Chapter 2

Kim "Ethan" Yong-saeng

There is less than one week to go before I would become head Beta. Normally, the role of head Beta would be given to the firstborn of the family at the age of twenty-one. Sometimes, the firstborn Beta would have to wait even longer if they decide to go to university.

Sadly, my older brother, Won-shik, passed away. For that reason, father pushed for me to be training sooner in case of an emergency. I didn't agree with his ideas, but I still follow him. I have been training for almost two years in order to be head Beta.

"Yong-saeng, can you help your brother with his homework?" Mother asks as she is getting ready to leave. My younger brother is at the kitchen table having a hard time understanding his homework.

"Sure, omma," I replied to mother. I sat down next to Liam.

"Can you read my paragraph and tell me what may be confusing for you to understand? My teacher said that we had to do the five-step writing process, but I'm having a hard time with revising steps," said Liam as he pointed to the paragraph he was having trouble with.

The rest of my evening is spent helping Liam revise and edit his paragraph homework. It was getting late and omma hadn't come home yet. Probability talking with her other pack members and lost track of time.

"What to order pizza?" I ask Liam as I reach for my phone. I text Andrés a quick text that I won't be able to go today to help him. He responded quickly and tells me okay.

"Yes, I want cheese pizza please," said Liam. I go to the pizza website and order one large cheese pizza and one large beef pizza.

School is the worst! I have to juggle working for Andrés and my school studies at the same time. Sometimes, I wonder what the point of working so hard if all your effort won't be recognized.

Then, I look at my younger brother, Liam, and know that I am doing this for him. If I don't have to take the responsibility then Liam will have to. I want my younger brother to be happy and follow his dream even if I can't.

◽◽◽◽◽◽◽◽

Today is the day. Great! My ceremony will start soon, so I go over to Andrés's house to make sure he is ready to go. The Alpha must be there for the ceremony to start.

"Alpha Andrés," I called out from the front door. No response. I let myself in and used my werewolf hearing ability to find Andrés.

"I knew this would happen," I said as I rolled my eyes at Andrés and two human chicks that were in bed with him sleeping. Double great!

"Today, it's my ceremony," I said as I checked the time on my watch.

"And it starts in one hour," I said with a sigh.

I go over to Andrés' closets and grab a suit. I throw the suit at him and quickly dash to the bathroom to grab mouthwash. What was I suspecting from Andrés anyway? I think as I try not to roll my eyes again.

"It's not a big deal. Everyone knows your head Beta already," said Andrés as he stumbles out of bed. He almost trips on the bed covers.

"I need you to get ready. You better not ruin this for me," I said to Andrés in a serious tone.

"Yeah, Yeah. You're such a killjoy," said Andrés as he shoos me away from his bedroom.

"If you don't come out in thirty minutes so help me I will kill you myself," I said in annoyance. Andrés better not let me down. I need everything to go smoothly, so father can be proud of me.

I would be lying if I said that I'm not nervous and Andrés wasn't helping my nerves. I have my oath memorized, but I'm worried I could mess it up.

"Ready," said Andrés after he closed the bedroom door after him. I sniff Andrés to make sure he uses the mouthwash because no one wants to be bitten with bad breath that smells like beer.

Andrés is wearing a red suit while I have on a blue suit. We walked over to the venue in silence. I tried going over my notes to help me calm down. When we entered the venue, I noticed father and mother out of the corner of my eye.

"Glad to see you made it because you're late," said father harshly as he waited for an explanation. Andrés decides to walk away to the front of the venue leaving me to explain by myself.

"That's not what you should be saying right now. Our son is shaking because his nervousness, doesn't give him another issue right now," said omma in a stern tone to father.

"Yong-saeng, I just want to say that after Won-shik pass away, I was scared the same thing would happen to you. So your father and I believe that pushing you into training sooner could help you be a better Beta. The world is a scary place and we just want you to be prepared to face it," said omma with tears in her eyes as she gets emotional.

"Don't worry, omma. I can do it," I tell her.

"Where is Liam?" I asked as I looked around to see if he was there. Hoping to change the subject.

"I saw him playing outside with pack members' children. Let me go get him," said omma as she hurried to look for him.

Father and I wait in silence since neither of us knows what to say to each other. Triple great!

Then, the host starts to talk.

"Everyone please move to your seat. The ceremony of Beta Ethan Kim will soon start," said the host into the mic.

The ceremony was a tradition that the Evergreen Pack had for werewolves that were given crucial roles. I look at my oath notes one last time and hide them away in my back dress-pant pocket.

"Stand in Beta Ethan Kim will start the ceremony by giving his oath," the host said as I headed up to the front of the venue where Alpha Andrés was at.

I look out into the crowd of pack members and other werewolves from different packs. I take a deep breath and start my oath. I turn my head and look straight at Alpha Andrés, who was sitting down in his Alpha chair as I kneel down to say my oath.

"I, Kim Yong-saeng, swear my allegiance to Alpha Andrés Oliva. I must protect Alpha Andrés and guide him in his journey. No matter the time, date, or request. Long live Alpha Andrés Oliva!" I said as Alpha Andrés smirks down at me.

I try my best not to roll my eyes because I was in front of so many werewolves. I could just imagine how much of his ego was rising by the second.

"Now, Alpha Andrés Oliva, will mark Beta Ethan Kim to complete the ritual and make him head Beta," said the host. Alpha Andrés gets up from his chair and bites my left shoulder as I try my best not to cry in pain. Everyone got up and claps after Alpha Andrés moves away from me.

"Now, the new head Beta Ethan Kim will shift into your wolf so it can also plead allegiance to the Alpha," said the host to the crowd of people.

I nod my head and move away from Alpha Andrés, so I have space to shift into my wolf.

I close my eyes and I try to shift. The keyword was tried.

Something was wrong with my wolf because no matter how hard I try to shift. My wolf wouldn't shift...

"I--I ca-- can't shift," I shudder before everything turns to black.

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omma means mom (informal)