Not just the Beta (Oriana and Slade) novel Chapter 181

Londyn

She was in a car with Maddie, Palmer and Yuri, who was driving. She’d pushed Palmer away from the front passenger side door and murmured, “you should sit in the back with Maddie.” Winked right at him, and he’d smiled at her, inclined his head a little even “If that is what you insist, Alpha Londyn.” He addressed her formally.

No one had ever called her that before, and she’d not expected it. She heard Maddie’s huff as he moved from the front to the back, and she’d climbed right into that front seat, to sit next to Yuri. He’d smiled right at her and her heart had fluttered at the sight of him smiling at her like that. She and Apple believed he liked her more than just a little bit.

He was so very handsome and though he wasn’t, from what she’d seen, covered in tattoos or had any piercings, she really did like his clean-cut, wholesome, look. Could see herself waking up next to that man every day, and him smiling at her like that.

Apple also liked it and a part of her was really itching to see what type of wolf he was. They knew they would have to wait until the full moon in all likelihood to see their mate in wolfen form. They were trying to have patience, but they were starting to really feel the need to claim him; ever since having a taste of him they both wanted to be mated by him. Wanted to Mate him and his beast.

She moved her attention away from Yuri to pull herself away from those thoughts, and was looking around at everything as they passed through a gate that was large and imposing. It was a large black wrought iron that depicted a forest with wolves roaming in it. It was unique and pretty, she thought, likely to symbolise the wolves that lived here in the pack.

That gate had stood open for them as they passed through it, but she’d turned to look at it. She was very curious about what the difference between a pack and the human world was. She was expecting to see wolves all over the place, and it to be all rustic and mystical, shrouded from the human world by some sort of magic.

They drove down a long tree-lined driveway that went for about two kilometers before she started seeing homes and buildings dotted about and then more housing, like a suburb on either side of the driveway, or road, she now guessed.

As she looked at what she knew was to be the pack, she realised it looked just like the surrounding suburbs of Greenville. It was no different, she thought a little disappointedly, to the human world. They drove past a school and what she thought was a hospital, which Yuri confirmed it was.

“It’s not different to a human town,” she muttered.

“That’s the idea.” She was told by Yuri “So we blend in to the human world.” He commented “Look to them like a private gated community for the wealthy.”

“Oh, that’s disappointing. I thought it would be something special,” She murmured.

She saw Ana’s car peel off down a road to the left, and they were still going straight. Towards a very large and impressive building that she could see was five stories high. It kind of looked like a very expensive hotel to her, with large windows and grand double doors all along the front of the ground floor. As they drove, she saw a large grassed area out the front. She already knew Ana and Ocean were going to be taken in through a side door, so Ocean didn’t see the gruesomeness of what was considered to be wolfen pack punishment.

Not something she herself had seen but, had been informed of on the car ride here, all of their parents were on shaming posts out the front of the packhouse, which had to be this building she was looking at, because everything else here looked normal and it did not.

She smelled blood and a lot of it, old and new, and Apple snarled inside her mind at the thought of this place being somewhere bad for them to be. Was this how it was when Ana was there? Was this what she had to put up with? She knew Zara had been on a shaming post more than once and beaten a lot inside her pack.

Was this what she would see now, what Zara had lived through, and the closer they got to that building the more agitated she got about her sisters and how they had lived inside their packs. The horrible things they had gone through. She wasn’t in the car with Zara and right at that minute, wanted to be next to her.

She felt a hand reach out and touch her and felt that charm of a Gamma roll over her. She knew it was Palmer because Zara was in the car up ahead of them, “it’ll be alright.” Palmer’s words came to her with that southern drawl, “Calm down, it will be alright.”

“Zara’s been treated badly, on a shaming post.” She managed to get out and tried to shake off his charm. She itched to get out of the car and go to Zara.

She felt more of his charm roll over her and heard Maddie herself snarl from the backseat. She turned and looked at her and the woman was glaring at Palmer herself.

Londyn realised that in this car, in such close quarters, his charm, though not directed at Maddie herself, she could feel it. Turned and looked at her, concerned for her other sister now, she couldn’t get away from it, didn’t like it being rolled over her, even if it wasn’t aimed at her.

“Stop it.” snarled out of Maddie at the man, as she felt his charm.

“Talk about old-fashioned.” She murmured, slipping her hand in Zara’s “Are you alright?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” Zara stated, “It’s good to see Alpha’s can be put on them too.” was all she said, turning her eyes away from it.

She watched Slade stop walking, and then punch that man who yelled at him. He had to be his father was Alpha-blooded, she heard him threaten to rip the man’s head off. Apple chortled inside her mind at Londyn thinking it was a bit on the archaic side, wondering why they did things this way; humans got arrested, had a trial and sent to jail if proven guilty.

They moved on when Slade moved on, only to have Maddie mind-link to her and tell her, to tell her that was exactly what was going on, those on the shaming post were already guilty of something. “The witches are there to see inside their minds. Confirm that, they will dig out just what crimes they committed to determine a proper formal punishment.

“This is a full formal investigation by the Wolfen Council, with, from what I’m seeing, the Wolfen King’s approval, at that. This is how it is done in the wolfen realm. Despite living here in the human realm, we are all bound by wolfen law. Nothing will escape a seer, the truth will be found out and exposed.”

She just nodded; guessed that was more efficient than humans having to find evidence and present it, convince a jury of the crime being committed. Probably take less time as well, she thought absently as they walked into the packhouse.

She also understood as she thought about it, that two of those people out there had to be Ana’s parents, they were the leadership that had hurt Ana, and made her want to leave and never come back.

“Let it go.” Zara murmured as Londyn turned back to look at those on the shaming posts, scented out the beta-blood that was out there and saw a man covered in wounds all over his back and sides. He had to be Ana’s father.

Vance was walking towards her, coming back from punching that man out there. “Don’t dirty your hands Londyn,” he told her as he put a hand on her shoulder and turned her back to the packhouse. “That is my job.”