The Four Beta Brothers – Chapter 1

Thirteen years ago…

“She can’t remember anything?”

“I’m afraid not.”

do?”

ehind.”

at means she’ll forget all of us too. I don’t want to lose her. Please make her remember!”

o young to understand this now, but one day you’ll understand why it’s best if she forgets you and your brothers.”

JUNIPER

d her grades?”

es.”

s class, but she did.”

to keep her perfect image.”

ext, everyone couldn’t stop gossiping about the girl with perfect grades who apparently never truly earned her grades.

mor was true.

he rumors were about me.

slut.”

ad left to prepare for Professor Harrison’s final last semester. I pushed myself harder than I ever had before, because I needed to ea

t. Professor Harrison

od riddance.”

ith Professor Harrison only to ask h

e Juniper. I always thought she was so smart, but apparently she’s just good at spreading her legs.”

ept walking, needing to get out of the room immediately.

tudent, but now everyone looked at me like I was some sort of pariah.

. I had to figure out how this happened and how to fix it. I c

was twelve-years-old. Her parents took me in when I had no place to go, and she and I played while they worked. We grew up together. She had been my best friend for as long as I could remember, but she was better at making new friends than I was. She was head cheerleader and one of the most popular girls in school. Socially, she was what every girl dreamed of being.

knew all of my deepest, darkest secrets. Her name was Ashley, or something like that.

iling her nails, not bothering to even look at me. This wasn’t like her. “I’m busy.”

e for me. Did she hear the rumor and think it was true? No, she kne

never liked me. Her glares had made that obvious. However, Ashley had never been this blatantly rude to me. While she didn’t like me, Moira did, and that was enough to keep her i

ect nails.

glares and whispers about me, knowing they were all for a reason that wasn’t true.

“I said get out of here,” Ashley s

Moira held up her hand. “No, it’s okay.” She hopped off the table and handed her nail file to Ashley. “I’ll be right back. It shouldn’t take long to take

ll alcove with privacy, I stopped. “What has gotten into you? You’re acting strangely.”

top.”

thought of her thinking so poorly of me was too much.

ng that rumor. I have to keep up appearances.”

had to be a terrible nightmare I would wake up from at any second.

-heartedly, but the smirk etched into her face told me it was a lie. It was all a lie.

pretty, yet you’ve constantly outdone me when it comes to school. I got tired of hearing everyone praise how amazing you were. They couldn’t see what trash you actually were, so I decided to show them the truth.”

ira

e our lives were on different paths. She was the alpha’s daughter and cheer captain. Everyone expected her to be luna of our small pack one day.

ave been different, but they died long ago. I was an outcast in our pack, but I thought that if I worked hard, made good grades, I could make up for my lack of family and show everyone I was more than just my status in the pack.

de, supporting me, but I was wrong. I had no one on my side.

bout studying, instead of actually doing anything. We both know that, which is why you’re not going to bother telling anyone the truth about how this rumor came about.” She looked smug as she looked down at me. We were normally the same height, b

n the reputation I worked so hard to earn.

and why you did this. We’re friends. There are some things you can’t fake. However, I’m not going to let you ruin me because of whatever grudge you have against me. It’s not just me you’

rom me. “Exactly. People need to know the truth about who you are, and

to her group of friends. She wasn’t the person I thought she was, and it felt like years of friendship had been a lie.

a book, making it impossible to see the real world around me?

er wake up from.

e was talking about me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

he would fail. Her parents were only omegas after all. She was only pretending to be something that she’s not.”

s no amount of running that could stop it. I didn’t know what else to do.

e was no home to go to. I just had to keep running until I found somewhere where the whispers couldn’t reach me.

knew in a matter of seconds I would hit the ground just as hard.

first time, I processed what I had run into—more like who.

th the blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, made him look like he didn’t belong in the student body. He looked more like a teacher, but he couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me.

people I’ve just met.”

k. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just…” I couldn’t find words. My brain was still spinning from running into him. I would’ve

up and down, which only made my cheeks burn more. I liked the way his gaze

hurt you?”

used by my question. “You don’t look fine. Your clothes are disheveled, and

t his observations. I didn’t want to confirm his suggestions, because then he might ask me to go into details. I didn’t recognize this man, which meant he likely didn’t know the rumors that were spreading like a contagious disease. I wanted to retain the moment of anonymity, even if it would be ruined sooner rather than la

oute to take. “You don’t go to this school.”

. “And how could you possibly know that?

the country, but this was my fourth year at the school. I knew all of the faces of the students, even if I didn’t know their names.

“Clandestine’s University for Werewolves may be a small

the possibility that I’m new here?”

e had a chance to learn about it yet.

boys on campus didn’t have.

u’ll just have to do your research. Next time we meet, I’d be curious to hear what you come up with.”

ell for now.” He gave me a nod and started walking away.

doing. “Wait. I don’t even know your name.”

down at where I was grabbing him and smiled. “Ethan.

per Johnson.” I

out in your favor.”

mm?”

for this interaction to end.

ell there was so much more to Ethan.

ope for truth, which made no sense. I talked to him for less than five minutes. I didn’t know him, and he didn’t know me, but it felt like this was my chance at something new.

hrough my spine. “I will remember you as the disheveled, forward girl, who ran into me in her attempt to run away from or towards something. I will remember your chocolate hair and amber eyes, your plump lips and soft skin. I will remember the way your voice sounds like a siren’s song and your face looks like an angel’s beauty. I will remember you as I see you now, no matter what nasty rumors I may hear.”

ic, and with a small nod, he walked away from me, but I knew this was only the begin