Page 26 of The Beta: Part Three
“Attentive or distracting?” Nathan smiles at her.
“Both. Definitely both.”
Corso pushes his plate away, his empty plate. He'd eat a bowl of dirt if she gave him a spoon. I probably would, too, to be honest. “I'm glad they're consulting you, Nathan. If anyone can find those omegas, it's you. And I'm sure you'll find them well before our omegas need all your attention. I agree with Alex, none of us want you away from the manor without us, and you will most definitely not be able to get anything accomplished with two omegas eyeing you.”
“We do not eye him,” Talia scoffs.
“We kind of do, though. It can't be helped,” Jasper says, “I mean, just look at them.” And just like that, everyone feels a little better about things.
Nathan asks me to go for a walk around the property after dinner. It's getting darker earlier, but there's plenty of daylight left for a walkabout. “What's going on with you?”, he asks as soon as we're a decent distance from the manor.
“What do you mean?” Nothing's going on with me. I'm actually feeling pretty solid.
“You've been less full of shit for a while now. Since the compound. What's going on?”
I shrug. “I don't know. Nothing's wrong. I think I'm just understanding some things a little differently. I forgot how much of a badass Jasper is. I didn't think about Kaleb being afraid of anything, much less heights, until he jumped off a cliff after Talia. Apparently Devon isn't invincible, and Talia might actually be a little bit fragile after all. She's constantly worried. Do you think she worried like that before she switched to omega?”
“For sure. We just didn't have a direct line to her so we couldn't feel it. She's different than I thought she'd be.”
“Softer.” I expected Talia to be as snarky on the inside as she is on the outside. I thought she'd be sour and hard, but she's so soft. Alex and I might talk about spoiling her, but if anybody's getting spoiled it's going to be us.
Nathan nods, “we're such assholes. She was taking care of us the whole time and we were assholes. And she's just letting us off the hook like it's no big deal.”
Maybe to Talia it isn't a big deal. She doesn't think like an omega, she thinks like a beta. Jasper is all omega. If we do something to upset him, or something that he doesn't agree with, he makes sure we understand exactly why we're wrong. That's good, it keeps us straight. But Talia handles us the way betas handle alphas. They just work with what they're given and somehow things just work out. The only thing she's ever said anything about is Devon's penchant for tantrums, and today when she made it clear that she didn't want Nathan to work on the omega situation. She really does just go along with whatever we're all doing. I've watched Corso and Alex in particular try to get her to make more decisions about things that omegas tend to need to be in charge of, but she's mostly uninterested. She'd rather ‘let Jasper handle all that omega stuff’ as she puts it.
“She likes to move forward. She doesn't like to dwell. She's been a beta her entire life, betas don't typically like holding onto grudges or carrying unnecessary stress and strife. Good betas, anyway. Talia was a perfect beta. I think she hates being an omega.”
Nathan suddenly stops and crouches to the ground. He stands back up holding a crushed cigarette. None of our pack smoke, not even socially. His eyes dart to the trees surrounding us. We're near the main road, close enough that someone could have parked and walked onto the property, but not near enough to the road that it could have been tossed out from a vehicle. Someone has been snooping around. “I'll see them. The entire perimeter is covered, and most of the property. I'll see them. Maybe one of the guys from the details dropped it.” He doesn't believe his suggestion, but it makes me feel better to hear him say it. “Either way, I'll see them.”
We finish our round and are almost back at the manor when he says, “she doesn't hate being an omega. She just thinks like a beta. She's all omega about some things. Like the kitchen. And the laundry. And us.
Chapter nine
Jasper
She's going to have to let him mark her. I need her and Devon to have a bond before we go into heat together. I can feel myself winding up to go into heat, I had my first heat spike this morning. It was just a small one, but they're going to get bigger and more intense; and just about the time I'm ready to go, Talia will be, too.
Devon helped me through the little spike this morning. It was such a relief to be able to do more than give him a blowjob or handy. I've missed having Devon. Really having him. I can't wait to tell Talia that he's well enough to fuck. Things have gotten a lot better between them. I hope they get really good really fast because when our heats sync I don't think either of them will be able to resist the other; and I've been looking forward to seeing them together for literal months. It's going to be so amazing. I hope I remember at least part of it.
Talia is outside right now, sitting on the ledge of the empty fountain. She likes to sit there when she's overthinking something. One day soon I'm going to have fish put in it. It's silly that there aren't any in there now.
I've learned that Talia is more cooperative about talking about the things that worry her if she's asked about them in a text. My mother is the same way, so it isn't a huge thing for me.Hey. What are you out there thinking about?
She looks over her shoulder and up at my window. I watch her sigh, and then she pulls out her phone.You really want to know?
She always asks that question when it's something big. Oh god, I hope it isn't bad.Of course I do. Tell me.
I don't like going into heat. It feels like I'm someone else.
Well, fuck. I hope she isn't going to suggest the suppressants again. And I absolutely will not entertain the suggestion of sedation. If she breathes a single word about sedation I will do exactly what Nathan teases us about and put her over my lap and spank her pretty little ass until both it and my hand are raw.I understand why you wouldn't like it. But you really are amazing when you're in heat. I love you in heat.
We'll both be in heat this time.
That shouldn't be an actual problem. That should be one of the best times we've ever had as a pack.I know. It's going to be so good. I can't wait.
I can't do it, princess. I don't want to go into heat every month for the rest of my life. I've only had two and I'm already dreading the rest of them. I don't want to do it.
I wait for a few minutes before I text her back. I don't want to be angry before I have anything to be angry about.I can't see a way out of it, baby. You're an omega now.
