The Beta's Second Chance

Khason               “Eyes up! Keep your eyes-” Too late. I winced as the teenaged wolf crashed to the ground, the older wolf cackling with laughter as he stood over him. I glared at the wolf- Paris- disapprovingly and made my way through the groups of sparring wolves to their side. “You allowed yourself to become distracted.” I said to the young wolf as he picked himself up from the floor. “Always keep your eyes on your opponent, or you allow them the advantage.”               The wolf gave a small grumble of acknowledgment and I sighed, turning away. Two months. Two damn months I had been down in Summer Hunt, trying to train their teenaged pups into men, trying to give them a fighting chance at defending their lands. In those two months, we had been lucky. My patrols had managed to warn us ahead of time of three different invasions, and we had managed to head them off, beating them back in small skirmishes and avoiding all-out battles.               We had only the Mother to thank for that. It had allowed me some time to try and get their forces together. But things were still not going great. It would be much better if Alpha Stohn would allow his females to fight as well.               I was surprised that a pack so close to ours could have such different values. Stohn saw females as mates and mothers, meant to raise pups and keep households. Meanwhile, some of the strongest wolves I knew were females. They were more than capable of being impressive fighters, just as much as males. But I hadn’t come down here to change an Alpha’s entire way of ruling. That wasn’t my place. I had to work with what I had.               And what I had was a group of lanky, uncoordinated puppies, who were somehow supposed to face skilled, adult wolves and come out alive.               “Mother’s t*ts…” I muttered under my breath and hopped up on the small wall that surrounded the yard behind the pack’s training facility. I rolled my tense shoulders.               I was always tense. Either from constantly being on alert for attacks, or from training myself. Or from the never ending tension between me and the Alpha’s daughter.               Ivy. My second chance mate.               What a f*cking joke. I was beginning to believe the Moon Mother just hated my sorry ass.               For two f*cking months she had glared at me like I was mud on her shoe. Left the room when I entered. In meetings she completely ignored my existence, refusing to look my way or speak to me unless it was absolutely necessary.               This stupid bond drew me involuntarily to her. I’d look up and find her at the end of hallways I walked down, unsure of how I had gotten there. Or I’d suddenly end up behind her in the food line, gulping down breaths of her sweet, spicy scent as if it were life giving.               But then I just got to see her stiffen, body going rigid, and she’d snarl at me, before vanishing.               I lay across the wall, letting the late summer sun warm my body. It prickled over my bare torso and heated up the black fabric of my pants. I had to prop my foot up on the wall to hide the tent I was pitching though. It had become my near constant companion. Since the moment I met her. Since this all-encompassing need took over my life. I hadn’t had s*x with anyone since. Two months. It was the longest I’d ever gone. I breathed slowly, trying to stop thinking about her. Of course, that was completely impossible.               Fuuuuckkk fuckity-fuuck. If I had known this was the kind of torture Summer Hunt had in store for me, I never would have left Blood Moon.               “Alright, alright, enough for the day!” I hollered out, pressing the heels of my hands against my eyes. The sounds of sparring faded as the wolves halted, giving me their full attention. I wished I could do the same for them. I sat up. “Cubs! Five miles around the pack. Wolves, ten, unless you have a patrol shift tonight, then f**k off. Rest up tonight, boys.”               Many wolves shifted back to skin as they began to disperse. A small group of my wolves jogged over to me.               “Ten miles, bro?” Kennedy complained.               “Yeah, I already did five this morning!” Zac whined.               “Oh, did you?” I patted his shoulder. “Poor thing. Should you just do five with the pups then? The pups who did not come over here to b*tch and whine, but have already headed out to do what the f*ck I told them? Because maybe you could learn a thing or two.”               Grumbling under his breath, Zac exploded back into fur and loped off. Xavier nodded to me.               “You alright, man? You seem a little…”               “Hard up.” Kennedy finished, and Xavier snorted.               I rolled my eyes, jumped off the wall and headed for the pack house. “Go run, dickwads. If I ever need your shoulder to cry on, I’ll just…you know…jump off a cliff.”               Part of me was jealous as they headed off, chatting and laughing easily with each other. I hadn’t felt ease like that since we’d arrived here.               I jogged back to the pack house. I did my own ten mile runs in the mornings, when the air was cooler and there was no one around to bother me. My afternoons were far too busy for me to take that time now.               I loved all of the windows in the Summer Hunt pack house. It was a very modern mansion, everything white and clean, but more than half of the walls were glass, showing off views of the nearby beaches. It was so bright…so inviting.               