Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

“No! Absolutely not. It’s not happening, Harper.” I stood glaring at Aaron as he blocked my way out of the bar.

“Aaron, move now before I set you on your a*s,” I snapped. I had been trying to get away for the last half an hour, but Aaron was adamant.

“Seriously Harper, it’s stupid,” he hissed. “Like actually one of the most stupid things you can do. Let me get in touch with Drake first.”

“Ha!” I exclaimed. “I’m not entrusting anything to that vampire.”

“Harper, please,” Alex pleaded from behind me. “Why don’t we get a plan together first, okay?”

“Oh sure,” Louise muttered. “And at the same time, they can be killing my mate.” I looked over at Louise, and she shrugged.

“They won’t kill Tommy,” Harry said as he took a drink. “They can’t. He’s currently the only guardian. They need him to get to the seal.” Everyone stared at Harry, and he looked up. “What?” he asked, clearly confused.

“How do you know so much, old man?” Alex asked.

“Exactly that, you mutt,” Harry shot back, “I’m an old man. I’ve been in this pack and this town longer than any of you. I was here when the last Divine Warrior was.”

“I’m not the Divine Warrior,” I snapped, and he looked at me, amused. He walked over to me with the book in hand and pointed out a passage. f**k!

“Oh, and what colour is your fur, angel?” he asked and winked when I put my head down.

“What?” Aaron asked and took the book reading the passage. “The Divine Warrior can be identified by the mark of luminescence in their secondary form.” He looked up at me. “I don’t get it, secondary form? They mean wolf form, right?” I nodded. “Well, you haven’t been able to shift in over ten years, and I’m sure you said you were a grey wolf. I mean, it’s rare sure, but not exactly shiny.”

“I shifted,” I whispered, and his eyes widened.

“What, when?” he asked.

“Last night, after….” I trailed off, realising that there was so much that Aaron didn’t know

“After what?” he asked impatiently. I held up my hand for him to see, and his eyes widened further.

“The ring, it’s gone,” Aaron exclaimed, and I nodded.

“Elias took it off. He said it was me keeping it on, not the compulsion.” I shrugged

“So what colour is your fur then, not grey anymore, I take it?” he asked, and I shook my head

“White, but in the moonlight, it shimmers,” I said and heard gasps from Louise and Alex.

“Like a luminescence,” Aaron said, and I sighed, “Sorry darling, looks like you can’t fight this.”

“Great,” I said and sat down in a booth. I didn’t want to be this special wolf or whatever. Why couldn’t I just be Harper, an amazing badass warrior?

“Well, now that we have deduced that our Harps really is from heaven,” Alex said with a wink, and I grinned. “It’s obvious that we need to figure something out because it is way too dangerous for you to let yourself get in the hands of that demon.”

“Agreed,” Aaron said, and I scowled.

“I’m old enough and skilled enough to look after myself, “I snapped. I just needed some sort of distraction, something long enough to be able to slip out of the bar.

“I don’t care, Harper. You are clearly important, so we need to,” Alex started to rant until he was interrupted.

“What’s that smell?” Aaron said all of a sudden. His eyes unfocused as he sniffed the air. But I couldn’t smell anything, and neither could anyone else by the look on their faces. Just then, I heard a noise from the back, and a voice floated through.

“Harry, I wasn’t sure whether to come in today, what with the town being on lockdown, but thought I better-” Katie walked in from the back of the bar and stopped dead. She stared at Aaron like he was the most surprising thing she had ever seen, and one glance at Aaron confirmed that he was doing the same thing. I looked up and Louise, and she grinned. We both knew what was going to happen next. In a blur of movement, Aaron shot across the room and grabbed hold of Katie. He buried his head in her neck and took a deep breath. Katie all but gasped as she clung to him.

“Mate,” Aaron muttered, but it was loud enough for us all to hear. Alex and Harry jumped up to congratulate the couple while Aaron and Katie introduced themselves to each other. I was smiling. At least one good thing would come out of this. Then I realised that my wish had been answered. Everyone was distracted and not looking at me. I took the opportunity and slowly headed towards the main entrance.

I slipped out into the evening and headed for Louise’s car. It wouldn’t take me long to break in and hotwire her car. I was sure she wouldn’t be too angry, maybe. I headed across the empty car park when two large shadows appeared in front of me. I sighed as I looked up at the two slabs of meat who had clearly followed me out of the bar. I guess they weren’t as distracted as everyone else.

