Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

I woke up enveloped in the warmth of arms wrapped around me. Elias’ scent surrounded me, and I felt a peace inside me that I hadn’t felt in a really long time. If ever at all. I laid there, not wanting to break the spell. And I know that there was some small part in me that wanted to hold on to this feeling like my life depended on it. And yet there was a bigger part that was scared, scared of allowing me to be taken in, to trust someone else fully with that broken part of me. To see beyond the shield and see how f****d up I really was. Because what if they saw that and they rejected me? What if they decided that there were too many pieces to fix and what if, after showing them the truth about what I was, they left me there, exposed to my own feelings? And no way to know how to build my wall again.

Or worse, what if they stayed? What if they were really in for the long haul? They come armed with emotional superglue and diligently work to piece every part of me back together. What would that look like? I had been f****d up for so long that I didn’t even know what healed and healthy Harper actually looked like. Could I really be her? Would I even still be me? Am I the sum of all my broken parts? And do I fear losing who I am because I don’t know what I will become? That part of me wanted to get out of the bed now, grab my things and get the hell out of here. But another part, maybe the little part, she was ready to be healed. She was ready to look past the bullshit with Colton. And even before that, I always felt like I didn’t quite fit anywhere. The parents hid more than they revealed. There was always something not quite right about my life. I was just able to ignore it.

Elias moved behind me, and his arms tightened around my waist. He snuggled in closer, and I felt his nose rub against my neck while he muttered something incoherent. I found myself melting into his touch more and closed my eyes against the feel of his skin on mine. I had never woken up in bed with someone other than Aaron before; I had never allowed myself to get close enough to them. By instinct, I reached for the ring on my finger and pulled on it, bracing myself for the now-familiar pain to shoot through my body. The pain came but seemed somewhat lesser. It felt like it was duller, not the sharp jolt I was used to, but more like a dull ache. Elias moved behind me and pulled me into him again.

“I can feel what you are doing, you know,” he whispered into my ear, sending shivers down my spine. I froze, not knowing if he meant the actual act or if he felt me pulling away. I shuffled and tried to untangle myself from his arms, but he held on tighter.

“No, not yet,” he murmured. “You smell so nice. I bet you taste nice too.” I felt his lips against my neck. It lit a fire in me, and I couldn’t help the sigh that slipped from my lips as I tilted my head to give him more access. His hands reached under the t-shirt I was wearing, and he caressed my stomach before moving lower to play with the edge of my panties. I twisted my body to reach my mouth to his. His lips met mine in a gentle touch before pressing them more firmly against mine. He pulled me, so I was fully on my back and climbed between my legs without breaking contact with the increasingly passionate k**s. I reached up to pull him down, and his hard member grinded against me. We both m****d at the touch as the fire that had lit now felt like a roaring inferno. Everything inside me was screaming to let him in, let him claim me, and then claim him in return. I reached down towards the boxers that he was wearing and-

He broke away from me with a growl.

“f**k’s sake Marcus, not now,” he growled, and then there was a knock at the door before it flew open.

“I hope no one is naked in here,” Marcus called as he walked in with his hands over his eyes. I couldn’t help but giggle as he bumped straight into a chair and went flying over it.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed from his new place on the floor as he rubbed his arm.

“Serves you right,” Elias called over before kissing me on the nose and pulling himself out of bed. “Shouldn’t burst in when not invited.”

“Well, didn’t think you would want to miss the meeting this morning, boss,” Marcus picked himself up from the floor and dusted himself off. Elias leaned over to the table and picked up his watch before hissing.

“f**k!” he exclaimed and turned to me. “Sorry, baby. I need to be at this meeting.” He then headed into the bathroom, and I heard the shower turn on. I looked up to see Marcus grinning at me and scowled at him.

“You make him happy, you know that,” he said, and I shrugged.

“I’m sure it’s just the bond. It messes with your head,” I said and sighed before getting out of bed.

“You don’t know because you don’t know him all too well,” Marcus said. “But I have known him for over fifteen years. That man has never been happier than he is when he is looking at you.” I stopped in my tracks towards the door and turned and looked at Marcus.

“And I might not have known you for fifteen years, lady, but I can see you are happy too,” he said, and I squirmed under his gaze.

