The Beta's Cursed Mate

First Hope

*Warning - spoilers from A Secret Alpha Mate and The Omega’s Revenge*

(Lucas)

I can’t stop thinking about her, my insanely gorgeous, witty, intelligent, mate.

My Isabella.

“Dude, get your head out of the clouds and focus.” My Alpha and one of my best friends since childhood gave me a look.

“You’re doing it again,” The Gamma, lead warrior, general pain in my a.ss huffed at me.

“Sorry, Jackson, Cam. I just, it's hard with her not being here.”

I found my mate almost a month ago now, my real mate. I was visiting my brother Sam to talk to him about potentially taking over the Northern Campus of our newly combined packs. Our pack, the previous Moonstone Pack, and another from Jackson's mate, Silver Moon joined together to become Silver Moonstone.

Silver Moon, we called the Northern Campus and Moonstone we now call the Southern Campus.

Two of the oldest packs on the continent, and even though they were less than an hour away from each other, we needed someone to be a more permanent fixture at the Northern Campus, as we all operated out of the Southern one.

Jackson, Cam, and my parents reprised their roles as acting Alpha, Beta, and Gammas there for now. They were doing a kick a.ss job and really got the place into shape after the previous acting Alpha left it in shambles, both financially and physically.

Jackson found his mate and Luna Isla last September and since then our life has been chaos.

Pure, brilliant, chaos.

Since he met her as an omega, we found out that she was actually the direct descendant of Alpha Amos, the founding Alpha of Silver Moon.

The previous standing fake f.uck of an Alpha, Benjamin was found out to be using dark magic to keep the memory of her parents, the rightful rulers and previous Alpha and Luna, hidden from everyone.

Jackson challenged him for his pack after the Elders let him off with a warning. He escaped and raised an army of rogues to attack us the past few months.

We finally dealt with him with both a brilliant and incredibly s.tupid move on Islas's part, where she sacrificed herself to get caught so that we could find their exact location and end him for good.

The final battle was only a few days ago and since then it has been a flurry of activity. We’ve been visiting nearby packs for their fallen warrior ceremonies of the warriors that volunteered to help us during the attack. We’ve also been implementing even more security thanks to Cam being a huge security nerd and freaking out that he let anything slip these past few months.

Honestly, we might not be here right now if it wasn’t for Isabella. I had a mate, or someone I thought was my mate, Brandi. I thought her name with venom. She was taken care of but I never really felt like I got closure.

Brandi, my fake mate, was working with Benjamin and was her spy and inside person here. We never would have figured that out if I didn’t go visit my brother and find my real mate. That broke the illusion and magic that she used to fake the bond instantly.

Since then, we were able to be a step ahead of them and lay traps for her and Benajmin to fall into. It changed the tide of the battle and we came prepared and brought them to us.

I knew that Isabella had a boyfriend, but she was my mate, fated to me and I was biding my time until I could have her be mine in every sense of the word.

Also maybe telling her that you are a f.ucking werewolf - My annoying wolf, Jasper, came into my head.

Yes, also have to tell her that werewolves are real and that I am one of them.

I sighed, scrubbing a hand across my face.

“I think we’re done here anyway,” Jackson said.

“I’ll update the protocols and have my warriors implement them immediately.” Usually, the Beta would take over pack security and training but Cam was so d.amn good at it. I focused on pack management and running a lot of our business, Black Financials which pretty much is a well-oiled machine at this point.

Having Isla on board was amazing, she took over a lot of the duties that I was in charge of. Cam always used to joke that I was Jacksons’ Luna and he wasn’t wrong.

“Lunch time.” I stood up not wanting Cam to launch into another detailed explanation of the new wiring of some gadget that would make us a bit more productive somehow.

“I'll meet you down there, I need to talk to Isla,”

On command, Isla walked in the door after a short knock. She smiled at Cam and me, tucking a piece of her thick auburn hair behind her ear.

