Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

The next morning at breakfast felt awkward. Colton had seated himself in his father’s normal seat at the end of the dining table. He had put me in his usual seat, and Damien had sat himself opposite me. We were already seated in uncomfortable silence when Damien had sat down. He winked at me, and I looked down at my hands. The sound of their sniggers made me feel sick. I felt Colton’s hand on my thigh and tried to pull away, and he gripped and squeezed hard. Hard enough for me to cry out. I looked up and saw the whole table looking at me, and I covered my mouth. I looked at Colton, who was glaring at me. I lowered my eyes again and heard him chuckle.

“Women, eh?” he said, and the men around the room chuckled. I glanced up again, and Colton began rubbing my thigh where he had previously hurt it.

“Harper dear,” the Luna called from down the table. “Caroline and I were going to get ready for this evening’s pack meal and announcement. Why don’t you and Louise join us so we can ensure we are all looking our best?” She smiled, and I glanced at Louise, who rolled her eyes.

“Sorry,” Louise said. “I have school.”

“Not today, you don’t,” the Gamma said. “You can do the dress-up thing as requested by the Luna.” He looked at me and smiled. “After all, it is for your best friend’s benefit.” I smiled back before looking at Louise with my best pleading eyes. I did not want to spend the day alone with the Luna and my future mother-in-law. Louise shook her head and rolled her eyes again.

“Fine!” she said grudgingly, and I contained the relieved squeal that was threatening to escape.

After breakfast, Colton pulled me into his room. He closed the door and pushed me against it. He immediately began kissing me, and one of his hands slipped inside my joggers and panties, finding my nub with accuracy. His other hand released the zip of his jeans before grabbing my hand and pushing it inside against his member. I pulled my hand out again and tried to push him away, but he growled, wrapped his hand around my throat, and pinned me against the door.

“Stay still,” he growled into my ear and began rubbing circles on my nub. He nibbled around my ear, and I gasped as I felt the heat in my lower regions ignite and increase. Colton sped up as the scent of my arousal filled the room, and my breathing got shallow. I m****d as I felt myself on the edge of that sweet release that I had become familiar with within the last few days. I could feel myself start to tip over when Colton suddenly removed his hand. I cried out at the loss of his fingers and the ache that still burned unfulfilled within me. Colton grinned at me, his hand still firmly around my neck.

“You see, Strawberries,” he hissed. “That’s what happens when you are a naughty girl. You get punished.”

“But, I didn’t do anything,” I choked out.

“You disrespected your Alpha,” he said. “That’s not just bad for you but reflects badly on me as your mate.” He let go of my throat and stepped back just as there was a knock at the door. I jumped at the sound, and he chuckled as he pulled me out of the way. He opened the door, and there was a pissed-off-looking Louise and her brother Alex standing there.

“Seriously, Alex, get lost,” Louise snapped at him and looked at me. “Are you ready? Apparently, it takes all day to get ready for an informal pack dinner,” she scoffed.

“Informal dinner?” Colton asked, a grin appearing on his face. “Is that what you consider your best friend’s intention ceremony to be, Louise?”

“What?” I exclaimed, and Louise’s eyes widened.

Colton turned to me with a mock innocent look on his face. “Oh baby, did I not tell you?”

“Tell me what?” I could feel the dread creeping in.

“Well, after you fell asleep last night, I went to see my dad and the Alpha and asked if we could move up our timeline,” he smirked.

“But the intention ceremony!” Louise explained. “You have just become mates less than a week ago,” Colton shot her a frustrated look.

“And in many cases, the mates would complete the bond that same night,” he said. “In fact, if I remember correctly, our dear sweet Strawberries here begged me to complete the mate bond on our first night together.” I flushed bright red in the face. It felt like a lifetime ago, but I remembered being so taken by the bond that I wanted nothing more than for Colton to lay his mark on my neck. Of course, seconds later, he rejected me, but I wasn’t going to bring that up now. I suspected that Colton would consider it punishment-worthy if I did, and I could still feel the ache from the one a few minutes ago.

