Not just the Beta (Oriana and Slade) novel Chapter 56

Slade

He picked up his father’s call before Palmer and Yuri got to him. “Slade, why are Palmer and Yuri going to see you and spend the night there?”

“I miss my friends, and they’ll be coming to give me a complete update on the search for Oriana.”

He answered simply “There is no point in them driving out here and back on the same day. Not unless they’re here to pick me up, that is, and I’ve still got three months here.”

“Then why did you exclude Hayden from the trip? He’s your Beta and is getting left out of things, feel, on purpose. You need to bond with him.”

Slade closed his eyes for a moment, and took in a long deep breath so he didn’t grate out harsh words to his own father. “I believe he was on border patrol, so he couldn’t come.”

“You put him on border patrol, so he couldn’t go.” His father stated flatly.

“How did I do that? I’ve not been home or spoken to Hayden or Ethan. It was not me.” Slade answered him, and technically it had not been him, it had been Yuri.

“I’m not so stupid, Slade.” His father grated out.

“Hmm, I beg to differ on that after what you did to Ori.” Slade grated right back, unable to hold it in any longer.

“Let it go, Slade, it was nearly a year ago now. I didn’t banish her, she opted of her own free will to run away, to turn herself rogue. If I’d had my way she’d have been locked up in the cells until the full moon set.”

“Opted too?” he muttered. He didn’t see it that way. She left because she felt betrayed by all she knew. Leaving wasn’t an option. It was a survival instinct. “Are you even looking for her? For your own grandchild? That is now what? Seven or eight months old. Is out there born as a rogue, because you and your unit, fucked her over completely, and made her feel like she’d be better off alone away from this pack. You lot screwed up all our lives.”

“Of course we are still looking.” His father snarled at him.

“Not doing a very good job then are you… Maybe father, I’m still pissed off and Hayden is still a whiney baby. Ori wouldn’t have whinged about something like this.” He snarled right back at his father and then hit the end call button. Knew that man didn’t want to hear how much Ori was at being a better Beta, than their own choice.

Hayden had clearly gotten off patrol duty and realised Palmer and Yuri weren’t there, gone right to Anders or maybe his Alpha and pissed and moaned about being left behind, out of their plans, and not invited at all. That boy, however, was not part of his or Palmer and Yuri’s social circle, he was in fact a year below them, and he’d not liked his training schedule that Slade himself had set up.

Had whinged about it to Anders and his Alpha, that it was a lot to handle with his school work as well. Slade’s only reply to it had been “No it’s not. Ori’s schedule was always full like that, never had a moment’s rest, and she never complained about it being too much.”

Then there was another time that Hayden had whined about something, and Slade’s response had been “You wanted that boy trained up, he’s a full year and a half behind where he should be. I expect him to be up to Ori’s level when I get home.”

Neither his father nor Anders had liked hearing that, they still didn’t like that he compared Hayden to Oriana at every turn, that she always came out on top. Because Hayden was entitled and thought he deserved the rank solely because he was Beta-blooded. Whereas Ori had to work her ass off to show she had earned it and deserved it. Something he took great pleasure in reminding them all of.

He was picked up at the front gate, and he punched into the GPS, Homewood Suites by Hilton as he greeted the boys “You get a call?” Palmer asked.

“Yes.” He nodded “Apparently I’m excluding the new Beta they picked, and it hurts his feelings.” He rolled his eyes.

They were checked in 45 minutes later, and he sank down at the table in the room. “Is there any news at all?” he asked hopefully.

“No.” Yuri sighed. “She’s well-trained, has completely vanished, not once used her pack card since the Phoenix airport.”

“She has to have gotten a job then, to support herself.” He commented.

“This,” Slade stated and placed that instruction card on the table for the Wolfen Scroll that Alpha Gretta had given him, as an option to fill out. “Gretta and I’ve had an informal chat. She offered me the option to put everything that happened into a council scroll. I need to think about it, it will affect many, including all three of us.”

He’d really thought about it and yes, he too would be having a seer in his mind for his part, if the council opted to go down that road. But he was also willing to do so, wouldn’t fight them about it, step up and accept it.

So when he found Ori, she could read the facts of everything, including his own actions, his intent, everything that had happened on his end, that she could see he’d only been trying to save her family from getting banished. That his own father had led him to believe that was what was going to happen to the Vale family.

That he wasn’t in on the Alpha’s plan to demote her the way they had, she would see from reading everything, in a seers scroll or an Alpha Council members’ report, the way he had intended to tell her, the when and how even. His reason behind it, see that he wasn’t like the current reigning Alpha. Hadn’t actually betrayed her like she thought he had.

That he did not want Hayden for his Beta, not for a single bloody second, and he wanted her to know that. How much he hated having to put up with Hayden until he could enact his own plans to pay that boy back every ounce of pain and betrayal she had to suffer, and he was going to do that. Already working on it in his mind.

Time may have passed for him and her, because he wasn’t sure how long it was going to take him to find her, but he wanted her to know just how mad he was about all that had happened. How he had reacted to it wanted nothing more than to correct it, to apologise and bring her home where she belonged.

He had to find a way to do that yet. But he was determined to make sure that Ori understood that nothing was more important to him, from the very moment she’d left, than his finding her and bringing her home to the pack.

That nothing and no one was going to be standing in his way; not his father, not her father and certainly not her brother. That not even the search for his Goddess-Gifted Mate was going to be getting in his way, he did not care to go off to mating balls in order to try and scent out a mate.

That was now not a priority to him at all.

His one and only priority was for him to find her and show her, just how screwed up everything was, how out of hand it had gotten, over just one stupid moment, where their parents had seen them having sex all rough and raw.