A Gamma's Choice

Chapter One

Kaden Danes stood in the doorway of the kitchen tent and peered inside at the hustle and bustle. He’d waited years for this moment. Finally at eighteen, the age of consent, he could become a kitchen hand. Unfortunately there were two small problems—his feet refusing to enter and the swirling nausea churning around his stomach with tornado-like velocity.

“Don’t just stand there, boy! If you want something come inside.” Denel Jackson, the kitchen manager, flashed him a disapproving look with his sharp brown eyes. Kaden had studied the man before applying, determined to learn all he could about the person who could shape his future. He’d talked to people who’d worked with Denel in the past and had researched the man’s reputation online. Everyone had told him the manager made a fair but tough mentor and Kaden would be lucky if he could convince Denel to take him on.

“Sorry, sir.” Kaden cast his eyes respectfully downward. “I’ve come to work in the kitchens if you’ll have me.”

He forced his fidgety muscles to remain still while the manager looked him over. He knew what Denel saw when he looked at Kaden but he hoped to get the job anyway. Kaden bit his lip trying to hold back the urge to plead with the manager. If Denel didn’t want him he’d try to leave gracefully.

“Kind of pretty to work the kitchens, aren’t you?” Denel asked after a minute that felt stretched to eternity.

“Yes, sir.” Kaden couldn’t deny the facts. His mother’s genes had made him delicately built, and by everyone’s account, too pretty for a man. Hopefully it wouldn’t hold back his career. Kaden swallowed the lump of nerves in his throat, not daring to look up. His entire life hung in the balance of the manager’s decision.

Most gammas raced to be part of the sex squad as soon as they came of age, eager to service all the beta soldiers. Kitchen work generally went to omegas and older, mated gammas. But Kaden dreamt of cooking. Mixing flavours, toasting spices and cooking meat until it reached its pinnacle of taste—those were the hopes filling his head at night.

“I-I’ve always wanted to cook, sir,” Kaden confessed. He blushed beneath Denel’s intense stare but refused to back away. He needed this. He had to get this position. His entire life depended on the kitchen manager’s answer.

“Really?”

Kaden glanced up in time to catch the look of surprise in the manager’s eyes before returning his gaze to the floor. He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Denel folded his arms over his chest. Kaden’s heart sank. “Have you cooked before?” Denel asked.

Kaden couldn’t blame the man for his disbelief. Most male werekin didn’t want to become cooks. It didn’t fit the tough alpha mould. However, Kaden had never been the stereotypical werekin and he refused to give up on his dream. If he had to, he’d pursue his goals in the humans’ territory.

Participating in the war and doing his part were important to Kaden, but he’d never be a fighter. Violence didn’t settle well with his naturally passive nature, even though he knew the wolves couldn’t let the vampires win. Shifters would be endangered if the vampires had their way. The war between the two forces, now in its sixth year, had no end in sight and since the vampires truly wanted all werekin dead, Kaden didn’t anticipate it ending soon.

“My nana taught me how to cook.” Kaden smiled at the memory. As the youngest grandchild by a wide margin, Kaden had always been the one left behind when the others ran off to hunt. His grandmother, a human, had kept young Kaden busy preparing food for when the others returned. When she’d died last year, he’d vowed to keep his promise to her and follow his passion. The rest of his family had thought he’d lost his marbles. None of them would stand in his way, but they didn’t outwardly support him either. He had to do this to honour her. Still looking respectfully to the side, he could only hear the manager come forward.

“The alpha’s rules are anyone can try an occupation they feel capable of, so I’m willing to give you a chance. Here.” A green band appeared in Kaden’s line of vision.

Heart pounding, he grabbed at the bracelet knowing the colour indicated that Kaden now belonged to the kitchen group.

 
“Th-thank you, sir.” Smiling widely, he slid it over his hand and onto his wrist. A rush of excitement burned through him. He’d successfully made the first step. Nana would’ve been proud.

“Go over there and peel potatoes. We’ll see what you can do.” Denel pointed to a mountain of potatoes near a sink in the corner.

“Thank you, sir.” Kaden eagerly rushed over to his assigned job. He didn’t care what the manager wanted him to do as long as he could work in the kitchen. Sitting down on a stool, he quickly set to peeling.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” a strange voice asked nearby.

He looked up to see that an omega had approached him while he had been focused on daydreaming and potato peeling. The man was thin with a long scar on one cheek, brown eyes and thick black hair pulled back in a ponytail.

“Yeah, I started today.” Kaden smiled, the joy spilling out of him.

He peeled several potatoes before he realised the other man was still watching him.

“I’m Conley,” the omega offered his hand.

“Kaden.”

They shook hands.

Conley picked up a potato peeler, then grabbed a spud. Without bothering to ask, he started peeling. “I generally help out a bit everywhere around here,” he explained as he expertly separated the vegetable from its skin. They worked in silence for a bit until Conley asked the question Kaden knew he’d be answering for years to come.

“Why would a gamma want to peel potatoes instead of having hot sex with the beta wolves?”

Conley didn’t appear to have any of the attitude that Kaden had experienced from other wolves. So Kaden sighed and prepared to explain. Conley would be his first attempt at discussing his goals with a non-family member. Maybe a stranger could understand better than his family.

“It’s not that I have anything against sex, but I’ve dreamed all my life of being a cook. It’s my first love.” Sex with someone sounded good but Kaden hadn’t found the right person yet.

Conley shook his head. “I’d rather be having hot sex with the betas.”

Yeah, a stranger didn’t understand any better
. “Then why don’t you?” Kaden hated this sort of conversation. He might be predisposed to being a gamma but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have other goals. He hated being pigeonholed.

“I’m not pretty enough to make the cut. Not like you—they’d snatch you up in a heartbeat.” Bitterness coated Conley’s tone but the man’s expression wasn’t unfriendly when Kaden gave him a cautious look.

Kaden shrugged and reached for the next potato. “If I found the right guy I’d be open to sex. I guess I just don’t have a very high sex drive. I’d rather cook.” He’d heard of some gammas who couldn’t get enough of being touched or having sex. There was nothing wrong with that, but it wasn’t him.