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ELEVEN
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The Beta's Rebound TWELVE
MATTHAN As soon as the call ended, I returned to studying the tragedy of Judas Carnation. I had managed to get a hold of my relations in the Carnation pack and while they knew the story, none of them could grasp why Judas did it. In their own words, Judas and his wife seemed to be very happy. The news had taken everyone by surprise especially the late Alpha of the Carnation. The man could barely bear it when he learned the heavy fate that had befallen his daughter and granddaughter. Word around the territory was that he collapsed on the spot. An integral piece of information everyone else had seemed oblivious to or either made sure not to touch on when I asked about Judas' story was his daughter. The news article said she most likely died in the fire. They could not be certain because the girl's body or bones were never found. Other junk articles had a lot of conspiracies to pick apart. A ton of them were also of the opinion that Judas did murder his daughter too and her body was bu
The Beta's Rebound THIRTEEN
ELOISE The very next day felt like hell. Not the hot kind. The morning sun wasn't even that hot. I felt cold. Extremely cold. I had hardly slept the night before. Far too plagued with how tomorrow would go. The sun coming out sealed my fate. I tore out of my blanket and proceeded to the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face, but it was already too cold. I retired to the bath, and turned the heat up before opening the valve to allow warm water to run on my skin. It still didn't. I got out, dried my body, and put on a clean shirt. My hands were shaking so bad as I tried to button it up. When I finally got it on, I realized it had a stain. I sighed. Ain't no way I was trying again. I wasn't trying to impress Matthan after all.I looked at myself in the mirror, trying desperately not to cry because I knew today was going to suck. I couldn't imagine what it would be like. I was lying. I knew exactly what it would be like. He was a Beta who could not understand why my little werewolf
The Beta's Rebound FOURTEEN
ELOISE The journey was long. Long in the sense that I was now certain it wasn't going to take place in Ashlake. The path he took implied we were leaving town. Most probably, another one way ticket to Marblefay but Matthan surprised me when he took a completely different route from the one sure to take us to Marblefay. The path his vehicle waltzed into was almost narrow and crooked. It implied it was old and barely used. But there was a definite set of tracks he followed. This wasn't his first time here but the further the car went, the more obvious the signs became that this was not a shortcut to Marblefay. My theory didn't linger on the fact that the road had probably been abandoned for decades at least. As the freeway started to thin out, thick and broad trees began to appear, some still bearing their leaves, others not. The car slowed and came to a halt. I had been quiet for the most part but the sight in front of me caused whatever lack of conversation that plagued me to immediat
The Beta's Rebound FIFTEEN
MATTHAN I watched whatever excitement and light she had in her eyes completely vanish. She was angry and rightfully so. It was the reason why she had forced me to agree to her one term. To regard her as human no matter the place or occasion. I didn't intend to break my promise but Eloise was in for a whole world of a surprise if she believed her term had tied my hands in the right places. She sprinted back and I followed suit, not attempting to strike a conversation. Not until she had gotten to the door. She flung it open without hesitation expecting the gateway we just walked through to still be present. Her face turned blue when the door opened to reveal a bathroom. She ran inside but stopped short of actually walking inside. “Where am I?” She asked. The panic in her voice was heavy. "Where is the forest pathway?""We are in the Gardenia pack house," I repeated. "And the forest pathway isn't going anyway. We do have a meeting to attend.""No. This is not what I agreed on Matthan
The Beta's Rebound SIXTEEN
ELOISE He was crazy calling me his girlfriend but what could I do about it? There was something about the redhead. Perhaps, it was the energy that radiated out of her or the tension between them that grew more intense by the second. I wondered if this was the woman that rejected him. The one that caused us to cross paths. The silence was thick and heavy for another minute. "That's wonderful." The one I got to know was named Declan proclaimed. He moved an inch back and in a loud voice continued. "Gardenia! He's back! Matthan, my righthand man is back."There was an uproar of cheers. All eyes turned on us as Matt directed me to a table. "You'll be alright." He assured me upon realizing how fast my heart was beating. I gave him a thumbs up, feeling somewhat dazed and numb. I still couldn't believe this was happening. It felt more like a lucid dream. The only difference was that I had relatively no control. As I sat there, the redhead girl came over, taking a seat opposite me. She int
The Beta's Rebound SEVENTEEN
ALICE "What was that?" Declan demanded the moment I waltzed over. He had been unhinged since Matthan's arrival. Some might call it guilt. But I was beginning to think it was something more. He had been more than happy whilst preparing for Matthan's return. All that happiness seemed to fade with the arrival of that girl. Eloise."I was having a simple discussion with Matt and his new girl. What's gotten under your ass?""That was not a conversation. You were clearly trying to irk him and I do not appreciate that."That made me chuckle. "Matthan is irked. Why else would he hook himself up with some disposable human? Plus I am worried about him. He did not deserve what I did to him. If you are feeling guilty about your betrayal, you should know there is no going back now. Matt will heal. Your bond with your Beta cannot be broken. Know that." I notice Declan's gaze travel over to their table. His frown deepened even more. "I am not worried about our bond. I'm not just concerned about him
