Page 76 of The Beta: Part One

Chapter 27

Devon

Disappointment isn't remotely close to a good adjective for how I'm feeling. It's so much more than disappointment but I can't find another word to express it.

Kaleb got back home this afternoon after meeting with Seth and confirmed that Seth has no clue who sent the pictures. And he debased himself to Kaleb, dropped to his knees in submission.

He told him that his treatment of Talia is the most regrettable thing he's ever done in his entire life, and he wants to come beg her for her forgiveness. I’m sure it has some to do with his pack being banned from the omega registry, but it's mostly because he knows how horrific it was.

Seth said his father was obsessed with his pack being the ones who triggered her heat and forced her into the omega status Elizabet claims she has. He said his father wanted the power, money, and influence that will come with Seth being Talia’s alpha. When it didn't happen by just being with the pack, his father convinced him to push it further than it ever should have been pushed. And when she still didn't go into heat after they forced her so brutally, he rejected her from the pack. He said he's trying to make things right for his pack now, and he'll do whatever Talia wants from him to atone for it.

Seth also told Kaleb that we should look very closely at his father's communications because he thinks someone is in Alpha Pratchett's ear based on his erratic and alarming recent actions. That lines up with what we were thinking about both of them, with the exception of Seth's need for atonement. Nathan is working on another path to gain access to Alpha Pratchett's communications, and in the meantime all we can do is wait.

Jasper is fading. He's getting weaker right in front of me no matter how much food we put into him and what we try to ease his heartache. This is more than a break up.

He's in misery every waking moment and it's tearing me apart that I can't fix it. He asks me every other day to bring Talia back to him, and when Kaleb told us what Seth said Jasper asked why we couldn’t bring Talia home if the threat would be there anyway. I don't have an answer, I just want him safe.

If Seth isn't the threat and we don't know where the threat might actually be, then there isn't much point in keeping her away and keeping Jasper in misery; but I don't know what the safest thing to do is.

Those pictures of what was done to Talia haunt me. I can't let that happen to Jasper. Seth might not be the one posing the threat but it directly relates to Talia. Bringing her back here feels dangerous. At the same time, not bringing her back here might do more damage to Jasper than I can fix. We told him we needed to think about it more before we made a decision. He didn't argue or beg, he just walked back to his bedroom and disappeared into his nest.

The days run together in a dull line. Jasper's anxiety is growing the closer we get to his heat. We're three weeks away now, and he's starting to have heat spikes. After each one he either violently sobs or silently cries off and on for the rest of the day until he exhausts himself. I don't know how we're going to manage both his heat and his sorrow.

Nathan is taking things nearly as badly as Jasper. Nathan isn't mean spirited or mean-mouthed, he never has been, but the past few weeks have shown a new side of him. The only one safe from his temper is Jasper, the rest of us give him space and leave him the hell alone to toil over the monitors.

He's basically living in the security room now so he can dedicate as much time as possible to finding out who hates us, or Talia, enough to threaten Jasper. As much as we wanted to think the situation with the council and the rogues is linked to the email and text Kaleb received I no longer believe they are. Nathan had to rework his entire operation to separate things and allocate servers and whatever else he said he was doing in there.

Things come to a head one night when we get a late delivery. We aren't expecting anything, so Trent takes the medium-sized square box away from the house and into the yard to open. He cracks open the flap slowly and when nothing happens he rips it all the way back and carefully starts pushing shredded paper filler out of the way.

He shoots me an alarmed, wide-eyed look and I move closer to find out what he found inside. I push through the paper and freeze when I see one dull, lifeless, blue eye staring up at me. Kaleb and Nathan are suddenly beside me staring down into the box, and Kaleb pulls out as much of the shredded paper as he can to check for anything else. There's a note sticking to the bottom of the box.

Kaleb pulls it free and reads it aloud, “Snitches get stitches.”

I exchange horrified glances with the others. Talia’s eyes are very, very blue. This eye could have been a much brighter blue before it was put into the box.

“Is it hers? Fuck. Is it hers?” I whisper-scream.

Nobody answers, but Jasper is calling to us from the porch, asking what's going on.

“Stay on the porch!” Trent barks, but Jasper comes bounding toward us anyway.

“No, baby! Wait!” Nathan tries to stop Jasper from grabbing the box and looking inside, but we often forget how quickly Jasper can move when he wants to.

He drops the box to the ground a second after he sees what's inside. He falls back away from the box and turns stricken green eyes on me, “Where is she, Devon? Go get her. Bring her home. You have to. Please, Devon, go now. Please. Please!?”

I rip my hands through my hair and start pacing. I look at each of the other alphas in my pack and know they agree, but it's going to terrify me. Talia may have been the tool used for the threat to Jasper, but she isn't the cause of it. Even if she is the cause, I can’t leave it like this. Jasper needs to know if she’s alive or dead.

I’ll save her if I can. For him. I can only hope all she’s missing is an eye. Those fucking pictures cycle through my mind and I feel a scream bubbling up from my chest, but I choke it back down. Screaming won’t help right now.

I can feel Jasper's anguish through our bond; I can feel Kaleb's determination, Nathan's rage, and Trent's guilt. Our omega is falling apart before our eyes, his heart is ripped to shreds and we don't have any way to repair it. We can't give him the comfort he needs. He's sitting on the wet grass right now in his boxers and nothing else, his arms wrapped around his knees, begging me to bring back the girl none of us wanted and all I can do is try to do it.

I get Nathan's attention, “Can you find her?”

He doesn't respond, but he bends down and lifts Jasper into his arms and walks back into the house.

“I'll take care of this,” Kaleb says, and Trent gestures for me to go in the house with Nathan and Jasper.

When I get inside I instinctively know they're in the security room. I find them in front of the biggest monitor, Jasper is sitting in Nathan's lap and winding a lock of Nathan's hair around his fingers as he watches whatever he's doing on the screen.

---