Page 31 of The Beta: Part Two
“What makes you think they're mates? Mates are rare enough, but two omegas? I don't know, Devon,” Reid says what I'm thinking.
“You couldn't feel it?” Nathan quietly asks.
Could I?
I definitely felt something that wasn’t pure Talia, and they were certainly more concerned with making sure the other was taken care of than themselves. Most of the other omegas I have met have been spoiled, territorial, selfish brats; but Jasper has never exhibited any of those traits, and Talia is so far from selfish or spoiled that it's laughable.
“I don't doubt your observations, but it's such an odd thing to consider. If they're truly mates, separating them would be more than wrong. Jasper is yours. Talia is mine now, and my pack's as a result, regardless of the unfortunate how. I can't give her up any more than you could give up Jasper,” I'm going for rational neutrality, but if anyone suggests I break my bond with her neither rational or neutral will rule me.
“This is bullshit,” Trent barks, “she didn't want this. She didn't want any of it. She didn't want to be an omega, she was in denial about it for weeks, and now she's become the property of an alpha who didn't ask if she wanted to be. This isn't fucking right. It isn't fair.”
I don't like that, “Talia is not and never will be my property. If anything, it is the opposite.” Trent has no idea how I've ached and longed for her.
Jasper comes into the room, bringing a cloud of anger and sadness in his wake. He glares at every one of us before he fills the tea kettle and starts gathering a tray of snacks.
“How is she?” Reid asks, but Jasper doesn't answer right away.
He huffs and waits for the kettle to whistle before he even looks like he might answer. After the kettle screams, steaming water is poured over the tea bags he placed into the cups on the tray, then he responds to the question, “not great. Ask him,” he shoves a dismissive hand in my direction, “he should know. He should feel every single thing she's feeling through the fucking bond he put on her.”
He lifts the tray and stomps back out of the room. Every head turns toward me.
“Well?” Reid asks.
I close my eyes and concentrate on the string of emotions that aren't mine and gently tug at it and all her anger and grief pours into me as if she was just waiting for the opportunity to make me feel what she's feeling. I gasp, but the torrent shuts off just as quickly as it opened. I pinch the bridge of my nose, “not well.”
What else can I say?
“Yeah, no shit,” Trent laughs, and it isn't friendly, “I'm sick with Jasper's emotions. He's so angry and afraid. And what's even more fucked up is I can almost feel Talia through him.”
A few seconds pass before any of us register what he said, Trent's eyes grow comically wide and realization dawns, “Devon. Think hard. Can you feel Talia through Jasper?”
Devon juts his chin at Kaleb and they both close their eyes to block out as much distraction as they can.
I watch their faces tighten in concentration and I don't miss when Kaleb's mouth turns up in a little smile, “she's just there. It's all Jasper, but there's a small thread that's Talia. I never noticed it before, probably because I didn't know it was possible.”
His eyes open full of the wonderment he's feeling, and when Devon opens his eyes they're shining with the same knowledge.
“Well, that's that. No further proof is necessary,” Alex slaps the table, startling more than one of us, “now, how do we solve this fuckery?”
In the end, it's Reid who finds the solution just as the sky starts turning pink. We’re going to join our two packs together. There’s no better way to see to both omegas and everything that comes with them. We couldn’t possibly separate them, it would likely kill them. Joining together is the only logical way we can make this work. None of us like it, but we don't hate it. We decide to talk it through with Talia and Jasper before they have any more time to dwell on how dark everything looks right now. We’ll just have to make combining our two packs work for the sake of our omegas.
“This is all well and good,” Kaleb says, “so long as the omegas aren't opposed. I, for one, refuse to push another agenda on them.”
Silence falls on the room, every one of us knows he's right.
Neither omega should be pushed or made to suffer anymore than they already have. They'll agree, they have to. I can't see another way.
Chapter thirteen
Talia
Corso is crawling around under my skin like a colony of ants.
I feel tight in the worst possible way, I can feel him tugging at some invisible line inside of me. It never occurred to me that this is what it would be to be tied to an alpha. Jasper is tied to four of them, how can he fucking stand it? All I want is to march into that kitchen and drown Corso in the goddamned sink. Trent and Nathan, too, for letting this fucking happen.
I've cried so much that my eyes are swollen and stinging with every blink, and my pussy feels like I fucked it with a cheese grater. How can I go through this every month? I can't. How do my mother and sisters do this? How do they walk around on cloud nine after they come off of their heat like they haven't been absolutely railed for a solid week?
Everything aches, everything.
