A Beta Before An Alpha
Chapter 12

Zac's Point of View Her hand is on her chest, and when she sees him, she lets out a sigh of relief and starts chuckling but doesn’t remove he hand from her chest. I instantly feel myself calm down. Shes obviously not afraid of this guy. I just realized in the split second that I saw her afraid; I had moved to only a few feet away from her. I guess my body was ready to protect her, ever though my brain had no idea what was going on. “Julien, you scared the crap out of me," she laughs. “Didn't recognize my voice?” he asks, with a chuckle, and walks towards her. “No, I was distracted, and no one calls me Lo here,” she admits, as she leans against the bar for a second to catch her breath. When he gets closer, she moves to him comfortably and opens her arms to him. “What are you doing here?” She asks lovingly, with a big smile. “l wanted to make sure you were okay” he says while holding her in a hug. WHAT THE F**k? She smiles and looks up at hir “I tell you every day when you call that I'm fine." “Lo, 1 know you well enough to know you wouldn't tell me even if you weren't fine. I needed to see for myself!” he says. She steps back, “I'm really good. You didn’t have to come all this way. It's good to see you though, I missed you," she smil Who the f**k is this guy? “Lauren?” I say, staring daggers into this... Julien. “Oh, Zac," she smiles. “This is Julien, my brother. Julien, this is Zac," she smirks, obviously aware of my jealousy. I feel relief wash over me. Than! Moon Goddess, I didn't rip his head off right away; that would have created some real problems for our relationship. “I see you have a bodyguard, two actually. The older lady tried to scare me off too. I thought I had the wrong place for a minute,” her brother smiles. Loud banging starts coming from the back. “Oh, that's the food order,” she says, panicked. She opens the bar fridge and grabs a Budweiser and a Carona. She pops both lids and hands us a beer. “Please be nice to each other,” she says with pleading eyes. I smile and nod. Then she heads to the back to accept the order. Her brother and I chat, and he seems like a decent guy. I can tell they are close. Soon he starts pressing me about what type of relationship we have. Are we friends? More? We barely figured out what we are, and I don't want to speak for Lauren. Thankfully, his phone starts ringing in front of him. Saved by the bell - Or more like ringtone. I see it says “ALPHA “Fk,” he mutters under his breath and clicks ignore, then pulls back a large swig of his beer. A few minutes later, “Alpha’ calling again. He rubs his face and then quickly clicks ignore again. “You can get that, you know?" I say, not sure if he's ignoring it because of me. He nods with a tight smile. Soon Lauren comes out, finished with her order. “Both still alive; that's a good sign” Lauren smiles. Then Julien’s phone starts ringing again. julien turns his phone around to show Lauren, and she looks worried. She nibble on her lower lip, and her brows scrunch together. Her eyes bounce between me, julien and the phone. “He keeps calling,” Julien says quietly, almost just for her. “Answer it then,” she frowns. She looks to me and puts her finger to her lips, motioning to be quiet. “Alpha! What's up?” Julien says as he answers the phone. [pauses] He rubs his face, and puts his phone down and presses speakerphone. julien: “I told you I don’t know where she is." [Lauren is covering her whole face with her hands, with her elbows leaning on the bar] Alpha: Well, where the f**k are you then? [Lauren lowers her hands a little to see him, eyes wide, and she shakes her head at him] julien: I told you, I wanted to go and visit Sadie. I've missed her. We're friends too. Alpha: I know what you said, but Sadie is at the packhouse for the weekend. So you want to tell me where the f**k you actually are. Lying to your Alpha? Not a good start. You're with her, aren't you? julien: I'm not with her. I swear to you and the Moon Goddess. I am looking for her, though. I haven't heard from her in a week, and I'm worried about her. I left to see if I could find her. I'm checking places that we visited or talked about visitin No sign from her yet. I didn’t know if you would let me go, but she’s my sister, and I love her. I'm worried. Alpha: Where are you now? julien: I stopped at someplace in the middle of nowhere for a piss. I don't even know the name of the place. I'm going to get a bite to eat and head out... But why do you even care? Alpha: I felt something earlier. I think she’s with someone else. A man. [Julien looks between both of us. She looks even more upset now or maybe scared.] julien: Alpha, maybe you should accept her rejection? Move on. This is what you wanted. [ Rejection? Does she have a mate? An Alpha mate? And she rejected him? My head is spinning, and the thought of her belonging to someone else does not sit well with me. Not one f*****g bit] Alpha: I AM YOUR ALPHAIl YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, DO YOU HEAR ME? julien: Yes, Alpha. 