Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

I woke up still in Elias’ arms. I felt warm and comfortable and smiled as I snuggled further into him and closed my eyes to go back to sleep. I ran my thumb down the ring finger of my left hand by instinct, and my heart jolted when I didn’t feel the ring there. Somewhere in the back of me, Maia shifted around. It was common for our wolf’s side to disappear for a few hours after the first shift, so I wasn’t worried that I hadn’t heard from her. I could still feel her and knew she was happy. And so was I. I had never felt more content, more complete than I did at this point. It was like Elias filled up an empty space in me that I really didn’t even know existed. I couldn’t understand it. It was never like this with Colton. Urg! Just the thought of that weasel was enough to put a bad taste in my mouth. I was so happy that Elias knew about his plans to attempt to take over. And even happier that Elias wasn’t in the least bit concerned. In fact, he had seemed more amused that Colton thought he had a chance.

But that didn’t stop the issue that Elias didn’t know I was Council and why I was really here. I got a terrible feeling in my stomach at the thought of him finding out. Or at least finding out the wrong way, that way being that Colton was to tell him. That meant that I still had to work with Colton, or at least make him think I was working with him. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I knew that Nathaniel wouldn’t just take my word, that Elias wasn’t connected to the Circle. I needed something more concrete. Once I could prove that Elias wasn’t a threat, then maybe I could get Colton off my back and explain the truth of who I was to Elias.

Colton seemed to think that the answers were in the safe in Elias’ office, and I had a feeling that he was right. If I could get into the safe, I could show that there wasn’t anything there. After our talk the other evening, I had sent some requests back to the council for some information about the Crescent Dawn pack. I had a feeling that the combination to the safe was in that information.

I sighed. Now that my brain was racing, I knew there was no way I was getting any more sleep. I Pulled myself slowly from Elias’ grip and out of bed. Thankfully Elias remained asleep, so I found the t-shirt from last night, pulled it on quickly, and headed out of the room. I made my way to my room and let myself in. A glance at the clock on the bedside table told me that it was a little after 4 am. So, it was still early for anyone to be up, and from its sound, the party had also wound down downstairs. I rushed over to my bedside table and picked up my mobile phone. There were several messages on there. Two from Louise telling me that she saw Elias and me coming in and had retrieved my dress from the clearing, and the second that she was excited for me with lots of hearts. I smiled at the messages for a minute before looking at the others. There was a message from Aaron with the information I wanted. He may have been one of the Council’s best researchers, although he focused on the supernatural lore normally. But he came through with the details of the Crescent Dawn pack, including the dates of the first battle that Elias had told me about and the date of the second one where his sister had been taken. He also said that something didn’t sit right with him, and he would do more research and be careful.

The final message was from Nathaniel. He wanted to know how far I had gotten and said Drake had been sniffing around again. A cold feeling went down my spine at the thought that Drake was still watching out. I knew he was keen to get me in his claws again and that Nathaniel had done a lot of work to ensure that I didn’t end up back under his control. I didn’t remember too much from the time at Drake’s mansion, but I was sure that I didn’t want to go back. I could tell from Nathaniel’s message that he was getting impatient, which I understood. I wanted to get this finished myself.

I quickly pulled on some clothes and pulled my hair into a ponytail. Tucking my phone and some other things into the pocket of my jeans, I headed down to the first floor where the offices were. It was dark along the corridor as I headed towards Elias’ office. I got to the door and pulled out my lock picking kit, and worked on the lock to open the door. It was a simple enough task, and I soon gained entry into the dark office. I put the torch on my phone on low so that I had a little light but not enough to alert someone through the windows that there was someone here. I found the safe tucked into the corner of the office and quickly assessed the make and model. My initial thoughts were right. There was no way I was going to crack the safe. I was good at what I did, but this was built to withstand even werewolf hearing and strength. The only way I was getting this open was with the code. I sighed, opened my notes app, and looked at the numbers I had written. I had four sets of numbers. Elias struck me as a sentimental type, even though he hid it from most. The first date I tried was the date of the first battle or the date his parents met. That didn’t work. I then tried his sister’s birthday and the date his sister was taken, again, no luck. The last date was the date that his sister’s body was found, and when the red light flashed to say it was the wrong combination, I huffed in frustration.

