Home To Roost - 11. Not Acting Beta

Kao missed Dean already, and he had just got on the chopper to head back to school. He knew that to have fallen so hard so fast meant it had to be a mating bond. There could be no other explanation behind it all. He would have to spend the next couple months away from the man he absolutely adored, but it was necessary. He had a job to do, and graduating from college was part of that job. Then he would be back with Dean, and they would be heading to Montana for their place as the Beta Pair.

Kao was pulled out of his reverie by the pilot's voice. "You okay, Beta Saechao?" Since that was Kao's title, the Canis Lupus pilot used it out of respect. The question's phrasing and tone told Kao he was genuinely worried.

"Do you have a mate, Captain?" Kao asked as an answer.

"Not yet, Sir. I do have a girl I'm seeing, so I might one day." His smile was evident in his voice.

"I miss my mate already." Gods, how he missed him. Not even gone a half an hour, and he missed him like he would miss his heart were it gone.

"He misses you just as much." Kao gave a small smile. "It's the truth. I just got a message over the radio saying to tell you 'Dean loves you and will talk to you tonight,'" said the pilot with a wide grin.

Kao blushed a bit and ducked his head to hide his smile.

* * *

Back to the grindstone, Kao thought as he went back to school Monday. He had all of his assignments forwarded to him so he could do them while he was dealing with legal matters. He had easily finished all but the oral report in Interpersonal Communications which had been due last Friday. He would be giving the report today.

It felt so odd, yet so free, to be back here without a constant escort around. He could talk to people without feeling like every word was going to be sent back to Kai. He could eat lunch with people and not have Mr. Michaels watching every move.

One of Kao's classmates commented on it. "Where's tall, dark, and obnoxious?" the young lady asked.

"Thankfully, no longer around," Kao replied with a grin.

"What was with him anyway?" She turned more toward Kao. The posture said she wanted to talk to him and have an actual conversation.

"My family is...how do I put this?"

"Loaded and so rich they hire goons to watch over you?" she added helpfully.

Kao snickered as he nodded. "To put bluntly, yes. While dealing with some legal issues last week, it was decided I would be safe here without the need of supervision." Taking a chance and feeling wonderful being able to do it, he said, "I am, apparently, able to wipe my own ass without supervision."

"Nice. Welcome to Adulting 101," she quipped with a grin and turned around as the teacher called the class to order.

When Kao was between German and French classes, he was studying the notes to make up a quiz he had missed. He had fifteen minutes to study, thirty minutes to take it, and ten minutes to get to French. He was well into his notes when he heard a voice.

"Bonjour, Monsieur Saechao. Comment allez-vous aujourd'hui?" (Hello, Mr. Saechao. How are you today?) Kao looked up to see one of the young ladies from his French class. Kelsey by name, she was one of the loveliest ladies he had seen; with perfect hair, skin, teeth, and style of clothing: geek chic without being too modest or too slutty. Simply put, she had class. Asking how a person was doing after greeting them was simply good etiquette.

"Bonjour, Mlle Simpson. Je suis bien. Et vous?" (Good morning, Miss Simpson. I am well. And you?) He gave her a smile, happy for once to be able to do that and not feel like he was sending signals.

"Très bien. Je vois que vous êtes en train d'étudier pour le quiz." (Very good. I see you are studying for the quiz.) While her use of French was formal, it was nice to be able to get some conversational French practice before the quiz.

"Oui. Il n'y a pas besoin d'être si formel, Kelsey. Nous avons cours ensemble pendant deux ans." (Yes. There's no need to be so formal, Kelsey. We've had class together for two years.) With a smile, Kao let her know she didn't have to be so formal.

"OK OK. Sheesh, je t'ai aidé à étudier puisqu'il s'agit d'un discours formel." (OK OK. Sheesh, I was helping you to study since this is a formal speech.) Her grin when she switched to something less formal was bright.

"Merci. Alors, qu'est-ce qui t'apporte? Nous n'avons pas de cours pour une autre heure." (Thanks. So what brings you by? We don't have class for an hour.) Kao still had a bit of trouble being informal as he thought mostly in English and tried to phrase it thus. Some slang and phrases didn't translate well.

"J'ai entendu que vous étiez de retour et que vous vouliez vous demander quelque chose." (I heard you were back and wanted to ask you something.) Kao gestured to the seat next to him, curious what she wanted to ask him. "Voulez-vous sortir avec moi vendredi?" (Do you want to go out with me Friday?)

Kao blinked a few times. "Okay, switching back to English so I don't mess this up," she laughed at that, "are you asking me out as a friend or with something more in mind? I ask because I have a fiancé ."

