by J. L. Wilder
But it had been clear to everyone from the beginning that despite being the firstborn of the three, Jasper was no more an alpha than either of his brothers. If his mother had been an omega and they had been a proper litter, perhaps he would have been. But they weren’t a litter. They were multiple births, the kind humans had, and any power that might have belonged to Jasper had been divided among the three of them.
Which meant that Jasper was a beta. He didn’t have the strength of will or the powerful presence necessary to be an alpha. And though he had never doubted his brothers’ love or respect for him, they had never been close to submitting to him.
He had hoped, if he were honest with himself, that coming to Shifter University might bring out some previously untapped potential within him. That he might come into his alpha strength at last.
But he was a senior now. He would be graduating in just a few weeks. And he was as much a beta as he had ever been.
Right now, he knew, the alphas were preparing for their final exams. They would be fast and physical, running in the woods, hunting, fighting. Things Jasper would have excelled at.
But those wouldn’t be his exams. He would be tested on things like shifter history and politics. And, of course, Wildlife Skills.
“I can’t believe we’re graduating soon,” Olivia said, her thoughts clearly dovetailing his.
He nodded. “Feels like it’s been a long time, but I guess four years isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things.”
“Have you thought at all about what comes next?” Olivia asked.
He sighed. “Don’t do this, Liv.”
“I’m just asking.”
“You already know what I’m going to say. It can’t be like that between us.”
“You’ve never even given us a chance,” she said. “You’re the best friend I have here, Jasper. I know you feel the same way.”
He nodded. It was true.
“So then, why? Why can’t we even give it a try?”
“You know why,” he said.
“Because I’m not an omega.”
Jasper nodded.
“But you’re not an alpha,” she said. “I’m sorry, Jasper, but you’re not. You’re not too good for someone like me. And you shouldn’t be holding out for an omega because you know they’re telling them across the road that they shouldn’t date betas if they have any other option.”
He nodded. He knew.
“You’d rather be alone than with me,” she said.
“I’m sorry, Liv,” he said. “I don’t feel the same way you do.”
“Liar,” she said, getting to her feet. “You just don’t want a beta for a girlfriend because that would wreck this idea you have of yourself as almost an alpha. But you’re not an alpha, Jasper Wood. And you never will be.”
She stormed off, back toward campus.
DEAN
“Hey!”
Dean Wood jumped out of the tree he’d been sitting in just as his brother’s friend Olivia passed beneath him. “Where are you running off to?” he asked, falling into step beside her. “I thought you and Jasper were working on your fishing homework, or whatever it is.”
“Don’t you have an assignment you would be working on?” she asked. “Or a final you should be studying for?”
“No,” Dean said, although the truth was that he probably could have benefitted from a cram session before his Shifter Politics final the following day. “It’s too nice a day to be stuck inside. So, what’s the deal? Did you and Jasper finish early?”
“He can finish the project himself,” Olivia said. “He thinks he’s so much better than everybody, so what does he need my help for?”
“Uh oh,” Dean said. “Lover’s spat?”
“Shut up, Dean,” she said. “You’re such an asshole sometimes.”
“Hey, don’t blame me,” Dean said. “I’m not the one who keeps rejecting you. And I wouldn’t, either. What say you and I give it a go? I do look just like him. What’s the difference, really?”
“The difference is you’re a complete jerk,” Olivia said.
“Okay, maybe I am,” Dean admitted. “But you can’t exactly say that Jasper’s a nice guy, can you? If he were, he wouldn’t look down his nose at you the way he does.”
“Leave me alone,” Olivia said and ran off toward the dormitory.
Dean watched her go for a few minutes. Then he turned and made his way back the way she had come, back to the tree where he had been perched for several hours.
He climbed back up to the branch where he had been seated when Olivia had come rushing by. The cigar he had left perched in a fork of the tree was still there, still smoldering.
No smoking on campus. It was a cardinal rule at Shifter U. But everyone knew that the betas could get away with more than the alphas could. Alphas had an important role to play in a pack, and they had to get ready to lead. Screwing around couldn’t be tolerated.
And across the road, of course, the omegas were being trained for the role they would have to play. Dean didn’t know too much about how their rules differed from the ones he was expected to follow, but he was sure it was dramatic.
But Dean was a beta. And being a beta meant a lack of supervision. It meant a lack of anyone really caring whether you adhered to the rules or not. Because, at the end of the day, what did it matter?
He was never going to lead a pack. No one was ever going to depend on him for wisdom or for creating a new generation of little shifters. It didn’t matter if he was lazy. It didn’t matter if he failed his classes and got drunk on the weekends and never took anything seriously. He didn’t need to take anything seriously.
So let Jasper get all worked up preparing his final project. Let Tom spend the day in the library. As for Dean, he was going to enjoy himself. College would be over soon. These were his last few weeks on campus, and then he would be expected to join the real world.