“Gentlemen, I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Never, Luna.” Cam nodded, he was always such a formal p.rick. I rolled my eyes at him and he glared at me.

“Just get him down in time for lunch okay? Growing boys need their food.”

“Of course, Lucas. We can’t have Jackson grumpy.” She smiled and Jackson gave her a look.

She walked over to her mate and his face lit up, I wanted that. I had that, I just needed time to get there with Isabella.

Jackson placed his hand on Isla’s stomach, she was barely showing, only obvious now that we knew, but in a few weeks, she was going to be huge.

We found out that she was having twins, but we didn’t know the gender yet. I’m sure Gianna, Jackson’s mom and Abigail, Isla’s best friend turned adoptive mother who was mated to our head doctor and fellow puzzle enthusiast, were planning something huge.

My phone buzzed and I opened up a text from my brother.

Just a heads up, bro. I think Isabella and Rodney are going to break up.

Rodney, what a dumb name - Jasper came back

I f.ucking know it.

“I’ll meet you down there. I need to call Sam.” I turned to Cam and headed down the steps to our floor that we shared. Still an excessive amount of space but once we had families of our own some of the extra rooms would be taken up. I hoped at least.

I walked past the room that used to be mine, was still mine, but I was sleeping in one of the guest rooms across from it.

Since Brandi moved in and we redecorated it to her taste, I hate actually going in there. After we found out that she wasn’t my mate and what she was doing and was planning to do to us all, I haven’t been back in there since I grabbed my stuff from it.

I might just turn that into a guest room but I would miss the view, it was double the size of this guest room and I liked having the space.

I couldn’t face it all, I hadn’t faced it yet. I was coerced to sleep with my enemy, someone that actually tried to kill me. The thought sickened me and I pushed it away hoping that if I didn’t think about it it would just one day become a distant memory and not something that made me physically feel ill.

Everyone else had a hard time of their own finding out that we had an enemy in our pack, especially someone we welcomed and started to share our lives with. Cam especially blamed himself.

But none of them thought that that girl was their future. None of them shared a bed with her, none of them had been. Oh Goddess I didn’t want to think about it.

I dialed Sam and flopped on my bed.

“What’s up, Lucas?”

“What do you mean what's up? You give me a text like that you know why I’m calling.”

“I feel like I shouldn’t tell you, she's my friend and it's personal but you’re her mate so.” He trailed off.

“Just spit it out,”

“I was watching her today, you know, keeping tabs.”

“She noticed that by the way, called you a dog.” I cut him off.

“Seriously?” He sounded offended.

“If it makes you feel better, she said you were as big as a house.” I laughed.

“I’ll be more discreet,” He muttered, “Back to why you called me. She asked if she could crash on my couch, and she seemed really upset.”

“What did you say?” I pressed.

“Of course, I said yes, I’ll let her take the bed and I’ll sleep on the couch anyway. But she asked to stay tonight so I think something has happened or is going to. She walked through the woods alone for an hour lost in her thoughts.”

My heart hammered in my chest, I was equally nervous and excited. I knew her boyfriend was protective, and Sam said he wasn’t human but he couldn’t figure out what he was. I knew Isabella wasn’t fully human either, something about her scent was different, off a bit.

“Watch her please.”

“I’m literally in my car in her parking lot now, I can’t wait until you tell her everything so I can get back to my studies instead of trailing your mate.”

“You’re future sister-in-law if I play my cards right.” I pointed out, even though it felt like a pipe dream at this point.

“If,” he chuckled.

“I want to visit you,” I grumbled.

“No bro, what? You can't just show up when she does. That's creepy.”

“Fine, I’ll come tomorrow. You can tell her tonight I was already coming. I’ll get a hotel. I just want to see her, I need this.”

“Okay.” He conceded.

“Keep me posted.”

“Of course, see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

I threw my phone down fighting everything in me not to text her. I had to bide my time and hope everything turned out okay. That she actually ended things with him for good and it went smoothly.

Knowing how things worked for me, for us, I didn’t think that would be the case. But I could hope.