Payment To the Alpha
Chapter 22

Avery's POV

I was standing in the foyer talking to Amber about the events that had occurred.

Someone whistled catching my attention and I saw Chase, Alfred, Amanda and Sofia exiting the communal area and they were walking towards us.

Hey guys!" Chase chimed as he swung his arms around me in a hug.

The hug left me speechless and I froze not sure what to do. Realizing I wasn't hugging him back, Chase took one of his hands and guided my arms around him.

"See, there you go. That's lesson 1.1 on how to hug." His comment had me laughing so hard my stomach started to hurt.

Seeing the grin on Chase's face only made me laugh harder. I jokingly slapped his arm and stuck my tongue out.

"What is going on here?!" A loud voice came booming from the staircase.

It was James and he didn't look all too happy seeing Chase's arms wrapped around me. Something Chase must have also noticed cause his hands disappeared faster than I could blink.

"Hey, Alpha." Sofia purred as she put a strand of her hair behind her ear. I just scoffed in response, earning a smirk from the Alpha. The Alpha. Huh, it has a nice ring to it.

I glared at him and crossed my arms over my chest.

Alpha." Chase said with a head bow.

"Chase, don't you have practice to get to?"

"Uhm, we have a break Alpha, practice starts in twenty."

Chase rubbed his palms together, probably sweaty from this encounter. I kind of felt bad for him. Why was James acting so rude?

"Well I have seen you train, you could use those twenty minutes." His face was void of any emotions as he stared daggers at Chase.

"Yes Alpha." Poor fella sprinted out of the house like his life depended on it, but the rest of his friends stayed behind.

I snapped my gaze back to James and my arms flew to my sides as my mouth was left wide open.

"What?" James shrugged and met my gaze with an amused one.

"Why did you have to act like that? He hadn't done anything wrong James."

"He touched my girl. That's the wrong he did."

I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks. I bit my lip as I tried my best to hold my serious gaze locked with James.

I could see the frown on Sofia's face when she heard James call me 'his girl'.

Don't laugh Avery. Do not laugh.

"Hey Alpha, have you had dinner?" I saw Sofia's hand slide up his arm and rest on his shoulder while she batted her eyelashes at him.

I felt a pit in my stomach. What the hell is this I'm feeling? Jealousy? Holy shit, I'm jealous of that blonde, nasty ass bitch.

I waited for James to react before I blew my cap.

Any day now Alpha.

I waited but all he did was continue staring at me. I felt my smile turn into a frown and my hands balling up into fists at my sides.

"SINCE WHEN DO YOU TOUCH YOUR ALPHA!?"

Sofia's hand quickly jerked away from James' shoulder. It wasn't James who had spoken though, it was Alex. He walked towards us with his hands at his sides and his eyes were dark, he was pissed.

I guess he held some authority as well.

"I-" Sofia tried defending herself. Didn't go very well however.

"I was just asking if the Alpha had eaten." She quickly spurted out.

"I don't believe touching is a necessity when asking someone a question. Is it?" His voice was low and dark. His stance was hard with his hands balled up to fists by his sides and his chest was boosting.

James just stood there, never breaking eye contact with me.

"I'm sorry Beta." Sofia bowed her head in submission.

"Tomorrow morning you will be running twenty miles extra during practice."

"But-"

"Do you want to change it to a week?!"

"No, Beta."

"Then leave."

Sofia kept her eyes glued to the floor as she scurried out of the house, Amanda threw us a smile and followed after her.

I looked up at Alex who seemed to be relaxing. He let his shoulders drop and his eyes weren't black anymore, they had turned back to their grey-blue color.

I bit my lip trying to keep myself from laughing. Alex gave me a side glance and winked.

"So... uhm, you guys wanna grab something to eat?" I hadn't realized that Alfred was still here.

He looked at me and scratched the back of his head.

A loud growl was heard and echoed through the house. All our heads turned to James. His eyes looking murderous and his jaw clenched.

And just like that the fourth little piggy escaped the wolf and ran away.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" What the hell is his problem? His okay with that blonde bimbo hanging on him and doesn't speak a word when she's flirting but when someone shows a friendly interest in me he gets possessive?!

Fuck you James.

"What's wrong little one?" His face held too much amusement for my taste. I was raging.

