Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

Katie gasped, and Louise had a disgusted look on her face. I glanced at the ring and felt sick. Colton had not only commanded me so easily. I didn’t even know he had done it. Could I really trust him if he could hold that much power over me and use it so easily?

I didn’t have too much longer to think about it as the gratingly high-pitched voice of Donna floated into the room, and she and her vapid fangirls walked in. She was ranting about the rumour and was declaring loudly that she would find the girl, although she didn’t use that term and would make sure she disappeared for good. Donna was your typical bleached blond hair and fake-tanned stereotyped mean girl in all the teen movies. Her father was the pack’s business manager, which afforded them a higher ranking among the pack, but everyone knew that wasn’t enough for the spiteful, self-proclaimed princess.

She looked over at us and began stalking over, and I shrunk in my seat involuntarily. Did she know, was she coming to make me disappear?

“Hey Louise,” she started, and I breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Katie, who giggled nervously. “You are looking great today. Did you do something with your hair?” Louise rolled her eyes at the fake compliment.

“Cut the crap, Donna,” she scowled at her. “What do you want?” Donna smirked.

“There’s a rumour going around that Colton is seeing someone, and it’s serious.” She glanced at me, and I looked away to avoid eye contact. “You live with him, is it true?”

Louise just shrugged like she was bored, but I could see the tension in her spine. “Maybe. Why would I tell you?”

“I heard from Johnny that whoever the b***h is that she moved in yesterday,” one of Queen B’s fangirls spat in disgust, and Donna turned on her.

“What?” she shrieked and then turned back to Louise. “That means you will have met her.” Louise glanced at me and shrugged again.

“If I had, I still wouldn’t tell you anything,” she said. I admired how calm and collected she was. I wanted to run and hide. “Now, run along and find someone else to bother.” She waved her hand at Donna, who looked like she wanted to rip Louise’s hair out. She was about to say something when Mr. Henderson came in.

“Donna and girls to your seats, please,” he said, and she began to argue, but he interjected, “Or I can have a note sent to the Alpha again.” She immediately shut up, and with one last glare at Louise, she slunk away to the other side of the room. I knew she had been in trouble with the Alpha in more than one instance. She tried to rule the school by throwing her high ranking around. The big issue with this being that the school was a mixed school, and other than registration and Physical Education every afternoon, we mixed in with the humans in town. Mr. Henderson was one of four teachers in school that were pack members and the school headmaster Mrs. Gration who ensured that the rest of the town didn’t know they were sharing it with werewolves. And all four pack teachers were also elite warriors for the pack and in charge of teaching the pack students how to fight. That was why it was mandatory for us to be in school up until eighteen to get the required physical training.

Mr. Henderson started taking registration, and when my name was called, I looked up and met Mr. Henderson’s eyes, and confirmed my attendance. He held my eyes briefly and then nodded his head to indicate he knew exactly who I was. I would soon be a named ranked member of the pack, which meant that my safety would fall under the elite warriors. Currently, Mr. Henderson was responsible for Louise’s safety, and his nod just indicated that he was now responsible for mine. I glanced at Louise, and she smiled. She had caught the signal. Unfortunately, so had Donna, and I looked round to see her eyes narrowed at me.

After registration, everyone went to their individual classes, but Mr. Henderson stopped me before leaving.

“Miss Kirby, can you stay back, please?” he asked as we began to file out. “Miss Bennet, you can stay too.” We looked at each other and said bye to Katie as she left without us. When the class had filed out, Mr. Henderson closed the door and smiled at me.

“Miss Kirby, I just wanted to say that it will be a pleasure to act as your guard, and if you have any concerns at all, please come to me.”

I smiled politely, feeling a little awkward. “Thank you, Mr. Henderson,” I said, and he nodded.

“I was in school and trained with your uncle, so if you need any further assurance about my capabilities, I am sure he will tell you how I readily kicked his a*s on numerous occasions.” He grinned a bright grin that I couldn’t help but return. “Also, I know we have two weeks left in school, but please, feel free to call me Greg.” Once school was over, Mr. Henderson, or Greg, would also leave school and continue, as Louise’s and I guess, my private guard.

“One more thing before I let you girls go off to class.” He picked a sheet of paper from his folder and passed it to me. “There have been a few changes to your class schedule.”

“What?” I looked down at the revised timetable and saw that my classes had changed. All of my childcare-related ones had been stripped out and replaced with Political Science and Business Finance. I looked up at Louise, who took the sheet of me and hissed.

“Son of a b***h!” she swore. I knew exactly who had changed my classes. “I’m sorry, sweetie,” Louise said, passing me the sheet back. “At least we have more classes together,” she said, trying to find the bright side, I guess. I just wanted to cry.

