Page 16 of The Beta’s Heart (Five Fangs #5)

Tyler

Waking up felt different that morning. It wasn’t the usual groggy, heavy feeling I got when coming out of sleep. Instead, it was like I was shoved to the backseat of my own mind. I blinked hard, trying to take stock of my surroundings, and suddenly realized what was happening: River had taken control of my body before I was awake, which was a strict no-no except for the nightmare rule, and was busy messing around with his precious mate box.

River, what are you doing? I sighed, trying to push my way back to the forefront.

“Morning, Ty-Ty!” River’s response came with an excited mental wag of his tail. “Alpha Masey say me has ’mission to use dis body.”

He did? I was floored.

“Uh-huh. He ’wake. Me ask nice, say why, and he say yes!” River’s voice was filled with childish glee.

Why would he do that? I couldn’t wrap my head around why Alpha Mason would give my wolf— my wolf, of all wolves!—permission to ascend while I was asleep.

“Me not know why he say yes.” River’s brow furrowed.

Why did you ask him for permission? I rephrased, trying to get a straight answer.

“Today our birfday!” River proclaimed. “Find mate today!”

A mix of emotions welled up in me—hope, excitement, but mostly concern.

Baby, it doesn’t work like that. Just because we’re eighteen now doesn’t mean we’ll find our mate today. It can take years.

“But we ready! Today special!” River’s confusion was starting to turn to irritation, and I sighed.

Sometimes, talking with him about bigger concepts was like trying to explain calculus to a toddler.

It doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed to find her today. We have to be patient. What are you doing, anyway?

“Get mate box all ready for mate, Ty-Ty!”

Is that why Alpha Mase gave you permission to ascend?

“Yes, yes, yes!”

After a few more questions, I learned Alpha Mase had alpha-commanded him not to leave my room and only to play with his treasures, nothing else, until I woke up. While I was sorry River had bothered him, I knew Alpha Mase had recognized the importance of the mate box to my wolf and, in his silently kind way, gave Riv permission to have his moment in peace—with the appropriate safeguards in place.

Aw, it’s his birthday, too, I told myself. Let him live the dream while it lasts. I only hope he doesn’t go ballistic when reality hits.

In silence, I watched as he checked each individual item, wiped it with a tissue, then carefully placed it back in the box. His determination was endearing and heartbreaking at the same time, and I prayed that, if we did have a mate, her wolf was a saint.

Baby , I tried one more time, we might not find our mate today. You have to be ready for that .

“No! We find mate today !” With a huff, he shook his head fiercely. “We ready !”

Realizing I was getting nowhere, I gave up. There was no reasoning with him when he got like this.

After he finished his task, he closed the box with a satisfied grunt and patted the top like a proud craftsman. Only then did he finally relinquish control and curled up happily to take his morning nap.

My body now my own again, I stared at the box for a moment before getting up and heading to the shower, a tiny spark of hope kindling my chest.

Maybe River was right. Maybe today would be special.

#

It started off that way, at least.

When I walked into the kitchen for breakfast, all of the kids had on silly cone hats and blew into paper party horns while screaming, Happy Birthday, Beta Ty! in the link.

“Thank you all so much!”

Going around the table, I gave each of the boys a high five or fist bump, then hunkered down next to Honor’s chair and held out my arms. She jumped into them, then kissed my cheek.

“I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!” she sang in her sweet little girl voice.

“Aw, I love you, too,” I murmured in her ear. “You’re my best girl.”

“Until you find your mate,” she said as she released me and climbed back in her chair. “Then she’ll be your best girl. Mama says you might find her today. That makes me happy for you, but I’m also sad. You’ll move out of the O, and I won’t see you anymore.”

“Well, I was always going to move out.” I laid my hand on top of her head. “Now that I’m eighteen, I’m officially an adult and can live on my own in the packhouse. We talked about this, remember?”

“Yes, but I knew I would still see you around, and you said you’d stop and visit us.” Her bottom lip popped out. “If you find your mate, though, you’ll be so busy with her, you’ll forget all about me. About all of us.”

