Beyond Beta's Rejection

Harper

I don’t know how long we sat there for. It can’t have been that long though. Because soon enough the clearing was a rush of activity. First Tommy came running, followed by Alex and Brianna. It wasn’t long before there were pack warriors all over the place. I tried to explain what happened to Tommy. But I couldn’t keep my eyes from the still forms in the middle of the clearing.

“What do we do?” One of the warriors asked Tommy.

“Leave him be,” Brin said as he walked into the clearing. “Just give him some time to deal.” I knew that Brin had been there when Marcus’ father had died. Elias told me that he didn’t know much but did know that he had been the one to take care of Marcus’ mother afterwards. Tommy nodded in agreement. He watched Marcus with sadness. He had also been the one to take care of my own mother when my father had died.

Slowly the other bodies were removed, and the clearing became empty again. Or almost empty. I sat at the edge watching Marcus. He was still in wolf form and hadn’t moved after the initial wave of pain. Tommy walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Come on kid,” he said, and I smiled at the awful childhood nickname. “You need to be patched up.” I had forgotten about my own injuries, their pain paled in comparison to what I felt from my Gamma. I shook my head.

“I’m fine,” I whispered. “I’m just going to stay here with him. I don’t want him to be alone.” Tommy nodded and stepped back. I saw Katie, Alex and Aaron standing just outside the clearing. Aaron had his arms around Katie, and I knew that, as part of our own pack, they also felt some sort of echo of what Marcus was feeling too. I nodded to them and opened the link.

“It’s okay,” I said. “Go get some rest.” Aaron nodded and pulled the others away. Tommy followed shortly behind, leaving me and Marcus alone again.

I moved into the clearing and sat on the ground a little way off from him. I wanted so desperately to go to him and comfort him. But I didn’t know how to even start. I felt full of guilt. If I hadn’t followed Lily then she wouldn’t have seen me, and one of the people I loved most besides my own mate wouldn’t be in an indescribable amount of pain. I was lost in my guilt-ridden thoughts when I saw a slight twitch from Marcus. I watched as his body transformed back into his human form. He laid there naked and panting for a couple of moments before he just sat next to the body again in silence.

“Marcus,” I whispered, and I saw him flinch at the sound. I tried to inch closer to him but a slight incline of his head freezes me in my space. Tears ran down my cheeks as I tried to reach out through the pack link to him.

“Marcus, is there anything I can do?” I asked but he didn’t respond.

Then I heard another noise and both Marcus and I looked up just as Elias walked into the clearing. I gasped as I saw him and jumped up. I ran to him and pushed myself against his chest.

“Oh my goddess, Elias,” I cried. “Please, before you react let me explain what happened.” Elias just wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close.

“Shhh sweetness,” he whispered against my hair. “I’m here now, I’ve got you.” I furrowed my eyebrows and pulled away from his embrace. I looked him in the face with suspicion. What the f**k. I mean, his sister was currently dead on the ground in front of him and his own Gamma was the one who killed her. Not to mention that if I felt the pain from Marcus’ bond breaking, then surely Elias should as well.

“Elias,” I said, “You don’t understand. Lily, she tried to kill me.” I searched his face for any sort of reaction, but he just looked bored. “If Marcus hadn’t protected me, then I could have been dead.” I saw something flash through his eyes then.

“But you are okay?” Elias said, and I nodded.

“Well yes,” I said, “But Marcus-”

“Did his job,” Elias interrupted me. “There is nothing more to it.” I stared at him in horror. Did he just say that? I sensed a movement in the corner of my eye and saw Marcus was watching up. His face was completely passive. Nothing, not one emotion showed.

“Marcus,” I said, pulling myself away from Elias. He turned his eyes on me and nodded. He stood up from his spot. He turned and looked at the dead body and then back at Elias and me.

“I need to clean up,” he said. My jaw dropped as he casually walked past me like it was just a normal day. I turned to follow him as he went but Elias caught my arm.

“Hey,” he said with a smile. “See, he’s fine. You don’t have to worry, my sweet queen.” I went to ask what the hell was going on, but he pulled me into his arms and pushed his lips against mine. I tried to pull away. But he held tighter. Finally, his scent came over me and I felt myself calming and softening into him. I pulled away again, and this time he let me. I looked up at him and forced a smile on my face. He seemed to buy it and smiled back. He pushed some hair from my face and leaned in for another k**s.

“I should get checked out by Doctor Roberts,” I said quickly and he stopped and looked at me. He ran his fingers over the claw marks on my face. They were on their way to being mostly healed but it would take longer since the damage was caused by werewolf’s claws. Elias growled low in his throat, but then smiled again.

“That seems like a good idea,” he said. “I’ll come with you.”

“No,” I said a little too quickly and Elias raised an eyebrow at me. “I just mean that you must have been travelling through the night. You should go and get cleaned up, and get some rest. I will see you back in our room as soon as I am done.” I forced the smile on my face again and Elias nodded.

“Very well,” he said. “I will see you soon my sweet angel.”

He turned to leave the clearing when I called.

“What should we do with… erm?” I asked, although hesitated at the end. He turned back to face me and I pointed to his sister’s body. Elias sneered at the body and then shrugged.

“I don’t care, do what you want,” he said, “Burn it.” He then turned back around and walked out of the clearing and out of sight.

I watched him leave with a sinking feeling in my stomach. I felt like crying all over again. But there was something more important that I needed to do. I sent a mind link through to Aaron.

“Hey,” I called, and he answered straight away.

“Hey, are you okay? I just saw Marcus in the pack house,” he said through the link. I nodded even though I knew he couldn’t see it. I looked down at Lily’s body again and sighed.

“Yeah,” I said through the link. “Can you tell Tommy that someone can come and move Lily now?”

“Sure thing,” he replied. “Are you coming back to the pack house?”

“No, not yet,” I said. “There is somewhere else that I need to go first.”

“Okay, I will get it sorted,” he said. I closed the mind link and set off down the path. I reached the pack house in less than a minute but I walked right past it and down another path deeper into the woods. I retraced the steps that I had taken only a few hours, but what felt like a lifetime ago. I reached the entrance to the cells quickly and keyed in the code to let me in. I called the elevator and rode it down to the main floor.

I was surprised to see Tommy standing by the front desk as the elevator doors opened. He watched me with a grim expression on his face.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, and he sighed.

“Probably the same reason you are,” he said. I felt tears pricking my eyes again and nodded. I turned and headed down the corridor to the cells. I didn’t need to look to know that Tommy was right behind me. I didn’t know how to feel as I pressed the code into the lock of the one cell I needed. The door clicked open, and I stepped inside. Colton looked up and his eyes widened in shock. I must have looked in a right state. I was covered in b***d and dirt and I knew my clothes were ripped.

“f**k, Harper,” Colton exclaimed, and I held my hand out to stop him. I felt a lump in my throat as I tried to say the words that I didn’t want to admit to myself. Finally, I pushed through and felt tears slipping down my cheeks as I spoke.

“I believe you,” I whispered. The knowledge that my mate was no longer in control and one of the princes of hell was wearing his skin made me want to vomit. But I didn’t have time to wallow in self pity. I had things to do. I nodded to Colton.

“So how do I save my mate?”