He thought about the lessons he had learned in his Pack Dynamics class, which was one he felt reasonably sure he was going to pass. In Pack Dynamics, the betas had been taught that they would have an opportunity to appeal to one of the alphas in their graduating class and join his pack after graduation. It was a great way to get into a pack right away, the professors had urged.
Yeah, right. Maybe the rest of the class would be rushing to find an alpha to submit to, to insert themselves into a pack. But Dean had no plans to do anything like that.
He’d grown up with his brothers practically living in his pockets. He had never had a moment to himself in all his life.
Well, a beta didn’t have pack responsibilities. He was going to graduate in a few weeks, and nobody here would be able to claim that they needed him. And he would be off, finally on his own, finally free to figure out who he was without his brothers in his face all the time. To make a life that was his and his alone.
He took a long drag on his cigar and stared down at the ground beneath him through the leaves of the tree. Several of the beta girls were just making their way out of one of the dorms, no doubt on their way to work on some end-of-year project, and he eyed them with interest.
He wasn’t ready to be tied down. Not when he was about to be free for the first time in his life.
But someday soon, he could see himself finding a girl to commit to and starting a life with her. Just the two of us. No pack to hold us back.
TOM
Tom Wood stood up from the library carrell where he had been studiously reviewing his Shifter Science and Anatomy notes. He fished around in his pocket for some spare change and then made his way over to the vending machine in the corner.
He was determined to ace his tests over the next few weeks. His grades would be the best possible means of recommending himself to any alpha whose pack he might want to join, after all.
Tom only hoped that he would be able to persuade his brothers to come too.
It would be hard to find a placement for all three of them. But he knew they had worthwhile qualities, qualities th
at could be sold to a good alpha. Jasper was incredibly strong, good at hunting, and useful in a fight. He would make some alpha a great second.
Dean was tougher. But Tom knew that, if nothing else, Dean was incredibly smart. He was probably the smartest out of the three of them. If he would study, he’d be kicking my ass in every single class.
He fed his coins into the vending machine and pressed the buttons for a bag of pretzels. It would be his first meal of the day. He had been outside the library as soon as the sun had come up, ready to spend the whole day studying and preparing himself for his test.
Unfortunately, he was having trouble focusing. His mind was with his brothers.
How was he going to convince them to join a pack with him? Tom wasn’t blind to the fact that it was probably the last thing either of them would want. Jasper would have a hell of a time trying to submit to someone else’s lead, and as for Dean, he was too independent. It would be hard enough to try to get Dean to stick with Tom and Jasper, never mind a whole new pack.
I could lose them completely after graduation, Tom thought. I could find myself entirely on my own.
He went back to his carrell. A guy had taken the seat next to his in his absence. “Hey,” he said as Tom sat down.
“Hey.” Tom hoped the newcomer wasn’t going to want a conversation. He still had a lot of studying to do.
“I don’t know you,” the guy said. “Are you a senior?”
“Yeah,” Tom said, setting aside his book, resigned, for the moment, to the fact that they were going to have to talk.
“How come you’re not in any of my classes?”
“Are you an alpha?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s why, then.”
The guy stared. “You’re a beta? Seriously? You don’t look like a beta.”
“What does a beta look like?” Tom asked, feeling more than a little annoyed. Still, he knew he couldn’t put up a fuss. If he got a reputation among the alphas as being difficult to get along with, that would hurt his chances of finding a pack.
“You know,” the alpha said. “They’re usually...short. Kind of weedy. But you’re probably bigger than I am.”
Tom shrugged mildly. He was used to the fact that he dwarfed his beta classmates, both in height and build. He and his brothers were certainly the biggest among the betas in their year.
The alpha extended his hand. “I’m Zach,” he said.
“Tom.” Tom accepted the handshake.
“You looking for a pack after graduation, Tom?”
“I might be,” Tom said. He couldn’t commit to anything until he had talked to his brothers.
“I could use a strong second like you,” Zach said.
A second.
Even in the confines of his own family, Tom had never thought about the possibility of being a second. He had always come in third. He was the last born. The smallest and the weakest, even though he was still large for a beta. He had the gentlest disposition.
When he had imagined joining someone’s pack, he had never dreamed that he might be able to do it as a second.
And he wouldn’t, he knew, if Jasper and Dean were with him. They would always rank above him.
“Well,” Zach said, “keep me in mind, okay? When the time comes, I’d love to take you on. But I’m sure a guy like you is going to have his pick of alphas.” He grinned. “Just remember, I’m offering you a place pretty high up in my pack. The others might not be able to say that.”
He picked up Tom’s pen, scrawled his name and phone number on the corner of Tom’s anatomy notes, and walked off.
Tom stared down at the contact information he’d been given.
I could be a second.
Maybe convincing his brothers to stay by his side shouldn’t be his top priority after all.
Chapter Three
HALEY
“Haley!”