“No, I won’t.” I gave her a soft smile. “I’ll come around to see you. I’ll even bring my mate along to meet you. How does that sound?”

“Okay! I hope your mate is as pretty as you are, Beta Ty.” Her big innocent eyes melted my heart like butter on a biscuit.

“Thank you, Honor.”

As we sat at the table, each of the kids were eager to give me a card that they had made. Dawson and Sawyer Nelson, Charlie’s eight-year-old twins, had worked together to draw a picture of River on the front of their plain white card. Kids always like to play with River, and he liked to play with them just as much. The orphans always felt special because he lived with them.

Little Honor’s card had a unicorn, of course, only her drawing looked like a deflated giraffe with a nail coming out of his head. Still, the way she took the time to color it with stripes of silver and purple glitter told me she’d put her heart into the effort.

Next up were Zach and Austin Johnstone. They were brothers and hadn’t been eligible for adoption because their father was technically still alive, but David Johnstone was no longer David Johnstone. Zach and Austin walked over to the pack’s care facility to visit with him every day after school, but even as young as they were, I reckoned they were aware that their father was never coming back.

They were good boys, helping Charlie with cooking and cleaning without even being asked, and enjoyed going fishing with anyone heading towards the lake, so it was no surprise to see that they had drawn a rainbow trout on their card and written, “Hope you hook your mate,” which made me chuckle.

And finally there was Rook Harrison.

Nine years ago, a baby boy was left alone on the boundary line of Great Rocks. The border patrol had been hesitant to touch him at first since he didn’t smell like anything. Not wolf, not fox, not bird, not even human. Nathan Barlow, who was the pack’s alpha at the time, could have sent him elsewhere or even put him down since no one knew if he would grow up to be a threat, but instead Mr. Barlow found foster parents, who gave the baby a name and raised him with their own pups until they died in the sickness.

Over the years, Mr. Barlow brought in experts to try and figure out what Rook was, but never had any luck. One thing I knew for sure, he wasn’t a magic user. I’d always had a special nose for witches and could smell them a mile away, even under a shield, and I didn’t smell an ember of magic in him. Still, there was something about the kid, something you couldn’t quite put your finger on, but enough to know that handing him over to the human foster care system would have been a really bad idea.

On the card he’d made for me, Rook had used a black pen to draw intricate patterns inside the outlines of a number one and a number eight. It was quite beautiful, and I thanked him with a smile.

“It’s called Zentangle,” he informed me gravely, reminding me of Wesley Barlow, who was his best friend. “We learned how to do it in art class this year.”

“It looks like you became an expert at it.”

“It’s something to do,” he shrugged, “and it calms me down when I’m upset.”

“Then I’m glad you found something that helps you like that.”

By the time I was finished with the cards, Charlie had breakfast on the table, and we all ate and chatted together, the five boys telling me about their plans for the day while Honor kept glancing over at her mother and giggling.

She’s giving it away, Charlie bemoaned in the link. My baby can’t keep a secret.

I’ll act surprised, I promised, but tell me it’s not cake at eight in the morning. I’ll be on a sugar high all day!

You’ll see, she laughed.

By the way, how are things going with Misha?

And the way her eyes lit up gave away her secret, too.

Like mother, like daughter , I chuckled to myself.

After breakfast, I helped clear the table and wondered what to do with my morning. Luna Posy had invited me over to the alpha house for lunch, and Alpha Wyatt was picking me up right before noon, so I had a few hours to fill.

Usually, I’d go pester Landry and Reuben, but the gammas were having a big meeting with luna’s eldest brother, Alpha James Briggs from Green River. He wanted to draft an alliance with us and had also asked for help with training his pack warriors, and the alphas had assigned the gammas to handle both requests.

As for my fellow betas, Emerson told me yesterday that he and Angelo had errands to run in town all day and Crew said the same. I knew Tristan was supervising the morning fighter practices in the gammas’ absence and Matthew and his mate, Maria, were helping the Breckenridge twins pack up their house to be ready to leave with their new mates, Alpha and Beta Briggs.

