Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

The next morning I woke up to banging on my bedroom door. I stumbled half-asleep to the door, thinking about the dinner last night. I didn’t know what to expect, but people seemed happy to see me walking in with Elias, and a fair few came up to me afterwards to offer condolences for my father and say they were happy to see me back. I recognised some of them, but not others. My mother and sister were sitting in the main dining area, along with my sister’s kids, and when they saw me, they waved. I had been happy to see Louise walk in with Tommy on her arm, and they both sat at a table in front of the main table, along with Alice Chambers and Caroline Stokes and their families.

The only people sitting up at the top table were Elias and me, Marcus and Colton. Elias had arranged it, so I was sitting between him and Marcus, so my evening was filled with jokes and laughs as the pair recalled stories from their time together. I found out they had been friends for at least fifteen years, and Marcus had followed Elias from pack to pack. My heart hurt a little at that. Did that mean that the sweet cheeky Marcus was also a part of the Circle? I had pretty much resigned myself to the very likely scenario that Elias was an evil criminal mastermind guy, but I was really struggling to see Marcus in the same light. On the other side of Elias, Colton sat quiet and alone. I could see him as he kept glancing over at me. I purposely kept my hand hidden just in case there was some miracle that rode in on a white horse to save me.

It was towards the end of the evening, just as the plates were being cleared, when Colton turned in his chair and grinned at me.

“Alpha, do you mind if I have a word with you?” he asked, looking at me.

“Can it not wait, Stokes?” Elias replied, not even looking at him.

“It’s pretty important. I think you would want to know this,” Elias tutted and shook his head.

“Fine,” he said, going to stand up. I felt panic set in and grabbed Elias’ arm. He looked at me, shocked, and I smiled and leaned in, pressing my lips against his. I felt him smile on my lips as he eagerly responded, pulling me closer. I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and glanced at Colton to make sure he had seen the ring on my hand. He met my eyes and nodded his head to show that he had seen it, and we had an understanding before I closed my eyes again and allowed myself to melt back into the k**s with Elias. Elias pulled away eventually and smiled at me before turning to Colton.

“Well, come on then,” he said, and Colton shrugged,

“On second thoughts, it can wait till tomorrow,” he said, leaving Elias to glare at him. The rest of the evening was less stressful and soon wound down with Elias walking me back to my room and leaving me at the door with a chaste k**s and a wish of sweet dreams.

Another knock at the door brought me back to the present. I opened the door to see Louise grinning on the other side.

“Happy birthday!” she called out, and I g*****d. She pushed past me and held the door open when I tried to close it. I realised that Tommy was following with a box in his arms.

“Happy birthday, kid,” he said and winked at me.

“One, not a kid,” I said, pointing at Tommy. “And two, it’s not even 8 am yet,”

“But it’s your birthday, and we have lots planned,” Louise said as she took the box from Tommy and began to pull things out on the coffee table by the sofa.

“Like what,” I asked, suddenly feeling worried. Louise pouted at me and then shook her head.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

“Nope!” she exclaimed. “It’s not only your birthday, but it is the first day in three months that I haven’t woken up in a tiny cell. I deserve this as much as you do,” I held my hands up in defeat, and she grinned for victory. Tommy soon excused himself when he saw Louise begin to pull out the ingredients for a facial. He wished me a second happy birthday and disappeared.

I was never one to really enjoy my birthday, certainly not after what had happened ten years ago on this very day, and thankfully Louise kept things low-key. We did pampering in the morning, which included a special breakfast sent up to my room at Elias’ request with a promise of an evening to remember later. Seeing that made me nervous, I had pretty much forgotten about the date that I had agreed to go on, but it was now brought back to my attention again. In the afternoon, I visited my mum and sister and was surprisingly delighted to get homemade gifts from the pups while my mum served us cake and tea. The closer to the evening we got, the more nervous I felt. And it wasn’t long before I was back in my room with Louise, stressing about what I was going to wear.

“I have no idea what to wear,” I g*****d as I lay face down on my bed, “why the f**k do I care what I will wear?” I asked, only frustrating myself further.

“Because you like him,” Louise said like it was the most obvious fact in the world, “He’s your mate, and you can’t just fight that and be okay.” I sat up on the bed and glared at her.

“I don’t need this complicating any further,” I said and picked up a top Louise threw at me from my suitcase.

“Why is everything still in your suitcase?” she asked

“Because I don’t plan on staying, that’s why,” I replied, pulling the top over my head. “I’m only here to get what I need, and then I’m going back to the Council. Hopefully, as a councilman.”

It was about an hour later when Elias knocked on the door. I was dressed in skinny black jeans and a dark red silk low cut top. My brown hair was straightened and fell across my shoulders. I had gone for light make-up everywhere, but my lips were a deep red to match my top. I opened the door and smiled as Elias handed me a bunch of roses. He was in a pair of black jeans himself and a fitted grey t-shirt that looked so out of place on him compared to the suits he wore daily.

“Happy birthday,” he said, and I smiled. Louise took the roses from me, and I accepted Elias’ looped arm before heading down the hall and the stairs.

When we got out of the pack house, Elias guided me to the side of the house to, where a small black sports car was waiting for us. Once in the car, we set off out the gates and were soon speeding into the darkening night down country roads.

Something about the journey felt familiar, and I was getting a bad feeling in my stomach. Elias made small talk while he drove. He told me about his day and random pack business. He casually mentioned that Colton had been around all day, and Elias had kept him busy so that he didn’t come up to bother me. I thanked him for the kind thought before lapsing back into silence.

After about 20 minutes, Elias pulled into the side of the road by the entrance of a woodland path. Everything began to feel familiar at this point, but I couldn’t place my concern. Elias helped me out of the car and guided me down the path leading to the woods. I was a little way down the path when I saw lights up ahead and suddenly realised where we were.

I stopped dead and stared at Elias in fear before looking back down the path at the stone structure ahead of me. We were back at the gazebo Colton had brought me to all those years before.