The Mark of a Beta

eighteen

Extra long update this week :)

The rest of the week went by really fucking slowly, but now it's finally Friday. The plan is for me to have dinner at the pack house, and then Axel will come and pick me up after I'm done and take me to Dark Wood for the weekend. I'm so fucking excited I can't even focus on anything else- even this amazing chicken pot pie being served for dinner.

On my right is Thomas, practically inhaling his dinner with his mate Beta Alicia by his side. To my left is Anya and her mate, and across from me are Dan and his family who are sitting prim and proper eating their meals. My friends were not too pleased that I kept my abuse from them. Even now, they still get angry and threaten every three seconds to do something stupid like strangle my mother or kick my dad in the nuts.

I really just want to move past this whole thing. My parents don't approve of my sexuality, so I would just prefer to exclude them from my life. After being away from them for a few days, I'm really starting to see how fucking toxic they were. They made me question my intelligence, my passions, and their general negativity was a terrible environment to grow up in. They constantly compared me to my sister and never once focused on the good things I did.

After a few days living with Larry and Laine, I already have begun to realize what it's like to live with parental figures who care for me. They listen to me rant endlessly about Josh Groban while never berating me for talking their ears off.

Larry rolls his eyes, but I know he loves it.

"When's your mate getting here?" Anya asks as she shoves a large piece of her vegetarian chicken pot pie into her mouth. I'll never understand vegetarians. If it's not chicken in the chicken pot pie, then what the fuck is it?

I pull out my phone and scroll through our messages to check if he texted yet. He's been driving for a while, so he may not have had time to pull over and tell me he's close. I go over our texts from this afternoon.

Axie Poo: I'll pick you up at your house at eight.

Me: Nooo!! I'll be at the pack house having dinner bc it's chicken pot pie night!!

Axie Poo: Fine. I'll text you when to come outside.

Me: Get ready to fuckin catch me

I didn't receive a text after that, which is honestly pretty rude because I wasn't kidding. I will be jumping into his arms in a very public manner, so he better not get mad at me because I definitely warned him.

I'm feeling so giddy because in only an hour I'll be able to see my fucking mate and I can kiss the shit out of him and tell him about how excited I am to see Cole again and meet Alpha Grayson and any of Axel's friends. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if he scares most of the people in his pack and he's more of a loner. Maybe I can help him make friends!

I'm also really interested in learning about what he does in a day. Since I'll be the Beta alongside him, I'll have some important pack duties as well once I finish school. Even when I'm in college studying for medical school (hopefully) I will have to know the pack inside and out and learn about how to keep a big pack like Dark Wood running smoothly.

Mostly, I'm just excited to learn all of the pack gossip. Axel will hear everything going on and he'll have to tell me, because how the fuck is he supposed to ignore my request? I'm his mate, I'm hot, I'm his mate, I'm very persuasive, and I'm his mate. That's five reasons right there!

"He said he'll be here at eight, but I'm just going to wait until he texts that he's here," I say, trying really hard not to look like Pennywise with a really wide and creepy smile on my face.