The Beta's Daughter
FOUR | THE CLIFF

The rest of the day went quickly, passing me by in a blur of frenzied activity. After speaking to Jacoball I really wanted was a nap, but I was almost certain that my parents would have other plans forme.

I was proved right as soon as I walked back into the pack house. They were sat in the kitchen, rightby the door to the grounds — impossible to miss. I smiled at them.

“Thought you two were overrun with work today?”

They shrugged in unison.

“We made some time,” my mum said with a glitter in her eye. I moved to sit down next to them, butmy dad held his hands up.

“Woah there, Ari. Don't get too comfortable. There's something we want to show you.”

I beamed. I loved surprises. “What is it?” I asked, bouncing on the balls of my feet. My parentslaughed at me, standing and nodding towards the door.

“This way,” my mum said, giving my hand a squeeze. I returned the gesture, and then followed themeagerly out into the gardens.

The pack house itself was huge, but it was dwarfed by the grounds surrounding it. Our packsboundary was lined with tall trees, and much of the surrounding areas were forested, thickwoodlands full of bottle-green pine trees. They were interspersed with sunlit meadows, each full ofwildflowers and flowing grasses.

As so much of the pack land was wooded, it had been decided long before I was born, generationsago, in fact, that the pack house would sit within beautifully kept gardens. The training groundswere further down towards the western woodlands, close enough to the house that we could returnsafely and quickly should an attack occur — not that it ever had — but far enough away that it wasseparate from the blossoming gardens right by the house.

The gardens were tended to by volunteers from the pack. We kept to ourselves within ourcommunity, which meant that we had no need for outside help.

The Omegas did, admittedly, fulfil the largest portion of work around the pack house, gardens, andwherever else they were needed, but the members of our pack were kind and keen to help outwhere the could. I'd even seen Alpha Kele don a pair of gardening gloves one Sunday afternoon.

I helped out as often as I could, wherever I could. We had officially finished school at sixteen, whenwe were welcomed into the pack as devoted members, but those who wanted to were able tocontinue their studies.

Jacob had quit immediately, saying that he'd done more than enough learning to last him a lifetime.I'd laughed along with him, but I disagreed. I didn't think you could ever learn enough, especiallyhere.

The pack used to attend regular human schools, but as it grew we had the resources to set up ourown on the reserve. This meant that the lessons taught could be chosen by us, and tailored to suitthe needs of the pack.

We learnt about literature and maths, about science and languages — but we also learnt aboutWolfish folklore, about spirit guides and the Elders, about the history of the Silver Crescent pack. Itook eager notes in all of my classes, much to the bemusement of Jacob, who sat next to me, but Iwas keenest in our dedicated subject lessons, as they were called.

I wanted to teach others, so I'd stayed on at school to study the dedicated subjects, specialising infolklore. As there were few teachers, especially for higher level, it required a lot of independentstudy.

It meant that I didn't have a lot of spare time to help out, but I did what I could. I loved gardening,and being out in the fresh air, even when it rained. The Twins had caught me outside once, juststood and letting the rain fall on me. They said I was mad; but to me, it felt freeing.

My parents were smiling at each other excitedly. I felt a bundle of nervous energy swell in my chest.Whatever the surprise was, I had a feeling it would be a big one.

"Shut your eyes, sweetie,” my mum said, taking my hand so that she could lead me. I complied witha big, goofy grin on my face. Surprises always made me feel like an over excited child.

We rounded a corner and went down slightly, the ground changing from the springy grass totarmac. We must be in the car park. But why?

“Open your eyes!” They said, their voices like a chorus. I peeled them open, blinking against thebright sunlight. As my eyes adjusted they focused on a large, teal coloured truck. There was a cardtucked into the windscreen wipers, and I looked at my parents for encouragement before I tip-toedforwards and tugged it towards me.

“Is this for me?" I asked incredulously as I ran my forefinger under the seal of the envelope.

