Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

I rushed up to my room and grabbed my phone. I dialed Nathaniel’s number by heart and prayed for him to answer. He finally picked up the third time I phoned.

“Harper, I am in a meeting,” he growled down the phone, “what is so important!”

“I’m found,” I said. “Someone knows everything” I paced my room as I spoke

“What?” he exclaimed, “Ok give me details,”

I spent the next few minutes detailing the conversation and the threat from Colton. When I had finished, I waited. The other end of the line was silent, and half wondered if we had gotten cut off mid-rant.

“Nathaniel?” I asked,

“I’m thinking,” he said sharply and then lapsed into silence again. Eventually, he spoke again.

“So you decided to go and tell Owens everything?” There was a harsh tone to his voice which was reserved for when he was angry.

“What else was I supposed to do?” I asked, “I have my psycho abusive ex-mate trying to blackmail me!” I exclaimed, “I panicked.”

“I have to say, Harper, I am rather disappointed in you,” ouch! That stung. “I expected better from you, not to fold as soon as things got a little difficult” I opened and closed my mouth, unsure what to say and fighting the sting of tears in my eyes.

“This isn’t a little difficult,” I said. “This is the person that every nightmare I have is based on,” I tried to defend myself. But it didn’t matter. I was already upset that Nathaniel felt so little of me and that I could let him down so much.

“A proper Elite Warrior can compartmentalise that sort of thing. If required, you should be able to maintain a pleasant relationship with your worst enemy. Even an intimate relationship is sometimes required to get the job-at-hand done.” His words continued to hit me hard. The idea of being intimate with Colton turned my stomach. Hell, even the idea of being pleasant left me with a nasty taste in my mouth.

“Never mind that we have damage control now,” Nathaniel said. “What happened when you told this to Owens?” I shook the self-pity out of my head to focus on trying to get this mess cleaned up.

“I didn’t tell him,” I said. “I got there and overheard a conversation that he was having with his Gamma about a shipment,”

“So you haven’t actually revealed who you are to him?” Nathaniel asked

“No, but I-”

“No, this is good,” he interrupted. “We can work with this. You need to accept the help from this Beta. You should be easily able to get what we need to take Owens down between the positions that you both have,”

“What position do I have?” I asked, already knowing where he was going with this.

“Harper, you know the power of the mate bond. Owens will trust you quicker and tell you things that he might not tell others,” Nathaniel said. I couldn’t mistake the excitement in his voice.

“So you suggest I sleep with him and then use that to get information out of him?”

“Well, it’s not like you haven’t done something similar before,” He said like I was being unreasonable.

“True, but those people didn’t share a mate bond with me,” The more intimate I got with Elias, the stronger the mate bond would be.

“How much do you want this councilman position Harper?” Nathaniel snapped, “More importantly, are you going to let something like that get in the way of the hundreds of she-wolves that are going missing because of the Circle and your mate” he spat out that last line harshly enough that I felt like I had been slapped. I felt raw from the discipline and knew I had to fall in line.

“No, sir,” I sighed. “I’ll get the job done, I promise,”

“Good,” he said. “You know what to do, don’t let the Council down now, Harper.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied, and we ended the call. I sat staring at my phone for about ten mins feeling deflated and helpless. I didn’t want to give Colton control of the pack, but I also couldn’t let Elias or the Circle get away if I could make a difference.

I sighed and noticed that it was getting late in the afternoon, and since I was going to be walking into the dinner tonight with the Alpha, I thought I better get ready for it. I headed into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and started to get ready.

Two hours later, I was just putting the finishing touches on my makeup when there was a knock at my door. I glanced at the clock and saw it wasn’t quite time for Elias, so I was curious when I went to the door. I opened the door, and Lousie was standing on the other side. I smiled when I saw her and pulled her into the room.

“You’re looking nice,” she said, and I smiled. I was wearing a simple black dress that went to the knee. I wasn’t sure how to dress and thought I couldn’t go far wrong with this.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Thanks, I hope it’s ok. I’m pretty nervous about going to the dinner as the Alpha’s guest.” She smiled.

“It’s not that, Harper. You aren’t the Alpha’s guest. You are the Alpha’s mate,” she said, “Which means people will be looking at you like you are the Luna,” I glared at her.

“Way to add the pressure,” I said, and she rolled her eyes at me.

“From what I have heard from Tommy, you can handle some pressure,” I sighed and sat on the bed.

“Harps, what’s wrong?” she asked. I looked at her with a strained smile.

“I don’t know how much I can tell you,” I said, and she gave me a quizzical look, and I sighed again, “Things are a little more complicated than originally seemed.” I stopped and looked at her as she patiently waited for me to carry on. I felt bad that I didn’t know if I should or even could trust her enough to tell her what was going on.

“I didn’t just come home to grieve for my father. In fact, I didn’t come home to do that at all.” I said. I took a deep breath.

“I work for the council,” I said, and her mouth fell open, “I’m an elite warrior, and I am here to investigate the Alpha for some serious stuff.”

“Oh my goddess Harper, please be careful!” she exclaimed, “I know that Tommy says the Alpha is a good man and all, but he wasn’t in the cells the last three months hearing him interrogating people from the pack,” my eyes widened “I mean it Harper if he really is the bad guy you are investigating then please you need to be careful because that man has a nasty temper.” I took a deep breath. I really didn’t know what to do. Could I trust Colton to actually help me, and what did I do with his threat? It was clear that I couldn’t go to Elias about this. I needed to get this evidence and trust that I could get myself out of this mess.

There was another knock at the door, and we both looked over at it. I glanced at Louise and went and opened the door. Elias was standing there with a smile on his face.

“Wow, you look amazing,” he said, leaning in and kissing my cheek. “Are you ready to go down? People are arriving.” I smiled and looked back at Louise, who had an obviously worried look on her face. I took a breath and smiled at Elias again. I guess I was in this for the dangerous game.

“I’m ready,” I said, and he looped his arm for me to hook mine through

“We’ll see you down there, Louise?” Elias asked, and she nodded.

We headed out into the hallway, and as I closed the door, I fumbled with my left hand twisting the ring round, so the stone was showing. I knew full well that I was going to seriously regret this.