There was a slight scent of disappointment, but she waved it away. "Friends, of course. I heard you got rid of your shadow, so I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out with some friends. A few of them are from French class, so we can all practice."

Kao smiled broadly. She had been interested in something more personal, but had the class to change it simply to let him know she honored his relationship. Classy and subtle. Were Kao interested in women, and single, he would have agreed to something more personal with her. "Madame, je serais ravi. Alors, quand et où?" (Madam, I would be delight. So, when and where?) Letting her know he would like to go brought a bigger smile to her face.

"Awesome. It will be at the campus quad from 4 pm to 10 pm." Kelsey gave him a one-arm hug. "You let that fiancée know she is one lucky lady."

Kao grinned. "I will. See you in class." As she was walking away, Kao just shook his head. Guess I don't come off as gay, he thought.

He ended up getting a 99% on the quiz, which he was very happy about. The professor, Madame Spinosi, was more than pleased with his score as she knew French was one of his lesser studied classes.

"You're doing wonderfully, Kao. If you continue to score as well, you will pass with no problems."

"Thank you, Madame Spinosi." And he was thankful. He was using a pass/fail format for French and German. Pretty cut and dry, really. Since he was expected to pass Vietnamese without trying, and German was fairly easy with how the sentence structure was so similar to English, the only classes he worried about for languages were Mandarin and French.

* * *

Kao was walking to his room after his late classes one evening when he smelled something...off. He quickened his step a bit and all but ran when the scent of another Lycan was coming closer to him. A scent that was not friendly. He didn't look back at the Lunais following him, but he didn't scent the two in front of him that he literally ran into. Kao fell to the ground with a thud.

"Why you running, little bird?" asked one of the Lunais in front of him.

Great...Lycan bullies. Kao guessed Mr. Michaels' presence had kept them at bay. "Perhaps it is the scent of hostility, the unfair odds, or the fact that I'm half your size. One of those might be the reason." Quickly getting up, Kao was backed up against the wall.

"You won't need to worry about that." He brushed off Kao's sweater as if he were worried about his well-being. "If you provide us with monetary reason to stay civil. I hear you can afford to be very generous."

Extortion. Fun. Kao looked for a way out without resorting to violence, paying, or using the "My father will hear about this" line that every rich brat used.

"This wouldn't be some sort of shake up, would it?" came a resonant voice with a heavy Aussie accent. The guys looked toward the voice.

"This ain't your business, old man. Just keep walking." He smelled a bit afraid of the speaker though. Kao could see the man's silhouette against the light in the quad. He was a big man.

"I believe I will make it my business. Three to one odds, not very sporting. I will ask you boys to respectfully move away from the young man." He had stopped about ten paces away. The leader bobbed his head for the other two to take care of the older man while he kept Kao in line. "So it's like that. Very well. I hope you have good medical coverage."

The two goons rushed the man, their speed more than any human could compensate for, yet the man merely grabbed them by their shirts and tossed them close to forty feet over his shoulder like. It looked as easy as a man throwing a dart at a board. The two landed with pained yelps and stayed down for the moment.

"Fucking useless," growled the leader. "Bring it on, old man."

Kao took the opportunity to back away from the fight, but he kept close enough should the other two rejoin the fight. He might not be able to change forms with the new moon, but he could still give some decent hits.

"You have no manners, boy. I guess this old man will have to teach you a few." He stared into the bully's eyes, and Kao watched as the Lunais bully started to shake with fear. "You wolves think you're the top of the food chain." The Aussie moved faster than even Kao could see and gripped the bully by the throat, hoisting him off the ground. "Silly pup, what good is it being a wolf when your opponent is a lion?" The man's eyes glowed a bright golden in the dim light.

"So...So...Solaris," the bully stuttered out in fear.

"From now on, you will leave Mr. Saechao alone. Do I make myself clear?" His voice was deeper, a voice of Command only given to the Alpha class of Lycans. The bully nodded as he pissed himself. The lion launched the young man at his friends like a fast ball. Was that a sonic boom Kao heard, or just the sound of a few bones breaking as they impacted? The three got up and limped away.

Kao shook his head. "Did Jon send you, Sir?" It would not surprise him at all if his new Alpha sent some sort of covert guardian for his new Beta. This was overkill though.

The huge man laughed as he put his arm across Kao's shoulders. "You don't have to call me sir, Kao. You can call me Alan. Jon didn't send me. I just happen to be adjunct faculty for the opera workshop this semester, which puts me right where I need to be."

