Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

I watched Louise in the rear-view mirror as Colton drove us back to the pack house. She was staring out of the window, and her hand was absent-mindedly resting protectively on her stomach. I could tell by the dazed look that she wasn’t actually seeing anything outside the car.

“Did I hear right?” Colton asked, and I shifted my view to him. He glanced over at me a couple of times but mostly kept his eyes on the road. I glanced in the mirror again and then back at Colton and nodded.

“You can’t tell Nathaniel,” I begged him quietly. “Please, Colton, if there is anything right you do, please don’t let Nathaniel know this.”

“If there is anything right?” he shook his head, the bitter tone clear in his voice. “Harper, everything I have done I have thought was the right thing.” I laughed at his statement, and he glanced at me and let out an exasperated breath. “Okay, well, maybe I was wrong, but I swear I never meant to hurt you, not really.”

“Colton, you are way more deluded than I gave you credit for,” I spat, and he growled low in his throat. We sat in silence as Colton turned into the driveway of the pack house. I tried to think of ways that I could get Louise out of harm’s way.

The door to the pack house opened, and I saw Nathaniel on the steps. He had that look on his face that said I was about to get into a world of trouble. Great, just what I needed.

“I won’t say anything,” Colton said, drawing my attention to him as he stopped the car. “I promise.” He looked at me with something close to sincerity, or maybe regret, in his eyes. I nodded in response, and he held my sight for another few seconds before nodding and then getting out of the car. I turned around and looked at Louise, who was still staring out of the window.

“Hey,” I said, leaning back and touching her knee. She looked down at my hand and then up at me. Her eyes shimmered with tears not fallen.

“f**k, Harper,” she exclaimed. “What and I gonna do?”

I smiled at her. “We’ll figure it out,” I said, and she returned my smile, although I could tell she wasn’t convinced. I looked over to the pack house and saw Nathaniel and Colton arguing. I sighed and looked back at Louise.

“Come on, let’s try to avoid that s**t show,” I said, and she nodded. We got out of the car and walked towards the pack house steps together. I was massively aware that my headache was back, and I was feeling really drained again. What I needed was to lie down, but by the look on Nathaniel’s face and the way he and Colton went silent, I suspected that what I was going to get was a mouthful.

“Not now, Nathaniel,” I said as I tried to walk past him. But he grabbed my arm tightly, and I winced at the pain that shot through my arm. Colton caught the wince and growled at Nathaniel. Nathaniel rolled his eyes without even glancing his way.

“Quiet down, boy,” he said. “Don’t think you are man enough or demon enough to go up against me.” I looked at Colton, who glanced at me before lowering his head in submission. Yeah, Elias was right. He was no Alpha.

“And you young lady,” Nathaniel glared at me, “What do you think you were doing, sneaking out of here without permission?”

I screwed my face up at Nathaniel. “Young lady? Sneaking out? Permission?” I spat. “Who do you think you are? My father?” I pulled my arm away from him, and I swore for a brief second I saw hurt. “I don’t owe you anything, Nathaniel. You are lucky I even came back in the first place!! I exclaimed. I grabbed Louise’s hand and pulled her past him. I headed towards the stairs, knowing that he was following me.

“You will start showing some respect,” he called after me, and I laughed dryly and spun around to face him.

“Respect? Respect?” I spat. “You lost any respect I had for you the moment I found out that you had been lying, using, and manipulating me for the past eight years.” I could already feel the tears. I was exhausted, and I held back the pain of betrayal from one of the people I had trusted for way too long.

“You don’t think I haven’t figured out that you have had me working for the one organisation, the scum bottom-feeding bastards I thought I was actively against?” I glared at him. “You have nothing I will ever respect, Nathaniel.” I spun around again, grabbed Louise’s hand, and headed up the stairs without looking back.

We made our way to the suite that had been assigned to us, and I pushed the door open as soon as we were both in. I slammed the door shut and leaned against it. The tears hit hard as I gave up trying to hold back the sobs. I really didn’t want Nathaniel to know how much he had hurt me. He really was like a father to me. So, finding out that he had been using me in such a horrible way, for what I didn’t know. And that he had been instructed by my actual father to protect me. Paired with the tiredness and everything else was just too much. I felt broken as I slid down to the floor in tears. I felt Louise’s arms around me and ended up crying into her shoulder. A good hour later, I finally felt like I had got it out of my system. The headache was raging, though, and I could feel pressure all over my body. I didn’t even need to check my skin to tell that it was hot, and I could tell by the worried look on Louise’s face that I probably looked as bad as I felt.

