The Beta's Choice

The Invitation

Clark was looking over the papers and sighed, running a hand through his hair. He had taken over as alpha of the Red River Pack five years ago when his parents decided they needed to retire and take a break. He wasn’t sure he was ready, but at least they weren’t on him about finding a mate and having pups like his friends' parents. The Red River Pack was one of the largest in the territory and that hadn’t happened by accident. His father had worked hard to make this a pack to be proud of. Allowing all to train and try out for warrior positions. He wanted wolves to have a chance to earn their place, which included Omegas. As a pack, they ended up with plenty of Deltas, Gammas, and even some Epsilons. A few made it as far as Beta, though not Pack Beta. The fact that they had the fewest Omegas by percentage than any other pack was not a hindrance. Instead of using Omegas as a workforce, they preferred for their wolves to follow their passions. It might mean that a few jobs were not as well-liked, but if nothing else, people were happy with their work and it showed. No one ate as well when the kitchen was full of wolves who loved to cook!

A smile tugged at his lips as he looked out the window at the juveniles running laps during training. They obviously made a comment that the warrior in charge didn’t like it because he was running them into the ground. The pups would learn, he shook his head. There was a knock at his office door and he looked up, calling him in. He knew it was his Beta, he had called him for a meeting that morning. His Beta was a perfect compliment to his Alpha in almost every way. While Clark could be hot-headed and wanted to take action before thinking, Lance was quiet and took everything in, taking time to think things through. Clark was tan with sandy blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Lance, on the other hand, had thick dark hair and he did not tan, ever. His eyes were bright emerald green and darkened to what could almost be black when upset. Not that many saw him upset, he very much just took things as they came. He gave a head nod to Clark as a way of greeting and sat in the chair across from him.

“What’s up, Alpha?”

Clark narrowed his eyes at Lance, who couldn’t help the twitch at his lips as he tried not to smile. Clark knew he did it to get a rise out of him. Only in official matters did they use titles. Finally, a snicker escaped and Clark shook his head.

“I swear, everyone thinks you are so calm, cool, and collected, but it’s only because you are always poking at the rest of us,” Clark added with a fake frown pulling at his features.

“Okay, I apologize. I figured it couldn’t be too serious since you only called me, Clark.”

Clark nodded, “It’s not too serious, we just got an invitation to a Mating Ball at another pack.”

Lance leaned forward and reached for the invitation Clark was handing him. He read it over and a single eyebrow lifted as he looked back up at his friend. The truth was they had all grown up together, the Alpha Team had been the sons of the previous team, they were more family than anything. “This is from Blood Moon.”

Clark nodded and leaned back. “And we aren’t the only ones. Every pack in the territory got one.”

Lance put the invitation back on his desk. “They haven’t had a Mating Ball open for other packs for as long as I can remember. Do you think it’s a trap?”

The Beta’s job was to keep his Alpha safe, so even though neither had found their gifted mates, he was more worried about a problem in the Blood Moon Pack. Clark gave him a crooked smile and he knew that he had already looked into it himself.

“Their Alpha is new, just took over from his father, and wants to change things. Called me personally to ask if we would come. He was hoping to make some allies and possibly use this to get to know the other packs.” They knew that meeting a new Alpha was usually an introduction, but the Blood Moon Pack didn’t even have a public ceremony. There were no current alliances, so no other packs were invited to meet him. To be honest, most packs just forgot they were even part of the territory. If they hadn’t been situated in a valley that was nearly impossible to enter without alerting the pack, others would probably have tried to take them over by now.

Lance gave him a considering look and then nodded. “All right, I’ll bite.”

Clark looked confused, “What?”

Lance sighed, “You have a plan. If you didn’t, you would have simply announced the invitation to all ranked wolves, which are quite a few. I don’t think they could take all of our ranked wolves and other packs as well.”

Clark laughed, Lance definitely knew him. “I told him just that. When he heard how many ranked wolves we had, he asked how and was silent for two minutes straight. Then he yelled out, ‘We can do that??’ Anyway, he is only inviting Alpha Teams of each pack. It’s the first time they have done this, so he is keeping it as small as possible.”

Lance nodded along and when Clark finished he crossed his arms over his chest. Lance was leaner than Clark, who was so muscled up that there was no such thing as a loose-fitting shirt. Lance wasn’t weak by any means, but his muscles were leaner, with long arms and legs, he was sleek, and crossing his arms just showed off that look. “And?”

“And they want to make allies, and I think it’s a good idea. He also has younger siblings, a brother, and a sister, that haven’t found their mates yet. He is hoping that if they do, they can make an alliance.” Clark started twirling his pen in his hand, between his fingers and over the knuckles back and forth. A trick he perfected in high school because he thought it made him look cool.

Lance laughed this time, “Are you hoping to sweep the young she-wolf off her feet then?”

Clark shrugged, “Neither of us is mated, we are nearing thirty. I’m fine with a chosen mate if she makes a good Luna. What about you?”

Lance shrugged, it was an uncomfortable look away that made Clark furrow his brow. His friend never really discussed the possibility of a Goddess-gifted mate. He realized whenever they talked about it, he stayed quiet, or teased one of them, but never spoke about his own hopes in that regard. “I was actually thinking the same. About a chosen mate I mean. With dad being gone, all mom wants is grand pups.”

Clark looked down and felt like a heel. Of course, he was uncomfortable, his dad had been gone almost a year and it had hit all of them hard. His father had been a good Beta to Clark’s father, and a good man overall. He had died in a fight with rogues and that he didn’t get to see his son mated and with pups of his own must have been what made it all uncomfortable for Lance. Clark cleared his throat in hopes of making it easier on his friend. “Well, maybe I’ll give you first crack then. Bound to be other alpha and beta-blooded she-wolves at the ball. I might just want to play the field a bit myself.” He added with a wink.

Lance smiled, happy to have the subject of mates turned off of him for a bit. “All right then, I guess we will tell the team and get ready. The next full moon is in two weeks.” He got up from the chair and headed off to find the rest of the team, but he felt this tightness in his chest. He would love to have a Goddess-gifted mate, but his worry was what would happen then? What she-wolf would be comfortable with a mate that was interested in men as well as women? And how would he explain it to his friends when he had carefully hidden that part of himself for so long? He shook his head as if to clear it. It didn’t matter, he had hidden it all this time for a reason and he had been fine. Getting mated and having pups was just what all wolves did, and he would do it too. After all, what other options were really open to him?