A Beta Before An Alpha
Chapter 17

Lauren's Point of View

I wake up to a knock at my door. “Come in" I call as I start stretching. I look at my clock at it's 7:58 am. Zac opens my door and smiles at me.

“Good Morning, baby."

“Morning,” I smile and yawn.

He puts my coffee down on my end table, and crawls onto the bed behind me, and holds me from behind. He breathes m in deep. “I smell more of your wolf today,” he admits. I've been here a few days now and living with Zac is awesome. Aside from torturing ourselves with only kissing, things are great. We're crazy about each other, and each day we both notice th the closer we get to the full moon, so does the pull to each other.

“You work 6-10 tonight?” He asks. “Yup,” I answer. “What do you think about quitting your job at Peggy's?” He asks.

“What? Why?” I move away, to turn and look at him.

“You're going to be Luna here soon, you don't need a job. Being Luna is a full-time job," he answers.

“No, it's actually not. It's more of a part-time job,” I correct him.

“Well that's okay," he says and gives me a little kiss.

“I like my job, and Peggy depends on me. Plus, I would be bored with just Luna duties. You work a lot, which I totally understand, but what am I supposed to do every day," I laugh.

“Well, what if you worked at our daycare?”

“Really?” I ask.

“I work all day, and you work nights at Peggy's, I don't see you as much as I'd like. Not to mention, I don't like that you're working in a bar, getting hit on, and away from the safety of the pack,” he explains.

“I already talked to Mrs. Potter, and she would love to have you. So would the kids. Plus, we both know how much you lov working with kids,” he adds with a small smile.

“It does suck that 'm off all day when you're working, and I have to go to work when you're off, and I really do miss worki with kids,” I admit and Zac is beaming now.

“BUTI would feel bad leaving Peggy.”

“Talk to Peggy. See what she says. Maybe you can just work weekends until she finds a replacement?” he adds. I nod. She can handle the weekdays by herself, it's the weekends that 1 would feel bad about leaving her all on her own. She went 0 about how much she needed the help, and how grateful she was for it, so I feel guilty. Peggy is a sweetheart, and she was there for me when I had nowhere else to go. I feel obligated to be there for her now. I want to be. I don’t want to leave he stranded.

“I talked to Julien this morning, and he’s a little worried. Nathan is being secretive, and weird so to err on the side of caution, when you work, or leave the packhouse, you'll need to have a few warriors watching over you," he explains. “Babe... I protest.

“No, I'm not taking any chances with you. I love you," he says firmly.

I nod, “I love you too”

“Oh, by the way, Julien and your Mom are moving here in a week. There's a cute little 2-bedroom place that's empty. Why don't 1 send you there with one of my construction guys, and you can pick out some paint colours. It needs new flooring, you can pick that out too, or facetime your Mom, and she can pick it out. That way it's ready for her when she gets here,’ explains.

“She doesn't need a 2-bedroom house. A room on the 3rd floor is fine," I assure him.

He furrows his brows, “No, my mother-in-law is not living in a packhouse bedroom meant for young singles,” he explains. love that he just referred to her as his mother-in-law.

“Well, she doesn't need a 2 bedroom house."

“She's your mother, and we're going to take good care of her. That's final,” he says with a smile.

“You're very sweet, and she will appreciate it, I'm sure. I appreciate how thoughtful and sweet you are.”

I snuggle into him, and we enjoy a comfortable silence. I feel my eyes getting heavy. His scent is so soothing, and I was uj late last night reading.

Last night was great, but I stayed up so late. While Zac was at work, 1 ran down to the grocery store and picked up ingredients to bake a homemade cherry cheesecake. It needed to set in the fridge for 4 hours after cooling, so by the tim it was ready, I would have been at work. He came home early and kept saying the house smelt so good, I had to lie and te him it was a candle I had burned and hid the cheesecake in the bottom drawer of the fridge. He picked me up from work, and when we got home, I told him why the house was really smelling good earlier, and I dug out the cheesecake. His eyes were wide, and he was so excited.

So we snacked, and then we made it to the couch. Things got particularly heated, and he basically cut our night off cold turkey. He apologized but said he needed to put some space between us because he was losing control. I was just as bad as he was, maybe worse, so it took me a while before I could fall asleep. A shower didn’t help. It took reading a murder mystery for 5 hours, to calm me down enough to sleep.

“Are you going back to sleep,” he chuckles.

“I couldn't sleep last night, I was up late reading until 4:30 am," I admit.

“ww... 'll bring a plate of breakfast up, and leave it in the microwave for you,” he tells me. He gives me a kiss as he gets I and 1 groan.

“What?” he laughs.

“You're so comfy," I admit.

“I have a meeting in 25 minutes,” he frowns. I groan and open my eyes to look at him.

“Give me your shirt then.”

He points to the t-shirt he's wearing, “This one? The one that I'm wearing?” He asks, one brow arched.

“Yes. It smells like you. Please,” I pout. He pulls it off immediately and hands it to me. My first instinct is to smile because of how sweet he is to oblige me and my pout, but then I notice his body.

“Wow!” I say quietly. I'm totally gawking at him, but I can’t help it, not that I would want to. He's beautiful.

“You l0ok.... Go0000d,” I admit. He's shredded and seeing the definition of his body; his arms, his chest, everything. Wow. But he just laughs at me. “Come here, I want to get a better look at your tattoos,” I say.

“Tattoo's... sure,” he jokes, but comes closer, and sits on the bed, I sit up, and crawl out from the blankets to get closer. I'v gotten a good look at most of them before, but this is the first time I see his upper arm ones. One arm has a full sleeve, and the other arm a half sleeve from the elbow up. His torso is tattoo-less.

I sit up, and he explains his tattoos. A large geometric wolf tattoo, which I couldn't see before. He said it's similar to his friend Jack's, and they got them together. There is a pocket watch face with the time being 2:42, which he says represents, his mother's death, as well as the flying dove he has tattooed on him. Most of the tattoos are black with some red. “They're beautiful," I admit while tracing my finger along them. He smiles.

“You think 50? You like tattoos?”

“I didn't realize how much I liked them, until I met you,” I say truthfully.

He's staring at me, and then he finally breaks the silence, “You're so beautiful” he says, as his fingertips glide down my cheeks.

“Ym a mess right now,” I laugh. He shakes his head, “Never! I think I prefer you like this," he says with such conviction, I actually believe him.

He gives me a gentle kiss, “Enjoy my shirt,” he says and he gets up and leaves. Gosh even his back is beautiful.

Damn, he does things to me. As soon as my door is closed, I pull off my Pj's and put his shirt on. I have a strong desire to have every bit of my skin touch the shirt that touched him, and smells like him, so I even take off my panties.

I lay back down and I can still feel his warmth on it, and his scent fills my lungs. It's so calming and arousing. I also just h a half-naked Zac in here 2 seconds ago. I need a shower. I pull the shirt off and jump in the shower to take care of busine Again. I brush my teeth and head back and put Zac's t-shirt back on, and slip into bed with my book. I feel so close to him like this, it's so comforting. Soon though, I'm fast asleep.

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