Page 32 of The Beta's Heart

“But this is one of my homemade dresses! And I need to check my hair! And—”

Before I could finish my tirade, my clueless brother picked me up and carried me to the back door, stopping only long enough to scoop my old flip-flops off the porch before carrying me out to his SUV.

“Fine, fine!” I huffed, trying to sound annoyed while secretly enjoying this burst of rare spontaneity from him. “But you owe me big time for this!”

Cole grinned mischievously as he settled me into the passenger seat.

“Sure, sure, Sissy. I’ll buy you a bottle of Miss Dior,” he promised as he closed the door and jogged around to the driver’s side.

Since I wasverybribable when it came to my favorite perfume, I couldn’t help but laugh as we drove off to what I knew was going to be a rowdy dinner. He was so much like Dad sometimes, and I was glad he was my brother.

9. Words of Wisdom

Peri

Thanks to Cole’s heads-up on the drive over to the alpha house, I was prepared to meet Luke and Lilah MacGregor, siblings who had fled from the Tall Pines pack the day before and sought sanctuary at Five Fangs. Jay had set them up in the smaller guest house, and they were joining us for dinner tonight.

And I sure was glad Cole had warned me about Lilah’s bruises.

“Alpha Halder has been tormenting her since she refused to be his chosen mate,” Cole had explained. “He gave the pack orders to bully her, then shut her links down with an alpha-command. Yesterday, he physically attacked her, and her brother, Luke, got her out of there.”

“Bastard,” I’d muttered, massaging the bridge of my nose. “Youaregoing to do something about this, right?”

“Of course, but Ash called the king. There are some other things going on that we need him here to deal with. He’ll be arriving tomorrow.”

Since I wasn’t interested in werewolf politics and alpha squabbles, I waved a hand at him, signaling him to stop talking, and he did.

Now, as we sat around the table eating delicious beef and veggie kabobs, I started organizing a shopping trip when I found out Lilah had arrived with only the clothes on her back. All we needed was a driver, and Luke volunteered her. Good big brother that he was, Cole offered us the use of his SUV, which we happily accepted, and then Mase had to get involved.

“You’re not going alone.”

“Why not?” I challenged.

He didn’t reply, but his body went completely still, and his gray eyes stared at me without blinking. Posy curled up on herself, obviously intimidated by his Alpha Ice mask, but I wasn’t.

“Oh, come on, Mase! What could possibly happen?” I demanded.

“You’re not going alone. End of.”

“Hey, I know! Why doesn’t Posy take the betas?” Wyatt suggested. “They’re her guards, after all, and she should get to know them.”

“Itwouldgive my new beta a chance to interact with the others in a low-threat situation,” Ash added.

“You have a new beta?” Luke sounded disappointed.

“Yeah. Eighteen next month and very green,” Cole said, “but he was the only one in the pack with beta blood who was old enough to step up.”

“He’s going to be fine,” Jayden retorted. “Just needs some seasoning, but he has all the instincts and the drive.”

I wanted to say ‘Tyler is going to do an excellent job,’ but for once, I kept my big mouth shut. My brothers were merciless when it came to teasing me, and I didn’t need that today.

Unfortunately, Luke asked why they’d appointed a beta so young. As Ash explained about Everett Breckenridge, Jay’s eyes flared gold and didn’t subside, and we all grew tenser and tenser the longer Quartz fought to ascend.

Man, I wish I knew the whole story of what happened at Crystal Caverns!I thought.

It’s obvious, isn’t it?Dove rolled her eyes at me, the sassy bitch.Everett was protecting Jay, and it got him killed. Why else would Quartz be reacting like this?

Shaking hard, Jay gripped the table with white knuckles, and we all sat in frozen silence for several long moments. Then a low rumble shook the floor under our feet and made the dishes on the table jump with a clatter.

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