Page 46 of Beta and the Beast
19
Sarah
Lilah wipes antiseptic across my bite mark once more before stepping away from me. She presses her lips together, her brows pinching as she pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose, where they've been slowly slipping down the entire time she's been cleaning the bite mark.
As soon as she stepped inside and saw me looking like a hot mess on Janie's couch, she couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up in her throat, and thankfully, it helped me feel better about the whole thing. I know it's not the end of the world, but oh, it hurt so bad when Romulus bit into my neck. I've never been stabbed, but it has to be close to that. I could feel him ripping and tearing into my skin. The worst part was that it was special for him, and I ruined it by being a big baby about the whole thing.
"How did you do this twice?" I ask Lilah, staring at the bites on either side of her neck where Fenrir and Scott marked her.
She looks up at me above the frames of her glasses, her blue eyes softening to match the pout of her lips. "It feels good for omegas, but I'm guessing neither of you knew it'd hurt you."
I groan and toss my head back, earning me a flash of pain from where it pulls at the bite. I let out a pathetic little whine as I return my head to a more neutral position, and Lilah gives me a sympathetic smile.
"Before you cover it, you should let her see it," Janie says from the bathroom doorway.
She followed shortly after Lilah, grabbing a bottle of wine and pouring us each a glass. Lilah's has sat untouched while she's been taking care of me, but she promised she'd make quick work of it as soon as she's finished.
"Oh, you're right," Lilah says, ushering me to slide off the bathroom counter. "I know it hurts, but you'll love how it looks."
I curl my toes in my shoes, worried that I won't like the look of my mark as much as Janie and Lilah like theirs. What if, because I'm a beta, I don't even like looking at it? What if it doesn't feel as significant as it should?
Of course, those questions are rendered entirely null and void as soon as I turn around and see the deep marks on my neck, the spots that will heal and scar and mark me as mated for the rest of my life. It's already bruising, and the red marks around the bite are turning angry. I'm sure it'll look dark and bruised tomorrow, but that will all fade, leaving me with a perfect imprint of Henry and Romulus's bite.
I touch the edges of the bruising with my fingertips, wincing at the pain.
"How do you feel?" Lilah asks.
"Good," I tell her, staring at the bite for a moment longer, letting my touch linger there. "I feel good."
"Wonderful!" Janie beams, "We'll keep Jace here tonight and let you two have a night to yourselves since I doubt you've had one of those since Fenrir and Lilah stopped by last week."
"Why do you even know about that?" I whine as Lilah starts to bandage me up. "And no, we didn't even spend that night together. That was the night Jace started staying over."
Lilah's movements pause her work. "Wait, so you guys haven't?" She lets the question trail off and leaves me to fill in the blanks—not that it's hard to do.
"No, we haven't," I say, pressing my lips together. "There hasn't been a good time, and I'm always either working or he is or Jace is over."
"Okay, change of plans," Janie says before taking a sip of her wine. "Jace stays with us tonight, and I'll open the coffee shop tomorrow, so you don't have to worry about waking up early."
"You don't have to do that," I tell her. "I open at the buttcrack of dawn. No one wants to do that."
"Correction, I want to do that," she tells me, arching a brow as though waiting for me to call her on her blatant lie.
"Okay, fine, but you don't have to be there until nine," I concede, which I don't think any of us are expecting because I rarely ask for help with the coffee shop.
I wouldn't ask Lilah to help because she has a job outside the house. Janie helps out with the Young Alpha Center, but besides that, she's at home or one of her various hobbies.
"Gabe, Henry's cousin, has a construction crew coming out tomorrow to start demolishing the wall. They already know what to do, and if they have any questions, they can contact me, Sam, or Henry."
"So they can contact Sam, got it," Janie says with a smile, "Now let's get you out there so your alpha can stop panicking about how badly he hurt you."
"Was he freaking out pretty bad?" I ask.
Janie's expression tells me that, yes, he was freaking out pretty bad. "Let's just say he doesn't like the idea of hurting you, but he'll be fine as soon as he sees that you're fine and don't hate him."
I follow Janie out of the bathroom, Lilah telling us she'll follow as soon as she cleans up. Anxiety rushes through me the closer we get to the sliding glass door. What if he regrets biting me? What if Henry regrets Romulus doing it? Oh, what if Henry wants to bite me, too? I don't think I can do it again. Once was enough for a lifetime.
The door slides open, and I'm immediately hit by the scent of peppermints and a loud, thundering purr. I have to shake my head at the idea of Romulus still purring up a storm out here as though it's doing anything. It's sweet that he's trying. Then he's in front of me, hands cupping my face as he first checks my expression and drifts his touch lower, skating over the bandages without touching them, leaning in and sniffing the crook of my neck.
