Beyond Beta's Rejection

Harper

I set off looking for Caroline when I heard screaming coming from the top floor. I sprinted up as quickly as possible towards the sound. I just rounded the corner into the main bedroom hallway when I heard a door slam. Tommy was leaning against the wall opposite his room with a shocked look on his face.

“What the hell?” I called, and he turned to face me.

“I don’t know,” he said. I could see the worry in his face. “I went to see Louise and to try to get her to come down to the dining room for breakfast when she started screaming at me. Harper, I don’t know what to do with her, or how to help her.” I could hear faint sobbing on the other side of the door, but could also hear quiet talking too.

“Is someone in there with her?” I asked and Tommy nodded.

“Yeah, the girls we rescued, all of them are in there,” he said. “They slept there last night.”

“All of them?” I asked, “Lily as well?” Tommy nodded. I forced a smile on my face and gave him a hug.

“I don’t know if I can help,” I said. “Trauma like this is hard. Hell, it took me ten years to admit I even had it.”

“How do I help her, Harper?” he asked. “She is due any day now and I can feel her distress. All I want to do is protect my mate.”

“Let me see if I can speak to her,” I said. “I’ll get Katie and see if we can help. Maybe seeing her friends will show her she can talk to us.” Tommy leaned against the wall and sighed. He looked exhausted.

“Okay, please tell her I love her,” he said. “And the girls, tell them that we have been in contact with their families. They will be able to go home soon.” I smiled and nodded.

“Go get some rest,” I said. “I will let you know when I’ve been to see her.”

I headed downstairs to the library where I was sure I would find Katie. Despite her lack of interest in books, she was always keen to stick close to Aaron. I had a feeling that coming back to the pack was hard for her. She may be of Alpha rank now but people still treated her like an Omega. I had seen it a few times since we had come back and the hurt on her face was clear each time.

I was right about where she would be. Aaron was busy with his nose in a book, alongside Drake. Drake looked up as I walked into the room and smiled.

“Hello beautiful,” he said with a smile. I smiled back and remembered that I had been looking for him earlier. I told him in detail about the conversation I had had with the demon b***d at the border. He seemed very interested in what I had found out.

“I wonder if I could get some more information,” he said, more to himself than anyone else. “Maybe I will take a walk down.”

“Let me know what you find out,” I said, and he nodded. He glanced at Aaron and a strange look passed between them.

“Although maybe it is you that they will talk to,” he said. I quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Why would you say that?” I asked, and he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Just a thought,” he said, and I saw Aaron look away. I narrowed my eyes at both of them.

“Why do I get the idea that you aren’t telling me everything?” I asked and Drake laughed.

“Oh my dear, don’t worry. I am sure it is nothing.” He then looked back down at the book he was reading and I got the impression that the conversation was closed. Maybe for now, but I would be reopening it when I had the time.

I turned to Kati and smiled.

“Hey, I was thinking of going to see Louise,” I said. “I thought we could go together.” Katie’s face lit up, and she nodded her head.

“Oh yes please,” she said happily. “I wanted to go see her, but got the feeling from that girl that I wouldn’t be welcome. So I didn’t go.”

“Lily?” I asked and Katie nodded.

“They have been rather close knit since they returned,” Aaron said. “I get that they have been through a lot, but I don’t think it is healthy to hole themselves up in that one room all day.” I wasn’t sure that I liked it myself.

“Well, let’s see if we can get our girl some fresh air or something,” I said to Katie and held my hand out to her. She jumped up from her seat and ran and kissed Aaron on the cheek before coming over and grabbing my hand.

We walked out of the Library and I started up the stairs but Katie pulled me back down again.

“Wait,” she said. “I have an idea.” I followed her into the kitchens where she started rummaging around in the cupboards. She pulled out some bars of chocolate and some fruit from the fridge. She then went and got a bottle of diet coke and grinned at me.

“Anything else?” she asked, and I grinned.

“Crisps?” I suggested, and she ran into the larder and pulled out two big bags of assorted crisps.

“Perfect,” I said. Then we headed, armed with food back up to the top floor.

I was happy to see that Tommy seemed to have taken my advice and gone to get some rest, or at least I hoped he had. I stood outside the door and heard soft chattering, but that stopped when I knocked on the door. Katie looked nervous as the door opened and Lily looked out.

