Chapter 2 – Cracks in the Perfect Beta
1277 Words
The moment the heavy doors swung shut behind us, the noise of the hall cut off like a blade.
We were in the Alpha’s private council room—stone walls, a long table scarred by years of strategy meetings, the faint smell of old maps and ink. My parents, Alpha Rylan, Serapha, Lucien, and Eryx. No one else.
I’d never felt more outnumbered in my life.
Rylan Frostclaw stood at the head of the table, broad shoulders tense beneath his dark shirt. His steel-grey eyes swept over me, over Eryx at my side, over the contract still clutched in Serapha’s hand.
“What,” he said quietly, “was that, Lyris?”
My mouth was dry. “Me not signing something I haven’t read.”
“In front of the entire pack,” Serapha added, her voice smooth as cream, but sharp underneath. “On your engagement night. You embarrassed your Alpha, your parents, and your mate.”
Mate. The word scraped.
“I embarrassed the idea that I should hand over my entire future with no questions,” I shot back, before fear could clamp down on my tongue again. “Maybe that needed a little embarrassment.”
“Lyris.” My father’s voice was rough. He stepped forward, lines of fatigue etched deep into his face. “Little wolf, no one is asking you to give up yourself. These contracts are standard. We all signed them.”
“Did you?” I asked. “Did you read every clause, Father? Or did you trust because Serapha said it was for the good of the pack?”
His jaw tightened. Silence.
Beside him, my mother’s fingers twisted in her shawl. “Lyris, sweetheart, this isn’t like you. You love this pack. Eryx loves you. Why are you—”
“Because something is wrong,” I snapped, then flinched at the way she recoiled.
Good. Let them flinch. Let them feel even a fraction of what I felt when my lungs filled with smoke and no one came.
Eryx finally stepped away from my side, hands lifted in placating surrender.
“Everyone, just… breathe,” he said, wearing his gentlest healer smile. The one that made nervous patients relax. “Lyris is under strain. Beta training, patrols, tonight’s ceremony. We’ve all seen how hard she’s been pushing herself.”
He turned to me, eyes soft, voice for my ears alone. “You don’t have to be perfect, Ly. We can go over the contract together. In private. When you’re calmer.”
Like I was a child mid-tantrum.
“I’m calm,” I lied. “I just don’t want to sign my life away in front of a hundred witnesses like it’s nothing.”
Lucien Starvale leaned one hip against the table, watching me with faint, feline interest. “You have a particular clause in mind that troubles you,” he said, as if we were chatting over tea. “Or is this a general distaste for ink and parchment?”
I met his gaze. “Why does my medical power of attorney go straight to Eryx instead of splitting between my parents and the Alpha, as it did in previous Beta contracts?”
A flicker, there—a twitch at the corner of his mouth. Serapha’s eyes narrowed.
“I skimmed it,” I lied again, though the words had burned into my brain in that other life, when it was too late. “Seemed… updated.”
Serapha’s smile sharpened. “Times change. Responsibilities change. Eryx is your chosen partner and the pack’s healer. It is logical he be empowered to make decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated.”
Like when a medical wing collapses on my head.
My wolf snarled in my chest.
“And the section about transferring my Beta shares to a ‘temporary trustee’ should I be declared mentally unfit?” I pressed, my hands digging crescents into my palms. “That’s new too, isn’t it?”
Mother’s eyes widened. Father’s gaze snapped to the contract. Rylan’s brows drew together.
“Serapha?” the Alpha asked softly.
“Minor adjustments,” she said smoothly. “Protective measures in unstable times. There is nothing sinister in ensuring the pack has continuity of leadership if tragedy strikes.”
“If tragedy strikes me,” I said, “you mean.”
Eryx’s mask slipped, just for a heartbeat. A flash of annoyance, quickly smoothed.
“Lyris,” he murmured, stepping closer. “You’re twisting this. You know I would never—”
“Wouldn’t you?” The words burst out, sharp and shaking. “Because somehow all these ‘protective clauses’ only ever consolidate power in your hands.”
His jaw clenched. The room seemed to tilt.
Rylan lifted a hand. “Enough. We’re not tearing each other apart over paperwork. Lyris, you will sign the contract—”
“No,” I said again.
It came easier this time.
Silence crashed down.
Rylan’s eyes hardened. “You are my future Beta. Your position requires sacrifice. Trust. Obedience when it counts.”
Obedience. The word tasted like ash.
“I will obey the laws that protect this pack,” I said, heat burning behind my eyes. “I will not obey a piece of paper that hands my life and my father’s legacy to anyone without question. Not even to my ‘mate.’”
Eryx flinched at the way I carved the word.
“You question my intentions?” he asked softly. “After everything?”
I thought of the bitter taste in Father’s tea. His trembling hands. The calm in Eryx’s eyes as the ceiling came down.
“Every single one,” I said.
For a moment, the room seemed to go out of focus. Then Serapha exhaled, a patient, disappointed sound.
“The Moon tests us in many ways,” she murmured. “Fear can make even the bravest hearts doubt what is good for them. Alpha, may I suggest a simple, gentle rite of clarity? For Lyris. To ease her mind.”
My skin crawled. I knew that “gentle rite.” I remembered the smoky herbs, the whispered words, the way my thoughts had gone sluggish and easy to steer.
“No,” I said for the third time, my voice hoarse. “No more rites. No more ‘clarity.’ I’m not sick. I’m not crazy. I’m seeing clearly for the first time.”
Mother’s eyes were damp. “Lyris…”
My father looked at me for a long, long moment. The tremor in his hand was worse. His voice, when it came, was quiet.
“Maybe she is,” he said.
All eyes swung to him.
Rylan’s brows shot up. “Darius—”
“My daughter has never refused me lightly,” he went on. “If she feels something is wrong, we would be fools not to at least read what we’re putting in front of her.”
Serapha’s smile cracked.
Lucien chuckled, low. “How terribly inconvenient of your Beta to do his job,” he murmured.
Rylan blew out a slow breath, then nodded once.
“Very well,” he said. “No signing tonight. We will reconvene tomorrow. Privately. With every line of this contract examined.”
His gaze pinned me. “And you, Lyris, will sleep. You will clear your head. Because if this is about more than ink and fear… we will find out.”
A chill skated down my spine.
They thought they had time.
They thought tomorrow would belong to them.
But I remembered the taste of smoke, and I had no intention of dying on their schedule again.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD