Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

I sat on the floor, not moving. If I moved, then I would have to pack, and once I had packed, then…

I didn’t want to move to the pack house; I had lived here in this house my whole life. Even when I go to University in September, it will be a local one so that I can drive home every night and sleep in my bed.

“Harper, sweetie.” I looked at Louise, who had kneeled beside me and was rubbing my back. “We should get started on some packing.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to,” I said, fresh tears welling up in my eyes, and Louise pulled me into a hug.

“I know, sweetie, I hate to say it, but I don’t think you have any choice right now.” She pulled away and smiled. “But plus side, we’ll be living together.” I smiled back and nodded my head. Louise helped me up off the floor, and I turned around to see that Katie had already pulled one of my suitcases out of my closet.

“I have put in some underwear so far,” she said. “Although, Harper girl, we are gonna have to go shopping again pretty soon because your lingerie collection needs some work,” she giggled, and I rolled my eyes. Katie loved to shop a lot! She also loved all that girly stuff, like makeup and clothes and nails. She always said one of the worst things about being a werewolf is that you couldn’t wear acrylic nails because they popped off when you shifted.

“Katie, I think that sexy underwear is the last thing on her mind right now, don’t you?” scolded Louise, and Katie stuck her tongue out at her.

“Well, it’s not gonna be for Colton,” Katie winked at me. “He was all over you just now, and now you will be living with him.” I could feel the colour draining from my face.

“Oh my goddess!” I whispered. “I am going to be expected to have s*x with him.” I felt sick all of a sudden.

“Well, yeah, he’s your mate,” Katie chuckled to herself as she started folding the underwear she had pulled out of my drawers into the suitcase. “And Colton is a Beta. They have quite the insatiable appetite. In fact, you could probably skip clothes altogether. I don’t think you’ll be wearing them all that much!”

“Katie!” Louise snapped, and Katie looked up at her, shocked.

“What?” She looked between us. “I don’t get it. You’ve slept with him already, haven’t you? What’s the issue?”

“Yeah, she slept with him, and then, he rejected her,” Louise said. “He showed his true dickish colours, and now she is being forced to mate with him, after what he did” I could tell she was getting angrier and angrier with each word she spat out. This would have been Louise’s nightmare to have her choices taken away. This was why she hated the mate bond. She believed that it took your choice of whom to love away. I put my hand on her arm, and she closed her eyes and took a breath.

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” she said. “You don’t need me and my issues right now.”

“I’m sorry too,” Katie said, “I was just getting excited. To be mated to a Beta or another named rank would be life-changing for me.” Katie was an Omega, and they were the lowest rank in the pack. They had more rules than the rest of us. They couldn’t become warriors, and they weren’t allowed to leave the pack territory and borders without express permission. Katie wouldn’t be allowed to go to the University in the city like Louise and me. She wanted to run her own beauty salon, but Omegas weren’t allowed to own property, and Katie had to settle for the local college in town and a job at her aunt’s salon. Her aunt Sheila had ranked up when she mated with one of the warriors, but it was rare for an Omega to mate up the ranks unless fate deemed it. And unless they found that fated mate within their pack, then it was unlikely they would ever find them.

It was an awful system, one that got Louise angry all the time. I had heard that other packs had started an Omega exchange system where they could go stay in another pack for three months and work there, and hopefully, they found their fated mate and could stay there. Midnight Moon wasn’t a part of the program. Our Alpha said that it went against tradition and gave people false hope, plus he didn’t like strangers in his pack.

“Anyway,” Katie said. “It’s my eighteenth birthday soon, and you never know I might end up being Damien’s mate. He was showing me attention at the party last night” she giggled, and I glanced at Louise, who half shook her head. But Katie saw the exchange.

“What?” she demanded, looking between Louise and me. “What’s with the look?”

I started to fidget and went to grab some clothes from my closet, so I had more than underwear to put on.

“Louise, Harper. Tell me.” She knew that Louise wouldn’t break, so she zeroed in on me, and I caved straight away.

“Damien was showing you attention, so you didn’t see when Colton took me away from the party,” I said. “Colton didn’t want anyone to know we were fated mates,” I explained. I didn’t tell her that we knew this because Louise had overheard Damien and Colton boasting about it at the party afterwards. She didn’t know I was the mate in question or that Katie was the filthy omega airhead that they were talking about.