The squeal came from outside Haley’s dorm room and was accompanied by the sound of feet pounding as someone ran down the hall. Perplexed, Haley went to the door and opened it to see that Margaret was racing toward her, a piece of paper clutched in her hand.
Haley stepped back from the door to allow her friend in. “What’s going on?” she asked. “I thought you were down at the track.”
“Screw the track,” Margaret said excitedly. “Look at what I just found in the Commons.”
She thrust the piece of paper she was holding at Haley. Bemused, Haley took it.
End of Year Social, it read. Seniors only! Come celebrate graduation a few days early at the Omega U bonfire pit with the students of Shifter U.
“A social?” Haley said. “I thought there weren’t going to be any more this year. Isn’t the pre-finals event usually the last one of the year?”
“Well, I thought so too,” Margaret said. “But we wouldn’t have been invited to this one, would we? Maybe we never noticed it in the past because we just weren’t allowed to attend.”
“I still think I would have noticed,” Haley said. “The bonfire pit isn’t all that far from here.”
Margaret shrugged. “If I saw a fire and didn’t know what it was, I probably would have just assumed someone had hijacked the space for a private party.”
“Fair enough,” Haley agreed, setting the flyer down on the desk she and Margaret shared.
Margaret planted her hands on her hips. “Haley!”
“What?”
“It’s a social,” she said with exaggerated patience. “The alphas are going to be there. It’s another chance for you to meet someone.”
“Oh,” Haley said. To her surprise, her heart sank ever so slightly. It was an unfamiliar sensation. There had been dozens of socials in her time at Omega U, and every time, she had been convinced that the next event would be the one where she would finally meet her mate.
But that had never happened.
So now there was going to be one more social before graduation. One more opportunity.
But how was Haley supposed to believe that this one was going to be any different? After all her failures, after all the times she had gotten her hopes up only to end the night curled up in her bed alone and sad, why should she hope for better now?
Margaret was staring at her as if she didn’t even know who Haley was. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “Aren’t you excited about this?”
“I don’t know,” Haley admitted.
“You don’t know?”
“I want to be,” Haley said. “But it’s the same group of alphas I’ve been meeting over and over for the past four years. I feel like I could list all of them off by name at this point. I know who’s over there, and they all know me. And none of them have ever chosen me.” She shook her head. “They’re not going to, Margaret. One more social isn’t going to change that.”
“You don’t know that,” Margaret insisted. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. You can’t give up before you even try.”
“Give up before I try?” Haley felt incredulous. “Margaret, I’ve been trying for years. This is the only thing I’ve paid attention to, outside of classes—and even those were just an attempt to improve myself so that an alpha might take notice. You can’t say I haven’t tried.”
“You’re right,” Margaret admitted. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.”
“Thank you.”
“But I do think you shouldn’t give this up yet,” Margaret said. “Really, I do. It’s what you want most, isn’t it? To belong to an alpha?”
“You know it is. It’s the whole reason I came to Omega U in the first place.”
“And now they’re holding a social so alphas and omegas can meet.”
“That’s not even what it’s for,” Haley protested. “It’s just to celebrate graduation.”
“Uh-uh,” Margaret said. “If they didn’t want us to take the opportunity to meet each other, they’d be having two separate parties. One on each campus. The point of this is to get us togeth
er with the alphas, and you know it.”
“But we all know each other already,” Haley said.
“Doesn’t matter,” Margaret insisted. “This is the last party of our college careers. People are going to be thinking differently. They’re going to be thinking about the future. The alphas there who fooled around and didn’t worry about finding a mate freshman year are going to be ready to lock something down, and you might be just what they’re looking for.”
“Why would I want someone who wasted four years of his life?” Haley asked. “Why would I want someone who’s only just now figuring out that this was serious business?”
“Two reasons.” Margaret held up a finger. “First of all, you’re desperate.”
“Hey.”
“Not in a mean way,” she said. “But you are, aren’t you?”
“I guess.” Still, it didn't feel good to hear it said out loud like that. “What’s the second reason?”
“The second reason is just because someone was immature and an idiot when he was a freshman, that doesn’t mean he is now,” Margaret said. “Yeah, okay, these are the same guys we’ve been meeting over and over for four years. But I’m willing to bet a lot of them have changed over the years. And if they’ve made it to a point where they’re ready to take their alpha duties seriously, they’ll be good enough for you, wouldn’t they?”
“I guess so,” Haley admitted. “I would just wish they could have figured it out sooner.”
“Sure. But better late than never.” Margaret bounced over to the closet. “And if you miss this party, you’re always going to wonder whether something could have happened.”
That was a good point. Possibly the best point Margaret had made in all of this. There was no point in missing out on the social, and if she did so, she would always be left to wonder if she had made the wrong call. “Okay, okay,” she said. “I’ll go.”
“I knew you would.” Margaret pulled out a bright red skirt. “And you’ll wear this?”
