Page 2 of The Coveted Beta

She giggles as he spins her around before bringing their dance to a stop. She lays her hand against her heaving breasts.

Gods, I love my wife. How I feel blessed to have been gifted such a sweet angel who does not know a bit of artifice and believes only the best of everyone. What her sister did, the ugliness that surrounded her, broke me on many levels, but most profoundly because it left scars on Clara’s gentle soul.

She turns to me, her smile brightening on finding me watching. I am worldly enough to know how things work. I’m a beta; Frederick is an alpha: wealthy, handsome, and civilized enough to make him desirable on every front. I’ve seen married women make fools of themselves over him, whether their husbands were there or not. Perhaps I ought to feel more threatened by him, yet I am not. There has never been a moment where I could ever doubt Clara’s love. It shines in her face and is reflected in her ways every day.

“I think I need a drink after all that dancing,” Clara says.

“Let me get you something.” I rise, taking her hand to guide her over to a couch. She’s pink-cheeked and adorable, her long blonde hair shining in the lamplight and her blue eyes bright.

I wink at Frederick. “You have put a blush on my wife’s cheeks.”

“Your wife is blessed to be both pretty and fun.”

Her blush deepens under his praise. She sips the wine I fetch for her, and we fall into easy conversation, which skirts around Elisa and her rise in the high king’s court. Frederick has recently returned from travels. A cousin to the high king, he holds power and influence and knows all matters of importance.

I’m pleased to say that none of his status has destroyed his good nature. He’s a man who has demonstrated his integrity many times and in many ways.

“Another brandy?” I ask.

He nods, taking a seat beside my wife.

“Has no woman caught your eye, then, Frederick? Your poor mother must be pining for her first grandchild to spoil,” Clara asks, looking up at him.

He huffs out a breath, smirking, as he shakes his head and takes a deep drink of the brandy I pass him. “My mother is not so old and can assuredly wait.”

I take the seat opposite, from where I watch them chat amiably about all sorts of gossip from the capital. I am quiet, content to sink into my own thoughts, although these begin to drift in a dangerous direction as I take in the way they look beside each other: how much larger he is compared to her, and how they strike the notes of extremes of masculine and feminine.

I feel lucky that I found her first, for he would have wasted no time claiming her—even though she is a beta.

There might be some who would feel jealous of another man so close to his wife, but that is not the emotion that stirs within me tonight. What I feel is more… curiosity. Before I can curb my thoughts, I have ventured into imagining her underneath him, spread open, her gorgeous body on display. I imagine his heated gaze as he sees what lies beneath her gown for, while my wife is sweet, the Goddess has blessed her with a body made for sin.

“I think I’ll call it a night,” Clara says, rousing me from the spiral of my fantasy. “I need to write to Rosalind and Rebecca. Also, without me here, you can catch up on everything Frederick won’t tell me—I’m sure someone has caught his eye…”

Frederick chuckles as she rises to set her empty glass upon the sideboard.

We both rise with her. Frederick performs a gallant bow and kisses the back of her hand. She giggles before offering me a much more intimate and lingering kiss on my cheek.

My dear wife is a little tipsy, it would seem.

“I’ll be along shortly.”

“Take your time,” she says. “You do not see each other often these days. Enjoy yourselves. Talk.”

She leaves the room, but her soft scent lingers. When I turn, I find Frederick’s eyes on her ass as she sashays out.

A sharp jolt of lust catches me by surprise as the door clicks softly shut.

“You’re one lucky bastard,” Frederick says, turning back to me, his smile rueful.

“Trust me, I know.”

We return to our seats and discuss events as he updates me on Elisa’s scheming.

“There are rumors the high king is bedding Elisa behind her alpha’s back. Meanwhile, her alpha has gotten a servant with child. Their marriage is all but a sham. Now, they are two dark blights seeking to bring down everything and everyone in their sphere of influence. You did the right thing taking Clara away from her sister,” Frederick says with heat. “I’ve never felt violence toward a woman, but I could happily strangle that bitch.”

His words don’t even shock me. He is an alpha, after all. Although he presents a refined facade, there is no mistaking what lies beneath it.

Chapter Three

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