Not just the Beta (Oriana and Slade) novel Chapter 19

Oriana

They had all heard the fight break out downstairs, only because it spilled out into the actual foyer of the packhouse. And an all-alert had burst out of the pack’s Gamma for all wolves to get out of the packhouse’s ground floor.

She actually stepped out of the room and shot to the top of the staircase in time to see her father’s wolf and the Alphas wolf fighting it out in the foyer in wolf form. It was part of her job as the future Beta to get in there and stop it, but she couldn’t. Being pregnant, she could not risk her child.

She could see that the Luna and her own mother Bronnie were rushing to them. They had come from Luna’s office themselves. She bit her lip as she saw the two women actively get between the Alpha and the Beta’s wolves of the pack, shoving them apart even, they were not afraid of their mates’ wolves.

She stood and watched on as those wolves circled the two women who she knew were

actively keeping themselves between the two. Watched as both Charlton and Dalton looked up at her. They didn’t look happy at all.

She’d not done anything wrong, to set off and Alpha on Beta fight, had been up in her room, holed up for weeks now. Hadn’t even had dinner with the family or the Alpha unit. She was actively avoiding all of them right now, out of sheer self-preservation.

Trying to keep her secret, so Slade only found out from her and no one else. She did know if the Alpha unit down there found out, they’d not only want to relieve her from her duty. They would insist on knowing who the pup’s father was, and she didn’t think Alpha Roman would hold off on telling Slade either, and her own father would be calling to yell at Slade himself.

She saw both wolves shift back to their human forms as Palmer, Yuri and Hayden all rushed in through the front doors. They had been out at the training grounds and come when the alert had been sent out, as was their duty. Her father’s eyes had moved right towards her, and he’d yelled, “Oriana, go to your bloody room and stay there.”

Before, Roman had snarled out “everyone in my office.”

She watched not only the Alpha Unit but both the Luna and her own mother go back into the Alpha’s office and the door was banged closed with a resounding crack like thunder ‘what the hell happened?’ Yuri shot at her via the mind-link.

‘I don’t know’ she answered right back, because she didn’t know, had no bloody idea what was going on down there between the Alpha and Beta, what they were fighting about was their business.

‘They were all looking at you.’ He stated, ‘your dad’s pissed.’

‘I haven’t done anything. I’ve been in my room all week long.’ She told him and turned to go right back to her room, where her dad ordered her to go.

‘Sulking up there.’ Yuri shot at her; he sounded a bit annoyed.

‘Yes.’ She shot back, ‘go bond with your new Beta.’ She snapped and slammed her own door shut, her way of making sure they wouldn’t come up here to discuss whatever the heck was going on down there. Keep them away from her and from finding out her secret.

She wasn’t mad at them, just needed Palmer to stay away from her, that was all. He was a bloody Gamma and was going to pick it up at some point and then prod and poke until he knew it was Slade’s child as well. That damned Gamma would be feeling her out at every opportunity, trying to figure out what was going on with her, and then when he did, he’d be trying to sense out just whose pup it was. And one unguarded thought from her was all it would take, once he knew she was pregnant.

So, her room was the safest place for her, she was certain he’d picked something up the other night when they’d burst into her room to tell her about Slade, and that mating alliance crap.

But he’d let it go, he’d had more pressing concerns that night, than feeling out a cranky Beta. Who he knew would be upset and ticked off anyway with all that was going on. Likely he’d put whatever he’d felt down to her just being really ticked off.

Whatever it was that was going on downstairs right that minute, she’d likely find out at some point, especially if she was the actual issue; that had started the fight between the two of them. Not once in her entire lifetime had she ever seen Alpha Roman and her dad fight like that before.

Those two men were like closely bonded brothers. Hell, the four of them were like brothers. So, what the hell had happened to make them attack each other like that, just her dad and the Alpha? Both the Gamma and the Delta had stayed out of it completely, just stood there and watched on.

They had let the Luna and the Beta’s mate separate them, contain them, and walk them back into their office. Something must be really bad down there, she thought, but no longer was it her problem to deal with, or to find out what it was to try to resolve it. No, that would be Hayden’s job now.

‘Why did he yell at me?’ She asked the question, she wanted to know the answer to. She didn’t even know what she’d done wrong.

‘Who knows dear, it wasn’t even about you as far as I’m aware, he’s just ticked off. Likely because his little girl has been ignoring him for two and a half weeks now. It bothers him greatly, my dear, I know you don’t think it does, but it actually does. Perhaps a nice family dinner for the four of us together, would resolve his anger and issues, and then he could calm down a little.’

She thought about that for 10 seconds and then answered ‘no’ flatly. She was actually still mad at him down there, but mostly it was just self-preservation to keep anyone from hearing that little pup’s heartbeat.

‘You can’t be mad at him forever, you know that right, he’s your dad.’ She heard her mother sigh as she spoke.

‘Yes, I can.’ She muttered and cut the mind-link, she needed to keep everyone away from her right this minute. She wasn’t showing yet, thankfully, but she didn’t think it would be much longer either. But she’d found out that if she put China’s wolfen hearing to it, she could actually detect that quick one-two flutter of her unborn pup; she had heard it yesterday for the first time. Which meant so could anyone else now.

Though no one would likely do that to her, put their wolfen hearing to listen to her insides. They all knew she’d never had a boyfriend. Her pregnancy was so far left-field, that no one would even think of it, and one didn’t just go around listening with their wolfen hearing to other wolves’ bodies.

Most didn’t even switch their hearing on normally, unless they were listening for something in particular, having your sensitive wolfen hearing activated all the time in a wolf pack, would just lead one to hear wolves getting all hot and heavy all the time. Having sex all over the pack; out in the woods or behind a closed door, in a communal bathroom or closet somewhere. It just wasn’t done.

She also knew no one would suspect anything like that about her, until her belly actually popped and suddenly wasn’t flat. And she was going to cover that with her baggy oversize men’s shirts she’d bought online for just that.

Ori flopped down onto her bed. This week was the longest one of her life, it seemed. She had to go and pick Slade up in just three days, and she was more than nervous about doing that. It had yet to be given to Hayden to do; it was currently still her job, it seemed.

She was actually more than a little nervous about doing that, but she couldn’t avoid it. She did actually need to be the one to go and get him, so that they could talk privately on the drive back. They were likely going to need those six hours on the drive back to sort this issue out.