Page 195 of Wanted Beta

If it sounds needy, I don’t care. He’s my true mate and he’s an Alpha. He’s supposed to care about my needs.

“Is that a condition?” he asks, as I put my head on his chest and lay back down.

“It’s a demand,” I decide, holding him close. “Those are even more important than conditions.”

“I would do anything for you,” he says. “I’ll never willingly walk away from you like that ever again.”

He can’t bring himself to say he won’t do it, full stop, and I think I know why.

“You think your mother might try to interfere with us again?”

“Probably not, but who knows when she might get bored with her rich friends and try hunting me down to mess with me again?” he says, confirming my suspicions.

“Isn’t there anything we can do to stop her from finding us?”

“Not really, but I have some dirt on her I can use if she does show up. It should be enough to send her scuttling back under the rock she crawled out from.”

“That sounds interesting. What’s the dirt?”

“My parents have been helping fund some of that creepy psychologist Warren Corvina’s private Omega clinics. It’s been done in sneaky, backdoor bullshit ways, but I have enough proof downloaded onto a USB to implicate them in that asshole’s criminal enterprises. It would be a huge fucking scandal. My mother would be mortified.”

“Holy hell,” I murmur. “You know, my friend Secret’s pack have been working to take down traffickers. Warren Corvina’s a big part of that stuff, but there are a lot of other creeps involved.”

“Her pack is in the Alpha Alliance?”

“I think they basically created it.”

“Impressive.”

“Yeah, her mates are pretty awesome.”

“What about yours?” he asks, making me smile.

“Better than awesome,” I admit. “But this one’s going to make me late for work, so I’m heading to the shower before he can distract me any more than he already has.”

“Damn,” he murmurs, letting me go.

I slip out of the bed, ready to get moving but not because I’m headed to work.

Jack’s been super-efficient at getting all the work booked in so there really isn’t that much more left to be done now. I know he did that to make sure he could spend some time with Arrow, and I got him to ask our Omega if it would be okay for me and Rourke to come over today.

Jack sent me a text within fifteen minutes, confirming that Arrow would love our company while he’s in heat.

I don’t know what that might end up meaning, but I want to be there for him.

With Rourke’s new connection to Arrow, I know he’ll want to be there, too.

I step back into my bedroom in a towel and smile at my already dressed ex-boyfriend.

“Shower’s free.”

“I don’t need to …”

“Condition number whatever, showers are obligatory. End of story.”

He laughs. “Okay fine. Am I borrowing your toothbrush, too?”

“Ugh, no. That’s too weird. There are spares under the sink. Catherine stockpiles basics like she’s a survivalist.”

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