Page 46 of Star-crossed Betas

“No. Wait for me upstairs; I won’t be long,” Noah replies, returning his attention to us. The guy mutters something unintelligible but quickly retreats back to the bedroom. I can’t help but shift in my seat at how incredibly awkward this is. “Go on then.”

Right, the reason we’re here.

“Will whatever we ask you stay between us?” His eyes narrow as he considers the question, but then he shrugs and nods for me to continue. I guess that’s as good as I’m going to get.

“Do you know much about Alpha Orders?”

“Plenty.”

“Do you know if there’s any spell or any way of undoing an Alpha Order?” He tilts his head inquisitively as he considers the question before answering.

“No spell, no. To undo an Alpha Order, you have to strip them of their title by either expulsion from the pack or killing them. Alternatively, the Ordered wolf can leave their pack.”

And with those words, my final sparks of hope are snuffed out. It's like a dam breaks inside me and I need to get out, need to be alone.

“We're sorry for barging in on you. Thanks for your help. We'll let you get back to… your friend,” I ramble. Noah and Alice are both looking at me like I'm a ticking time bomb. I stand up abruptly and dash for the front door; it's like I can suddenly feel the walls closing in on me, and I need to be outside. As I begin to panic, it feels like my ears are filled with cotton wool, and I can distantly hear Alice saying goodbye to Noah.

Once we're back on the street and Noah's closed his front door, I bend forward with my hands on my knees and attempt to catch my breath. Alice stands next to me, stroking a soothing hand up and down my back as I try and get my shit together.

“I'm sorry, Nix. I really thought we'd find a way out of this,” she says softly.

“Me too, Alice. Me too.” I tip my head up to the sky, willing the tears that are threatening, to remain at bay.

As I lie in my bed later that night, I ruminate over the options Noah gave me. I replay Cee's words from the other day, asking me to run away with him and wondering if he’d still be willing. He told me he hated me, but my gut tells me he was just lashing out and he didn’t really mean it.

I immensely regret what I said to him about Will. Deep down, I wanted him to instinctivelyknowI wouldn’t have done any of this on purpose. I wanted him to give me the benefit of the doubt that more was going on here. But he didn’t know, and Ijust dumped all my insecurities over Will in his lap at the worst possible moment. I’ve texted him several times apologising for what I said, but they’ve all sat on ‘delivered’.

If Cee's right and Niamh isn’t going to call off this wedding, then it looks as though I only have one option left. With my mind made up and a heavy heart, I set my alarm for the next morning. My dad and brothers will feel completely blindsided and betrayed, but it’s the only choice I can live with.

Tomorrow, I’ll go to Alpha Eastwood in Northumbria and beg if I have to. The only way out of this, without bringing everyone down with me, is to leave my pack and join another.

Eighteen

March 2021 - One Year Ago

Connor Kelly

My head is throbbing.

Partly due to the fact I’ve been lying in bed crying solidly for the past two hours and in part due to the half-empty bottle of tequila, I’m currently clutching like a teddy bear.

That’s how Niamh finds me when she barges into her spare room.

After I got back home from seeing Fee last night, I lost my shit and trashed my flat. Losing all my control, I shifted inside. I couldn’t think past the haze of anger, and I tore everything apart. I let the place off a friend of my da’s, and I’m going to be in deep shit when they find out. Even the kitchen cupboards didn’t survive my onslaught.

“You smell flammable. You can’t fester in here forever,” Niamh says as she pulls back the duvet I’ve been hiding under, exposing me to the cold air.

“Fuckin’ watch me,” I tell her, trying to snatch the covers back.

“As much as I love belligerent drunk Connor, I’m going to need you to start sobering up.”

She shoves a take-out coffee cup under my nose. I’m half tempted to throw it across the room, but it does smell good, so I take a sip, glaring at her while I do it.

“Delightful,” she mutters under her breath as she walks away with my tequila.

“Oi, give me that back.”

“No.”

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