"Uh huh, and I'm a kiwi." Jon had somehow arranged for his own dad to be Kao's guard. "So, if I can't call you Sir, can I call you Papa Pussy Cat? I mean, you treat my mate like a son..." Kao's grin was insufferable.

Alan just laughed and steered Kao towards his dorm. "You're going to be a treat to work with, Kao, but don't push your luck." Once out of any sort of earshot, Alan sobered a bit. "If you need me, Kao, use a few supersonic calls. I will hear them and come running. You're Pack now, which means you're family."

Kao choked up a bit at hearing that. "Thanks, Alan."

* * *

"So...do you know if they were nomads or did they belong to the Sawtooth Pack?" Dean asked Kao in his conference call with Jon. The open attack on a pack beta would not be good for the Sawtooth Pack.

"Having met Alpha Conners, I doubt he would ever allow that to happen. He's nearly as bad as Father when it comes to honor and respect. Alpha, can you run the file I sent over? I don't have a secure connection to access the Council Archives."

Jon nodded and punched in a few numbers. "Unfortunately for Jack, one of them was his son. With Pop being there, and confirming the identities, it will be settled by a Council Beta so there will be no blood spilled." Jon's eyes flashed. To dispel some of the tension, Jon grinned and said, "Don't call me Alpha."

"Yes, Alpha," Kao responded. Dean just shook his head at his mate. "So...how did you swing getting your Dad into the school?"

"I didn't. Travis did. He let Jack Conners know Pop had been hired and made it very clear he wasn't there representing Homestead in any way."

Kao was impressed. Having someone so powerful in your territory was a very volatile situation. Alpha Conners would have to worry about secret recruitment, a power grab, destabilization of the pack, even covert black ops. Yet, one thing Alpha Conners knew was Travis was an honest and forthright man. If he said something, he meant it. Alan also had a very noble reputation, and as one of the strongest living Solaris, he was treated as an Alpha even though Solaris did not have them like their lunar cousins. "I would like to be present for the meeting. It will be handled via conference call, right Jon?"

"Yes. Since the attackers were driven off without causing major injury, the face to face meeting doesn't need to be held. Dean, I would like you to be on the call, but you won't be called on to say anything. It's just for procedural purposes. Also...it wouldn't hurt to show both of my Betas, and you being pretty well built might discourage anyone from doing something stupid." Jon's smile was a bit evil, but both just rolled their eyes.

"Will do, bro."

That call happened an hour later. Kao had met Alpha Conners when he first came to BYU Idaho. He was tall and a bit on the wiry side with closely cropped peppered hair, deep brown eyes, and a permanent crease between his bushy brows. Not a pleasant look at all. Sitting next to him were the three young men who had tried to get money out of Kao. Also in another small window were Jon, Dean, Alan, and some representative from the Lycan Council.

"We are having this meeting to mediate the assault against Beta Kao Saechao of Homestead Pack by Alpha Designate Bryan Conners, Lyton Hall, and Walter Unger. I have the statements from all parties, it is my job to find a peaceful solution between these two neighboring packs. With us are Alphas Jonathan Davenport and Jack Conners, Representative Alan Davenport, Beta Pair Dean Whitmore and Kao Saechao, and the aforementioned young men who have entered a plea of guilty. As the target of this attack, what punishment would your Pack accept, Alpha Davenport?" The Council Rep was obviously used to this sort of thing.

"In this matter, I defer to Beta Saechao. He acknowledges he sustained no injury." Jon gestured to Kao.

"Thank you, Alpha. I am of two minds in regards to acceptable punishment. Since the gentlemen were trying to get money out of me, I am led to believe they have little solvency. I must ask you, Alpha Conners, if the young men lack income, allowance, or other monetary sources." Kao's tone was business, but he already knew how he wanted them punished.

"I cannot speak personally for Mr. Hall or Mr. Unger, but my son receives an allowance of $40,000 per year." Kao had to hide his gasp. "Unless he has spent it frivolously, it should be more than enough to last the time even with rent, tuition, and all other necessities of life."

"Mr. Hall, do you have any income?" Kao asked.

One of them shook his head. "No, Sir. My living expenses are paid for, but I receive little pocket cash from my family. Any pocket cash I have to earn."

Kao nodded. Honestly, not the worst way to teach finances. "Mr. Unger?"

There was a very distinct look of smoldering anger in his face. "I have a job that pays di...minimum wage, but it's only part time. I stay with Lyton, so rent and utilities are covered." His voice was civil if a bit heated. "I got in on scholarship, so tuition and school necessities are taken care of."

"Thank you, gentlemen. I find it amusing that one who has more money than I ask me for some," Kao said evenly.

