Page 3 of The Beta’s Heart (Five Fangs #5)

Tyler

Gamma Landry and I pulled up to the school right as the morning bell rang, and he rushed off to get to his class on time since it was across campus. The hustle and bustle of students filling the hallways greeted us, and I couldn’t help but smile. School wasn’t my favorite place, but seeing my friends always made the day a little brighter.

“Morning, Ty!” Beckham Hall called out as I walked into first period, his voice as energetic as always. His identical twin, Bowie, waved from beside him. Both were giants, and their matching personalities were as big as they were.

“Hey, guys,” I replied, giving them a nod. “Where’s Bram?”

“Right here,” a familiar voice chimed in.

Bram Merriweather, one of the nicest and bravest people I knew, walked over to join us. His presence and gentle smiles were always a source of comfort, the special gift of an omega.

“Hey, Bram,” I greeted him, clapping him on the shoulder. “Ready for another day?”

“Always,” he said, his eyes twinkling with a mix of mischief and determination.

The morning passed in a blur of classes and assignments, but my mind kept drifting to Peri Barlow. Every time I caught a glimpse of her in the hallway, my heart stuttered. She looked cute today, her long hair flowing freely, and her nearly black eyes sparkling with an inner light that drew me in like a moth to a flame. I couldn’t help but moon over her a little, even though I knew I’d never be good enough for someone like her.

Lunch was a welcome break, and I joined my friends at our usual table. Beckham and Bowie were staring off across the cafeteria when I sat down with my tray, and I looked at Bram for an explanation.

“Yoyo wore a skirt today,” was all he had to say, not even looking up from his pizza, and I snickered.

While I kept my crush on Peri Barlow a secret in my heart, all us guys knew the wild and crazy Hall twins were sweet on Yolanda Ramirez. She didn’t know it, though, and they wanted to keep it that way, which wasn’t going to happen if she looked over here and saw the drool gathering at the corners of their mouths.

“Did you hear about that trampoline park opening downtown?” I asked to distract them.

“Yeah, it sounds fun!” Bram chirped, nodding enthusiastically. “We should try it!”

“Let’s check it out this weekend,” Bowie said, his gaze and attention snapping back to us as I knew it would.

Neither twin could resist a fun physical activity, which was why they were part of a special training program. Alpha Mase had decided to create a first-response unit of elite warriors, and the Halls were his first candidates in what we all were calling Combat Club. So far, they loved it, but it didn’t leave them much time to do anything else other than school.

“Sunday would be good. That’s our break day,” Becks chimed in. “What about you two? Can you give up your weekly game of playing pretend with the gammas?”

“Don’t be jelly of our cerebral adventures,” Bram said primly, wiggling his shoulders in a feisty way, making me bark out a laugh.

Every Sunday afternoon, Bram and I joined the five gammas for a session of Dungeons lectures irritated him, and he didn’t like being still for so long.

Sure, I could have invited any girl I liked to eat lunch with us or join us for D why would we mess around with a temporary relationship that we knew had no future? And why would we betray our mates before we met them?

Not everyone saw it the same way, of course, which was fine for them, I reckoned, so long as it made them happy and they were being safe.

As the queen bees’ flirting became more inappropriate, I squirmed with discomfort, a blotchy red blush rising up on my cheeks and spreading to my ears. As for the Hall twins, their anger was clear in their clenched jaws and narrowed eyes, not liking how the girls were completely ignoring Bram any more than they liked them making eyes at us.

“Ladies, can y’all move on with your day, please ?” The little omega’s patience had finally reached its limit. “No one here is interested in what you’re selling, so—”

“ Selling ?” Heidia screeched and put her hands on her hips. “What are you implying, Bram?”

“I am not implying anything. I’m flat out saying to go peddle your well-used wares at another table because you’ve worn out your welcome at this one!”

“Tyler!” Korine shrieked, and I automatically bolted upright in my seat, wondering what I had done. “Are you going to let this fruity little—”

“Stop right there,” I warned her as Becks stood up, his wolf, Crimson, flashing in his eyes. “Bram’s our friend, and we won’t hear a word against him.”

“We didn’t ask you to come over. We never do.” Bowie’s voice was rough and gravelly as his wolf, Scarlet, pushed for control.

Hint, hint, I thought, but these girls were either as stubborn as mules or so dumb, they could throw themselves on the ground and miss.

“Aren’t you going to say anything, Bowie?” Olivia whined.

“I’m Beckham, and, no, they summed it up nicely.”

Their eyes going wide and their jaws dropping, all three girls let out shocked gasps, then finally flounced away.

“Thank the Goddess,” Becks said as he slowly sat back down. “Those three always manage to get my goat.”

