Beta Rick

A/N:

- Each chapter has been edited and checked using Grammarly. But there is a human component (me) which I apologise for in advance. Enjoy!

- This story is set in the early 1990s.

- I will upload new chapters regularly as I'm back at work and am so tired, until it is completed

- 67 Chapters in total. Sorry! I hope this story holds your attention.

- Any errors, spelling, words, confusions, please let me know, although I run each chapter through Grammarly, the only other set of eyes that see my work is you.

POV – Sabrina

“Come here,” my big brother Seth smiles, opening his arms out for me. I grin and step into his warm embrace.

“It’s not like I’m going away forever,” I smile, sniffing his rosemary scent.

“Yeah, but I won’t be there to see your first shift,” he whinges.

“I’ll be fine. Lots of wolves shift at training. They’ll be prepared for me,” I say. Secretly I’m a little worried. I watched Seth’s first shift, and it looked painful. At least it went quickly, but my first shift will be miles away from my family.

“Don’t worry, son, this one has a hard noggin; she’ll be alright,” dad says, rubbing the top of my head with his fist.

“Daddy,” I complain.

“Leave my little girl alone,” mum grins, smiling at my dad.

“Alpha Conner, Luna Phoebe, the bags are in,” Lucas says.

“I love you, big brother,” I say, waving goodbye.

“I love you too, oh and Sab?” Seth says as I begin to walk away. I turn and look at him.

“Don’t do anything I would do,” Seth tells me.

“Well, that leaves me having no fun at all!” I laugh, sliding into the backseat of the car. Dad says something to Seth before hopping into the driver’s seat, and we’re off.

As dad drives down the street and out of the pack territory, people come out of their houses and wave goodbye. I cringe into my seat, making mum laugh. I’ve always shied away from attention around my packmates, which I know is ironic considering my love and success with ice skating. Funnily enough, not wanting to be the centre of attention at home has made me more popular in my pack. I’m not a stuck-up she-wolf, even though I am an alpha female.

The drive to Capital State isn’t that long. It’s about a six-hour drive, which I guess could be considered long, and we need to drive through two states to get there, but at least we can get there within a day.

I’m from Nivea Pack, a small pack of eight-hundred wolves located by Frio Mountain, just outside the city of Frio. Frio in Spanish means ‘cold,’ and Nivea gets an icy northerly wind from the mountain, which is fracking cold. It also snows most of the time here, and I love it.

I spend my time looking through my Alpha Training Prospectus book. It has everything in here, including my timetable and information about my dorm room, the teachers, and a map.

We stop for a second breakfast and then for lunch, and I read my book while we travel while mum reads her magazines.

I sleep for a bit, and when I wake, I notice the sky has changed colours to the pink hue it gets at this time of the evening.

“How long now?” I ask.

“About forty minutes,” dad says, and I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Are we in Capital State already?” I then ask, looking out the window at the passing townhouses.

“Yeah,” Dad replies. I smile. Dad often reminisces about his days at Alpha Training, and with Seth completing his training two years ago, their stories have become more frequent.

I watch as we drive up to a guarded gate, and dad speaks to the Delta guard there. The Delta waves us through, and dad continues to drive into the grounds. I look out the window and watch the large industrial warehouses as we pass. From my prospectus book, I know these buildings are where classes and training rooms are based.

Dad stops the car and turns to look at me.

“You ready, baby?” dad grins, turning in his seat and looking at me. I take in a deep breath.

“Ready,” I state, opening the door and getting out of the car.

Time moves quickly. Dad grabs my bags from the boot, and mum and dad walk me into the central office, signing me in. They then walk me to the dorm rooms, toward a long two-story building. Dad retells his old dorm stories as we go. We find my dorm room, and mum and dad kiss and hug me before they let me go.

I now stand in my dorm room and look around. It’s fairly big. There are two beds in the corner of the room with a table lamp sitting at the apex. At the other corner is a two-seater couch with a small coffee table to sit at. To my left are two wardrobes, and I notice that both are empty.

Not many wolves attend alpha training each year, so I’m hoping that I may have the dorm room to myself. I smile and sigh as I plonk my standard-issue duffle bag onto the bed, the one not by the window, and begin to unpack. We’re not allotted many uniform items, just three cargo pants, two cargo shorts (so fashionable), four shirts, four tank tops, standard issue combat boots and canvas shoes, two army jackets and a heavy woollen V-neck jumper. All forest green in colour. Oh, and standard-issue socks. We’re also only issued a smaller bag for our civilian clothes, where I’ve packed some casual clothes and clothes for ice skating.

I put everything away in my wardrobe and find my way to the games room. There are two dorms at the training camp, one for the men and the other for the women. Each dorm block has its own kitchen, bathrooms, and games room. The female dorm also has a creche and daycare centre for those fortunate enough to be pregnant or have pups when they attend training.

I know there is also a central building with a mess hall, bathroom, games room and library for both sexes, but I want to explore the female games space first. I’m surprised to see a small bookshelf in the games room, and I walk over to it to peruse the books available. I hear a soft shushing, and I see a she-wolf cradling a tiny pup in her arms.

