MetaViews - 5. MetaView 5: White Wolf Pack 2nd Beta Leo C. Depuis (deceased)

“You know I don’t want to do this,” Leo clarified for the umpteenth time.

“And you know I require you to do it. Fully endorsed by our Alpha,” Brian answered jumping to loosen his muscles.

Leo understood why everyone – men and women – found Brian irresistible. Every muscle was visible; his skin was as flawless as after photoshopping. His hair shone in the last rays of the sun. His movements appeared as graceful as a stallion’s, and his eyes eternal as a god’s. Of course, Brian had made a point of wearing very short blue running shorts for their fight for the 1^st Beta position. A fight Leo didn’t want to have, but had to have as per orders of his superiors. He didn’t intend to win. And Brian’s superior speed would be the perfect excuse for him not to win.

“Let’s make this more exciting,” Brian suggested.

“It’s not going to be exciting,” Leo countered contritedly.

“For every blow I land you need to answer a question. Truthfully, honestly, immediately.”

Leo suppressed swear words. Brian was cunning. The 1^st Beta knew Leo wanted to lose, so he upped the prize of losing: getting secrets out of him. He wasn’t sure whether he should be pleased having such a scheming Beta as superior or be annoyed about his own gullibility thinking he could outsmart the 1^st Beta.

“Let’s start!” Brian shouted and attacked.

“What the fu…,” Leo answered and moved into a defensive position.

But it was too late. One of Brian’s kicks – his ankles and feet covered in white bandages – made painful contact with Leo’s thigh. The 1^st Beta receded immediately allowing Leo to recover from the surprise.

“Not fair!” Leo complained.

“Welcome to the life of a Beta,” Brian teased without remorse. “First question: Why do you think you could ever be a good Beta? You’re a cage animal!”

Leo growled. “I’m smart. I was good in school, I am good in school. I will be a doctor one day. I don’t mind speaking my mind. I can analyze situations and I’m loyal. I don’t want to be an Alpha. – So what about you?”

Brian shook his head, jumping on the spot again as if he had to loosen the muscles that had been strained because of the kick. “No, Canuck boy. You land a hit, you can ask a question.”

“Fucker!”

“Have you checked what’s hanging between your legs, Frenchie? No fucking no more, Charles!” Brian laughed.

“I’m not Fren…,” Leo insisted. He hated his middle name.

And with that Brian accelerated, jumped into the air, twisted himself around, making his feet land on Leo’s chest, pushing the poor guy against the wall of the barn they were fighting in.

For a moment Leo thought, he would lose the ability to breathe, before he recovered.

“Strike 2,” Brian counted self-congratulatorily.

“Not …”

“Shut up, pussy. – You ran away when you met Colt the first time. Yet you came back quickly? Why?”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, otherwise you’ll become the 57^th toilet cleanliness state enforcer of this pack. So why?” Brian decided to increase his teasing by making some relaxed Jumping Jacks.

“The scent. You know that, asshole.”

Brian grinned.

“The scent made my wolf crazy. He was … is … completely mad about this scent. If it came from a pig he would fuck a pig …” Leo suddenly blushed. “I’m not saying Colt’s a …”

“So your wolf took over … maybe you’re not Beta material …”

“How was it for you then, smartiepants?” Leo asked trying to stage an attack.

Brian just snorted, ducked, turned 180 degrees and pushed his elbow into Leo’s side, who stumbled landing on the straw on the ground of the barn. Both knees and one palm completely scratched and bloody; nothing worth mentioning. “Good, another question then,” Brian stated, very pleased with himself.

“Fine. Shoot.”

“How did you feel when the Quebecois Pack didn’t want to let you go?”

“Surprised. Vincent had never been interested in me. I was just an Outer Circle wolf. I never thought they would be difficult. Even when we were back up there I didn’t feel it was about me. I was just some asset to be used to the pack’s best interest. For sure I didn’t know what was on Simon’s mind. I wish I would have known. I could have warned Prime and Colt.” And with this Leo started his punching attack. But Brian was just too fast. Leo’s fists didn’t make decisive contact with that pretty face. Only the wetting of Brian’s golden spikey hair suggested the Beta had actually had to work out to evade the attacks.

And with one decisive punch Leo knew he had lost a tooth. He spit it out more out of disappointment in himself than anger. Blood splatter covered the barn boards.