“What do you want?” she asked sharply. I exchanged a look with Katie before smiling at Lily.

“We came to see Louise,” I said, and she scowled.

“She is busy right now,” she said, “It’s not a good time.” She started to close the door when I heard Louise from inside.

“Is that Harper?” she said, probably to Lily. Lily turned to say something, but I wasn’t going to let her dictate anything and called through the door.

“And Katie,” I said.

“Oh, let them in Lily,” Louise said, and I smiled at Katie.

“I’m not sure that is a good idea,” Lily replied, her voice much softer with Louise. “You need your rest and we have to be careful.”

“We don’t have to be careful with my friends,” Louise said sharply, “Let them in.” Lily looked reluctant but opened the door wider for us. I stepped into the room with a smug smile and was hit with a stale odour. The room was practically closed off from the world. The curtains were drawn, blocking out the sun and the air was stuffy. I raised an eyebrow at Katie as I tried to manoeuvre around the girls who all seemed to have camped out on the floor. I reached the bed where Louise was laid in and smiled at her. She looked pale and tired and had dark circles under her eyes.

“Hey,” I said as I put the tray of food I had on the bedside table. “I’m sorry I haven’t got up to see you before now.” Louise smiled and held out her hand.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I know you are busy and I heard Elias went away too.” I sat on the bed and pulled Louise into a hug. She felt like she had lost weight and like she would break if I squeezed too hard. Katie sat down on the other side and held out a bar of chocolate.

“I know it’s your favourite,” she said with a grin and Louise’s eyes lit up.

“Oh my goddess,” she squealed and grabbed at the chocolate. “Katie, you are a superhero.” I chuckled as she stuffed chocolate into her mouth.

“Good plan,” I said to Katie, who beamed in response.

“Maybe you shouldn’t eat too much,” Lily said as she stood at the end of the bed. I raised an eyebrow at her and she scowled at me. “I’m only saying that it can’t be good for the baby.”

“I’m sure it won’t do the baby any harm,” I said with a frown.

“Plus the wrapper was already on,” Louise said with a mouthful of food. I tilted my head at her and she waved the chocolate bar around.

“Oh, Lily said that someone could try to poison my food, so I am being extra careful over who has contact with it,” she said. Katie looked at Lily and then at me.

“Why would someone want to poison your food?” she asked, a horrified look on her face.

“Well, because they want my baby,” Louise said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. She then looked at me, “They already tried twice now. Once back when we first found out I was pregnant, and then just now when they kidnapped me.” I looked over at Lily and narrowed my eyes.

“I think you are safe here, Louise,” I said looking back at her. “I’m not sure that Tommy would let anything like that happen.”

“See,” Lily said, like I have proven some sort of point. “This is exactly what I was saying. These people haven’t been through what we have, Louise. They don’t understand the danger. I’m just trying to look out for you.” Louise looked conflicted by Lily’s words and she threw me a nervous look before looking back at Lily.

“I think you underestimate how much both Harper and Katie have been through over the years,” she said to Lily. “I’m sure they both understand how important it is to keep this little angel safe.” She rubbed her baby bump, and I smiled.

“Of course we do,” Katie said. “We don’t want anything to happen to her. But neither does Tommy, or anyone else in the pack.”

“But you are all running around trying to antagonise the horrible people,” Lily protested. “I even saw Harper out talking to one of the ones at the border today, how do we know that she isn’t trying to get rid of the competition?” My eyes widened at her words.

“What competition?” I asked. Lily scowled at me and pointed at Louise.

“She is meant to be carrying the next Divine Warrior for the shifter line,” she said, “If that is true, then what does that make you. I know enough from my father that there should only ever be one Divine Warrior at a time.” I looked at Louise who was starting to look uncomfortable.

“Louise?” I asked, “Please tell me you don’t think that I would even think about hurting your baby.” Louise smiled at me and shook her head.

“No of course not,” she said and then laughed nervously, “I think Lily is just being really cautious.” I wasn’t so sure. It was getting more and more evident that Lily didn’t like me. I didn’t know what I had done to earn her unfavourable opinion, but I wasn’t going to let her turn my friends against me either.