Page 62 of The Beta: Part One

“I didn't say anything to her that should've given her a reason to distance herself,” he sounds almost like he's pouting, like he wouldn't mind saying something that would put a wall between Jasper and Talia.

“Devon, if you have such a problem with Jasper having a relationship with her, physical or otherwise, why did you agree to it? I thought you enjoyed seeing him with her?”

He drags his hand down his face, “I don't have a problem with her, I just have a problem with the potential damage she could cause. And, yeah, I'd be an idiot and a liar if I tried to say I didn't enjoy watching him fuck her.”

I fight the urge to sigh, “Are you jealous?”

He glares at me.

He's absolutely jealous.

“It's fine to be jealous,” I say, “But it isn't fine to punish him for doing something you agreed with. It isn't fair. Talk to her, make her understand that she doesn't have to pull back from Jasper, for his sake.”

“Shit. You're right. I didn't think about it like that, like it might be punishing him. It wasn't my intention. I'll take care of it,” he sounds grim, maybe a touch guilty, but I know he'll handle it. That's one of the best things about Devon, once he knows his actions are causing someone he loves problems he'll fix it if he can.

I get an anonymous email later in the evening with pictures of Talia from her time with Seth Pratchett's pack. In most of them she looks like the same sour-faced, hateful, living billboard for sarcasm that walks around here folding towels and making healthy meals and special teas; but some of the pictures are hugely different.

Some of the pictures are actually alarming.

The one I just clicked on is a picture of mostly her face, but although the rest of the picture has been blurred out it's obvious that she's naked. The rage and hate in her eyes is enough to burn through the phone screen. Her pale cheeks are smudged with dirt and her lips are swollen and split. The next one I click on is of her stomach. It's also smudged with dirt and something that looks too much like semen to be anything else. The next and last one is the worst. It's a close up of her pussy, swollen, bruised, bloody, and stretched painfully around the widest part of a knot.

The sight of it makes me so angry so fast that I get a little nauseous. There's nothing to identify her in that one, and there's no way to prove who's dick it is. I've checked three times so far, but I check again to make sure there's nothing identifiable in any of the text that could confirm who sent these. Of course it was Seth or his father, but why send them to me?

I'll have to have Nathan look at the email, but fuck if I'll let Jasper know these pictures exist if I can keep from it. I don't really want Nathan to see them, if I'm honest. Nathan is just as lethal as I am, but this is going to bother him.

He's got a whole team of sisters and he's become friendly with Talia, these pictures are going to make him sick; they make me fucking sick. Maybe there's a way he can somehow track where this came from without actually opening the attachments. With any luck he can find out where they came from and who sent them. Then we can go in and get enough proof that Seth will be finished.

My phone chimes, it's a text from an unknown number. It just has a short message: Hope you boys are enjoying those leftovers.

So, whoever sent the pictures also has my phone number.

My phone chimes again, this text from Trent, Security room, now.

My stomach jumps and I'm halfway down the hall before I realize that I've even stood up. When I get to the security room everyone but Jasper and Talia are already there, staring at a computer screen with livid expressions. I expect to see the pictures from the email, but that isn't what's on the screen.

There's a picture of Jasper leaning against the railing on our porch looking down at Talia, who is on her knees in front of him. It's obvious what's happening. This must have been from a couple weeks ago. The message embossed over their image says 2 for 1. Someone is watching us.

“I'm tracing it. I'll find who sent it,” Nathan's voice is quiet, deadly. He's clicking and typing furiously, a low growl rising from his chest.

A few minutes pass before he grits out, “There you are, motherfucker.”

The little moving dot on the screen has stopped at the main office of council headquarters. “Pratchett's office, based on the IP signature. I'm the one who installed all the tech in the building. If it isn't him, it's someone with access to his space. I'm going to tap into the camera on the monitor.”

A few clicks later and there's a dark silhouette on the screen. I can't tell who it is, it's too dark in the room and they're not facing the monitor; but it doesn't look like Alpha Pratchett. The nose is wrong. Alpha Pratchett has a hooked nose, and this nose is not hooked.

Nathan starts clicking and typing again as the person on the screen stills abruptly and looks to one side before going straight to the window and climbing out. A few seconds later security guards enter the room, but it's too late for them to do anything useful.

“Fuck,” Nathan bites, “At least we know which computer is being used. That wasn't Alpha Pratchett, but someone wants us to think it's him.”

“They're going to come for him again,” Devon says, his voice cold, and I nod.

“They won't get him. We're too cautious. He's safe. One of us will be here at all times, and Talia is here. Nobody's going to touch him,” Trent sounds more certain than I feel, but then again, he didn't get the same email I got.

“Let's do a perimeter check, see what we can see. Nathan, you stay here and go through the cameras in case you see something we don't,” Devon is heading through the door barking orders, Trent right behind him, but I hang back.

“I'm going to look through the cameras with Nathan for a bit, then I'll hit the back half,” I call out and Trent throws up a hand to let me know he heard me.

“Where are they now?” I ask, my eyes glued to the screen. More clicking and then I see Jasper on the screen, spread out on his bed on his stomach reading a book, then after a few more clicks Talia's image flashes up, she's in the laundry room looking like she's going to fall head first into the washing machine as she pulls things out to put into the dryer.

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