"What do you mean what's wrong? That blonde bimbo was practically drooling all over you and your brother had to speak in order for her to let go, you said nothing! And when Alfred asks us ALL if we want to eat you act like this?"

"If Sofia touching me bothered you, why didn't you just say something?" My cheeks instantly flared up again.

I looked at Alex who looked just as amused by this conversation as his brother.

"I- it didn't." I couldn't admit that I was jealous. I barely knew him. But something in me wanted to kill Sofia for touching him. I so badly wanted everyone to know that he was mine.

But why?

'Mate'

And there is that voice again. I really think I'm going mad.

Wait a minute. Mate. Natasha told me about those. But does that mean... But I don't have a wolf. It's not possible is it?

"Holy shit"

It was meant to be said in my head. But the words came out aloud. If they were normal human beings they wouldn't have heard it. It was barely a whisper as I let all the air out that I was holding in.

However them being werewolves and all, I'm pretty sure they heard.

James looked at me with a searching gaze. His arms fell to his sides.

"What? What happened?" He looked so, I don't know, hopeful? This is all too much right now. I can't do this. Not when I'm not certain. The way Natasha described mates it seemed like they were sacred and I couldn't fool around with the word.

I needed to keep this closed down for now.

"Nothing. I think I just need some food." His eyes fell and the hopefulness fell with it.

Don't worry James. I'll figure out what's going on and then I'll let you know.

"Let's go eat then." James reached out his hand for me to grab, I looked into his eyes and whatever emotions he had in them before had vanished.

I grabbed his hand and we all started walking to the dining hall.

The marble floors made clicking sounds as we stepped in.

There weren't a lot of people. I assumed that they had all eaten already.

We removed the lids off of the heating containers and started piling on the food.

There were mashed potatoes, steak, sausage, gravy and a whole salad buffet.

To my left, Alex was piling food on his plate. I gently nudged him with my elbow to get his attention.

"Thank you. For what you did."

"Any time sis." He gave me another wink. Sis? That's cute. Kind of awkward, but cute nonetheless.

As we walked to the table I noticed how only James, his siblings and some other people who also had a superior personality to them were sitting there. I'm guessing this table wasn't for just anybody.

James was sitting at the head of the table. He pulled out a chair next to him for me to sit on.

"So Avery, you haven't been properly introduced to the other ranked members." Alex began

"Ranked?" I asked sounding just as befuddled as I was while scratching the bridge of my nose...

"Yes, ranked members are those who hold superiority to the other pack members. For example I'm the Beta. My job is to assist the alpha in all aspects regarding pack business. If the alpha would have to go away somewhere I will go with him.

In any situation that I can't, it is my job to make sure that the pack is being taken care of in his absence." He stopped and looked at me as if to say "You with me?'

I nodded indicating I was understating what he was saying, mostly anyways.

"This here is Jackson, he is the gamma and his mate Lisa."

"Nice to meet you," I smiled at them, and they smiled right back. I like them better when they smile. It somewhat takes away the fear that they might eat me.

"This is Jackson's sister Trisha and her mate Alvin."

"Like the chipmunks!" I said with a big smile before realizing exactly what I had said. My hand slammed to my mouth as quickly as the words came out.

Why could I never think before I speak? I melted in to the seat hoping to disappear.

"Hahaha exactly, I do actually sing but I have been prohibited from doing so in the pack house out of fear that the windows will shatter." Alvin said and glared mockingly at James who was sitting with a smirk.

He took it as a joke. Thank god.

I removed my hands and released a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"I'm sorry for that." Damn the shame I felt right now.

"Don't be sweetheart. It's not the first time and surely not the last. Don't even think about it."

The gamma if I remember it correctly, Trisha, answered.

I chuckled and a sense of relief washed over me. This was actually really nice.

We all continued talking for about an hour. I learned how Trisha met Alvin and that he was actually a part of James' uncle Carlos' pack before. They met while James was having a meeting at their pack and all ranked members were to attend.

James also told me about Damon who was in the room with us earlier. He is their cousin, and whenever everyone else has to leave, which is rare, Damon is in charge.

When we had all eaten, Elisabeth the girl that I had met earlier, along with another omega named David came and gathered everyone's plates.

We were walking out of the dining hall when a big hand grabbed my arm and spins me around. I fly straight into a hard, muscular chest and knew exactly whose chest it was.