The Beta's Rebound EIGHTEEN
ELOISE The date was going relatively well. I hated to admit it but Matthan could be quite the gentleman when he was not being a prick. It was clear that he was loved by his pack. It was enviable. But the more time I spent in the Gardenia Pack house, the more crystal clear that this couldn't be referred to as a date. Each time Matthan tried to strike up a meaningful conversation, someone or something would drag him away from the table and Matthan found it difficult to decline them. I wondered why it hurt just a tiny bit. My mind wandered to plausible reason but I refused to acknowledge it. The mate bond. It was then the sudden arrival of a middle-aged woman disrupted my train of thoughts. "You are Eloise, right?" She asked. I looked at her from head to toe. Her hair was grey and styled into a stylish bob that accentuated her sharp chin and angular features, making them all the more striking. I nodded my head. "And you are…?"She held out a hand to introduce herself. "Catherine." Sh
The Beta's Rebound NINETEEN
MATTHAN(EARLIER THAT DAY)I turned to her after her mother returned inside. "Your family seems lovely." I meant it. It checked one of the questions that plagued me. Eloise Carter's new family was plain odd boring and cherry. It was no wonder she was not reaching out to her pack. But there were still a lot of questions that remained unanswered. Like how the Carnation pack could willingly abandon one of their own and ensure her existence simply disappeared. It was a tempting invitation I couldn't break.Eloise growled and glared in response.I was still very glad to irk her so I asked, "Where is your bathroom?""Down the hall first room on the right. Make yourself at home." She replied after a scrutinizing stillness. There was nothing but spite and anger in her eyes.I flashed her a smile before entering her house. I followed her directions. Well, half of it. I was not pressed. Another room was heavy on my mind. It was not hard to find with my keen sense of smell. I stopped in front o
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The Beta's Rebound SIXTY FIVE
ELOISE(A few days later)The full moon did come and when it did. Matthan decided it was time to perfect our bond. He took me somewhere. I wouldn't miss that narrow and crooked road. It was the same path we had taken when he lead me to the tree with a door. This time around, Matthan took another turn and we arrived at a clearing in the middle of the forest."We aren't using the tree door?" I asked getting down. "I thought the mating ritual was supposed to take place in the Gardenia pack house?"Matthan pocketed his car keys and joined me. "Yes. But I don't want us to have a sex orgy. This is special for me. Sacred. I want us to remember tonight sometime in the future."I smiled at him. "You are very romantic, Matthan Gardenia." I teased but my face fell when I saw how serious he looked. I quickly looked away, blushing.We stood facing each other, silent. Matthan looked down at me and then stepped closer until the two of us were touching. He gently placed his hand under my chin and rai
The Beta's Rebound SIXTY FOUR
ELOISE"We are here today to honor..." I tried to listen to the priest as he droned on about his mother but I was distracted. My mind was elsewhere. The words of the priest barely registered as I focused on what lay ahead. It was hard for me to accept mom had died. In fact, it felt so unreal it scared me. I didn't want to let go. But it wasn't like I had any say in the matter. I couldn't bring back the dead. I played with my fingernails as the priest went on to list all the good deeds she did for the church and the people around her. It made it hard to even breathe. She was a good person. She didn't deserve what fate she got.Matthan squeezed my hand in comfort. A gesture I appreciated in ways he wouldn't even understand. He looked over at me and said in a gentle voice, "You ok?"I nodded but didn't feel much better. The only difference was I could stomach it better. Clay stepped out to give his speech. It was long. It was also difficult for him to go through it all without bursting i
The Beta's Rebound SIXTY THREE
ALICE Since I made the call, I hadn't known peace. It wasn't guilt. I very much knew what was going to happen to Eloise and her brother when I informed Judas Carnation about his daughter. The trouble that I faced was when I would hear some tragic news. Judas' main target was his daughter but there was a big fat chance that others would be caught in the crossfire. Some days later, the effort of my hard work came to fruition, the day strings of murders came ringing into the Gardenia house. Someone had murdered some individuals working in a diner at Ashlake. The supposed unfortunate news was followed by another mother. A woman with the surname Carter had been brutally murdered. This time she hadn't been killed with the typical weapon. The stories they spun made me remember who else had died like that. Fadia Carnation. Eloise's biological mother. Joy could not describe the feelings I experienced. My heart was wrung and I couldn't stop smiling throughout that day. An added bonus was Dec
The Beta's Rebound SIXTY TWO