I tried to stand but needed Louise to help me up and to the bed. I hated feeling so weak and helpless, and it made me moody.

“I’m gonna get you some water,” Louise said. She headed to the mini-fridge in the corner of the room after I had snapped at her a couple of times.

“I’m sorry, Louise,” I said. “I should be looking after you.” She smiled at me with a water bottle in her hand.

“Nah, I think being consumed by an angel is way worse than finding out you are pregnant with some sort of magical baby. Well, other than a werewolf, that is.” I chuckled. She handed me the bottle as she glanced over at the door.

“Oh, Alex is linking with me,” she said, and her eyes glazed over. I sat impatiently waiting. I hadn’t been able to mind link with anyone for years and found it frustrating how everyone else could, but I was always on the outside looking in.

“Alex said that Aaron finally got in contact with the Council,” Louise said, her eyes still glazed. “Someone called Drake is mobilising a team and should be at the territory line in around six hours.” I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t really trust Drake, but at this point, I was willing to give him a chance if it meant us getting out of this shit.

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Ask Alex to ask Aaron about the Angel Blade,” I said, and Louise nodded. I was back to waiting.

“Alex said that Aaron has heard of it but doesn’t know anything concrete. He’s going to ask this Drake character now,” she said.

“Yeah, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that,” I said, and Louise held her hand out.

“Okay,” Louise said about thirty seconds later. “Apparently, this dude knows something. He said he would need to find something, but it’s gonna delay rescue until tomorrow evening.” Louise inclined her head, and a concerned look appeared on her face.

“Aaron is asking if you are wearing the band again.” I looked down at the cuff and shrugged.

“I guess this is what they mean, so yeah,” I said, and she nodded.

“Okay, he said good. Do not take it off until they can get to us.”

“But it makes me weak,” I scoffed, and Louise chuckled.

“Aaron said to just do as you are asked, for once.” She chuckled. “Wow! He knows you well then.”

I rolled my eyes even though I knew she couldn’t see it. “Fine.” I sulked and leaned back on the bed. I knew Aaron was right, but I didn’t have to like it. I was annoyed that we were nowhere closer to getting Elias and everyone out of the cells, and I could feel this pressure inside me getting stronger as I got weaker by the hour. Part of me wondered if I should just complete the bond with Colton to keep the angel at bay and then figure something out afterwards. Another part of me called me an i***t for even thinking that.

Louise finally finished her conversation with Alex and looked at me with sympathy.

“I guess you didn’t tell him he would be an uncle,” I said, and she screwed her face up.

“Nope,” she said. “He doesn’t need to know that right now. This time tomorrow, we will be out of all this, and then I can find out for real and give everyone the happy news,” she said, and I grimaced.

“Louise,” I said, and she scowled at me. “You know it’s not going to be just as simple as getting rescued, right?” I asked, and she sighed. “The place is crawling with warriors Nathaniel brought with him. They won’t go down easy.”

“Yeah, Harps, I know,” she said. “But I choose to live on the positive side of life.”

I laughed. “Yeah, okay, Katie,” I said, and she screwed up her face in disgust.

“No, thank you, I have way more taste than that trollop,” she sneered, and I looked at her, my eyes wide.

“Whoa!” I exclaimed. “I mean, I knew you guys hadn’t talked and all, but seriously, what happened?” I asked. Louise huffed and sat next to me on the bed.

“She’s a gold-digging w***e. That’s what happened,” Louise said. “I mean, she saw what he did to you, and I’m being locked away, but the little blond bimbo couldn’t wait to try to get her hooks into a rank title.” She laughed. “Shame for her that she failed and just ended up being their little toy instead.” My mouth was open in shock as Louise went on, “I mean, last I heard, she was wearing a wig and taking money for sleeping with Colton. I mean, how low can you really be?”

“Louise,” I exclaimed again, and she looked at me. “Who told you all this?” I asked, and she shrugged.

“It was all over town,” Louise said.

