(Harper’s POV)
I had my eyes closed and concentrated on building my strength back up from the silver while Louise drove. I had a feeling about where Louise was heading, and when the car stopped, I opened my eyes to confirm I was right. The sign for Howlers was off and the carpark was empty, which was actually unusual for 11am. The car door opened and Alex poked his head in.
“Hello beautiful,” he said cheerfully, “need a hand?” I could have refused his outstretched hand, but to be honest, I was still feeling a little weak and despite being a stubborn bitch sometimes, I also knew that I had to accept help sometimes too. I smiled at him and held out my hand, and he grabbed it and gently pulled me out of the car and to my feet. I wobbled a bit and sent a glare to Aaron before Alex picked me up and carried me into the bar.
It was dark inside, and empty. Or almost empty. I looked around as Alex put me down in
(Harper’s POV)“I’m sorry, what now?” I stared at Harry, dumbfounded. He flicked through some more pages of the book and then turned it to face me. I apprehensively looked down at the book. The page was titled “Bloodline” and there was a picture of a wicked-looking blade down one side. The writing was a little faded and handwritten, but despite all that, it felt so familiar and I could read it, like it was something I had read a thousand times before.“The Divine Order is made up of four bloodlines. One each governs one of the four base elements, earth, air, fire and water. Each bloodline is made up of guardians, one in each generation. The duty of the guardian is to protect the seal from demon interference, in addition to preparing and training the divine warrior.” I looked up at Aaron. I was starting to feel a headache coming on again. This, on top of everything, was too much. He smiled and turned
(Harper’s POV)“No! Absolutely not. It’s not happening Harper,” I stood glaring at Aaron as he blocked my way out of the bar.“Aaron, move now before I set you on your ass,” I snapped. I had been trying to get away for the last half an hour, but Aaron was adamant.“Seriously Harper, it’s stupid,” he hissed, “Like actually one of the most stupid things you can do. Let me get in touch with Drake first,”“Ha!” I exclaimed, “I’m not entrusting anything to that vampire,”“Harper, please,” Alex pleaded from behind me, “Why don’t we get a plan together first, okay?”“Oh sure,” Louise muttered, “And at the same time they can be killing my mate.” I looked over at Louise and she shrugged.“They won’t kill Tommy,” Harry said as he took a drink, &
(Harper’s POV)I woke up in the dark. I vaguely remembered being carried into the pack house and then I must have blacked out from the silver sickness. I could tell I was in a bed and that I wasn’t alone. I tried sitting up only for a wave of nausea to hit me like a truck.“Fuck!” I muttered, and then heard a chuckle.“Go back to sleep,” Colton croaked, his voice full of sleep. I felt him reach out to me and I shrunk back. He grabbed a hold of my wrists and I jerked away hard enough that I fell off the bed.“Ow! Damn it,” I exclaimed, and I heard Colton sigh. The bed rustled, and I held my arm out to try to stop him from coming near me, but I couldn’t see a damn thing. Suddenly the room was flooded with light and when my eyes adjusted, I saw Colton standing by the door, watching me.“If I come and help you up, will you try to hit me?” he asked, his
(Harper’s POV)“What the Hell are you talking about?” I scowled at Nathaniel and he raised an eyebrow, which I knew was his subtle way of showing disapproval. I rolled my eyes, and he shook his head.“Balance, my dear,” Nathaniel answered, and I waited for more.“Okay, you are going to have to give me more than that,” I snapped. I was starting to get a headache again and could feel Colton’s eyes constantly on me and I was this close to punching the creepy bastard in the face.“How much did the old man tell you?” Nathaniel asked, and I was confused for a moment as to who he was talking about. Of course Harry.“I don’t think he likes being called an old man,” I said, and he scoffed.“He was an old man when I was young. Even then I knew he was the one who watched things in the town, and I’ve seen the ink. I know whi
(Harper’s POV)I once again woke up in darkness, only this time, it wasn’t completely dark. I felt a hand stroking my head and lifted my hand to bat it away. I heard an indignant huff and smiled as Louise moved off the bed. She fumbled with something beside the bed and the room lit up. I winced against the light.“Crap, sorry,” she said, “Is it too much?”“No, it’s okay, I just need to adjust,” I shook my head and immediately regretted it, as the world seemed to roll around and I felt like I was going to throw up. I lifted my arm and scowled at the cuff on my wrist.“Damn thing,” I muttered as I pushed myself slowly up to a sitting position. I looked around at the unfamiliar room. I didn’t recognise where I was, but I did recognise my suitcase next to the drawers. The room had an arch that separated the living area from the bedroom area and I vaguely
