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“Are you excited about your beta training? Eduardo has been planning it out for months and he is eager to show you what he has planned. My younger son, Roberto, will be coming back to teach as well. He has been at the Pacific Academy of Magick for the last year and a half now.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve been looking forward to this training for the last year.” I picked up my fork and poked at the tamale on my plate. “Pacific Academy, that’s impressive. I didn’t know Roberto was there. My Luna Paige went to school there for their summer program.”
“Yes, I have heard that many impressive witches have attended the school. Roberto was quite excited to teach there. He will be bringing back some excellent lessons for our pack pups and witchlings, hopefully. I believe Diana was planning to have him take over as headmaster.” Alma looked over at Luna Diana with a raised eyebrow.
Diana laughed. “Yes, that is the plan. It’s why Roberto went to teach under Headmaster Rome. I thought it would make an excellent teaching experience for him before taking over the school on his own.”
I welcomed the distraction of discussing the school and my training, though I was still acutely aware of Brady’s presence the entire time. His piercing stare made me acutely aware of his eyes fixated on me. I swore I could almost hear his thoughts in my head, but I knew that was impossible.
I hadn’t been linked to the pack yet, and the mate bond was barely even known to us. There was no link between us at all. At least not yet. Hopefully, never.
Dinner moved at the pace of a snail. I hardly registered the words being spoken in the background. I wanted nothing more than to run away and hide, which was exactly what I planned to do the moment dinner ended.
Diego cheered merrily as Alma brought in a tray of the homemade churros Eduardo had promised him, while I cheered internally at being one step closer to ending the meal.
“I wasn’t sure which everyone would like better, so I made caramel sauce and chocolate sauce for dipping your churros in. Which do you like best, Diego?” Alma smiled pleasantly at the pup.
“Can I have both?”
I forced a weak smile while everyone laughed at his question.
“Don’t go tell your mother we spoiled you like this,” Alma said as she handed him both dipping sauces. She looked over at me afterward. “How about you, Mija?”
I shook my head and did my best to hide the way my knee bounced anxiously under the table. “I’m pretty full from dinner.”
Alma frowned at my plate. “You barely touched your tamale. Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m just feeling exhausted. A lot of driving, you know.”
Alma and Diana exchanged glances before they both nodded. “We understand. Eduardo, why don’t you show her to her room? We will take care of Diego. You go rest, Madie. We don’t want you getting sick before Monday’s training starts up.”
I stood with Eduardo, my neck prickling as I felt those deep brown eyes as they watched me. My gaze turned to meet them, and I instantly regretted my lack of control.
My knees shook beneath my weight, and I stumbled over my feet and into Eduardo’s back. He turned to catch me before I fell to the ground as everyone jumped to their feet from the table and watched me with concern. But the only person at that entire table whose gaze I met was Brady’s.
He looked back at me with such intensity. His facial expression gave no indication of what thoughts were occupying his mind. He’s probably second-guessing The Fates’ decision, just like me. He must have wondered what he did to deserve to be bound to someone so far beneath him.
That was what he used to say about me. I was below him. I was nothing. I was a poor excuse for a wolf, and whoever my future mate was should be ashamed to call me his.
He had even spread a rumor amongst the other kids that I was human. They had believed it for a while, at least until my parents put an end to the rumors that I was adopted themselves. That had been one of the last times we regularly visited my grandma. It turned from every school break and holiday to only every other holiday, and while the last Christmas I spent in this pack hadn’t been terrible, it had still been the last when Grandma passed away.
“I’m okay,” I gasped. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Do you want us to send for the pack doctor?” Orion asked.
“The crones might be willing to come to the packhouse if I call them,” Diana said to her husband.
“No, no. I’m fine. I promise. I just need to get some rest. I promise.”
I avoided Brady’s gaze as I stumbled to the door and waved for Eduardo to come with me. “Where is my room? It’s in the Beta Hall, right? This way, right?”
Eduardo helped me to the stairs and watched me with concern as I climbed them. I could hear Alma whisper to him behind me and blushed as she warned him to make sure I didn’t fall down the stairs.
I felt weak. I hadn’t felt this weak and useless since my first shift at eighteen, and it was revealed that my wolf was the second biggest in the pack. A pack that ranked its members by strength over bloodline and made me their next beta at the side of my best friend, Nyte. Yet here I was, a weak pup all over again. And it was all his fault.
Anger replaced the shock and fear I had felt at discovering that Brady was my mate. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be stumbling over my own two feet like this. I would be enjoying my first night here with Diego and the Beta family. Instead, I was being treated like a delicate flower by the man who was meant to train me to be stronger than I already was.
It was absolute nonsense.