Before any of us could agree, all of our attention went to a sudden ripple of shock and grief that surged through the pack bond, and every wolf shifter in the cafeteria went dead silent. I looked around, my heart pounding as I wondered who had just died, and Keeley Breckenridge jolted to her feet with an ear-piercing scream. Seated next to her, Callie seemed frozen in shock.

Beta Everett’s dead?

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, and a fume of worry overlaid my sorrow. On our ride into work this morning, Mr. Barlow told me that Alpha Jay Carson had taken a team of warriors to one of our allied packs when Alpha Liam Swift of Crystal Caverns had called for aid. Beta Ev and my friend, Gamma Reuben Ford, were among them.

What was happening over there? And who else would die because of it?

Please, Goddess, no one else, I prayed for my friends.

Sure, Alpha Jay’s wolf, Quartz, was a brutal barbarian and Gamma Reuben’s wolf, Larch, was an awesome fighter, but even the best could be taken down by sheer numbers.

“What can we do to help them?” Bram’s eyes flooded with tears as we all gawked at the Breckenridge girls.

He was right. We needed a plan, and fast. If the Hall twins or I interfered after already pissing them off today, the queen bees would only target Keeley and Callie more than they already did, so none of us could go over.

That left Bram.

I took a few seconds to plan out my words so they didn’t come out as orders that, as an omega, he would be compelled to follow.

“Bram, could you help Keeley and Callie’s friends get them out of here? It would be best to take them to their car and, if you can, drive them home. If you can’t, would you find someone who will and can stay with them? Oh, and if any of us can link Coach Hall, ask him to send a delta or gamma to their house.”

“Got it.” Bram nodded, his eyes wide with understanding.

“Beckham, Bowie, make sure no nosy humans follow them.”

“On it,” they replied in unison, moving to cover the doors.

As for me, all I could do was intercept the principal, Mr. Varner, who was making his way toward the ruckus. He wasn’t exactly wise to the fact that there were werewolves period, let alone in his school, but he’d been around the block a time or two and been here long enough to understand that some us students were … different.

“Mr. Varner, the Breckenridge twins just received news that their older brother has died. They need to leave.”

“Everett? Oh, my Lord.” Pressing his hand to his heart, he took a minute, then nodded solemnly. “Thank you for letting me know what’s happening, Ty. I’ll mark them excused for the rest of the day and follow up with them tomorrow.”

Bram scooped Keeley up in his arms as Peri and her friends helped Callie stand, then followed Bram out of the cafeteria, and I felt a pang of guilt. I wished I could do more, but for now, this seemed to be the best way to help them.

#

Peri

I barely made it through my dreaded presentation in Spanish class without dying of embarrassment. As soon as the bell rang, I rushed to the bathroom to check my pants and let out a grateful sigh when I saw all was good, then raced to the cafeteria to meet my friends, hoping they could help me laugh off my mistakes.

“Hey, Peri! How’d it go?” Keeley Breckenridge called out as I approached our usual table.

As Callie smiled encouragingly, I sighed and dropped down into my seat.

“It was awful. I stumbled over the conjugations and mixed up ‘ser’ and ‘estar’ at least twice.”

“Oh, stop worrying,” Callie said, waving her hand dismissively. “You did fine. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Yeah,” Keeley agreed with a smile. “You’ve got an A in the class, and a few tiny goofs in one presentation isn’t going to drop your grade that much.”

Sophia Bishop and Yolanda Ramirez, the quieter members of our group, nodded in agreement.

“They’re right, Peri,” Sophie said softly. “You’re doing great.”

“And those are easy verbs to mess up,” Yola assured me in her soft Spanish accent. Getting her to talk here in the cafeteria was rare. The more people were around, the quieter she became.

“Thanks, y’all,” I said, smiling despite myself. “I guess I’m just a perfectionist.”

As I looked around the cafeteria, my gaze landed on the table where the queen bees—Korine Holloway, Heidia Jensen, and Olivia Edison—were gathered around Tyler James and the Hall twins, Beckham and Bowie. The girls were laughing loudly, tossing their hair, and batting their eyelashes in an overly flirtatious way that made my stomach churn.

Tyler looked uncomfortable, glancing around as if he wanted to escape, while Beckham and Bowie exchanged annoyed glances, but seemed to be enduring it so as not to make a scene. As for Bram, the girls were ignoring him completely, and he continued eating his lunch as if they weren’t even there.

My heart gave a little flutter at the sight of Tyler. He looked so handsome today, the light glittering on his golden hair, so unlike the bottled blonde I used to hide my natural black tresses. When his blue eyes darted in our direction, I quickly looked away, hoping no one— especially him—had noticed my staring.

Of course, Keeley did.

“So, Peri,” she started, a mischievous gleam in her eye. “What’s the deal with you and Tyler James? You practically light up every time he’s around.”

I felt my cheeks heat up.

“What? No way! I don’t have a crush on Tyler.”