1 apologize. [He says through ritted teeth] Alpha: You find her. You tell me. You got that? She's still MINE. julien: Yes. If 1 find her, should I tell her you changed your mind about Blair? [Who the hell is Blair?] Alpha: Don't tell her anything. Blair is none of her concern. julien: Okay. Alpha: I want daily status reports. Julien: Yes, Alpha. CLICK. julien is rubbing his face. “You swore to Moon Goddess?” Lauren says quietly. “I don't care. I just want you safe” he sighs. “What the hell is going on?" I ask harshly. “That was Lauren's Mate, our... or I guess... my Alpha, now," Julien responds. So I did hear that right. “I rejected him. I didn’t want you to find out this way. This is why I wanted to wait a week until the next full moon so that the mate bond would be completely broken. I'm sorry," she says, both her tone and her face is pleading for forgiveness. I hate to see her upset; it hurts me. I jump off my stool and move behind the bar to her. I pull her into my arms and rub he back. “It's okay. I get it," I reassure her. “50 he did feel you with someone?” Julien asks, one brow raised. “We just kissed,” Lauren responds. “This is weird as f**k, Lauren. This isn't like you. Are you okay? Are you .. losing it because of Nathan?” He asks. “NO! I'm fine," she says sharply, and she looks disgusted by that accusation. “You won't understand. I don’t even understand, honestly. I don’t know what it is about Zac... I can't even fully describe it." “Try” he pushes. “Well, 'm more... attracted to Zac than anyone ever before, even Nathan. I might have felt that intense mate bond pull to Nathan, but it was different. With Nathan, he never said one word to me until he found out we were mates, and after that he was only ever cruel to me. He took pleasure in hurting me. I started hating him quickly; you know that. It was like my body had a pull towards him, but my head hated him. When I rejected him, the physical pull was gone too. The further I g away from him, the less I felt anything towards him. I'm even sleeping again too. Aside from the chest pains I sometimes get, which I'm guessing is him screwing Blair, I feel nothing. Even that doesn't bother me. With Zac...” she pauses, looking up, making eye contact with me for a second. I see a light tint of pink forming on her cheeks. I smile, and then she looks back to her brother and continues, “I'm very physically attracted to him, and also to him. His personality. All of me wants him. All of him, and I can't stop thinking about him,” she admits to her brother. Hearing her very honest description of her feelings for me has me feeling all sorts of giddy. Yes. Giddy. Suddenly, it's as if everything f in my mind. She's my woman, and even if we're not mated, we have something special. “Really?” I ask, and she smiles and nods. “And I've never felt an attraction and pull to someone like I do to you; I can't stop thinking about you either. I feel like I'm going crazy sometimes. I have always said I'd wait for my mate, but I'm willing to walk away from my fated mate for you. ¥ consume me,” I admit. She smiles so broadly and pulls me closer, resting her head on my chest. “Maybe you're her second chance mate?” Julien asks. Lauren pulls away and looks at me. “Do you think that's possible?” She asks, wide-eyed. I think about it for a second. “Actually, I do think it is possible. I've felt very possessive of you since the first time I saw you, and I actually thought you were my mate at first because of the way I was so drawn to you, but when I touched you there were no sparks.” “Really?” She beams, and I nod. “Well, you'll find out in a week, after the full moon,” julien says. I hear the door close, and I look behind me. “Oh, 1 forgot I even ordered food,” I chuckle. “You ordered all that?” Lauren asks, looking at the man with four bags of food. “I didn't know what you liked,” I admit as I let go of her and go to the delivery guy. I pay him, and he puts the food on the table. “I hope you