Becoming Beta (Completed)

Chapter 14

Zeke

"Stop being stubborn!" I scolded Valerie, practically dragging her towards the food line. We've been in the mall for the past few hours. I bought stuff, she bought stuff. She's been at the packhouse for almost a week, refusing to go home. So she ran out of clothes. Now, I could hear her stomach growling, but she didn't bring enough money for food. And of course, she's refusing to let me pay. "Fine. Just stay here then" I demanded, going in line alone.

She crossed her arms over her chest before plopping down at a table. I could see a couple guys go up to her. She immediately grabbed her bags and walked over to me. "Hey, babe. Where you running off to?" One of the guys followed her.

I rolled my eyes and bit my lip to stop from laughing. I could almost feel Valerie's distaste. "I'm with my boyfriend" Her hand darted out and clutched onto mine. She was pleading for me to go along with it.

Pulling my hand out of hers, I furrowed my eyebrows. "Do I know you, miss?" I asked. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me. I held my breath, trying not to laugh. As I walked up to the counter to order, I could hear the guy trying to talk her into hanging out.

I glanced behind me and saw the guy wrapping an arm around Valerie's waist. She tried wiggling out of his grasp. "I'm not interested. Take a hint" she spat, swatting at his hands.

He pulled her closer. "Come on. Let me buy you lunch. We can get to know each other" he said, caressing her arm.

"Zeke. Please" Valerie begged through the mind-link.

I sighed, deciding to put her out of her misery. After grabbing the food, I walked back to them and leaned towards the guy's ear. "Get your hands off of her before I cut them off" I demanded harshly. He glanced at me before holding his hands up and walking away. I pulled Valerie to a table and put her food in front of her. "Eat it" I urged.

She smiled at me before dropping her bags. "Thank you" she said as she began to eat. I suddenly got hit in the face. I glared at Valerie as I spotted the fry sitting on my lap. "That's for being a jerk and not helping me sooner" she huffed, stuffing more fries in her mouth.

I laughed. "That's attractive. If you wanted the guy to go away, you should've just ate" I joked.

She rolled her eyes and swallowed her food. "For your information, there is no attractive way to eat. And I'm hungry, so I have an excuse" she stated. I shrugged and nodded in agreement before I began to eat. "So, what are we doing after we eat?" Valerie asked. I shrugged. "Okay. So I was thinking"

"Whoa! Write that down on a calendar. Valerie was thinking today!" I exclaimed.

She reached over the table and slapped my arm. "Jerk" she huffed. I chuckled and told her to continue. "So, remember how you said you would train me? We could totally do that when we get back to the house. There's nothing better to do over there anyway" she suggested.

That is a pretty good idea. Then instead of asking me for help, she could just break a guy's hand if she doesn't like him. I shrugged and nodded in agreement. "Why not?"

***

"This is so complicated!" Valerie whined. I rolled my eyes and wiped the sweat off of my forehead. She pulled her own towel out of her pocket and wiped her head. "You have to breathe a certain way. You have to punch a certain way. You have to pull back at a certain time" she ranted.

I sighed. "There are specific ways to do things if you don't want to get hurt. That's what I'm teaching you" I informed her. She nodded, apologizing for complaining. "It's fine. I know it's hard work" I stated. It actually took a lot of training for me to be this good, it doesn't come naturally. I trained a little while Mason still had a pack. I trained harder at Caleb's pack, especially after Terence and my father died. I was obsessed with training. It was a coping method. In my mind, I figured that being able to fight and protect people would prevent bad things from happening- which is true. However, it's not guaranteed.