The Beta's Heart

4. Commiseration and Crisis

Tyler

Three days after Beta Everett Breckenridge's death, I found myself at his funeral, feeling out of place. Beta Ev and I hadn't been friends. I admired how he took care of his younger sisters, though, and I respected the beta position he held, so I stood among the mourners and paid my respects.

The werewolf king, Julian Hemming, attended the funeral and offered his condolences to Callie and Keeley. The presence of the king made everything feel even more somber and significant. He had that weight about him that came from a combination of royal, moon, and alpha power, not to mention the aura of dominance he and his primitive wolf, Onyx, carried all by themselves.

As the service continued, the five alphas of the Five Fangs wolf pack - Mason Price, Cole Barlow, Jayden Carson, Ash Mitchell, and Wyatt Black - revealed a shocking truth: Beta Ev's wolf, Spring, had survived the attack.

This left everyone in stunned silence. It was nearly unheard of for a wolf to survive without their human counterpart! The alphas didn't go into detail about the incident beyond describing how the enemy's bullet had struck at the exact moment Beta Ev shifted, killing him and missing Spring.

No one, not even the king, knew what to do with the bereft wolf, and I felt a tug in my heart. Since it had never led me astray before, I approached the alphas as the rest of the mourners went over to the community hall for a celebration of Ev's life.

"Can I see Spring?" I asked quietly.

"He's in a bad way, Ty." Alpha Cole looked at me, concern etched on his face. "Unresponsive, hardly eating, drinking only enough water to stay alive..."

"I reckoned as much, but I, um, feel like I need to see him. Just for a minute. Please?"

He exchanged a glance with the other alphas, then nodded.

"All right, but be careful. We're worried he could go feral at any second."

Somehow, I didn't think that would happen. A wolf strong enough to survive losing his human was strong enough to survive his own mind.

Keeping my thoughts to myself, I walked with them to the building that housed our isolation chambers, shivering a little in the cold breeze. Mid-March was usually a little warmer than this during the days, but winter seemed to be hanging on longer than usual this year. Even the sky was overcast and gray, as if threatening us with a late snow flurry.

After Alpha Cole unlocked the front door, we all trooped in except for Alpha Jay, and I was smart enough to know why. Poor alpha blamed himself whenever anything went wrong, and I was sure his wolf was in a rage. Seeing Spring might upset Quartz, and no one needed that today.

It was eerily silent when we entered, which was normal since the alphas had wisely sound-deadened each chamber as much as possible so that shifters couldn't set each other off when they went berserk. Today, all of the cells were empty except for Spring's, and Alpha Mase checked the small barred window before he unlocked the metal door and let it swing open.

Not a sound came from the room, and I cautiously peeked inside to see Spring lying, silent and still, on a soft black rug. His amber eyes stared straight ahead, and it was clear to me that the porch light was on, but no one was home.

Bless his heart.

The alphas waited in the hallway as I approached him with gentle words and slow movements. Sinking to my knees next to the big wolf, I stroked his fur for a long, long time, hoping it was helping him even a little bit. I'd never met him before, although River assured me that he'd had lots of conversations with Spring over the years, usually with Spring advising him not to do a dumb thing.