Beta Vows Ch. 01

...Where did that come from? Huh.

Jeremy caught scent of Keric and looked up at the mature wolf before bowing his head to him. Keric acknowledged the omega with a slight nod of his own before turning toward the bathroom. He knocked twice, waited, and then opened the door quietly. Around this time, Florideen and Denver were normally up and "showering", and as much as he respected the two pack medics, he didn't want to hear them howling in pleasure and reminding the other Betas—female and male—that they had no mate of their own. Or at least in his case, at his side. He slipped off his dark brown flannel pants and faded blue tank top and stepped into the shower lazily, not really minding the cold water that tried in vain to startle him. It was a good way to wake him up anyway.

He washed his toned body quickly and got out the shower, and as he started to brush his teeth, he could hear the distant sound of the front door opening, and he smiled lightly long before the projection was sent.

'We're back, Keric,' Wyatt sent to him, and Keric could detect the fine layer of weariness in his young Alpha's voice that he hid from others so well.

'I take in things were troubling, but fruitful in Quebec?' Keric asked as he spat out the foaming toothpaste before continuing to brush.

'Yes,' Wyatt said gravely, projecting a small sigh as well, 'I need you, Adeline, Denver, and Florideen in my office when Delphi gets back from her run.'

'...Did some incident related to the μιγάς break out, Wyatt?' Keric stopped moving as if he were talking to Wyatt in the same room, catching his Alpha's drift.

'Yes,' Wyatt projected quietly, yet bluntly.

What ever happened up there was troubling Wyatt. Nothing to serious, Keric hoped, but he was tired of seeing his young Alpha so disturbed within these last few months. In truth, he had hoped that Wyatt and Delphi settled things between them up there so that they could grow to be a productive pair when they got back.

'Very well,' Keric replied after a moment as he started to wash out his mouth with some wash, the faint taste of the alcohol made him grunt. Damn the sharp taste and smell. 'I'll be down there in a few minutes.'

Keric shut off the water and began trim his beard when the sharp, booming sound of a gun shot went off, making him nick himself.

The shot sounded so close. So very, very close.

He froze in his spot for a moment as fleeing birds made their cries of fear heard. Keric quickly dropped his trimmer, wiped the blood from his healing chin, and forced his pajamas back on as he ran out the bathroom, nearly bowling into Beatrix and Adeline, both she-wolves startled awake by the shot.

"Keric! What was—" Adeline started, but stopped upon hearing the front door slam open and Wyatt's scent bolted out of the house followed closely by Emmanuel and Conroy's. The sounds of stirring and scents of panic and concern quickly started to filI the compound as wolves on the Delta floor opened their doors, asking what was going on; the pups had the most fear in their eyes and scent.

'Everyone, remain calm,' Adeline announced loud and clear, 'Everything will be alright and taken care of. Please stay indoors. However, warhounds, be on guard. Thetas, make sure that pups and omegas are looked after. Omegas, report inside the main complex and wait until further orders.'

No one dare question the Madam Alpha and everyone started to get to work on their tasks about them as Keric, Adeline, and Beatrix ran outside.

"Was that a rifle shot?" Adeline asked out loud as they ran toward the forest with cautious haste.

"It was, but that wasn't a hunting rifle," Beatrix replied from memory as they ran, "It sounded more like a Barrett M95 sniper round. Higher in pitch and doesn't give off enough of a recoil so all five shots can be fired faster."

"But we only heard one," Keric stated, as he scanned around for even the slightest glint of another sniper and their gun, "Either Wyatt got to them, or..."

Keric's blood ran cold as realization hit him.

"What is it, Keric?" Adeline inquired, pulling him back to reality.

"...Delphi was running though the here a little while ago," Keric finished his statement, making his sister pale.

"Whoever shot it got puppy," Adeline's voice hardened as they ran in the ushering solemnness.

However...

They all heard the sound of struggle and aromas of three foreign scents as they got closer, making Keric's wolf's fur bristle as his own pulse stopped. It can't be...could it really be...?!

"Don't fight, Luka, Fu Zhen," The calm and soothing sound of that alto voice made his pulse started up again as they approached.

