Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

It took us a solid hour to calm my mum down. She cried hysterically almost the whole time, and it took both Colton and me on her pressure points before we got her down to gulps.

“He said he wanted nothing to do with it. Why did they not listen?” my mum sobbed quietly into a tissue.

“Mum,” I said, and she looked up at me. “Please, I need to know what you know.” Louise handed my mum a glass of water, and she took a big drink before putting it on the kitchen table where we were sitting.

“That band you are wearing used to belong to your great-great-aunt Angela,” she said, pointing to the cuff.

I looked down at it and then back up to Colton. “Where did you get this from?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“Nathaniel brought it with him.”

“Nathaniel!” my mum exclaimed. “Nathaniel is here?”

“Yeah, mum, do you know him?” I asked, and she nodded her head and smiled.

“Nathaniel and your father were best friends growing up.”

I couldn’t keep the shock off my face.

“Your father was very upset when your grandfather exiled him. It’s why your father helped Alfred Chambers to take the Alpha title and then to run your grandfather out of town.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “Dad gave up the chance of being Alpha?”

“Well, yes,” my mum replied. “He did it to protect you.”

“But I wasn’t even born when all this happened,” I said, and my mum nodded.

“No, but I had just found out I was pregnant with you.” She looked up at Susie, who was standing at one side quietly.

“Listen, Harper, I love you so much,” my mum said. “You are my baby girl, and no matter how stubborn you get or how long you stay away, you will always be my baby. But we didn’t want a second child. We were too scared of what it would mean.”

Well, that stung. I sat back in my seat and shook my head. I always felt like I was a hassle to my parents. I looked up at Susie again, and she avoided my eye contact.

“Ok, so why were you scared to have another child?” I asked.

“We thought we had got lucky with your sister,” my mum said and looked up at Susie. “We thought that turning our backs on the Order and joining the Circle would be enough to stop all thigh happening again.”

“All what, mum?” I asked, and she shrugged and pointed to the cuff.

“I never wanted to see that thing again, especially not on my child.”

“Mum!” I exclaimed. “Seriously, you need to start making sense.” I was getting annoyed, and my head was beginning to hurt again. I rubbed my temples and felt a presence beside me. I looked up as Colton took my hand and began rubbing the circular motion below my thumb. I went to pull away, but he tightened his grip.

“Don’t be so stubborn,” he growled, and I gave up resisting, mostly because I felt the strength falling out of my way too quickly to really fight it. I was trying to make sense of all this. My father had helped Chambers take the pack. And my parents were Circle.

“So, how did dad betraying his bloodline protect me?” I asked when the headache had subsided a little.

“Your grandfather wanted to remove Nathaniel and his family from the pack and the town,” my mum said. “He had been planning it for years. He blamed Angela’s demise on their presence. He said it was too much for her. But he didn’t know how the Bethrinton’s were actually helping.” She looked up at Colton and smiled. “That was why we were so happy when your fate bonded with Colton. It had become obvious that you were to suffer the same fate as Angela did.”

“So Angela was a divine warrior?” Louise asked, and my mum nodded.

“For all intents and purposes, yes,” she said. “But she never pursued it, she didn’t train, and she kept the Angel Blade under lock and key.”

“Angel Blade?” I asked. I looked up at Colton, and he shrugged.

“Yes, I don’t know too much, mind you,” my mum said. “Because we actively tried to keep away from all this. And when Samual was run out of town, we were sure he took the blade with him. But it was seen as being an activator to the angel inside you.” My mum stood up and moved around to the seat next to me.

“Harper, darling, the angel inside you is just like the demon in Nathaniel or this boy.” She nodded to Colton. “It will burn you up so that you don’t even exist anymore. I saw the change in Nathaniel when he finally accepted the demon as dominant. He changed from the kind, gentle boy I had grown up with into the monster he is now. I don’t want that to happen to you or what happened to Angela.”

“What happened to Angela?” I asked.

“She burnt up, cooked from the inside out. And because she didn’t want to be consumed by the angel, she refused to take the angel blade. That was how she died!” She shook her head, and a tear fell down her cheek.

“Your father and I had just completed the mate bond. I was so excited to be mated to the future Alpha of the pack. It was unusual, especially for an omega such as myself.” I could tell by the way that Susie’s eyes widened that she was as shocked at that one as I was. “Angela had started talking about her time being passed by, and she needed to make way for the next generation. I remember Samual being upset at her taking off the cuff. We knew, of course, but I was new to the family, and I didn’t know the whole lore. Very few do in this town. Of course, the headaches and the dizziness started, and it wasn’t long before her temperature began spiking. Samuel begged her to take the blade, but she refused. She said that she knew the next generation was more important, and she had to make way for that.”

My mum looked up at me. “I still remember the day Angela died, screaming in pain. Your father was devastated. He knew the lore, of course. He was training as a guardian, just like your grandad did. But then, when we fell pregnant with your sister, we knew there was a chance that she would be the next divine warrior, so your father hit the old books.” She looked up at Susie and smiled and then looked back at me. “We still weren’t sure when Susie was born. The mark of a Divine warrior was the luminescence on the skin at birth, and she didn’t have it. And your uncle Tommy had been born the year before and showed the mark of the guardian, just like your father.” She sighed.

“It was then that your father found the passages about the balancing of b***d.” She looked at Colton and smiled. “When one with angel b***d and one with demon b***d connect, they balance each other out. Your father was furious, Angela could have been saved, her angel could have been neutralised if she had bonded with one of the demon b***d families in the area.”

