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But at least he wasn’t licking me.
At this point, it was about the little things.
“I have classes tomorrow,” I told both Ford and Elliot. “I don’t miss classes.”
Granted, I had been zoning out lately as I dealt with the world-changing concern that werewolves might be real.
Maybe now that I knew they were, I could finally manage to focus again… though something told me that wasn’t exactly how this whole being-stalked-by-a-wolf thing was going to work.
Elliot gave me a look of amusement. “This is Ford, the beta, we’re talking about. I can tell you right now, there’s not a damned chance you’re going to class tomorrow unless you’ve got his bite somewhere on your body.”
I scowled. “What does him being the beta have to do with anything? I have no idea what your wolf words mean.”
“Alright.” Elliot nodded. “That’s fair.”
I thought the conversation was going to end there.
He got up, walked to the kitchen, and then came back with a sheet of paper and a pen.
My eyes narrowed at him as I watched him scribble something on the sheet of paper. After a minute, he turned it around so it faced me.
At the top of the page, there was one word with a square around it. It said: ALPHA.
I’d seen Twilight and Vampire Diaries; I knew the alpha was the leader of a werewolf pack.
“First off, I know you’re thinking about whatever werewolf books or movies you’ve read. I’ve heard from other guys that all new mates do. But just forget all that shit; that’s not how packs work. We don’t have mind-links, and we don’t get in fights. Like wolf packs in the wild, we’re a family. I’m the alpha because my wolf’s an alpha, and basically, most people consider the alpha like the glue of the pack. The alphas bring everyone together, and keep everyone together in various ways.”
He dragged his pen down to the box beneath alpha. This one said: BETA. “The list is arranged by which pack members have the most responsibility. It has nothing to do with importance, just day-to-day work involved in keeping the family functioning. And where the alphas are the glue, the betas are the guardians. They keep an eye on everyone in the pack, both physically and emotionally.”
He must’ve noticed that I wasn’t following, because he explained, “I struggled with depression for a few months back in high school after losing a family member, and Ford was at my place with breakfast every morning. He made me walk laps around the town until I could run, and then he made me run until the endorphins started helping me. If the depression hadn’t faded, I’m confident he’d still be at my door every damn morning with food and running shoes. The betas are there for everyone in ways the alphas can’t be, because we’re different people.”
His honesty caught me off-guard, and I thought it was really cool that he was open about his struggle with mental illness. He was lucky to have moved past it; my own anxiety refused to leave me be no matter how I tried to deal with it.
Hence the sleepovers with Reed, whom I had zero feelings for.
And the burying myself in homework so deeply that I didn’t have time to mourn the past or stress about the future.
Thinking about Ford showing up with food and dragging his friend out into the forest to help him get out of his own mind was…
Well, it made him seem more human than I wanted him to be.
Given that he was, you know, a werewolf.
Elliot pointed his pen to the third box. It said: DELTA. “The deltas are the watchers. They keep an eye out for stuff like what I was dealing with in high school, and bring others in to help when needed. I’m sure Dax, our delta, was the one who told Ford how bad I’d gotten.” He moved to the fourth box. It said: GAMMA. “The gammas are the entertainers. They keep everyone laughing, and having fun. It doesn’t sound that important, but it is; everyone is, in a pack.” He pointed to the fifth one: OMEGA. “The omegas—that would be Jesse and Tea—are the peacemakers.”
My eyebrows shot upward, and I gave him a critical look. “You’ve heard them argue.”
He grinned. “More than you have, I’m sure. But the thing is, if shit gets tense, those are the people we need. Tea can argue with you about whether a spork deserves to be considered a utensil so fiercely that you’ll forget how much you wanted to rip Ford’s throat out. And when we get together with other packs, you wouldn’t believe how good it is to have an asshole like Jesse who can convince anyone that it’s a good day for the football game Rocco planned, even if it’s pouring rain and cold as shit outside.”
“Since when is shit cold?”
His grin widened. “There you go.”
“What about the last box?” I gestured to the sixth one, which said: SIGMA.
“That would be the pack’s instigator.” His expression grew rueful. “They make sure none of us get too dry or boring.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
“Basically, they challenge us. Keep us growing. The sigma is the closest thing a pack has to a lone wolf; they’re more individual than the rest of us, and they get us into the most trouble.”
That didn’t sound like a good thing for the group, but I nodded like it made sense.
“So you think Ford’s too protective to let me go to class?” I checked.
“I think the chance of Ford letting you go anywhere that you might possibly run into another man will lead to him biting you earlier than you want him to.”
“I don’t understand. If he’s going to bite me anyway, why not just get it over with?”
Elliot frowned. “Didn’t Tea tell you? The wolf wants to give his mate the best chance at survival, and if she accepts what’s going to happen, her chances are much better. Theoretically.”