I wonder if Bram wants to do something, I was thinking when Honor came into the kitchen with a loud squeal.

“Your surprise is here, Beta Ty!”

“My surprise, huh?” Grinning, I dried my hands on the dish towel, hung it back up on the oven door handle, and picked her up under her arms to swing her around and around. As she screamed with laughter, I heard two deep chuckles from the doorway and cut my eyes over to see Bowie and Beckham Hall standing there.

“What are you two doing here?” I stopped spinning Honor and looked at her. “Don’t tell me these two elephants are my surprise?”

“Yep! They are!” She squirmed until I put her down, then grinned up at me and yelled, “Have fun!” before she took off.

“Elephants, huh?” One of the twins, possibly Becks, crossed his arms over his chest. “Maybe the little beta would rather go to the circus instead of what we have planned, Bowie.”

Whew. Good. Guessed right. That was not an easy task since it was impossible to tell them apart by sight alone.

“Every day is a circus around here,” I scoffed.

“Facts!” Bowie slung an arm around my neck and gave me a hard noogie.

“Bro!” I shoved him back before he could grind my skull into powder, then carefully patted my hair back into place. “How did you two get the day off, anyway? Alpha Mase is strict on Sundays being your break day.”

“We traded half of today for half of Sunday,” Becks explained. “We do it all the time when something comes up. We may be the first trainees in his special squad, but he also understands we’re eighteen-year-olds with families and friends.”

“And football!” Bowie grinned. “Now come on, beta, grab your shoes. We’re taking you to Bounce!”

“What?” My eyes widened.

“Yep, and Bram’s meeting us there, so get a move on.”

“I’ll be right back.” With a wide grin, I took the stairs three at a time to grab my boots from my room.

We’d had a great time when the four of us went one Sunday shortly after it opened, but it cost a pretty penny. Since I was saving as many of mine as I could, I hadn’t been back, even though some of my friends had asked me to go along a few times.

The beta pay was excellent, but I only had one paycheck under my belt, and half of that Alpha Mase had invested for me as part of my benefits package. If I wanted him to, he’d continue to invest for me, but I was very aware of how few zeros my checking account currently had. For now, I’d decided that Mama Dollar and Papa Dollar were on their own with only Alpha Mase’s financial wizardry to help them make babies.

Hopefully lots of babies! I snickered as I climbed into the twins’ Jeep.

Until they had a growing family, though, I wasn’t going to spend a cent on anything unnecessary. Whether she came from money or was as poor as me, my mate—should I be lucky enough to have one—deserved to start off with whatever she wanted or needed to make our house a home, and I was determined to provide that for her.

I would work as hard as I had to so I could give her the life she deserved. It might not be in a few months or even in a couple of years, but I’d carve our future out with my own two hands, and I hoped she’d be the kind of girl who’d want to help me.

It was the quality I dreamed of in a mate more than any other. While Bowie and Becks went on and on about their bucket list of threesome positions— what I wouldn’t give for earplugs sometimes!— and Bram whispered his hopes for a loyal mate who would treat him well and not abuse Smoke, I longed for a girl willing to stand by my side as the two of us worked to create our life together. A true partner in every sense of the word.

Yeah, well, people in hell wish for ice water, too, I reminded myself. Don’t mean they get it.

But the warning did nothing to stop my heart from wanting it.

#

Peri

I spent the morning with Callie and Keeley, helping Beta Matthew and Maria pack up the last of the twins‘ things since they were leaving with their mates tomorrow, both eager to see their new home and learn about their new roles.

As luna of Green River, Callie was already feeling the pressure, but her mate, Alpha James, was great at soothing her fears and reassuring her that he would be by her side every step of the way. As for Keeley, she was happy that her mate would be her sister’s beta. Even though Beta Aiden technically had alpha blood, Alpha James said he didn’t trust anyone else except his younger brother to guard his luna.

There was a small crisis when the twins realized they’d lose their link with Spring as soon as my alpha brothers released them from Five Fangs to become members of Green River. Thinking fast, I linked Jay to ask the king where Spring was staying in the Royal Pack, then to get a phone number.

