Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

I looked at myself in the mirror and scowled. Dress comfy! That’s what the note said. I mean, what the f**k did that mean. Dress comfy meant pajamas or joggers, but a date required more. What did date comfy mean? I had changed between my skinny black jeans and my black joggers twice now. I huffed in the mirror, pulled my messy bun down, and let my hair fall down my back. It was already 5 pm, and I was getting annoyed at myself for being such a girl. I sighed. Screw it! Black joggers and a purple sleeveless top. With my hair down and a touch of l*p gloss and mascara, I was giving in.

I grabbed my mobile phone and headed out the door, and bumped straight into a wall of muscle. I looked from the black t-shirt pulled tight around the chest to Elias’s smiling face. I got a full-on smell of his sea salt and mint scent, and I forgot what I was doing as I felt a stirring inside of me. Elias’ smile widened, and he brushed my hair back over my shoulder. I saw his nostrils flare as he took in my scent, too.

“Geez! Get a room, you two.” I heard Marcus’ voice float down the hall, and it snapped me out of the brain fog I was in, and I rolled my eyes. Elias scowled behind me before looking back down at me.

“d**k!” I called back to Marcus, and he laughed.

“I thought you were going out,” Elias said, and I looked around to see Marcus in a black shirt and slacks.

“Got a hot date?” I asked, and he grinned.

“Nah, but gotta look good for the ladies.” He winked. “Have fun, you two. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he said, turning towards the stairs. Elias scoffed.

“That doesn’t rule out much, does it?”

Marcus waved his hand, laughing as he disappeared down the stairs.

I smiled and turned around to face Elias. He smiled down at me, leaned in, and brushed his lips against mine. I took a breath, leaned in, and felt his arms wrap around my back as he deepened the k**s. I pulled away slightly and smiled.

“Maybe we should take Marcus’ advice and get a room,” I said, and Elias chuckled. He took my hand, and we walked down to his room. I walked in and gasped. The living area of the room was set up with candles, and the coffee table had bowls of snack food on it. It looked so cosy and nice. Definitely different from last night’s activities.

“I thought we could watch a movie,” Elias said and shuffled his feet on the floor and looked up at me nervously.

“I would love to.” I smiled. I thought it was cute. I had never really gone on dates so much, but then I avoided a connection, and most of the time, the warriors I picked were happy to just have mindless s*x. Elias smiled and guided me to the sofa. I sat down, and his eyes glazed over for a few seconds. I waited expectantly until he had finished mind linking with whoever.

“I ordered some pizza from the kitchen,” he said, sitting down. “They should be up in about ten minutes.” I nodded. Elias handed me the remote, and I flicked through the choices on the streaming service and found a cheesy action movie. And after assuring Elias that I really did enjoy them and wasn’t just trying to appease him, we settled down to watch the movie.

By the end of the movie, most of the food had been eaten, and I was snuggled into Elias while his arm was over my shoulder. I was starting to nod off when I felt him k**s the top of my head. I tried to lean over to the remote, and his arm tightened.

“Don’t please,” he whispered. “Just stay like this for a bit longer.”

I snuggled back into him and felt him relax.

“It’s strange,” he said after a few minutes. “I always admired my parents and how much they loved each other. I would see them sitting like this and think it was the whole point of a relationship.” He had never really spoken to me about his family or his past, and I wanted to know more.

“Were your parents fated?” I asked and felt him nod against my head.

“Yeah, my dad was Alpha of the Cresent Dawn pack, and my mum was a rogue.” I sat up and looked at him in shock. I was trying to search my mind for the Cresent Dawn pack but couldn’t place them. He pulled me back into his side, and I let him with no resistance.

“My mum had fallen in with a Rogue Alpha that was trying to get territory or something and had even agreed to be his chosen mate. They attacked my dad’s pack, and my parents met while fighting each other. It was my mum turning sides that won the fight. She is an amazing warrior. You would love her.”

“Is? Your parents are still alive?” I asked. I always thought of Elias as a more lone leader.

“Yeah, they live in a tiny village on the east coast,” he said.

“But they don’t have the pack now?” I felt Elias stiffen slightly before relaxing again.

“No, it doesn’t exist anymore,” he said. It wasn’t uncommon for the smaller packs to disband or merge with bigger packs, either through territory fights or alliances, but I felt there was something more to this story. I didn’t want to push him, though, so we lapsed into silence for a few minutes.

“I was fifteen when it happened,” Elias said finally. “It was planned that I would take over the pack when I was eighteen, which annoyed my sister Lily to no end.”

“You have a sister?” I asked, and he stiffened again.

“Had,” he said sadly. “She was beautiful and smart. She was in university to be a solicitor.” He went quiet again, and I let him. I leaned against him as he ran his fingers up and down my arm. It wasn’t too long before he spoke again.

“Lily was twenty-two and was annoyed that dad insisted that I took over the pack because it was a male thing. She would argue that women could be Alphas, but my dad had always been old-fashioned or, as my mum says, pig-headed.” I smiled at the sentiment in his voice.

