“Alpha.” My mother smiled as we skirted him and continued down the corridor. Once we were a ways away, my mother turned to me and she smirked. “He was livid. Did you see the vein pulsing in his forehead?”
“I did.” I laughed as we walked out of the main building. “Let’s go find the students bringing people around to give us the layout.”
“Sounds good.” My mom wrapped her arm around mine as we walked towards the dorms. We walked around the campus, searching for the correct building, when we turned a corner and saw a few people sitting at a table with a sign.
I pulled my mother towards the table, and the smiling girl sitting there. “Hi there.”
“Hey.” I gave a small wave. “We are looking for a guide.”
The cute girl smiled wider. “You came to the right place.” She looked down at her clipboard. “What is your name?”
“Amy Maclean.” I smiled at the few others standing around.
The girl’s smile faltered. “You are an Alpha.”
“Yes.” I tried to meet her eyes, but she wouldn’t look at me anymore. “Is there something wrong?”
“No.” She rushed. “Not at all.” She smiled at him, but it felt forced. “Clint. Another Alpha for you to bring around.” A big man, obviously Clint, stood and walked over to us.
“Clint?” I started and put my hand out.
“Yes Alpha. I’m Beta Clint from the Shadowclaw pack back east.”
“Nice to meet you, Beta. How’s your father?” I smiled as I pulled back my hand.
Clint stumbled over his words. “My father?”
“Yeah Clive. How’s your father? Last I saw him, he was set on retiring and taking your mom on a travel vacation.”
Clint’s eyes widened. “You know my dad?”
“Of course I do. My father always brought me to the Alpha summits where I would get to meet everyone.” I raised my shoulder. “Your father was always super nice to me, and didn’t treat me as ‘some Alpha’. He saw me, if you know what I’m saying.”
Clint smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. He was always an amazing dad.”
“Was?”
Clint cleared his throat. “Him and my mother died last year, after the summit. They left for their first vacation. My dad called it my training. And then they were just gone.” Clint rubbed the back of his head. “And I inherited the Beta role.”
“I’m sorry. I know there is no way to make it any better, but your dad always talked about you. He was very proud of the man you were becoming and he was confident in you taking over his position.”
Clint nodded, then gestured towards the building. “Let’s go.”
“This building holds the dorm rooms. It's a co-op, so everyone will be in the same building. Instead of organizing us by gender, they organize us by year. First years are on the top floor with the last on the bottom floor.” Clint looked back and smiled. “The elevator has been out for…well I’ve been here for three years already and it was out for years before me.” He laughed. “The stairs are over here.” He brought us over to the main staircase and headed up.
“What program are you in?” I followed him up the five flights of stairs.
“I wanted to go into business, like most Alpha’s and Beta’s. Help strengthen the pack’s standing.” I nodded.
“Yeah. A lot of packs fall into that line of thinking.” I tried to hedge my bet, but Clint laughed.
“Yeah, you sound like my father.” He looked back at me with a smile as he turned to the last flight of stairs. “He pushed me into computer science. Said it was the new way to protect the pack, and potentially make money.”
I reeled. “My father gave me the same push.” Clint met my eye as he made it to the landing and turned around with his hand out. I furrowed my brow. “I need your papers.”
I handed him everything. “He’s a smart man. This entire program teaches us how to structure security systems, how to program and create apps that the humans use. Anything is possible with this program, and only our packs benefit from it.”
I nodded. “Exactly.” He nodded down the hallway, and we followed. “Any pointers you can give me?”
