The Beta's Daughter
ONE | AWAKENING

I yawned, rolling onto my side. I brushed against Jacob, and his hand began to trace lazy, abstractpatterns across my hip. It was getting close to midnight. A slanting beam of moonlight fell acrossour exposed legs, making them shine silver.

We were waiting up together on the night of my eighteenth birthday. We'd become officialmembers of the Silver Crescent pack at sixteen, and that had been exciting enough — a ceremonyheld for all of us who'd turned together, with Jacob's dad, the Alpha, stood in front of the elders ona small wooden platform.

We'd pledged ourselves to our pack, vowing to care for one another and, above all, to preserve thewellbeing of the pack. In our honour, we'd sworn, and his parents, Alpha and Luna, had lookeddown at us with pride. Ever since, we'd been able to mindlink, and had been permitted to join intraining with the pack.

But at eighteen something even more special happened. At eighteen, our true mates were revealedto us.

Not immediately, of course. The Moon Goddess works in mysterious ways, and we've been taughtfrom birth to trust in our paths. At eighteen the possibility of replaceing our mate is finally given: bothof our scents mature, and, in adulthood, we may replace one another.

Jacob and I had grown up together, him the son of the Alpha and I the daughter of the Beta. Welived in the pack house, along with the Gamma and his family, a pair of twins called Ayon and Aron.More often than not, though, we referred to them as Double A, or just The Twins. They dideverything in sync, and Jacob and I found it a little creepy at times. As they were so close, Jacob andI had teamed up, too. We were both only children, which is rare amongst wolves, so our bond hadbeen formed early.

He lived on the top floor of the four-story house. It was huge, and each floor held a cluster of roomsto suit the needs of the pack and those who lived there. The very top floor belonged to the Alphaand, when he found her, his mate, the Luna. Their floor was home to a secondary library, smallerthan the pack library on the ground floor, as well as bedrooms, offices, and a small kitchenette.Those living in the pack house tend to eat together, along with the Omegas who live nearby andserve the food.

I'd always felt bad for the Omegas, having to work tirelessly to cook and clean up after the higherranking wolves. My birth right as the Betas daughter meant that I didn't have to help, but I did asoften as I could. My dad used to sigh at me and roll his eyes, but then he'd smile like he was proudof me. Once he'd whispered that I'd make a good Luna, but I had no claim to that title.

Jacob nudged me, gently pressing his knee against mine. I sat up drowsily, pulling my long, wavyhair up into a messy bun. A few strands refused to cooperate, but I left them be for now. Jacobmoved one softly away from my lips, tucking it behind my ear and smiling at me, his eyes sleepy. Ismiled back, my brown eyes meeting his heavily-lidded sea-blue ones.

“It's nearly time,” he murmured, shifting his weight in his seat. We were both on my bed, and I'dbeen on the cusp of sleep, my legs stretched out across his lap until moments ago. The light fromhis phone screen glowed against his face, enhancing his already strong jawline and straight noseHe pushed my duvet back, and I leant heavily against his side.

He ran a hand through his tousled brown hair. I'd always thought that his hair, eyes, and lipssoftened his face. His hair was always stuck up at some unusual angle, looking as though he“d justawoken from a long and dreamy sleep. His eyes were kind, with the beginnings of small crows feetetching their way into the soft skin around his eyelids. He'd only turned eighteen a month ago, buthis lips had similar wrinkles, soft smile lines from years of laughter and teasing. We were bestfriends, and — fingers crossed — soon to be mates.

Since childhood everyone had expected us to be mates. We'd clicked instantly, and had beeninseparable since we'd first met. Of course, our close quarters helped — the Beta and his family livedon the floor just below that of the Alpha, and the small class sizes on the pack territory meant thatwe'd been together at school as well as at home.

I had to admit that we were cute together. He towered over me, and his Alpha heritage meant thathe was broad and well muscled. I was strong, too, of course, but short and I had an undeniablecuteness about my face. To begin with, he'd treated me like a younger sister, but our bond hadevolved beyond that as we'd reached our teens.

We were together every day. At sixteen, when we'd become official pack members and had swornour allegiance to Silver Crescent, training became another part of our daily routine that wasintertwined. It was unusual for two wolves to be so close without being mated, but our lives wereone.

I always tried to make up for my big round eyes and button nose at training. Every kick or swingtold the bigger wolves around me that they shouldn't dismiss me based on my size, or thespattering of freckles that littered my nose and cheeks. A younger boy had teased me for havinglong hair the other day. I'd used my swaying ponytail to pull him into a chokehold, and had grinnedtriumphantly as he'd tapped out, frustrated.

My mum, training alongside me, had winked over at me. Some of these wolves needed to be takendown a peg or two. My dad saw, and shook his head fondly. He'd smiled at my mum, though, andgiven her hand a quick squeeze before retaking his position at the head of the pack, next to Jacob'sdad.

Recently, the Alpha of the Valley Fern pack, who neighboured us further inland, had discovered thedevelopment of a serum which he claimed could force a werewolf to shift back into their humanform. His warrior wolves had captured two hunters prowling on their land, and they'd uncovered theserum buried deep in their pockets, loaded into syringes. Since then, our Alpha had increased thenumber of training sessions we undertook in human form.

