Page 86 of The Beta: Part Two
“He's dead.”
Kaleb nods slowly, “he is.”
They turn their attention to Jasper. He's crouching over the body of the alpha he was dragging across the grass. I thought he was checking for a pulse, but no. He was tying the cord into a neat little bow. The cord has dug so deeply into the flesh of the alpha's neck that all I can see of the bow are the tails and half of the bunny ear loops.
It occurs to me then how very silly we've been to keep Jasper home when we go on missions. I don't necessarily think we should start taking him, omegas should never be put into danger on purpose. Even omegas like ours. But we spent so much time worrying about keeping him safe that we forgot what a terror he is. And now we have two of them.
Kaleb bends down to gently tug Talia to her feet. He drags his eyes from her face down to her feet and back up. “I am so fucking tired of seeing you covered in blood.”
Talia gives him a little smirk, “if you damsels would stay out of distress I wouldn't have to go on so many rescue missions.”
Thaddeus strolls over with blood and bits smeared across his shirt. “Talia, my love, I know you're thoroughly traumatized, but I feel like this is the perfect time to visit council headquarters.”
“We'll have to go somewhere and get cleaned up first. Jasper and I need to wash the gas off of us,”
Thaddeus hums and rubs his jaw, “actually, darling, I think just the way you are would be just about right. We're going to interrupt Alpha Crane's afternoon in spectacular fashion.”
We don't bother trying to put the destruction of the compound into any semblance of order when we leave. We let the bodies stay where they dropped and the building burning. Once my pack is loaded into a van with Reid behind the wheel, I finally feel like I can breathe a little. The only thing left to work through right now is the thing I've been trying my fucking best not to think about.
“Devon...is he...”
I can't finish the question. I don't feel a loss in the bond, but that doesn't mean anything. I could be in such a state of exhaustion or shock that I might not feel it.
Talia runs her blood-stained fingers through Jasper's hair and turns back to look at me. “He's alive. Unconscious. At the hospital he took me to. My mother is with him. She'll keep him safe until we get there.”
My breath rushes out of me. I was too afraid to hope. He took so much damage, I wasn't sure even he could survive it.
Talia turns back around and slumps into Jasper's side and grumbles, “I wish we could go back and kill those three again. Motherfuckers.”
Jasper nods his agreement. He's covered in as much blood as the rest of us are. It might make me a little bit of a psychopath, but seeing him covered in the aftermath of his kills is sexy as fuck. I'm with Kaleb about Talia, though. As hot as she is right now, I don't ever want to see another drop of blood on her for the rest of my life.
It takes an hour to get to the six story building where the council conducts most of its business. By that time blood has dried and we might look even worse now than we did when it was fresh. When we walk past the pretty beta secretary in the lobby, she visibly pales and immediately starts mashing buttons on the phone behind the desk. I guess it is a lot for a sunny Tuesday afternoon.
“Just a minute!” the secretary calls out.
“Don't fret, Cora. We might look like a mess, but there's no need for alarm,” Thaddeus says as he and Marcus march through the front door behind us. His friendly tone in no way matches his appearance, and Cora the secretary looks like she still might be a little alarmed.
“Alpha Smith, Alpha Graves. Good...afternoon,” she stutters. Poor thing. She must not get out from behind that desk very often.
Talia's fathers pass by and motion for us to follow them to the elevators. Thaddeus is all business, but Marcus looks like he is having the time of his life. “This is going to be magnificent. I've been waiting to nail Crane's balls to the floor for years. Is Mitchell being brought in with the other's for questioning? I can't wait to tell Crane that he and his little shit of a son will be sharing a cell.”
“Umm,” Talia mumbles and bites her bottom lip.
“He's dead?” He tsks in disappointment, “that's too bad. I was looking forward to breaking the news. You didn't happen to take a souvenir, did you, dear?” Talia must have inherited her view on violence from her father.
“Wait, I might have something,” Jasper says, and unbuttons one of the cargo pockets on his pants.
When he pulls out Mitchell’s eyeball, Marcus actually laughs. Yeah, that's definitely where Talia gets it from.
Jasper pulls a bit of lint off of it and hands it to Marcus. “Talia did tell him she'd take it. I'm just surprised it didn't rupture in my pocket.”
“Excellent. This will do just fine.” Marcus pats Jasper on the shoulder.
The elevator doors open and we step out into the hallway to wait for the rest of our ensemble to arrive. After we're all gathered, Thaddeus calls us to attention. “Crane is in a meeting with a few other alphas right now, I'm not sure which ones, but if they're meeting with him now, they're traitors. The attack on the farmhouse was planned, and they've had Seth for weeks.”
He turns to Seth, “I don't like you. You've always been a watery liability. You also hurt my daughter, which is unforgivable. But you more than made up for the vast majority of your wrongdoing today. The loss of one's entire pack is horrific, whether or not they were wretched excuses for alphas. Your father is not in this meeting. He is at home right now with your mother, possibly grieving for you. No one here will think poorly of you if you leave us now.”
Seth builds himself up and takes a deep breath. “My father had decent intentions at the start. I will never forgive myself for what I did to Talia. Never. I will see this through with you all, if you'll have me.”