"Yes!" My mum cheered, pulling me into a hug. My dad joined her from the other side, and I wasencompassed in their familiar warmth. I felt tears springing to my eyes, and I rested my headagainst my dad's chest. He kissed the crown of my head, and then they both stepped back, allowingme to pull the card out of its envelope.

It had a picture of a big brown wolf on it, and I laughed as the first of many happy tears dribbledout of my eyes. I blinked and looked upwards, remembering the heavy coating of mascara I had on.The card felt heavy and uneven on its surface, so I opened it. Inside there was a set of car keys, andon the key ring was another wolf, this one also brown with tiny stones set in its eyes.

“It's beautiful,” I said, beaming up at my parents. “Thank you.” I wiped my eyes with the back of myhand, and then stepped back to take stock of the car.

It looked old and battered, and a little rusted around the bumper. There was a solid dent above theback tyre. The teal paint looked fresh, though, and there was a blanket folded up in the back. I couldimagine unfurling it, filling with cushions and lying there at night, looking up at the stars. I loved it."You got me a car,” I breathed in awe. They laughed.

"We did,” my dad smiled. “We knew you didn’t have much need for one up until now, but you're anadult now, and as much as we don't like the idea, your mate might be in a different pack. Wethought it would be nice if you could come and visit us, then, and this should make that a littleeasier.”

“Thank you,” I cried, pulling them both in for a hug. Then I pulled back excitedly, scrambling towardsthe truck. “Can I drive it?"

"Of course you can, it's yours,” my mum laughed. “The papers are all in the dash. Go ahead,” shenodded, and I climbed in

I spent most of the afternoon driving. I knew how to — I'd learnt when I'd turned sixteen — but I'd notdriven since then. The truck was manual, too, so using the clutch took a little getting used to. Myparents took it in turns sitting with me, the other hanging on in the open back as I wheeled downthe tracks and lanes near the reserve.

Eventually, though, our stomachs started to rumble, so I drove back to the pack lands. I knew Jacobwould want to spend some more time with me — we usually spent our birthdays together, and haddone every year since we were three — but I felt a little uneasy about being around him. I felt bad forfeeling that way, but he was so certain that we should be together. I had been, too, but somethinginside me was telling me to wait. For what, I wasn't sure.

When we pulled up at the reserve I waited a moment before getting out. My parents sensed therewas something on my mind, and instead of clambering out immediately as I'd expected them to, mymum turned to me in the front seat, and my dad stuck his head around so that he could beinvolved. I rolled my eyes at him with a laugh and scooted over so that he could join us in the front.“What are you thinking about, honey?” My mum asked. We were a close family — most werewolveswere, though I had heard of a few outliers. I was glad that we were; I depended on my parents, and Icouldn't imagine life without their love and guidance. I relaxed back into my seat.

"Honestly? Jacob.” Neither of them seemed surprised by my answer, so I waited a beat beforespeaking again. “He's said — he’s said he'd reject his mate for me,” I stuttered.

“I'm sure that's a lot to take in,” my mum said, her voice soothing. I looked at the wooden brownwolf, dangling from the key ring by the steering wheel. Its tiny eyes glinted in the afternoon sun.“Jacob is a lovely boy. He's always been sweet on you,” she smiled, and I blushed.

“The Moon Goddess knows you both intimately, though,” my dad said with a frown. “She will havepaired you with someone different for a reason. I love Jacob, and I'd love to see you as the Luna ofthis pack. I'm sure you'll make the right decision.” He gave my shoulder a small squeeze.Surprisingly, I didn't see Jacob for the rest of the day. Initially I'd sighed with relief when we'dentered the pack house and he was nowhere in sight, but as the day drew on I'd started to miss hiscompany.

As we were sitting down to dinner my best friend, Rosa, screeched and pulled me in for a hug. Ilaughed into her shoulder, trying to pry myself out of her grip. She didn't let me, holding me eventighter.

