Page 34 of The Beta: Part Two
The asshole just shrugs, “you didn’t ask for anything specific, so I brought what I like seeing you in.”
Fine, he wants a show, he can have one, starting now.
I start changing before he's out of the room, but because he's Kaleb it doesn't have the desired effect. He leans against the closed door with his arms crossed over his broad chest and assesses me, “wear your hair up in one of those fluffy buns. You can be mad at Corso all you want, but he needs to see his mark on you. Don't be surprised if he starts tending it in front of anyone. Our instincts are stronger than we are, try to give him the grace he needs to work through this. He will take care of you, don't doubt that. And if he doesn't I'll kill him. You'll be fine, cupcake.”
Since he offered to murder Corso if he didn't take care of me, I march straight to him and lean the full front of my body against the front of his and raise up on my toes to kiss his chin because that's what I can reach.
Kaleb and I have never shared a kiss, not a real one. He deserves one, though. Then I follow his advice and wad up my hair into the messiest rat's nest of a bun I've ever managed and push us all out the door and down the hall. When we get to the kitchen I see that the bottles of whiskey they were working on earlier are mostly gone, not surprising since there are seven big alphas sharing it.
I have already made up my mind to do better than I have so far. Corso would never have taken this choice from me if he hadn't been a victim to his own instincts, and it isn't fair for me to hold him to a higher standard than I hold myself. It doesn't hurt that Jasper is encouraging me to try to be a good omega, either.
Walking slowly so that my intentions are clear, I move toward Corso and step between his knees. He doesn't reach for me, so I pull his arms around my waist and wait until I feel his thumbs hook into the loops on the back of my shorts. He's looking up at me with his gorgeous honey colored eyes and I give him the sweetest smile I can convince my face to make. “I'm not going to be very good at this, but I'm going to do better than I did this morning. We'll figure it out,” I say, and tuck a few strands of golden brown hair behind his ear.
He leans into me, wrapping his arms tightly around me, and presses his face against my chest.
I hold him to me and lean over him to place a kiss on his hair, then I look up at the rest of the alphas scattered around the kitchen. Some of them have little smiles playing on their mouths, but they all look exceptionally relieved.
Jasper sits himself in Nathan's lap and clears his throat, “that was uncalled for a little bit ago, Corso. I apologize. I will do a much better job sharing than that from now on. You're not going to take her from me, you're too good for that, and I'm not going to take her from you. Like Talia said, we'll figure it out.”
If they were relieved before, they're positively at peace now. Did they think we were going to come in here like a couple of bombs and blow them all to hell? I guess they did, considering how poorly I've handled everything so far.
Corso is very reluctant to let me out of his arms, but I manage to turn so that I'm sitting snugly on one of his thighs. He does exactly what Kaleb said he would and begins tenderly licking the exposed bite mark he left on my shoulder.
I shiver at the attention, I didn't want it to, but something about his mouth on it makes it feel so much better. It was feeling so raw and achy, but after just a minute of his careful ministrations it doesn't hurt much anymore. In fact, it's starting to throb in a way that burns a path straight to my nipples and lower.
I reach back and pull on the hair I was so gently with a moment ago, “that's enough of that. We have too much to talk about for me to start begging you to lay me out on the table because you're licking my neck.”
He groans into my skin, but thankfully stops the licking.
“Nathan, you said you all came up with an idea to fix this situation. That's good, but Jasper and I thought about something, too. Do you want to go first, or us?”
He looks worried for a second, but Jasper strokes a finger across his jaw and he relaxes and gives us the go ahead to lay out our proposal, “you go ahead. Maybe you came up with something better than we did.”
I take a big breath and slowly exhale before I start. “Jasper and I think we could share. I don't know how else to put it. He doesn't necessarily want to take on more alphas for himself, but that's the only way we can come up with for this to work. Corso,” I twist back so I can look him in the eye, “I am perfectly willing and probably even happy to be your omega, even though I'm going to be a disastrous one. But I am absolutely unwilling to give up Jasper. He is part of me, and I am part of him. I don't actually think I can live without him. Actually, IknowI can’t live without Jasper. And now there's you. I loved you before this, but now I don't think I can live without you, either. I know it wasn't your intention, but there's no going back. You're my alpha and you will be from now until forever. We would like to talk about what that might look like, sharing between your pack and his.”
Corso looks so surprised. Not in a bad way, but definitely surprised. Our newly created bond is vibrating with it. Then it hits me. I’ve never told him that I love him. I thought it would complicate things too much for both of us. Hearing me say it has apparently thrown him into a spiral of happiness, hope, and shock. I’ll have to make up for that, he deserves to hear me tell him I love him so often that it makes up for years of not hearing it.
I take another breath and turn back to face the other alphas in the room. They look so...they're all wearing different versions of the same oddly amused expression.
“Conveniently,” Reid begins, his nearly black eyes twinkling, “that lines up perfectly with what we discussed and determined to be the safest and most beneficial course of action.”
My breath catches, I was hoping they'd entertain it, but to hear that it might actually happen makes my stomach tremble with the butterflies I thought I flushed out years ago.
“What do you mean, exactly?” Jasper asks, his eyes narrowing. He looks as suspicious and I probably look hopeful.
“It means, sweet Jasper, that you get to keep your girl and she gets to keep your pack. We want to join our packs together. Combine resources and, as you said, share. The most difficult thing, unless you think of something else, to deal with will be deciding where we will all reside...together. This property is nice, but the house is small. Our distillery is all but attached to our home. It is unfair to ask your pack to leave their home, but you all can operate your business from anywhere and the distillery is, well, a distillery.”
“That won't be a problem, we can pack it up here,” Devon says, looking between Trent, Nathan, and Kaleb, “unless one of you doesn't want to do that?”
They all shake their heads, and he looks back to Reid, “if there's room, we will relocate to your place. We can sit on this property or we can sell it. No rush on deciding.”
Everyone nods in quiet agreement.
Trent, always the crude dick, ruins a perfectly wholesome moment with his nonsense, “well thank fuck for that, and thank fuck we're joining forces. Talia, you're a delectable fucking peach, but if you're going to have a heat cycle every goddamn month it's going to take every man in this room to survive it. I'm going to take a shower and then you, my love,” he points a thick finger at Jasper, “can come and kiss all the boo-boos your girl there inflicted. I need some fucking attention.”
With that, he flounces his mouthy ass out of the kitchen.
“I have a question,” I say, tucking my bottom lip between my teeth. “How will it work? The joining, I mean?”