“My dad took me out of regular school and sent me to the Council for warrior training.” That did shock me.

“Wait, you trained at the Council?” I asked, sitting up again, and he nodded.

“It was where I met Marcus, although I didn’t get on with all the rules.” He grinned a boyish grin, and I could see the sparkle in his eye. I could definitely see a young Elias pushing it at the Council and getting into a world of trouble.

“I decided that I wasn’t going to stay and was feeling the urge to go home. I guess I was homesick, so I skipped out and headed home.” He stared off into the distance, the sparkle now gone.

“I was about a mile out from the border when I saw them. This wasn’t a rogue attack. This was organised and planned. There were hundreds of them. I managed to get home to sound the alarm minutes before they descended on us. They came at us from all sides, and we fought the best we could, but we were nowhere near prepared. We managed to push them back, and my father ripped out the throat of the leader himself. That seemed to deter others, and the battle stopped.” He went silent again, and I saw a single tear slip down his cheek. I took his hand, and he looked at me in shock, like he had forgotten I was even here.

“We thought we had gotten off easier than we could. Of course, we suffered a few warrior losses, but it could have been worse. Or so we thought. It wasn’t until we had gotten to the safe house that we really saw the damage. The warriors on guard were dead, ripped apart, and there were bodies all over the safe house. We could tell that the women and the men that weren’t warriors had put up a fight, but they had been no match.” I squeezed his hand. I had seen my fair share of packs and towns massacred in my time as an officer. It was an awful sight when you had no connection. But for it to be your own, people must have been devastating. Elias sighed sadly.

“Twelve women and children had been taken, and my sister was one of them.” I could feel his sadness through the bond, and I wanted so much to take it away from him. It was like I could feel his heart breaking.

“We went in search, of course. My dad pulled in every favour, every alliance, every resource he could get his hands on. And we found almost everyone. They were locked in a container at a port, ready to be shipped off to goddess knows where. Everyone was so relieved. Apart from that, my sister wasn’t among them. My dad and I continued to search, but resources dried up, and he abandoned his Alpha title. My mother blamed herself. She was adamant that it was her fault somehow, and she got depressed and spent her days a shadow of her former self. It was six months later when we found my sister’s body. She had been violated and mutilated, and I don’t know what else.” I had tears running down my face as he continued his story. I didn’t know what to say.

“My mum took it really hard, and she tried to end her own life. She said that she didn’t deserve to live while my sister paid the price for her sins.” He shook his head. “I never understood what she was talking about, and my dad just put it off as being grief. I really thought we were going to lose her to it.” Elias looked at me again and leaned over and wiped my cheeks, and smiled.

“But you know what,” he said. “We didn’t. It took a while, but my dad helped my mum through the grief through the pain. He used the bond the goddess had given them to pull my mum back from the brink of hell and show her the light again.” He leaned over and kissed my still wet cheeks.

“Don’t you see? This is what I am trying to do with you, to help you heal.” I looked away and shook my head, and he cupped my chin and turned my head, so I was looking at him again.

“My parents are happy. Yes, they grieve for my sister, as do I.” He smiled. “But they are able to live each day because of the bond they have. And that is how powerful the fated mate bond is and why I am so determined to help you do the same, Harper.” He got down on his knees in front of the sofa and held my hands.

“Harper, I have been in love with you since the moment my wolf recognised your wolf since I got your scent. And I knew that I was here to make you whole again.” I shook my head again, “Baby, I know that that bastard perverted the bond, but please believe me that it really truly is an amazing gift. My parents are both alive because of it, and I know you can truly be happy again too.”

“Elias, I…” I didn’t know what to say. I felt overwhelmed by what he was saying, and everything in me wanted to turn tail and run. I knew that my feelings were growing for him at an alarming rate, but love? He said he loved me. Did I love him?

“Of course we do, you silly goose,” Miya’s voice came through loud and clear, loud enough that I actually jumped. “Don’t you feel him? He is our completion.”

“Elias, I,” I said again, knowing that tears were streaming down my face again. Elias smiled and sat back on the sofa and pulled me, so I was sitting in his lap. I instinctively curled into his body, and his arms went around me. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I couldn’t deny that I felt safe in his arms once again. I felt him k**s my head again and murmur words that I couldn’t quite hear.

We stayed like that in comfortable silence for I don’t know how long. I didn’t realise that I had drifted off until I woke up still curled into him, only we were both now laid on the sofa, and I saw Elias was asleep. I watched his steady breathing for a while before I started drifting off again. I knew without a doubt that I did love him. But that left me with a bad feeling in my stomach. I was sent here to investigate and find evidence against Elias. He was suspected of being a part of one of the world’s biggest and most dangerous crime rings. Maybe he had done it, joined the Circle to find the people who took his sister for revenge. But did that make him a good man in a bad situation, or was he really still a bad guy? And if so, could I really help convict the man I loved? I fell asleep internally, cursing the moon goddess and also thanking her for the fated bond between Elias and me.