Not just the Beta (Oriana and Slade) novel Chapter 165

Ana

She could hardly believe what she was reading in that file. It wasn’t just a log of Slade and his unit tracking her down, though that was in there. It was kind of like a diary of his life. Everything in chronological order, and it started with him at Alpha College, the calls he’d taken with not only his father, but hers as well. While she had still been inside that pack.

She just sat there at one point, and stared at the words of the deal he’d made with his own father, after that wolfed out fight in the Alpha’s office, something his own words, he’d believed at the time, had started.

She had actually worried about that herself, had even mind-linked the Beta’s Mate about it, worried they were going to be banished, and she’d have to out herself being pregnant to Slade, to stop the banishment from happening.

Now she knew what that was about. It was, in fact, over Slade’s own words about how he’d only take herself for a chosen mate and no other. Had made a deal with his own father after thinking about things himself, and speaking with his father, who’d told him he was banishing the Vale family. Struck a deal with his own father in order to keep them in the pack.

He’d not chosen Hayden of his own violation; he had been made to take Hayden and a chosen mate as well. She didn’t really understand that at all, giving up two things to stop one family being banished. Why?

It confused her alot. But Slade had agreed to do so, in order to just keep her inside the pack.

The words of his deal were there, that he got to tell her; the when and how, which his father had not let him do. Roman had broken the deal and blindsided both of them. She was very confused right at the minute.

The way he’d planned to tell her was even in there, to sit her down and lay it all out for her, the reason why he was taking Hayden. To stop her family from being banished, he had to take Hayden.

Nothing, it seemed, had gone to plan for him. And that eventful day, in his eyes, shouldn’t have gone down the way it had. Everything had fallen apart for him in that one moment, as much as it had for her. He’d been blindsided by his father himself.

She read that he had beaten Hayden after she’d stalked away; something she’d not known, because it was already too late for her. She’d been lost to her anger. He’d broken several of Hayden’s ribs and had been hauled off the boy by the Alpha unit themselves to stop him from putting him in the hospital.

She sat and read about what had transpired that night for Slade. While she was lost to the evolving and fighting off of an actual bloodlust, that was now confirmed by Palmer and his father; it was no wonder she had no memories. The words that had gone between him, the alpha and the unit, were incredulous at her.

But there it was, the coercion Austin had mentioned in the sss.

Slade’s own family had tried to convince him she was his Goddess-Gifted and all because they had sex. She was unhappy that they had all seen that, but there was nothing she could do about it. That was the past. She was, however, glad she’d not seen them there. She would have been utterly mortified in knowing they’d seen that.

The threats from himself to the pack Beta and to Hayden, lashings for all of them; after she’d smashed a bottle over him, she had no memory of that, just a brief glimmer of an argument. She could only guess it was when that happened. That he’d left her alone to try and allow her to calm down the next day.

Then he’d not scented her out on the full moon when it set, and yelled at the Alpha and all those involved. She’d severed from the pack and he and Anders had gotten into a fight, over whose fault it was that she’d run away and turned herself rogue, an all wolfed out fight against each other.

Alpha college had not been anymore fun for him either. Audrey had tried to mark him prior to the full moon, claimed she was pregnant when he wouldn’t, then lost it when confronted by the Alpha Gretta.

His whole life had been turned upside down, and he’d rarely talked to anyone inside the pack, written an official wolfen scroll to have his own family and the leadership of that pack investigated. And all in order to show her he’d not betrayed her like she thought, to prove to her, when he found her, he wasn’t lying about any of it.

Hayden had tried to kill him when Vance had been brought in and, the way he’d done that, gotten his own payback. Hayden hadn’t taken it so well. He was now living his life inside the pack cells as Slade’s prisoner. Though she already knew that bit about the cells, from Maddie.

The sun came up, and she closed the file a little more than numb to all she had just learned. Austin had emailed Maddie about coercion on a large scale. All 12 council members were there, and she wondered if it had all started with Slade or had it been before that.

It was difficult to absorb, and Maddie strolled into the room and looked at her. “Were you up all night?” she asked.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Ana nodded. “Londyn contained herself.” She stated, she knew Maddie would want to know what happened, if there was going to be any kind of fallout that could see Londyn and Yuri’s bond be ruined. No wolf wanted to be claimed by one that they didn’t scent out.

“Did you read that or just stare at it all night?” Maddie asked, indicating the file.

“I read it.” Ana sighed softly; she could now see why he wanted her to read it as well. He was right, nothing was as it seemed, and he’d learned a lot of that stuff after the fact of it all happening. Some of it months after the fact.

“Good or bad?” Maddie asked her.

“I’m very confused, is what I am,” Ana murmured, and she was.

“May I?” Maddie asked.

“Yes.” She nodded. Slade had handed it to Maddie and asked Maddie to please help him, to convince her to read it. He likely understood that Maddie herself would have to read it in order to convince her to read.

He’d opened himself up for all of them to read all about his life, hadn’t even really hesitated about it either,

didn’t seem to care who knew what had happened to him over the years, just wanted help to get her to read it.

He also knew that the council was now inside that pack, conducting the investigation he’d set up himself years ago. Something he had made the decision to do at just 18, while still in Alpha College. He, even then, had not thought his father was fit to run a pack, but needed him to stay there, so Slade could be out there in the world looking for her and their child.

‘Thank you.’ was all she said.

She didn’t know how long she stood out there staring at the frozen lake, trying to come to terms with everything, and what to do about it now that she knew about it. It was all too late, she couldn’t change it. She felt a pair of arms slide around her and felt Zara’s charm roll over her gently. “It’ll be alright Ana.” She murmured.

“You don’t really know that,” Ana half whispered. “What I did to him, to Ocean, I’m a terrible person.” her voice caught in her throat, as she felt tears well up.

“Yes I do. I’ve laid my hands on him. He doesn’t blame you, Ana, he just wants you back in his life, where he feels you belong.”

“I… I took his child away from him, and he knew the entire time,” she felt the tears fall. “I… caused him years of pain.”

“I don’t think he sees it that way,” Zara murmured. “I just skimmed that file. He wrote in there, he didn’t blame you, that all he wanted was to know you were alive and well, safe, living your life happily.”

“But…” she bit her lip.

“No, butts, you had a right to feel everything you felt that day. You didn’t know all the facts, and so how could you feel any other way, with the life you lived there, inside that place… you were fighting off a bloodlust yourself that day. They’re all lucky Ana you could. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that… Breathe honey,” that southern drawl rolled out of her, and she hugged Ana tightly “I know it hurts right now, to know the truth and extent of the ramifications. For him, for Ocean, but you didn’t know, you were struggling yourself, and you did what you thought was best for your baby at the time… it will be okay.”

“He has to go home to it.” Ana murmured. She had managed not to fall apart right this minute, and she knew it was only because Zara was likely holding herself together.

“Mm,” Zara nodded. “I have a feeling we’re all going to go there, from that sss Maddie showed me before taking Ocean to school,” Zara told her.

“Is Ocean alright?” Ana asked.

“Yes, she wants to know what’s wrong with you. Maddie will come up with something close to the truth for now, plausible, she’s good at that.”

Ana could only nod, “I could barely look at my own daughter, knowing now, that I took her away from her father, a man that would have loved her, stood up for her and given her the world and… I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It will be alright.” Zara told her. “Just breathe.”