Next, the betas went up against the gammas, and Konnor leaned forward nervously. The gammas came out into the ring, and immediately shifted into their wolves. Right away, Ethan stuck out like a proverbial sore thumb. He was smaller than the other gammas and his coloration was completely different, but the most telling sign was his nearly complete lack of aggression. When any of the betas approached him, Konnor was instantly on the alert, ready to signal to the referee to step in, but it wasn’t necessary. Ethan’s wolf immediately sank lower than the beta, never quite dropping to his knees, but making his submission plain by offering his throat. Three of the betas satisfied themselves with biting his snout and then contemptuously turned their backs and walked away. One, slightly more aggressive beta wasn’t happy until he forced Ethan to his knees, but he didn’t make any attempt to follow it up with a further attack.

The betas were taken out of the ring, and it was then that Konnor noticed the two gammas left in the arena with Ethan. They were circling him, snarling fiercely, while Ethan tried to keep an eye on both of them and failed miserably. As they circled him, they bit at his flanks and one swiped a lethal claw at his head. Ethan was on his knees by this time between them. Konnor was on his feet and running down to the floor of the arena before he could stop himself, his fangs and claws dropping as he ran. Just before he completed his shift though, he saw that both alpha referees were on their way and would make it long before he did. One of the referees knelt beside Ethan, speaking to him urgently, while the other alpha sent the two gammas cowering out of the ring.

Forcing himself to calm down, he was aware of Larssen beside him, also partially shifted. Konnor knew that if he’d gone into the ring, he wouldn’t have been alone, not that he needed any help against the cowardly punks. Konnor made a mental note to see about arranging a garbage scow apprenticeship for both gammas. The referee stayed beside Ethan while he shifted back and then took his arm to lead him from the arena as Konnor watched, wanting badly to get his hands on the boy.

Larssen clapped a large hand on his shoulder. “He’s okay, little brother. They have him now.”

The referee was bringing him out. Konnor watched as the big alpha leaned down to speak to Ethan and Ethan looked up at him in confusion. The referee waited while Ethan untied his protective harness and handed it over. The other pups who had gone behind the fences now were all staring at him and talking among themselves, and as he noticed, his cheeks turned pink. Naked, he followed the referee back across the ring. His cheeks turned an even brighter shade, and Konnor knew it cost him to expose his body in front of so many onlookers. It was killing Konnor too.

Konnor calledto the alpha he’d spoken to earlier, and he changed courses, signaling for Ethan to wait for him, and headed toward Konnor.

“I’ll take him. He can go with me now to get his bags.”

“Have you received the appropriate permission from the council?” the referee asked.

“Of course,” Konnor snapped, impatient to get his hands back on his pup.

The alpha nodded and motioned for Ethan to join them. He came over quickly, glancing up once at Konnor before lowering his head again as if he couldn’t bear to meet Konnor’s gaze.

The referee showed Ethan the small door to enter the stands and then left as Ethan began to climb up the steps to reach Konnor. He came to stand on the step below Konnor, his head respectfully bowed. “Y-You wanted to see me, sir?”

Konnor took off his shirt and handed it to Ethan. “Here, Blondie, put this on.”

Ethan’s head shot up. “Have I done something wrong, sir? The other alphawouldn’t tell me what was happening. Did my wolf not do well in the challenges? ”

Konnor shook his head impatiently. He longed to comfort the boy, but this was neither the time nor place to get into this. Instead, he made his voice firm as he told him, “Take the shirt, Ethan and cover yourself.” The boy looked crestfallen, hurt, even bewildered, but he nodded obediently and quickly put on the shirt.

“Sir?” Ethan shifted his gaze up to search Konnor’s face. “Can you tell me what happened in the ring? OnceI shifted, I…”

Konnor remembered this was only the second time he’d shifted. Sometimes an inexperienced pup had problems remembering exactly what went on during the shifts, their minds overpowered by their beasts. He may not have realized he was almost mauled by the gammas.

He took Ethan’s bags from his hand and held onto them, afraid they were too heavy after what he’d been through, and surveyed the smaller figure. The shirt was long enough on Ethan to cover his genitals, coming to the top of his thighs. It would have to do until he could get him to the ship. The strong protective urges he was having were playing havoc with his nerves, and he longed to take his hand, but knew Ethan wouldn’t appreciate approached, glancing at the young man standing in front of Konnor.

“Are you, uh, ready to go, little brother?”

or understand it. Larssen

“More t han ready.” Konnor turned toward Ethan. “Ethan, the determinations have been made. You’ll be going with me.”

