Not just the Beta (Oriana and Slade) novel Chapter 110

Ana

She sank down out in the snow unaffected, by the cold-filled night, later that night, China had just raced her off away from Pierce’s house, in case she did more damage to him. It was likely she had injured him, and he could well press charges against her.

Though if he did that, she would have to give her statement as to why, to whichever one of his officers came to arrest her. She would be telling the truth, that he was cheating on her with his ex-wife and that, yes, she had struck him, just once, when she’d found out he’d betrayed her.

She wasn’t going to have her reputation marred by him, and he go unscathed, though if he thought it wasn’t going to get out, in a town this size. He was a fool. The moment he started walking about with that woman, everyone would know what he’d done.

She’d lived in this town for seven and a half years, and he only four. They all knew she’d never dated anyone. That he had pursued her and for a very long time, not the other way around. That his ex-wife had cheated on him, that she was now looking for a place to live here, had been for weeks.

It would likely been seen without her even saying anything, that he’d opted to go back to his wife and kept Ana in the dark about it. Gossip was rife in small towns, they would put two and two together very quickly and come up with that he was the bad guy, that she herself had done nothing wrong.

She had no idea how to handle his betrayal. The last time anything close to this happened, she’d left and moved away, clear across the country. She couldn’t do that now, she was going to have to stay here, Ocean was settled and happy in her life, she had sisters that loved her. So no she wouldn’t leave them, she was going to have to deal with having see him all the time.

She might not be his Mate, but she had trusted him, and the pain and anger she felt told her how much she actually did like him, had been happy in their relationship. That first time he’d not been able to get himself there during sex and had taken ages, just kept on going, he’d apologised to her, and she’d smiled gently at him, he’d been a little embarrassed about it.

She’d not gotten upset or been concerned, had simply told him “Don’t apologise, I kind of like that we get to have sex longer,” she recalled even sliding her arms around him and hugging him “I like sex with you.” she’d murmured “Want more of it.” she’d not lied either, she didn’t mind that it took him a while sometimes. There had been nights when she’d been able to climb on top of him multiple times and ride the hell out of him. He liked that or said he did.

Londyn, she knew, had several boyfriends, and didn’t really care about how long the sex was, had told her to just get all hopped up before you go jumping on his joystick, to get halfway there first.

They’d all laughed at her terminology ‘a joystick,’ she called it that because it was, something that was fun for her at all times. She enjoyed her boyfriends when she had them. Had wanted to, and still did want to, have sex with a wolf to see the difference. Ana had actually told her not to.

That if she liked sex with her human boyfriends, having sex with a wolf would likely ruin that for her. They weré naturally bigger and more aggressive in the sex department, that she-wolves responded in kind and her being Alpha-blooded, she would likely never want to go back to her human boyfriend.

She herself might have only had sex with one wolf, drunken sex at that, but she recalled it, it was completely different to have sex with Pierce, it lasted much longer and felt ten times better, they were built to handle their own kind. If she herself hadn’t gotten Ocean out of it, she would have wished she didn’t know what it was like at all.

Ana sat out there in the woods. She wasn’t expected home until the morning, so no one would be concerned about her. Just think she was at Pierce’s house, she wasn’t at all ready to go home. Their break-up, the way it happened, still hurt. She needed more time on her own. She wondered how long it was going to take to get over it. Would she be able to? Or would she forever hate him, like she did that place, and those people she’d grown up with.

There was too much here in Greenville for her to just up and move away. It wasn’t just her now, she had a daughter and sisters to think about. Londyn had her photography business, Maddie had the café. Zara was doing well, off to modelling jobs all the time, had gotten herself a teaching degree and a part-time job at the school.

Then there was her tutoring business, and teaching Japanese, as well as the self-defence classes she taught. Their lives here in Greenville were very full, and they all liked it here. She liked it here, it felt like home right from the moment she’d met Maddie. She was going to stay, and would have to be uncomfortable. Have people stare at her and get those pitying looks she supposed.