Colton tugged my hand and pulled me into him, and feeling his hands on me sent shivers right to my centre. I saw the quirk of his lips as he noted my reaction.

“Baby, I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?” he said, nuzzling into me, and I sighed at his touch and couldn’t help as I buried my head into his chest, drawing in his amazing scent. “Baby?” He sounded amused, and I pulled away so I could see his face. I realised that I had gripped his shirt in my hands and was on the verge of ripping it away. I flushed again at my display in front of people. What the hell was wrong with me? It must have been the up ranking yesterday. I had seen a massive increase in rank, which meant a massive increase in my libido.

Everyone knew that an Alpha or Beta has seriously high s*x drives, but it was less common knowledge that the females of the pack also increased in needs the higher their rank. The theory behind it is that their drive would need to match their mate’s, so they are adequately eager to fulfil their mate’s needs and provide a healthy heir.

If that was the case, I had just gone from a mid-level rank to a high named rank, so there were bound to be some symptoms. I tried to control my urge to touch him, but he wasn’t having any of it and began kissing down my throat.

“Baby,” he sounded amused. “You haven’t answered me.” Then he nibbled on my marking spot, which sent electric shocks right down to my centre, and I gasped and buried my head in his chest again. I tried to compose myself before I lifted my head away from his chest, but when I did, Colton gasped.

“f**k me, baby,” he said and whistled. “You are stunning.” I looked at him in confusion until he turned me around to the mirror. I saw that my eyes were gold again, meaning Maia was just under the surface. And that only happens with anger or l**t, and it was obvious that I wasn’t angry right now. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down, mentally scolding Maia in the process. I opened my eyes, and they had returned to my blue-grey. However, I could see the gold specks in them. I took a deep breath and looked over at Louise.

“I guess we should go.” I was desperate to get her alone to tell her about Damien last night. I really didn’t know how to navigate the situation. And what was worse was that Colton didn’t seem upset by it, or come to think of it, he didn’t even seem surprised.

Louise smiled and nodded, “Sure, let’s get this over with.”

I smiled at Colton, and he pulled me into him again, pushing his lips against mine and wrapping his arms around me. The k**s was brief but hot and left me gasping for air.

“Now remember, Strawberries,” he whispered in my ear. “Be a good girl, and I will make sure you get a good reward.” I shivered at what I thought he meant.

We went to leave but stopped when Alex moved to leave, too. Louise stopped and looked at him.

“What are you doing?” she asked, glaring at him.

“Coming with you,” he said. grinning

“What the f**k for?” she countered, and Alex looked at Colton.

“I’ve assigned Alex to protect Harper,” Colton said, and I looked at him shocked,

“What, why?” I exclaimed. I didn’t want to have Alex following me around all the time.

“First off, you have just up-ranked, so you are more vulnerable to the side effects while your system adjusts.” I wondered if he meant the extra lustful feelings. Did he think that I would sleep with someone else?

“Second, you have already been attacked once since becoming my mate. This will prevent that.” He pulled me against him from behind. “And third…” He leaned in and whispered, “Alex will be watching to make sure you are being a good girl.” He growled the last part, and goosebumps raised along my arm, and he chuckled.

“I don’t think I need Alex to follow us, and I don’t want to put anyone out,” I said quickly.

“It’s no bother at all, Harper.” Alex smiled at me, and I blushed. It was only a few years ago that I had developed a bit of a crush on Alex. He had been responsible for driving Louise around before she got her licence, which meant he was around a fair bit. We had even shared a brief, chaste k**s one night when he had dropped me off home after hanging out with Louise. Nothing had happened after. In fact, he had been rather distant. I just assumed that it was because I was a bad kisser, and he regretted it. I glanced at Colton, watching me with his eyebrows raised, and I blushed even more.

“It’s non-negotiable,” he said, his voice firm and clear, ending the discussion. I half smiled and nodded. I guess I would have to be more subtle with my conversations with Louise.

I turned to Louise, who looked annoyed, but I shook my head, and she sighed. She linked her arm into mine, and we headed from Colton’s room and up to the top floor, with Alex quickly behind us, where we had planned to meet with Colton’s mum and the Luna.