Jacob, as the soon-to-be Alpha, had been too busy helping one of the young warriors into anoffensive stance to notice. I like to think that he would have approved of my imaginative method,though.

I could feel him tense next to me. He took my hand in his much larger one and began rubbingsoothing circles into it. I got the feeling that this was to soothe him more than me. As soon as itstruck midnight, we'd know if the Moon Goddess intended for us to be together or not. A lifetime ofbeing certain that we were hung in the balance.

We'd never kissed, having never quite let ourselves reach that point out of respect for our futuremates, on the slim chance that we weren't destined to be together. We loved each other, though,and we'd cuddled our whole lives, naturally letting our bodies align, feeling them sink in to oneanother with a feeling of safe familiarity. Jacob was my home, as much as my pack was.

“Arienne,” he whispered, his lips brushing against my ear. I shivered. “What if we aren't?”

“I don't know, Jake,” I mumbled back. I moved my free hand so that it lay atop our conjoined ones.The darker brown of my skin melted into the tan of his. I looked up at him and bit down on mylower lip. “We have to trust that the Moon Goddess knows best.”

“But what if she doesn't?” He asked, his voice so quiet I had to strain to hear it, even with my ultra-sensitive wolf hearing. I moved so that both of my legs were swung over his, shifting my weight intohis lap. I kept our hands entwined, though, and let my tired head flop against his chest, just belowhis chin

"We have to trust her.” I spoke into his t-shirt, talking quietly as though afraid I'd break the spellbetween us. “She's never been wrong before. Our whole lives, everyone has assumed that we'd bemates. Your mum has been giving me guidance on being a Luna for as long as I can remember.”

I smiled to myself. Jacob's mum, Liliana, had started to subtly give me bits of knowledge regardingwhat it meant and took to be Luna of a pack years ago. The first time was at a large pack gathering,where she'd pulled me aside during dinner to tell me to listen carefully to her welcome speech, as itwould likely be something I'd have to do myself in the future.

I'd listened attentively, my eyes never shifting from her. She was a powerful wolf, but with amotherly softness that I was sure Jacob had inherited. She oozed self-respect, though, and I yearnedto have such an essence about myself one day.

"My dad said that if we weren't mates, we should both reject them to be together.” He laughed, andI felt it rumbling deep in his chest. “He wants you to be my Luna, Ari, and I want that too.”

He punctuated his sentence by pressing a delicate kiss to my forehead. My whole body tingled, andI was certain that we were right. We had to be mates.

"We'll replace out in a minute,” I whispered, looking down at his phone screen. The background was aphoto of us, captured by my best friend Rosa. We'd been out in the woods, pacing the perimeter ofour border, and her boyfriend Joshua had jumped out at us. Jacob had screamed, and I'd laughedso hard that my lungs had hurt. He'd caught on quickly, and Rosa had taken the photo at the exactmoment that it had clicked for him.

I was bright red in the face and doubled over, and he was looking at the camera with wide eyes, hismouth in a perfect O shape. I smiled down at it, remembering that day fondly.

Jacob's dad had requested more wolves working the perimeter due to an increased number ofRogue sightings. We'd just turned sixteen, and were eager to demonstrate our allegiance to thepack. Rosa and I had been to the gym together when the mindlink came through, and weresponded to our Alpha keenly. As we headed to the showers we devised our plan, and shemindlinked Joshua to let him know.

It also marked the first time we had shifted after being sworn into the pack. It was ceremonial toallow our wolves to come forward together for that first time, but since then we'd had noopportunity to do so again. At the ceremony I'd been in a flurry of thought and conversation, andoverwhelmed as the mindlink opened for the first time. As the second highest ranking young wolf,I'd been the second to shift, so I hadn't got to see Jacob in his wolf form.

When the photo had been taken we'd just reached our post, and were yet to shift. Moments afterwe'd all changed, allowing our wolves to come forwards, giving them physical form. I'd expectedJake's wolf to be brown, like his hair, as I was — my brown fur and chocolate eyes matched myhuman body, but he was a silvery-grey wolf, standing much larger than I did. His dark eyes didremain the same, however, and looking into them was strange. I could see his soul, almost, bared tome in his animalistic form. He'd mindlinked me then, and I could almost feel his raised eyebrowseven though I could of course not see them.

You make a cute wolf, Ari, he'd said, and he sounded smug.

I would've rolled my eyes if I could have, but instead I shot back through our link.

You're not so bad yourself. I could almost feel his smirk radiating off of him.

“Arienne,” he hissed. He looked pointedly at the time. The clock on his phone read 11:59. I tensedagainst him, and he pulled me close.

"How do we know?" I asked.

"We just do,” he murmured. He took one of my hands in each of his, and squeezed gently.

Then the numbers changed. 12:00. Jacob's fingers squeezed tighter. My eyebrows narrowed, and Ilooked up at him, confused.

Nothing had happened. My breath stilled, and I looked up at Jacob. We froze.