“Oh, our cute boy lost a tooth … I hope the fairy takes it,” Brian teased. “So how does pretty boy feel now about his old pack?”

“Simon is dead. The two assailants are dead. Vincent doesn’t matter. No feelings. I call my parents once in a while, but even they don’t really mind where I am. I don’t know why. Sometimes I have the suspicion they’ve always known I would leave the North Quebecois pack. Maybe some destiny or fate thing. I have no resentment for the pack. But I learned never to drop my guard again. I will not let myself be surprised again. I will always be ready to fight. Even if I don’t win, I will go down fighting.”

“Not doing a good job then,” Brian heckled his Beta brother. And staged his next attack. A surprisingly skillful combination of punches, elbows, kicks and sidekicks made Leo’s defense difficult. But he started to understand Brian’s technique. The 1^st Beta failed to land any more decisive blows … but Leo knew it was only a temporary relief, because eventually he ended up – literally – with his back against the wall and Brian’s right heel against his chin. The 1^st Beta stood as stable as a rock only on one of his feet, nearly in a perfect split; threatening to kick out Leo’s remaining teeth with his right foot if the Canadian made a wrong move.

“So no trauma about the rape?”

Leo shrugged carefully to not allow Brian to make a final kick. “No. You would sense it. Prime would sense it. Colt would sense it. After all, it didn’t happen. If it had, maybe it would be different. Because I would have lost all of you. And those assholes are dead. I cannot ask for more satisfaction. And I learned my lesson. And I will always be grateful to CE. If it hadn’t been for him, we might be in a different place. But I can sleep well nowadays. That big guy will always protect me.”

For the first time Leo saw some kind of tremble on Brian’s lips. And indeed the blond Mormon boy retracted from the exhausting split position and used both of his legs to create some distance between them. “You like CE.”

“I like all of you guys, believe me. I love you guys. But since our trip to Canada, I have a special place for CE in my heart. He’s so different as enforcer. In my old pack they were just big brutes who you had better avoided at all cost; who only knew how to break bones. CE? People follow him because they don’t want to hurt him, to see pain in his eyes. I love how he hugs me. Protective but not possessive, supportive but not suffocating. Fate made this pack great; she put extra effort in making CE amazing.”

“Nice soppy story, baldhead,” Brian cut him off, pointing towards the recently cropped hair. And with that he jumped.

Leo prepared himself.

But Brian let himself drop, sliding forwards, his shins hitting the side of Leo’s shin brutally.

Both wolves winced, but it was a point for Brian.

“So if we weren’t this odd pack, would you want CE as mate?”

This time Leo blushed, despite the pain still in his face. He decided to tell the truth. “In a different world, if Colt didn’t exist, yes maybe, I could see that …”

And Leo would never know what happened then, but Brian’s fist hit him so hard, his jaw cracked. Had he said something wrong?

“And that was for upsetting Colt like this,” Brian clarified.

Leo just nodded. “Understood.”

“Now go out and shift, you look like shit,” Brian ordered.

“You know I let you win.”

Brian snorted. “Sure. You can tell that to Seb, my dear 2^nd Beta.”

Leo tried to laugh, but it hurt too much. “Are we good, Brian?”

Brian turned around, his boyish smile gracing his barely touched face. “We are. We have always been. I love you as my brother, and I always will. I know Colt loves you a lot. And we appreciate your ability to tell the inconvenient truth. – And are we good?”

Leo nodded carefully.

“Good,” Brian said, guiding Leo outside. “I hope you forgive I don’t stay for your shift. But I smell somebody got really excited about our fight and wants to punish me now for being so brutal to you …”

“And why do I have the feeling you’ll enjoy the ‘punishment?’”

Brian shrugged. “Some pain can be very sexy.”

Leo nodded. “I’m happy, Brian. Really happy. And proud you accept me as 2^nd Beta.”

Brian made his famous dismissive hand movement. “Shift, boy. We don’t want your pretty face to be spoiled by this little altercation. I’m sure Colt wants to give you many more haircuts in the future.”

Leo nodded and ran.

Behind him, Brian dropped his tight blue running shorts, with a bit of blood on them, to walk behind the barn in just his jockstrap. He simply had to bend over and divine justice would be meted out.