Shelby's POV:

We had trained together growing up the four of us, James, the Alpha's son, Thomas, James's best friend, Darren, the gamma's son, and of course me, Shelby Nicole Scarlet. I am the beta's daughter, I had devoted my life to learning to support the future Alpha, James. We had spent so much time studying and training together we became very close but never shared very many personal details. My job would be to one day protect him and his Luna. As a child the thought of him being mated to another hurt me, I had a huge crush on him, his friends would always tease me about it but so would mine. As I grew up, I had on and off again crushes on James. There was something about him that always drew me in, he was so intoxicating. When I turned 9 a new family moved to the pack, the Bella family, since meeting them I have grown close to the family Mr. Bella was a handyman and did many odd jobs around the pack. Mrs. Bella was a very talented nurse, together they had three kids, Amanda Noel, Danny Michael, and the youngest Isabella Piper. They were all rowdy, but they made a great addition to our pack, I was responsible for helping Amanda become accustomed to our school. Instantly we became best friends, she was the sister I never had.

After showing Amanda around the school, I introduced her to my friends Karissa and Heather, they were twin sisters and they had been my only female friends for a while. I had made more friends when I had started middle school, but I could not spend much time with them outside of school due to the training and studying that I was responsible for. They always teased me about dating the future Alpha, but they knew I had to be with him all the time due to my future position in the pack. Every other evening, I helped Amanda with her homework, and we became very close. It helped that she was my next-door neighbor, so she was never far away. We would talk about everything under the stars, she knew about my crush on James but understood that I was not after him for his power or title. When I trained with him, I got to know him through his fighting tactics and the way we studied together. He was strong, fearless and he was kind, I saw that in his brown eyes. His eyes softened whenever I got injured during practice even if it was just a bruise, he hated fighting me. He always said it was because I was a girl, but I wanted to believe it was because he returned my feelings. Amanda knew all of this and supported me and even told me to go for it a couple times. Now I am glad I did not listen to her advice.

As time went on, Amanda and I got closer as friends, we would spend the night at each other's house all the time. When my mother went missing, she was the one who spent the night at my house and let me cry for hours. After that, Amanda would always watch me train and heal whatever wound I had gotten, she even would come with me to work with the pups. I knew that she had been ordered to watch me, but it was nice having a friend all the time. One time when I ran away trying to find my mom, Amanda had found me on the beach. She sat with me until I was ready to go home and encouraged me to get stronger so that one day I would be able to save her.

Losing focus in a fight was always a bad idea, but we had been sparing for 4 hours straight now. Eric had caught me off guard and thrown me into the wall next to our station, he walked over and offered his hand to help me up. "Are you ok?" he asked. I just nodded in response.

"You have to work harder," my dad lectured. "He is going to give your spot away if you can not even beat Eric,"

I had been training for hours, Eric was the head of the warrior division of the pack, I had been working with him for a couple of weeks. "Maybe just give her a little break? We have been sparing for a couple of hours now," Eric tried to get my father to give a slight break.

"On the battlefield, do you get a break?" My father replied in a sarcastic tone.

"With all due respect, sir this is a training ground, not a battlefield. I give my recruits several breaks during practice. Shelby is doing exceptionally well, all things considered,"

"Learn your place boy," my father said. "Shelby is meant to be the next beta of the pack. When she was born, I prayed for a son, and I got her. If I had my son, I would be allowing breaks, but that whore needs to work harder for the approval of the Alpha and this pack,"

"Thanks, dad," I muttered while taking another fighting stance. Eric sighed and put his fists up, we started circling one another.

'I'm going to let you win this one. That way we can be done for today,' Eric mind linked me.

'Don't it will only make things worse,' He gave a slight nod.

"Go," my father instructed.

I had already mapped out how this fight would go. Eric would start with a left hook, I would block with my right arm then twist his arm behind his back forcing him to the floor. Eric and I made eye contact then he came at me. I prepared to block with my right arm, but he threw a right hook causing me to block with my left arm and be thrown off balance. I fell slightly to the right, my leg going back to catch me. Eric instantly pulled back and I saw my chance, I pushed with all of my strength, I jumped up onto his shoulders. Using both of our body weights I sent him toward the floor, jumping off him I landed nearby and put my knee into his shoulder and sent my fist down toward his head stopping at the last second.

