Beyond Beta's Rejection

Harper

There were three cars outside the pack house when we got back. Elias excused himself almost immediately and disappeared into the pack house. I must have looked concerned as I watched him go because Marcus nudged me with a sly grin on his face.

“He probably needs a shower,” he said, “you know after, erm rolling around in the mud.” He winked at me and I rolled my eyes while inwardly cringing. I was under no illusions that a pack house full of werewolves may not have noticed what we did in the woods. Still a shiver of delight ran down my back at the memory of it.

“f**k off,” I said which just made him laugh further. I would have said something else but the look on Drake’s face as he headed towards me didn’t look too friendly.

“Colton Stokes?” he asked angrily. “Do you really think that bringing more demon bloods into the mix is a good idea? Especially him.”

“Because it’s him,” I said. “Colton knows this area just as well as the rest of us who grew up here. Better even since he was involved in Circle operations. Plus, you know he will actually talk to me.”

“But at what cost Harper?” Drake asked. “There is a reason he will talk to you. He thinks he can manipulate you.” I narrowed my eyes on him. I had just about had enough of people thinking I was a pushover.

“Well, he can’t manipulate me,” I said firmly.

“Did you ever think that this was the plan all along?” Drake countered. “Get you here, and then bring in reinforcements to break the seal completely.”

“Yeah, I thought about that,” I said, “But I don’t care, Drake. Louise is my friend and if this helps get her back then good. Plus the council wants Damien caught just as much as I do.”

“I don’t like it,” Drake said.

“Nobody does,” Tommy said, coming to stand beside me, “But Harper is right. We just need to treat Stokes carefully.” I smiled a thanks to him as Drake sighed.

He looked around at the others. I could see that Aaron and Katie were already heading into the pack house with a shared look that made me blush. Alex was standing with his little brother Jamie while Julia was hugging Alice and Caroline and Marcus was glaring at his uncle.

“Where is the new girl?” Drake asked.

“Her name is Brianna,” I said, “And she is resting. That transition took it out of her.” Drake nodded thoughtfully.

“Maybe you could introduce me and we can talk about the next stages,” he said, and I nodded, before leading the way to the room that Brianna had been assigned.

***

Three hours later and I was freshly showered. Elias had been gone from our room by the time I got back from Brianna’s room. The woman was still shocked with her transition, but I could see the fire in her eyes already. I knew she would be okay. I had mentioned about her doing some weapons training with her new angel blade and Alex had offered to help out.

After my shower I headed back down to the living area on the next floor. That was where everyone seemed to be, or everyone apart from Elias and Marcus. Despite the relaxed look of everyone from the outside you could still feel the underlying tension in the air.

I was about to head out to look for Elias when Tommy looked up at me.

“He’s here,” he said, and I nodded. I was suddenly feeling nervous as Tommy, Drake and I went to greet the Council guard and their prisoner.

“I have told them to take him straight to the Cells,” Tommy said as we headed out of the pack house.

“Wise decision,” Drake said. The Cells were a little way off into the woods, away from any of the tracks. The entrance was what looked like a square stone structure with no signage and just a heavy metal door set right into it. Through the door was an elevator that went down into the big underground reinforced vault. I had only been down there a handful of times, and my experiences were not pleasant either.

When we got to the building entrance, I could see that there were two Council warrior guards on either side of the door. I nodded as I walked past them and headed to the elevator door. Just as the door opened I heard a shout. Marcus came running into through the entrance with a lopsided grin. I raised an eyebrow and his grin widened,

“Yeah, you don’t think I’m letting you face the dickhead alone, right?” he asked. “Elias would have my balls for dinner.” I shook my head with a chuckle.

“Where is Elias?” Drake asked, and I shrugged.

“He’ll be around somewhere,” I said nonchalantly. I didn’t want to let on that I was getting worried about my invisible mate.

We travelled down in the elevator in silence, and the doors opened on the main desk. I g*****d when I saw who was standing by the desk.

“Dad?” Tommy said, “What are you doing here?” My grandfather gave Tommy a disdainful look before nodding to Drake.

“You didn’t think I would let just anyone handle such a delicate operation as this do you?” he said.

“I can handle one prisoner,” Tommy muttered as he stormed past his father.

