*MARTIN*
Ihave spent the last days working relentlessly under Leonard’s tutelage, and with Dr. Francis joining in to help me further, I find myself making some progress. Real fucking progress!
“Hey, my man!” I feel someone slap my back, making me almost spit out my drink. Behind me, some guys holler their hellos.
It makes me want to disappear. They are loud and obnoxious, but I have work to do here, and I am not going to disappoint my alpha and luna. Those two and Griffin are my only friends, and I will make sure to protect them.
“Hey, you jerk,” I go for an equally loud voice, turn around with a bright grin, and nudge the man with my elbow.
“It’s good to see you warm to us,” one of the guys grins. “I didn’t know you would be so fun to hang out with.”
“You know how it is,” I say. “Sticking around the pack isn’t always fun.”
“I can imagine,” one of the guys, Luis, sneers. “Forest has to be such a loser. My alpha hates him.”
“So does Alpha Jordan,” another adds.
Luis is the one who brought me into this group. The beta I am friends with, and whose ass I saved, set us up with a promise from Alpha Leonard to be protected and able to get out of this whole ordeal, without facing any charges or any punishment.
It was a good deal for him because the man had been involved in Jordan’s bullshit. Guess he realized it’s better to jump ship. Officially, he is on a month-long beta training course now so that his alpha won’t get suspicious that he isn’t around much. Leonard set it up for him, mainly so that he could keep an eye on him as well.
The last thing we want is for the guy to blab.
But Luis… Luis is a true gem. A disgusting, ugly and pretentious gem, but a gem, at least to me. And I have spent the last two weeks kissing up to him.
“Luis,” I grin. “Shut up and order us new drinks. I don’t want to talk about my alpha now.”
Luis laughs. “You need to join us more if you want some more fun.”
I rub my face. “I don’t want him to get suspicious, you know? Forest, I mean.”
“Isn’t he too dumb to notice anything?”
“Yeah, he is,” I say, flinching inwardly at badmouthing Forest. I don’t like doing it, even if it is to keep up the pretense. “But his luna is pretty sharp.”
Luis grimaces. “She is a menace. That’s why Jordan wanted to get rid of her.”
“Is that true?” I ask, pretending to be curious. “She is so weird. I don’t know what to think of her at all.”
“My alpha is best friends with Jordan,” Luis says. “They know stories about her shenanigans. You know, a typical spoiled princess, whose daddy spoiled her rotten. All she has is thanks to Jordan, and she constantly tried to sabotage him.”
I grimace. “I don’t need that to happen to my pack.”
“She is your alpha’s mate, man,” one of the other guys says. “Not much you can do about that.”
“If only I could get out of this shitshow,” I groan. “I would do anything. Seriously, it’s easy for you guys. You are serving strong alphas, but as for me… I am stuck in that shithole.”
“Well,” Luis throws his arm around my shoulder. “How about you make some good choices then?”
“Like what?” I let out a desperate groan. “You know, when Alpha Harry picked me to become beta, I had such high hopes.”
“Yeah, Forest is nothing like Alpha Harry was,” one of the other men agrees. “Harry was a real man. He had everything under control. Meanwhile, Forest,” he makes a face of disgust, “is just Forest. He is weak and focuses on the wrong things.”
“Exactly,” I exclaim. “I sometimes try to reason with him. I even play along to get him to trust me.“
“So, does he?” Luis asks curiously. “Trust you?”
“Yep,” I say confidently. “Took me a while. I played along with all his little games to embarrass the old alpha and luna, to make sure I would be in his good graces.”
