Chapter Betas

1943

Markham Mont Blanc shook his head as he sipped a cup of cooling coffee. The elder Alpha of White Mountain in the American Northeast left his young son in charge of their pack and came to fight for the freedoms of all species as many had. The rumors about the Nazis torturing and experimenting on all nonhumans and even butchering certain ethnic groups with close ties to nonhumans was of great concern to the remaining nineteen species, yet several still refused to become involved in the war between the human political powers. The most numerous sentient species on the planet was waging another mass campaign as it had done repeatedly for thousands of years.

During the midnight meeting, the military command was laying out the flight paths for pilots and the places where soldiers and equipment would be landed to aid the French Resistance. The door opened and closed behind him. His beta leaned forward to him, as some of the males in the room murmured.

"I think the film is about to run, Lady Wasi and Lady Liore just came in." Beta Keith snickered, referring to his love of movies. "Five pounds says the demon queen will be sucking one of the Brits' or Aussies' blood and anything else she wants by the end of the week."

A pale hand with pearly nails caressed Keith's arm as Lady Wasi sat next to him. Palest blue eyes, with pupils that were slit like a cat's but sideways, winked at him. "My dearest beta, you always underestimate me. Two days, three at the most."

Keith chortled as Markham gave them both a glare to silence them when Air Chief Marshal Dowding in charge of the strategy meeting cast a glance at them. Shaking his head, the commander of British air and elite forces announced, "And we will be taking an unorthodox approach to the next phase of the war. As you can all see from the maps the German Nazis have entrenched themselves in Franch. In order for our invasion and liberation operations to work, we need to get in there, aid the French resistance and clear a path to the German border... All of you who are in here have the highest security clearance and you will not discuss our guest allies. Ladies, Alpha." Slim held his hand out to them as they stood and came forward.

"My name is Markham Mont Blanc from White Mountain, Vermont. My rank in the United States military is Colonel, but my rank among my species is Alpha. I am not a human, and neither are half the men in this room."

"You bloody well look human," a British Captain declared but the Australian pilots and officers shifted nervously.

"I'm not. Since the middle ages, there has been a punishable-by-death restriction against revealing ourselves to humans, but the war we face is unlike any other. Our enemy is bent on conquering and destroying the world." Colonel Markham took off his coat, shirt, and then stepped out of his shoes and trousers. He shifted to his war-waging form then back. "I'm a werewolf."

Marguerite stepped forward as he redressed in front of the shocked room, introducing herself as her inner shadow emerged. Her eyes changed from brown to scarlet while her fangs emerged. "I am Lady Liore from the Haute-Liore coven of Vampyri or as the American cinema calls us, vampires. My people are leading the French Resistance. We carry messages, gather information, and smuggle humans out of the war zone. We will be the ones guiding you and protecting you in France."

The Aussie Alpha wearing a Lt. Colonel insignia demanded hotly, "You have no right to put the rest of us at risk by exposing us, Alpha Mont Blanc, Lady Liore. Not after these bloody Brits sent half of our people down under on convict ships."

"This is bigger than old conflicts and unforgiven grudges," Anjael interrupted. "I have been to Germany; you don't know the half of what they are really doing there. Their superior race will mean the extinction or enslavement of everyone everywhere. They must be stopped."

"Why should we listen to you, Sheelahg?" The Aussie Lt. Colonel snarled.

"Because I am one of the things Shakespeare warned you about," Anjael announced as she walked toward him slowly. Her voice dropped to a seductive level as she stepped out of her shoes. Dropping her skirt, she began unbuttoning her silk blouse and let it slide off her arms. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than dreamt of in your philosophies." Her cat-like pupil slits became wider and more pronounced, as her body became more curved, pressing against the seams of her bra and panties. She paraded across the room of aghast males as her wings spread from her back while her tail moved back and forth lazily. She stopped in front of the Lt. Colonel O'Neil, letting her tail rub his leg.