guys are hungry, I chuckle. Lauren grabs the plates and cutlery, and Julien and I take everything out of the bags and open it up. I sit next to Lauren ir the booth, and Julien sits across from us. I'm always hungry, but right now, 'm not thinking about food. I just want to be alone with Lauren. I feel like we've moved past so many barriers. I just want to hold her, kiss her, and talk about so much with her. I feel like she very well might be my fated mate, and that brings me so much peace and joy. I can tell it does for her too. What a day! Lunch was good, and so was the company. I got to know Julien better, and 1 learned more about Lauren too. They seem close, and I'm glad we're getting along so well. Julien receives a call, and excuses himself, and goes outside. I take the opportunity to lean into Lauren and kiss her temple. “What if you're not my second chance mate?” She blurts out. “I don't care; I'd still choose you,” 1 reassure her. “I've just been on the other side of it. Having a mate that didn't want me, that wanted someone else. I would hate to have part in hurting someone else like that,” she explains. “But look at you now; you're happy without Nathan,” I point out, and she agrees. “I suppose. It would have been a lot easier if he would have just rejected me instead of wanting to hurt me repeatedly.” “He was a fool to let you go, and I hate the way he hurt you, but 'm happy you're here with me today." “Me too," she smiles. “should we be cautious and take this whole thing slow? At least till next week? I don't want you to feel any sort of pressu It's a big step if we're not mates. I don't want to ... give myself to someone if they don't want the same things I do” she says, and she’s searching my eyes, looking for answers. Hearing her talk about giving herself to me has every part of me buzzing with excitement. “We can go as fast or as slow a: you want to go, no pressure. I know I won't change my mind, though," I reassure her. “After everything you've been throug I wouldn't say 1 was sure if I wasn't,” and at that, she smiles and sighs. “Okay then” “Okay, you want to take this leap with me?” I ask. “I do," she admits excitedly. “Hearing you describe how you feel about me and getting everything out in the open has really validated a lot of my feelings. It also made me accept them, process them, and realize we're in this together. I can't believe how much things changed today," she says. “I completely agree. It made me feel like I wasn't crazy. The fact that we both feel this strong pull to each other tells me that regardless of fate, we have something special here," I add. She leans in, and we share a quick, chaste kiss. As soon as our lips part, I pull her body closer, and then I gently pull her face closer. When her lips are grazing mine, I say what I've wanted to say since I first met her. And what I've been dying to say since that a*****e was on the phone claiming her. “MINE,” I say firmly. She smiles into my lips and then kisses me again. I was expecting something chaste, but my possessiveness did something to her. She's climbing on top of me, straddling me, and kissing me with just as much possessiveness. It's so f*****g hot. I hear the door open, and I want to growl. I pull away from her, and she’s smiling. She slips off of me and beside me again. Her brother is looking at us, shaking his head. “I can't even blame you since she was on top of you,” he says to me as he sits. “Listen, it's none of my business, but maybe you guys should wait until after the full moon to... mate and get physical. If feels you both kissing, he'll really feel ... if you do more. I think you should just try and stay out of his mind until after the full moon. Hopefully, he'll move on then and accept it, but at least he won't feel anything after the full moon. “I don’t want to wait,” Lauren says firmly, and I basically choke on the air. For the first time, I think I'm blushing. “Are you okay?” She asks as she rubs my back “Yeah, sorry. I just wasn't expecting you to say that’ I admit. “Yeah, me either,” Julien says with disgust on his face. “Sorry, but don't look at me like you haven't overshared with me,” she says with one eyebrow raised to Julien. “Fair enough,” he smirks. “I was just talking to Justin, and Alpha is kinda freaking out, and he's saying messed up stuff, and I think it's in your best interest to wait, Lauren. Please. You probably shouldn't even be kissing either.” His eyes are pleading with her. “Why? What did he say?... Tell me!” She