate bond and hurt him. So, that’s pretty much it. Except, please don’t tell anyone except your mates, yet. We need to be the ones to tell our pack, but as our closest friends and our closest allies, we wanted you all to know first.”

Kade was clenching his fists while Brea kept an hand on his shoulder. “I ought to kick both of your asses,” he growled. “You didn’t bother to tell me. And you put my mate at risk fighting those rogues.”

Julien bowed his head. “And I’m sorry, Kade. And to you as well, Helix and Brea. If I could go back in time, I’d certainly do it differently.”

“Friend, no need to apologize to me. I’m glad to hear we all found our mates that night after all. And of course, I’m happy that Grayson is mated to a well-intentioned asshole rather than a true nightmare of a wolf,” Helix joked. Julien rolled his eyes but smiled and seemed to relax a bit at that.

“Yeah, I’d fight those rogues again knowing all of the facts, Kade,” Briana chimed in. “They were coming across the border whether Grayson was there or not, better to fight them out there than in town. We got there in time to save his ass and that’s what matters.”

“Olivia and I would do it again as well,” Helix nodded.

Kade frowned. “I mean, it’s not like I wouldn’t help out again, too! But damn, guys, we’ve been best friends since we were pups, and you’re not even going to maybe pull me aside like, “Oh hey, turns out we were each others’ fated mates this whole time”?

“Ah, s**t. Sorry, Kade. I was just so worried about telling anyone at all. I didn’t think it through, but you should’ve been the first to know,” Julien muttered.

“Yeah, I should’ve known better, too. I’m sorry, man,” I added.

Kade nodded. “Okay. Well, as long as you know you were s**t friends, and you’ll be the last ones Brea and I tell when we have a pup as payback, then we’re all good. Congrats, guys!” He grinned.

Oh thank Goddess. Cory and Marcos, who had been quietly watching everything unfold, also congratulated us.

“One more thing, and then we can start. Kade, Grayson will obviously become my co-Alpha once the announcement is made. So, how would you feel about being my Beta? Brea, you too?”

“Yes! I would be honored, man.” Kade was grinning widely now, and so was Brea as she nodded and hugged Kade. It made sense to promote him. There was nothing in the rules that said Julian had to, and there was always a chance he would select someone else, but Kade deserved it. He was honestly better at running the pack in Julien’s absence than I was.

“Well, Red Oaks, now that we have settled all your private manners,” Helix chuckled. “Let’s discuss a plan.”

The meeting lasted all morning. Helix described the attack on their pack, which was similar to the attack on ours. A couple dozen rogues were spotted by a patroller; Helix, Cory and a dozen warriors rushed to the scene; and most rogues retreated quickly, although a couple were killed.

The one rogue they captured and tortured said they were searching for the Omega with magic-resistant blood, and the attacks would continue until they found him. He said whoever was behind the attacks has narrowed it down to male omega wolves within our two packs. Helix knew of a white witch we could call on, someone who did not perform dark magic. He trusted her discretion. He planned to have her test his pack members, then ours, to see which resisted the magic. A simple spell, something like temporarily adding a birthmark. A way we could identify the one unaffected. Then we could better protect them.

I sighed. It was time to expose Daniel. At least now that they knew about me and Julien, I didn’t have to lie about how I’d discovered the truth.

“There’s no need to do that. I accidentally found out who the Omega is,” I told them.

“And you didn’t want to lead the meeting with that?” Helix, Julian, Kade, and Cory all exclaimed the same sentence at the exact same time, in the same incredulous tone, which would have been funny - except I realized at that moment they were right. I had been stupid to keep everything a secret until I could confirm it with Daniel.

“I thought I needed to talk to the Omega first and confirm it, and he’s made himself inaccessible to me for a few days now. I’m 99% sure though,” I said, my explanation sounding weaker now that I was saying it out loud.

“Who is it, and how do you know?”

“Before I knew Julien was my mate, I was seeing an Omega in a friends with benefits situation,” I started.

I heard Julien and Kade both lowly mutter, “s**t,” next to me, but I kept talking.

“He’s always been somewhat cautious about how I touch him, which I now assume is because he knew about his gift. But a couple of nights ago, I bit him, and when I went to lick the wound to seal it, the taste of the blood made me almost delirious,” I explained. Julien growled from beside me, and I apologetically squeezed his hand.

“It was like being drunk but, so much more indulgent-feeling. I even clawed his chest to get more blood,” I recalled, closing my eyes as I remember the sensation. My eyes shot back open. “Oh s**t, I’m just now remembering I did that. It was like - an obsessive craving. I couldn’t stop. But then he pushed me away and left the room, and I was able to shake it off. I forgot about the craving part almost completely until just now. Anyway, I only knew he was the special Omega the next morning when Julien came downstairs to work with me. My wolf claimed him and said the mate curse no longer affected us, and I knew then.”

“Wait, you tried to vampire poor Daniel?” Kade asked incredulously. “Grayson.”

“I didn’t even remember it until just now!” I said, upset. No wonder Daniel was avoiding me. I remembered his pale, shaky arms shoving me to the ground. His face was so white; was it just fear, or was it that I… no, I didn’t want to think about the alternative.

“Daniel? Not as in Daniel, my mate’s brother who you brought with you?” Marcos interrupted.

“Yes, that one,” Julien said through clenched teeth. Oh s**t. He was pissed.

But nothing compared to the expressions on the faces of the three Moonstone pack members.

“Are you telling me my Luna is about to go for a run through the forest with the very Omega that the rogues are seeking, with only her normal contingent of guards, and you’re JUST NOW getting around to mentioning it?” Helix’s eyes flashed dangerously.

Goddess, what had I been thinking?

“s**t. Right. I’ll find them,” I said, running out of the room with Julien hot on my heels. I could hear the others not far behind. We all shifted, and I mindlinked Keely.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Um, the bakery in their town square. Why?”

I didn’t bother to answer, just changed directions and ran to the town area, skidding to a stop in front of the bakery before shifting and pulling on the clothes I’d been carrying in Fang’s mouth.

“Hey, you’re all fine!” I said happily, hugging Keely close to me.

“Weirdo, of course we are. These are pastries, not grenades or something,” she giggled. “What’s wrong?” Her face fell when she saw Cory and Helix taking hold of Daniel’s arms. “What are they doing?”

“He’s just gotta come back to the packhouse with us real quick, no big deal.” I promised.

Her frown deepened. “I’m coming, too. I think he’s going to need me.”