"What in the hell are you?" his beta breathed out in shock. She could smell that he lost his mate and came to the war to die rather than waste away from his wolf's grief.

The older O'Neil stood and put himself between his younger brother and her. "Answer my brother."

"Hell has nothing to do with me." Her lower fangs snapped up as she grinned with a mouth full of pointed teeth, that gleamed like mother of pearl in the dim light. "I am something you and your entire pack could not kill, Alpha of Walpole."

"Please put your clothing back on, Succubus," Marshal Dowding ordered in a droll voice. "Gentlemen, Lady Wasi is a demon, and as you saw, werewolves and vampires are real... If demons and monsters are afraid of our enemy's plans, then we should be too. Starting tomorrow evening some of you will be getting some very specialized training in the Cairngorm with our... allies."

"I won't do it." A human major stood up. "God gave men this world, and these beasts should be burned or gasses. They are abominations to the father." He stormed out, ranting, "We are selling our eternal souls to win... it would be better if we surrendered and joined the Nazis against these... these things!"

The demoness made a few loud clicking sounds telling Ouro and Dartanian to follow him and make sure he wasn't a spy, then muttered aloud, "Cowardly male." Looking around, she smirked at the remaining males. "Does anyone else fear for their souls? Would it make you feel better to know I was raised by Benedictine monks and have spent most my very long life working with the church of Rome?" She turned and pulled down the backside of her panties with the tip of her tail. "I practically have property of the Catholic Church stamped on my derriere, see?"

She slapped the pale cheek as the Aussie Beta tipped his head, insisting, "I can't quite see it, Sheelagh."

"Can you see it now?" She started to step backwards toward him, but the Alpha of White Mountain stopped her. "Enough, Auntari, you're no angel despite your first name," Markham scolded as Marguerite held out her clothes. "Let the pup be."

"You never let me have any fun, Alpha." She pouted. As she started to walk away from him, her tailtip caressed the cheek of the mate-lost Beta wolf. She winked at him then announced to the horrified shock of his fellow packmates and soldiers. "Oh yes, you'll do nicely, Beta O'Neil, and I promise, I won't devour your soul unless you really want me to."

Beyond her, Marshal Dowling just rolled his eye and continued as the soldiers and airmen in the room tried to pay attention to the briefing and not watch the beautiful pale succubus slowly dressing like a burlesque show in reverse.

/\^^^^/\

June 1944...

A plane flew through rough turbulence and blinding clouds.

Ouro was checking the werewolves males' and men's gear. "Remember listen to for the whistle of the Cruor, we do not need to see the ground to know how high we are. When you hear the whistle deploy your parachutes immediately and bank back, brace for a hard landing."

"The Germans are testing a new technology using sound energy waves to detect aircraft and the larger chutes of paratroopers. Unfortunately, there are no counter measures available yet," Anjael announced. "They can see the planes incoming regardless of the weather so after we are dropped, they will fly on to drop a payload of munitions on German targets." A light flashed twice.

She, Ouro, and Dartanian shifted to their largest form. Quickly, stepped into their harnesses as their jump partners stepped up. Beta O'Neil stepped in front of her as she bent so Lt. Colonel Alpha O'Neil could tighten the straps on either side of her wings and clip himself to her.

"I get the front today," Sam grinned at her over his shoulder as he waited for her to clip the D-rings to his harness. She jerked the straps tighter, pulling him flush against her demoness's front. He nestled his head between her breasts. "Ahh my favorite place, my queen."

Anjeal's demoness chuckled at his flirty tone, then licked the side of his cheek, "Ahh my favorite flavor, my thrall."

His brother shook his head then growled, "Focus on the mission, your monsters can... play later."

Looking up at her, Sam grinned, "I promise I'll lick the blood of the Nazis off..."

An explosion shook the plane and it lurched sideways in a tight spiral before tipping nose down. They were crashing. Ouro and Dart forced the door open as Anjeal roared above the wind. "Emergency chutes, Dart, Ouro, go with them. Jump now! I'll get the pilots."

