Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

I closed my eyes as his hand crept around and wrapped around my throat, squeezing ever so slightly.

“You still smell like strawberries,” he said as I felt him nuzzle into my hair and take a deep breath. “Just as sweet as ever.”

I struggled to push him away, but I was at an awkward angle and couldn’t get the leverage I needed. He chuckled in my ear, and I tried not to let the sudden trapped feeling overwhelm me. This wasn’t working. I needed to get a better advantage.

“Colton,” I whispered in my best whiney voice. “Please.” His hand around my throat loosened a little, and I relaxed a bit.

“Oh baby girl, I like it when you beg,” he muttered and twisted my arm further behind my back. I cried out again, but this time it was all fake. If I acted like the old weak Harper and got myself into a better position, something, I could work with.

“Please, Colton, that hurts,” I whined and rolled my eyes at the same time. To be honest, it did hurt a little, but I found it a little hot and had to resist the urge not to rub my a*s against his groin, which I could tell was already hard. Colton chuckled again and dropped my arm long enough for him to spin me around, slam my back against the wall again, and grab my arms, pinning them above my head. Again, he pushed himself against me and grinned down at me before using his free hand to swipe my hair to one side and bury his face in my neck.

Fireworks went off in my brain as he kissed my neck and my body remembered his touch like it was only yesterday. I bit my l*p to control myself as my breathing grew heavier. Colton’s free hand glided down my body, brushing against my breast before sliding down and gripping my h*p.

“Mmmm, baby girl, I have missed you, and I can tell you have missed me too,” he whispered between k****s, and I wanted to pull away in disgust. I needed him to let go of the tight grip on my wrists, so did the first thing that I thought of. I played along.

“Oh, Colton,” I m****d, and he growled in appreciation, grinding his hard member against me. Just as planned, he let go of my wrist so he could grab my other h*p to pull me against him. I let my arms fall onto his shoulders and then wrapped them around him. I fought the rising l**t trying to take over my senses and maneuvered us until he was in the exact place I wanted him to be. I felt him relax into me and smile as I pushed against his shoulders and brought my knee up swiftly between his legs, hitting him right in the jewels. He cried out, probably in a mix of shock and pain, and doubled over. I didn’t waste time and kicked his legs out from under him, and he went face-first to the ground. I had him pinned with my knee pressed into his back and his arm yanked behind him in under a second.

He might have been bigger and heavier than me, but I had extensive combat training designed to work against supernaturals bigger and stronger than him. I leaned down close to his ear as he struggled.

“What’s up, Colton?” I whispered. “I thought you liked a bit of pain.”

“You f*****g b***h!” he spat. “I’ll f*****g kill you when I get my hands on you.”

“Sure you will, sweetheart,” I said, laughing.

“Now listen here, you disgusting piece of trash.” I got serious again. “I am here to visit my family. I will be doing just that, and you will stay the f**k away from me. Do you understand?” Colton grunted, and I twisted his arm further up his back. “I said, do you understand?” and he nodded his head.

“Be aware I am not that same scared, little, innocent Harper that you f****d around with back ten years ago. Your days of being able to manipulate me are over,” I snarled, and I felt my eyes shifting to their gold, knowing that my strength would increase with the shift. I was surprised when Colton laughed.

“Oh yeah, I can’t manipulate you, can I?” he said. “Then why are you still wearing my ring!” f**k I forgot he would see that. Even after almost ten years, I still couldn’t shift the damn thing off my finger.

“Face it, Strawberries, you still belong to me, and you always will,” he gloated, and I growled.

I grabbed his arm and his shirt and yanked him up by them, taking him by surprise, and then I pushed him against the open banister, slamming his h**s against it and kicking his legs out, so he leaned right over, giving him a view of the two-story drop to the pavement below. As a werewolf, he would survive, but it would certainly hurt a lot.

He screamed and tried to cling to something with his free hand.