Katie glared at me with tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe you, Harper,” she snapped. “Louise, I expected this from, but I thought you were better than this” I stood there dumbfounded. I had no idea what I had done. “Geez, you are mated to a Beta for less than 24 hours, and I am already not good enough for you, is that it?”

“Oh my goddess, Katie, no,” I cried. “I never meant that at all.”

Katie stood up suddenly and headed towards the door. “Well, don’t let my lowly status drag you down, ladies,” she growled and stormed out of the room.

“Katie!” I went to go after her, but Louise stopped me.

“Leave her, Harper,” she said. “Let her calm down, and we can talk to her at school tomorrow.”

“I didn’t mean that, Louise,” I said, getting upset again.

“I know, but it’s hard for Omegas in this pack, so the rank is a sore subject.” She hugged me again. “Come on, let’s get this over with,” she said and headed into my closet.

We spent the rest of the time packing, mostly in silence, breaking it occasionally to discuss whether I should take a certain item or not. I just had to pack what I would need in the next couple of days for now. Louise said that they would likely send a couple of Omegas to pack and move the rest of my stuff this week. It wasn’t long before we had almost everything that I needed packed. I was starting to get a headache because Colton was trying to mind-link with me, and I was avoiding it, which was something that would have normally been impossible. The higher the rank, the more powerful your wolf is and the easier it is for you to overpower the lower ranks. I put my success at blocking it out to Maia being back asleep or something. My mum eventually came upstairs and told me she had received a mind link from Colton to tell me that dinner was ready in half an hour, and he expected me to be there. Louise rolled her eyes and said she had received the same link from her father.

I knew that named ranks had a tradition of eating together at most meals, and then Wednesday evenings were when the pack had its weekly meeting, followed by dinner in the great hall. It was voluntary for all, apart from omegas, who were often expected to work it or not entitled to go. But my dad always insisted on us going. I always found it a nice community event, and we sometimes go away with sneaking Katie in with us. But now, I suspect I would be at the top table for these events, and that was terrifying.

My mum looked over at my suitcase, which was now packed and waiting by the door, and smiled at me with tears in her eyes.

“My baby girl is all grown up,” she said, hugging me. “I am going to miss our movie nights.”

“Mum, I’m going to the pack house, not another country,” I said, trying to wiggle out of her grip, “but if you want me to stay then-” My mum let go of me, cutting me off.

“No, of course not!” she exclaimed. “Your place is there now, with your Beta mate,” she beamed proudly. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Susie when she phones later,” she went on. My sister phoned every Sunday to update us on things in her life; especially now she was expecting her first pup.

We were stopped in our discussion by shouting downstairs. The door to the study must have opened, and Tommy was shouting at my father.

“I can’t believe you really don’t care, do you?” Tommy shouted. “As long as you get your cut, ain’t that right big brother?”

“I think you better leave.” My father sounded just as angry.

“My pleasure.” We heard footsteps as Tommy headed towards the door.

“And don’t come back. You aren’t welcome in this family until you start showing respect.”

“Whatever!” The door slammed shut.

I put my hand over my mouth in shock.

“Oh my goddess!” I exclaimed. “Did dad just banish Tommy from the family?”

My mum shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. They will both calm down soon, and they will be okay.” She seemed so sure of it. I knew my dad and uncle argued but had never heard it this bad before.

I heard a sound on the steps, and shortly after, my dad popped his head in the door.

“Are you ready to go, pumpkin?” he asked. “I have an obviously lovesick Beta in my head demanding his mate.”

I sighed. I guess I couldn’t put this off any longer. My dad picked up my suitcase, and Louise and I grabbed a smaller bag each, and we headed downstairs to Louise’s car. Both my parents gave me hugs and told me they were proud of me before getting into the car.

Louise sat in the driver’s seat and looked at me with sympathy. “Are you ready?” she asked.

“No,” I said, and she smiled weakly and squeezed my hand. I nodded to her, and she started the car and pulled away from my now former home. I looked in the side mirror, determined not to cry as we turned off the street, and I lost sight of my happily waving parents.