Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Aaron’s POV)

“She wasn’t too happy when she left here, and she knows you knew, so be warned,” I g*****d as Nathaniel relayed his conversation with Harper earlier. I appreciated the phone call to warn me, but I would have appreciated not being pushed under the bus even more. Harper’s temper was notorious around The Council, and not many would face her when she was on a warpath.

“Yeah, thanks for that,” I said sarcastically. I pressed end on the phone and sighed. If I had known sooner, I would have brought doughnuts. That would have at least eased the beating I was in for. Despite being a slight build, the girl trained hard, and she could take down guys bigger than me with a smile and a flick of her hair. But here I was at the door of our shared apartment empty-handed and ready for the worst.

I put my key in the lock and opened the door ajar. It was unsettlingly quiet. There was rarely a time that Harper didn’t have some rock or metal band playing loud. Maybe she wasn’t home. I was lying to myself in hope since I could already smell her scent, and it was fresh, although it was mixed in with the scent of fermented grapes. Great, she had been drinking. I took a breath and pushed the door open, only to pull it back again when I saw the shadow of something flying at the door. I heard a smash against the door and winced. I listened for any more objects that may be headed my way when I heard a sigh.

“It’s fine. You’re safe.” I let go of a breath I didn’t know I was even holding and eased the open again. “For now,” she said, and I hesitated with the door half open when she giggled. Oh man, she was drunk. This was not going to be good.

I opened the door all the way and looked into the apartment’s living room. Harper was sprawled across the sofa facing me. Her eyes were closed, but I knew she knew my exact movement. I stepped over the pool of wine and broken glass at the door and looked back up at her to see she was now watching me. I nodded down to the glass and raised my eyebrows. She shrugged in return and closed her eyes again. I closed the door and moved to place my briefcase on the side table by the door, still watching her with caution. I took off my coat and shook out the water from the rainstorm outside before hanging it up.

“You’ve been drinking,” I said. She opened her eyes, and I nodded to the two empty bottles of wine at the foot of the sofa. She followed my gaze and shrugged.

“I can handle a bottle or two,” she said and closed her eyes again. She was right. As werewolves, it took us a bit more alcohol than your average mundane to get a good buzz, but she wasn’t acting or smelling like she had only had two bottles. I walked into the kitchen and sighed as I saw three more empty bottles. I grabbed them and walked back into the living room.

“And these?” I asked. Her eyes opened again, and she giggled again.

“Those were the ones I handled,” she said with a wink. I shook my head and put the bottles in my bag. I would put them down the recycle shoot on my way out tomorrow.

I turned and saw she was watching me and ran my hand nervously through my hair. The tension in the room had suddenly gone up a few notches.

“I bumped into Paul earlier,” I said. “He wasn’t happy.”

“Who?” she asked with a smile, and I rolled my eyes. He said she had forgotten his name. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that she never forgot anyone’s name. She just pretended she did when she was only interested in getting laid.

“I’ve asked you before not to sleep with the newer warriors. They don’t understand your ways.” It wasn’t the first time I had some jilted fresh warrior. Harper was undeniably beautiful and a formidable warrior and officer, but she was damaged, and she took her damage out in mindless f*****g.

I went and sat in the armchair and rubbed my tired eyes. I had been putting in a lot of hours in the classroom where I taught Parapsychology for the first years. I sensed Harper’s presence before I felt her hand stroking up my leg. I opened my eyes and looked down to see her on her knees in front of me with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Why? Are you jealous?” She winked and continued to push her hand up my leg, getting close to my groin. I stopped her hand and glared at her.

“Don’t,” I said sternly but already knew she wouldn’t listen. She got up from her knees and climbed onto my lap, straddling me and leaning close to my ear.

“Come on, Aaron,” she whispered as she ran her hands through my still damp hair and pushed her torso against my hardening d**k. “You look like you need to blow off some steam, and you know I know how to please you.” She nibbled my ear, and I g*****d automatically. I wanted nothing more than to take her into my room and show her that she didn’t need to fool around with the first years, that I could do a much better job than they ever could for her.