Time seemed to slow down as he finally caught sight and full smell of the female pinned down by his young Alpha. Her scent of myrtles and honey hit him like the most powerful intoxicating aphrodisiac the world had to offer. This is the scent of the one he longed for and missed for more than half his long life. And he wanted nothing more than to throw his own Alpha off of her and hold her close to him, vowing never to let her go again. His lips parted long before he even knew and replied with a surprised, "Samira?"

/†\†/†\

Time had come to a standstill. Keric hadn't felt this off focused in decades. In Wyatt's office, despite the scent of fifteen other wolves that should have clouded the air, Samira's overpowered his sense and he couldn't keep his eyes off his extremely elusive ebony mate. Her face was still covered in cloth, yet he could still see that her beauty hadn't at all diminished over the centuries. However...her eyes have seen hell. He hung on her every word and gesture, but she was no long the serene, radiant she-wolf he first met. The last time he saw her was when she fought and fled Rome during one of its revolts in 283 A.D. He had gotten so close to her, with so many questions, and even in their fight with each other and through the chaotic turmoil of Rome, the worry in her eyes, the way she was always looking for someone, and how she fought always held a burning passion. Now, he could see that the light had drained right out of her skin and left her spiteful of this world. At least, that's what he hated to believe.

His emotions were so hard to contain throughout the entire conference. His anger dared to surface and the mere mention of her scions—turned pups that were not his own—out of pure possessiveness, and at how Delphi grabbed her and Wyatt growled at her. His sympathy reached out to her upon hearing her horrendous crimes that she committed against Delphi and her birth pack when he should be disgusted. His utter hurt and sorrow flared out when she announced she was here to aid Delphi and Delphi only, and Samira's outright refusal of his housing suggestion stung him far more than he ever thought possible.

"Do as she asks, Keric," Wyatt had told him, leaving no room for arguments, "but Samira, any information on anatomy, weaknesses, strengths, and easier ways to take down the μιγάς that you and your scions have, I want you to inform both Florideen and Denver immediately."

Samira nodding her head in compliance and replied without hesitation, "Of course, Alpha."

Keric and his wolf wanted to argue against their young Alpha, but they complied and Keric had Samira and her two scions follow him out of the office. The silence between them was unbearable, and any talk would have felt awkward with her two changed pups here.

Oh to hell with it.

"It's been a long time, Samira," Keric forced his control to remain firm over his wolf and carefully worded actions.

She did not reply to him at all, and Keric felt his wolf let out a growling whine in his mind at being ignored outright.

"...You look well," Keric tried again after a moment as they climbed the stairs.

Once more she told him nothing, and all that was heard from her was the sound of her belt jingling, her clothes flapping, and her light foot falls.

Keric gritted his slowly growing canines, doing his best to hold tightly onto his wolf's reins with his mental sweating palms.

'Samira, please stop ignoring me,' Keric finally projected to her after trying a few more times and approached the hardwood door to a decent sized Delta room.

'Now is not the time, Eiríkr,' She replied back bluntly just as Keric opened the door and moved out the way for them to go in.

At that, Keric felt himself lose grip of his wolf's rein. As Fu Zhen and Luka walked in, he stopped Samira and closed the door, making her shoot a glare at him as his own hazel eyes glowed brightly.

"When then?" Keric growled at her, his breathing starting to speed up in aggravation, "Another 630 years or so? Or let's really push it, how about another 1700?! Or are you going for a personal record and shooting for a few millenniums this time?!"

"I do not know when the time is, but I have to focus on Delphinia right now, Eiríkr," Samira told him coldly, "I have been so neglectful to her these last 14 years."

Keric could almost twitch at that, "Neglectful to her? Then I guess over 23 centuries of negligence means nothing to you."

The tang of an emotion whiffed in her scent and eyes before fading away as quickly as it came, "...You are right to think that."

Keric's mouth dropped as she started to open the door, but his wolf barked vehemently and would have none of it. He stopped and spun her around, and against the wall, pinning her.

"...Move Eiríkr," Samira started, but he growled at her, and there were signs of a shift on his skin with his thickening and rising hairs.

"Beatrix must be right. You have had too much time to force yourself to believe such a lie," Keric whispered through his growls.