“Oh no, Louise,“ I said, upset. “That’s not what happened at all.”

“What?” she asked with a confused look on her face.

“Katie was forced into it by Eric Stokes. Basically threatened her and her family if she didn’t do what Colton wanted, even the wig and s**t was all him.” Louise looked at me in despair.

“What!” she exclaimed, the look of horror on her face, and I nodded. “I thought, I was told….” She dropped her head in her hands. “Oh my goddess, and I just turned my back on her,” she said as she began to cry. “I’m so awful, she was going through the same thing I was, and I believed what I heard. Oh, goddess, I need to speak to her,” and I watched as her eyes glazed over. Quickly, frustration crossed her face.

“Dammit, she is blocking me, but I don’t understand how.” His eyes cleared again. “She’s an omega. I should easily be able to get through.”

“Unless,” I grinned. I couldn’t help contain my excitement. “Wow, they didn’t mess around,” I said and giggled.

“Harper,” Louise huffed, and I grinned at her.

“Katie and Aaron are fated,” I said, and Louise nodded. “Well, I am guessing they have already completed the bond because Aaron is an Alpha rank. This means that Katie has had quite the up rank.” Louise’s eyes widened.

“Oh,” she said, and her eyes glazed again. I watched as her face lit up and then dropped, and then tears began to fall again. Finally, after around ten minutes, where I had started to nod off, Louise bounced on the bed, a smile on her face. I huffed as she bounced next to me.

“I got Alex to get her to talk to me, and I explained everything and apologised until I was blue, and we said that we would talk later, but she said that she didn’t hate me. I mean, that’s good, right?” Louise asked, and I smiled.

“Yeah, that’s good,” I said as I laid my head on the pillow. “It would be nice to spend time with my two best friends once all this is over.”

Louise smiled. “Yeah, I agree.”

We had just decided to settle down for the night when there was a knock at the door.

“Oh, goddess!” I exclaimed. “What now?” Louise got off the bed and headed to the door. She opened the door and scowled.

“What do you want?” she asked whoever and then looked over at me and rolled her eyes. She stepped back, and Colton stepped into the room with a look on his face that told me that I wasn’t going to like this.

“My uncle wants to see you as a matter of urgency,” he said, and I sat up in bed.

“What for?” I asked, but he just shrugged.

“I’ll carry you myself if I have to, Harper,” he said, and I growled. “Or would you prefer to walk?”

I shuffled off the bed and glared at Colton. “Okay, whatever. It better be quick,” I said. “I’m tired, and I’m cranky.”

Colton laughed at that. “Yeah, I suspect cranky won’t be the word by the time this conversation is finished with,” he said and then waved his hand towards the door. I continued to glare at him for a couple of minutes but then sighed in defeat. I thought, let’s just get this over and done with and then I can rest and wait for the rescue.

I walked out the door with a quick glance at Louise as I walked past her. I could feel Colton on my heel as I headed down the hallway to the stairs and down to the first floor.

“Where am I going?” I asked, although I already knew.

“Alpha’s office,” Colton said, and I grinned. We headed towards the office, and I stood in front of the door. Colton stepped in front of me and opened the door. He walked in and held the door open for me. I looked in to see Nathaniel sitting at the Alpha’s desk, and my grin widened.

“Once a beta, always a beta, eh?” I said as I passed Colton into the room. His responding growl just made me grin more.

“That’s enough,” Nathaniel said, looking up at me. I sat down in the seat opposite and glared at him.

“What do you want, Nathaniel? I’m tired,” I said, and he smiled at me.

“Tomorrow night is the pack dinner,” he said, and I shrugged.

“Great. What do you want me to do about it?” I retorted, and his eyes narrowed. I knew I was getting on his nerves. One good thing about having him as a mentor for the last eight years was that I knew how to press every single one of his buttons.

“What you will be doing is beginning the ritual for completing the mate bond with Colton here at the dinner,” he said, and I glanced at Colton, whose face was surprisingly blank.

“The hell I will,” I snapped. Nathaniel leaned forward and grinned. His eyes switched to black, and I felt an instant fear wash over me, although I tried to hide it.

“Oh, you will, Harper dear,” he sneered. “Because if you don’t do exactly as you are told, your friend Louise and her precious little unborn baby will die!”