Page 21 of The Beta: Part One

“Mitchell is a coward, he’s too weak and afraid to do anything like that, but I’ll put somebody I trust on him.”

They both nod at me and we finish our breakfast. Devon may be pissy with Talia, but he doesn’t turn down her food.

“Since we’re already talking about shit situations, Jasper’s heat is due next week, he’s been building up to it. What will we do with Talia until it’s over? I’m not sure I want her here while we’re all...busy,” Devon says.

I’ve been thinking about it, too. Before last night I might have shared his opinion, but now I think it might not be a bad idea to have her standing guard. She’s not bonded into the pack and she’s a beta, so she shouldn’t be affected by the amount of pheromones we’ll be giving off. She should have a clear enough head to keep watch and help out with food and things until we all come out of the haze that always holds us until his heat is finished riding us.

“You won’t like hearing it, Devon, but I think it might be good to keep her in the house. She’s good in a fight. She’s the size of a damn gnat and she took out six men without a gun, she even beat one to death, and she was up this morning making us breakfast. I think she’ll be good to have keeping watch and helping take care of things while we’re taking care of Jasper.”

Kaleb basically says what I’ve been thinking. “Let’s ask Jasper what he thinks when he wakes up and we can all make the decision together.”

“Ask Jasper what?” Jasper stumbles into the kitchen wrapped in one of his blankets. He takes one look at the breakfast spread and his eyes light up, then quickly narrow, “Oh, what the fuck! Where’s Talia? How the fuck do you guys get a feast like this, but I get fucking smoothies and fruit and goddamn wheat toast?”

“She likes us better, I guess,” I say and shove a whole piece of bacon in my mouth.

He gives me a dry look, “No she doesn’t.” Then he starts making himself a plate, looking around like he’s about to get caught.

“You can eat whatever you want, Jasper,” Devon tells him, but we all know that Jasper is absolutely glowing after a few weeks of his imposed diet.

He plops down into Devon’s lap to eat and is humming in pleasure around the food he’s shoveling into his mouth. He doesn’t usually fall deeply into typical omega behavior, but the closer he gets to his heat the deeper he digs into all the cuddly and adorable omega stuff. He won’t let us baby him most of the time. Spoil him, sure, definitely, all the time; but there’s a difference between babying and spoiling. The two weeks before and the week after his heat we get to baby him and we make up for lost time. Right now, Devon is cradling him on his lap in a fuzzy blanket and has taken over feeding him; and later I intend to get him into a bath with me and cover both of us in an absurd amount of bubbles.

“Speaking of Talia,” Kaleb begins, “are you going to be comfortable with her being here during your heat? Or would you rather send her away for the week?”

Jasper doesn’t blush, but he does start thinking hard. He lets Devon feed him another bite before he has an answer. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea to keep her here? We’ll all be pretty out of it until it’s over. She did her job last night.”

“About that,” Devon says, “I’d really prefer it if you didn’t jump into danger like that, again. She did do her job, which is to stand between you and harm. I know you feel like you need to help protect the pack, but she’s not pack, and you’re too precious to risk. Don’t you know what it would do to us, to me if something happened to you?”

“So, you like the idea of her being here while we’re all…?” I make a lewd gesture and this time Jasper does blush, but he nods.

“I think so,” he says, “Do you guys mind?” No, we don’t mind. Devon might not like it, but Jasper wants her here and Jasper will get what he wants.

“She can stay, if that’s what you really want. Maybe the week will shock her enough to convince her she doesn’t want to live with a pack like ours.” Now making Jasper blush is a game, and Kaleb just took his turn.

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