Page 29 of Beta and the Beast
We need her.
Romulus tucks the pillow underneath our arm, lifts our middle finger to Remus, and leaves his bedroom. We don't need anything from the apartment. We've slowly but surely been filling the smaller one across from Sarah's with things we need every day. We even have a bed over there. It wouldn't be good to have a whole bunch of nesting supplies and nowhere to put them.
"Are we good?" Remus calls out when we near the front hall.
Even though Romulus is pissed at our brother for doing way too much to get us worked up enough to go and claim our beta, he still loves Remus and Lucas.
"We're good," Romulus says, turning just enough to see that Remus is giving Lucas back control of the body. "Don't fuck with my beta again."
Lucas holds his hands up. "Wouldn't dream of it. Now, go tell her she's yours so the rest of us can stop pretending like we don't already know you've scent-matched her."
Romulus purrs at the idea of everyone already knowing Sarah is ours. I'm the one who's more than a little embarrassed. Not that I'm surprised. Every time we're around her, we're inhaling like crazy and putting off enough pheromones that it's clear we're trying to scent someone.
We reach for the door handle, and Romulus pauses, fear tickling our hindbrain. "What if she rejects us?"
We don't turn around to see if Lucas looks like he's laughing at us for our worries. It's not even just Romulus worried about it, either. I'm terrified. It takes a special omega to be with a beast, and I've never known a beta to offer themselves to one. Sure, Romulus is lazy unless it comes to sex, but that doesn't mean he isn't a major red flag to most omegas and betas in general.
"She won't reject you," Lucas says. Romulus opens his mouth to tell our brother she might, but Lucas continues before we can. "And if she does, you lick your wounds in the apartment across the way and wait for her to tell you she made a mistake. She wants you, but that doesn't mean she might not try to do what she thinks is safest."
"I am safest," Romulus growls, his fingers tightening on the doorknob until our knuckles are white. "With me, she is safest."
"With you, she would be, but she still thinks you'll scent an omega or need an omega. That's terrifying. Even omegas are taught to be careful of being with an alpha unless he marks her because there's no guarantee we won't use them and abandon them."
What Lucas says makes complete, rational sense. Unfortunately, he's talking to Romulus right now, and the more he talks, the more Romulus is confident he's the only one whocan show Sarah that we want her forever. Even if he was willing to give me control of our body to have a conversation with Sarah, that's not happening anymore. He's out of the apartment and heading down in the elevator, ignoring Lucas's questions about what his plan is.
Don't need a plan.He growls at me when I also start bugging him about what he expects to happen if he just walks up to Sarah with a pillow she used to masturbate underneath his arm and a raging boner.I'm going to bite her. Can't deny we want her with our mark on her neck.
And now I have to regain control of our body because if we do things Romulus's way, we're going to end up thrown in jail for claiming someone without their consent. Leave it to Romulus to come up with the worst plan in the history of plans, and, for the first time in his life, he's actually fighting hard to keep me from controlling our body.
Calm down. I know what the little beta needs, and what she needs is some teeth in her neck.
We are so fucked.
13
Sarah
"Lucas gave me the numbers of some companies to call," I tell Lilah over the phone.
I'm ninety percent sure she has me on speakerphone so Scott and Fenrir can listen in, but she hasn't told me. Scott's messaged me five times since family dinner last night, and that would be fine, except he keeps asking about what I think about Henry as though that's any of his business. I honestly think it would be better if he went back to letting Fenrir out every time Henry's brought up, because at least Fenrir's action makes some sense. He doesn't want Henry and Romulus to hurt me. Scott, well, I don't know what Scott's reasons are for asking about it.
"Well, if you do end up opening up the coffee shop to other dynamics, I think you should do another grand opening," Lilahsays. "I can invite the other nurses from my clinic, and Ian can invite his alpha, who I'm sure knows other well-behaved alphas. It can be like a whole thing."
She pauses for a moment, and if I strain my ears hard enough, I can hear shuffling. My bet is on Scott whispering something he wants her to ask, so I continue the conversation before she can do that.
"I think that's a good plan. I just need a little time to make sure I'm not making any rash decisions."
"Not that it's any of my business because it's not at all, and I normally wouldn't ask," Lilah rambles a little bit. I wonder if I should tell her that I know Scott is listening and making her ask whatever invasive question she's about to ask. "We just want–I just want to make sure you're doing well financially."
I snort because that is so not something Lilah would ever ask me on her own. If I didn't already know about Scott being a nosy pants, I'd know now. Not that either of my brothers has ever cared much about my finances, other than knowing I'm okay. If I'm not asking Scott how much his clinic is making, he doesn't need to know how much the coffee shop is making.
"I'm fine," I tell Lilah, and because Scott's not going to be okay with me leaving it there, I add. "I have a six-month emergency fund. Fingers crossed this emergency doesn't last that long, but–"
A loud knock on my door silences whatever else I was going to say.
"Is everything okay?" Lilah asks, hearing the sound over the phone. The single knock is followed up with three more, which are as loud and pounding as the first.
"Someone's at my door," I whisper into the receiver as I tiptoe over.