ELOISEMatthan took my hand and led me out into the cool air and towards the woods behind the house where his car was. I looked back and watched as the fire swallowed the house, the last remnants of it fading into a cloud of red smoke. I couldn't help but smile seeing it burn to the ground. I truly hoped no one decided to make this double tragedy another social experiment. The horrors that had occurred in this ground deserved to remain just ash and cinders forevermore.I could hear faint sounds of a siren coming from town; someone must have called an ambulance, but I doubted they'd get here before it was too late. Matthan opened the car door and helped me in, then buckled me in. He sat down on the opposite side of the car, putting on his seatbelt. The moment he clicked in his keys and started up the engine, I looked at the house one last time. I had wanted to stay but Matthan had been against it. Even with many in high places acknowledging the existence of shifters, most still didn't
The Beta's Rebound SIXTY ONE
ELOISE Judas seemed to become smaller in my eyes. My bones cracked and twisted. I expected pain. True undiluted pain but there was nothing. Only rage. There was something else too. The shock in his eyes was almost liberating. As if on instinct, I grabbed him by the throat and threw him against the wall. He dropped like a broken toy. The air felt strangely stale around us. I felt different. The air I was taking in didn't feel like fire anymore. The choking had stopped and even though the fire that now engulfed the room singed my body, I was strangely unaffected. My attention wasn't focused on the burning wood that collapsed here and there or the exploding window frames. I had my eyes only on the cowering man."You will never hurt anyone again," I told him. "Tonight will be the last day you terrorize my life and all those innocent people."Judas must have seen an opportunity because the color of his eyes shifted into gold and claws grew from his hands and feet. His skin became grey, cov
The Beta's Rebound SIXTY
ELOISEMy body hurt all over. He had broken something. The sting surging to my brain like a radio signal was a dead giveaway. I also could barely move. I wanted to run. I just couldn't do it. No matter what I did, I couldn't move a single muscle. It felt as if someone had stuck needles into all my muscles with a blunt object and twisted them around until they were stretched tightly and painful beyond description."Let's go back to your mother's room," Judas said, seizing me by the hair and dragging me up the stairs. I cried out in pain but it didn't make him stop. As we ascended the steps, I screamed at him, and tried kicking him but nothing worked. I couldn't fight him because every movement sent pain shooting across my body. "Do not be difficult Eloise. I do not want to hurt you now." He didn't stop until I was back in the room. I obeyed him. I stopped being difficult. Not because he had asked and it definitely wasn't because of the pain that assaulted my body with every movement tha
The Beta's Rebound FIFTY NINE
ELOISE I walked through the streets of Marblefay with nothing but questions in my head. I wondered if Judas would even be there considering I might now have the upper hand with the help of teleportation. I could also be wrong. Maybe Judas wasn't working alone. Maybe he had people on his side who were just as sick as him. A man like him couldn't have survived all by himself, right? When I left Matthan's house, the sun was out. When I reached the house I was born in, the house my father burned to the ground, the sun had become a pretty orange hue, and the birds sang. I could smell flowers blooming in the gardens of the home I grew up at, hear cars passing by on the highway, and feel the wind that brushed against me. This was not how it happened. The house I stood in front of looked exactly the same, though. That renovator kept to her word. The house looked nothing like it should be. It looked beautiful. I stayed outside, wondering if people had already moved in. A quick g****e search to
The Beta's Rebound FIFTY EIGHT
ELOISELike clockwork, the door unlocked and out of it appeared Matthan. It was a strange thing to admit but seeing him made things a bit easier."Your place or my place?" He asked."No one will be barging your place anytime soon," I replied. At least, that wasn't a lie.True." Matthan took my hand and led me towards the door. I looked back at my room one last time. There was a possibility this was the last time I was going to see it. I had been afraid of telling myself that since I had made the Carter home my home but now that it was happening, I wasn't so scared anymore. I looked forward, trying not to think about what could go wrong. We both walked through the door and I shut it. Now wasn't the time to think. I needed to act. I knew Matt would ask questions. Many I wouldn't want to answer and the last thing I wanted was to recruit him to die along with me so before those questions could leave his pretty mouth, I grabbed him by the shirt and kissed him hard on the lips.He was taken
The Beta's Rebound FIFTY SEVEN
ELOISEI don't think I was able to cry. The numbness overpowered all my other senses. It was like an out-of-body experience where you could see it all happening but there wasn't much you could do about it. I dreaded what was to come. I dreaded passing by the sign welcome to Ashlake and eventually getting home. By the time we arrived, I could already hear the wails of sirens and the chatters of passersby. No miracle was happening. I looked outside the car window and that was when the numb feeling exploded into something I knew like the back of my hand. Men dressed like paramedics carried a big black bag from the house as they loaded the body inside the ambulance."It's not real," I told myself, and how I wished that were true. What I would have done to let that be my truth."Miss, there is–" I didn't even let the butler finish before I opened the car door and stepped outside."Tell Orla that I am grateful for everything she has done for me." I managed to say while holding my tears. Tha