“Oh, sorry,” I begin. The she-wolf smiles and walks over to me.

“No worries, I’m Courtney, and this little one is Michael,” she introduces herself with a smile.

“How old is he?” I ask.

“Almost two, and he’s teething, poor thing,” Courtney says. I nod, not knowing really what I’m nodding for. Courtney smiles.

“First year, huh? Excited?” she then asks.

“A little nervous. I’m the second one in my family here, and I’ve heard lots of stories,” I admit.

“Yeah, most she-wolves are. This is my second year here. I found out I was pregnant just before I needed to come here, so we decided that I delay my training till he was six months old. Thankfully, this is my last year, and then I get to go home,” Courtney smiles.

We chat some more, and when Michael finally falls asleep in her arms, she excuses herself and returns to her room. I grab some books from the bookshelf and head back to my room. It’s late, and training will officially start in the next few days.

The next day I eat in the dorm’s kitchen as I know the Mess Hall won’t officially be open till tomorrow, and I spend my day in the games room. I notice people coming in and out of the games room throughout the day. Some look nervous, first years like me, and some already have friendship groups, so they must be their second year. Courtney greets me, introducing me to some of her friends, and we hang out for a bit before she has to pick Michael up from daycare.

When I return to my room, another girl is standing there, her bags on her bed and looking around the room.

“Hi,” I greet as I walk in. She looks at me and smiles, her big brown eyes lighting up. She has chocolate-coloured skin and fuzzy hair, the type you want to run your fingers through but know you shouldn’t.

“I’m Kelly. I’m the Beta’s daughter from the Moon Spirits Pack,” she greets me.

“I’m Sabrina. I’m from Nivea Pack,” I smile, shaking her hand.

“Are you firstborn or?” she asks.

“Second. My brother will be our pack’s next Alpha, so I’m stuck here, backup,” I admit.

“Me too. I mean, I’m the third born,” Kelly smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She and I both know that even though we are high-blood wolves, the chances of us even taking on the roles we’ve come here to train for is slim. Unless we become the mate of an Alpha or Beta, our skills learnt here won’t be of much use in the real world, and the chances of being mated to an alpha or beta are slim to impossible.

“Well, good, then we’ll get along great,” I smile back. Kelly looks at me with some reassurance.

“Would you like me to help you with your unpacking?” I ask.

“Yes, please, that would be wonderful,” she says. I help her unpack all her things, and we begin talking about ourselves. I learned that Kelly’s parents are very strict and that she often got in trouble for doing poorly at school.

“I mean, I’m a C student. There’s nothing wrong with being average. Average is good,” Kelly states, but I can see the tears brimming in her eyes. I learn that Kelly feels like she’s not good enough for her parents, she’ll never be able to take a Beta roll if it was ever presented to her, and she feels like even coming here is a waste of time.

“No. You are good enough. This is not a waste of resources. You will find your place here; I believe that,” I say, hugging her.

“Really?” she asks, trying to trust me.

“Yup,” I nod, “you just need to get out of your comfort zone,” I smile. She returns my smile.

“Hey- can we check out the communal rooms?” Kelly then asks.

I guess I put my foot in it because now I have to take my own advice. I haven’t left the barracks since I arrived.

“Fine, let’s go,” I smile.

“Yes!” Kelly squeals, jumping off her bed and hugging me, “best roomie ever!”

We lock our door behind us and walk through our barracks, crossing the street to the communal living building. Of course, I’ve read all about this building. It houses our cooks and housekeepers but has rooms open for us students, including two theatre rooms, two games rooms, a library, a recreation room, a kitchen and a large eating area, called a Mess Hall. I don’t know why it’s called that. Maybe because it’s where a whole lot of mess is made? There’s also an open hall with a frigging eating area that acts as a café during the day, and next to it is the recreation room which acts as a bar from Thursdays to Saturdays. Because most of the students here are eighteen, the human drinking age, they provide the recreation room so we can drink and so we don’t have to go off campus.

“Let’s get a coffee,” Kelly says, eyeing the groups of people in the games room. I nod. The games room we’ve passed is busy with male wolves, rowdy males. I don’t know if putting so many Alpha and Beta males in the same place together is a good idea, but I guess it works.

We head for the café, and like the games rooms we passed, this place is busy too.

“Coffee?” I ask Kelly. She looks at the counter and shakes her head. I’m not sure why she’s refusing, so I ask her.

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t realise you had to pay. My brother and sister said you didn’t need money here, so my parents cut my allowance,” she says. I look at her and see she is trying to hold herself together.

“That’s okay; I’ll pay,” I reply, smiling.

“Are you sure?” she asks. I nod.

We made our order and paid, and I told her that I had already been looking for jobs while I was here to support myself and had one already lined up and if she wanted me to get her one.

“Really?” she asks. I nod, and we agree that she will come with me to work on Saturday to check it out and talk to my new boss.

~~

Nivea (Latin) Snow land

~

Edited using Grammarly