Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

The pack house came into view as we drove up the driveway. Owens pulled the car up to the entrance and jumped out, and was around my side of the car before I had even managed to get my seatbelt undone. He opened the car door and offered me his hand. His face held the blank expression that I was starting to think was more of a mask. The big, tough bad boss showed no emotion as he ruled his empire. I took his hand, and he helped me out of the car. He kept my hand in his grip as he turned to walk into the house.

I half turned at the sound of another car and saw Tommy driving up the driveway. I stopped and waited until he pulled up behind Owens’s car. He got out of the car and met my eyes for a second before heading around the back to open the boot. He came back into sight, holding my suitcase and my bag. I hissed at the sight, traitor! Owens nodded to an omega, and he ran up and took the suitcase from Tommy and headed inside the house. Tommy walked over to us and held out my bag.

“Your phone is in there too,” he said, and I glared at him. “Don’t be like this, Harp, I think it’s for the best.”

“What about what I think?” I spat at him, and Owens’ grip on my hand tightened. I glanced at him, and he glared at me, clearly not happy with my tone. Well f**k him, I thought, rolling my eyes. I returned my glare to Tommy and snatched my bag off him before turning and walking into the pack house. Owens kept my pace and got to the main door to hold open for me.

I walked into the entrance hall to see Marcus, Colton, the, I guess now former, Luna, and Colton’s mother all standing there. Behind the,m I could see some other people, which from the guess of the identical blond women and the young man who resembled Alex, were Lisa and Lily Chambers, and Jamie Bennet.

Colton met my eyes as we walked in, and then his eyes slipped to my hand, which was still being held by Owens. He growled and stepped forward, but Marcus held his arm out, blocking him.

“Stay,” he said with a warning tone in his voice. He then turned to Owens. “The bedroom next to yours has been set up.” Elias nodded. He then turned to the group as a whole.

“Harper will be staying here, for the time being, she is here as my guest, and I expect people to treat her as such.” He pulled me close to him and wrapped his arm around my waist, and stared directly at Colton. “Mine, I mean!” Colton growled again and pushed away from Marcus, and stepped in front of Owens. Both of them stood staring at each other. I rolled my eyes at the stench of testosterone that was circulating the room and pulled myself out of Owens’ grasp. I stepped around them and looked at Marcus, who watched the exchange with an amused grin that made me wonder if he had even tried to keep Colton away.

“Marcus, be a dear and show me to my room while the children play,” I said, and one of the twins started laughing while I saw a twitch of a smile appear at the corner of the former Luna’s mouth.

Marcus turned his smile on me and held out his arm in a grand, sweeping gesture.

“Of course, m’lady,” he said. I linked my arm in his, and he guided me up the stairs. We were barely halfway when Owens called up.

“Marcus, hands,” Marcus chuckled but let go of my arm. I rolled my eyes again but followed as he moved ahead of me. As I got to the top, I looked back down the stairs and saw Owens and Colton staring at me with identical possessive predator gazes. I guess I was going to have to show both of them that I wasn’t the prey that they expected.

Marcus and I continued to the top floor of the pack house, and I followed him down a hallway I had previously never been. The only time I had been on the top floor was for meals in the named rank dining room. I wondered if that was still a thing under this Alpha.

“Marcus?” I asked as we got to a doo,r and he pulled out a key to unlock it.

“Yes, darling?” He opened the door and stepped back for me to walk in first.

“Do the named ranks still have meals together?” I asked. It was probably the best part of being here.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Every evening at 6 pm on the dot” He leaned down by the door and picked up my suitcase that had been left outside. I watched as pain flashed over his face, and he winced. He carried the suitcase into the room and put it on the bed.

“What’s wrong?” I said with a grin. “Did Colton win the fight?” He laughed.

“Nah, darling, that turd couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag.” He pointed to his eye and his side. “This was from Elias.”

“What?” I exclaimed and rushed over and lifted his shirt before he had a chance to stop me. He tried to pull it back down, but I batted his hand away and glared at him. He raised his hands in surrender as I returned my inspection of his torso, which was very finely sculptured. But it was also decorated in crude black, blue, and purple welts and bruises. I growled at the sight of it and prodded one of the welts. Marcus hissed in pain.

“Geez, woman,” he exclaimed.

“Why did he do this?” I asked.

“He gave an order, darling. I didn’t complete it.” He shrugged like it was the most normal thing to happen.

“What was the order?” Marcus looked at me and raised an eyebrow, and I closed my eyes in realisation, “It was to bring me back here” This, much like Alex’s fingers, was all my fault.

No, scratch that s**t. This was the Alpha’s fault.

“You are way bigger than him. I’m sure you could have taken him,” I said, and Marcus laughed again.

“Aw darling, don’t let the expensive suit and the well-groomed hair fool you,” he said. “The Alpha is a well-oiled killing machine. He is brutal and unforgiving when he has to be. And I am good, I’ll give you that, but he would wipe the floor with me in a heartbeat.” I looked to see if he was joking, but his face was serious. I looked back down at his body again and was about to say how much of a bully the Alpha seemed when there was a cough at the door.

