Not just the Beta (Oriana and Slade) novel Chapter 41

Slade

Palmer and Yuri drove him back to Alpha College, and Audrey was right there waiting for him out the front, a smile on her face, she hugged him right away and told him she’d missed him, that she was sorry for yelling at him and asked him how he was doing. Knew he’d had a tough few days.

Then she had nudged him a little and looked at Palmer and Yuri, gotten that introduction she’d clearly wanted to have to his Gamma and Delta. She’d smiled at both of them, shaken their hands and stated she was happy to meet them. Smiled right at Palmer and told him they were going to be good friends, and have a good strong bond; she just knew it.

Slade had already told Palmer and Yuri that he would not be telling Audrey about Ori and the pup she was carrying; he was going to leave that off the table until he knew for certain if she was or wasn’t his Mate.

Because if it turned out she wasn’t, they’d be going their separate ways, because that meant the girl had lied to him all this time, and was indeed trying to coerce him into being her Mate, and therefore, she would not need to know at all.

If she was his Mate, there would be no Marking and Mating until both their families had come together, here at the college it was standard protocol. Then he would have to tell her everything that had gone on back inside his pack; all the details he’d been withholding from her, because currently there was no need for her to know.

No one outside of the pack needed to know that he had a pup out there in the human world. That would put the pup at risk itself, if others found out that bit of news, it was not something he needed.

No Alpha wanted another pack to know they had an unprotected child out in the wilderness. somewhere, unknown to even himself, who was likely to be of rogue status, with no rank or rights even. That was just asking for trouble.

So, nothing would be said outside of the pack or an alliance deal here in the privacy of the Alpha Council itself, if Audrey wasn’t his Goddess Gifted Mate, to keep that pup and its mother safe from the world around them, and any potential threats that were unwittingly caused by the news getting out.

Wherever Ori was, he could only hope she was safe now, had found some place new, to call home, without other wolves, though he knew she was strong and a good fighter, she couldn’t actually shift to defend herself at the moment and the further along in her pregnancy, the harder it would be for her to even fight in human form. That bothered him a lot. She would be practically defenceless by the time the pup came.

He let Alpha Gretta know that he was back and then made his way to his dorm, Audrey was all smiles the minute the door was closed behind them, “I’ve missed you.” she murmured softly “Did you miss, me?”

Did he miss her? The answer was actually no, he’d not had a moment’s peace since he’d gotten home, and shit had hit the fan, and he’d had other, more important things to do from the moment Ori had gone rogue. So no, he had not missed her at all.

“Audrey.” He’d looked at her. “I’m not in the mood.”

“I could take your mind off your troubles.” She smiled at him “For many hours.” She slid a hand up his arm and he’d sighed. She probably could, if he felt what she did, but he didn’t feel all those tingles of a mate bond on his skin as she’d told him she did.

“I’m sorry Audrey.” He shook his head “I’m just not in the mood.” And he really wasn’t either.

She pouted at him near instantly, but then nodded “Alright, I understand. I’ll stay with you though, keep you company. You’ll sleep better with me next to you.”

He sighed just a little, for he might well do, so just nodded his head and sank down. She was right there next to him, all leaned into him. “It’ll be alright you know, Slade. Your family, her family, they will find her, and bring her back to the pack.”

“I don’t know about that to be honest. It’s so screwed up.”

“She’s just angry and hurt. Needs time to sort through her feelings is all. She might come back on her own, given a few days away from the pack. We girls are complicated, and highly strung at times.”

He could see that Audrey was trying to be supportive and comforting at the same time. She was happy to have him back and he knew it. She sat with him all afternoon, went to dinner with him and chatted away with his and her friends like nothing was wrong.

He found himself in bed with Audrey a few days prior to the full moon, and she was not only all over him, and aggressive in the mating of him but begging him to claim her. The full moon was only 4 days away, and she was really riding the hell out of him, kind of holding him down even, screaming his name. It seemed to him that her needs were ever-increasing, and she was getting out of control in her need to sate herself.

He saw those fangs of hers elongate as she looked down at him, at his neck to be precise, and he realised she was about to Mark him and Claim him for herself. Hail snarled inside his mind and his hands shot up and out to stop her. His own wolf pushed forward and halted Audrey in her claiming of him.

She was suddenly screaming at him, in a full fury for his stopping of her, for not letting her claim what was hers. He’d yelled right back at her about not scenting her to get the hell off of him. He had shoved her off of him, right off the damned bed even, and she’d gotten up and launched herself right at him all aggression, and a fight broke out between them as she tried to Claim him, and he tried to stop her.

Both he and Hail had to actively roll their aura at her with all they had to get her to back the hell off, and step away from them, make those fangs of hers retract. He stood there fully ticked off. “I don’t scent you.” he’d told her “There will be no claiming until I do.”

She’d burst into tears and started sobbing, “You don’t want me.” She’d sobbed and fled his dorm room completely naked.

He’d actually walked over to his door and closed it, made sure the lock was firmly engaged, then had just gone and sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the door, kind of couldn’t really believe what had just happened. It was only four days to the full moon, it wasn’t that

hard to wait for it.

‘Tried to mate us.’ Hail snarled at him, sounding very unhappy.

‘Could well have mated herself to us.’ Slade had muttered right back. ‘Just not marked us is all.’ This was not good. He knew he had to find out, but also didn’t think that it was wise to hunt her down right this very minute either, she needed to calm herself down.