“Let’s get one thing crystal-clear right now. I belong to nobody other than myself. And don’t think I won’t hesitate to let go of you and let gravity do the rest,” I growled.

“You f*****g psycho b***h,” he shouted. “Pull me back up. I’m the Beta of this town. You can’t do this to me.”

“I don’t care what your rank is. You f**k with me again, and they won’t find enough body parts. You hear me? I have taken down bigger and more dangerous supers than you!” I wasn’t sure if it was the look on my face or the growl in my voice, but Colton suddenly looked like he believed every word. He nodded his head quickly, and I stared at him for a minute longer before pulling him up and letting his feet find the floor.

He looked like he was going to say something for a second, but I growled again, and he backed away. He watched me as he backed up the stairs and then turned and ran down them. I watched as he appeared downstairs in the carpark and rushed across the car park to the car that I had seen him in yesterday. He looked up at me before getting in the car and quickly driving off. I hoped that would be the last of any trouble that I would have from him, but the look he gave me made me think otherwise. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but he seemed too confident down there by the car that I liked.

“Harper?” I turned to the voice calling my name and saw Katie standing there with a big grin on her face. She was still the same as when I saw her last, slender frame, ample breasts, and blond hair, although it was currently flat and wet, which I guessed from the shower. She was wearing a silk look short black robe that barely covered her a*s. She ran over in her bare feet, threw her arms around me, and hugged me.

“Oh my goddess Harper, it’s so good to see you,” she said. I pulled away and gave her a confused look.

“Katie, why did I just see Colton, of all people, coming out of your place?” I asked, and a hurt look crossed her face before she grinned again.

“Well, hello to you too,” she said jokingly.

“Katie?” I asked again, and her face fell in defeat.

“Okay, you better come in, and I’ll explain everything,” she said and turned and walked back to her apartment door. I followed her into the apartment and looked around. It was tiny and seemed a bit dark and dingy, like the light couldn’t get in. Although the accessories were several shades of pink, the furniture was all mismatched, telling me that not much had changed about Katie.

“Do you want coffee?” she asked as she headed to the side of the room that housed the kitchen. I shook my head.

“Water will be fine,” I said, and she shrugged and pulled out a glass from the cupboard and poured some water from the tap. I knew that she was avoiding sitting down. I could read her nervous energy as she busied herself with the kettle and several other things.

“Katie!” I finally said, and she looked around at me and sighed. She put down the plate in her hand and walked over to the sofa, sitting down.

“It’s not what you think,” she said.

“So you’re not sleeping with him?” I asked, and she blushed.

“Okay, it is what you think,” she muttered. “But it’s not like I want to. ”

“What!” I exclaimed. She stood up and disappeared into a room that I assumed was the bedroom and came back out with a white box. On the side of the box, the word Harper was written in black marker. Katie put the box down in front of me, and I looked at it as she spoke.

“When you went, Colton went crazy, like rip-the-town-apart-crazy,” she said. “He would disappear for weeks on end and then come back more frustrated than ever. Then one night he turned up at my door with a bag.” and she gestured to the box, “This stuff or a variation of some of it was in the bag” In the box, there was somebody spray that was strawberry flavoured, some of my old clothes and a brown wig.

“He was super drunk, ranting about how the other girls couldn’t get it right, and they weren’t convincing. He said I knew you better so I would know how to be you.”

I looked at her, horrified. “Are you meaning to say, he dressed you up as me to have s*x with you?” I felt sick as she nodded, looking down at the floor, shame all over her face. “And you did it?”

She looked back up at me. “That first time, I was terrified. He had already killed a couple of pack members earlier in the year when he was in a rage. I was scared he was going to kill me.”

I gave her a sympathetic look. I had seen a taste of Colton’s temper before I had left. I knew how scary it could be.

