Chapter 7

***Lara***

As I stepped out into the cooler night air, I took a deep calming breath. I’d stashed my Jeep in the alley. The upside to having a tiny 4x4 is that I could pretty much park it anywhere. The internet steered me to this sneaky secret park. But before I reached my car, a big warm hand snagged my upper arm from behind. I spun, ready to fight.

“Whoa. I mean no harm. I just wanted to talk to you.” I found myself face to face with the Beta guy. He’d instantly let go of my arm and raised his hands in surrender as he took a step back. I appreciated the gesture. My anxiety level was already at its peak before he grabbed at me, but now I could feel it ebbing a tad. 

He’s cute. We should do him and teach that Alpha pup a lesson, Maya practically purred in my head. 

We should do him? I didn’t get it, that wasn’t a phrase I was familiar with. Until Maya projected a few choice pornographic suggestions into my head to expand my vernacular. 

Right, thanks for that. I quickly caught on to exactly what she thought we should do with him.

I’m not losing my virginity in the back of my Jeep in some dirty back alley for revenge.

Virginity is overrated. I could practically see her rolling her eyes in my head. It’s just sex. Everybody does it. I swear she licked her chops.

He chuckled softly. “Talking to your wolf? I’m no threat to you. She can stand down.”

His soft brown eyes were calming and projected honesty. They reminded me of worn, comfortable leather, weird as that sounds. He had that, I-could-pass-for-almost any-nationality-or-ethnicity kind of look, exotically handsome. 

Tell him what I said. I bet he’s down for it. Maya interjected.

Please shut up. I internally begged my inner horn dog. I needed to think. I needed to be on the ball. What if this was some kind of trap? In the past, whenever anyone was nice to me, it was a prank of some kind.

“You said your name is Lara Waters?” He asked when I didn’t respond. 

Damn it. I was hoping no one would really catch my last name and make that connection. That’s another downside of being an Alpha’s daughter. The ranked members of other packs would recognize my father’s name.

“I have to go.” Avoiding another of his questions, I dashed into my Jeep and left him standing there. It was strange, the heavy thud of the Jeep door closing instantly made me feel safer. My car was my symbol of freedom, dependability, and safety. And I needed that right now. Still on edge from the rejection disaster, I could do without another confrontation.

My Jeep was the one thing my brother and mother dared not touch. Kiren tried once but dad lost his mind. He and his friends spray-painted a few choice phrases on it, egged it, and covered it in toilet paper. Dad made Kiren and his fellow assholes clean, not only my Jeep, but every pack member's car. Though, I think that had more to do with disrespecting my father and his family than me specifically. Still, I enjoyed sitting on the porch with a lemonade watching them work. Bastards deserved it. What did I ever do to them? It took all my willpower not to gloat that day, lest I inspire a devious revenge plan in Kiren. 

As I took off, the beta guy, whose name I didn’t care to catch, jumped out in front of me.

Yelling in frustration, I slammed to a halt, narrowly missing knocking him down like a bowling pin. 

Since it was clear I wasn’t getting out of here without him saying his peace, I yanked open the door and shot him my best death glare.

“I’m Matt. Are you Kiren Waters' sister?” He smiled, completely oblivious to my fabulous glare.

“Would that have mattered?” I shot back.

“It shouldn’t, but yes. It would have. Yours is a strong pack and your father is well respected. He’d want an alliance with them,” I smiled. I decided I liked this guy, Matt. He was honest and not as douchey as his alpha-pup friend. Maybe there was hope for his pack after all with him around. Plus, those molten brown eyes were looking at me with a respect that few in my pack had ever given me. To my dad, I was his baby girl, when he remembered I existed. To my mother, I was unwanted. To my brother, I was a nuisance, a threat to his Alpha claim - which made no sense. I didn’t want his damn title. The youth of the pack followed my brother and the adults pretended not to notice that anything was wrong. No one bothered to actually look deeper, to actually see me. I felt like this guy would have.

“You’re right it shouldn’t. You’re a smarter man than your Alpha. However, while my father is great, my brother isn’t. I’d be no help in an alliance capacity anyway. More of a hindrance actually.”