“Henderson?” he called around the corner.

“Yes, Alpha,” Greg Henderson came around the corner and grinned.

“Where is he?”

“I got him all set up in cell six,” Henderson said and Tommy nodded. He walked around the corner when my grandfather stopped him.

“Are you going straight in there? Shouldn’t we have a plan?” he said and Tommy looked at him blankly.

“The plan is to find out what information he has that will help us find Louise,” he said.

“Okay, and how do we do that?”

“Harper talks to him.” Tommy pointed at me and I grinned. I shrugged as I walked past everyone and around the corner. I headed down towards the end of the hall, where it opened up into another holding area. I was trying to keep my hands from shaking. Part of me was scared about seeing Colton again so soon, but the biggest part of me was trying not to mentally relive the memories of my death, albeit temporary, that had happened six months ago in that very room. I felt someone take my hand and looked up to see Drake next to me, the look of concern on his face.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said.

“Yeah I do,” I replied before taking a deep breath and heading towards the locked door of cell six. I waited until Tommy keyed in the number to unlock the door, watching as he did it. He glanced over at me with a grin.

“I see the Council training comes in useful,” he said and I grinned.

“You never know when a piece of information might come in handy, “ I replied with a wink. Tommy swung the door open to the cell, and I took a deep breath before heading into the room.

It was pretty standard for a cell. Mostly grey concrete, a metal bed bolted to one side with a toilet at the foot of it. The difference was that this cell also had a table bolted into the centre, and sitting at that table with his hands shackled in silver cuffs was my ex-fated mate. He looked up as I walked in and I saw the light of recognition in his eyes. It had been less than a week since I had seen him at the Council, but he looked even more tired now.

“Harper,” he greeted me and then nodded behind me, “Tommy. Oh and look, it’s the muscle.” Marcus grunted but stayed quiet. I sat down at the table, opposite Colton and looked him in the eyes.

“Do you know why you have been brought here?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“I didn’t even know where they were taking me,” he said. “Well, until…”

“Until what?” I asked, and he grimaced.

“Until I felt the strengthening of the pull. That, and your scent.”

“You couldn’t have scented me on the road,” I said, rolling my eyes. But Colton looked serious.

“I have your scent permanently locked into my memories, Strawberries. You being closer just enhances it.” I looked around at Drake, who shrugged in return. I sighed, I could already feel this becoming tedious.

“I see you didn’t listen to my warning,” Colton said. “I wish you would have, I don’t want you getting hurt.” He tried to reach over and take my hand, but I pulled away from him. Disappointment crossed his face before he sighed and it cleared into a blank expression.

“Okay,” Colton asked, “Why am I here? And why is Samual Kirby here too?” I heard a growl from behind me and shook my head. Colton was trying to bait my grandfather, but I didn’t have time for his games.

“Louise has been taken,” I said and Colton’s eyes widened. He looked up at Tommy and then back at me.

“s**t, when?” he asked. He looked genuinely upset by the news.

“A day or so ago,” I said.

“How can I help?” he asked and Tommy growled.

“Why would you be so willing to help?” he spat out. Colton looked up at him, the look of regret was all over his face.

“Because I owe her,” he said, “and you. I was involved in causing you pain and even more directly involved in the pain we caused her.”

“You think that this will make up for raping her for years?” Tommy hissed. He stepped forward, and I turned around and glared at him.

“Maybe you should wait outside,” I said. I nodded at Marcus, who took his arm. Tommy was glaring at Colton, but let Marcus guide him out of the room. Just as they got to the door. Colton spoke.

“No, it doesn’t,” he said. “Nothing will make up for what I did. But I am sure as hell going to try to help. I mean it Tommy, whatever you need, for the rest of my life I will do without question.” Tommy’s eyes widened slightly before the angry look returned. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. He glanced at me and shook his head, suddenly looking tired. He then turned and headed out the door.

“The same goes for you as well,” Colton said, causing me to look back at him.

“The same what?” I asked.

“I have a debt that can never be repaid. I will spend my life doing what I can,” Colton said.

“Well, you won’t be able to do much from your life in the Council Cells,” Samual grunted, and I rolled my eyes. The corners of Colton’s mouth upturned as he tried to hide the grin.