"What reason do I have to lie? You have always known that first and foremost, I have to protect Mirari's line. I have no time to care about a possible ma—"

"Do NOT. Lie. To me," Keric's emotions were breaking out with each stabbing word she said, "You don't believe that any more than I do! What has caused you to grow so cold to me, hm? What has made you fill your words with poison over the years? Losing Mirari and Eirene? Was that the reason?"

Anger filled her scent and hit him full blast, "Enough of this, Eiríkr. You are still that crude pup from centuries past if you feel you must confront me. Now move," Samira shoved out of his grip and went into the room.

"...And you are not the compassionate, strong she-wolf I knew all those years ago if you feel you must continue to avoid me," Keric smoothly added in as she shut the door behind her.

Through the door, Keric could hear a muffled growl from the male in Russian, "Что с ним? (What's his problem?)"

He hadn't heard Russian in a long while; even his most basic understanding of the language has long since passed and was beyond outdated. Keric let out a growl and as much as he wanted to bust the door down and remind her of just how strong the flames he still had for her were, he caught hold of his wolf's reins once more and stormed up to his room just as Adeline sent out a loud and clear message from the meeting to everyone. The mating pull was harder to control than he thought.

/+\+/+\

"Не ваше беспокойство, Лука (It is no concern of yours, Luka)," Samira replied back gently as she sniffed around the room, looking at everything and their arrangements. The room was rather plain: a full sized mattress with cream colored sheets, icy white walls that made her want to grimace, and a good wooden bedframe and drawers—she would place them under walnut wood. She looked at the blinds and curtains that matched the sheets in the same color as they fluttered lightly in the cool breeze allowed in the room.

Samira moved to open the window more, taking in a light breath.

"Dànshì, shǒuwèi zhě —(But, Keeper—)," Fu Zhen spoke up, but Samira gave her a quick look, making her whine and avert her eyes.

Samira sighed lightly and looked at them, a small smile appeared behind her mask as she spoke to them in a common language, "Luka, Fu Zhen. I do not keep it from you to be unkind. I care and trust you both deeply, but what the issues between him and me are much older than both of you combined."

"I understand, Guarder," Luka huffed before slowly walking toward her, "But I can't help with how he treats you, how they all treat you."

"It is what I have deserved for being absent when Delphinia needed me most," Samira sat down on the stool near the window, "Surely you both would be angry with me if I committed my crimes against you."

"Shǒuwèi Zhě (Keeper/Guarder)," Fu Zhen got on her knees next to her, and ran her hand over her covered knee as a child would a parent, "You have done nothing but good for Luka and me. They do not know you as we do, and what you have done for her in the shadows."

"They are all ungrateful pridurki (assholes) to me, Guar—," Luka started as he neared, but before he could finish, Samira caught his tongue between her fingers, making him groan in surprise before struggling like a pup to free himself.

"Tongue, Luka," Samira rose a brow to him, "You will mind your manners wherever you are, regardless of others around you, especially around me and your hosts. Understood?"

Luka nodded his head with shame in his scent, making Fu Zhen let out a light giggle as Samira let go, wiped her hand and ran it through his auburn hair with a light smile, "Good boy. I am happy you both are here. You do not understand how grateful I am to both of you." She looked down at Fu Zhen and ran her other hand over the Chinese wolf's forehead to which Fu Zhen butted her head against it lovingly.

"Now," Samira turned to look back out the window, "Get some rest. I will go ask the Alpha if I am permitted to hunt for dinner for us later. Regardless of his answer, we must preserve the strength we have."

Luka and Fu Zhen nodded and went to lay down on the bed next to each other, keeping close as they have always done since meeting as siblings back in 1918. Samira smiled matronly at them before looking back at the winter sky, the sun still bright, but she could see the waning gibbous out already.

Eiríkr of Delan...no...that was not his name now. What did Auðrhildr call him now? Eric? No...Keric Delaney? What a strange name for him to have... Either way, Keric's words echoed on in her thoughts, and as much as she hated the façade, how much she wanted to talk to him, how much her wolf wanted to show him how much she missed him, happier days were long passed. It stung to say everything, but she had to. He didn't deserve it, but she refused to drag him back into anything from before. She would die serving Delphi before she would let him know her heart again. May the great Alpha Goddess of Fate and Mating forgive her; had she known where and how life would lead her back then, she would have never made her prayers.

