That day wasn’t the brightest day for Betty. First, she forgot to drink her coffee, which resulted in her being very sleepy at school. Curse the school for not serving coffees in the cafeteria. Then, as she was walking home, this random guy came up to her and decided it was a good idea to try flirting with her. However, Betty wasn’t interested at all—he even smelled like dirt. He asked for her phone number. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t punch him in the face,because he was a human.

The worst news was when Ron told her that, as usual, Mason wasn’t satisfied with the results that he got from the last search group. Of course, it had been happening once a month for about six years now—around seventy-two times—but it still hurt Betty.

You see, Betty always wanted to be like her mother. She was her role model, her example of how a good third-in-command should be like. She did all the jobs the alpha and beta assigned her to do, and only listened to the two of them. If they were away, she would take care of the pack very nicely.

Betty’s mother was the most loyal to the pack, alongside the former alpha, Edward. They both died during the ambush on the twins’ birthday, doing their best to prevent those other creatures to get into the panic room. Just like Mason’s parents, no one had found Betty’s mother’s dead body. That was why she could relatewith Mason who still hadn’t given upfinding his parents.

She respected him very much because he never gave up when she gave up long ago. Still, she had just little hopes—little so she would not hurt herself along the way. That was also the reason why she was always disappointed every time her soon-to-be-beta called, saying that the soon-to-be-alpha was not satisfied once again.

Back to the matter of her bad day, now Betty also needed to tell her alpha and beta that she couldn’t find any man to search for his parents. She had looked at the list of the members of the pack, but she still couldn’t find any.

Currently, she was pacing back and forth in front of their office, right in front of the door. She was thinking of how to tell them that she couldn’t find anyone for the job. 

“Betty, just come in already!” she heard someone call from inside impatiently. She immediately recognized it as Ron.

“Yes, beta,” she replied. She didn’t know those two were able to sense her. Well, that must be embarrassing—for her, at least.

She opened the door of the office. In front of her was Mason’s side of the office, which was basically only his desk and chair. On the right, there was Ron’s part. On the left, there was only a wall with pictures. In the middle was a little table where Diane always put some snacks there.

“Ron, don’t be like that. She was probably just nervous,” Mason told Ron before smiling at Betty.Naturally, Betty went to his side of the office. After all, Ron did look a bit upset. She wondered why, but she wasn’t the type to meddle into someone else’s business.

Betty told her alpha about the situation and Mason just sighed. “Don’t worry too much about it, Bett. Just try. After all, school is almost over. During the holidays, I can go search my parents by myself.”

But then Ron decided to speak up and ruin the mood. “Mason, I think you should just give up,” he said.

Mason furrowed his eyebrows. Hecouldn’t believe his ears. His best friend, who had always supported him through thick and thin, was now telling him to give up what he had been striving for?

He gave an indignant glare to his beta and Betty really wished she could just go away from this room. Good thing her wish was granted as Mason said, “Betty, you’re excused.”

---

Betty walked around the pack territory, trying to find a face she hadn’t seen before. Even though Mason already said it was okay if she didn’t find new members, she still thought she needed to try; it was her duty.

In here, humans and werewolves lived together in the werewolves’ territory, but the wolves already promised not to harm any of the humans unless they really must. That was why Betty couldn’t punch that man in the face earlier. The other creatures weren’t allowed inside the territory. But anyway, Betty hatedthem nearly as much as Mason did, so she was grateful of the rule.

As Betty walked, the man who flirted with her earlier came by without her noticing. Good thing the guy knew that Betty was stronger than him andhe didn’t surprise her, because she hated surprises and it was some kind of a reflex to punch or kick anyonewho did. This was why her friends never prepared any surprise birthday parties for her.

“Hey, um, Betty?” the guy called from behind her hesitantly. Betty turned around and looked at him expectantly as if wishing that he would just disappear from the planet somehow. She didn’t like him, couldn’t he get it? Besides, he wasn’t a good flirt and she didn’t enjoy hearing him trying to flatter her all day long.

“What is it?” she asked coldly. She hadn’t meant for it to be as cold as that, but it just came out that way. Perhaps her mouth was trying to tell him that she wasn’t interested.

“I know you’re angry at me, but I’m sorry, okay? I know from the very start that you weren’t interested, but I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess that by flirting with you, you will give me money or something.  I know it’s very selfish of me to ask, but do you have any money? Just two dollars is all I’m asking for. I need it to buy food for my mother.But if not, at least, please, give meforgiveness? I know how wolves are very possessive over their mates, so please do say my apologies for your mate. If you don’t have one, then I know you must be waiting for yours, so I’m sorry to you,” the guy finally finished his long speech. Then, he added, “I’m Dylan, by the way.”