Stohn had offered me a guest suite on the second floor of the house. It was kind of him. Most of my wolves shared houses on the lands. Only Gage, who I had appointed as my second in command while here, was also residing in the house with me. I reached my mind out to him now.               Gage, report?               His reply only took a few moments. Just got off of patrol, Beta. Nothing amiss, but one of the barricades in the forests was in need of repair. I assigned a few wolves to go attend to it, in case it was intentionally damaged.               I smiled. Gage was a very big help to me down here. I had every intention of recommending him for a promotion when we got home.               That’s great. I’m taking a quick shower.               I took the stairs three at a time, not paying much attention as I did. That is until my hair began to stand on end, and a feeling like a tug behind my navel urged me to continue up to the third floor. I paused on the second floor landing, gazing upwards.               I bounced with tension. I just wanted to go up there, to find her. I knew she was up there, I could sense it.               I forced myself to turn away, to walk to my room, go inside and shut the door. Even the cool breeze flowing in from my open balcony doors couldn’t soothe the sudden fiery heat under my skin.               I crossed the room to my ensuite bathroom, and started the shower, cold, as it typically was these days. I shoved my pants down and my straining erection sprang free, looking me in the eyes, as per usual. I exhaled in frustration.               She doesn’t want you, i***t… I told myself. Get over it and move on, before you lose your damn mind.               It would be easier if she would just reject me. But she refused to be near enough to even do that. It was cruel. It gave me stupid, nagging hope. Like one day she’d smile when she saw me instead of scowl. I wished she’d even explain why it was she hated me so much. But nope. That would require talking to me.               Maybe she had a boyfriend? I hadn’t seen her with anyone since I’d arrived here, had never scented another male on her. Then again, Ivy was incredibly private. I’d doubt I’d know if she were in a relationship.               The thought filled me with jealous rage. No one on Earth could ever love her better than I could. I was her mate for f*ck’s sake.               I stepped under the icy flow of the water, pressing my forehead against the tile wall and groaned my frustration out loud, as was my shower ritual.               I didn’t even want a mate. I was a broken male. I didn’t know how to love. Wasn’t even sure if I could again, after everything I’d been through. I’d never had any intention of having a second chance mate, or forming any kind of permanent relationship again. What I’d had with Nomi was…perfect. I couldn’t disrespect her memory by just riding off into the sunset with someone new.               And yet…               Unable to resist, I wrapped a hand around my aching c*ck. I squeezed it, and a picture of Ivy forming in my mind. When we had first arrived here, she had been greeted by her younger sister Faith, and it was the first time I had seen her smile. She only ever smiled around her. The sight of her smile had damn-near taken my breath away. And haunted my thoughts ever since. I imagined her smiling at me like that and began to stroke my d*ck. I thought about her sliding into the shower with me and wrapping her hand around my length, instead of mine. I imagined her small hands sliding over my body, kissing my chest, my lips. I imagined her naked body, wet and pressed against mine.               “f**k me, Khason,” she whispered in my illusion. “I love you…”               My body tensed and I groaned. Within seconds I was cumming, splattering the wall of the shower with my jizz. I would be embarrassed about my speed…if there was anyone else who could possibly know about it.               I watched the water rinse the evidence away, feeling no more satisfied than I had when I had stepped in. Indeed, my d*ck was still half hard, barely an edge taken off of the persistent need that was my constant companion.               With a snarl, I punched the wall in irritation, cracking several of the tiles. That only made me angrier because now I would have to explain what had happened.               I turned off the water, pushing my red locks out of my face. While I had had the sides and back cropped short, I had let the top continue to grow. I stepped out of the shower and dragged a comb through my hair, before braiding the top back along the centre of my head, and securing it into a messy knot at the apex of my skull. I needed a shave. The stubble on my face had almost grown long enough to classify as a beard. I blinked at my own silver eyes in the mirror. I had gotten used to them now, but every now and then I was still surprised when I glimpsed myself in a mirror, expecting to see the light brown they had been. Before I’d died.               Before Gaia had brought me back.               They’d asked me a million times what it had felt like. Dying? Hurt like f*ck. I had vicious nightmares, reliving the experience, more nights than I didn’t. Standing there, helpless, and feeling those jaws close around my neck, piercing, clamping down, and the visceral, tearing feeling as my throat was ripped out. My own blood pouring out, drenching me, so much…so fast…               Beyond that, there was only darkness, thick and dense, and suffocating and impenetrable, until I had woken up with Gaia and Dawson leaning over me. Feeling back to normal. Aside from still being soaked from head to toe in blood. I hadn't been able to stand being in complete darkness ever since.               