/+\+/+\

"You certainly seemed to have taken a shine to such a young pup, sister," Mirari teased Samira as they ran through the rich wood of the Nords, dodging every branch, jumping over every trunk, and effectively dancing through the forest.

"I certainly was not!" Samira looked at her flustered, causing Mirari to laugh, "I just saw a young pup that should not get into such a life style and threaten his sister like such!"

"That is true," Mirari back flipped over a stump before bounding into a tree, "And for what other reason?"

Samira opened her mouth to speak.

"Do not try and lie to me, Samira. I know the scent of your lies and I know you like my own name!" Mirari pointed an accusing finger at her as she crouched in the tree.

Samira shut her mouth. Her already dark skin got darker as Mirari stared down at her, waiting for the actual point.

Samira sighed and jumped from each tree to the next before landing on a tree adjacent from her, "I do not want my mate growing up to be a brutish, empty hearted oaf either! Is there a sin against such a wish?"

To this Mirari laughed and signaled for her Samira to jump down with her. As Mirari approached her on the ground, she stared deep into Samira's eyes, and then suddenly slapping her open hands on both of her cheeks!

"Ow! My Lady, what was the reason for tha—" Samira started before Mirari did it again, keeping her hands against her cheeks.

"I thought I told you not to call me that, sister!" Mirari pouted like a young angry pup, "It's sister or Mirari, not my Lady! It was bad enough when Hilargi made all of her scions call me that! Hilargi has a swelled head much too large for her neck to carry, you know."

Samira smiled despite her suddenly sore cheeks, "What makes you say that?"

"You know why. I heard she has been going around telling all of her scion to call her Selene like she's a goddess or something! Is she afraid of her real name? Considering mother took considerable time to name her?"

"For one, you were not born then, so you would not know, Mirari. Second, may be it could be that she likes the name. Surely you like names," Samira told her with her cheeks still between Mirari's palms.

"...I do actually. Something oriental... Persian perhaps? I really do love Persian names," Mirari giggled, "Enough about me! Listen Samira, it is not a sin to wish for a proper, good mate. If fact, I think he will shape up to be a great looking male when he rids his pup fur and reaches a mateable age. As well..." Mirari whispered between them, "Despite their off nature, I hear those in the pack of Delan have as much passion in bed as they do out of it."

"Stop that!" Samira blushed, "And how would you know? You haven't tried anything with any of their males while I wasn't looking were you?"

To this Mirari rolled her eyes in a not so innocent way.

"Oh, my...Mirari! That's unsavory!" Samira slapped her arm and she blushed even harder, "Your parents wouldn't let me hear the end of it! Especially if it was not with your mate!"

"Relax, Samira, I'm only playing with you!" Mirari guffawed as she bore the barrage of slapping assaults on her arm, "You know I have not. For one, I have yet to mate, and for second, you are the most important person to me right now. I love you too much to hurt you." Mirari picked up her hands and kissed them.

To this, Samira smiled behind her cloth covered mouth. She rose her hands to higher and placed Mirari's backhands against her forehead, "And I, you, Mirari. You have my weapons and harp. Always."

Mirari smiled at her before her eyes went wide, "If I have your harp, play for me now, sister."

Samira nodded and removed the cloth case from her back before undoing the ties to set up the harp, sitting down on the nearest stump, "This is the song the Hymn of Wepwawet, one of the many names of the Alpha God of Transformation and Hunts, though they believed he was more associated with war and death overtime. In the Upper Kingdom in Asyut, the priests and priestesses would sing and play this song. Forgive me, it's been a while since I have heard it, but I'm sure I remember most of it. Let me see..."

As Samira started to hum and sing the hymn as she played, Mirari leaned on her back and sat on the stump, listening with her eyes closed. The late autumn wind picked up as if Wepwawet—or Iah—himself was listening to her music in pride of her tribute. Samira looked up at the sky as the sun was setting a she could feel a full moon, his phase, on the rise. How it called to her wolf, and she could feel her wolf howl to the melody within her soul. Their soul.