Page 48 of Forced By the Alpha

“I’m doing well, thank you. Doesn’t Jonah make the best lemonade?” Beth wrapped her hands tightly around the glass. Under Emma’s cool glare, she always felt like a student called in front of a teacher.

Emma looked her up and down. “We used to have a gardener, you know. You don’t have to wallow around in the muck, unless you like that sort of thing. Maybe that’s something the Rosewoods do? I don’t mean to mock your traditions. Only I thought they were werewolves, not pigs. They tend to squeal a bit like pigs, though, right?”

It was just bait. Beth felt heat creep up her neck that had nothing to do with the sun beating down on it. She imagined the stain it would leave, were she to throw her lemonade at Emma in her pristine white dress.

“Still Emma, I see,” Beth said, turning away. She’d rather spend hours weeding than a minute in conversation with that woman.

“Always, my sweet little Rose—“

Emma broke off mid-sentence. Surprised, Beth turned around and saw her standing, head cocked in a gesture so similar to her brother’s that the momentary resemblance made Beth’s head spin.

Her lips twisted in a frown. She strode forward, stopped only by Devon’s outstretched arm catching her across her stomach.

“What the hell, Emma? You look more insane than usual.” Devon shoved her lightly backward.

Emma shook her head as if to clear it. She was fixated on Beth, too focused to push Devon’s arm away.

“You’re pregnant,” she said like a curse. “Devon, your bitch is pregnant.”

Time seemed to slow. Beth watched Jonah’s mouth drop open in surprise, Devon’s hand twitching into a claw-like grip on Emma’s shirt, and Emma’s face twitching into outrage. Then, Emma lunged. Devon’s grip was too loose to hold her, or maybe he hadn’t predicted the ferocity of her attack.

Beth swung her arms in front of herself, stumbling backward. It was the stumble that saved her, her heel catching on the edging of the garden, taking her down hard on her hip under the reach of Emma’s grasping hand. She bit her tongue, tasting blood.

Jonah and Devon grabbed hold of Emma and dragged her back, pushing her forcefully down onto the bench. She laughed it off, as if it had been a moment of delusion, but her eyes said otherwise as they landed again on Beth.

“I don’t know what came over me,” she said, flipping her hair out of her face with a jerk of her chin, arms still pinned by the two men.

Devon let her go and rushed over to help Beth to her feet. She’d have a nasty bruise on her hip, and her pride was bruised, but it could’ve been worse. Beth pulled free of Devon’s anxious ministrations, marched over to Emma, and slapped her across the face.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She spat at the women, as Jonah tightened his grip on Emma. Her face was pink from the slap, but it had done little to mollify Beth.

“Are you going to let her just hit me like that, when I can’t even defend myself?” Emma looked past Beth, glaring daggers at Devon.

Devon shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets. “You deserve a lot more than that, the way I see it.”

It was going to be a sticking point with Devon, Beth knew that in her heart, but she had run out of hope that Emma could ever stay part of the pack with Beth as the luna. Ultimately, he would have to choose between his sister and his mate. He had walked the tightrope between them for so long, but it couldn’t last forever.

Beth pressed her hands to her stomach and forced herself to breathe deep, slow, and steady breaths.

“Congratulations, you two,” Jonah piped in. “I’m practically going to be an uncle.”

“You’re pathetic, Jonah,” Emma said, whipping her hand around. “Some Rosewood bitch gets knocked up, and you’re ready to welcome the bastard into the family? In so many ways, Caleb is twice the man you’ll ever be.”

The connotation was clear, dripping off of Emma’s tongue like poison, but for once, Jonah didn’t look cowed by her words. He let her go, sensing she’d at least run out of the desire to attack Emma, but kept close by, hovering at Emma’s shoulder.

“Well,” Jonah went on, ignoring Emma’s outburst, “I can tell you what’s wrong with her, Beth. You being pregnant just solidifies your place in the pack, doesn’t it? There’s no way Emma can run around trying to figure out at a way to backstab Devon and oust you when you’re pregnant with the alpha’s baby. So, she panicked.”

“Now you’re a therapist?” Emma said, scoffing, but it was apparent the assessment had hit close to home. She pushed herself off of the bench. “It’s a big mistake, Dev. Trusting her. Changing the whole pack to make sure she fits in. How do you think the pack feels about you trying to shoehorn them into the vision your angel has for them? You’ve neutered them. They know it. I don’t need to backstab because you’ve done it to yourself. You’ve lost us, our brother.”

With that cryptic remark, she swept out of the garden, shifting into her wolf form and taking off down the path in a blur of tawny fur. Beth was still digesting Emma’s words, staring at the place where she’d vanished, when Devon came and wrapped his arm around her from behind. She leaned back against him, tilting her head up for a kiss.

“We need to talk about this. About a lot of things. I’ll be inside getting cleaned up, okay?” Beth wasn’t upset with Devon, but she needed time alone to process everything that had happened, and to figure out what it meant for her going forward. For her, and her baby. It wasn’t just herself she had to think of now.

Jonah joined her, her jailor, and her bodyguard, and they headed back inside. She could sense Devon’s eyes on their backs. He’d be beating himself up. She knew that about him now, how he saw everything that went wrong as a sign of his own weakness, instead of someone else’s issue. But this wasn’t the time to try and console him, not until she got her own feet under her.

“You’re a good man, Jo,” Beth said, squeezing his arm when he left her at her room. “Don’t pay Emma any mind. She only wants to hurt you.”

Jonah scratched his chin, giving Beth a sad smile. “She’s good at it, but I know she only does it to get under my skin. She likes to jab people and see if they jump.”

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