I sat back on my heels and glared at the safe as if I could open it with the power of my mind. I was sure that one of those numbers would have worked. But now, I was back to square one. Of course, I could just ask him to open the safe, maybe. If I told him why I had been sent and that, I just wanted to show that he wasn’t who they said he was. But something inside me told me that I didn’t want to do that. I sighed and glanced at the safe again. For some reason, I couldn’t see the combination being something random. Everything inside me told me that it was of some significance to him. But what else was important to Elias? His family, and maybe…

I stared at the safe, an idea forming, but quickly pushed it aside. No, that wasn’t going to be it. There was no way that Elias would have done that. I looked at the safe again and, with shaking hands, typed in another set of numbers. I was shaking my head. There was no way this would work. I hit the last number, the green light hit, and the safe unlocked. I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe that worked. I felt both happy and scared that the combination was recently changed to the day after I came to town. The day we had first met just a few days ago.

I shook myself. I couldn’t get caught up in the warm fuzzy feelings I was getting right now. I needed to get the evidence to clear his name and get this closed down once and for all. I pulled the door open and saw that the safe was full of papers. There were the usual things there. A passport and some other official documents. Then a file marked pack businesses, a file with my name on it that I was very tempted to look in, and then finally, at the bottom, a thick file marked “The Circle.” I pulled the file out, my hand shaking. Suddenly I felt sick. Why would Elias have a file on The Circle if he wasn’t a part of the Circle? I was hoping to find something which explained the other packs, but it was here plain as day. The information in this file covered the Circle. I opened the file to see a top layer marked with yesterday’s date that detailed the shipping route of some containers set to travel through town during the ball. It was all here, details of the shipment, what was in it, and even the details of the next three routes. I flicked through the papers quickly until I landed on a picture of a familiar face. She was older, but I could still recognise the face of Donna Tobbins looking up from the picture. There was a note scribbled on top of the paper saying NEUTRALISED. I continued to look through, and there were maybe thirty or so smaller files with people’s names and pictures, including Donna’s parents and even Greg Henderson was in there. All were saying that same word in them. NEUTRALISED. I recognised so many of the people. It was now occurring to me that I hadn’t seen any one of the people in this file in town since I had returned. I thought back to what Louise had said. How she had heard people being tortured in the cells next to her, and my body began to shake with the realisation of what I was seeing. Right in front of me was the evidence I was looking for. Not the evidence to clear Elias, but the evidence that showed as clear as day that Elias was very much a member of the Circle.

I had tears streaming down my face as I recalled him saying he had pulled his resources to find his sister’s killers. Was the Circle one of his resources? Had he joined them to be able to get revenge? I quickly snapped pictures of the files and sent them in a message to Nathaniel. I couldn’t believe that I had misjudged and allowed myself to fall in love with someone so awful. I had tears streaming down my face when my phone lit up as a message came through.

“Good girl,” the message from Nathaniel said. “This is everything we need. Be ready. We are moving in immediately.” I should have been happy. I had completed my mission. Just like that, I had found a member of the Circle, and this was great news. So why did I feel like half of my soul had been ripped out? I glanced through the papers again and saw another set of papers, this time, with faces I had seen in town. There was one with Katie’s picture and one with Alex on too. Alex’s file had POTENTIAL ASSET written over the top.

I was about to open the file and look deeper when the room flooded with light suddenly. I grabbed my dagger from my boot as I turned to face the door. Standing in the doorway was a very angry-looking Elias. There was no love in his eyes, no trace at all. It was all monster. The Elias I thought I knew was nowhere to be seen, and what was left made me involuntarily shrink in fear.

“What the hell are you doing?” he spat, and I tried to think of an explanation as to why I was here. I only needed six or so hours, and the Council would be here. Hell, I just needed to get out of this room, and I could hide for that amount of time.

“Elias, I-” I started, but his growl cut me off. He rushed at me quicker than I anticipated and knocked the dagger from my hand. I tried to duck out of the way as he swung at me, but he grabbed hold of my ponytail, and I felt myself flying face-first into the wall. I looked up as the world turned to black, as I lost consciousness. The last thing I saw was the furious eyes of my mate.