The O'Neils unclipped themselves as she shrank then she rushed forward with the harness handing loosely on her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the warriors jumping out of the falling plane, but Sam followed her forward, carrying two spare chutes. She yanked open the door and was shocked that the cockpit was gone. Suddenly, she heard a sound just before a second bomb hit. She turned and barely got her wings wrapped around Sam before she was knocked unconscious.

She woke up in the arms of Sam, uncertain if he was real or not, she touched his face. Above his shoulder, she could see the waves of bombers being decimated.

"Need blood," she murmured. Her whole body was bruised but she couldn't let herself be petrified to heal. She needed to get to those artillery sites.

He rolled up his sleeve and put his forearm to her mouth. "Take all you need, my queen."

She shivered as she drew the werewolf blood into her system. The effect only took a few minutes. Werewolf blood acted like fuel on fire to her natural healing. He kissed her as she trembled.

"We were sold out, Anjael. Someone put a bomb on our plane, in the cockpit. I smelled it before the shell hit us. Someone tried to kill..." He didn't finish because his face exploded in a spray of blood and powdered emerald. It stung.

She leapt away from Sam's body before it slumped. Her heightened senses smelled a familiar human, one she had been forced to keep in their group despite her distrust. Her natural camouflage allowed her to she fade into the baren, bombed forest as the human cursed.

"I knew you were a traitor, Kilpatrick!" She snarled.

"I am not a traitor. I am loyal to God."

"You're a Nazi sympathizer," she accused as she wiped her face and eyes, escaping to hide behind a different tree.

"I don't agree with Hitler's crazy superior race propaganda, but I do believe demons and monsters should be destroyed. There is no place on earth for your kind, Lady Wasi. The war is almost won, we don't need you to win it for us. They told me how to kill you, Lady Wasi, so just come out and face your death like the condemned soul you are."

Climbing the tree, she leapt to the next then the next. Finally, she managed to get behind him. She dropped on him from behind. Her tail seized his wrist holding the pistol with the emerald rounds in it away from her. The bullets flew uselessly into the trees as he emptied it in terror. She could smell the reeking stench of his fear as she snarled in his face.

"Tell me who the other Nazi spies are, and I will let you live."

"Burn in hell."

He screamed as she dug out his heart with her claws. Pulling it out, she bit and drained the quivering organ as he died. As her system processed his memories, she clicked loudly, seeking Ouro or Dartanian.

"I'm so sorry, my Beta." Picking up Sam, Anjael wept over him, then she launched herself skyward.

She needed to find her unit and radio back to England and the Allies, Operation Overlord had to be postponed. The Nazis knew the Alllies planned to land at Normandy tomorrow.

/\^^^^/\

Modern Times...

Landing at the Packhouse of the Lost Mine Pack, Anjael shook her head at the memory of the next day. So many died, trapped on the sand or in the waves while getting off the boats. Her warning was ignored because the powers that be decided to go forward with the invasion anyway. The wave of humanity and nonhumanity purchased every mile across France with the blood of their companions. Ouro told her after it was over, that freedom had never cost so much in all the history of this world.

Standing in the shower, she wiped away a tear in memory of Sam O'Neil, the brave Beta of the Walpole pack, then she went to sit in the office. As she moved through the building, she smelled that the Monarch spent part of the night with Heather and wondered if he would ever get over the grief of losing his mate because Lazarus hadn't. Beta Ridge stepped out of the hidden door to her uncle's lair below the building.

"Ridge?"

"I came to get the boy Vampire and take him to the airport." Ridge carried the scent of her uncle and where he had given his blood to Ouroborus. "We got flight plan clearance for 7PM tonight. Dartanian convinced the Lake Mead Coven to join them. Lord Vincent was quiet upset to hear that Lord Evan and Lady Marguerite were dead."

