The Beta's Son

Chapter 13-Erin

Erin's Point of View

Jonah left the following morning to meet with an Alpha in Chicago, something about a missing wolf that they needed help tracking.

It was like a little taste of what the summer would be like without him. I wanted desperately not to be the girl who's world stopped the second her boyfriend went away but I couldn't help it. After the serious conversation we had that night before about weddings and love and the future, all I wanted was to lay in bed with him until everything bad went away.

I trudged through the high school hallways, knowing I looked like a mess. My hair was unbrushed and my face was makeup-less. I could practically feel people wincing at me. When I finally made it to class, Lynn was sitting on her desk while Ray whispered into her ear. A smirk played at her lips and I wanted to scream at the two of them. They had never been these people, the touchy-feely, public and sex-crazed people. His hand traveled up her inner thigh and if I hadn't quickly cleared my throat, I'm sure it would have gone farther. They looked at me and Lynn's eyes grew wide.

"You look like hell!" She said, hopping off her desk and handing me a mirror.

"I know, Jonah's gone. I didn't feel like trying this morning," I sighed and she wrinkled her nose.

"Was that today? Huh. Anyway, I refuse to let you walk around looking like that. You're my best friend, what would people think?" Her use of the words "best friend" almost made up for the fact that she had just insulted me. She dug out mascara and eyeliner, and demanded I put it on before class started. I obliged, simply because I didn't want to deal with her speaking to me anymore, then handed the items back to her.

Class was worse than usual, or worse that what I've come to know as usual.

Lynn was especially obnoxious, and Ray's laughter didn't help the matter. The whole school was starting to notice their changes, I overheard Mrs. Tilly pull Lynn aside the day before to tell her that she had failed the recent test. Lynn just waved her away uncaringly but I saw her twitch as she walked away.

It was miserable knowing she was hurting inside, I wanted to be able to help her but every time I mentioned studying or anything she would just get defensive and start accusing me of calling her dumb. Every day when I got home from school I would cry, because I was completely at a loss. I didn't know how to handle her, Sam tried his best to be a good friend and help me cope with her, but he was handling it worse than I was. He could hardly even look at her. He knew his brother would do anything for Lynn, and we both knew that Lynn took advantage of that.

Maybe it was for the pack, maybe she truly was convinced that mating with a Montoyan would bring a war but neither of us believed that. We knew Lynn, we knew how much she hated them. There had to be some part of her that did all this for herself, without taking anyone else's feelings into consideration.

When the bell rang I didn't rush for the door like we always did. I lingered and watched my best friend leave, not even glancing at me.

"Erin? Is something wrong?" I looked back at Mrs. Tilly, then shook my head.

"I'm fine, sorry," I mumbled, finally pulling myself to my feet and out the door.

I thought back to everything Jodie told me. I didn't tell it all to Jonah, I knew he would be even more devastated, knowing the depth of the spell. I passed Ashton in the hallway, I watched him sneer at a witch who got just a tad too close to him. I found myself wanting to comfort him, this kid who I had known all my life but had to hate. I couldn't, though. He wasn't the person they all said he was, his heart was good.

"Erin," Sam's voice distracted me from my thoughts of Ashton.

"Hey, what's going on?" I smiled at him but I could tell he knew it was fake.

"You wanted to talk to me about prom?" I looked over my shoulder, like some how those few words would blow the whole operation.

"Right," I breathed, then pushed him into an empty classroom.  All the rooms in the school were sound-proof, thankfully. There were far too many teens with super-hearing in the school.

"We have an idea, how to find Ray's mate." I said immediately. His eyebrows furrowed.

"We?"

"Jodie Reign and I," I mumbled. He looked bewildered.

"The whole reason we got into this mess is because we were associating with them," he hissed.

"Sam, I really think-"

"No, Erin. I won't be a part of this, not if you're involving them."

"It's just Jodie! Jodie Reign, Sam, the girl we've known our whole entire lives. When has she ever done anything threatening? Why do we hate her? Because of something some assholes in her pack did? She has never done anything to us!" He kept shaking his head furiously, starting towards the door.

"Look, I want Lynn and Ray back more than anything. But we'll do it our way. I don't want anything to do with her," he said "her" with such venom it made me sick. He left the room then, leaving me feeling completely alone.

I shut the door back and called Jonah, I didn't realize how hard I was crying until he answered the phone and I choked over my words.

"Jonah?" I croaked.

"Erin, what happened?" He said, sounding worried. I opened my mouth again to speak but nothing came out. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know why I was even calling. He had business to take care of and he had only been gone for a few hours, and here I was falling apart without him.

"I just miss you," I said finally, then took a deep breath, trying to compose myself.

"I'm coming home," he said quickly. I heard him shuffle on the other line. I shook my head, even though he couldn't see me.

"No, no. Absolutely not, I just needed to hear your voice. It feels like there's a lot going on here and I just miss you," I said again.

"It feels like there's a lot going on because there is a lot going on. I never should have left, my pack comes first, always, I am so-"

"Stop, Jonah. We've got this. I'm sorry I worried you, we have a plan I think," I sniffled.

"You think?"

"Yeah, it's okay. We're okay," I promised. I heard him sigh.

"Fine. You'll call me the second anything happens, right?"

"Of course."

"I will fly back right now if you want me to," he said.

"No, Jonah. It's okay. Iris wouldn't have called you if she didn't need you." He mumbled in agreement and sighed again.

"Love you,"  I said quietly.

"Love you more," he said without missing a beat.

He hung up before I had a chance to argue and I couldn't help but smile.