Page 47 of The Beta: Part One

“Thank fuck. I’ve been so worried about her being up there this summer. Devon’s going to be pissy about it.”

He’s right. Devon will likely be less than thrilled that I moved Talia out of the attic without discussing it with anyone, but he’ll just have to get over it. There’s a difference between trying to make a person uncomfortable and trying to actually hurt them. Talia was well on her way to an actual health issue tonight, and it would have only gotten worse as the summer went on.

“Devon will live. He can find other ways to be an ass to her. Do you need anything? I’m going to try to go back to bed.” Yes, Nathan is a grown ass man. Yes, Nathan is just as much of an alpha as I am. But I’m older than him by a couple years, and I can’t seem to stop myself from checking on him. He does it, too. I especially enjoy when he checks in on Devon. Devon gets so awkward and uncomfortable when we check up on him, especially if it’s Nathan.

“Nah, I’m good. Goodnight,” he says, then he whispers down the hall, “Goodnight, Talia.”

“Goodnight, Nathan. Goodnight, Kaleb.”

Well. I guess I’ll just have to wear a smile to bed. I haven’t actually been told goodnight before I went to bed in a very long time.

Nathan was absolutely correct. Devon is pissed when he comes in from his run to find Nathan and I carrying Talia’s twin bed and mattress down from the attic.

“What the fuck is going on?”

“She can’t stay in the attic this summer, Devon,” I say, readjusting my grip on my end of the mattress.

“Why the hell not?”

“Sit it down, Nathan,” I say quietly, then give Devon my full, unhappy attention. “I went up there last night around two in the morning. I couldn’t breathe up there. She was so overheated that she didn’t even wake up when I walked up the stairs, which you know would never have happened if she hadn’t been borderline heat stroke. From a security standpoint you can understand how that’s a bad thing. From an alpha standpoint even you can understand this, when I touched her back she was so hot that it scared me. It was dangerous. It’s only going to get hotter as summer rolls on. I’m moving her to the utility room. Be fucking mad about it if you want to, but don’t try to keep it from happening.”

He opens his mouth and shuts it a few times before deciding to go with a very mature, “She was up there for a reason.”

“I understand that, Devon. But things change. Are you trying to passively kill her? That’s what will happen if she stays up there. She’s stubborn enough to stay up there and die, and you’re more than enough of a bastard to let her do it. But I’m not.”

Devon glares at me for a few moments, and I glare right back. I’d follow him into a burning building, but I’m not going to let him leave a person in our care in those conditions. Then I really make him understand what’s at stake, “I wonder, Devon, what Jasper would think if you try to keep Talia in the attic, knowing how awful it would be. I wonder if he even knows how bad it is up there. You know how he feels about her, what do you think his reaction would be if he knew you would rather her sit up there and suffer than just put her in another room.”

“He’d think it was bullshit,” Jasper says, waltzing into the room, “I thought she had a fan up there. She didn’t say anything about being miserable up there.”

“She wouldn’t, would she, Devon? She wouldn’t want to cause a fuss,” I say, trying to give Devon the option to not be a dick.

He grits his teeth, “No, she wouldn’t. She’ll be much more comfortable in the extra room in the basement. I’ll get the bed frame.”

Jasper sighs, “Was it really that bad up there?”

“Yes.”

“Why wouldn’t she say anything? I would never have let her stay up there if I knew.”

“That’s why. She doesn’t want to be a problem. But it’s going to be alright. We’re moving her. You can help her carry her stuff down. She’s only got about four hundred knives and guns to cart down.” That’s an exaggeration, but she does have a lot of weaponry.

We successfully get Talia relocated to the room in the basement. She spends the rest of the day obviously uncomfortable because she did exactly what she didn’t want to do, cause a problem. Except it isn’t a problem. It shouldn’t be, anyway. The only person who would have a problem with it is Devon, and he’s just going to have to get over it. As alphas, it is our duty to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those under our care, and leaving Talia up in the stifling attic isn’t ensuring anything other than the fact that we’re assholes for putting her up there in the first place.

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