The Beta (boyxboy) (Book One)

Part 2

"Hey Jamie," I looked up from my lunch tray as Austin sat down across from me with that same grin he always wore, "do you think it'd be okay if I stayed at your place tonight?"

A large part of me wanted to roll my eyes seeing as he had had a key to our house for the last five years and knew he was more than welcome at any point in time, but I resisted the urge and just shrugged before explaining "You already know you can, but I'm pretty sure we have a meeting tonight so it'll be pretty boring for you."

"Can I go?" He asked and I could feel everyone's attention landing on us at this point.

"We go over this every time," I sighed, "you're a human, and you're not mated to anyone in the pack. It's not allowed." As soon as the words left my mouth I could feel River glaring at me, and Corey quickly grabbed my hand under the table, a gesture that would normally have me calming down, but it wasn't doing to much today.

"But you don't know that for sure." He quickly shot back and I couldn't help the scowl that quickly fell across my face. It was comments like this I hated. I knew more about the mating situation involving him than he did. Not that he knew that. But still, I didn't need him tossing around ideas about it.

"There's only about 20 girls in our generation, and most of them already have theirs, and the ones that don't would have come forward by now." I explained trying to keep my voice even. The whole situation was making me feel awkward and angry. I didn't want to be talking about the possibility of anyone else ever touching him.

He shrugged as he picked up his pizza. "That might be the case Jamie, but there's at least double that when it comes to the guys, and they'd be a lot less likely to come forward about it."

"He's right you know." River threw in cockily "You might wanna ease up on your fork there." I looked down and saw my knuckles had turned white, I hadn't even realized my grip had tightened.

"We would know." I practically growled out, and felt Corey's hand tighten around my own.

Austin cocked his head to the side before continuing on though "You say you would, but I really feel like it's a possibility." He dropped his pizza and moved a little closer. "It'd be cool you know, we could go from best friends to pack mates, and have 'my boyfriend can beat up your boyfriend' wars."

That hit hard, it felt like my entire chest collapsed and before I even realized what I was doing I slammed the fork down and stood up. "You have no idea what your even saying." I shouted before turning and stomping off.

I could feel the tears welling up but refused to let them slip out as I quickly found my way to my locker and practically threw my head into it. It wasn't even 30 seconds later that I felt a hand on my shoulder and instantly started feeling calmer, but it didn't stop the fact that all I could think of was someone else with my mate, Austin enjoying himself with some other wolf. It made my heart pound in my chest, and my knees weaken.

Then just the fact that he was actually thinking about being mated to a guy, and I wasn't his first choice. What was wrong with me anyway? How was he so okay being my best friend, but when being my mate came up he'd rather have anyone else. It wasn't fair.

"Just breathe." Corey whispered softly as his hand dropped from my shoulder and his arms slid around my waist. "He was just messing around James, let it go."

"It hurts though." I mumbled, and his grip on me only tightened in response. It felt like we stood there for forever like that before I finally dropped my head and turned towards him. Corey was only about 3 inches taller than me but it was times like this where completely falling into his frame seemed like the easiest thing in the world.

I slowly calmed down and pulled away just enough to look up into his brown eyes, and I could see the toll this was taking on him and tried to squirm away but his grip only tightened more. I watched him shake his head making his red locks shake before he quietly mumbled "This is my job. Let me help you."

I leaned in against him once more as his words set in and finally I let the tears slip past my eye lids, and I felt more than a little pathetic. No one could ever understand how horrible situations like this made me feel. I knew it was his job to help filter emotions, but I also knew how much it did to him both physically and emotionally.

"That's it Jamie." he cooed softly, "Just let it all out." There was a short moment where the only thing that could be heard was my light sobbing before he spoke up again. "I can smell the hormones radiating off you faster than a waterfall, heats about to kick your ass, you shouldn't even be at school right now."

I quickly shook my head and informed him it wouldn't be kicking in for at least another week, only to have him shake his head back at me.

"You're around Austin on a daily basis, and the two of you aren't involved so the hormones build a lot faster. If you don't mate heats gonna start getting longer, harder, and more frequent."

I took a step back and looked up at him in shock only to have him pull me back into his chest. Had he really just said that? How did he know that? I didn't even know that, and I'm the next beta. He couldn't be serious. Could he?

I guess it made sense when he explained it. It would also explain how emotional I've been today, and I had been getting a few patches in the day where my body felt warmer than normal. But I had figured it was just because the schools heat was still broken.

"You need to consider going home, and if not you for sure need to stay home tomorrow." He said letting a little bit of his dominant voice slip in to show that it wasn't necessarily a command, but a suggestion he expected me to take to heart.

"Austin and I have to present a chemistry project tomorrow." I said before the thought even fully processed in my head. I hated how no matter what was going on I always put Austin first. I mean, I didn't hate it hate it; I just hated how naturally it came. I should care more about me going through freaking heat, than Austin presenting something alone.

"I'm not saying you have too," Corey whispered. "I'm just saying it would be the best idea." He finally took a step back. "Jamie." I looked up at him and he gave a half smile. "It's gonna be okay." I gave a light nod and he gave me a soft pat on the back. "Be safe tonight at the meeting."

I nodded once more and he gave me one last squeeze before turning and heading back towards the café.