I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. Elias took me to a place where I felt safe and protected and, yes, happy. I didn’t know what to do with that. Especially seeing as the only reason I was here was because the man I was too quickly falling in love with was suspected to be a player in a major underground criminal ring. I mean, what did I do with that? Sorry Nathanial, but I can’t get you the evidence you need against the man I love, and now I’m going to go play happy mates with him as he builds his criminal empire. Or sorry, Elias, I might love you, but you are under arrest in the name of the council for crimes too awful to talk about. Either way, I was hitting a losing situation.

“It’s complicated,” I said, and Marcus rolled his eyes. Hell, even I knew that sounded lame.

“What do you mean, Stokes?” he asked. “Say the word, and the scroate is in an unmarked grave, never to be seen again, but rumours heard of him living it up in Las Vegas or somewhere else, so people don’t go looking.” I quirked my eyebrow at him in amusement.

“Not thought about this at all, have we?” I said with a chuckle, and he grinned.

“Every goddess day,” he said. “I dislike that guy immensely, the slimy little weasel.” I smiled at the look of disgust on his face. “I’ll be happy when we don’t need him anymore.” That piqued my interest.

“Whatever could you need him for,” I tried to maintain a casual tone. “Why him when the others were so quickly taken care of?” Marcus narrowed his eyes at me, the humour dropping from his face.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” he said, and I was almost shocked at the turnabout tone of the menacing command that came out. I smiled nervously and looked away submissively, which I hated.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said quickly. I wanted him to think that not had I noticed his sudden change of tone but that it had scared me because I was the weak, innocent werewolf, and he outranked me while mentally rolling my eyes.

“Hey,” he said, touching my arm, I looked back, and the menacing look had gone, replaced with a concerned look, “Don’t worry about any of this stuff. The Boss knows what he’s doing, I promise,” and I smiled shyly at him.

Just then, the bathroom door opened, and a billow of steam came out, followed by Elias with a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair wet from the shower. He searched the room until his eyes rested on me, and he smiled. He then glowered at Marcus, whose arm was still on mine.

“What’s going on?” he asked carefully, and Marcus backed away instantly.

“Nothing, boss,” he said, and Elias walked over to me and smiled. He took my hand and pulled me into him, wrapping his arm around my waist. There were beads of water on his chest, and he smelt fresh of his sea salt and mint. It was almost intoxicating, and I had to stop myself from leaning in and burrowing my nose into his neck. He chuckled, lifted my head up with his figure under my chin, and gently leaned in to k**s me.

“I have to work, but how about we retry the date tonight and just watch a movie here with some snacks?” I smiled and nodded my head, my mouth suddenly dry.

“That would be nice,” I said and then internally cringed at my own sweet tone. He smiled again and kissed my nose before releasing my waist. I stepped back, away from the warmth of his body, and reached for the door behind me. I turned the handle, and with one last smile to Elias, I slipped out of the room, closing the door.

I stood by the door for a minute and listened.

“What was that all about?” I heard Elias say, his tone harsh.From NôvelDrama.Org.

“Nothing, boss,” Marcus responded. “She just asked a question that she shouldn’t have. I don’t think it was intended. I was just making sure she was ok.”

“I told you to protect her, not fondle her,” Elias spat. “I see your hands on her again where not needed, and I’ll break your fingers.”

“Yes, Boss,” Marcus responded, his tone serious. I stepped away from the door quietly before making my way back to my room. There were a couple of things that I had learned from that little encounter. First, Marcus had a mean side to him that I hadn’t witnessed before. I would definitely need to watch out for that. And two, that despite his size and his mean scary side, Marcus was most definitely scared of Elias. I remembered Nathaniel in his review of Marcus before I had arrived. He had said he was one of the best warriors that came out of the training there. So how bad did you have to be to scare a scary, mean, elite-trained warrior? I knew I needed to be on my guard with Elias and keep my head in the game, not the love cloud.

I slipped into my room quietly and noticed a white folded piece of paper on the floor. I already knew who it would be from before I opened it. I sighed and unfolded the paper.

“I don’t know what you were playing at with that display last night. But you better meet me in the woods by the great swing at noon, or I’m telling lover boy everything.

All my love,

Colton x”

I stared at the note in disbelief. All my love? I wanted to throw up just seeing that. I glanced at the clock on the side table and saw that it was already eleven am. I would need to be quick if I was to get a shower and still meet at the swing on time. It was about a twenty-minute walk to the old tree that the swing hung from. I knew the route well and spent many a time with friends up there in past summers. I sighed and crumpled up the paper before throwing it into the bin and headed quickly for a shower before going to meet the slimy wolf himself.