“He’s right,” he said. “I don’t know what you think I can do to help though.”

“We think that it’s the Circle who are behind it,” I said and Colton nodded.

“That makes sense. With the seal being damaged, getting you back close will be needed for you know who to make an appearance,” he mused. “So by kidnapping your best friend, they know you are gonna come back to try to rescue her.” He looked up at me. “You do know it’s a trap right?” I grinned.

“Of course I do,” I said. “Which is why we need as much information as we can get, so we can even the odds a little.” Colton nodded.

“So how can I help?” he asked again.

“We think Damien is involved too,” I said, and he g*****d. “He was around here saying how Louise’s baby is his. We think he was the one to take her.”

“Where would he get a stupid theory like that?” Colton asked. And shook his head. “Dude is an i***t at best, and a disaster zone at worst. I know I should have never listened to him.”

“Listened to him with what?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. Colton smiled sadly and shrugged his shoulders.

“It was Damien who convinced me to reject you,” he said. “I was stupid, and I listened, but it was his dumbass idea.” Huh, that was interesting to know. Part of me wanted to wonder what life would have been like if Colton hadn’t had rejected me all that time ago. But he was as much a demon b***d as Elias was, so would that have put us in the place we were in now? I shook the thought from my mind, we didn’t really have time for past possibilities.

“We think Damien is still in the area,” I said and Colton nodded.

“Yeah, that sounds like him,” he said. “He’ll be at the safe house, most likely.”

“The safe house?” I asked. I looked up at Drake who nodded to the guard by the door.

“Get us a map,” he said, and the guard disappeared.

“When the Circle had shipments coming through here, we would sometimes use a safe house for a stopping point. It is to the north of the pack, around five miles past the territory borders,” Colton said. The guard came back in with a map and placed it on the table. Colton looked it over and pointed to a place on the map. I looked over it and saw it was on the edge of the woods, on the other side. There weren’t any dwellings on the map but I guessed that there wouldn’t be if it was designed to be hidden.

I nodded up at Drake as I made a mark on the map. I looked back at Colton.

“Okay, I need to know everything you know about the location,” I said and Colton nodded. He began detailing the house and the location and I started to note everything down in a notebook. We had been going over everything in detail for around twenty minutes when I heard shouting out in the hallway. I looked up at the sound of Elias’ angry voice.

“I told you not to leave her alone with him didn’t I?” I heard a crash out in the hall and took a deep breath before going to see what was going on. When I got into the hall, Marcus was on his a*s against a wall and rubbing his head and Elias was standing over him looking furious. There were two guards looking concerned but standing to one side and not really helping.

“What the hell, Elias,” I shouted, and he turned around. The look of relief crossed his face, and he rushed to me.

“I didn’t want you seeing him alone,” he said. “Marcus had orders, which he didn’t follow.”

“You can’t just go throwing people around,” I snapped and looked down at the floor.

“It’s fine,” I said with a sigh. “Plus, I am pretty much done, anyway.” I turned back into the room to grab my notebook. Colton looked up again with a smile, but the smile dropped and his eyes widened and filled with fear.

“Oh Goddess,” he whispered and then looked at me. “Harper you need to be-” He was cut off by a growl behind me and I looked around to see Elias glaring at him. Only it wasn’t Elias, but his black-eyed demon. I went to get him out of the room but Colton started yanking on his chains.

“Get the f**k away from her. Harper you’re in danger,” he started screaming. I turned to look but Elias’ demon grabbed my arm and pulled me from the room. The room had already emptied, and he slammed the door shut on the now frantic Colton inside.

“What the hell?” I asked and Elias turned to face me, his eyes back blue, and his face furious again.

“He is f*****g feral clearly,” he said. Then he reached up and rubbed his thumb on my face where the bark had cut me earlier.

“What the f**k is this?” he asked, “Did he hurt you? I will f*****g kill him.” I furrowed my eyebrows and grabbed his arm as he tried to go back into the cell.

“Elias, what, no he didn’t hurt me,” I urged. “This was from earlier.”

“Earlier when?” Elias looked confused. I looked around at the small audience and lowered my voice.

“From the woods,” I whispered, “From you know when…” Elias shook his head again.

“Harper, I have no idea what you are talking about. I’ve been alone most of the day.”