-Arch-

Sometimes.... Sometimes I really wanted to hit the guy. Jaden. I understood him, yes, maybe even better than Tilly did. Tilly loved power, so she couldn't see why Jaden was so reluctant to accept his heritage. Jaden had witnessed firsthand the struggles his parents had gone through just to keep their position as the Alpha pair. Keeping their pack safe and united was a whole 'nother thing. Dealing with our rivals, the Black Thorns, was just the top of the iceberg. Jaden was young and full of restless energy, and he truly was not ready to be the next leader. I wasn't sure if he was ready for that in the next few decades even.

But now was not the right time to be fucking about. He couldn't just go around and act like nothing was going on. Tilly and I were his betas. We were so strongly tied to him already that it was almost impossible for us to not be his betas. Whatever decisions he made affected us as well, and usually we were fine with everything, but now he was going against our very basic instincts that made us betas – our need to protect the pack.

I followed Tilly back inside, and followed her scent until I finally found her at the back of the school. She was leaning against a wall next to a corner, looking somewhere behind it with her arms crossed over her chest. I stopped next to her and sighed when I saw her angry expression.

"Don't try to make me go back to apologize to him," she said harshly.

"I won't," I said quietly. "That was not the right moment for him to have an existential crisis."

"Damn right it wasn't..." Tilly muttered, and took a deep breath. "It's over. For now, at least. Whatever it was..."

I nodded. The danger we felt was gone now, but if I knew something about danger, it was that if we didn't deal with it right away, it would return.

"I can't believe he had no idea what was going on," Tilly muttered. "That was so stupid and dangerous."

"He's not the brightest spark in the shed, true. But I think he is refusing to understand right now," I spoke.

"Yeah, well that refusal could've costed someone's life," Tilly said angrily.

"I know. Trust me, I know," I said, and stepped forward so I could see behind the corner. "Is that him?" I asked, when I saw a lonely figure sitting on the floor, his head pressed against his knees and arms wrapped around them.

"Yeah, that's him," Tilly said.

"How is he?" I asked quietly, keeping my eyes on the boy.

"He's shaken, so something bad happened, but he's not injured – from what I can tell," Tilly spoke. "Arch..." I turned to look at her, and retreated back behind the corner and out of sight. "He was scared. Like, really scared."

"I know," I sighed. "I felt it too."

Tilly nodded and leaned to take a look at the boy. "I think he's in danger."

"And Jade is being a useless fuck," I breathed out. "Well, we're the guardians of his pack."

"So, you want us to take care of this, even though Jade clearly doesn't want to have anything to do with him?" Tilly asked.

"Like we have a choice," I said, and she nodded, turning to look at the boy once more.

He really wasn't well. I could tell he was trying to keep himself together, no matter what, but he was losing it. He was scared to death, and I wanted to know why. Someone had scared him, and it was our job to deal with it, no matter what Jaden had to say about it. It wasn't up to him to decide anyway – the Moon Goddess had inscribed that into our primal instincts long time ago.

"Why am I not surprised though," Tilly spoke. "It's a male. And a human."

"I don't understand why Jaden is freaking out so bad. He knows that our Goddess wouldn't give him a mate he wouldn't absolutely adore. But I must say, I'm a little bit surprised it's a male," I spoke.

Tilly turned to look at me. "Really?" she asked like I just said something stupid. "He's so... gay sometimes. Especially with you."

"What? No?" I said in shock.

She didn't say anything about that. She just looked at me like I had no clue. Okay, she probably had a point though. "Why aren't you surprised that he's a human?"

She shrugged. "His parents wished his mate would be a pretty girl from a big, powerful pack. That's why they've been dragging him into meetings and gatherings. Making babies with someone important would've formed a strong bond between the packs. But no. He got a human boy as his mate. He's exactly what Jaden would choose just to piss everyone off, if it were up to him."

