Finding Course

2

Katherine.

To my delighted relief, I was able to settle in for a few more days to my new home with uncle Daniel. One of the pack females, Sophia, had stopped by to introduce herself the day after my visit to the general store. Other than her, I had been left alone for the remainder of the week. On Fridays the pack, and a few humans who were close with the Havettes, gathered at Zane's house for a weekly get together. They did this each week except during winter. With the unforgiving Alaskan arctic weather, the social bonfires and barbecues weren't really possible, or comfortable.

When Sophia came to introduce herself, she'd asked if I was coming on Friday just as the general store owner Francine had. After Daniel filled me in, I agreed. Having some time to myself, I was ready to meet the rest of the pack. After meeting Sophia, I hoped I also had a friend to chat with or ask questions to besides Daniel.

And so, that was how I found myself climbing in to Sophia's SUV on Friday evening. It was definitely newer than uncle Daniel's rickety truck, but it still was severely outdated. That seemed to be a running theme in Bettam. Since I arrived to town, I hadn't spotted any vehicles that were less than 5 years old and even the ones that were less than 15 years old were hard to come by. The car dealership, if you could call it that, didn't even have a brand new vehicle in its lot. The small, cement brick building on the gravel parking lot primarily sold used vehicles. It even had a sign on the front offering a trade in deal for a "newer to you" used car upgrade.

Sophia's SUV was at least comfortable and got you from point A to point B. That was all that really mattered. The CD player was playing what appeared to be a burned CD, skipping from artist to artist and covering multiple genres. I didn't mind though, just being with another girl was comforting after almost a week with only Daniel for company. It also helped that Sophia seemed genuinely nice and wasn't the fake pretend nice that some of the other women were like back in Utah. I had a feeling that this pack was much more close knit, and probably held higher standards for new members. In Utah, it seemed anyone could join, and their structure was poorly maintained within the ranks.

Steering my attention to Sophia's driving, I made a mental note of the directions to Zane's house. If this was a place we would frequent on a weekly basis, I wanted to be able to navigate my way next time. As we turned on to yet another gravel road, she said, "I'm glad you decided to come. Jack is grilling steak and shrimp tonight. He's got the best recipe for this marinade, you'll love it." I appreciated the small talk; her voice was oddly comforting and she was easy to talk to.

"Jack is the beta, right?" I clarified, making sure I kept my names straight.

"Yep. He's great, you'll get along just fine with him. Really, everyone is pretty nice. I mean, there's always a few stubborn ones who might be a little less excited about outsiders, but they will come around. Don't sweat it. It's going to be fun." Even though I had only known her a few days, something about her made me trust Sophia. Speaking with her, it was easy to see she wanted a friend in me as much as I wanted one in her.

As we pulled into a long private drive, I saw a cluster of cars, motorcycles, and spotted Daniel's truck off to the far right of the group. Once he learned I had a ride with Sophia, he had left to do errands and said he'd meet me at the barbecue later. As the SUV was parked next to the other vehicles, I had to take a second to think about what I was about to do. A get together with my new pack, riding with my first friend in Alaska, and shrimp? It was so opposite to what I was used to in Utah. My previous pack's leadership ruled with an iron fist, and thrived off of fear within the pack. This was completely different from that. I couldn't help a small smile as we got out of the truck and Sophia started walking around back.

The house was much more grand than Daniel's, and held a unique charm that I only knew how to describe as "Alaskan." The home was set on a slight incline with what looked like endless acres of woods behind it. The garage seemed just as big as the house, typical for a guy. As we walked around to the backyard on a stone path, I took in my surroundings. A few people mingled off to the side, and there were children running around in a leaf pile. A woman's laugh sounded from near the grill that held the most amazing smelling food. That must be the shrimp and steak. The man standing in front of it with tongs in his hands was grinning ear to ear. He had light brown hair, tanned skin, and was really animated as he told the laughing woman some story. I assumed that was Jack, the beta. My initial impression at watching him man the grill and join the woman in laughter was that he liked to have fun. He appeared relatively happy, and I saw him rotate the food with exaggerated enthusiasm.