Page 44 of The Beta's Heart

“But what if it looks awful?” She bit her bottom lip as he held his hand out to her.

“It’s just nail polish, little luna bunny. If you mess up, we use the remover and try again.”

“Trust me,” I said, leaning against the armrest of the couch. “If you can survive dealing with five alphas on the daily, you can handle painting Em’s nails.”

“Okay, but no making fun of me if I do a terrible job,” she demanded with those big blue eyes aimed at us.

“Promise,” Em said, grinning. “I’ll even wear it proudly all day tomorrow.”

“Great, now we’ll have the fiercest beta sporting black glitter nails.” Tristan came in and sat down next to Ariel.

“Maybe it’ll become a trend,” I suggested. “Beta Beast setting the new fashion standard.”

We all laughed, and luna’s nerves eased, which had been our ultimate goal.

She carefully applied the polish to Em’s nails, her tongue sticking out in concentration, which made me snicker into my palm.

“See? Not so hard, right?” Em encouraged as she finished the last nail. “You did great.”

“Really?” She beamed. “You’re not just saying that?”

“Really,” he affirmed, wiggling his fingers. “Might just keep this look.”

After everyone else went home, Em and I learned luna didn’t know any new movies, so we set up some of our favorites. She made it through three before she conked on the comfy couch, and Em stayed with her while I did a quick patrol of the outside perimeter. When I returned, I found him gently tucking a blanket around her.

“She really is perfect for our pack,” he said quietly.

“Yeah,” I agreed, leaning against the doorframe. “Feels good to have her here. Makes everything … warmer, you know? Hard to explain.”

“I feel it, too.”

We settled in for the night, keeping watch and swapping stories. He told me about ‘accidentally’ dropping a thirty-five pound kettlebell on Matthew’s hand once, and I told him about the time River stole Alpha Mason’s cell phone, tried to take a selfie, and ended up clicking a picture of his nostril.

“You ever think we’d end up here, Em?” I asked after our laughter faded. “Two guys like us becoming betas and being given the honor of guarding the best luna in the world?”

“Not in a million years,” he replied, shaking his head.

“Me, neither, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

#

The rest of the night went smoothly, and I yawned as Em and I joined the other betas at dawn the next morning. We’d decided we’d do our daily training session in her front yard while luna slept safely in her bed before Em and I crashed and Crew, Matthew and Tristan took over.

As the sun crested the mountains, it turned everything to gold, including the sweat dripping down our bodies. We’d been sparring with each other for over an hour now, fists flying and feet kicking, and I for one was overjoyed when Crew called, “Break!”

Although I’d done my best to avoid this very situation, Emerson, as our unofficial leader, made sure we rotated through practice partners. Today, I drew the short straw and was paired with Meanie Boy.

I swiped the blood from my split lip and glared at him. If I wasn’t so wiped out from being up all night, he never would have landed that lucky shot. Going over to my gear bag, I crouched down to grab my water bottle and took a long pull.

Matthew stood a few feet away, his chest heaving and a beauty of a bruise turning his cheek purple. His eyes were hard, but there was something else there, too. Something raw and unguarded, not the normal anger and hate when he looked at me, and I couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Alpha Mase said to get to know you because I might actually find that I like you,” Matthew said, his voice rough and unyielding. “But what he doesn’t understand is, I don’twantto get to know you. I don’twantto like you.”

Swishing my mouth out, I spat the bloody water onto the ground, then wiped my lips with the back of my hand.

“I don’t need your approval or your friendship, but Idoneed you to get off my back,” I told him calmly, the years of dealing with River’s explosions coming to my aid now.

His jaw tightened as he looked away, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.

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