I shuddered hard, gripping the edges of the sink, and tried to banish the memory. I splashed water on my face, pressing my hands against the raised scar that wove across my neck.               There was a knock on my bedroom door. And then another. Insistent and fast. I frowned.               “Just a sec!” I hollered, grabbing a towel to wrap around my waist and a hand towel to scrub my face dry. The knock came again as I moved through the room towards my door. Irritation filled me. What the hell could be so important? “Yeah, I’m coming! Calm your f*cking ti-”               I swung the door open and froze in shock. “…ts…”               It took Ivy a few moments to meet my eyes. Hers travelled down my dripping torso, widening at my abs and pausing where the towel tented out by my (getting harder by the second) d*ck. I felt like I could barely breathe. I gripped the doorframe to keep from grabbing her and taking her right there in the hallway.               She had to be doing this on purpose. She was wearing nothing more than a sports bra and skin-tight leggings, showing off her every curve, every line of muscle. My eyes dropped automatically to the swell of her breasts, exposed by the V-neck of her bra. Her tight, toned stomach, abs visible through her tan skin. I could even make out the slight protrusion of her hip bones just above the waistline of her practically painted on pants. My mouth watered.               She wanted me too, right? She had too. She was practically eye-f*cking me, unable to keep from exploring every inch of my exposed skin. My d*ck throbbed, bouncing against the fabric of the towel as she slowly sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. I caught the scent of her arousal and my claws dug into the wood as I barely managed to keep myself in place.               Ivy…               She blinked and her dark eyes snapped up to mine. Despite the scowl she threw on, I could still see the lingering desire in them, still smell the sweet scent of the wetness between her thighs. Let me help…let me touch you…               She cleared her throat sharply. “Meeting. My father’s office. Now.”               That was why she was here? After not speaking a word to me in weeks? Couldn’t he have sent a messenger?               “Is…” I tried desperately to focus my mind on the words she had spoken in her smooth, quiet voice, instead of the way the sound of it made my heart pound, or the way her scent overwhelmed my senses, or the fact that her proximity had caused essentially every function of my brain to grind to a halt. Even standing across the hall, leaning against the wall beside the door to Gage’s room, she was closer to me than she had allowed herself to be since the moment we had first met at Dawson and Gaia’s commitment ceremony. “Is everything alright?”               “There’s been another attack. Eastern boarder. Father is giving a debrief. Ten minutes.” She swallowed hard, her eyes raking down my body and back up again before she turned swiftly on her heel, heading back down the hall, giving me a view of her incredible ass.               “Ivy, hang on a second!” I called but she did not look back, vanishing around the corner. I growled with frustration and forced myself to step back into my room and close the door. I wondered if I could get a punching bag in here. I desperately needed to hit something.               Why won’t she just reject me? The idea made my heart drop into my stomach. Clearly, she wanted me too. But she wouldn’t let herself. And wouldn’t tell me why. Nor would she set me free from this torture called the mating bond.               You could always reject her… I reminded myself. And yet…I couldn’t. I wanted to and…I didn’t. F*ck, I didn’t know what I wanted. Well, yes. I wanted a good lay. But no other she-wolf had even made my c*ck twitch. Not since I had locked eyes on her.               Refocusing, I went over to my closet and dragged on a pair of black jeans and a black Henley, pushing the sleeves up to my elbows. I dropped my bloodstone wolf necklace over my head, tucking it into my shirt, slipped on my boots and headed down to Alpha Stohn’s office, mind linking Gage on the way to meet me there.               The office was so clean and immaculate, it was a wonder that it was used as much as it was. Alpha Stohn was a very particular man, and his office reflected that perfectly. Everything was white. White marble desk, long white board table, white carpets. In the back half of the room, his desk sat in front of a modern-looking fire feature, surrounded by a wall of floor to ceiling white marble. Built in bookshelves and display cases framed either side of that, and then massive windows on either side of those.               You entered the office under a balcony, actually. Near the door, a spiral staircase led the way to an upper level where he had a small personal library. It was assumed that the area was off limits…               Gage met me outside the open doors. He bumped his fist against mine and then we stepped in.               Stohn, his Beta, two other wolves, and Ivy stood around the board room table already. No one seemed to ever actually sit at this table. In fact, every one of them was standing in completely still silence, staring down at the map laid out across the table. Small flag pins in different colours indicated places like barricades, patrol paths, sites of past attacks, etc.               