Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

A murmur went through the room as I quickly glanced around. My eyes rested on my mother’s and then my father’s. Both of them looked so proud. I smiled weakly at them. I could see Tommy next to my father, but his back was to me. In fact, he was the only person in the room who wasn’t looking at me. I wanted to hide behind Colton; I was never one for attention, and the amount directed my way was way too much.

Colton tugged gently on my hand and began rubbing circles with his thumb again. I looked up at him, and he smiled. I hadn’t even noticed, but my breathing had shallowed with my anxiety. I smiled back as I regained my breath, and Colton began leading us down the centre of the room towards the stage. I tried to compose my nerves as we mounted the stairs onto the stage where the master table was. I glanced at Louise, who met my eyes and forced a smile. The Alpha stood in front of us and smiled as we neared the centre stage.

The intention ceremony was a small but formal affair, especially when it involved a named rank pack member. We stood to one side of the Alpha as he spoke about the rarity and importance of a fated mate and how this was a gift from the moon goddess. He mentioned that the discovery of the fated mate bond falling on the summer solstice was another sign that Colton and I would be a powerful asset to the pack. Lastly were the vows and the token bond gift.

“Beta Colton Stokes,” the Alpha boomed. “Do you swear that you have been blessed with the gift of the fated bond to Miss Harper Kirby? And do you intend to honour that bond into full completion?” Colton looked at me, smiled, and then looked back at the Alpha.

“I, Beta Colton Stokes, swear that I have been gifted with the fated bond with Miss Harper Kirby, and I do intend to honour it to completion.” The Alpha nodded his head and turned to me.

“Miss Harper Kirby, do you swear that you have been blessed with the gift of the fated bond to Beta Colton Stokes? And do you intend to honour that bond into full completion?” I nodded my head quickly and tried to speak clearly, although you could still hear the quiver in my voice.

“I, Harper Kirby, swear that I have been gifted with the fated bond with Beta Colton Stokes, and I do intend to honour it to completion.” I let out a breath, glad that I had gotten everything out correctly. Again, the Alpha nodded and turned to Colton.

“When do you intend to complete the bond, under the eyes of the moon goddess?” We hadn’t actually discussed when we would actually do the mating ritual, but I knew it needed to be done within the next three months because of his rejection. But then again, we hadn’t discussed doing this ceremony so quickly or anything really. Colton had made all the decisions.

“I intend to complete the mate bond ritual before the next full moon,” Colton said proudly, and my eyes widened as I looked at him in shock. The next full moon was just over a week away. Was Colton really expecting me to be mated and marked by then? He squeezed my hand tight enough that I had to stop myself from crying out. I got the hint and looked down, knowing that he had seen my look just now and that he wasn’t happy.

The Alpha noted the exchange. And when I looked back up, he smiled at me with sympathy.

The alpha turned back to Colton. “Do you have the bond intention gift?” and Colton nodded. He pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket and opened it. He turned it to face me, and I couldn’t help the gasp. Inside the black material were a delicate silver chain and a circular pendant with a flat black surface around a silver crescent moon. There were tiny diamonds set into the black to look like stars to finish it. I knew, of course, that it wasn’t real silver but a silver compound that gave the impression of silver without the lethal quality that silver has to werewolves. The whole pack owned jewellery made with this stuff. It didn’t take away from the beauty of it, though. Colton took the necklace out of the box, put it on the table behind him, and looked at me expectantly. I turned around, and he placed the necklace around my neck and whispered in my ear as the crowd cheered.

“This officially makes you mine now, Strawberries.” A shiver ran down my spine at his words “Mine to do whatever I want with.” He stroked his finger down my neck and onto my shoulder, and I clenched my hand, digging my nails into my hand to try and control my thoughts and emotions. I glanced out to the cheering pack and searched for my Uncle Tommy, but the seat beside my father was empty. Colton took my hand and turned me to face him, pulling me into a k**s, and wrapped his arms around me. I melted into the k**s as the pack cheered more.

Next was the pack dinner, which was pretty much the same except this time I was sat up on the stage with the rest of the named ranks and not with my parents. I could see Katie sitting at the back of the hall with her father. She grinned when she saw me looking and waved. I waved back and smiled. Colton looked in the direction I was smiling and frowned.

“I think we will need to look at the list of people you associate with from now on,” he said to my shock. “I have a reputation to uphold, which extends to you now.” My jaw dropped as I looked at him. Did he mean I couldn’t be friends with Katie anymore? I was about to argue, but he grabbed my knee under the table and squeezed. I whimpered at the pain, and he shot me a look that clearly said not here. I let it go for now, but I wasn’t going to let Colton decide who my friends were.

After the dinner was a brief informal reception which allowed pack members to offer congratulations and the such. My parents told me how happy they were and that my sister passed on her congratulations. I asked after Tommy, but my father just brushed it off and changed the subject. About an hour into the reception, Colton came over to me as I was talking to some school friends and took my hand.

“My apologies, ladies,” he said with a charming smile, to which they all swooned. “But I must steal my mate away from you now, I have a surprise planned, and it is getting late.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet,” one of the girls cooed, and I smiled and said my goodbyes.

Colton led me out of the grand hall and into the front courtyard. Alex was standing by one of the many cars that I had learned the Beta family had and opened the back door when he saw us coming. I climbed in and over to the other side as Colton climbed in after me. And after closing the door, Alex ran around the car and jumped into the driver’s seat. Colton took my hand and leaned in to k**s my cheek before nuzzling into my neck. I gasped as his hands quickly began to roam my body.

“Colton!” I exclaimed as he began unzipping the outer layer of my dress. “Alex can see us.” He grinned.

“Then we better put on a good show, baby.” He pulled at the dress, so the top layer slid down my body. I was left in the short grey dress underneath, and Colton looked me up and down. He grazed his hands along my thigh and up under the dress. I giggled and pushed his hand back down. He growled into my neck and nipped at my marking spot, and I gasped. I pulled myself up from the seat, and Colton grabbed me and pulled me onto his knees, so I was straddling him and leaning in to k**s him. He wrapped his hand in my hair and deepened the k**s. His other hand travelled up my thigh again and pushed under my dress. I gasped into his mouth as his fingers rubbed against my panties. I tried to pull away, but his hand left my hair and landed on my a*s, and he held me firm.

“Colton, please,” I whispered and turned and looked at Alex, who was focusing a little too hard on driving. Colton g*****d against my chest but moved his hand.

“We are here anyway,” Alex called back, making it obvious that he was fully aware of what was going on.

“Here?” I asked, looking out the window into the dark. “Where’s here?”

Colton chuckled. “You’ll see, Strawberries.”

Alex turned off the engine, jumped out of the car, and opened the car door. I pulled myself off of Colton’s knees and climbed out of the car. Alex offered me his hand as I got out so I wouldn’t fall, and I thanked him. Colton then climbed out with his eyes on Alex, and even though they weren’t mind linking, I could see that some unspoken communication was going on between them.

Colton turned and smiled at me and started leading me down a dark path. We were in the middle of the countryside, but I honestly didn’t know where. After a couple of minutes, I saw light up ahead. As we got closer, I saw that the light was coming from a gazebo of sorts. There were fairy lights all around it and what looked like a blanket inside with a basket. I looked up at Colton with a happy smile.

“A night picnic.” He smiled and nodded. I was so happy. This was such a romantic gesture. But my happiness was short-lived when I saw what else was in the gazebo. Standing there holding two wine glasses was Damien Chambers.