When I explained why, he agreed and, before ten minutes had passed, I was setting up the twins’ phones with the contact information for one Dr. Alonzo York. Then I called him and explained the situation, and the good doctor assured me that any time the girls wanted to talk to their late brother’s wolf, all they had to do was call.

“Saved the day again, Per,” Callie sniffed as she wiped her eyes and Keeley hugged me.

“Eh, it’s a talent.” I shrugged, trying to lighten things up.

After a teary goodbye-for-now filled with promises to keep in touch and visit each other, I left them with their mates and went over to the alpha house early to help Posy with any last-minute needs she might have before Tyler’s birthday party.

My older brothers, however, intercepted me the second I stepped through the door. Dragging me to the man cave, they showed me the exploded bean bag chair and asked if I was able to fix it.

“Sure, but I don’t have the right kind of sewing machine to make the seams strong enough to withstand another moose attack.” I gave Ash a pretend glare, which made him grin. “My machine is just a cheapie from the superstore and can’t even hem up jeans.”

“We’ll get you whatever machine you need, Sissy,” Cole said. “Text or email me a link to what you want, and I’ll order it today. It can be your payment for helping us out.”

“All right, thanks.” I gave him a big hug. “I appreciate it. That will be a big help with lots of projects I’ve been wanting to do.”

“And don’t forget to order the thread and other supplies you need for it, too,” Mase chimed in. “Don’t stint.”

“Since it’s on your dime, I won’t!” I grinned.

Then Cole patted my shoulder, a sign he’d had enough of my hug, so I released him and went over to hug Mase, who patted my back awkwardly. Honestly, the only ones of these boys who knew how to give a proper hug were Jay and Ash! The other three hugged me like I was going to shatter into a thousand pieces if they squeezed too hard!

Which was weird because Wyatt was always shoving me around, and Cole had hooked his arm around my waist and spun me in circles more times than I could count. Hell, even Alpha Ice Mason Price wasn’t above picking me up and tossing me into the pool!

Boys. And they say girls are hard to figure out!

#

As I finished arranging the last of the balloons around the cabana, Dove started to hop around like a frog on a hot plate, flooding me with so much excitement and happiness that I felt dizzy.

“What’s gotten into you?” I hissed. “Calm down!”

Can’t, Per! It’s happening!

“What’s happening, you dingbat wolf?”

You’ll find out! she sing-sang, and I rolled my eyes.

And then the world shifted under my feet as my nose filled with the delicate smell of lilacs freshly blooming on a cool spring morning.

“Oh. Oh, my.” Pressing one hand to my chest, I gasped for breath as my heart turned into a woodpecker hammering on a tree.

“Peri?”

Slender fingers touched my forearm, and I turned my shell-shocked eyes to Posy, who stared back at me for a second before her face nearly split in half with a wide grin.

“Oh, my heart!” she squealed. “You smell your mate, don’t you?”

Mute as a mime, I could only nod.

“You know who it is, right? There’s only one person it could be!” She clasped her hands under her chin and bounced up and down on her tippy toes.

Again, I nodded, my palms suddenly moist and my chest aching with the want to see him.

“They’re here!” I heard Ash shout from somewhere behind me.

I was glad that Posy had the good sense to grab my elbow and clear a path to the front of the crowd. The way my brain was working right now, I couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.

“Happy birthday!” everyone shouted around me, but all I could do was stare at the boy in front of me, too scared to move in case that ended the dream I was caught up in.

Then Tyler James held out his arms, and I ran into them, tears streaming down my cheeks, only to gasp as I felt the mate sparks for the first time, tickling my skin everywhere it touched his.

“I’m so, so happy it’s you,” he breathed as he squashed me tightly against him, and I had the inane thought, Good! He knows how to give a proper hug!

“Me, too!” I whispered. “I didn’t dare to even wish for this in case I jinxed it.”

“Same.” He nuzzled his nose in my hair, probably breathing in my mate scent, which made me wonder what it was, but Posy started talking before I could ask him.

“Tyler? Why don’t you take Peri for a walk while we finish up with the grilling?”