demands. “Please?” He begs. “I have the right to know. Tell me,” she insists. He huffs, “He's talking about how he should have... rage F***d you when he had the chance," he nearly whispers, and a large growl rips through my throat, and I pull her closer. “Rage f**k? Like R™*e?" I roar. julien shrugs. “I guess so. I don't imagine he thinks Lauren will be a willing participant. His theory is, if he does, he'll be able to get her out of his head, apparently,” he adds, all while never making eye contact with Lauren. I look at her, expecting her to be upset, but she seems numb to it. Her face is emotionless, but she’s shaking her head. She's mine, and no one is laying a f****g finger on her. “I'd like to see him try. ll F***g rip him apart,” I growl. “What wz the name of your pack?” I ask, feeling nothing but rage. I'm going to ill him. “No! Zac, he's venting and just talking. Let him. He has no idea where I am. I'm so far away that he'd never find me,” she assures me. “He didn't send out a search party or anything. He's just talking,’ Julien assures me again. Now I'm shaking my head. “I just think if he felt you guys being... physical, it might send him over the edge,” he explains. She rubs my back and looks up at me. “I'm fine. Did you hear that? Aside from asking Julien if he's seen me, he isn't doing anything to find me,” she adds, and 1 nod. “You should move to the packhouse;" I say firmly. She smiles and pats my arm. “I love my little place,” she admits. “You need to be guarded and kept safe I reason. “It's a 10-11 hour drive. I'll have plenty of notice if he makes a move,” she adds. “Plus, he’s not likely to find me anyways,” she adds. “Lauren-" I start, but she cuts me off. “Look at the time, I have to get ready to open up in the next 20 minutes, she says and motions me to move out of the boc so she can get out, but I don't move. I stare at her, waiting for her to agree to move to the packhouse. She lifts her a*s up off the bench of the booth and scoots over me, brushing her a*s up against my manhood. I can't even get up and chase after her right now, not without both of them seeing me pitch a tent. f**k. “Is she always this stubborn?" I ask Julien in frustration. “She's not really that stubborn. Give her a little pout, and ask nicely,” he smiles. “Honestly, Lauren is the sweetest person. She likes being independent, but if she thinks for one second that you're stressed and worried about her, she'll cave. She hates hurting people. That's what makes this whole thing with Nathan that much worse. She'd never hurt a soul, and her he is, going out of his way to hurt her of all people,” he says, shaking his head. “I fer++g hate him now,” Julien adds. “Me too. So why do you stay there?” I ask. “I tried to run away with Lauren, but she wouldn't let me. Now... I don’t know. My Mom's there, and to be honest, we thought she was going to be able to come back eventually,” he admits. “Well, take your Mom, and join my pack. You are more than welcome. I have some rooms available in the packhouse, and could get a place for your Mom too," I offer. “Really? 1 would really appreciate that. I'd seriously like to take you up on that. How do I serve a man who wants to hurt r sister? I need to spend some more time at Claw Moon to make sure I can keep an eye on him, so I can keep her safe. Whe this dies down, though, I'd love that. Thanks, man,” he says and extends a hand to shake mine. 'm in better condition to get up now, so I make my way to Lauren as she’s bringing ice out to the bar. “I'm going to head out, I have some work to do, but I can come back and pick you up after work. You should be staying at the packhouse. I'll get you your own room and everything. I'm just worried about you. I care about you, and it scares me to think about you being alone and unprotected,” I admit. I'm totally using her brother's advice, but 'm not lying. I am worried about her. He face scrunches like it really bothers her that I'm worried. She really is the sweetest. “/'ll be with my brother tonight, so I won't be alone,” she says. “Plus, he’s 11 hours away right now, and Red Riverview isn’t on his radar at all. Let's talk about this after he leaves, okay?” smile and nod. “That's fair. Thank you," I say and pull her in, wrapping my arms around her. “For what?” “For just being you,” I smile and lean in to kiss her, but I stop myself. “Do you think we should listen to your brother's advice?” I ask. “Maybe?” she admits and kisses my cheek.

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