“There are only two weeks left. Why change them now?” I asked in despair. Although, I knew exactly why. Political Science was actually Pack Politics and was taught by the Beta. All the named ranked kids and some of the high-ranked ones were required to take it. And Business Finances had never been taught in school before. I had my suspicions over who the teacher was, and it was gonna be confirmed as that was my first class of the day.

“Sorry, it’s Alpha’s orders,” Greg said, although I knew full well this was Colton’s doing. We left class, and I hugged Louise before heading to my first new class.

I walked into the classroom, which was empty, except for one person. I closed the door, and he looked up from the laptop in front of him and smiled.

“Hi, Dad,” I said sadly, and he smiled sympathetically

“Aw, Pumpkin. Don’t be like that,” he said. “I know it’s not what you want, but I promise it’s important.” I smiled weakly and sat down next to him as he started to go over the basics of the pack’s finances.

By lunchtime, I was fed up. Political Science wasn’t so bad, apart from the fact that Donna, who was also in the class, spent much of the class glaring at me. She was shamelessly flirting with the Beta when I walked in with Louise, and I could hear her trying to get information about his son’s new girlfriend. The Beta looked up and smiled warmly at me, confirming her suspicions and hatred for me.

At lunch, Louise, Katie, and I sat at a small table when Donna came stalking up and sat down opposite me and stared straight at me. I fidgeted uncomfortably under her piercing glare.

“Geez, Donna, take a picture. It’ll last longer,” Katie said.

“Shut the f**k up, runt,” Donna shot back, and Katie cringed at the name. Donna and a few others in the pack considered the Omegas to be little more than servants and treated them awful.

“So, who would have thought that sweet little Harper would have had it in her, eh?” Donna asked as she glared at me and her fangirls, who were standing behind her, all sniggered. “Maybe it runs in the family. We all know what Tommy is like, and I had heard plenty about Susie being quick to spread her legs” I glared at her. My sister did have a few boyfriends before she met her fated mate, but she was by no means what Donna was suggesting. On the other hand, Tommy had a reputation that rivaled Colton’s and Damien’s for being a heartbreaker.

“Ha!” Louise laughed. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black there, Donna,” she said. “I distinctly remember you letting a few pack members climb between your legs. Including Harper’s Uncle.” I glanced at her when she said that, and the bitterness in her voice didn’t go unnoticed elsewhere either. Donna growled at Louise, who just smirked.

“So what happened then, Harper? You turn eighteen, and your slut-o-metre kicked in?” Donna sneered at me. I went to take a drink and heard a gasp from behind Donna. She turned and looked, and I saw one of her fangirls staring at the ring on my finger. Oh s**t! I had totally forgotten that it was there. Donna’s eyes zeroed in on the rock, and I tried to pull my hand back, but she was quick and grabbed my hand in a vice grip.

“What the f**k is this?” she screeched. “Why are you wearing an engagement ring?” Half the lunchroom turned around in shock. The other half were werewolves and had probably already been listening in on the whole conversation.

“Donna, keep your bloody voice down, you i***t!” Louise scolded, and Donna glared at her. Louise looked at me and mouthed sorry. She then lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. “And get your hands off your future Beta’s mate before you get yourself into more trouble than even you can handle.”

A gasp ran through the lunchroom, and a flurry of whispers started from the pack members who had heard everything. I went bright red as suddenly there was a lot of focused attention on me.

“No!” Donna hissed. “It’s not true. Why would he pick you, of all people, as his mate?” She tightened her grip as I tried to pull my hand away. I wanted to get out of there before the tears that were threatening started.

“Look, she’s about to start crying!” one of the girls behind Doona sneered. “How is she meant to be one of our leaders? She’s so weak!”

Katie jumped up and slapped her, and everyone looked up, shocked. “You call my friend weak again. I dare you!” The slap had been enough to distract Donna, and I pulled my hand away. I jumped up and grabbed my bag quickly. I needed to get out of here. I made it halfway down the hallway when I heard the lunchroom door slam open, and Donna yelled. “Don’t f*****g walk away. I’m not done with you yet, you w***e!” The next moment, I felt an impact and was thrown across the hallway and into some lockers. I landed on the floor in a painful pile. Before I could even comprehend what had happened, I felt a hand in my hair, and I was dragged up and slammed into the lockers again. Pain ran through my head as it hit the lockers full force, and I landed back on the floor crying out.

“What the hell, Donna?” I heard Louise shout and looked up and saw enough to see that Louise and Katie were trying to get to us, but the fangirls and a couple of the pack boys drooled over Donna, blocking their way.

A shadow blocked the view, and I looked up to see Donna standing above me.

“Come on, you little slut,” she sneered. “Fight back, or don’t, and we can show Colton who really is the Alpha female here.” I saw her hand curl into a fist and braced myself for the impact but instead heard crashing and looked up and saw that Mr. Henderson had Donna flat on the floor with his knee on her back.

“What the hell is going on here?” I cringed as I heard a bellow and saw the Beta standing at the end of the hallway.