We had tried a relationship before. After I had picked her up as that scared little eighteen-year-old girl, I had taken her in. We had gotten very close, and I felt unbelievably protective towards her. At first, it was very platonic. She hated to be touched at all, and the nights were filled with nightmares and fears, and the only time she let me near was when I held her as she clung to me in tears.

After she had fallen for the charms of that d**k Drake and gotten deep in his sordid world, it was like something had clicked in for her. She had come out of that situation a lot different, and although she never talked about her three months at the Castle, a mansion owned by Drake which was basically 24/7 b***d and s*x games, I knew that it had affected her greatly and likely added to the trauma that she already had from that ex-mate of hers. With Nathaniel’s help, I had gotten her from Drake’s grips and brought her back home.

That was when our relationship had developed from just friends to something deeper. And it was going well for a year or so, I really started to see a change in her, and we were happy, despite Tommy telling me he was going to kill me the next time he saw me. I wasn’t bothered about that, though. The guy hadn’t left the borders of his town in almost fifteen years, not since we had trained here together.

Things with Harper had taken a darker turn, and her interests in the more taboo s*x practices had gotten too much for me. I didn’t mind playing with the handcuffs now and then, but the things she wanted to experiment with were beyond my comfort level, and I couldn’t stand the idea of her wanting me to hurt her. I’d called the relationship shortly before eighteen months together, and we had agreed to be friends. It had killed me to do it and broke my heart, but I knew I wasn’t what she needed. Every now and then, I slipped, and we found ourselves back in bed together, and I regretted it every single time. Sure, the s*x was great, amazing in fact, she was right when she said she knew what turned me on, but the heartache after knowing that she was never really mine was too much.

Harper had moved to k**s my neck and was grinding against me, and I felt myself wanting to slip for a second more before I pulled myself together. I grabbed her around the sides and stood up, lifting her off me and putting her down on the sofa before walking off into the bathroom, aware that she was sulking behind me.

I washed my face as I tried to compose myself and stared at myself in the mirror. Harper appeared in the reflection behind me, and we just watched each other before she broke eye contact.

“I’m sorry,” she said and looked back up at me. I smiled slightly to let her know I wasn’t mad.

“I just…” she said and waved her arms around. “I feel like I am falling right now.” She sat down on the closed toilet seat and looked up at me with unshed tears in her eyes. “I don’t think I can do this, Aaron.” She wiped at one tear and then looked at the offending wetness on her hand in disgust. “I can’t go back there. I can’t see him again.” More tears fell down her cheeks, and I turned and reached down and pulled her in for a hug. She clung to me like she did in the early days, and I kissed the top of her head.

“Harps, you are one of the strongest people I have ever met. I have every faith in you being able to do this,” I said, and she looked up at me.

“I haven’t seen anyone since that night, not even spoken to Tommy.” Her eyes lit up. “Can’t you come with me? We can say you are my boyfriend.” She looked excited all of a sudden. “Surely two agents are better than one?”

Her face fell as I shook my head. “Sorry, Harps, I already tried. Tommy originally requested two entry passes, one for you and your boyfriend, but the second one was denied, and he didn’t want to push it.” She nodded and went silent. Her fingers toyed with the buttons of my shirt as she stared off into space. I sighed and leaned in, and picked her up off the floor. Her hands moved around my neck, and she snuggled into me as I carried her into her room.

I pulled her covers back and put her into bed before taking off her jeans and then pulling the covers back over her. Her eyes had already closed as the emotions had really taken it out of her. I turned to go back into the living room.

“Aaron?” she asked quietly. I could tell that sleep was trying to claim her.

“Yeah?”

“Do you really think I can do this?” she asked, and I smiled

“Harper, sweetheart,” I said, turning to face her again. “You have faced countless challenges, criminals, and the likes of. I have no doubt that you can handle one small pack jerk.” I saw her smile, her eyes still closed, and went to turn again.

