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37. Finn
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Resisting the Beta 38. Naomi
We could smell Nikolai even before Finn charged through the arched stone doorway. It was a heartbreaking sight. For such a tall, powerful man to be helplessly splayed out, resembling a butcher's discarded cut of meat. Zeke’s hands and arms were raw from trying to lift away the weighted, criss-crossed silver laced netting. Covering his hands just saw Zeke’s arms and even his face branded with silver burns, such was the panic to release Nikolai from his trap. It took waiting for Cillian to arrive to provide the lift and strength to get it away as cleanly as possible. Savages. /All those traps need destroying before we leave here./ /Absolutely. Good idea/ Finn agreed silently. But right now, Nikoali was naked. Seared from head to toe in grisly black lines, angry red boils already erupting around the flesh. “Get me home! Just get me home to Genevieve,” he screamed before his eyes rolled into the back of his head. “I need Vee.” Across our bond flowed sorrow and heartache. If I
Resisting the Beta 1. Phoebe
/Phoebe. Phoebe come on!/ The frustrated voice of Sawyer jump into my brain. Shit, he must be getting closer. I thought I’d done a good job this time. /Please just leave me alone. Lie for once?/ /You know I can’t do that. It’s not just your Mama now, Cillian is concerned too./ /Cillian has absolutely zero reason to be concerned about me/ I reply back sarcastically. I’m a nobody. He's only trying to shut up my mothers nagging. /Phoebe!/ Sawyer growls once more before the mind link finally cuts off. /He’ll find us. He always does./ Huli complained, her tinny, grating voice loud and clear in my head. No Sawyer will give up soon. He made it clear last time he’s sick of chasing us around. Hugging my legs and sitting a little lower in the field. Hiding from everything. Sawyer will soon find something better to do than stare at me with that immovable look of pure annoyance. /He's just pure, cold ice inside/ Huli says with a low growl. Being scrunched down low whilst the
Resisting the Beta 1. Phoebe (Continued)
Naomi jumps out, grinning at me, and I can’t help running even harder towards her. Does she even know how badass she makes black look? It’s just sportswear, but the way she carries it, how do you ever have that much self-belief? “Naomi! I didn't think you'd come back! I’m dodging Sawyer, Mama is always sending him to fetch me back to Cragstone.” “Why are you always getting away? Is there something wrong?” she asks, and I don’t even know where to begin. It's shameful not to get along with your wolf. To admit you're lonely and the only person you talk to regularly is hired to bother finding you. I need her to stay around long enough. Maybe I could even ask her for advice about Huli. her wolf might be a handful, too, for all I know. I open my mouth to try and string something together except for my other sister. “Hey! What are you doing this far out!” Leona interrupts, shouting out of the truck window. She can piss off, always treating me like a baby. Naomi is the one staring at m
Resisting the Beta 2. Sawyer
Climbing on top of the truck cabin, I got a view of a thick rising column of smoke over a mile away. /Anyone close?/ I link out to my fellow Beta Warriors. /Half an hour south of Cragstone?/ Beta Riley answers separately /Is it that black smoke in the distance?/ /We should check it out. Meet you there?/ Then Phoebe’s voice bounced into my head. Deceptively sweet and gentle for someone who hurled a rock at me the last time I tried to get her to come home. /Sawyer, are you there?/ Goddess help me. Of course she’s finally found herself in some real trouble. No doubt the cause of that fire, I bet. I didn’t panic until the link went quiet. The trembling fear in her voice hit me hard. Almost like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. No mocking. Just a plea. For me. That’s a first. She’s called me every curse word under the sun over the past few months. Mostly amusing, sometimes seriously fucking annoying. More annoying is the blue-eyed, fussing Penelope. Like a vul
Resisting the Beta 2. Sawyer (Continued)
“I don’t need babysitting Sawyer,” Phoebe complains. Of course. As always. “It’s not babysitting. It’s guarding. It’s also not an option. Now go inside,” I bark. She slams the door in my face, muttering expletives before gentle, sobbing noises eke out from under the wooden door. Half an hour later, Eleanor reopens it and whispers, “Thank you Sawyer. You’re a good friend to us.” “Just following orders,” I lie again. It’s just responsibility to the pack. I’d do the same for anyone else. We’re not even friends. I’m fairly certain I’m her nemesis. Well in a few weeks she’ll be chasing full moon dances like the rest of them. Probably mated to someone easily bossed around like Dash or Theo. Phoebe Kharkov coming of age. Bizarre, considering she sometimes has the temperament of a five year old. I imagine when she isn’t scowling, cursing or running away, she could be considered a beauty. She's clever too when doesn’t shrink in on herself or resort to childish insults. Comi
Resisting the Beta 3. Phoebe
The orange dress Mama picked out was only one of the reasons I had to get out of the house. The sobbing takes me straight back to losing my father. I head over to Finn’s cottage for the first time in my life and find Naomi slumped on the floor bawling, the same position as I left my Mama. We don’t talk about that. We don’t talk about Finn either. Finn was exasperated when we crossed paths. Maybe that’s why he gave me the crap advice to suggest Rami is trying to fight like Naomi. He isn’t. Rami is just a whirling lump of chubby fists. So I received yet another withering look from Naomi. It’s like Leona is still here. Identical ire and exasperation. Nothing I want to say comes up during my brief time at the cottage. Like, what were all the books? Why were they coming back so soon? What were they rowing about before Naomi jumped out? Naomi refuses to wear the dress. I hate my orange, itchy monstrosity, so why did I agree? /Because you’re the baby Kharkov/ Huli sneers. Wh
Resisting the Beta 4. Sawyer
By the time Easton and I got back from the bombsite, I was fit for nothing more than crashing into the bunkhouse. “Looks like we missed a party, wasn’t it meant to be a pyre?” Easton grimaced, stepping over abandoned bottles of whisky and tequila outside Riley’s room. He’s got some newbies he’s meant to be mentoring. Doesn’t seem like much of that is going on. I’ll raise it to Cillian, making a mental note for the morning. I glare at Rileys closed door. “Bet it was that fucking card game again. Want some food?” gesturing to the two wrapped plates waiting on the counter. “Yes please, I’m starved. Did you know stress, fear makes you hungrier? You send your body into fight or flight it fucks with your blood sugar.” I don’t know what he’s trying to say. He’s chunky because he’s greedy. Not because he’s battling untold levels of mortal danger on a daily basis. He notices my amusement and laughs. “You know what I mean. I bet you ate less during the war. Anyways, you know I much
Resisting the Beta 5. Phoebe
Whoever said shifters don’t get hangovers are dirty, lying scumbags. They are painfully real. The instant dawn breaks, I flop out of bed, grab a towel, stick a dark blue, baggy dress over some exercise wear and vanish out of our house. Still, I was spied on the way by Dash and Kian. “Fun times Kharkov!” they called out, miming drinking actions. But they were smiling, a smattering of brown freckles dotting Dash’s nose and cheeks. Kian blushing as normal. Normally, they would pretend they hadn’t seen me and glanced the other way. I mimed a gun to the head, rolling my eyes and getting another laugh. /Well done!/ Huli chimed. “Nah, think of us, Phoebe. Shaw was sick on our feet on the run home!” “No way!” I joke. The happiness at having someone new to talk to other than Huli almost made me forget Riley. I head to the riverbank. The tyre swing I have spent endless hours mulling things over at. However, today, I have a different purpose. Untying my plaited hair, wondering wha
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