Page 77 of The Beta: Part One

A few minutes of clicking and then Nathan whispers, “There you are,” I look at the map and relief floods through me so violently that I almost vomit. “Daniel's place. Are you calling ahead?”

I shake my head, “No, I'm just going. Daniel isn’t going to be happy with me. About any of this, especially if...”

I don’t need to finish that thought aloud. I don’t need to announce that Daniel will likely try to kill me if his sister is missing an eye because I sent her away. I definitely don’t need to mention the fact that he’s got a decent shot at it.

“You could take Kaleb or Trent with you,” Nathan suggests, but I shake my head again.

“It'll be fine, Talia won't let him beat me to death. I'll be back in a few hours.” I grab my keys and head out, stopping in the driveway to let Kaleb and Trent know what's going on.

It's going to take me two hours to get to Daniel's and hopefully I won't be there long. With any luck I'll be back home a little after two in the morning.

Traffic is smooth but it gives too much time to think. I thought Talia leaving would make things go back to normal, the way they were before she came, but they didn't. I didn't expect Jasper to be so destroyed. I thought even if he was upset about her leaving that he'd let us comfort and distract him from it until he got over it, but he didn't.

Jasper has been so deeply depressed that it's been hard enough just to keep him alive and I'm so afraid of the most likely reason. Talia might be Jasper's true mate. And I sent her away from him to potentially be tortured and maimed. I’m not the religious type, but I’m thinking about praying that Talia still has two eyes to use to glare at me when I get to her.

I've spent the entire time she’s been with us trying to figure out if I'm jealous or threatened by her. I didn't consider even once that she could be something we might be missing. I've been too occupied with my own shit to recognize how easily she fit in with us, how smoothly she fell into place. I couldn't see past what she might be taking from me to fully understand what she could add to our pack. I've been so horribly selfish.

Watching Jasper's decline over the past few weeks has been horrible, but seeing my beautiful, fierce omega sitting on the ground curled in on himself and begging broke something inside me. I might not want to share him with her, and I might be afraid of her ability to potentially take him from me completely, but I love him too much to sit by while he suffers so deeply.

If Talia refuses to come back with me, I'll just have to kill her brother and his pack and probably his mean-ass red haired omega, too, and drag her back with me, one eye or two, that's all. No big deal.

I still haven't mentioned Talia's family to Jasper and I seriously doubt he's put it together yet. If he knew we were housing the youngest Graves child and then sent her away, his misery would likely be doubled. I remember Alpha Marcus bringing a small girl with him to my father's office once or twice when I was younger, but I didn't pay enough attention to her to register anything beyond her being a little dark haired girl watching her father like he hung the moon.

Jasper is from the other side of the country, and his experience with Talia's family is his adoration, and borderline idealization of her mother, who happens to be the most adored and respected omega in current existence. Elizabet Graves is co-head of the Omega Registry and liaison with the Alpha Council. Jasper's mother made over-the-top donations to the registry in the hope that Jasper could attend the omega training facility, and it paid off.

Jasper excelled at every skill the facility offered training in, and gained the attention of the council. They couldn't technically employ him as an enforcer due to his omega designation, but they offered him military-grade combat and weapons training. They wanted to keep him as an option in the event that an omega with his skill set was ever needed.

I'm not sure why Talia doesn't scream from the rooftops about who her parents are, I might if I was her. Her parents are very obviously and extremely proud of all their children, Talia included, but for whatever reason they don't talk about her in public. Only a few people know of her lineage, and they're as tight-lipped about it as Talia and her family.

I think when Talia had to register as a beta she may have been ashamed because she was supposed to be an omega. She certainly looks like an omega, and my mother let it slip that Elizabet refuses to acknowledge that Talia isn't one. As a beta, I can't claim that she's any less than perfect. She takes care of our home, performs any task, and protects our omega. The only odd thing is her complete submission to Jasper and her non-existent submission to us, but odd isn't a complaint in this case.

Another strange thing that I started noticing in the weeks before she left is that her scent changed slightly. Well, it didn't exactly change, but there were a few times that she smelled...extra. Her scent smelled so much like a female omega going into heat that I was taken aback. It happened more than a few times, and it was all over Jasper at least twice.

I asked Kaleb if he thought her scent had changed but he told me he could only tell a difference when she was fully aroused with Jasper. Neither Trent or Nathan mentioned it, but I caught sight of Nathan's nostrils flaring a few times when she went running down to the basement. She spent an excess amount of time cleaning the laundry room and walk-in, but when I went in to investigate the stench of bleach almost burned my nose off my face.

I shrugged it off as just another strange thing that came along with the whole Jasper and Talia thing, but it has crossed my mind on occasion that Talia may not be as much a beta as she claims to be. If there was more evidence than just a vague scent and a hunch I might have asked her about it.

Daniel Graves lives in a mansion on a compound. I have to be buzzed in and it takes a ridiculously long time. I've tried to convince Jasper that we should live in a place like this so often, but he always refuses. He says he likes our farmhouse and our open-spaced property more than he could ever enjoy living in an overly clean, overly fancy mansion that would need a staff to keep clean.

Daniel is waiting for me at the door, flanked by Michael, Rory, Tyler, and Graham. None of them look happy to see me, and there's no sign of Talia. I text Kaleb to let him know that I got here, and that they're probably going to kill me before I get a word in.

He sends me a ridiculous picture of boxing gloves, and another picture of Jasper asleep with his head on his lap with the text Bring his girl home.

I take a few calming breaths and get out of the car.

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