The Beta's Young Mate (bk 1 of Young Mate) (Completed)

Chapter 16- Lizzie's POV

"So... you two got over your rift rather quickly. Where ya headed?" Cage said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"There wasn't a rift between us," Axel said. He paused. "Was there?" His voice was soft and hesitant as if he had said the wrong thing.

I shook my head, no. "It was a miscommunication," I replied. "What do you want, Cage?"

"I was just checking in on ya. I wanted to see if you rejected the ass or not. There's no need to be salty."

I bit back a growl of annoyance and rolled my eyes. I kept my face in the crook of my mate's neck, not knowing why he wasn't tensing. I knew that my breath was hitting that sweet spot, but he was acting so nonchalant about it as if it was normal.

"I think it would have been known that she had rejected me," Axel said. He squeezed my side when I let out a huff, something he did as a wa-

Oh, he knew what I was doing and probably was used to it because he had carried me when I was a little girl.

Blushing a bit, I moved my head from its resting place and turned to look at Cage to see him, raising an eyebrow.

"And how would it have been known?" Cage asked. "Or, do you know?"

Axel was silent and for some reason, I had a feeling that a part of him knew. For whatever reason, he had either forgotten or had been commanded not to remember.

"Hmph, you are just saying it," Cage said, unimpressed. "I should have known that you were just trying to save your ass."

Axel shrugged. "Perhaps," he replied. "May we continue?"

"To where?" Cage asked, folding his arms across his chest.

I rolled my eyes annoyed. "Move y-"

"My sister is doing her hair at my parent's house," Axel said, interrupting me. He looked down at me and smiled innocently when I scowled up at him before looking at Cage. "And, my sister is yelling at me to move my ass, or else she will be the one to shave off my beard and shave my head in the process. So, will you please move out of our way? I do not want my sister to do that." His voice was leveled and calm, and I couldn't hear any threat like I thought there would be.

Cage stared at him in opened mouth shock. He cleared his throat and closed his mouth. "Uh... ya, sure, sure." He stepped out of the way, causing my mate to nod his head in thanks and walk towards the house.

"The hell?" I asked, looking back at Cage and then up at my mate.

"What?" Axel asked, cocking his head, looking down at me in confusion. "Why do you seem so shocked?"

"Because you were nice to Cage," I said. "He was trying to get on your nerves and rile you up."

Axel shrugged his shoulder as if it wasn't a big deal. "I know," he said. "I kind of figured that he was trying to."

"Why didn't you blow up?" I asked. "I mean, I would have."

"I know you would have which is why I stopped you from talking," he replied. He opened the front door and walked out, closing the door behind him. "And, the siblings I have is the reason why I had enough patience to deal with his bullshit."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "I have a lot of siblings, too, and their bullshit hasn't taught me patience."

Axel chuckled and shrugged. "And, I didn't want to be like my dad when he was Beta," he added. "He would have yelled at Cage the second that he said something he considered stupid." He set his jaw. "I have watched him sometimes "abuse" his power and had decided to never be like him."

"How did he abuse it?" I asked. Warning bells rang in my head, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was one reason why Axel had left.

Axel sighed and shook his head, not answering me. "Don't let your thoughts about my father change because I had said that. He is a good man, just someone that had made mistakes being Beta."

"What is the best one?" I asked.

"Stepping down when Alpha Vander, and in the end, his mate dying when I was fourteen and Parker was fifteen, almost turning sixteen."

"Seriously?" I asked, rather shocked and causing Axel to nod his head. "You were fourteen when you took over the pack?"

"Yes," Axel said, nodding his head. "I was fourteen. Wyatt's father and your father had helped us out a lot. My dad..." he sighed and shook his head, "had a lot of guilt of what had happened to Parker's father to be of any help."

I furrowed my brows. I had no idea what had happened to them. All I knew was that they had died around the time that I was two, and I couldn't remember them at all. "What happened? What did he do?"

"Let's just say... he had pissed off the wrong people and paid the ultimate price," Axel said, softly.

"By?"

"Losing his best friend and almost losing everything else," he said. "However, Mom had gotten him through almost everything. He sometimes has his moments, but we mostly all do sometimes." He shrugged.

Still, I stared at him in shock. I had no idea how an almost shifted Alpha and not a shifted Beta could hold this pack together, but they somehow had managed it as well as being able to help other packs in the process.

They must have been a strong pair, Axel being stronger because of his younger age and less experience than Parker. He was something that I did need to be, someone who was strong enough even with being a young age.

Because here I was the Beta Female and a mother at the age of sixteen, and I was freaking out. Not only about that but because it was I who would have to kill the King and become the next Queen. It was I who was going to lead millions of Wolves through trial and error as I find my footing and try to find a middle ground. But, it was also I who had the perfect king that had done this before, and I prayed that I would be just as successful as Parker was with him at my side.