"Wow you are 20 for 32," father mocked. "You should have won every single one of those matches. If you were a boy you would have," he sighed. "Do you weightlifting then hit the shower. I expect you to look presentable at tonight's end of summer feast," he left.

"Why do you let him talk to you like that?" Eric asked.

"He has been like that since my mom went missing. I guess I have just gotten use to it by now,"

"You know there is room at the pack house if you wanted to move out?"

"I know, but I will be living there when I become Beta next fall, I will be fine," I dismissed the topic.

"You are still avoiding him?"

"He broke my heart, what do you want me to do?" I said as I made my way over to the bench press putting 20 on the bar.

"He left you. Show him what he is missing," Eric said.

"You are going to be my teacher in a couple of days, isn't that advice a little inappropriate," I started benching.

"Trevor is always an option. He would do anything for you, all you have to do is ask,"

"I would never use him like that,"

"But why not? He would be happy to escort you to the ball tonight and the two of you could bring the big bad Alpha to his knees,"

"What are you saying?" I asked setting the bar down sitting up.

Eric stared into my eyes and I felt like I was losing consciousness. All I saw was black, but I could hear everything that was going on. "You are going to invite Trevor to the ball tonight, the bond that Amanda placed on you will start to fade and you will hate James. After all of this you will join the Master," I could hear Eric say. "Now forget this conversation and go get ready," When I opened my eyes, I was in my bedroom alone and my phone was ringing.

"Hello," I said wiping my eyes trying to remember what happened after sparing with Eric.

"Hey Shelby, I was wondering if you were serious?" Trevor blurted into the other end of the phone.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You called while I was in training and asked me to go to the ball with you tonight. Honestly, I was kinda surprised that you asked me I guess better late than never. So, do you want me to be your escort because if not that is a cruel joke," Trevor was beginning to rant.

"Yes, Trevor," I interrupted him. "I would love it if you could escort me tonight. I am wearing a navy-blue dress. Pick me up at 5:30. Don't be late," I told him.

"You are aware that you are speaking to an Alpha," Trevor joked. "I'll be there," he hung up.

I did not really want to go with Trevor, but I guess it would be nice to have a date to the end of summer ball. I hoped into the shower to start getting ready for the ball, as the future beta I was not only expected to make an appearance but also look 'remarkably put together'. Or at least that is what Mrs. Cross always joked about. She was the Luna of our pack, she liked to be seen as the mother of the pack, but her husband was not as kind or gentle as she was. The Alpha of our pack was a ruthless man, who would kill any rouge that set foot on the land without question. While James and I were dating, he always talked about how that was going to change when he became Alpha. We broke up after he became of age to find his mate, we had been going out for about a year. He was only 16 when he became of age, younger than most werewolves because of his Alpha gene. I knew that there was a chance that it might be the case, but I had prayed countless times to be his mate.

I sighed as I stepped out of the shower, he broke my heart the day that he had told me that I was not his mate. We had been hanging out in the forest that we use to play as children, it was our spot because it was where we had first said that we loved each other and the last place. Sighing again I picked up my hairbrush and began to straighten my curly red mane, I always straightened it for big events. Or at least official events. When I was done with my hair, I put on my undergarments and went into my room to finish getting ready.

"Please tell me you plan on wearing more than that to the party," A voice startled me. It was the last person in the world I wanted to talk to. I looked to my left to see James laying on my bed with his ankles crossed and his hands behind his head.

"I thought we agreed no more surprise visits because you dumped me," I remarked.

"You have been avoiding me," he explained. "You know that I did not have a choice red,"

"You don't get to call me that anymore," I sneered. "You dumped me in our spot! THE PLACE YOU TOLD ME THAT YOU LOVED ME!"

"I am to be your Alpha, I suggest you check your tone," he commanded.

"Well, I think your Alpha act can be put on hold since you dumped me a week ago and expect me to be fine with it," I retorted, finally turning fully to face him not bothering to hide my pissed expression.