I watched his face for a hint of what he might be thinking. 

“You’re not what I expected,” he smiled.

“People rarely are. Especially if your information comes from a compromised source.” I muttered before I could help myself. I suspected he knew Kiren.

“There’s a story there. If you want to talk about it sometime, call me,” he replied. I chose to ignore that statement.

“Let me give you some free advice. Always cover your own ass. Guys like that Alpha pup of yours will throw anyone under the bus to save themselves. For your packs’ sake, as well as your own, always stay a step ahead.”

“Sounds like you speak from experience?” he pushed. 

“You’ve met Kiren, right? You look to be about his age. You probably met at some training camp somewhere along the line? He does those all the time. I’m guessing that’s how you recognized my name.” I could also guess the crap my brother spewed about me at those things. When I was younger, I used to try and stand up for myself. But I long since learned there wasn’t much point. My mother always took his side, and my father didn’t want to argue with his Luna or heir, so he looked the other way more often than not. I’d been preparing to leave my pack and find a fresh start for a very long time. 

“Yes. Your brother is a lot like Anthony. He’s strong, protective, and he wants what’s best for his pack. He has great potential, but he still has a lot to learn about leadership,” this Beta Matt guy said. I was shocked he admitted that to me. Why would he? A Beta speaking badly about his Alpha was tantamount to treason. It just didn’t happen. What was going on in that pack? 

“Why would you tell me that?” My curiosity got the best of me. 

“He’s my best friend. I know him better than he knows himself. I know he’s going to regret rejecting you. He’s just too much of a prideful dick to see it right now. But when he does, understand that… I don’t know how to explain it… he’s not usually this much of a dick. The pack… Well, he’s under a lot of pressure ....” 

My snort cut him off, “that’s not an excuse to treat people like crap.”

“I know. To be fair, you weren’t exactly great to him either. You humiliated him.” 

Maya growled.

He tossed his hands up in a show or surrendered again. “I’m not blaming you; I know he brought that upon himself. Truth be told, he probably needed to hear it. I just want you to leave here knowing that he’s not all bad. He’s a decent guy, usually. He wants to prove himself. He thinks a Luna would be a distraction. And he feels like everything in his whole life has been chosen for him. He wants to find his other half for himself.”

“What does it matter to you what I leave here thinking?” I demanded. I was getting the hang of this standing up for myself thing.

“The Goddess has her reasons for every match she makes. I think the purpose of this one was for you to teach him to step up. He’s trying. We’re trying to lead the pack to the best of our ability, but he thinks that involves being a hard ass and being in complete control. You said something in there,” he cocked his head back down the alley toward the club, “about knowing people like him. I didn’t want you to think that he’s always like that or that the Goddess abandoned or cursed you or something”

“Why do you care?”  My attitude had faded now. He still hadn’t answered that.

“You’re my Luna.” He raised his hand to stop me from speaking, I’d sucked in a breath about to object to that statement. “Maybe one day your paths will cross again, maybe not. Either way, being rejected doesn’t mean you’re not a Luna. Nor does it mean there’s something wrong with you.”

“Now it sounds like you’re the one speaking from experience.” 

“My parents were both rejected by their mates, they are each other's second chance mates. But they think, I think, they were always meant to be the fated pair,” he replied.

I nodded but I couldn’t think of something to say. We stood in strangely comfortable silence for a minute or so. 

Until Maya’s comment unhelpfully broke it,

This is the part where you rip his pants off.

“I wish you all the best,” I smiled, instead of enacting Maya’s suggestion. This Matt fellow had a disarming quality that I quite liked. We’d probably be friends if we’d met under different circumstances. At least he seemed decent. I should get out of here before my devious and horny wolf started to rub off on me too much.

“You too, Lara. I hope one day you find someone that deserves you.”

My jaw literally hung loose. When I snapped it shut, I wished werewolves didn’t have such great eyesight. Even in the darkness of this alley, he’d spot my raging blush, if the heat in my cheeks were any indication.  

“That's the nicest thing a boy my age has ever said to me,” I mumbled when the shock wore off.