We both looked up to see the bully himself standing in the doorway with his hands in his tailored dress pants pockets.

“Any reason why you are showing my mate your body, Marcus?” he asked. I would have reminded him that I wasn’t his mate, but he had a look in his eyes that screamed danger to any sort of defiance. Marcus stepped back, and his shirt pulled out of my hand, allowing it to drop and cover the brutal display.

“Sorry, boss, the woman couldn’t keep her hands off me.” He shrugged and then winked at me.

“d**k!” I muttered, and he laughed. Owens seemed to relax as well and nodded to Marcus. Marcus grinned at me and then turned and headed out of the room, closing the door behind him. And once again, I was alone with Owens.

He stepped towards me, and I stepped back. He stopped, and a hurt look crossed his face.

“Did you really do that to Marcus?” I asked. He looked like he was deciding if it was a good idea to answer or not, but then he looked at me and nodded.

“I expect success in every action,” he said.

“So if they don’t do what you ask, you kick the s**t out of them?” I had seen a fair amount of violence as an Elite Officer, but this wasn’t the same. This was exercising authority with cruelty.

“The punishment is always fitting the crime.” He was slowly moving towards me. I was trying to keep the distance between us, but I was running out of space. Before I was backed into a corner, I could see it happening, but I couldn’t seem to change it.

“And me?” I asked. “If I misbehave or don’t follow an order, do you plan on decorating my body with bruises?” The look of genuine disgust crossed his face. I had backed up into the wall, and a slight upward tug of the corner of his lips said that he was fully aware I was trapped. He moved quicker, right up to me, close enough to feel his breath against my cheek. His scent hit me hard, and I closed my eyes as it washed over me.

I felt his hand on my chin and opened my eyes to meet his as he tilted my chin upwards.

“I would never intentionally hurt you. You are my exception,” he said. He was so close that I felt his breath on my skin, and I was able to see his eyes clearly. They were a brilliant sky blue but had a distinct inky blue ring around the outside. They held secrets that I wanted to dive into and drown. I felt Maia shift inside me, and a fire lit my stomach. My eyes flickered to his plump rosy lips, and for a moment, I wondered what it would be like to k**s them. Would it be a gentle caress or fierce, passionate, hard embrace? The more I thought about it, the lower the fire got, and I saw the corners of his mouth twitch upwards again. He leaned in close to me, his lips almost touching mine.

“Unless, of course, you wanted me to,” he whispered against the thinnest layer of air that separated us. I felt the tension in his body, holding himself back. He was making it clear. This was my decision. I would have to make the final move. I felt a little dizzy, like I couldn’t get enough oxygen to my brain, and realised I had been holding my breath. Everything inside me screamed to close the gap, and I couldn’t think why it would be wrong. I tilted my head slightly higher and brushed my lips oh so lightly against his. That was enough for him, and with a growl, he pushed his mouth against mine and pulled me into a dark abyss of passion as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him in closer. Close enough to consume me. It was like every nerve ending was lit up as I felt his hands on my body. I was vaguely aware of him lifting me off my feet and moving us until I was pushed against something soft and sat on the bed.

Owens never once took his lips from mine as he pushed me back up the bed and crawled up between my legs as my head hit the covers. Finally, when I wondered if I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen, did he break the k**s. I was laid on my back with Owens on top of me, and I could feel his excitement as he pushed against me. My own excitement didn’t go unnoticed, the fire had now turned into an inferno, and I gasped with need as I felt his hand against my jeans. He buried his head in my hair, and I felt as he ran his nose against my neck before his lips made contact, and he started kissing and nipping down to my shoulder.

I ran my hand against his body and growled in frustration at the layers of clothes that stopped me from making skin contact with my own hands. I wound my fingers in his hair as I felt his tongue against my marking spot just as he slipped a hand into my panties and expertly found my clit. I cried out from the touch of his rough fingers against my most sensitive area as he began massaging it in circular motions. I could feel the pressure rising with every rotation of his fingers.

I was suddenly pulled back to reality when I felt his teeth graze my marking spot, and the cold realisation of what was happening cleared my mind, pulling away from the fuzziness.

“No!” I exclaimed as I pushed my hands between us and against his body. Caught off guard, he moved back with ease, his hand slipping back out of my panties, and I scrambled out from under him and jumped off the bed. His own l**t-filled haze dissipated, leaving a confused expression on his face.

“What? What’s wrong?” he protested.

What was wrong? I had one rule, don’t get close. s*x was s*x, but that was it, no emotions, no attachments. As long as I controlled that, I controlled my heart, stopped it from getting hurt, stopped me from being vulnerable ever again. That was my only rule, and in the last ten years, I had broken it exactly once. With Aaron, I had allowed myself to fall for him, but he couldn’t handle the darkness inside me, and even though I hid it well, I was crushed beyond belief when he ended things with me. So the rule stayed. The thing is the mate bond. It can’t follow the rules. It feeds on emotion and vulnerability. Where the mate bond is concerned, emotions will always be involved. But how could I explain to Elias Owens, my mate, that the mate bond was a pure poison that I refuse to allow run through my veins?