My mate nodded, then his blue, blue gaze dropped down to me, and I gave him my best smile as he led me away.

Still struggling to process that Tyler Quinn James was really mine , I couldn’t talk, and he seemed to be in the same situation because we were about halfway down the driveway before either of us spoke.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m still in shock.”

“Trust me, I am, too,” I giggled, then said what I’d been wanting to say to him for a long time now. “I wish I would have talked to you more at school. I wanted to, but I had to appease the mean girls.”

“Wait. What? You wanted to talk to me at school?”

“Of course, but if I did, the mean girls would target me.” Why was he looking so confused? Did he not know why they would do that? To help him out, I explained, “You’re gorgeous and mysterious, and they’ve marked you as off limits to the rest of us peasants. Haven’t you noticed how no girls approach you other than Korine, Heidia, and Olivia?”

He blinked, then frowned.

“What do you mean ‘gorgeous and mysterious’? Are you sure they’re talking about me ?”

“Um, one-hundred percent. And you are both of those things. Gorgeous speaks for itself, and you’re mysterious because you don’t interact with girls or let them get close to you.” I cocked my head to the side as I frowned up at him. “You didn’t realize any of this, did you? Why did you think girls avoided you?”

“I live in a freaking orphanage, Per. I don’t have the money to buy the right clothes or shoes, and I’m… not ‘gorgeous’ or whatever.”

“If you don’t know how good-looking you are, I can’t explain it to you,” I scoffed, wanting to roll my eyes, but minded my manners. Our bond was less than thirty minutes old; I couldn’t risk scaring him away yet! “And clothes and shoes don’t make a difference. At least not to me.”

I smiled at him again, and he seemed to go breathless. Good. I’d been struggling with that since he came around the corner of the alpha house!

“Ty?”

“Yeah?”

“What do I smell like to you? You smell like lilacs to me.”

This time, I was more aware and remembered to put my hand over my mouth when I giggled, but he gently wrapped his long fingers around my wrist and pulled my hand away, then linked our fingers.

“Don’t cover your smile, Sunshine. It’s so beautiful.”

My heart. Was never. Going to. Recover from. Those words.

All I could do was thank him and explain how I’d been self-conscious ever since Cole had teased me when I was ten or eleven. He’d said my cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk’s when I smiled and, since my face was naturally round and I wasn’t exactly thin, my cheeks were chubby and smiling did make them puff out.

Before I could stop my word vomit, he did it for me, laying his free hand over my lips, and those mate sparks shivered over my skin.

“Peri, you are adorable.” He lowered his hand and caught my other one to lace our fingers together. “And to answer your question, butterscotch.”

I had to take a deep breath to inflate my lungs, which had seemed to collapse at his compliments. I couldn’t believe this was happening, that we were together and would be for the rest of our lives.

“Ty, I’m afraid I’m going to wake up and this will all have been a dream.”

“Me, too, but maybe this will make it seem more real for both of us.”

Then he leaned down and kissed me—a sweet, innocent brush of his lips against mine—and I suddenly couldn’t tell the difference between this boy and my own heart.

“Oh, my,” I breathed when he lifted his head.

“Yeah.” His lungs stuttered a bit as his blue eyes locked on me. “Listen, Peri, I don’t have a big bank account, and I’m still dealing with some issues from my childhood, but I have a good-paying job and I swear I will work hard to provide you with the life you deserve.”

Oh. My eyes teared up. Oh, Ty!

“I don’t even have a bank account or a job, but I know we’re going to be fine. You know how I know that? Because we’ll be together. So long as we’re together, we can face anything, right?”

“Right. And we’ll be together forever, Sunshine, because I ain’t letting you go any sooner than that.”

As a grin curled up the corners of his mouth, I tugged my hands free from his and hugged him, squeezing hard enough to make the breath huff out of him, and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders to hold me just as tightly. Feeling brave and safe and knowing the time was right, I said something I’d only ever said to my family before.

“I love you,” I whispered into his t-shirt.

“I love you, too, so much. My beautiful mate. My sunshine. My Peri.”