“Dylan, may I ask why you need themoney? I’m pretty sure all the families in this territory are at least pretty decent,” Betty pointed out. The boy should have just asked her about this matter the first time they met. He probably didn’t realize he was talking to the third-in-command of the pack who owned the ground he was standing in.

“Yeah. We were actually a happy family until my sister discovered that she was bisexual, which caused my father to explode and dump us all. I mean, it was only bisexual, not lesbian. She could always have a family with a guy. But no, he decided to dump us all. Not by kicking us out, but, do you know the drunkard who smokes in the streets? Well, that’s him. He turned into a drunkard and now we have no one to lean on for financial support." He shrugged, but Betty knew for sure he was holding back tears. 

She knew his father. He was the drunkard that smoked in the streets and made most of the people who lived there protest. He always wore the same clothes, his old leather jacket and his pair of jeans that looked so dull. He seemed lifeless.

“I’m so sorry, Dylan. May I see your family? Then maybe I can tell the alpha about this matter?” Betty offered him, and he looked surprised, causing her to wonder why. What was so wrong with helping other people?

“You’ll tell the alpha? But then what will he do to my father? And how will he be able to help? And how will you even tell him? Are you friends or something?” Dylan asked her. Betty just smiled at his curiosity. Rather than the weird flirt he was this afternoon, he looked more like a kid with angel wings this evening.

Betty shrugged. “I wouldn’t say I’m friends with him, but we’re pretty close. After all, I’m the third-in-command.” Betty spared a few seconds just to see his expression—his surprise doubled—beforecontinuing. “I’ll definitely tell him. He won’t do anything bad to your father,I promise. He’s not the type to do that. And I think the pack house is pretty dead because of how lonesome it is. Having you in there would make it much more fun."

Dylan nodded excitedly and his eyes sparkled like a kid in a Christmas morning. “Well, what are we waiting for? C’mon, let’s go to my house!” he said and pulled her past the houses that she had passed by.

Then, Betty pitied the boy even more when she saw his house. It looked so abandoned and it looked like there were ghosts in there. But she just kept her silence and decided to follow him inside the house.

Out of the blue, Dylan knelt down.Betty was confused for a secondwhen she realized he was speaking to his mother.

“Mom! I’m sorry I didn’t bring you your food, but I brought a guest,” Dylan whispered softly into her ear. Dylan’s mother was lying in a small bed that looked more like a rectangle rock in the living room.

Then, Betty once again pitied the boy, as she realized that his mother was having a severe disease. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it definitely went along the lines of cancer orsuch. It might not even have a medicine, and they didn’t have enough money to buy healthy food.

Seeing this, Betty quickly asked Dylan for his address and mindlinked a random guy from her pack. “Go find some food and give it to me,” she said.

“Okay. Where are you?” the guy asked after realizing that it was the third-in-command that he was mindlinking him.

Everyone was scared of Betty as she was the most stern out of the three. Mason was just fine; in fact, he was more polite to the pack members than they were to him. Ron didn’t do that much talking in the crowd, so they might not have that much ideas about him. On the other hand, Betty usually bossed everyone around like the boss she was. Of course, she did it fairly and with a reason.

Betty told the random guy Dylan’s address and he just said an “okay” in response. A few minutes later, two knocks were heard and Betty ran to the front door. She accepted the food and thanked him. Then, she went inside again and showed Dylan the food. “Here. For you and your mother,” she said.

“Ah, thank you.” Dylan accepted itgratefully and put it down to open it. 

Good thing he was not one of those people who said, “No thanks, you don’t have to help me, I’m not worth your time,” because seriously? She just helped them and they said that? But it had happened a lot of times before, so she was used to it.

Betty watched as he fed his mother and himself at the same time. The random guy gave them fried rice with fried egg. Nice.

‘He really looks different,’ Betty thought, ‘as if he just changed ag or something.’ She had asked herself the same thing twice today, and it was how Dylan changed ages. Then, she asked, “Where’s your sister?”

Turned out it wasn’t really a good idea to ask because Dylan’s face hardened almost instantly, and he was glaring at nearly everythingaround him. “Um, after our father dumped us, she ran away leaving me with my mother. She really doesn’t care about us,” he added.

“Oh…” Betty didn’t know what to say. “Wait. I just received a mindlink. I’ll be back.” Betty went outside. She did in fact received a mindlink. It was from the alpha.

“Bett, where are you right now?” he asked. “This random guy came up to me and said you were inside an abandoned house?”

“Eh, no. Well, kinda. You see, I met this guy and he explained to me that he needed money and—you know what, just come here,” Betty said. She told him the address, and after a few moments Mason was standing in front of her.

“Wow. I get what the guy said,” he stated when he finally looked around his surroundings. “Okay. There are many guest rooms in the pack house. Tell the maids to prepare two, and prepare stuff for them, and I’ll bring a car here to bring them there,” he instructed.

And then he was gone.

Curse the alpha for having such great powers.