Page 82 of Star-crossed Betas

“Mm,” he says before planting a kiss on my collarbone. “I wish we had a butt plug so I could keep it trapped inside you,” he mutters into my skin. His big brown eyes are as soft as ever, and his cheeks pinken like he didn’t quite mean to say that out loud.

I smile at him, and my heart aches with how much love I feel in this moment. Aches at what I almost lost—not only a few days ago. A whole year of him I didn't get to witness, and I promise myself—never again.

All the tension that’s made a home in my bones and muscles these last few years finally ebbs away. I can breathe full breaths again. Let myself fall because I know he’ll be there to catch me.

I don’t know what’s coming; I don’t know why someone tried to kill my husband, and I certainly don’t know how to be an Alpha of a pack. But I do know I’ll be tackling every moment of itwith Fee by my side, and I don’t have the words for how fucking content and happy that makes me.

Thirty

November 2022

Connor Kelly

My noise-cancelling headphones block out most of the background noise on the plane, and a member of the cabin crew is demonstrating how to put on a seatbelt.

Last week, Noah got a phone call from our great-grandmother, Orla, requesting both of us to come and visit at our earliest convenience. Given she’s ninety-eight, we figured we probably shouldn’t put it off.

Aside from a few summers as a teenager, I’ve never spent much time with Noah because he was raised in Northern Ireland while I was raised in England. We never visited for any considerable length of time until after Mum died, and Da would leave us with my maternal grandparents for a chunk of the school holidays. Raising three teenagers on your own with anentire pack to look out for, let alone a pack at war, wasn’t an easy feat.

Me:Is Alice with you yet? x

Fee:Yes, my babysitter is here but you should withhold the tip because she drinks like a fish. Very irresponsible ;)

Me:You and Alice are going to make me go grey prematurely. Setting off now so I’ll text when we land. Love you x

Fee:Mmm I think I could be into the silver daddy look :p Have a safe flight, love you too x

After I’ve put my phone on flight mode, I shuffle to try to get comfy. However, this tiny tin can of a plane was not designed for two fully grown men to sit next to each other. Mercifully, the journey is short, but I already know I’m going to get a cramp in my legs.

Twenty minutes into the flight, I glare at where Noah’s leg is bouncing against mine. Thankfully, he spots my annoyed expression and places a hand on his knee, stilling it. Noah took the flight with me instead of teleporting so I wouldn’t be travelling alone, but when he starts fiddling with the air conditioning nozzles overhead, I wish he’d just met me there.

He eventually settles down, pulling his phone out. I’m bored, so I peek at what he’s doing on there, just scrolling through some messages, but when he spots me looking, he quickly locks the screen and places it in the pocket in front of him.

Me:Just landed. Have you and Alice done the perimeter checks?

Ever since the fire in our old house, I’ve been justifiably paranoid. Noah put up some wards around the perimeter of the land we own, as well as some additional ones for the new house. I only agreed to come on this trip to see Orla on the condition that Alice stay with Fee while I’m away.

Now I’m Alpha, I find myself avoiding anything that takes me off the Yorkshire territory. I’ve been twitchy as fuck ever since taking off from Leeds and Bradford.

As we stand in the car park waiting for the lady from the car hire station to return with a set of keys, I get increasingly agitated the longer Fee doesn’t reply to my text. Noah rolls his eyes at me but doesn’t say anything. I’m about to try and call him when I finally get a response.

Fee:Yep, we just got back. All clear babe xx

I let out a sigh of relief.

“Here are your keys; it's the blue Ford Focus just over there.” She points to the parked car in question. “If you could take a quick look at the vehicle and then sign here to confirm it's in the condition as stated, please?” Noah nods and grabs the keys. Once we've completed the paperwork, we get on our way to Mourne.

Noah drives since he grew up here and is familiar with the route. We landed in Belfast so it's only an hour and a half drive to Orla's house.

I fiddle with the stereo so I can connect it to my phone and put on a random indie playlist.

“Thank fuck,” Noah says.

“Huh?”

“When I was stuck in a car with PC Plod a few months ago, he played the Archers!”

“I didn't even know the Archers was still going.”

---