Beyond Beta's Rejection

Harper

“Yes, dad I know it could be a trap, but it’s also could help us too.” Tommy was arguing on the phone with the Sovereign, who I still couldn’t quite process was my grandfather. I had been working for him at the Council for ten years completely in the dark. I wasn’t sure what pissed me off the most, the fact that he had remained hidden all this time, or now that he revealed himself he thought he had any sort of claim on my life.

“I have been a guardian for Harper since she was born, I am not about to let her get hurt now,” Tommy said through gritted teeth. I grinned, clearly he wasn’t so happy with daddy dearest trying to call the shots again. Tommy saw me grinning and glared at me.

“Does he want the Circle caught or not?” I asked, loud enough that the d**k could hear me on the other end of the phone. It must have worked because Tommy threw another glare my way.

“No father, she isn’t being a smartass,” he said, and I laughed. “She is right. We need the information that Stokes has and we know he will give her what she wants.” He sounded unhappy about that. I wasn’t too thrilled about having to have a chat with my ex mate either, but this wasn’t about my feelings. It was about getting Louise back.

“Listen, you can send a warrior unit and I will personally see to it that he is watched at all times,” Tommy continued to barter and finally after another five minutes of arguing some sort of arrangement had been agreed. Tommy hung up the phone, looking exhausted.

“They will be here tomorrow,” he said, and I nodded.

“Why don’t you get some rest,” I said, “It’s not like there is anything that you can do until we get Colton here.” Tommy shook his head.

“How am I meant to rest, knowing that she is out there in danger?” Tommy dropped his head in his hands. I snorted a laugh which caused him to look back up at me.

“Do you really think Louise is going to sit there and be good?” I asked. “I’m surprised they haven’t begged us to take her back already. I mean, even without the pregnancy hormones she was pretty fierce.” I saw a look cross over Tommy’s eyes before he smiled.

“Yeah, I can imagine that she will be giving them hell by now,” he said, and I laughed again.

We lapsed back into silence for a bit, before Tommy looked back up at me.

“Thank you,” he said with sincerity in his voice.

“For what?” I asked.

“For coming to help. For everything you are doing, despite the danger to you,” he said. I shrugged.

“Of course, we are family,” I said, “and you have done so much for me over the years.”

“It was my duty,” he said. I rolled my eyes.

“Sure,” I said, “so you are saying that if you weren’t a Divine Guardian that you would have left me in the clutches of Colton all those years ago?”

“f**k no,” Tommy hissed, “there was no way that I wanted him anywhere near you. If I had known then what we know now, I would have killed him and made it look like an accident before he got anywhere close.” I grinned again.

“See, family,” I said, and he smiled.

Thinking about family, and danger made me think of Elias. I knew he was pissed off at the idea of me seeing Colton again. I was going to have to speak to him before everyone arrived. I took a deep breath and stood up. Tommy glanced up at me as I did.

“I need to go talk to Elias,” I said, and he nodded.

“You know it’s because he loves you, right?” Tommy asked as I started heading towards the door. I stopped and nodded.

“Yeah I know,” I said, “But the thing you men folk need to realise, is much like Louise, I am also able to look after myself.” Tommy shrugged.

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to,” he said. Then he forced a smile on his face, “Go on, sort out your man. I’ll let you know when people arrive.” I smiled again and headed out the door.

I felt through the bond for Elias and felt him outside, so headed that way. I got outside the pack house and saw Marcus watching the same direction as last time.

“Oi daydreamer,” I called, and he turned to me with a grin.

“If you are looking for grumpy pants, he headed into the woods,” he said and I laughed. There was no way he would call him grumpy pants to his face. I thanked him and headed off in the direction that he pointed. Just as I was heading into the woods I glanced back and saw Marcus staring back out again. What was it with the strange behaviour with these men today?

I found Elias sitting on the ground in the clearing. It was the same clearing that he had taken me to when I had shifted again for the first time in over ten years. It was also the one where I had found him about to die at the hands of Nathaniel. I wasn’t sure whether I was a fan of this particular place or not.

Even though I was being quiet, I knew he was aware of my presence. His body stiffened slightly as I moved closer and then he sniffed the air before relaxing again. I sat down on the ground beside him and looked over at him. The only thing he did to acknowledge my presence was to reach out and take my hand. We sat there for a while; him staring out into the woods while stroking his thumb across my hand.

“I know it’s irrational,” he finally said. I looked back at him and saw he still wasn’t looking at me. “I know that you aren’t at risk by talking to him. He would never hurt you. He loves you too much.” I was going to protest, but he finally looked at me.

“But I think that scares me the most,” he said. I furrowed my eyebrows.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I think he would do anything to have you love him back.”

“Yeah not likely,” I snorted.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t think you are. I think there is something still deep down inside you that still loves him. Or at least cares for him. That scares me the most.”

“Do you really think I would leave you for him?” I asked in disbelief. He chuckled in response.

“No, it would be a cold day in hell before you did that,” he said. Then he got serious again.

“But it scares me that it’s not him that you feel the connection with. It’s his demon side.” He turned to face me, his eyes shining with fear.

“What if that’s what you love in me, maybe you are bonded to the demon and not to me?” I shook my head, but he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me onto his knee, firmly pressing his lips against mine. I could feel the need in the k**s and wanted to show that I felt it in myself too. I wrapped my arms around his neck and opened my mouth to let his tongue explore. I kissed him back with every ounce of love that I had for him. His hands kneaded against my back and I wrapped my legs around his body so I could pull him closer to me. At that moment I needed to envelop myself in him. Not just to reassure him that he had nothing to fear, but also to confirm to myself. I needed to know that despite everything that had happened over the last six months that I was the same woman that he fell in love with. That it was more than the mate bond that held us together. Because if he was right, and it was the demon that bonded us, then I wanted him to be as sure as hell that it was him I was in love with, not the dark entity inside him.

Almost on cue I felt the low growl of frustration from Elias’ throat vibrate through him. He pulled away from my lips and growled again.

“No, not now,” he hissed, “Don’t you dare-” He stopped mid-sentence as his eyes lost their beautiful inky blue colour and switched to the empty black of the demon.

Even after all this time, the way the black holes seemed to swallow everything into them still freaked me out when they were turned on me. Instinctively I shuffled back off from Elias’ lap and the demon looked me over like it was the first time he had seen me and then looked back up to meet my eyes with an amused smile on Elias’ face.

“Hello my little sweetness.”