"I could force you to respect me, you know,"

"Then why don't you? You could be just like your father," I sassed putting my hand on my hip. Before I could blink, he had me up against the wall and his lips were so close to mine. I swallowed hard trying not to think about kissing him. Instead, I looked at his eyes, I hated the mischief that shown in them, I use to find it fun but now it just pissed me off. His eyes searched my face before a smirk made my eyes fall back down to his lips.

"Maybe I like your spirit little wolf," He whispered. "But remember that I will always..."

"If you say love me, I will kick you in the balls so hard you might never have kids," I threatened.

"It is true, you don't understand yet, but I am protecting you," he stepped back a couple of paces. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then closed it and walked to the window with a sorry look in his eyes. He turned around one more time and looked at me with so much love in his eyes, they were the eyes of the man I once loved. He jumped out the window and something in me pulled me to the windowsill, my eyes searched for him. When I found him, he had a stupid grin on his face as his eyes met mine. Then I realized that is what I use to do every time he left while we were together.

"Asshat," I screamed out the window and heard him laughing in the distance. I looked at the time I had one hour to get ready for the ball, so I went to do my makeup at my vanity. I decided on a smoky eye with a light pink lipstick, as I was putting on the finishing touches, my phone started ringing. I pick it up and answer "Scarlett speaking,"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME?" Amanda screamed causing me to drop the phone. I put her on speaker and continued to get ready.

"What about?" I asked carrying the phone to my walk-in closet when the navy blue sleeveless mermaid dress was waiting for me in the middle of the back wall.

"Ummm James being at your house?" she stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What about it? Nothing happened, he was just being a jerk ex by reminding me that he still exists," I sighed, unzipped the dress and stepped in zipping it back up.

"Alright, you knew you could not avoid him, forever right?" my silence was enough of an answer for her to continue. "Are you getting dressed by yourself? Why didn't father pay for the maid to help you? Also, what time should I be there? We are still going together right?"

"Well, first father forgot, I am assuming because he wanted a son. Second, I guess I asked Trevor to escort me tonight..." Amanda cut me off.
"What do you mean you guess? This is not some revenge thing right? Come on Shelby, you know that James still loves you and I know that you still love him. No matter what kind of tough girl act you put on,"

"I don't remember asking him. I just woke up like 2 hours ago to a phone call from him asking if I was serious. I felt bad so I went along with it," I only responded to the part I knew how to. I had no idea what she was talking about, me still loving James sounded ridiculous, but I was not sure what I felt toward him.

"Fine, I guess I can call a favor in with Thomas. He owes me for all of those get out of school notes I had to write," She sighed. "Please don't do anything stupid. I know you are mad and hurt, but one day you will understand,"

"You are the second person to say that to me in the past hour. What is going on?" I asked frustrated that I was being kept out of the loop.

"I can't say but I will see you there. Bye girl," She said and hung up the phone before I could respond. I went to my window to see her frantically running around in her dress, I could only assume she was trying to find her shoes. I let out a light chuckle and went to fetch mine.

I was putting the finishing touches on, earrings, a necklace, etcetera, when I heard the doorbell ring. Before I could get up to answer I heard my father from downstairs, "Alpha Trevor, what an unexpected surprise,"

Trevor laughed and explained that he would be escorting me to the ball tonight, I hurried up to get downstairs before my father tried to ask about us being mates again. I could never understand why he pushed so hard for me to be Trevor's mate, he was 18 we would know by now if we were mates.

"So, you are just escorting her? Nothing else to report, no developing mate bond?" My father asked as soon as I got down the stairs.

"Alright we are leaving," I said and basically ran out the door.

Unfortunately, I was not fast enough, and my father got the last word in "Life would be better if you were in his pack you know,"

I looked at Trevor and walked out the door sighing. "I wish he would stop saying things like that. We weren't destined to be mates, so why doesn't he just drop it,"

"Probably the same reason I am still holding out hope that you will fall in love with me," Trevor looked at me like a puppy. Not wanting to address his comment I look out into the driveway to see a limo.

"Alpha Trevor..."
"Hey we have talked about that," Trevor stopped me.

"Trevor that is too much," I corrected myself.

"I would do anything for you," I hated the way he looked at me. I only saw him as a friend, and I had told him that several times. "Let's go shall we?" Trevor asked holding out his arm for me. Giving in I linked my arm with his and decided to let him escort me and give him one night.