"Happy Birthday!" She yelled, right next to my ear. Finally, she released me, and I straightened mysweatshirt as I grinned up at her. Rosa towered over me, and had done since we were pups. She wastall and lanky, with a short curly bob of blonde hair.

Unlike a lot of the wolves in our pack, Rosa made herself up every day without fail: she swatheddeep red lipstick across her mouth, and curled her lashes up with dark mascara. When I'd askedabout her choice of lipstick colour, she said it made her feel as though she was “wearing the bloodof our enemies.” I'd laughed, but she'd raised an eyebrow and her face told me that she was beingdeadly serious.

“Thanks, Rose,” I beamed. She took the seat next to me, pulling it around so that she could straddleit

“So. Eighteen. Finally. You've gotta tell me what it's like.”

“You don't have that long to wait,” I shrugged. “My sense of smell is better. Oh! And I have a carnow. I can drive us everywhere we want to go.”

“You got a car and you waited this long to tell me?!”

“I only just found out!” I held my hands up. “I know. I've got an idea for us, after dinner. You're free,right?”

“It's your birthday,” she scoffed. “Of course I'm free.”

I smiled. Jacob would just have to wait.

Dinner was a less hectic affair than breakfast had been. Most of the wolves were out as we weredining at an odd time, so it was just my parents, Rosa, and I. Her family lived further out on thereserve, in an old stone cottage bordering on the woodlands.

They lived in a small cluster of houses amongst the other warrior wolves. Unless there was an eventhappening or announcement to be made, most of the wolves dined in their own homes with justtheir families.

Rosa's family was much larger than mine was — she was the eldest of six, and the only girl out ofthem all. Each time her mum had got pregnant again she'd willed it to come out as a little sister, butto no avail. She loved her brothers, but they were raucous and playful and sometimes she just didn'thave the energy for them — not all at once, anyway.

As we were finishing up, my dad pushed back his chair and stood abruptly. There was a devious atwinkle in his eye. I'd devoured my meal; it seemed to be another one of John's specials, homemaderavioli filled with garlic and herbs, and a large garlic flatbread that I tore away at.

Rosa and I cocked our heads at him in sync, then turned to one other and giggled. My dad lookedpointedly at my mum, and she gasped, quickly getting up to follow him. They snuck off around thecorner towards the sink, and Rosa and I tried to see what they were doing without making ourintentions obvious.

They came back carrying the large tied cake from yesterday between them. From behind them otherwolves spilled into the room: Jacob and his parents, The Twins and their family, as well as a fewother wolves that I was close with. They began singing Happy Birthday, and I groaned. Not again.

I looked at Rosa. “Did you know about this?" I asked, and her eyes widened.

“I didn't, I swear,” she said, crossing her fingers over her heart. “You think I'd put you through this?”I nodded, happy with her answer. The singing came to an end, and I smiled up at everyone.Although I didn't really enjoy being the centre of attention, there was something nice about the factthat I was loved enough for so many people to go to this amount of effort for me.

Plus, I conceded, if I was going to maybe be a Luna one day then I'd have to get used to havingpeople's attention trained on me. I stood unceremoniously and thanked everyone profusely, smilingand making eye contact with everyone gathered in front of me.

We all sat, and then my dad passed me a knife so that I could cut the cake. It was in three tiers, and Iwondered if each tier was a different flavour. Based on the breakfast John had made for me thismorning, I hoped that it would be. More than that, I hoped that at least one layer would bechocolate.

I did my best to cut even slices, but some came out a little larger by pure mistake. I passed these toRosa and Jacob, and they smiled knowingly back at me.

After we'd finished eating, Jacob caught hold of me by my bicep. I looked up at him, confused. Heasked: “Will you come with me?”

“I can't,” I replied regretfully. He looked so sweet, sincerity lining his face. I gently pried his handfrom my bicep and took it in mine. “I'm hanging out with Rosa. You can come, if you want,” I addedwith a smile.