“Then I felt kinda ok with it, and I surprised myself that I was able to act like how I thought you would act. I realised after that he had used a command on me, and I hadn’t realised,” she shrugged and looked at me. “The next day, the Beta came to visit me. He said that I had helped a lot, and Colton was the calmest he had been in over a year.” She looked at the floor again, shame creeping back on her face. “Things were hard, Harper, hell, they still are. Howlers don’t pay enough and I can’t get a job anywhere else.”

“What did he do?” I asked, although I already knew.

“He offered me money. Every time Colton needed to visit, I would be paid £500.” I hissed at her words. “He also said that my dad and brother would have problems if I didn’t agree to it,” she said, and I suddenly wished that this new Alpha hadn’t already killed the son of a bitch.

“It isn’t so bad, though, even the times Damien came with him. And it’s less and less since the new Alpha took over,” I was looking at her in open shock.

“Damien?” I asked, my memory flashing back to that night. “What did Louise say about all this? Surely she wouldn’t have agreed or stood for this.”

Katie laughed. “Harper, Louise and I have barely spoken three words to each other since you left.”

“What?” and she shrugged again.

“She disappeared, and the next I heard, she was mating with Damien, and then it was like we had nothing in common. I was annoyed that she would hurt Tommy that way too.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe how much destruction had been left because I couldn’t deal with my a*****e mate.

Katie quickly changed the subject when she saw my expression, and I smiled as she told me about her brother and his new wife and their new baby. She asked about me, and I kept it vague. I told her the story about London, and the subject turned to guys. She asked about Aaron, stating that he was hot, and I told her how we had dated for a while, but we’re still good friends. Before long, it was getting to 1 pm, and it was at least an hour’s walk from here to the Pack House where I was due to meet with the new Alpha at 2:30 pm. I said goodbye to Katie and said I would visit at least once before leaving town again.

I took a slow walk most of the way to the pack house, enjoying the warm sun. I got to the Pack House with ten minutes to spare and walked through the main entrance. I was hit by serious amounts of flashbacks, as nothing had changed, other than being a little worse for wear here and there. And it was empty like nobody was around at all.

I assumed this meant that the layout was the same and made my way up the stairs to where I remembered the Alpha’s secretary would sit. And I was right. Sitting behind the desk was a pretty redhead. She was busy flirting with a big guy, who I recognised from the picture in the case file back at the Council. It was the Gamma Marcus Farwell. He turned his head slightly and watched as I walked up. The redhead smiled at me.

“I have an appointment with Alpha Owens,” I said, and the redhead just smiled again and then tapped on the keyboard in front of her for a bit.

“Okay, Miss Kirby,” she said. “The Alpha has just stepped out, but you can wait in his office. Do you know the way?” I nodded and then narrowed my eyes.

“How did you know who I was?” I asked, and she blushed.

“Everyone has heard about you, darling,” Farwell said. He had a strong cockney accent and a cheeky grin on his face. I grinned back, thinking I wouldn’t mind checking this one out for some evidence at some point.

“I hope it wasn’t all bad,” I flirted with a wink, and his grin widened.

“Well, depends who you ask, but anyone who can piss Stokes off is alright in my book,” he said, standing up. “He’s just been ranting at the Alpha. I pissed myself laughing when he said that you knocked him to the ground.” He looked me up and down. “If I had known you were this tiny, I would have still been laughing.”

I smiled and shrugged.

“It’s amazing what a couple of self-defence lessons can do.” I looked Farwell up and down myself. This was the guy Nathaniel said would be able to give me a challenge. I was certainly willing to give him a chance.

“Well, I would be happy to show you some more self-defence tricks at some point,” he said with a wink, and I grinned again.

“I might have to take you up on that,” I shamelessly flirted. If I could get close to the Gamma, I could maybe get some evidence. The quicker, the better, and then I could get out of this damn place.

I excused myself with a smile and a promise to meet up later and headed down the corridor towards the Alpha’s office. Farwell had said that the Alpha wasn’t in, so I didn’t bother knocking. I opened the door to walk straight in and came face to face with Colton again.