(Harper’s POV)It took us a solid hour to calm my mum down. She cried hysterically almost the whole time, and it took both me and Colton on her pressure points before we got her down to gulps.“He said he wanted nothing to do with it. Why did they not listen?” my mum sobbed quietly into a tissue.“Mum,” I said, and she looked up at me, “Please I need to know what you know,” Louise handed my mum a glass of water and she took a big drink before putting it on the kitchen table where we were sitting.“That band that you are wearing used to belong to your great great aunt Angela,” she said, pointing to the cuff. I looked down at it and then back up to Colton.“Where did you get this from?” I asked, and he shrugged.“Nathaniel brought it with him,”“Nathaniel!” my mum exclaimed, “Nathaniel is here!”&
(Harper’s POV) I watched Louise in the rear-view mirror as Colton drove us back to the pack house. She was staring out of the window and her hand was absent-mindedly resting protectively on her stomach. I could tell by the dazed look that she wasn’t actually seeing anything outside the car. “Did I hear right?” Colton asked, and I shifted my view to him. He glanced over at me a couple of times but mostly kept his eyes on the road. I glanced in the mirror again and then back at Colton and nodded. “You can’t tell Nathaniel,” I begged him quietly, “Please Colton, if there is anything right you do, please don’t let Nathaniel know this.” “If there is anything right?” he shook his head, the bitter tone clear in his voice, “Harper, everything I have done I have thought was the right thing,” I laughed at his statement and he glanced at me and let out an exasperated breath, “Okay, well maybe I was wrong, but I swear I never meant to hurt
(Harper’s POV)I turned to Colton, a look of disgust on my face.“So this is what your promises mean then,” I sneered. “good to know.” Colton shook his head, his eyes wide.“No Harper,” he exclaimed, “I didn’t, I swear,” but I was so angry. I was angry at him of course, but I was also angry at myself. I knew I should have got Louise out of here as soon as I could.“Don’t blame him dear,” Nathaniel said, his face full of amusement, “He held loyalty to you on this occasion, although I’m rather concerned that he held valuable information from me,” he then sent his own cold look Colton’s way and Colton shrunk back in fear, “But nonetheless, I have other sou
Thank you for reading Beyond Beta's Rejection. This project started out so very different to where it ended. But I love the direction it took. As you can see, this part of the story is over, but there is so much more to tell. There will be a second book. I am in the process of mapping out and outlining now and I am hoping to start writing and releasing chapters in the first quarter of 2022. But for now I need to work on another project which you will soon likely see appear. Thank you once again for the time and money that you have spent of this labour of love of mine and I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will be talking more abou this and other books in my fan group Aisling's Puzzle Pieces. I can't add links here but I am sure that if you search my name on certain sites then you will soon find it. Lastly I want to thank my e
(Harper’s POV)The next few days seemed filled with so much activity. Elias and I announced that we had completed the mate bond, and for the most part, people seemed happy. But I noticed both Drake and Tommy sharing a look that I tried to question later with Tommy. He continued to be evasive with me the whole time, but insisted that he was happy for us. Elias said that maybe I was imagining it, but I was sure there was something that they weren’t telling me.The Council swept into town for debriefing everyone after the battle. Elias was cleared of any suspicion and we heard that the sovereign had ordered a full sweep of every member of the Council to weed out any more Circle members. In private, Drake confirmed that he was in fact the Divine Warrior for the Immortal line and he, Harry and Aaron spent many hours poured over texts about the two
(Harper’s POV)The battle seemed to dissipate after I killed Nathaniel. I didn’t know if seeing me slaughter their feared leader with the angel blade scared them or if it was just good timing, but there was no more fighting. I looked around to see the courtyard, a mess of dead and wounded.“Harper?” I turned to see Tommy looking at me in disbelief.“Hey,” I said and shrugged. He grinned, tears down his face,“Fucking hell Harper,” he pulled me into a hug and I laughed, “Don’t ever do that to me again,”“I’ll do my best,” I said. He pulled me to arms’ length.“You look differ