“It's okay,” he said, a small smile of his own dancing about his lips. “I just want to give you yourpresent. It's kind of, um, personal. Can I see you after? When you get back?”

"Of course.” I pulled him into a hug. He tucked me under his chin, as he'd been doing for years.

I sunk into him, his warm scent of climbing garden roses and cherry blossom enveloping me. It wasso much stronger now. The first time I'd told him what I smelt he’d been embarrassed, saying thatfloral scents were for she-wolves.

I'd lightly smacked his chest, looking him in the eye as I explained that scents weren't implicitlygirlish or manly. Plus, I'd said, I'd rather spend my time with a boy who smelt like roses than onethat smelt like body odour. He'd finally laughed, then, and he quickly made peace with the idea.

I gave him one final squeeze before letting go. Everyone slowly filtered away after that, and Igrabbed Rosa. We linked arms and skipped outside.

The sun was starting to slope behind the house, and I paused.

“Hold on. Come up to my room with me quickly,” I said, and we turned as one.

I rummaged around, searching for a large box tucked under my bed. I pulled it out triumphantly,then scurried around my room, throwing in a couple of candles and a rolled up set of copper fairylights. I then nodded to Rosa, who was sat on my bed watching me with an idle gaze, one of hereyebrows slightly raised. She looked as though she should've been lazily sucking a lollipop.

“We can go now. Wait — grab one of my jumpers. It might be chilly.”

She rolled her eyes, but pulled out one she'd borrowed many times before. I'd said she could justkeep it on multiple occasions, but she said she'd have to borrow another one when she was here,and she'd end up wearing it less.

It was old, a little frayed around the hems of the sleeves, knitted in dark red with bold tribal patternscascading down its front. Fortunately for her, despite our height differences, I tended to wearoversized sweatshirts and jumpers, so it fit her perfectly. She slung it over her shoulder; I re-adjustedthe box in my hands so that it was at chest height, and we left.

She let out a low whistle as she admired my truck. I dumped the box into the back before pullingout the keys and unlocking it. She immediately scrambled inside, checking herself out in the rearview mirror. I laughed as I jumped in after her, shoving her into the passenger's seat.

“Where are we going?” She asked as I twisted the key in the ignition.

"You'll see,” I said with a grin. “You'll like it, though. Promise.” I slowly backed out of the reservationand onto a winding dirt road.

We trailed for miles through dense woodland, eventually turning onto a cement road. The drivebecame much smoother, and I relaxed. The roads around the reservation were generally quiet, sowe were unlikely to meet much passing traffic.

Most of my concentration was focused on working out the right way to get where I wanted to go.I'd been there a few times, but only ever in my wolf form. It was so far away that attempting it byfoot would have been lunacy — in my opinion — but with my wolf's longer stride and double the legpower it was doable. Working out how to travel there on roads rather than through the forest was achallenge, though

As we turned off the road and onto a small lane the moon was beginning to rise, equidistant to theslowly sinking sun. I could feel my wolf howl happily inside my chest, and I smiled as I looked up atit.

The truck dipped into a pothole, and I slammed on the brakes. Rosa and I were both flung forwards."What the Hell was that?” She screeched, holding onto her forehead.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. The car had stalled, so I turned the key again and we slowly set off.

Rosa's forehead had a large red mark on it, and I felt horrible. I wanted to say something to alleviatethe tension, but I always became stuck when I felt guilty — tears edging at my eyes and my throatclosing up.

“Hey, it's fine,” Rosa said, touching my arm gently. “We heal quick. It'll be gone in a couple ofminutes.”

“I'm sorry,” I repeated. “Are you sure you're okay?"

She snorted. “Of course I am. Are you?”

“Yeah,” I said, keeping my eyes fixed determinedly on the track. “I guess I need some more practice,”I smiled, the knot between my lungs slowly unfurling.

“That's for sure,” she teased. She busied herself fixing her curls, and I let out a deep breath.

Her tone still teasing, she asked, “Are we there yet?”