“That’s sad. You’re remarkable. And I’m 21, I’m hardly a boy,” he smirked, taking a ridiculous bodybuilder pose that made me chuckle. It also reminded me a little of my brother when we were young, before he swallowed the prick pill my mother offered him.

“Get back to your Alpha before he has a hissy fit and grounds you all.” 

“It wouldn’t be the first time. Just so you know, I meant what I said. He’ll regret that later. He’s pig-headed, but not a bad guy. He’s just trying to step out of his dad’s shadow by being tough. Trying to prove he doesn’t need anyone. One day he’ll be a great Alpha.”

“We’re safer on our own.”  

“Look, he’s growing into his position. He just took over, he’ll settle when the novelty wears off. Maybe, if you’re not happily mated in a year, you could come visit? Give him a second chance?” He sounded hopeful. 

Nope. Maya huffed.

“You keep telling yourself that,” I laughed. I was starting to wonder why he felt it was so important to defend his alpha to me. I hadn’t even asked for the name of his pack, so no chance of that happening.

He sighed but didn’t respond. 

“I hope for your pack’s sake that he is a good dude. He’s lucky he has you. Now, I heard your Alpha is offering free drinks. Go take advantage of that.” 

He laughed, adding one more shocking statement as he left,

“For the record, I’d be ecstatic if you were my mate.” He gave me a cheeky grin, then a hand salute as he walked away. He had a playful personality but he didn’t seem like a player. 

As I climbed back into my trusty wrangler, I suddenly felt eyes on me. Looking up, I saw Matt disappearing around the corner, heading back to the club. Not him then. I glanced behind me, hating that I was literally alone in a dark alley. My skin prickled with unease. Perhaps the ex-mate has something to say and has chased after me. But if that were the case, he’d have come into the alley the same way his Beta left it. Behind me, at the far end of the alley, I saw what looked like the dark shape of a man, tall and not as beefy as the alpha inside, but well-built, nonetheless. Under his hoodie the man's eyes glowed a faint red. Even with my shifter sight I can’t make out any other than that identifying feature, those eerie red eyes. That’s pretty fucking creepy. 

As I high tail it out of the area, I dismiss the strange eyes and focus on the rest of my crazy evening. As weird as the conversation with the Beta guy was, I was sure I’d made the right choice. Perhaps a little guilt niggled the back of my mind. No one likes to be rejected. I imagine the alpha’s ego took one hell of a hit. 

Very few people rejected their Goddess-given mates but I could not, I would not, shackle myself to some immature jerk with some magical band just because some mythical woman desires it. What about me? Don’t I deserve happiness? Love? Safety? I’d get none of that with Tony. 

My mind drifted back to Matt’s implication that perhaps I was meant to reject him, perhaps he was never meant to be my happy ending. Perhaps the goddess was using me to teach him a lesson before he meets his actual intended fated mate. It felt like I’d been swindled. I didn’t love the idea of being used by the Goddess to fix a wayward Alpha. For crying out loud, haven’t I already been through enough?

You said you didn’t want a mate, Maya teased.

But she knew, I knew, it wasn’t that I didn’t want a mate, so much as I didn’t want to be disappointed, mistreated, or rejected. I wanted to be accepted and adored. I just wanted someone who wanted to be with me. Who enjoyed my company, who wanted to get to know me. What if that was my only chance? 

Stop it! You are spiraling. We didn’t need him, or anyone. We have each other. Besides, I sense that the Goddess has a second chance lined up for us. Maya scolded me.

Second chance mates were rare though. Frankly, after what Matt had implied, I wasn’t sure I would trust The Goddess’ choice if she did send another fated mate my way. No, I’d made my peace with being a lone wolf a long time ago. This is what I wanted. 

It’s not like we’ll have any chance of finding a second chance mate at a human college. Maybe some hot human guy will keep us company. I threw Maya a bone. 

I laughed to myself, part of me wanted to call Alpha Denzel and tell him not all people saw their mates as the Goddess sent gifts that he’d raved about. 

I was forced to eat my words less than two weeks later when, during my first college class, I laid eyes on my second chance mate.