“Aaron?” she asked again, this time quieter.

“Yeah, darling?”

“Please don’t go.”

I smiled sadly. The pain and fear in her voice wouldn’t show to most other people, but I knew her, and I knew she needed not to be alone right now. I sighed and closed her bedroom door. I slipped off my shoes and clothes down to my boxers and climbed into the bed behind her. She turned and snuggled into me, and her breathing evened out as she fell asleep. It wasn’t long before the comfort of her scent relaxed me, and I fell asleep.

******

(Harper’s POV)

I woke up with a slight headache, and Aaron’s arms wrapped around me. I snuggled into him again for a few minutes, internally cringing at how I behaved last night. I loved Aaron. He was my rock, and I didn’t want to hurt him. I had wished for so long that I could be the girl he wanted, but I still had so much work to do, and it wasn’t fair on him to drag him through.

Eventually, I sighed and grudgingly pulled myself out of his arms and went into the bathroom to shower. By the time I was done, I could smell bacon cooking and walked into the living room to see Aaron by the door cleaning up the broken glass from last night.

“Whoa!” I said, wrapping the towel around my body. “You can’t cook bacon and do something else. You’ll overcook it.” He stood up and rolled his eyes before walking into the kitchen to throw away the broken glass.

“Don’t worry, princess,” he said with a grin. “This one is mine. I’ll make your raw one in a couple of minutes, so get dressed.” I scowled at the frying pan with the burnt bacon crisping before heading off into my room. There was a suitcase open on my bed, and I saw that Aaron had already packed most of the clothes I would need. I grabbed some panties and bras from their drawers without even bothering to look in the suitcase. Aaron knew me well enough to pack for me and cook my bacon right, and I knew him well enough to know that he refused to go into my underwear drawers.

After breakfast, we headed down to Aaron’s car, and as he was putting my suitcase in the boot, I saw Nathaniel walking up. He handed me a brown envelope.

“Proof that you have been working as a secretary for the last three years in London, and then as a waitress before then.” I nodded and tucked the envelope under my arm as I climbed into the car. Aaron joined me and started the car. Nathaniel waved as we drove off, but I couldn’t bring myself to wave back. I suddenly felt very nervous.

The drive to the pack border took four hours, and I had fallen asleep somewhere around hour three. I felt as Aaron shook me awake a bit later. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and looked around. We were at the side of the road on a grass lay-by, and I could see another car a few metres off. Sitting in the car was one person who I hadn’t seen in almost ten years. I looked at Aaron, and he smiled encouragingly as I got out of the car.

I walked up to the unseen border and smiled shyly at Tommy. He looked much the same as he did the last time, older obviously but not bad older. Aaron handed me my case, and I hugged him.

“You got your phone?” he asked, and I nodded. I turned and stepped over the border, feeling the shift as I entered pack territory.

Tommy took my suitcase and placed it in the back seat before turning and pulling me into a hug and whispering, “Missed you, kid.” I rolled my eyes and smiled and hugged him back.

That was when I noticed another car had pulled up a little further on. I glanced at Tommy, who followed my gaze before growling low in his throat.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said, and I climbed into the car. I looked over at Aaron one last time, glaring at the other car. He glanced my way and then smiled and waved before getting back in his car. Tommy turned our car around and drove down the road that led into town. I tried not to look as we passed the other car, but the pull to glance up was too much, and I did just as we passed by.

My heart leaped, and I felt fear run through my system as I clearly saw HIM behind the wheel of the car staring at me. Our eyes met for a brief second before we passed by, and I pulled my eyes to my knees. I felt as Tommy reached over and squeezed my hand.

“Don’t worry, kid,” he said and smiled as I looked up at him. “I got your back.”

I had a feeling from the way he looked at me in that brief second that I was going to need all I could get at my back.

Welcome home, Harper. Welcome home indeed.