"Good. I was afraid I would have to go see them myself. Thank you for all you do, Beta, for the risks you take," Anjael meant it. She appreciated the care and affection the wolf gave her uncle more than he would ever know.

"Doing what is right is worth the risks," Ridge grinned boyishly, rubbing his neck as if embarrassed by the praise. "I'll see you later."

She slipped past the Monarch as he returned from his morning run and waited in the office for the Servants of the Moon to leave Lost Mine Pack.

/\^^^^/\

(this part doesn't count because if from Daughter of the Tides)

Anjael watched the Servants of the Moon leave. Alpha Lazarus of the Lost Mine Pack stepped up to the window, pulling the blinds between her and the sunrise.

"Would you stop trying to hurt yourself?" He growled.

"I'm a sun-walker."

"But sunrise still hurts your flesh, makes it harden, and my wolf gets angry with me if you are in pain." He steered her to a chair and pushed her to sit. "Have you found another thrall? I am tired of asking my pack to give you blood."

"They are so afraid of me." Anjael sounded grieved.

"Isn't that what your kind wants? For all the others to be afraid of you. To believe you are demons." Lazarus spat at her hatefully. "My own pack lives in terror because I owe you for saving us. They think you're going to eat them and their pups."

"Abel, please... You know we would never..."

"Abel is dead. You brought me back from the dead, my name is Lazarus now. Don't mistake my wolf's misguided loyalty and affection for mine," he snarled.

"The Servants are going to report back to the Temples that you and Ouroborus are here. That you, and not I, control this pack. They will know I am not a real Alpha." His resentment seethed below the surface and she could smell the sharp scent of it.

"You are a real Alpha; your beast knows it even if you ignore it." Her slit eyes glared at him.

He snorted derisively, "I'm just your cow."

"Stop it, Abel." She hissed as her queen stirred angrily within.

He slammed his hand on his desk and spat his response through gritted teeth. "My name is Lazarus!" He stomped over to the door. "If you don't need a refill, I am going to make sure your private jet is ready to move the Lake Mead Coven to Patmos and the crew clearing the club is finished." He stormed out.

Anjael rubbed her forehead. She needed to do something to prove to Lazarus that he was still the Alpha.

"You had a long night, my angel." An athletic human said from behind her. Coming around the chair, he knelt in front of her. "The vampire boy is okay. I fed him and now I need to feed you."

"I'm fine, Jake." She sighed. "I never realized that my uncle's stories to scare others into leaving us alone would become my reality. That I would have to be a monster."

Jake hugged her, "You're not a monster. You saved me from my abusive stepfather and loved me more than my own junkie mother, they were monsters. You healed me, raised me, and even made sure I had the best education. You saved this pack when no one else could be bothered."

"Then why does Abel still hate me?"

Revealing, Jake shook his head. "From my study of the werewolf culture, Alphas are the leaders and protectors of a pack. If bad things happen to a pack, it is the personal responsibility of the alpha to make it right or die trying. La-zar-us..." Jake emphasized the Alpha's name change. "Watched his father and mother murdered and was silvered after being wounded. Then he was forced to kill his own packmates to survive. It goes against everything he was raised to be. It isn't you he hates, it's himself."

"No, I pretty sure he hates me." She stated. "And I know a lot about werewolves. One doesn't live almost a thousand years without learning a few things about other cultures."

Giving her a mock frown, Jake pursed his lips. "You know you could have helped me write that thesis for Uncle Ouro."

"If I had done it for you, you wouldn't have learned nothing." She teased.

"Yea, ma... whatever." Jake laughed. "So, do you need a refill? You haven't had a transfusion in a while. And your demoness hasn't spent time with his beast."

"I don't think he would appreciate having to sate her other needs. He resents us enough," Anjael complained.

"So, tell me about this Delphi of the Moon that is saving the vampires? None of the wolves here have mentioned her or their temples," Jake pried.

"The Delphi... Jake, sweetie, you're a genius. I need to talk to the Delphi," Anjael praised him before she rushed out.

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