Page 85 of The Beta: Part Three
I get the feeling that food definitely will not help, but I reach down into the cradle and pick up Dutch so I can hand him to Alex. "We'll take them down so Talia can rest a little longer. Can you manage two down the stairs?"
He rolls his eyes and reaches for Zetty when I lift her out. All three remain thankfully quiet until we get to the kitchen, where they all immediately start to complain. The kitchen is much brighter and louder than the peaceful cocoon that Talia has maintained in Corso's room. "What's happened?"
Devon motions toward Kaleb with the spatula in his hand. Devon doesn't typically do much cooking, both Talia and Jasper have forbidden him from touching anything that isn't made of cast iron, and he isn't generally allowed to touch any appliance more complicated than a toaster; but he makes an exceptional burger. Kaleb drags his hands down his face and gets to explaining. "Seth's mother called me. We, our pack, have been appointed to oversee Seth's care. Joyce isn't in any condition to handle it, as much as she would like to. She's grieving the loss of his father, and also the loss of what could have been. Her pack is doing what they can for her, but she's not doing very well. She gave me the heads up about ten minutes before the lead doctor over Seth's care called. I'll be getting all the calls because I have somehow become the point of contact."
He sighs and continues. "Seth isn't doing well, either. He isn't eating, isn't sleeping. Isn't responding to care. The bed Thaddeus got him is at the best rehab on this half of the continent. He wanted to give Seth the best possible shot at recovery since we're all sticking our necks out for him. Well, for what we need him to become. But there are problems nobody expected. Seth cannot tolerate the presence of females, of any designation. Every time they try to send in a female staff member he has a legitimate panic attack and requires sedation. Someone on his care team suggested a visit from Talia might help, but —"
"No. Absolutely not. She isn't to be near him, I don't care. She can take it up with me if she needs to, but it isn't happening. And, for the record, I don't give an actual fuck if he recovers or not. I'd be happier if he never left that facility. He may have helped us at the compound, but we're not trusting him." What I don't say is that I know for a fact that Jasper still wants his heart in a paper bag and I'm more than happy to help him get that done. Seth Pratchett doesn't deserve Talia's empathy, and he will never get mine.
"He also risked his life to warn us about the attack; and sent his father here to help us in his stead." Corso hums.
He can play devil's advocate for anybody in the world except Seth. If he thinks I'm going to sit here and listen to him defend Seth, he's very wrong. "Corso, I love you. I respect you. You know I do. But if you say another thing in Seth Pratchett's defense, we're going to have a fight. There is nothing on any plane of existence that he could do to make up for what he's done. I don't care why he did it. I don't care that he thought he was doing the best he could. He hurt her, and he put her in a fucking cell after he did it. You carried her out yourself. That was his fault. He doesn't get forgiveness."
"We don't have to forgive him, and we won't. But we did give our word that we would do whatever we could to turn him around and make him the best alpha he's able to be." Devon's pointing at me with the spatula now. "Corso doesn't want the council seat for one second longer than he has to sit in it, and I will have to deal with Seth for the rest of my placement on the council…which will be a long goddamn time, especially if he's a shitty councilman. He respects Kaleb and he's probably a little afraid of the rest of us, considering the situation. And he knows that the only reason he's still breathing is because Talia has spoken for him. I don't trust him, but I do trust her. So, we're going to do what we can to get him in good working order so we can get on with our lives. He won't be there long if we can make him do the shit he's supposed to do. Then we can be done with him."
Done with him would be good.
"I'm not defending him, Reid. He doesn't deserve that. But I am trying to be fair and do what I said I would. Besides, maybe one day Talia will come to her senses and let Jasper off his leash, and he'll bring an end to it before we get the opportunity to be more annoyed than we are. I don't anticipate that actually happening, but it is fun to think about. It isn't like you to be so hot-headed about things, by the way." Corso gives me one of those smiles that lets me know he thoroughly approves of my display of opinion. I don't typically throw a tantrum, as Talia would call this, but I have an extreme aversion to hearing a member of my pack defending Seth. That might not be very fair of me, but I don't care.
"There's more," Kaleb says, and cocks his head toward Nathan.
Nathan rubs his chest. "They're going in after the omegas in a few days. I'm going. Trent, too."
"Talia is going to lose her shit," Devon says from the stove.
She is absolutely going to lose her shit. She hasn't been comfortable with any of us going farther than the distillery for months, there's no way she's going to be okay with Nathan and Trent going to the North Wisen on a rescue mission. She's going to forget all about Seth's rehabilitation after she finds out about this.
Talia makes her opinion about the rescue mission abundantly clear a little while later. We never get a chance to bring up the situation with Seth.
"Absolutely fucking not. You can't go. Neither of you. You're both going to stay your asses right here at home where I know you're safe. The COTs can get them out and give you a play by play. No."
Corso carefully intervenes on Nathan's behalf. He leans over to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and touches her cheek. "Bella, be reasonable. He's been tracking them for so long, he deserves to see this through. Try to understand, Nathan needs to see them rescued with his own eyes."
"I need to see that he's okay withmyown eyes." Her voice has gone from heated and sharp to watery.
"Wouldn't you want to see them be rescued if you were tracking them and searching for a way to save them? Nathan has worked so hard, and he's been so worried for them. I know you don't want anything to happen to Nathan or Trent, but Nathan needs to be there, and he will have Trent with him so they won't be alone." Corso tries again, and this time he's successful.
Talia looks down at the plate of untouched food in front of her. "I don't want them to go." She's quiet, her voice full of the thickness that comes before crying.
"None of us want them to go, stellina mia."
Talia takes a shuddering breath and nods. "Fine." She looks at Alex. "I need to nurse the babies. Can you carry those two up for me?" Alex nods and stands up to follow her.
Jasper touches her arm when she walks past him. "You haven't eaten anything, Talia."
"I'm fine, I don't feel very much like eating anything right now. You can bring me something later when you check on me." She leans over to kiss him on the cheek, then she heads for the door.
"Talia —" Nathan calls after her.
She responds without slowing down or looking back. "I said it's fine, Nathan."
After she and Alex have had plenty of time to get to the stairs, Devon's cheeks puff out as he blows out a breath. "That was three." At least they understand what the overuse of the word fine means. I was also keeping count after she said it the first time.
"She'll be alright, she's just worried. I am, too. It's been one thing after another for too long. And we have these new lives to care for. Not only are two of her alphas leaving her to do some dangerous shit that she doesn't want them to do; they are essentially leaving our home, our pack," he takes a little breath, "our children. They're not going to be here, which is its own problem, but them not being here is lessening our defense if something was to happen. She's scared, and no amount of reasoning will make her feel better about it because most of it is instinctual. Talia, herself, outside of babies and packs, understands that you have to go; you all know she gets it. But that Talia isn't driving right now. The Talia who just had babies, and who has watched and fought through fight after fight with us, is who just went upstairs without eating dinner."
I take her reheated burger upstairs after I think she's had time to finish with the babies. Nathan wanted to, but Jasper told him it might be better if someone else did it since Nathan is who she's mostly upset about. She's laying on her side on Corso's bed nursing Iris, with Zetty and Dutch cuddled close. I put the plate on the dresser by the door and pull out my phone. I'm not usually the one who takes pictures of her, but I don't think any pictures of her with the three of them have been taken and this would be a beautiful one. The others just take the picture, but I like to ask first because posing for pictures isn't her favorite thing. "Hey. I brought up your dinner. Can I take a picture before you get up?"
"I love you a little more for asking. You can take pictures of me, Reid. I don't mind. I'm not very hungry, though."
