Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

Left reeling in the wake of Colton’s words, I headed into my room to find that Louise was already asleep in the bed. I didn’t even have the energy to change my clothes, so I collapsed onto the bed and shuffled to pull the covers over me.

“Harps?” Louise asked sleepily, “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you in the morning,” I said. “Go back to sleep.” She didn’t need to know that her life was in danger just yet. Or ever, I had already made up my mind. I would stall as much as possible tomorrow night, but I would do whatever it took to protect my best friend and her baby if it came to it. I fell asleep, resolved in my decision.

I dreamed that I was in a desolate wasteland. I looked around and saw shining lights up ahead. I headed towards the lights across the hardened ground and past destroyed buildings. The light seemed to be at the top of a ridge, so I climbed up slowly, feeling the stone ripping into my fingers and legs as I did. I reached the top to see a figure in white. The light seemed to come directly from her. I knew before she turned who it was that I would see, so I wasn’t surprised when I found myself face to face with myself. She smiled at me, and I took a step back, almost falling off the ridge again. She reached out to steady me, and I flinched. I didn’t know if this was just a dream or some mystical trick, but I did know that the woman standing before me with my face was my angel side. She was the pressure that I had been feeling. The one I was fighting not to consume me. I wasn’t going to risk the chance that she could trick me into giving her the upper hand.

The angel frowned at my action and then sighed.

“You know you are only doing this to yourself,” she said. “All of this is you resisting me.” She waved her arm around, and I looked around. On the other side of the ridge was a crater. I could see thousands of moving bodies in the crater. There looked to be a battle going on, and it looked bloody. I felt the angel near me.

“If you do it, complete the bond like this, then you lose your power, we lose our power, and the seal will be broken.” I looked at her in shock.

“You need to accept me, Harper, not fight me. It is important now, more than ever.” I shook my head in despair.

“I don’t want to lose myself,” I said, and she smiled sadly and moved towards me again. I backed away and felt myself at the edge of the ridge. The angel reached out again.

“Do not fall in fear of who you truly are,” she urged, and I stepped back again. But I ran out of the ground, and I felt myself falling back into the crater. I grabbed at a rock and managed to hold on enough to stop my fall. The angel leaned down and held out her hand.

“Please, Harper, let me help you, help us.” I shook my head again as my fingers began to lose grip. The rock slipped from my fingers, and I screamed as I began to fall.

I woke up drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. I laid where I was while my pounding heart settled back to a less, almost about to explode, level. Once I had calmed down, I took a breath and opened my eyes. And saw Louise staring at me. I could tell by her look that she was angry. It was written in the furrowed eyebrows and the tight lips. I sighed again.

“So you heard already?” I asked, sitting up, not waiting for an answer.

“Heard that you have agreed to complete the mate bond tonight?” The sarcasm dripped from her voice. “Oh, yes, Alex woke me up with that news around an hour ago. The town is buzzing with the details.” I stood up and headed to my suitcase.

“It won’t come to that,” I said as I pulled out some grey joggers and a white top. “I just need to stall for time,” I rooted for clean underwear, avoiding Louise as I felt her eyes boring into the back of my head.

“Why even agree to it, Harper?” she cried, and I cringed. She was clearly upset. I didn’t want to add to it, but I knew she wouldn’t let up. I turned and faced her.

“Because Nathaniel threatened to kill you and the baby if I didn’t,” I said, and her face dropped in fear.

“Colton told him?” she asked, and I shook my head.

“Susie,” I said, the bitter betrayal from my own b***d still stung.

“What?” Louise exclaimed. I then told her about the events of last night, about the talk with Nathaniel, the reasons he wanted me to mate with Colton, and the bloodlines. I told her about bumping into Susie and finding out that she was just a jealous title-grabbing b***h. And I told her about Colton and him exiling Susie and what he had said outside this room. And then I told her about the dream I had just had. We both ended up sitting on the floor beside my suitcase for the next hour as I relayed everything and then did my best to reassure Louise that I would protect her and the baby at all costs. Louise cried and demanded that I take back my agreement and that she couldn’t have me do what I was going to do.

We were mid-way through discussing what the dream meant when there was a knock at the door. We both looked up and then back at each other. I shrugged my shoulders and got up to answer the door. Standing on the other side was Caroline Stokes, with a couple of Omega girls and what looked like a clothing rail. She smiled brightly at me and leaned in to give me a hug.

“Oh, Harper,” she exclaimed. “I am so excited. I can’t wait to finally call you my daughter.” I winced at her happiness. I liked Caroline. She was such a nice person, and I didn’t want to hurt her. She let go of me and then pushed me into the room and waved the girls in.

“Caroline?” I asked, “What is all this?” I waved at the clothing rack, which I could now see was full of evening dresses in various states of sparkle. There was also a chest of drawers on wheels that looked to be full of various shiny things when they were opened and closed.

“Why? I am here to get you ready for the ritual tonight,” she said. “Colton said to leave you be, but Nathaniel said it would be lovely for us to spend some time together.” I glanced over at Louise, and she shrugged.

The next several hours were filled with polite conversation and dresses, jewellery, and hair and make-up. It felt like it was a blur and that I was living outside my own body. All the time, my mind kept going back to my dream, and I could feel the familiar pressure of something trying to push through the whole time. My head was pounding, and I had a feeling of dread in my stomach. I knew that something important was about to happen. Whether the angel was feeling threatened by the impending demon dampener or whether I was just beginning to lose the battle for myself, despite all that, it was minutes before seven pm when I found myself staring in the mirror in my room. I was dressed in a knee-length black one-shoulder dress. My hair was in curls and seemed to shimmer in the light. Not that I remembered anything special being done to it. The cuff was the only piece of jewellery type thing and sat like a weight on the wrist of my bare arm. My make-up was simple and barely there. Again, despite all that, even I couldn’t deny that I had a shimmer about me. Caroline came up beside me, lifted my hand, and looked at the cuff. She smiled sympathetically at me and brushed her thumb over the cuff.

“I’m an old lady now, you know,” she said. “I have had a lifetime of this thing in my b***d. Fighting it and losing everyone I hold dear because of it, because of their greed for the power that it represented.” I looked at her, not knowing what to say.

“I know my dear Colton loves me, and I know he loves you. And I know what my bastard of a brother is doing to him.” She stepped back and picked up something. I watched as she presented a matching cuff to the one on my wrist. It was silver and had an inlay of the crescent moon symbol from the books on the Order on the inside. I flinched as she fastened it to my upper arm.

“Don’t worry, dear, it’s not real silver, not that it will matter soon.” I gave her a curious look at that. Then she looked around at the omega girls who were tidying up the leftover things and then to Louise, sitting on the bed in her floor-length dress. I could see her eyes were glazed and assumed she was talking with Alex, trying to get information on the incoming forces. Caroline then looked back at me and smiled. She reached up to the arm cuff and pushed slightly on the outside. I watched as she pushed it up, and a piece slid up. Attached to the piece was what looked like a wickedly sharp silver knife. My eyes widened at what she was showing me. The cuff was a weapon! She slid it back into place, and it looked seamless again. Caroline winked at me.

“There’s still a little bad in this old woman yet, though,” she said and then smiled before stepping away just as there was a knock at the open door.