Mates Minis

Ch. 16

The Betas Mate
Ch. Sixteen: Everest Grove
Zoe

I noticed that as of late my mate seemed to be a little stressed.

This of course was new to us as honestly I hadn't known him very long but in the time I had known Ryder, he was always a calm and cool sort of guy.

So to see him worried, of course stirred my own worries.

"Do you think I should do something to try and ease his worries?" I asked Val one afternoon as we grabbed lunch together.

"You're already doing so much just by staying by his side Zo...trust me, it's all business related stuff."

I nodded, of course Ryder had told me about his dream of opening his own clinic and I knew he'd be great at it so I fully backed whatever direction he decided to go with this. Also I know he and Valerie had been working on this project together to really make it come to fruition.

"I promise, once we get the meeting with their sister Yvonne out of the way I'm hoping we can all breathe a little easier."

Yvonne Johnson...She is the oldest of the Johnson siblings, and one I remember well.

Morgan and I had spent most of our time basically idolizing her, trying to dress like her, trying to act like her...and she never once acted annoyed with us or anything. In fact, she would often invite us with her and her friends to the movies or the mall...we'll, unless she was with Maddox.

I smiled as I remembered the two of them...I think they thought they were more secretive than they really were. But anyone with eyes could see how crazy they were for one another.

They never officially dated or anything because the Alpha forbade Yvonne from dating.

But Yvonne and Maddox were always just sort of drawn together, it helped that they had a shared love Maxwell as Max was Yvonne's twin and Maddox's best friend... and his passing hit everyone hard but those two especially...After his death, I never saw those two together again.

But before Max died...Yvonne always made time for us, Morgan and I would feel like the coolest kids to be hanging out with the popular high school girls.

And of course she met her mate Junior year of high school, it was an absolute shock to all of us (and I think even Yvonne as well) when she shifted and found her mate in the son of a pack liaison apparently their family is of Alpha blood but they didn't govern the pack anymore...from what Mo and I had over heard, they are only kept on Liaison or Beta as a sign of respect but not because they had any real power. He and his father came seeking an alliance in their Alpha's name...she saw him, claimed him, and the rest was history. And while we stopped hanging out with her as much, she was still kind and caring when we would talk to her, of course she wasn't the same though.

And then she got married and moved away.

"Well here's hoping." I said as I tried to move my thoughts away from Yvonne.

"And speaking of sisters..." Val sounded, "I was going to run over to Everest Grove pack and visit my sister Harper, you should come with me if you're free...we can meet up with Morgan and all have dinner or something."

"Of course, I've been meaning to catch up with Mo." I said growing really excited now as I felt like I hadn't seen her in such a long time.

So when we wrapped up lunch she went back to the pack house to finish up some work while I went back home and finished the laundry I'd been trying to catch up on.

"Zoe?"

I smiled at the sound of Ryder's voice as he entered the house.

"In the bedroom." I responded as I sat on our bed and folded one of his undershirts, he walked in and smiled before he kicked off his shoes and joined me in bed.