Topping the Beta (Werewolf Story)

Chapter 2: Faith

TWO YEARS AGO.

It's the end of Summer.

When I was in high school, this was my favorite season. I was a fairly popular star pupil, no shortage of friends and rarely without a mouth to kiss. Before mating season, students run rampant with not a care in the world, doing what they want without the pressure of being paired up at any moment.

Of course, that all changes when you turn 17. Once you reach the age of consent, there is a part of you that thinks your mate will find you on the day of your birthday and that will be it. But it is very rare for teenagers to get mated on their seventeen birthdays.

What really happens is that you turn 17, spend weeks waiting around to be discovered, then forget about the whole thing until one of your friends gets mated. Then you are back on the lookout for your mate, but you cannot discover him (or her) yet until you turn 18.

The worst part of high school for me was when I was supposed to be mated but wasn't. The frustration of watching it happening to everyone else around you can be overwhelming. But I had parents who kept me grounded and focused, telling me over and over again that it would happen for me soon enough.

Well, now we know it didn't happen for me. Not then, not now. It's a drag! All I can do is to move on with my life and focus on my work, on what lies ahead of me. I cannot worry about things I am powerless to change.

I have a job to do, so it is best that I do that. I am sure that if Selene [the Moon Goddess] wanted, She could make my mate appear before me. She is that powerful. The werewolf society is filled to the brim with amazing 'meet cute' stories of mates meeting in the oddest of circumstances.

There is even an occasion in which a warrior found his mate when she was about to be killed by his Alpha [it didn't happen in our pack]. There is context to the situation I am not familiar with, but my point is if She wants, She makes it happen for you. That is not the issue.

Maybe the Goddess just forgot about me. Who knows?

I would consider adoption, but I don't know if I have it in me to be a parent without a partner. Also, werewolf babies are almost never up for adoption unless a tragedy strikes on their parents.

Werewolf society is different from humans. The father is always in the picture and you almost always are raised in a stable home. Of course, there are issues like any other couple. But werewolves don't divorce their mates except for an abuse situation.

Now that I have been Beta of the pack for the last eight years, Summer is just another season. Another reminder that a fresh batch of high school graduates is set free into the world and I am still mateless.

It is also the time when there are tryouts for a warrior position in our pack. Every June, young men and women gather around to apply to be a part of our force, one of the most feared wolf armies of the entire south.

Fortunately for me, I do not have to worry about making such tough choices. The Delta of the pack is the one who chooses among the candidates. I have to approve them, but I honestly just rubber stamp whoever Delta Andersen puts in front of me.

I do not even watch the tryouts. My dad used to say that if you trusted your Delta, he would know who to choose. Though Andersen was my father's choice - he already was Delta when I ascended as Beta of the pack - I learned to trust him just the way Phillip had to trust in me.

Besides, he was the one in charge of training me when he was still the Under Delta. I have known what kind of man he is for more than a decade. Not to mention that he went to high school with my dad, they were wrestling teammates and friends.