“I'm definitely sure that we might, maybe, be almost there.”

“You don’t know?” She rolled her eyes. “Why is it always an adventure with you?”

I half-shrugged with the shoulder closest to her. “I like exploring. I found this place a while ago, inmy wolf form.”

“But this has gotta be way past the perimeter,” she said, taking her eyes off of her reflection andlooking out of the window. “Our land is all flat. Thank the Goddess. I don't think I could do thoseboundary runs if we had to go uphill.”

I snorted. “Me either,” I agreed as we pulled off the path and into an open field.

Before Rosa could get her bearings, I spun the truck round so that we were facing the lane.

“Come on,” I said, grinning at her and gesturing for her to get out. She pulled the jumper on afterwe'd hopped out, and she slid her eyes towards me. I took it as acknowledgement that she neededit, but I knew that I wouldn't be getting thanked. I chuckled to myself as I towed her by her sleeve tothe back of the truck.

"Wow," she breathed. We'd parked high up, almost up to the hilltop. Steep cliffs rose and fell to theEast, their usually red-brown faces shining white against the navy sunset unravelling in front of us. Itdipped down, stretching to the sea, which lay almost directly opposite the cliff line.

The sky dove through shades of colour, navy bleeding into purple, which in turn blended into redand then orange. This was reflected in the gently rippling ocean, which curved at the horizon andmelted into deeper shades of blue. We could see for miles, and it was breath taking.

I let the back flap of the truck down and hopped up. Rosa slowly spun in place, taking in the sunset.I grabbed the box and sifted through it, pulling out the pile of blankets buried beneath the candlesand lights that I'd chucked in on top.

I lay them down in the back of the truck. They had all been made for me by my mum when I was apup, and I'd wanted to replace a use for them but they didn't quite fit in my bedroom, which wasalready so full of plants and old keepsakes.

Most of them had been tightly knit, forming tribal patterns similar to the ones on the jumper Rosawas wearing, all in woody colours — pine greens, wood browns and creams, and warm sunset reds.

I didn't know much about my mum's family or life before she'd joined the Silver Crescent pack, butshe used to say my grandmas had taught her how to knit, and then smiled as though she knewsomething she wasn't telling me.

I arranged them so that the metal was entirely covered, then strung the lights along the sides of thetruck, and up along the cabin. Rosa saw what I was doing and emptied the box out, then chucked itinto the front of the truck. I lit a couple of candles, and then I helped Rosa to climb up, letting hertug on my arm.

We settled ourselves on the blankets, leaning our backs against the cabin of the truck. The tinylights flickered against the growing darkness, holding it at bay. I leant my head against her shoulderas we spoke, our voices low and gravelly against the silence of the countryside.

There was a thump behind us. We split apart instantly; my eyes flashed, my wolf coming to thesurface. Rosa blew out the candles, and then took an offensive stance, her eyes roving across theland behind us.

I leapt down from the truck stealthily, keeping low to the ground. I sniffed carefully, searching forsomething other than grass and Rosa's sweet caramel scent.

The wind shifted. I caught the scent of something alien to me, unpleasant and threatening. It smeltlike iron and copper, like the taste of a battery against your tongue. It smelt like blood.

I mindlinked Rosa. Be careful. I can smell something.

She replied instantly. Me too. It's disgusting.

It really is, I said. Stay here. I'm going to investigate.

Why do I have to stay here? She hissed.

There's no point both of us going. Stay. I won't be long.

I crept out from behind the truck, careful to keep my body low to the ground. I was cautious aboutshifting, worried that it would bring too much attention to myself. There was also the slim chancethat whoever it was could be human, and seeing a large wolf staring down at them could cause allsorts of trouble for the local packs.

A rock crunched as though beneath a foot. My head swung to the side, eyes narrowed. I took ananxious half-step back. Another crunch.

I stepped forward again, and found myself staring into a pair of grotesque, blood-red eyes.