The boy cocked his head. “With you? But I don’t understand…am I going into an apprenticeship w-with you, sir?”

“Um, in a manner of speaking, yes. We’ll talk more about it when I get you to my ship. You’ll be traveling with us to Lycanus 3.”

“Yes sir,” he said, nodding slowly. Before he lowered his gaze again, Konnor caught a flash of some strong emotion. Konnor dreaded the coming confrontation on his ship when he would explain to Ethan exactly what was going on. He just hoped Ethanwouldn’t be too distraught. He motioned for Ethan to precede him, watching the sway of his hips as he walked slowly toward the dressing room for his suitcases.

Chapter Three

Inside the small dressing area was a scene of chaos. Ethan had always hated a noisy crowd of people, and he was still feeling confused by what was happening. He had almost no memory of what happened in the ring, and he hoped he had acquitted himself well. He must not have done too badly if Konnor wanted to apprentice him. He hugged his excitement to him and turned to look at the big alpha. He and his brother were easily the largest, most handsome men in the room, and exuded power and confidence.

The nine other young Lycans inside were laughing and talking excitedly, putting on their clothes and gathering their things. Most of them looked up and stopped talking as Ethan and the two alphas, Konnor and Larssen, entered the room. A few of the bolder ones, looked as if they wanted to say something to him, but their glances shied away again at the forbidding look on Konnor’s face. He seemed almost angry, like he was daring them to say something. But what? Why was everyone looking at him like he had suddenly sprouted wings or something? One of the boys actually seemed contemptuous of him, flaring his nostrils as he sneaked a glance. Uneasy, he wondered again just what had happened in that ring.

The room was already clearing, and their presence seemed to be the catalyst for everyone else to take off. Ethan walked over to get his bag and looked up at the alpha trustingly, thinking perhaps he would explain why no one seemed to be able to speak to him or meet his gaze, but he didn’t. Instead he seemed to be anxious about something. Unusual for alphas, who were arrogant enough to always act as if they had no need for anxiety about anything. Balenescu, though, actually shuffled from foot to foot in seeming unease for a moment, as Larssen looked up at the ceiling or down at his communicator, anywhere but directly at Ethan.

“They’ve sent a message that the paperwork is ready,” Larssen said. “I’ll go get it and be right back.” Konnor nodded and rested a hip against a table in the room. Once Larssen closed the door behind him, his eyes flickered up at Ethan. “He’ll be back in a half hour or so, Ethan. You can rest here until then.”

Sighing, Ethan nodded and sat down on a bench to wait. He wanted to question his alpha about what was happening, but he didn’t quite have the nerve. The other boys had told him Balenescu was a bounty hunter. Surely the council didn’t think such an apprenticeship would be a good fit for Ethan. Or was there some other reason he’d been assigned to the Balenescus? To teach him piloting skills maybe? He wouldn’t mind that job. He’d always hungered to travel around the galaxy and see new worlds. Perhaps they thought that Konnor could show him the confidence he would need as an adult on his own? Konnor and his brother certainly had an abundance of that.

Actually, a part of him didn’t really care. He was secretly thrilled to be here with the man he considered to be his alpha. It seemed like a dream come true, and he wondered with a little thrill if he’d be allowed to service him again sexually. He’d never done anything like it before, but the time he’d spent with Konnor in the judging chamber had been beyond wonderful. He knew Lycan males didn’t normally like to have sex with other Lycans, but maybe his alpha would make an exception. Ethan realized he had a huge crush on the alpha and that it probably wasn’t reciprocated, but he didn’t care. Just the opportunity to be around Konnor and be trained by him for the next few months was exhilarating.

He realized with a little start that he was still wearing only Konnor’s shirt, and got up quickly to dress himself again, carefully folding up his alpha’s shirt and offering it back to him. He took it and shrugged it on carelessly, his eyes never leaving Ethan’s face. His gaze was so intent, it was making Ethan really uncomfortable.

He felt an overpowering urge to drop down to his knees, but instead he lowered his eyes and sat quietly, hoping his alpha would speak to him and answer some of his questions. In surprise, he heard the door close and the lock snick into place. Balenescu had gotten up to lock the door. He came and sat back down beside Ethan on the bench, and Ethan glanced over at him nervously.

“I can see you have a lot of questions. Is there something you’d like to ask me, Blondie? ” Ethan blushed at the strange nickname the alpha was calling him. He’d never had any kind of nickname before, and wasn’t totally sure he liked this one. It didn’t sound very manly.