Page 36 of The Beta: Part Two
Regardless of the fact that Talia was unexpectedly claimed yesterday as she was coming down from her first-ever heat she is already in the kitchen when I walk in. She hands me a cup of coffee like any other day. Like she didn't sit in Corso Zaphir's lap in the very chair I'm sitting in and agree to become the link that will join my pack to his. Like she didn't agree to be my omega.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine a life that would allow me to have two omegas. I halfway expected her to be flighty, or to look harried with the weight of the situation, but she looks nothing less than radiant. I can't see the mark Corso put on her shoulder, but I can tell exactly where it is because she keeps touching it.
I wonder where she's going to wear all the other claiming marks she's agreed to take? I've been thinking about where I want to put mine for weeks, but Talia and I haven't shared very much physical affection so I don't know how that might happen. I don't think either of us would enjoy it if it felt like a job or just another task she needs to get through .I want her to enjoy it when I mark her as mine, now more than ever.
Alpha-omega claiming marks are different from regular pack marks because they only happen during sex; specifically they will only take when she accepts her alpha's knot. Only then can he mark her as his. That is the only reason Jasper hasn't been able to put his own mark on her. If he was an alpha he would have claimed her within a few weeks of her knocking on our door.
The most shocking thing about this is how easily she's accepting all of this. After her first reaction, of course. I hope to never feel my heart seize up like it did when she put that gun to her head ever again. If it wasn't so very necessary, I would forbid her from ever touching a gun from now on, not that she'd accept that order. I don't think being an omega is likely to change her willingness to take orders. Talia isn't going to let a pesky little thing like being claimed by seven alphas stop her from doing a single fucking thing.
She brings me a piece of toast slathered with peanut butter and honey and I catch her wrist as she's turning back around. “Are you really alright with allowing all of us to put our mark on you? There is no going back after that, Talia.”
Her eyes are the deep blue of a calm sea and she holds my gaze with them for a long moment before she answers me. “I wouldn't have agreed to it if I wasn't completely sure.”
Then she drops her eyes, and I don't like that even a little bit, “are you alright with it? You don't have to if you don't want to. There will probably be enough bonds between the rest of us to carry it without you having to mark me. Don't think you have to, it's alright.”
I'm about to tell her that I've been planning out how I'll be marking her for weeks when her phone rings. Anxiety creeps over me quickly, phone calls don't come this early unless something is wrong.
She reaches into her back pocket to pull out her phone and scowls at the screen. Not a confused, curious scowl. A mean look that speaks volumes about her opinion of the person calling. Then she does something unexpected, she drops the phone on the table and answers on speaker, “get fucked, Michaels.”
Ah. Derek Michaels, an alpha from Seth Pratchett's pack of assholes.
“Cut the shit, Talia. We've got trouble.”
“I don't have a fucking thing. What do you want?” she asks, her voice full of poison.
“Seth is in trouble.”
“Good. He can get fucked, too,” she says.
I couldn't agree more.
“That's the thing, he just might. There's some bad shit happening with the council, it started a few years ago. Right before you were with us. Those rogues in the mountains have a deal with some of the alphas on the council. Seth's dad wanted in on it, got Seth mixed up in it. Told us there would be perks if we helped. You were supposed to be a fucking omega, he said you'd turn just like your mom did if we knotted you. Then we were supposed to give you over to them in exchange for a better omega. If they had you then they'd have your family by the balls, and Seth's dad would have power over Marcus. He could take over the council, which would give us more power too.”
“But you didn’t turn and that made shit go sideways and you left, so the plan was changed to take you anyway as a beta, for leverage. Next thing, you’re all cozy with the Johnson pack and they set their sights on both of you and wanted us to help. But Seth suddenly developed a conscience and told them we weren’t going to help them anymore. Then Seth disappeared for a couple weeks, I couldn't find him anywhere. He turned up missing a fucking eye. Now he's missing again. And I’m getting body parts delivered to the house,again. He put himself on the line to save your ass, several times, the least you could do is help us get him back.”
Talia doesn't say anything, she's just looking at me with angry, narrowed eyes. As far as I'm concerned Seth can stay wherever he is and I hope he doesn't make it back. I'm sure Talia feels the same way, based on the snarl pulling up her top lip.
She does respond after almost a minute, though. “You're goddamned stupid if you think I give a fuck. Seth can rot and I hope he does it with a dick up his ass.” Then she hangs up. She stomps to the sink, but there's nothing for her to do there and she huffs out a breath. She is so angry that I can actually smell it filtering off of her making her coffee scent sharp.
“I'm not saving Seth. I don't give a single fuck how much trouble he's in or what trickle of guilt landed him in it. It isn't my fucking fault,” she hisses.
I don't know if she's talking to me or herself, and I sincerely hope she doesn't expect an argument from me. Seth doesn't deserve saving. I wouldn't put my neck on the line for him anyway, but after seeing the picture proof of what he did to Talia, what he did to my soon-to-be omega...Yes, he can get fucked just like she said.
She shakes her head, then asks me if I want eggs or pancakes, like we didn't have a bomb dropped on us. I'm about to tell her that eggs would be nice when Devon stalks into the kitchen, his face dark, holding his phone to his ear.
“Is that Derek Michaels?” Talia chirps. When Devon nods she snatches his phone out of his hand and barks, “get. Fucked. Michaels.”
She ends the call and hands back the phone, and I get to enjoy watching his reaction play across his face. It moves swiftly from shock, to anger, back to shock, then amused. “Are we going to have a busy morning?” he asks.
She pours a cup of coffee and hands it to him, then puts the milk on the table.
“Eggs, please,” I say and she nods.
She doesn't ask what Devon wants, she just starts cracking every egg we have into a big bowl.
“No, we are not going to have a busy morning. Derek and Seth can both go to hell,” Talia says in her sing-song voice that I've learned means she's either full of shit or about to cause it. Probably the former, because everyone in the house likely heard both phone calls and are probably working their way into this kitchen.
Seven alphas.