“Are we going to have a problem, boy?” I asked, and they both just stood there, not answering.

“Listen, boys,” I said, “If I’m gonna save your boss from the firing squad, then I will have to get on the inside. This is the best plan.” I tried to reason with them as they stood there silent.

“I mean, do you guys even talk?” I asked, and they just glanced at each other. I sighed and narrowed my eyes.

“I don’t want to hurt your egos here, but I will move you if you don’t get out of my way.” I was beginning to lose my patience. One of them rolled his eyes, and the other smirked. He looked like he really wanted me to prove that I could move them. Then the one with the smirk moved to one side and inclined his head. The other one looked at him like he was crazy but then shrugged and moved aside too.

“Thank you,” I said and walked past them.

“You know Marcus is gonna kill us, right?” I heard one mutter to the other,

“Did you see the look on her face, man?” the other one said. “If she really is an angel, what if she can smite us?” The first one laughed at him. I couldn’t help but crack a smile myself.

I headed to the car and picked up a rock on the way. I would have to pay Louise back later for the broken window.

“You know keys are quieter,” a voice from behind me startled me a little, and I turned to see Louise standing there, her keys hanging from her hand.

“Nah, ah.” I shook my head, and she rolled her eyes

“What, you can be stupid, but I can’t,” she scoffed. “It’s my mate there as well, you know.”

“Yeah, but you heard Harry, they can’t kill him,” I said, and she rolled her eyes again.

“You think that means he’s safe?” she had me there. “Plus, demon guy said I had to go too.”

“Please don’t call him demon guy,” I said, and she laughed. She unlocked the car, and I pulled the driver’s side open.

“I’m driving,” I said, and she threw me the keys. I felt awful for bringing her into my bad decision, but I knew she was right. We jumped into the car, and I started the engine just as I heard a shout from the bar. Both Aaron and Alex were heading our way at speed.

“Whoops, we’ve been found out,” I said. “Buckle up.” I set the car off in a wide circle around the furious boys and out of the car park towards the other end of town. We were soon heading towards the pack house, and probably the stupidest thing I had ever done.

We reached the pack house way too soon, and I saw warriors headed our way before I had even turned off the engine. I looked at Louise.

“Last chance,” I said. “You can still get out of this.”

She shrugged. “Nope,” she said, and I smiled. She might not have been trained to be a warrior, and she was probably terrified, but the woman still had nerves of steel and didn’t let her fear show. I turned off the engine, the car doors were pulled open, and we were instructed to get out. I jumped out and recognised one of the warriors from training.

“Geez, Warner,” I said. “I didn’t think you for the evil type.”

He just shrugged. “More like the winning team, love,” he said, and I rolled my eyes. I was going to respond with some comment about him being an i***t but then stopped as the doors to the pack house opened and Nathaniel walked out, followed by Colton.

“Harper,” he called like we were long-lost friends. “My dear, thank you for coming.”

I watched him carefully as he came near. “Okay, we are here, Nathaniel,” I said. “Now, let our people go.”

Nathaniel laughed. “Not quite how it works, my dear,” he said and glanced at Colton. “I’ll consider letting them go when my nephew is the official Alpha of this pack and has his mate by his side.”

My eyes widened as I realised what he meant. I shook my head and backed up straight into the two warriors. Their hands encircled my arms, and I felt something snap onto my wrist. I didn’t need to look down to see that whatever it was, was silver. I felt the effects almost straight away. I tried to struggle, but one silvered wolf against two full-strength ones had no chance. I shouted at Louise to run, but she had already been circled by warriors and put in cuffs.

Nathaniel stood patiently to one side while I shouted obscenities at the warriors and tired myself out. Even in my logical mind, I knew it was what they wanted. I couldn’t help but try to fight the warriors. I half noticed Louise being dragged off into the direction of the cells and screamed for them to stop. Finally, I lost my strength and could barely even keep my feet under me as I slumped in the warrior’s arms. I shot Nathaniel a look, half thinking that this smiting skill would come in handy right now. Nathaniel responded with a grin and then nodded at Colton. Colton stepped toward me, and I tried to pull away as the silver sickness began to cloud my vision. Colton lifted my hand, and I felt something cool slide onto my finger. I didn’t have to look down to know what it was. Colton lifted my hand to his lips.

“I will kill you slowly and painfully the first chance I get,” I snarled at him, and he smiled and kissed my hand.

“I don’t doubt you, my Angel,” he said. “But for now, you’re all mine now, Strawberries, again.”