As we entered, Stohn glanced up, his eyes darting from mine to Gage’s then back. He was a smaller man, but every bit as intimidating as any other Alpha I'd met. We took our places around the table. I longed to stand close to Ivy but, as usual, she positioned herself beside her father, separated by another wolf. And I knew from experience that if I got too close, she would move away.               Stohn picked up a red pin and sank it into the map, along the eastern edge of the Summer Hunt territory line. Only the rigidity in his body revealed his anger. He was not a man of many words…nor was he a man who ever really looked anything other than disapproving. It was obvious what made him an intimidating leader. A trait his daughter had definitely inherited, along with his tanned, golden skin, and slanted dark eyes. I tried to catch her eye as we stood there, but she gazed intently down at the map, hands clasped behind her back. She had donned a tight black sweater, which was zipped up completely, covering her body.               “Report.” Stohn said quietly, still looking down at the map and I returned my attention to the matter at hand.               Apparently, the wolf he was speaking to was aware that he was the one who was supposed to ‘report’. I turned to face the wolf, likely a patrol leader. Young though. Too young.               “Approximately six o'clock, during the shift change of patrol, as we were giving debrief to our relieving team, one of my scouts caught the scent of unfamiliars, Alpha. We returned to the boarder immediately and found a group of wolves, ten of them, had penetrated the boarder, with a trajectory towards the town. We intercepted them and fought them back. We managed to kill four and injure two. The other four retreated, assisting their injured. The bodies have been burned over the line of Summer Hunt Territory, and patrol has resumed.”               “Losses,” Stohn commanded quietly. The wolf hesitated, looking worried. Stohn, ever so slowly, raised his eyes to fix on the young wolf, who practically trembled under his stare. It was more than clear that he wouldn’t be repeating his request.               “W-we…suffered…um…” he cleared his throat, dropping his eyes to the floor. “Uh…n-nine losses, Alpha...”               Sweet Mother’s holy ass on a cracker… I pinched the bridge of my nose in dismay. Nine? Nine freaking wolves lost in one damn skirmish? This pack was hemorrhaging lives.               Stohn stared at the wolf, unmoving, for about ninety seconds straight. “Nine. Nine wolves. We killed four of their ten. And out of two patrol squads, twenty-four wolves…they killed nine.”               It was completely humiliating. Such an intense loss when they had outnumbered the invaders by more than double…this was bad. Getting worse by the day. I rested my chin in my hand, arms crossed over my chest. s**t.               The poor wolf could not do more than nod, shivering with trepidation.               Stohn exhaled sharply and looked at me. “Training report.”               I shrugged, sighing. “Going fine, Alpha. There’s just not enough of them. I could train every last one to be an expert fighter, but the bottom line is, they are just too young and too few. The Crescent pack will be coming to the same conclusion that we are…their fighters vastly outnumber ours, and they are all older and more experienced. If they chose to engage us in an all-out war…” I didn’t need to finish the sentence. We all knew what the outcome would be.               “So, what do you need?” Stohn did not look shaken in the slightest by my ominous prognosis.               What did I need? A f*cking miracle. Or a time machine. But I had learned quickly in the last two months that Stohn was not the type of man who appreciated humor, much less the sarcastic kind. Particularly not in serious situations.               Yes, indeed, my funny bone was drying up and shriveling to nothing in this place.               “Simply put? More fighters. We need more bodies. Alpha…I know we have discussed this before, but this situation is becoming dire. If you would allow me to train your females, allow them to fight as well-”               “No.” He said dismissively, his voice as calm and quiet as ever. He returned his eyes to the map, as if nothing I’d said had affected his plans in the slightest. Anger boiled up in my chest.               “Alpha, with respect. Please see reason! You have hundreds of capable, adult females within your pack, many of whom already train independently. It would take just days to get them prepared to fight and we could triple our forces, not just with eager puppies, but with mature, skilled, adult fighters! If you’d just-”               “We retreat from the eastern boarder.” He spoke as if I hadn’t been saying anything at all.               My mouth dropped open. The other wolves stilled in shock. Even Ivy’s eyes snapped up to stare in alarm at her father.               “We…what?” I hissed.               He raised his eyes again, looking at his Beta. “Inform all patrollers. We retreat, relocating the eastern border to here.” He picked up a pen, leaning over the map and drawing a line through his territory. I gaped. He was ceding miles of his lands. Willingly!               I gave a laugh of astonishment. “You can’t be serious.”               “Father,” Even now, the sound of Ivy’s voice made my pulse pick up. She infrequently spoke during these meetings, but I cherished every careful, calculated word. “What of the farmers and pack members living on those lands?”               “Relocate them. Bring them further within our lands. They are too remote in any case, subject to attack.”               “What of their lands? Their homes? We would abandon them to be razed and taken over by Crescent?”               “We'll be giving them exactly what they want!” I leaned over the table desperately. “Showing them that if they attack, we’ll just give them the territory! It will only make them come at us harder!”               “Father, much of our food comes from those farms.” Ivy pressed, her voice only slightly displaying her worry. “Our goods…how will we feed our wolves-”               “Beta Khason.” Stohn met my eyes. “Would Alpha Dawson be open to an increased trade deal?”               I frowned. Probably. But what the hell would they be trading with? They didn’t have anything. Dawson was kind, and wanted to help out Summer Hunt, but he had already given them me, along with some of his strongest fighters. I doubted he would be amenable to giving them handouts as well.               I chose my words carefully. “If he believed that the deal would benefit Blood Moon as well as Summer Hunt…then yes.” Ivy’s eyes shifted to me, and I automatically met them. She so rarely looked at me. But I knew she had caught my meaning. Dawson would not be offering to feed and clothe Summer Hunt out of just the kindness of his heart. He had to put Blood Moon first.               Stohn shifted then. He turned and moved behind his desk, sliding a panel on it out of the way to reveal a small, intricate puzzle of sliding wooden tiles. He shifted the tiles in a long and complicated pattern, before pressing his palm over the entirety of the piece.               A before unseen panel of marble slid out of the way above the fireplace, revealing a large black safe. He turned, blocking the safe from view as he punched in a series of numbers.               Paranoid much? Gage scoffed into my brain. Who does he think is trying to steal his s**t?               I wouldn’t even want to guess. I mused back as Stohn swung the safe open and then shut it, returning to the table. To my utter astonishment, he set three solid gold bars on the table, sliding them towards me.               I simply blinked in astonishment. Ivy, on the other hand, went rigid, her beautiful face contorted with rage. “Father…you cannot…” she breathed.               “We would be willing to pay for a supply of food and provisions. If Blood Moon is indeed our ally.”                            I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. While Stohn had utilized me and my wolves as much as possible, he had constantly made hints and jabs about whether or not we could be trusted, or Blood Moon were actually allies of Summer Hunt. It was ridiculous. I would not, could not be manipulated. I was here until my job was done, or my Alpha decided to ask me to return.               “I will convey your request to my Alpha.” I tried my hardest not to snarl. "Father," Ivy tried again. "Those are Mother's from her inheritance, you cannot simply-"               “Good." Stohn did not so much as look at his eldest child as she fell silent. "In the meantime, we will double our training schedule. Beta Khason, instead of training half of the recruits in the morning, and half in the afternoon, you will instead train all of them, twice each day, three hour sessions. We need to expedite their progress.”               I clenched my fists in irritation. I was as much of a believer in hard work as anyone, but six hours of training every day was pushing it. Not to mention, every able-bodied adult male Summer Hunt could spare was running patrols. Did he expect me to train all of those wolves by myself? Not only would they still end up shitty fighters, but I would drop dead. Again.               “Six hours a day, training eighty wolves at once, by myself?” I said through gritted teeth. “I am an incredibly self-confident person, but I’m pretty sure that falls beyond my means. Are you willing to sacrifice another fighter to help me?”               Gage perked up.               Not you. I snapped into his mind. If I’m gonna be stuck in that training facility six hours a day, I need eyes and ears on the rest of this pack. Just in case Stohn decides to stab me in my sleep.               “My daughter will assist you.” Stohn said matter-of-factly, and I’m pretty sure we both looked at him with identically astonished expressions.               “What?” I asked eloquently.               “Father…no, I cannot. I have other duties to attend to. I am assisting you-”               “You will assist me, by doing as I say, Ivy.” Stohn finally fixed his hard eyes on his daughter, not an ounce of sympathy in them.               Ivy looked crushed. “But…father…”               “You are always telling what a capable fighter you believe you are. Now you may prove it. By training a new generation of wolves that will save and protect our pack. A noble task. And Beta Khason. You are constantly asking for females in your training ring. Now you have one.”               “Really not what I meant…” I muttered.               “It is decided.” He inclined his head sharply and turned away from the table. I think everyone understood that as a dismissal. I waited politely near the door, letting Ivy leave first. As she did, her eyes flicked up to mine, her glare ferocious enough to make me falter a step.               Hmm. Gage chuckled into my head as he slipped by, clapping my shoulder sympathetically. Looks like you don’t have to worry about Stohn killing you in your sleep. His daughter will beat him to it.