Beyond Beta's Rejection
The Alpha’s Tainted B***d Chapter 8

(Harpers POV)

“Hey there,” I said with a smile as I slid up to Elias. He raised his eyebrow at me but didn’t say a word. The guard he was talking to got the hint and stepped back away from the little awkward situation that was beginning to brew.

“Don’t be angry,” I said and went to take his hand. He pulled it away at the last minute and sighed. He turned and walked away. I watched him for a second and then chased after him as he walked around the corner.

“Hey,” I shouted, “Seriously, what is your problem?” I wasn’t happy he was walking away from me. I did nothing wrong, just not what he wanted. I grabbed his arm to stop him and he growled.

“Don’t Harper,” he hissed, “I’m not in the mood.”

“Yeah, well I am,” I said and held on. He whirled around and grabbed me, and pushed me against the wall. He held me there, his hands tightly gripping my arms, pinning them to the wall.

“And what mood is that?” he whispered against my ear. He growled again and let go of me and stepped back, turning his back to me. I could see the tremor of anger in his body.

“Why can you do what I say?” he said, and I scowled at his back.

“Because I’m not a f*****g dog,” I shot back, getting pissed off. “Elias, if you want a pretty little mate who will bow to your greatness and be the good little Luna, then you have picked the wrong girl.” He turned and looked at me.

“Picked?” he asked.

“Fine, you were screwed over by the mate bond,” I hissed. “Well guess what, been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Sorry, I’m such a disappointment for you.” I pushed away from the wall and started to walk away. I felt his arm hand on my arm and he pulled me around to face him again.

“Is that what you think?” he asked. “How could you think that?” I felt tears pricking my eyes and dug my nails into my hand to try and push them back. Why was I getting so emotional?

“Because no matter what I do, you are always angry at me.” I shot at him. “I can’t do anything without you getting annoyed.”

“Harper, I’m not angry. I’m worried,” he said, and my eyes widened a little. “The last six months, you have been so focused on trying to avoid everywhere that you have constantly found ways to put yourself in danger. And don’t think I don’t notice how much of an effect using that bloody blade is having on you.”

“I’m not avoiding,” I said, although even to me it sounded childish. I knew I was avoiding everything. I had purposely kept us busy with new cases so we didn’t have time to come to the Council, or the Order, or even back to Midnight Moon. Hell, I had done everything to avoid the while angel thing altogether.

“Baby, I’m worried about you,” Elias said, and pulled me closer to him. “I knew I couldn’t stop you from seeing him. But the man hurt you. He took so much from you. Surely you understand that I would be protective.” I scoffed and looked up at him.

“I can look after myself,” I said, and he smiled.

“I have no doubt about that at all,” he said, “But it doesn’t mean you have to. You aren’t alone anymore. I just want you to trust me.”

“I do trust you,” I said. “I just didn’t think you would want to see Colton. It was easier to get it done by myself. Plus, Marcus was with me, all growly and annoying and shit.” Elias pursed his lips.

“And don’t think he isn’t going to get his own talking to about this too,” he said.

“Oh, for f**k’s sake.” I smiled as Marcus responded from around the corner. Elias glanced that way, and I could tell he was fighting to keep the smile off his face.

“Go easy on Marcus,” I said. “I mean, let’s face it, could he even stop me?”

“Hey standing right here,” Marcus’ offended voice floated around the corner again.

“Then stop eavesdropping, and go get our stuff ready to leave,” Elias called back.

“Yes, boss.” And Marcus appeared around the corner and grinned at me as he walked past us, back towards the apartment.

“And we will still be having that conversion,” Elias said as he passed..

“Ah, f**k,” Marcus muttered loud enough for us to hear. A smile crept onto Elias’ face then, and his body relaxed.

He turned his attention back to me.

“Please baby,” he said, “Just think about things before rushing in. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.” His grip on me tightened and I admit I held a little tiger myself. Despite my tendency to push everyone away, Elias was my world, and I couldn’t even think of losing him. The thought alone made it hard to breathe.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, and Elias smiled before kissing my forehead. I pushed up onto my tiptoes to capture his lips with my own, and he responded with a sweet caress as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Elias broke the k**s first and looked into my eyes.

