Page 17 of Fated to the Alpha

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Shane nursed his cold beer and tried not to choke on the smoky air inside the Howling Bones Bar. His gaze swept the scene from his seat at the corner table. Maybe a dozen patrons occupied scattered tables or barstools at the counter, and a few were in the middle of a pool game under a pendant light against the far wall. His table hosted the only shifters in the building.

Across the table sat Cole Spradley and Gage Phelps. Shane hadn’t seen Cole dressed in civilian clothes like this since they met, and he assumed the wardrobe choice was to assuage any anxiety about his purpose at the bar. Tonight, he wasn’t there to arrest or monitor the crowd. Tonight was about helping Shane find a good beta out of his current pack in order to round out his hierarchy.

Gage, who was supposed to benefit from the conversation as well, seemed more content watching the crowd. Only occasionally did he turn and give Shane a look that spoke volumes. He had to know about Shane’s history with Kimberly. Their brief exchange at the alpha meeting the night before and all the weird, slightly scathing looks tonight confirmed it. If Cole wasn’t there, Shane would have called him out for it so they could settle whatever beef Gage had with him.

They waited for Dominic, who was running a few minutes behind. In the meantime, Cole told a few stories of his attempts to find a good beta before settling on his long-time friend, Ronan. Shane should have been listening, but like Gage, he was too distracted. Not by the bar scene, but by what had happened earlier that day with Kimberly.

Hydrangeas. Fucking hydrangeas. Shane had never been so offended by the existence of a flower in his life. Flowers couldn’t do anything to him, or so he thought. Kimberly used it as a weapon to mess with his head. Devotion and heartlessness … Heartlessness and devotion. How could a stupid flower hold two diametrically opposite meanings?

“What does a hydrangea even look like?” Shane mumbled aloud.

He whipped out his phone.

“What?” Gage and Cole asked in unison.

Shane searched for the flower and his brows rose. He’d seen them before. Not bad looking. He could understand the devotion part. But why would they mean something so cruel as heartlessness too?

He flipped his phone down and shook his head. “Nothing.”

Cole let it go, but Gage gave him a look like a few marbles just rolled out of his head.

You’re pathetic. Getting worked up over a woman. Alphas don’t get distracted by worthless females.

Shane let out a slow breath. For once, he might have agreed with what his dad had told him long ago. When he and Kimberly first started dating, his dad, directly or indirectly, continually niggled him about being in a relationship that, according to Isaac, could go nowhere. Kimberly had no dominance and shouldn’t have been considered a candidate for his future mate. At the time, Shane ignored his dad, just like he ignored all the other critical comments about what an alpha was or was not. Shane would be the judge of what was appropriate alpha behavior, and he would choose his own mate, regardless of who she was or how much dominance she had. Back then, his pick had always been Kimberly. After she left, he couldn’t stomach the thought of mating with anyone else. Alphas didn’t need to mate to have a pack anyway.

But this went beyond being alpha or not. This was about common sense. Kimberly wasn’t interested. She wanted nothing to do with him. Banging on a locked door wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He had to put Kimberly out of his head and focus on building up his pack. They had to be a strong unit before they left Tolstone, and he needed to pick a beta, however daunting that seemed.

The Prime Alpha entered the bar and made a beeline for their table toward the back of the room. “Sorry I’m late,” he said as he sat down next to Shane. “What did I miss?”

“I was telling them how I came to offer Ronan the role of beta for my pack.”

“So, I missed nothing.” Dominic smiled at the off-duty cop. “I think I’ve heard that one at least a dozen times.”

Gage swung his beer bottle between his fingers. “I’ve heard it at least three.”

Cole gave the younger alpha next to him a teasing shove, then reached into his back pocket. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get down to business.” He pulled out a folded-up piece of paper. “I have a list of your pack, Shane.”

Shane was about to take a sip of his beer, then set the glass back down. “A list?”

“It’s standard procedure,” Dominic assured. “But it’s not a public list, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Shane watched Cole unfold the paper and glimpse the short list of names. Something about knowing that other shifters knew details about his pack gave him a pinch of alarm, but only for a second.

Cole reiterated what he already knew. “A beta holds an important position. He protects the pack alongside the alpha and serves as his second-in-command when he’s out of pocket. He gives advice to the alpha when asked and dispenses punishments when the alpha can’t. He should be strong, but not stronger than the alpha. He needs dominance to do what’s necessary but shouldn’t be too arrogant or ambitious to even think about misusing that dominance.”

Shane inwardly grimaced. He knew that all too well too.

“Is there anyone you know that might fit that description?” Dominic asked.

Shane blew out a breath and pulled up what he had been stewing on for a while. “There’s John, Cody, Andy, Trent, and Paul.”

Cole leaned and took out a pen from his other pocket. “Trent is barely a man. Nineteen. Not beta material.” With the pen, he struck out Trent’s name on the list. That felt like an obvious elimination.

“You have two families with you, right?” Dominic asked. Shane nodded. “Strike off their names too,” he told Cole. “A beta with no familial ties makes them more effective.”

Shane narrowed his gaze. “How so?”