Chapter 9

Ezra

The drive home is tense. No one is talking and I prefer it. I’m furious. Noah wandered off into a dangerous part of town alone! How could he be so stupid? He knows better than to leave without one of us with him, especially after what happened. We could all tell he was stressed and yet he thought it would be smart to just go for a stroll.

Dammit!

How could he be so stupid?

There is a shit ton of things I want to say right now, but I don’t. As pissed as I am, Noah got hurt tonight. The last thing he needs is me going off on him. I might be an asshole but when it comes to him, I have to be careful. Noah is tough, but he can be sensitive too. As much as he wants to be treated like Beta, he’s not one of us.

“I’m sorry.” His voice breaks the silence and a sigh comes from each one of us.

“What were you thinking Noah?” Roman asks in a much gentler way than I would have.

“I wasn’t. It’s just…everything is over. Any hopes we had are done. It was a lot.” Noah says.

The reminder shoots rage through me that I thought I’d tamed a long time ago. Anger had been the only feeling I felt growing up until I met these guys. I was angry at the world for screwing me over from the very beginning. Even after I met the guys I didn’t want to have anything to do with them, but Roman has never been able to pass up a challenge. Even as kids he seemed smarter and wiser than everyone else. He was a natural leader but a Beta. If he had been born different, he’d make a pretty good Alpha but fate is a bitch.

“It wasn’t ideal, but it’s not over yet. We have options.” Jaxon tries to lighten the mood with his optimism but I can tell in his voice he doesn’t fully believe what he’s saying either.

“No,” I say.

“Ezra, you can’t make a decision for the rest of us. We need to consider the possibility that-“

“No.” I cut Roman off and glare at the side of his head. “We’ve gone this long without an Alpha and that isn’t going to change now.”

“Our options are limited. We have no other choices at this point. If we want to have the life we want, we need an Alpha.” Roman says sternly.

I hate this. I fucking hate it!

How can this world still function with such archaic traditions? We might have evolved from animals but the class system has yet to disappear yet. It’s the one thing that has held on.

Alphas…Betas…Omegas…

The strongest are on top and the weak are forced to be ruled over by them.

It’s not fair, and we all agreed not to let the system keep us from being our own pack and proving that Betas are more than the bitches of society. We might technically fall above an Omega, but we were the lowest of the low. This means we basically have no purpose in life other than to work for Alphas and be treated like dirt under their shoes.

“What about Aria?” Noah says and the car goes quiet again.

“Aria?” Jaxon asks.

Noah nods.

“The female Alpha?” I snort at the idea of a female Alpha.

She was a tiny thing. Sure she took on those Alphas, but they had to have been pretty drunk for a small woman like her to take them down.

“She looks like she’s a hundred pounds soaking wet,” I say with a scoff.

“She took down three Alphas asshole, don’t write her off just yet,” Jaxon says.

I turn in my seat to look at him. “You don’t think this is a good idea do you?”

He shrugs. “It’s not the worst idea. We need an Alpha and one has basically dropped into our laps.”

“Roman?” I look to our leader thinking surely he would be smarter than to consider this idea.

He’s quite far longer than I’d like, and that can only mean one thing.

“You have to be fucking kidding me!”

“Ezra we need her help. The odds of us finding an Alpha to help us aren’t good. A single Alpha ready to take on three Betas? Sure Noah would be fine but the rest of us? Noah’s right, we need her.” Roman doesn’t leave any room for argument, but I have a shit ton to say about this.

“What makes you think she would want to help us?” I ask.

“We have to convince her. Didn’t you notice how protective she got over Noah?” Roman says. “Maybe we can build on that.”

“What do you mean? I’m not going to be some kind of bait.” Noah says sounding hurt by the idea.

“You aren’t bro, but because of you we have the ability to ask for her help.” Jaxon reaches over and messes up Noah’s already disheveled hair.

I take a second to look him over, and guilt hits me hard. He’s been through hell today.

“Let’s talk about this tomorrow,” I suggest and no one disagrees.

We drive the rest of the way in silence. When we finally get home, Noah is the first one out. He heads right inside without a word and when the rest of us step inside I hear his door close.

“Should we go after him?” Jaxon asks but Roman shakes his head.

“He needs some time. If he wants to talk he’ll come find us.” And that was that.

We didn’t like to push Noah. Truthfully, we didn’t know how to handle most stuff involving Noah. He’s an Omega and with that comes a shit ton of stuff that we have no idea how to deal with. Not because of our lack of trying. We studied as much as we could on what Omegas need but it all came back to an Alpha. Without one Omegas are lost. They can’t regulate their emotions and can be easily stressed out because of the lack of stability that an Alpha offers. It was easy enough when we were young to be the presence Noah needed but once we got older it got harder.

The first time he went into heat we had no idea what to do. He was in so much pain that we tried anything we could to help. Even going so far as to offer to help him. We’re brothers and although none of us have ever been interested in men, we were willing to look past that to help Noah. When we offered he looked so ashamed and apologized like he had done something wrong. So we tried to take him to an Omega center where he could ride out his heat. They provided everything there but he was horrified as soon as he went inside.

He sees himself being an Omega as a burden to us, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Noah doesn’t understand that he adds a calming presence to our pack. Even though as Betas we don’t react the same to an Omega as an Alpha, we do feel some effects of the balance an Omega can bring to a pack. That would only be amplified with an Alpha added to our pack.

An Alpha…

The idea of an Alpha coming into our pack makes me want to rage, but we need one. Our lives, at least the lives we want depend on us letting an Alpha into our lives. It could be worse I guess. At least the little Alpha is nice to look at. Her attitude on the other hand is going to make her a pain in my ass I can already tell.