"I'm sure the Moon Goddess is dying with laughter right about now," I nodded. "But I don't think the pack will be amused. It will take a lot of convincing to get them over the fact that he's a human."

"And a male," Tilly reminded me. "But you're right – none of us has ever had a human mate before. I don't think a human has ever stepped into our territory before either."

"Well they can't really tell him to fuck off without angering our Goddess. It's her decision," I said.

"Yeah, true," Tilly agreed.

"There's one thing bothering me. Why now? I've seen that kid around before. He's been close to Jaden plenty of times, so why did it take this long for them to become mates?" I spoke.

"I think he turned sixteen last Friday," Tilly said, and I cursed myself for not seeing the obvious. "The Goddess respects the age of consent."

"You know that's just coincidence," I chuckled.

She just shrugged as a reply. "Makes me wonder if our mates are still too young to create the bond."

"Stop making me feel like a pedophile," I muttered.

The truth was that betas were less likely to find their mates than the rest of the werewolves, because we were expected to focus on guarding the pack. Hanson never found his mate, although it was still possible for him. Maybe that was our fate as well.

"Do you... want to find your mate?" Tilly asked carefully – we never talked about mates, since it always made Jaden feel uncomfortable.

"Yes and no," I chuckled. "I don't know. I trust in the Moon Goddess. She knows what's best for me."

"I'd rather not have her deciding things on my behalf," Tilly said – of course she said that; she was the kind of person who didn't let anyone walk over her. "But why did you say no?"

"We are guardians. Having a mate always complicates that," I explained.

"That's the speech every beta gets when they don't find their mate," Tilly noted.

"I know... Can we just focus on Jaden and his mate for now?" I asked. "We need to find out why he was so scared."

"It would also be nice to know his name," Tilly spoke, looking at the boy again. He hadn't moved an inch, and absolutely no one had paid any attention to him, even though it was clear he was in distress.

"He doesn't seem to have any friends," I said. "Maybe he's bullied?"

Tilly was silent for a moment, and I turned to look at her. She was biting her lip, like she wanted to say something and wasn't sure if she should just keep it to herself.

"What?"

She unwrapped her arms and placed them on her hips. "Well we know there's at least one bully in here."

"You mean Jack," I said.

"It just seems like whenever bad things happen, he's there," she said.

"We can't just start pointing fingers at him straight away," I said, but she had a point. Again.

"Unless he already knows that boy is Jaden's mate," Tilly said. "This is why I'm so mad at Jaden. He's risking that boy's life if he doesn't claim him!"

"I believe he's better off if Jaden doesn't claim him," I said. "If no one knows he's Jade's mate, he's much safer that way. The second the Black Thorns finds out about it, he's in much bigger danger than he is now. They will try to get to him, maybe even kill him since he's such an easy target."

"If he was with us, we could protect him," Tilly noted. "Jack wouldn't dare to touch him."

"Jack wouldn't, but his pack are full of vicious assholes who would love to tear him apart," I reminded her. "They would hunt him down and the moment we turn our back on him..." I shook my head. "He's not safe with us."

"It's clear he's not safe now either," Tilly said. "Something attacked the boy. You and I both felt it through Jaden's bond!"

"Okay, okay, keep it down," I shushed her. "We'll just keep an eye on him for now. We're lucky that he's in our school, and we can easily find out where he lives, so if he really is in danger, we can protect him."

"And Jade better get his shit together, or else..." Tilly muttered, turned around on her heels and started walking.

I let out a deep sigh and turned to look at the boy. There was something about him I couldn't put my finger on. It wasn't that long ago since I first noticed him, and the second our eyes met, I had sensed something. I just couldn't tell what. It wasn't a warning, but something else. Something quite else.

"Who are you?" I asked quietly, even though there was no way he could hear me. "Why were you chosen?"

I turned to look out of the window that was closest to me. There was one more question in my mind.

"What are you up to, my Goddess?"