(Harper’s POV)My eyes flew open as I woke up in the cells. I sat up and looked around, allowing my eyes to adjust to the low light after the brightness of the Neverplain. I looked down to see the angel blade still in my stomach. I inclined my head at it curiously. Was I meant to pull it out myself? Everything was beginning to blur for me. The Neverplain and my angel and the visit from Drake. Did Drake really visit? Or was that just my perverted imagination putting him there? And was he really also a Divine Warrior? There were a million questions running through my mind, some repeated, some serious, some stupid. It was like my mind was in overdrive and I couldn’t focus on one thing.I heard a chuckle to one side of me and looked towards the source.“Hello darling,” Marcus said from his perch
(Drake’s POV)I looked down at the werewolf in front of me in sympathy. I had heard many things about Elias Owens. I knew his family were allies of the order and also knew they had been ripped apart by the destructive Circle twenty or so years back. I even remembered Owen’s brief time at the Council. He had disappeared one night and then a couple of days later, I heard about the attack on his pack. I had no idea that he had a demon bloodline in him. He had hidden it well.And now here he was, cradling his dead lover. The sweet Harper. The beautiful woman who had risen in the ranks of the warriors with ease over the years. I was unsurprised by her progress as I watched her. I could tell at first sight who she was, or what she was. Her ethereal glow was unmistakable and would be recognised by others of our kind. I was almost surprised that she didn&rs
(Elias’ POV)My head was pounding as I woke up to the buzz of activity. I sat up, looking around to see that I was laid in one of the booths at Howlers. The room was filled with council warriors, as well as some of my own. I looked around for the centre of the activity and saw the vampire that had tried to take Harper from me.Then it hit me again. Harper. My beautiful mate was dead. I felt like I couldn’t breathe all over again as a single tear slipped down my cheek. The rage followed and with it the stirring of the demon inside me.“Kill,” it said. The guttural voice felt raw with hatred. I agreed with what he said. I had to find Nathaniel and rip him apart limb from limb. I would scatter his remains across the town and the ground would be soaked with his blood. I would make him
(Colton’s POV)I was dragged from the cells by two or three warriors, still hearing the painful screams of the woman I loved. I tried to fight, but I heard Nathaniel instruct them to drag me back to the pack house. I was thrown into the Alpha’s office as Nathaniel strode in, instructing various warriors to surround the house and be on guard. Louise was in the corner crying, her makeup streaming down her face. I glanced over and she looked up at me. Despite all the hatred, all that I had done to her, I knew that in this moment we were both mourning someone we loved. I saw that acknowledgement in her eyes.Nathaniel sat at the desk and began to speak but he was interrupted by the sound of a mournful howl, one so powerful it could be heard all the way from the cells to where we were now. One so painful that it meant only one thing. Immediately, t
(Elias’ POV)***Earlier in the Day***The last few days had been terrible. I had been in constant battle with whatever this thing was inside of me. The rage inside me at seeing the man responsible for my sister’s death had been like a drug to the monster, and I had spent much of the time in the back of my own mind. All I was able to do was to go over the events that had just happened. Finding out that Harper was a member of the Council was a shock. But then she mentioned that name, Nathaniel. There was no way that the man she thought could help me was the same man I had spent so many years hunting for. I stopped struggling against the warriors then. Either Harpers Nathaniel was going to help sort this epic misunderstanding out or…Seeing his face was enough to unleash the monster. The man I had be
(Harper’s POV) I looked over to see Colton standing there in a black suit and black tie. Despite everything that had happened between us, I couldn’t deny that he looked good in the suit. He moved into the room and kissed his mother on the cheek before holding his hand out to me. I looked at the hand, not wanting to take it. Colton sighed and then nodded to two warriors dressed in all black. They both advanced on Louise, and she backed away. “My uncle was clear, you are both to be escorted this evening,” Colton said, his face blank, “It can be done the civil way, or the not so civil way and I saw one of the warriors handling what looked like a collar and lead. “Fine,” I Snapped and took Colton’s hand, “But if he tries to put that on my friend, I will use it to strangle him with.” the warrior stopped an