“Oh, please,” Keeley laughed. “Only the Moon Goddess knows who will be mates, sure, but it’s pretty obvious you like him.”

I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my embarrassment.

“Even if I did, it doesn’t mean anything. We won’t know who our mates are until we turn eighteen.”

“True,” Callie conceded, “but there have been times when couples were drawn to each other before their birthdays, only to find out they were indeed mates. Our parents used to say Royal Price and his mate Julia were in love for years before they found out they were mates.”

“That’s a sentimental dream,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “An unreal fantasy in the real world.”

Keeley scoffed at this.

“Girl, as shifters, we’re unreal fantasies in the real world!”

We all laughed, the conversation easing my earlier anxiety, and I was so grateful to have such good friends.

“Well, what about you two?” Sophie wanted to know. “You turned eighteen last week. Don’t you have any sense of your mates in the pack?”

“No.” Both of them screwed their faces up into pouts as they answered at the same time.

“No one catching your eye?” I teased.

“Not really,” Callie admitted.

“And our wolves aren’t acting crazy like they’re supposed to when they sense their mates,” Keeley added.

Before anyone could reply to that, a horrible pang went through the pack bond, and every wolf in the cafeteria went eerily silent.

Suddenly leaping to her feet, Keeley started screaming and Callie turned into a statue next to me, cluing me in right away to what had happened, and my heart pounded as panic gripped me.

When she dropped my new pack of pads off, Mom told me that Jay had taken Beta Everett and a squad of warriors to help an ally deal with an emergency. Jayden Carson might not be my brother by blood, but he was in every other way, same as Ash Mitchell and Mason Price, and fear for him filled me.

Deal with the here and now, Per, my wolf murmured. Help your friends first and worry later.

Because Dove was right, I rushed to Keeley’s side and put my hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her.

“Keeley? Breathe, Keeley!”

As Sophia moved to comfort Callie, Yolanda bolted out of the cafeteria, and I shook my head. Even though she could have just linked him, she panicked and ran to fetch Coach Jared Hall, Beckham and Bowie’s older brother. He had a lot of moon power and was physically strong and dominant enough to make unranked shifters step down when something fired off or an emergency like this cropped up, which was why, when he gave up playing for the NFL because he missed the pack and his brothers too much, my alpha brothers talked him into taking a job at Greenville High School. He kept an eye on us younger shifters, and it had worked out very well so far.

Before Yola could return with him, though, our friend Bram Merriweather appeared, his face set with determination as he pushed out the serenity and comfort that only an omega could.

“We need to get them out of here,” he murmured calmly, picking up Keeley with ease. “Peri, Sophie, get Callie to follow us to the parking lot.”

As I coaxed Callie into following Bram, Sophie grabbed the twins’ school bags, and we hurried out to the parking lot, where we met Yolanda and Coach Hall.

Between all of us, we managed to get the twins into their pink VW Beetle, Gretchen. Bram looked worried, his gaze flickering between the twins and us, and I knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth.

His mom was an absolute bitch, but he wouldn’t let me say anything to my big brothers or anyone else. Being an omega didn’t help the situation. While they brought peace and comfort to a pack, omega wolves were utterly submissive, and Smoke was no different. Even if Bram wanted to stand up to his mom, Smoke would bare his neck and yield to whatever that horrible woman said.

“Ty asked me to drive them home, and I want to help more, but I can’t miss school,” Bram worried. “My mom will kill me! She’s already furious with me because my grade in science dropped from an A+ to an A!”

“I’ll drive,” I offered, even though I knew it was a long shot, point proven when everyone quickly shut me down.

“No way, Peri. You’re a terrible driver,” Sophia said as she tossed the twins’ bags in the trunk.

“ I’ll drive,” Coach Hall intervened before anybody else could volunteer. “Peri, you come along and stay with them. Nathan and Evie won’t mind if you miss school.”

Relieved, I nodded. I really was a terrible driver, and I didn’t want to crash Gretchen or risk injuring my friends.

“Okay. Thank you, Coach.”

He sent the rest of my friends back inside, then tried to wedge his huge body behind the steering wheel with no success. He ended up sliding the seat all the way back against the rear seat, forcing Keeley to sit on Callie’s lap, and he still had his head at a ninety-degree angle and his knees in his armpits.

“We could have just taken your truck, coach,” I sassed as I buckled into the shotgun seat.

“Bowie and Becks have a study hall after lunch.” He cranked the engine to life. “They’ll drive it over to pick me up soon enough.”

Once we got on our way, I glanced over my shoulder at Callie and Keeley as they sobbed in each other’s arms. They were the last of their family now and, without Beta Ev to support them, they were going to have a long, difficult journey. Hopefully, they’d find their mates soon. That would help them the most.

We’ll help them, too, Dove murmured, my wolf radiating sympathy.

Of course we will, I agreed , my heart aching for them. As much as we can.