Looking To Belong (A Runt's Story)

Chapter 36

I sat on the porch in a rocking chair attempting to knit a slipper while listening to those just in front of the pack house. Roland was just finishing his customary tour of the town and changes done recently. The visiting Alpha and Beta were apparently quite familiar with this place and must visit regularly. It was a fairly informal visit, so everyone was relaxed. Any visit meant that Will would be busy; if any sort of fight broke out, an Enforcer would intervene, regardless of which Alpha had been antagonized.

Roland invited the Alpha inside for trade talks, and the visiting Alpha told his Beta to relax for a while. I looked up as I watched the larger man follow Roland inside while a leaner guy sat in a lawn chair to enjoy the view of the town. I blinked slowly and reached out with my senses before considering the invisible man inside and the relaxed one still in my view.

I mindlinked Will, "What does the visiting Alpha look like again?"

He sent me back an image of the larger man. "Why do you ask?"

I opened my mind to him over the mate bond to let him see the conundrum in my mind. I felt his shock as he saw what I was sensing. He asked, "Is there any way your senses could be incorrect?"

I sent a negative down the link. "No, Roland and Emily are showing up properly. There is no haze of confusion, so my senses are working perfectly. They also seem quite used to this. If you think about it, it certainly gives them an edge and an element of surprise. How often do they visit?"

The man who had just gone inside had a Beta's aura, while the man in my sight was clearly an Alpha as far as my senses were concerned. He was trying to suppress and hide it, but my senses weren't deceived. The Omegas in this pack would have been busy with various duties and would have kept a low profile, out of sight, so they wouldn't have tied a face to what they were sensing. That was assuming their sensing ability was strong enough to detect such things, and if they happened to be using it within sight of these two...

Will was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that I had just dumped on him. "These two visit fairly often actually, at least four times a year."

I considered the amount of power they gave off before asking, "How did your Enforcer senses miss this? You can sense the fighting ability of anyone you come across."

His voice was sheepish. "I have to concentrate in order to use that ability, and I only ever scoped out the Alpha. I never bothered with the smaller guy since Alphas are always far more powerful than the Betas."

I was amused, but didn't say anything since he was likely already kicking himself for his oversight. Will faded out to go talk with Tony.

I kept knitting. It would take me some time to finish the slipper since Will's feet were huge. I felt the visiting 'Beta', Trevor, approach and sit beside me. I glanced over at him and politely greeted him, "How are you enjoying your stay so far?"

"I always enjoyed visiting this pack," he said, quite relaxed and at ease. "Your group is always so welcoming. How have things been around here lately?"

He was crafty and had obviously gotten lots of information about this pack simply from talking to various pack members like this in the past. He had an aura that made you want to trust and talk with him. I could sense it and was also able to prevent it from affecting me simply because I could sense it.

"Pretty good." I kept knitting as I spoke. "No real problems. It has been a good year for the gardens from what I hear."

"That is good to hear. Our carrots and beets did well this year, was it the same here?" His voice had just the right amount of interest to appear interested and yet polite.

Most people loved to brag about their gardens, and prideful wolves loved to try and show how great their pack was. They wouldn't have even noticed the pull this man's aura was having on them. I felt his aura push a bit more, although it was still a very light influence. I could sense that his ability was much stronger if he chose to use it. I raised an eyebrow slightly at him while using my passive ability.

I felt his shock as his aura and focus on me slid completely off. I dropped the ability and felt his astonished focus fall on me again. I pretended to not notice anything as I replied, "I am not entirely sure since I only joined this pack a few weeks ago."

He shook his head as if to clear it. Confusion and curiosity laced his voice as he asked, "How did you do that?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"I thought that the sociable abilities of Betas were well known." He looked somewhat confused.

I turned to examine his face as if I were a parent who was doubtful of their teenager's story, and I felt him slightly squirm internally. I was somewhat impressed that he didn't growl at my stare since most Alphas couldn't tolerate anyone doubting or challenging them.

"I thought that it was a well-known fact that anyone who lived as a rogue for a while could identify Alphas and Betas at a glance as easily as they could pick up lies, half-truths, and deceptions."

It was a bold statement made with a trace of challenge in it, and as such, he would not even consider the fact that I could possibly be a runt or have an Omega past. It also gave him a semi-false lead so he wouldn't look too deeply into my little trick. He looked stunned and knew he had been caught. He started laughing, "We have been doing this for over three decades, and you are the first one to notice."

I grinned at his easygoing manner, relieved that he wasn't as stern as many Alphas were. The 'Beta' Trevor was actually Alpha Trevor, while Mike was truly the Beta. They had pretended to be the other role for some reason. I had never heard of an Alpha who could swallow their pride enough to consider that, but this easygoing man had obviously done it many times. I was almost as surprised that this Alpha had ignored my slightly challenging words.

"So why exactly did you do that?" I inquired. "I thought that I was losing it for a few seconds until I watched you for a bit."

He leaned back in the chair and grinned at me. "He looks more intimidating than me and is better at negotiations; his father was the previous Beta and his mother was an Enforcer's daughter, so he is nearly as strong as an Alpha. I go collect information and find out which trades could get us the best deals since I am very good at getting people to talk to me. Who have you told so far about your discovery?"

"So far just the one Enforcer, and he is off to talk to an older one to see if he noticed it in the past."

He glanced at the mark on my shoulder and looked surprised. "You didn't tell your mate first?"

"Will is my mate." I replied, with a grin.

His eyes widened in surprise before laughing, "Good for him! I bet you keep him on his toes."

"I try my best."

He laughed again before shaking his head. "What gave me away though?" He was truly curious.

I tilted my head as I examined him for a moment. "Lots of tiny things that are barely noticeable since you have toned them down. You pretended to be respectful of Mike's position, but some of your body language still proclaimed who was truly in charge. Alphas have an unconscious attitude and body posture. You managed to hide most of it, but some is still there for those who know what to look for."

"I guess I had better work on that."

I updated Will on the situation and he relaxed now that he had all the details. It turned out that Tony had no clue either. Trevor got to his feet and headed inside, likely heading to Roland's office to expose the truth that I had just dug up.

I kept tabs on my senses, but Roland took the news quite well from his old acquaintances, opting to be amused rather than outraged at the deception.