The Beta's Heart

21. Common Courtesy

Peri

"Let's invite Grace Turnbull out to eat at Roger's Diner," I suggested.

"Sounds good." Ty shrugged. "I haven't met her yet, and I'm curious about that prison she was rescued from."

"I know I don't have to warn you to be considerate. She's kind of shy and quiet, and those must be some pretty awful memories."

"You just warned me to be considerate while telling me it was unnecessary to do so," he laughed, and I chased him out to our car.

At the same time Cole was being infected by a supernatural parasite, Jayden and Angelo del Vecchio were raiding a prison in which human hunters had been storing quite a few shifters for some nefarious reason. Among those they rescued, only two didn't have a place to go right away, and Grace was one of them. There was also a half-dragon named Konstantin Russo, who I hadn't had a chance to meet yet, but Cole had asked me to make friends with Grace while she was staying in the pack, so I did.

My brothers had been trying to contact her alpha to arrange a way home for her, but White Pelt was one of those isolated, primitive packs in northern Canada that couldn't even offer reliable cell or internet service. Until Cole could contact Alpha Rimsky, Grace was stuck here - and she was fine with that. She was only nineteen and liked the modern conveniences that her pack lacked, and I had half a mind to talk to Cole about letting her transfer here. She was sweet and kind and good-natured, plus she wanted to go to a "real" school, which wasn't an option at White Pelt.

Neither were restaurants, apparently, because she told us she'd never even been to one as Ty drove us over to Roger's.

We'd just sat down at a table and picked up our menus when four of the five the gammas walked in, and I didn't need more than Ty's happy smile to see his best buddy, Gamma Landry Benson, to know they'd be joining us.

Sure enough, gammas Nick Sylvestri and Reuben Ford each pushed a table against the sides of ours as I chatted with Gamma Adam Bishop, who I knew well since he was Sophie's big brother. As Gamma Landry plopped down on Ty's other side, the guys settled themselves across from us and Grace shrunk against me a little.

"It's okay. None of them will be mean to you," I assured her.

"They're scary," she turned her head to whisper to me. "Especially the one with all the tattoos. He even has one on his throat!"

"Well, they're gammas. They were literally born to fight, but they're not bad or evil. My Ty wouldn't be friends with them all if they were, nor would my brothers have elevated them to official positions in the pack."

"Okay, but it's hard to believe they're harmless—"

"Harmless?" I burst out laughing, and she dug her face into my shoulder as the boys turned to stare at us. "What are you doofuses looking at? Go back to talking about your D&D game while us girls gossip!"

They rolled their eyes at me, except for Gamma Lan, who didn't even bother to look over, and Ty, who dropped a kiss on my cheek before returning to their conversation.

"Grace, you're confusing peaceful with harmless," I murmured once I knew the boys weren't listening. "None of these guys are harmless. Even if you ripped their wolves from them and cut off their hands, they'd never be harmless. They are, however, peaceful when there's no threat to their pack."

"Oh." She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, you're right. It's just... White Pelt is run very differently than Five Fangs. It's more ... brutal, I guess, especially among the higher ranks. The gamma shoved me out of my chair once because he wanted my seat, then kicked me a few times while I was trying to get up, yelling at me to leave faster."