“I love you,” he whispered, and I smiled, as a warm feeling spread through my heart.

“I love you, too,” I whispered.

“Yeah, we all love each other.” I looked up to see Tommy standing there with a grin on his face. “Seriously though, people, now I know why people complain about me and Louise.” I stuck my tongue out at him, but reluctantly pulled away from Elias anyway. Elias chuckled and turned to face Tommy. He stiffened slightly as Drake rounded the corner, but relaxed again when I took his hand. I had the feeling he didn’t really like Drake, and I think it went beyond the whole angel and demon thing.

“Marcus and Alex are just packing the car,” he said. “Once that is done, we will be setting off to the Order.” Drake nodded in response.

“I will follow shortly,” he said. “I have a few things to wrap up here before heading back.” He turned to Tommy. “We would love to have you there as well. Let you see some of the guardian training we do there. It would be good for you to finally see the place after all these years.” Tommy made a face that I couldn’t quite get, but forced a smile on.

“Actually, I am going to spend a few days here,” he said. “He might be a complete d**k and all, but I haven’t seen my dad in a while.” I nodded. That made sense, although I had no desire to see Samual again anytime soon. “Then I will need to get home to Louise before she exiles everyone for annoying her.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. My poor friend hated the idea of being a Luna, probably more than I did, but from our phone calls, the pregnancy hormones were doing terrible things to her emotional reasoning.

“Well, give her my love when you get home,” said and gave him a hug.

“You could always do it yourself,” he said. “You know, if you came home for a bit.” I glanced at Elias. This wasn’t just me avoiding things, this was more to do with the two warnings in the same number of days about Midnight moon. I smiled at Tommy, though.

“I promise, we will try,” I said, and he nodded, seemingly satisfied.

Tommy and Drake headed off back to the main Council buildings after a brief and awkward shake of the hands between Elias and Drake, and Elias and I headed towards the apartment. I said I wanted to pack up a few more things that I missed, like my black combat boots and maybe some more skinny jeans. We got back just as Alex and Marcus had finished moving our stuff back to the two cars. I quickly packed the things I wanted and Marcus insisted on carrying the bag despite my declaration that even women could carry bags, and my eye rolling when he said no. We were soon back in the cars and heading out of the Council grounds.

It was quiet at first, with just Elias and me in the car. But after about twenty minutes, Elias sighed.

“Okay,” he said with a big sigh, “I can’t take it anymore.” I glanced over at him from my phone and blinked in confusion.

“Huh?” I asked, and he glanced at me before looking back at the road.

“Colton. What did he want?” he said.

“Oh,” I said, “Strangely, the same as what you said last night.” Elias looked at me again, and I detailed the contents of my visit with Colton. I told him about what Colton said about Midnight Moon and about his demon coming out and still having Colton’s eyes. I even told him about seeing Susie.

“And they both said something about a Him?” he asked and I nodded.

“Yep, although I have no clue what that was all about,” I said and glanced over at him. He had a strange look on his face. “What is it?” I asked, and he glanced my way again.

“I had this dream,” he said.

“Well, it wasn’t about marshmallows and kittens, I am guessing,” I said, and Elias screwed his face up. He didn’t like cats. He said it was unnatural for werewolves to like cats, but I didn’t mind them all too much.

“No, it wasn’t,” he said, “But in my dream I was at Midnight Moon and I saw my demon. We were talking about someone else, but we just said he or him. In the dream, it was like I knew who we were talking about, and that I needed to get to him. But I have no idea who he could be.” I mused over what he said. This was worrying. Whoever this guy was, I didn’t like the sound of him. Elias looked concerned too, as he concentrated on driving.

“Well, maybe we can get some more answers from The Order when we get there,” I said with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. From the look on Elias’ face, I was guessing I wasn’t that reassuring, but he nodded anyway.

“One answer, ten more questions,” he said.

Yes, I thought as we pulled through some big iron gates. One answer, ten more questions indeed.