A Beta Before An Alpha
Chapter 25

Zac's Point of View

"Who's that?" Lauren asks and I smile wide. I grab Lauren's hand, and walk down the steps, and watch as about 50 vehicles pour in. "Alpha, what's going on?" I hear people asking.

The first truck parks and I walk with Lauren to greet them. "Jack! Thanks for coming man," I say, and he pulls me into a hug.

"Of course. I'm happy to help," he smiles.

"I appreciate it. Jack, this is my mate Lauren," I introduce them.

"Jack? I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet you," Lauren smiles and shakes his hand.

"I've heard a lot about you as well. I'm happy to finally meet you, although I wish it were under better circumstances," he admits. "How are you holding up?" He asks her. "I'm okay. I'm nervous about what's to come though," she admits, and the worry consumes her face.

"Not only are we going to outnumber him, but I am also very confident in our packs abilities. Zac and I train our warriors hard, and it shows in their abilities," Jack assures her.

"Nothing to worry about, babe," I add. She gives me a weak smile and nods, and her arm around my waist tightens a little.

The kitchen staff comes out with about a dozen coolers and starts loading them into trunks. Jack instructs 40 warriors to stay behind to watch over everyone at my packhouse. Better to be safe than sorry. All of my warriors are coming, no need to leave any of mine behind. I know all of Jack's warriors and I trust them. Less than 5 months ago, I lived and trained with them for my entire life. "Ride with me," Jack says and I nod.

I face Lauren, "I've got to go, baby." I pull her into my chest and hold her close.

"I love you so much, Zac. If something happened to you..." she stops, eyes glistening as she looks up to me. I cup her cheeks in my hands, and lightly brush my lips to hers.

"I love you. I'm coming home, and when I get back I'm going to mark you, and claim you as mine," I whisper. I feel her warm sweet breath on my lips, she nods, eyes locked on mine, with black flecks dancing around.

"Think about what I'm going to do to you when I get back, not what I'm doing while I'm gone," I say.

She looks down to my lips, and then moves in and kisses me. Slowly parting her lips, her tongue meeting mine first. Her fingernails graze my neck, as she pulls me in tighter. I wrap my arms around her and deepen the kiss. I hear the horn honking, and I know it's Jack, but he can wait a little longer. I finally pull away slowly but hold her close as we catch our breath.

"I love you," I say and lean in for one more chaste kiss.

"I love you too," she forces a smile. I have to jog to Jack's truck and jump in. I have to move quickly, or I'll never let her go. It's hard to leave her when I feel she's not doing great. It's instinctual to want to be with her when she needs me. I know I need to take care of this though.

"I wonder what that will look like after you both feel the full mate bond pull,” Jack smiles.

"I know, I don't know if my heart can take much more," I admit.

"It's good to see you happy though," he smiles and slaps my shoulder. I look to the back seat and see Kyle and Lev laughing at me.

"I've seen you with Brit, Lev. You can stop pretending to be above the mate bond," I quip.

"Hey, I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing with you. I was just as guilty about 40 minutes ago," he admits.

"I was laughing at you," Kyle laughs.

"Give it time, Kyle," I warn.

"So how's Lexi feel about all of this?" I ask.

"You know Lexi, she wishes that she could be here. I'm grateful Enzo is a newborn, and she can't though. As soon as I told her, she was furious, she wants him dead just as much as you do," he admits with a chuckle.

The first 2 hours of the drive no one slept because we were just joking around, and catching up a little. I usually see Jack at least once a week at the office, and we get together every few weeks, but it's always nice to catch up with them. At 1 am, our ETA was 9am so we decided to start taking shifts driving and sleeping. Kyle wakes me at 7 am and tells me it's my turn to drive.

After getting about 6 hours of sleep, I'm feeling well-rested, and good enough to attack Claw moon in a few hours. When we're about half an hour away from Claw Moon, I pull off to an empty field.

All 80 or so vehicles in our convoy pull off, and park. We unload the coolers. We have five coolers full of sandwiches, five full of drinks, two coolers full of fruit, and two large plastic totes full of muffins, donuts and cinnamon buns individually wrapped. If we're going into battle, we need to be at our best. This will keep our strength and energy up.