Before Alpha Conners could stop him, his son retorted, "How much do you make a year from your Daddy?" The Alpha shot him a warning look.

"As I got in on scholarship as well, I need not worry too much about expenses. The money I earn comes from tutoring in languages and as an aide for the ESL classes, which amount to about $8000 a year. Neither my esteemed father nor my mate provide any money for me."

"Some mate," Bryan muttered.

"If you continue to behave like this, Bryan, I will ask you to leave and will accept any punishment Beta Saechao gives on your behalf." Alpha Conners was not happy. Bryan nodded his head and looked down. "Please continue, Beta Saechao."

"Thank you, Alpha Conners. While it is not a punishment to Mr. Unger per se, it may very well affect him. I would ask that Mr. Conners be denied his allowance," at that Bryan's head shot up, "along with Mr. Hall's living expenses. The three must obtain gainful employment for one year before any other aid is given. Mr. Unger has a job, so his task is only slightly easier."

"You are fucking whacked out of your..." Bryan began but stifled the rest when his father's warning growl came rumbling out.

"With said employment, they must secure appropriate housing and have a budget plan drawn up for each month to be submitted to Alpha Conners for his approval. Your housing is paid up until July, correct Mr. Hall?" The young man nodded. "That gives you a few months to obtain steady and gainful employment until your lease is up. I suggest that you start looking instead of shaking down other students." Kao's punishment was accepted by both Lyton and Walter.

"Might I ask what is to be done if said employment is not found?" The Council Rep asked.

"A loan may be obtained from their families with a 15% annual interest based off the original loan requested," Kao stated simply. It wouldn't leave them homeless, but it would make them try harder so as to avoid debt.

"You sniveling fa..." Bryan was cut off by his father's backhand. No one said a word.

"Get out," Alpha Conners growled. All three young men made a quick exit. "I must have done something wrong when raising him."

"May I speak?" Dean asked. When he got the go ahead, he said, "I very much doubt you spoiled him too much. While that is a nice allowance, I assume he must maintain good marks in school." That got a nod from Jack Conners. "Sir, I doubt your parenting is faulty. I see you did your best to give him a sense of right and wrong, of honor and discipline, yet his own choices led us to be here. Do not take the burden of guilt for his actions. To do so says you are, and always will be, his keeper."

"Just say what you mean, Beta Whitmore," the Sawtooth Pack Alpha said.

"You son's an arrogant shit, and if I'd been there when he tried to attack my mate, I would have done more than toss him around. His piss-poor attitude could use some serious adjusting. I would give him a minimum of eight years in the Armed Services. If he can make it out of that, he will have learned respect, duty, and honor. Let the rotten little fuck see what real work is." Jon and Alan were trying to maintain a straight face, but Jack was grinning. "And if he ever calls or implies my mate is a faggot, I will rip off his balls. I hope you have other children, because his brand of stupid will be chlorinated out of the gene pool. End rant." The Council Rep was appalled by what he heard.

Jack laughed. "Thanks, Beta Whitmore. I needed that. Jon, your Beta is a true diplomat. Never give the type permission to speak freely." He wiped away a tear. "Betas Saechao and Whitmore, I accept both of your punishments on behalf of the members of my pack. I will also impress upon my son the consequences should he so insult your mate. Does this fulfill your needs, Alpha Davenport?"

"It does. I have the utmost faith in my Betas, although the bigger one gets mouthy." Jon's grin was wide. "Councilman Rothke, thank you for your time in mediation. Would you like a copy of the minutes sent to you for Council Records?"

"No thank you, Alpha Davenport. If there is nothing else, I will bid you gentlemen a good evening." He hung up when nothing was said.

When he was gone, Jack sighed. "With him gone, we can relax a bit. Kao, I am so sorry about them, and I thank you for a fair punishment. I would have come up with something far worse."

"Sir, the most that happened to me is I got a bit scared. Those three, though...Alan might have scared them enough to need to change their pants." Kao grinned at the Solaris.

"I don't like violence, but it is often the only thing people such as those boys understand. They should feel lucky it was me and not my grandson. That is one person who will utterly destroy a bully and he's bigger than I am." There was no levity in his tone.

"Then I shall impress upon all three how lucky they were. A few broken bones will heal after a shift. Dean, right?" Dean nodded. "I believe I got a memo from Goldie Kirkland about you." Dean tried not to smile. "Did you really slam that man onto the table?"

From then on it was a far more relaxed call.

The rest of Kao's time was uneventful and mundane, for which he was very grateful. He graduated magnum cum laude. Now...Homestead.