The Mark of a Beta

five

By eight o'clock, I have successfully finished one of my assignments for biology. Larry gave us a fucking essay to write on the Civil War, so that's another fun piece of homework I have yet to complete. I remember him expressing how grateful we should feel because he let us choose which battle to focus on. Yep, I'm totally feeling very grateful, Larry. 

The essay is a tomorrow problem.

I really fucking hope that Brenden has given up on cornering me today. The dude was acting fucking weird and I don't want to be around him when his wolf is present. Not only did Brenden seem obsessed with me, but his wolf seemed to be on the same side. This is pretty unusual because a wolf tends to long for their mate. I'm clearly not Brenden's mate, so I don't know what the fuck the deal is.

I mean, I can understand the appeal.

Homework has been a great distraction not only for the Brenden problem and the Thomas argument, but most importantly for the discovery of my mate. 

Is he even my mate if he doesn't want me?

A tightness forms in my throat and I feel a slight pressure behind my eyes as I suppress my emotions. I'm not going to let that fucker upset me. If he doesn't want me? Fine. But I'm going to have to find him again and talk to him. He may have nothing to say to me, but I sure as shit have a lot to say to him!

I pack up my bag for the night, placing my notes and computer inside. I very badly want to drop my "laptop" into the nearest lake so that it can sink to the bottom for being a piece of shit machinery, but then I wouldn't have anything to type on. So that's out of the question.

The moment I save up enough money I'll buy a new one. Not having a job doesn't lend me many opportunities to make money, but my parents give me money for school lunches at the beginning of each week, and since I basically live off of poptarts, I have saved up a good amount of money over the years.

Another reason why poptarts are a gift from the Moon Goddess.

The pack house has quieted down tremendously, and there are only a select few who have stayed behind in the game room or in other random rooms of the house. I have no idea if the meeting is still going on or not, but there's no fucking way that I'm mindlinking Thomas to find out.

I head out the front door as I think about what has happened just in the past few hours. Brenden is now a problem because he's a whiny bitch who can't accept the word no, Thomas thinks I'm an immature child who ruins everything, and my mate didn't make a move to talk to me. He just treated me like I was nothing to him.

I just want somebody to treat me like I'm worth something to them.

I admit to doing a little sulking. Come tomorrow morning, I'll be back to my old happy-as-fuck self.

I'm only walking for a few minutes when I hear the snapping of a twig. My body immediately freezes up at the noise. If a werewolf wants to be silent, then they won't make a sound. The fact that I hear this wolf coming means that they want me to know of their presence.

That shit is even scarier.

Taking a deep breath through my nose, I turn around and ready myself for a fight. I'm expecting Brenden or someone of the similar bully status, but I'm completely shocked when I see intense green eyes matching the color of the surrounding forest.

My eyes then travel to his white button-down shirt, his sleeves rolled up to display his thick forearms with veins trailing up and down them. His ring-clad fingers are relaxed at his sides.

He takes a step closer, his head tilted to the side as he observes me. I can tell that his wolf is right on the surface. The way that he looks at me is almost analytical, as if he's trying to understand my inner thoughts with just a glance.