She sighed heavily as she sat there on the ground, and stared aimlessly out at the night. She didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep, but woke up to a hand gently touching her arm, and a male voice asking her if she was okay. She’d opened her eyes roused from sleep, it was still dark, was the first thing she’d noticed.

Then her eyes had moved to the man, hunkered down in front of her, and her eyes had widened as much as his had. She knew that face, those dark brown eyes, Yuri, Slade’s Delta was right in front of her, had a hand on her, and he recognised her as easily as she did him. Though her eyes were a dead give away “Ori…

‘he got out before her fist connected with his chin in a full upper cut, with all she had, before he could even finish getting her name out.

She shot to her feet as he fell backwards and then rolled over under the force she had hit him. Clearly he’d not been expecting it. Then he was just gone, had rolled right off an embankment, and she leaned forward to see him crash to the ground below. A good 16-foot drop. Ana stood looking down at him and used China’s wolfen senses to see that he was still breathing; just unconscious, she’d knocked him out cold. He’d not known who she was when he woke her up, she would have just smelled human to him. He’d likely seen a naked woman in the snow and had just stopped to offer help, so she didn’t freeze to death.

Then he had been surprised at realising who she was, that had been what had given her the advantage, and her reaction to seeing him had caught him completely off guard. He’d not likely have been expecting that reaction from her.

She hunkered down on the ledge and really put China to him, to not only see if he was breathing but to listen for a wheeze or crackle to his breathing to indicate an injury. There was none, they couldn’t smell any blood either. That was good. She stood up and breathed in deeply to see who he was out here with. She scented no one, just Yuri it seemed, though he still had that pack scent on him.

But where there was one, it was likely there would be others. She had no idea where the rest of the unit was. She’d picked up his Rank when breathing in. He was still Delta Ranked. She looked at him one last time, he would wake up on his own and could survive out here like she could. He had clothes on, winter wears, she noted, he would do better than she did.

She looked about her to see where his tracks came from and headed in the opposite direction. She was not going to stick around until he woke up, it could be minutes or hours, but he was not getting the chance to latch on to her.

She got the hell out of there, shifted to China and raced away from him, tracked that river they could smell back to the lake and ran around it, sticking to the wooded areas as best she could. Had no choice to, couldn’t go running naked in human form.

‘Just the one. Why?’

‘He’s part of the Alpha Unit.’ Ana muttered now.

That made Londyn look right at her ‘Ocean’s father’s Unit?’ she questioned right away.

‘Yes, that’s the Delta you’re smelling. If you’re only getting one wolf, I didn’t scent any others, just him, but it’s likely they’re not far off.’

She watched as Londyn looked at her a little troubled, and then back towards the closed front door ‘it’ll be fine, we don’t scent wolfen or rogue.’

‘I know.’ Londyn sighed ‘I’ll keep a scent out for others, you go shower and change, did Peirce freak out?’

‘No.’ Ana muttered ‘He doesn’t know anything happened.’

‘Ah, sleeping then, he won’t be happy, Ana, that you up and left in the middle of the night. Londyn smiled at her.

‘He won’t care.’ Ana muttered back and headed off to shower and pull clothes on. She was now going to have to be careful and keep a scent out for that Alpha and his unit herself. They might all smell human, but her looks hadn’t changed that much over the years, matured, yes, but still looked much the same.

Her and Ocean’s eyes were going to be a dead give-away, though as she thought about that, they didn’t know about Ocean, and if she smelled human to them, they’d likely think she was just human. If they thought she was hers, that she’d gone and had a child with a human.

Peirce’s timing couldn’t have been worse, she could have passed herself off as his wife, that they were married and Ocean was his. Why did she have to pick up on Peirce’s cheating ways today of all days?

She would have had him to back her up, but did not think that was going to happen anymore. Not after she’d assaulted him, life sometimes just wasn’t easy. Today, it seemed, was going to be one of those days; you wished just never happened.