Not just the Beta (Oriana and Slade) novel Chapter 205

Slade

He didn’t know if that meeting had continued or stopped with them leaving the room, but no one had followed them out of the room, not even his unit, to see what would happen. The door to the war room was still closed as it had been while the reading had been in progress.

He pushed into the room and found them all sitting at the table, snacks had been brought and several members of the council were multitasking, eating and typing away on their laptops “My apologies.” He stated “Ana won’t be rejoining us.”

“Not necessary.” Gretta smiled at him “We have to start writing down the laws breached with each scroll anyway. It’s best to do it directly after each scroll is read and the crimes are fresh in our minds. Put the punishments each of us see fit to be dealt out to the traitors as well.” she motioned to the others.

“You can all strike Anders Vale from that task, Oriana just killed him.” He told them simply.

That had everyone in the room looking at him. “I think whatever she learned from Ember this morning, combined with what has been read so far saw her see something we don’t yet understand.” He told them “likely to come about with either Anders or Bronnie’s reading.”

He saw Austin nod “Is she alright?”

“Actually, yes, I think it is all good. She left Bronnie alive, something about hating her and not hating her at the same time, kind of understood her reasonings.” He shook his head. “I didn’t really understand it myself, I don’t have that information. But I believe it will come to light soon enough.” He indicated to the scrolls.

They’d all heard that a foreseer had predicted he and Oriana were Goddess-Gifted Mates, as had Ana herself. That was probably all she needed to hear, to tip her over the edge.

She’d also just told him that only on the full moon would they know the truth of what the Goddess had install for them. That they would move forward from that moment. That was good as far as he was concerned, she’d let him kiss her outside, so he had a feeling that moving forward meant she would be accepting him, their bond if it came into being.

“She was angry about a lot of things she heard Elise had done to this pack.” Palmer told the room,” Like all of us in here were, as well.”

That afternoon he’d heard many accounts of the same things, from different perspectives, as well as other things they’d all done individually. They all got to hear the deceit that had gone on over the course of that weekend when he’d been home from Alpha College,

How things had not gone to Roman or Anders’ plan not even Bronnie’s, and now he knew without a doubt that, as he suspected, those three had specifically timed things out that very night for him and Oriana, in an effort to try and find ways to get Ori to leave the pack.

That they’d all had real concerns about him not wearing his watch that day, with Ori being inside the pack still, because he could possibly scent her out prior to the moon setting, if their bond was that strong. They’d all played dumb to let him think she was still inside the pack even though they’d known she wasn’t. They had played the concerned Alpha and Beta, at her going rogue, played the angry it’s your fault card at Slade in an effort to get him to attack Anders, so that if Anders could kill him, it wouldn’t be seen as treason, but a terrible accident and Anders could go unpunished by pack laws.

His father had stepped in and stopped that wolfed-out fight, because Anders was going to lose that fight, and die by Slade’s own beast who’d been in a full rage over the loss of China, and they’d blamed him for it.

They all got to hear about Orlando and the details that surrounded who she really was, that Orlando had been stripped from the pack files and nothing remained of him at all, not even so much as a photograph on record.

That was sad for him to hear, and not just for Oriang’s sake, but Embers as well, he couldn’t understand why it happened that way. There were pack laws to protect those involved, to stop blame from happening even. Counseling was given to help them all move on. Seems Anders wasn’t the moving on type, and that deal he’d made with Ember and broken, had been what had seen Ember lash that man before the council.

He did learn that Bronnie had spoken the truth as well, she had named Oriana after Orlando, had discussed it quietly with Ember even, to try and bring about some small amount of peace for her. Orlando had actually been her friend and his loss had hurt her.

She did love Oriana, both her and her wolf, but Anders just couldn’t deal with it and so, to keep her mate bond intact, she’d pushed her daughter aside and tried to stop Anders from seeing her love Ori, drawing his anger to both herself and the girl. She’d been young and confused and didn’t know what else to do.

Tried she thought her best for many years to be a good mother, but just couldn’t manage it without incurring Anders’ anger, so she had made herself focus solely on Hayden, which made Anders happy all the time.

Hayden also knew that Ori wasn’t Anders’ child, and this had come from Anders’ scroll. He’d actually told Hayden the truth of it when he was 10, so that boy always knew he was going to be the future Beta, because Anders had told him that Ori was not his, and so she would never be seated. It had already been decided upon with the Alpha. They’d see her leave, and he’d be instated to not worry about it. It was his rightful place, and he would have it at 18, that he needed

No wonder Hayden was such an entitled little asshole, that couldn’t deal with hearing others telling him it was Ori’s place and not his. When he’d been raised with the truth, though, he was curious as to how that boy had held his tongue all those years and never told Ori that. Pointed out her eyes were nothing like their parents. Wondered if, though he had the knowledge, he was ordered not to speak the truth to her, he’d nearly voiced it in the nightclub that one time, and Slade knew he had to have wanted to say it to Ori’s face. There was no way in Slade’s eyes the boy could have held that in all those years. No, he was ordered not to say it directly to Ori or within earshot of her to anyone he thought. It was the only way to insure he never told her.