We hang out for half an hour while we eat. Jack and I discussed it, and we're going to just go straight through the main entrance of Claw Moon. No covert action at all. I'm trying to be sensitive to the fact that Lauren knows a lot of these people; she even cared for some of their children.

I understand that she doesn't want them all to die for Nathan's actions, and I can't blame her. Julien put some work in last night, calling and warning his warrior friends about what Nathan tried to pull yesterday. If they stand with him, after replaceing out what he did to my sweet mate, then they will deserve anything they get.

Julien pulls in, as we're reloading the nearly empty coolers back into the vehicles. "Who's this?" Lev, Jack's Beta asks.

"It's Julien, Lauren's brother. He wants to join us in the fight." I greet Julien, and I introduce him to some of my guys and some of Jack's.

I get him to grab some sandwiches, and whatever else he wants, and then we make our way to Claw Moon. I jump in with Julien, and I call Lauren and give her a heads up that we're almost there, and that we will make it there at 9:40 am. I told her how much I loved her, and that I'd call afterwards. It's probably not the most strategic time to attack, but with my 150 warriors and Jack's 150, we outnumber his 220 warriors, we don't need the element of surprise.

I'm also hoping that a lot of his guys won't fight, especially once they see the army we've got. We all park close to the main road not too far from Claw Moon. Julien said that most of the guards are situated at the main entrance, and that's where we'll enter. On foot. "No one kills Nathan. He's mine," I growl. Everyone except Julien and I undress and shift into their wolf form. Julien and I stay in our human form, as we walk together down the last stretch of the road leading up to the gate to Claw Moon, while we have nearly 300 wolves following us. Jack, his Beta and Gamma, and my Beta and Gamma are walking right behind Julien and me. They are large, but Jack especially.

I'd be intimidated if I witnessed this sight walking up to my gate.

We've walked past several guys in tree stands, keeping guard. I looked them each in the eye, but I don't say a word and keep walking. They would have notified Nathan by now, and I'm sure warriors are rushing to the border. I wonder what they must be thinking, seeing Julien lead this army with me. I have to admit, it looks pretty badass, and I know they'll be intimidated when we come into sight.

Lauren's Point of View

I'm sitting on a couch in the common living area on the main floor. I feel like I should make myself accessible and available today. Almost everyone has loved ones fighting, and it just seems wrong to be hiding out in my room, even though that's what I want to be doing.

"You should eat something, Lo. All you had was coffee this morning. Here," my Mom says, as she hands me a muffin.

"I can't. I feel like I'm going to puke. I'm so scared Mom," I admit and the tears suddenly start to fall. I was trying to be strong for everyone around me, but that strength is finally gone.

Everyone has been so nice, even Jessica asked me if I was okay. That shocked me. I'm not sure if she actually cared, or if she's just trying to get back in my good graces, but regardless, I appreciated it.

"Honey, come here," my mom says, and wraps me into a hug. "It's going to be okay."

"I just wish he could have left it alone. I could have hidden out at the packhouse for as long as it took for Nathan to forget about me. They don't know where the packhouse is," I reason.

"He couldn't do that Lo. Listen, you didn't see the way that man was holding you yesterday when you were unconscious, and he thought you might not wake up. I could tell everyone was afraid to even say a word as he held you in his arms, waiting for you to come to. If you wouldn't have, I honestly think he would have lost it completely. I can tell he really loves you. He needed to do this. Nathan is no match for him. He'll be fine. How did he sound when he called earlier?' She asks.

"He sounded good. Confident. He said they were about a half an hour away, and that was about... 40 minutes ago," I admit taking a deep breath. They're probably fighting, I feel my heart is starting to race out of control. I lay down on the couch, and cover my eyes with my arm.

My Mom holds my hand and is saying something to me, but I can't make out the words. I do the very best that I can to control my breathing.

"Think about what I am going to do to you when I get home" I repeat his words in my head.

I force myself to think about his lips on me, on my neck. His hands all over my body. His teeth on my spot, marking me as his, forever. I feel myself gaining control of my emotions little by little. After a few minutes, I can open my eyes. I wonder if he realized when he said those words to me that they would be a coping mechanism for me today.

"Feeling a bit better?" My mom asks, and I nod. Then suddenly I feel a pain in my chest.