“There are more?” I asked, and mum shook her head.

“Not now. Your grandfather had them all slaughtered. He said they were filthy, and his bloodline would not be tainted with demon b***d. That’s what caused Nathaniel to accept his demon in full. Your grandfather and his men attacked him and his family, killed his parents, and tried to kill him and his sister.” She glanced at Colton again, whose lips were pinched. He shook his head and walked to the other side of the room. “If Nathaniel hadn’t done what he did, they would have all been killed.” She nodded to Colton. “Including Caroline’s little one.”

“Son of a b***h!” Colton exclaimed. “I need air,” he said and stormed out of the room. I glanced up at Louise as we heard the front door slam. That had to be hard to hear, finding out the one responsible for taking out most of your family.

“When Nathaniel accepted his demon, Samual exiled him, and your father turned his back on the Order. He said he wanted no part of it. Samuel was potentially putting our child’s life in danger.” She looked up at Susie, “That is why your father helped Alfred Chambers so that the demon bloodline could stay in Midnight Moon.”

I took a deep breath. This was a lot to take in. I looked down at the cuff and then back up at my mum.

“So this cuff, it’s keeping the angel from coming out?” I asked and she nodded. “And the only way to permanently do that is to complete the mate bond with someone with demon bloodline?” She nodded again.

“So, this is why you agreed to the engagement and actively encouraged Colton, despite how awful he was?” My mum looked down at the table, and I shook my head. “Geez, mum,” I scoffed.

“Hold on there, princess,” Susie spat, and I looked up in disbelief. “Do you think this was easy for mum and dad? Dad worked for them. He knew what the Circle was, how evil they were, but he did that for you so that you would be safe.” She looked angry. “Everything was all for you if you had just done what you were supposed to do and completed the bond with Colton, we have got the Alpha title back, and dad wouldn’t have died trying to stop Eric Stokes from coming to collect you from wherever you ran off to.”

“What?” I exclaimed.

“Susie!” my mum exclaimed at the same time. “Do not talk to your sister like that!”

“Really, mum?” Susie exclaimed. “All she had to do was be with her mate, and then we would all have been happy.”

“Everyone except Harper, that is.” Louise shot back, her face turning red,

“What do you care? You struck lucky in all this, Mrs. Chambers,” Susie spat at Louise.

“Do you even know what went on at that place?” Louise shouted. “Do you know what Harper was put through, what I have been put through?” She advanced on Susie, and I jumped up and got between the two of them.

“Louise, leave it,” I said.

“No, Harper, she thinks you ran away for kicks. Maybe people should know about the s**t you went through.” Louise was furious, and tears started to stream down her eyes.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Susie spat.

“I’m talking about being abused and manipulated and shared between friends. I’m talking about my own father siding with the people who ripped me away from my own fated mate’s arms and the ones who left your sister in the middle of the woods in pain because she wouldn’t sleep with his mates.”

“Louise, please,” I begged, and she stopped and looked at me.

“I’m sick of hiding it, Harps. I’m sick of being the bad guy in all this.”

“Harper?”

I turned to face my mum and saw there were tears in her eyes.

“Is all that true?”

I nodded my head. She started crying again. “But mum, I’m fine now,” I said. “Elias has helped me so much.”

“But your father knew,” she cried. “That’s why he contacted Nathaniel, isn’t it?” She looked up at me. “He knew you were at the Council. He wanted Nathaniel to look after you. He told me that he was making sure you were safe.” She looked at Susie, and I glanced over. Susie looked white and was staring between Louise and me.

“Oh Harper dear,” my mum said. “We never knew, but I think your father did. The night he died, he said something about it not being safe for you here.” My mum was back to crying hysterically, and I pulled her into a hug. I looked at Louise, who shrugged.

The door opened again, and Colton popped his head in.

“Nathaniel knows where we are. I have to get you back,” he said, and my mum stiffened at his voice. I heard her growling before she looked up at him.

“Get out of my house,” she growled, and he looked shocked. “Stay away from my baby,” she clung to me like he would swipe me away at any minute.

“I, er-” Colton looked confused, and my sister stepped forward.

“You heard my mother. Get out!” she growled. I nodded at Colton to go. Despite my family standing up to him, I knew I couldn’t bring Nathaniel down here. I needed to go back. Plus, I had a feeling that the old books were still in the pack house. It was why I let myself get caught by them in the first place. And now I need to know about this blade.

“Mum,” I said. “I have to go.”

She shook her head. “Not with him,” she cried. “Harper, listen to me. You can’t take off the band.” She fingered the cuff on my wrist. “Not until you complete the mate bond,” she said and then cried again. “But I don’t want to see you with that monster.”

I smiled at her. “It’s okay, mum,” I said. “Luckily, I know more than one monster.” I saw Louise smile again.

I hugged my mum and my sister.

“Look up the Angel Blade,” my sister whispered. “It might be another way, I dunno.”

I nodded. It was a moot point if my grandfather had it, but it was worth knowing anyway. Louise and I turned to leave when my sister turned to Louise.

“By the way, congratulations on the baby.” We both stopped and stared at her.

“The what now?” Louise asked, her eyes wide.

“Yeah, I guess you don’t know yet, but I recognise the glow you have. It was the same as when I was pregnant with James.” She shrugged. “Looks like we are both mothers to future guardians.”