Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

I woke up in Elias’ arms as he carried me into the pack house. I was wrapped up in his tuxedo jacket as he snuck in through the back door, through the now darkened kitchen, and up the backstairs. The ball was still going strong by the sounds of it, although I had no clue what time it was. We made it to Elias’ room without being spotted, and he smiled at me as he gently put me down on the sofa and kissed the top of my head. I watched as he headed to his large chest of drawers and pulled out a clean t-shirt. He came back over and slipped the jacket off me, and helped me with putting the t-shirt on. My whole body ached and felt heavy; even lifting my arms was a concentrated effort.

Once the t-shirt was in place, Elias settled on the sofa next to me and pulled me onto his lap. I curled into him, suddenly feeling exhausted again.

“How long did we run for?” I asked as he stroked my hair.

“About an hour, not that long,” he said. I huffed. An hour and I felt like crap. He chuckled against my head.

“Remember, baby. It takes a lot out of you when you first shift. The fact that you lasted an hour is impressive,” he said. “And bloody hell you ain’t half-fast, Jax and I could barely keep up half the time.” I smiled at that, at least.

“I suspect that Maia was long overdue,” I said and snuggled further into him. “But it wasn’t my first shift, just my first in a long time. I don’t like that it was that hard.”

“Well, it was a really long time,” Elias said. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“I should have realised I have been getting headaches the last couple of days. It just didn’t even occur to me,” I mused. “I just wonder what triggered it after all this time.” I felt Elias fidget and glanced up at him when he didn’t say anything. The look on his face told me he wanted to say something, but he looked uneasy about it.

“What?” I asked suspiciously, and he grimaced. “Elias!” I narrowed my eyes at him, and he sighed. Elias lifted me from his lap and put me on the sofa. Before standing up.

“Elias, what is it?” I asked, suddenly worried.

“I might have something to do with you shifting,” he said and put his hand in his pocket. “It actually makes complete sense, especially with your headaches.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

Elias turned around and looked at me, uncertainty on his face.

“Remember at the dance I asked if you trusted me?” he asked, and I nodded. “Well, I might have done something that could only have been done if you were ready, but I suspected that if you knew, you would resist.” I suddenly resisted the urge to check my neck for bite marks, but surely if he had marked me or completed the bond, I would have felt it. Plus, we hadn’t even slept together, and you needed that to complete the bond. My hand must have twitched or something because Elias looked at me a little insulted.

“Harper, I would never mark you without your permission. Please don’t even think that,” he said, a slight edge to his voice.

“Well, what then?” I exclaimed. “Because you are starting to worry me now,” I demanded, and Elias sighed. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held it open in front of me. I looked at his hand and gasped in shock. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. And then down to my left hand. No, it wasn’t possible. I looked back at him and then to the single item in his hand. The engagement ring that had been on my finger for over ten years. It had been forced there, compelled by Colton. The one thing that had caused me so much pain was now sitting harmlessly in Elias’ hand.

“I don’t….” I said. “How?” I asked with tears streaming down my face. I looked down at my hand again, at my finger where the ring had been for so long. There was a slight indentation mark, but otherwise, it was simply like it had never been there. I couldn’t take my eyes off my hand, and my vision was beginning to blur from my tears. I felt Elias kneel in front of me and his hand encased in mine. I looked up at him, and he wiped the tears from my eyes.

“I don’t get it,” I said. “How did you….” I couldn’t form words fast enough to match my racing thoughts. Elias smiled and stroked my cheek.

“I knew that the mate bond, our bond, could help heal the trauma you were dealing with,” he said. “Remember, I had seen my dad do it for my mum.” I nodded, and he carried on.

“Well, I knew that damn ring had something to do with this,” he glanced back at the table where the ring was sitting. “I mean, Stokes’s compulsion should have lost its power, if not when you accepted his rejection sometime in the last ten years,” he scoffed. “He doesn’t have that much pull. The guy is barely a Beta. Goddess only knows how he thinks he will take the Alpha title from me.”

My eyes widened. “You knew about that!” I exclaimed, and he smiled.

“Yeah, I’ve known for a while, and I knew that he was trying to recruit you in on it too.”

I shrunk back a bit, suddenly concerned, and he chuckled.

“Marcus has been following you for a while. He told me that Stokes had been bothering you and trying to use his former bond with you as some sort of blackmail.”

“You had Marcus follow me,” I said suddenly, annoyed that he would do that, and he chuckled again.

“Well, technically no, but yes, I would have done anyway since you are my mate,” he said. “But Marcus comes from a very proud line of warrior Gammas. His lineage takes their responsibilities seriously, and as soon as Marcus knew you were my mate, he was itching to take the official protection role that runs in his b***d.” I couldn’t help but smile at that. Marcus had told me on multiple occasions that he took protecting me seriously.

“But anyway,” Elias said, stroking my finger where the ring was. “I knew that the ring must be some sort of key. And after the other night when we had our first, erm… well, I guess it wasn’t a date,” he said, and I smiled.

“Yeah, property destruction is a new one for date activities,” I said, and he chuckled again,

“Well, I noticed that you seemed different. Like there was a new light about you.” I tilted my head at that. I was sure Colton had said something similar, if not the same.

“I also noticed that your response when I felt you tug the ring seemed different. And then again last night when we talked about my family, you felt different, more open somehow.” I thought back to last night and how even without thinking about it, I did feel different. Although, the headaches had probably masked it at the time.

“I spent all of today looking up what information I could find on the mate bond and its use as a healing property. I sent Marcus near crazy, making him help me, which is why he planned all those appointments and things for you and got Louise involved. He hates leaving you unprotected, he said, and I am quoting him here, that it’s like a divine calling for him.”. He used air quotes as he spoke.

“But when I saw you this evening, you looked stunning,” Elias said, “Like, of course, you looked amazing in your dress, but I mean, it was like there was something new in you. And then when I put the necklace on you, I swear I saw a shimmer in your skin.”

I gasped suddenly, my hand shooting to my neck. “The necklace!” I exclaimed in horror, “I’ve lost it. It must have snapped when I shifted.” Elias smiled, reached into his other pocket, and pulled out the necklace. The chain was snapped, but it all looked to be still there.

“Don’t worry, I saw it come off and picked it up,” he said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“So, did the ring come off at the same time?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“No, I took the ring off,” Elias said. “When we were dancing, I asked if you trusted me, and when you said yes, I slipped the ring off.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“I don’t understand,” I shook my head, “How does trusting you mean that Colton’s compulsion doesn’t work anymore?”

“Baby, because it wasn’t Colton’s compulsion keeping the ring on your finger,” he said, lifting my chin so we were face to face, “It was you that kept the ring there. It was your attachment to the trauma that you had suffered. The only power that damn ring had was the one you gave it.” I shook my head again. Was that even possible? Was it me all this time?

“I could have taken the ring off all this time?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Potentially, but I think you needed to process what had happened and then let go of the power it had on you.” I couldn’t help the tears that started streaming again. “Baby, you need to know that you had to do this, you had to heal from this, I could only help because I had seen the bond help before.” He stroked my hair again as I tried to process what he said. I looked back down at my finger again and then up to Elias. His eyes were shiny with tears, but there was pride there too. Deep down, I knew that trusting him was one of the final pieces, one of the final snaps of the chain on me. And once the ring was removed, like a bind on my soul, Maia was finally able to come out. But it wasn’t the final piece.

This was a lot, and I felt so exhausted after my shift, but I knew without a doubt that I had allowed myself to not just trust Elias but to love him. And I was completely in love with Elias, mind, body, and soul.