Page 9 of The Beta: Part One

Chapter 5

Jasper

I was ready and more than willing to hate Talia, but I don’t think I will. I think Devon might be a little disappointed, but he’ll never tell me. She has made such a huge effort to not offend me the entire time she’s been here, and she’s gone out of her way to do things specifically to make me happy or healthy. I wasn’t exactly thrilled when she let it slip that my beloved coffee wasn’t great for me, but now I have all these new teas to try so it’s not that bad. And I do feel better since letting the coffee go.

It feels like everything, everything, she does is geared toward my happiness and well being. My alphas take very good care of me, but they didn’t pick up on the small things that Talia has. None of them read the kinds of books I like, so it didn’t occur to them to ask me about books. Talia reads a lot of the same genres, and now I have someone to talk about books and characters with. She’s even shared her massive to-be-read list and I’ve added to mine as a result. We’re going to try to read a new book every week and compare notes.

The guys have mostly stopped being so terribly antagonistic towards her, but they’re still not really being friendly. It's almost like they consider her hired help that they resent. I don’t know how much longer that will last, especially with my poor, sweet Nathan, because she isn’t doing anything wrong.

The only thing that could be considered wrong is that she doesn’t submit to them the way other betas submit to their alphas, or even other alphas. I’ve actually never met a beta who could withstand an alpha’s orders or hold eye contact, but she doesn’t really lower her eyes for anyone but me.

I’d never tell the others, but I enjoy that more than I probably should. Omega’s are trained and genetically wired to be submissive to their alphas, and to be utterly cherished and adored by them. Talia submitting to me is a heady experience. It makes me feel a different kind of powerful than my alphas make me feel. My alphas would ruin the world for me, but she makes me feel like I could ruin it myself.

Her dress arrived this morning and I’m so relieved, I was getting nervous. It took me a couple days longer than I wanted to pick the right one to match my colors, but it got here on time and it is gorgeous. I laid it out next to what I'll be wearing and I know we’re going to be stunning. I’m wearing a dove gray tux with a cream colored button down shirt and a lavender bow tie and vest. I’ll probably ditch the jacket within the first hour, and I wanted my colors to stand out once I do.

Talia’s dress is the same lavender as my vest. It has a strapless satin bodice and a short puffed out tulle skirt that will make her look like a little pixie. I even ordered her dove gray satin ballet flats to fully coordinate with me. I originally wanted her in heels, but Kaleb suggested that she would be able to move better in flats if anything bad happened while we’re there. The two of us are going to look like fairies in a sea of penguins. The guys refuse to wear anything other than an all black tux, but I did order them lavender bow ties and socks. We’re all going to look so amazing together. I might try to convince everyone to sit for a picture, but I won’t hold my breath. They aren’t big on pictures, and I get the feeling Talia likes them even less.

I start rushing everyone to get ready about an hour before it’s time to leave. Well, I rush the guys. Talia promised me that she would be ready and waiting before I was ready to go myself, and I believe her. I don’t know what it is, but she and I feel so in tune with each other. She won’t do anything to cause me to worry. I know Devon and the rest are very wary of her and I understand why, but she just doesn’t bother me anymore, not really.

I’m wrong, though, because fifteen minutes before we have to leave I’m dressed and Talia isn’t in the living room waiting for me. I’m standing there trying to decide if I’m going to wait for her or if I’m going to go hunt her down.

Maybe her hair is being problematic, I don’t know.

Trent comes waltzing in looking all dark and handsome and full of shit because he’s smirking so hard the side of his face might pop off. “There’s a purple poof ball hanging out the back of the beta’s car,” he announces, and I’m horrified.

I go to run outside to see what happened and run smack into Talia coming inside carrying two massive plastic cases. She gives me a little smile and says she’ll be right down. I yell at her that she looks perfect, because she does. She looks like an exquisitely hateful, perfect, little pixie. I also yell at her to hurry the hell up.

Five minutes to go and she’s still not downstairs. The guys are pissed that we’re waiting on her. Comments are being made about females always making everyone late, so I go up to get her. I barge into the attic and find her standing there with a gun in each hand looking confused and irritated. She’s staring down at her dress like it holds some mystery. “What are you doing?” I bark at her.

She looks at me with the most harried expression I’ve seen on her face, “I don’t know where to put the guns. The dress is too short for the thigh holsters, and you might kill me if I attempt to wear a shoulder holster.”

If we weren’t so late I’d think she was cute. A little battle pixie trying to figure out where to put her weapons. But we don’t have time. “You don’t need guns! The alphas will protect us if something happens, which it won’t.”

She smiles at me like I’m the ridiculous one, “Your alphas will protect you, and so will I. It is my job as much as it is theirs, princess. I’m not going anywhere with you without being armed.” I’m standing there gaping at her, trying to figure out if I hate or love that she called me a princess when Kaleb comes stomping in.

He takes in the scene, and somehow knows what the problem is because he just says, “Knives.”

I’m not sure if it’s a question or an order, but before I can blink Talia lifts her skirt nearly to her hips to show that she’s got two thigh garters with knives, and what might be a ninja star, attached. Now I have to think about how horrified I’ll be if that sight actually made my dick twitch or if I imagined it.

“That’s good. We have guns. If anything happens you’ll get him out with those and get him to the car, he’ll have a set of keys. Then get him here.” And just like that Kaleb solved the problem because she nods at him and lowers her dress and waits for us to lead the way downstairs.

All the way down the stairs, I’m muttering about guns, knives, alphas, and pixies; and Kaleb is trying his best not to laugh at me, especially when I call her a battle pixie. I shoot him a glare over my shoulder, but he just tugs on a piece of my hair and tells me to watch where I’m going.

As soon as we get to the living room Trent is an ass. “She looks like a fucking cupcake,” he announces, like it’s a joke. It grates against me.

She hasn’t done anything to give any of them a reason to be so rude to her. “I think the dress compliments us perfectly,” I say, and he cocks his head at me but doesn’t say anything else.

Out of all of them he’s got the meanest mouth. It’s never directed towards me, but I’ve heard him tear into other people. We just don’t have time for it now, and Talia won’t react to it, anyway. “Everyone ready?” I ask, my voice dry.

I’m excited about tonight and I can’t wait to see everyone drooling over my pack. Not only are we the strongest on this coast for every conceivable reason, but we’re also the most beautiful; and female or not, Talia only adds to that beauty.

The ride to the hotel where the dinner is being held isn’t as awful as I thought it was going to be, but it still wasn’t what I’d call enjoyable. I actually like attending these things, but I’m apparently the only one. I usually try to keep my excitement to a minimum because it makes me feel ridiculous to want to get us all dressed up, I half way expected Talia to enjoy it with me, if even just a bit.

Aside from a few tight-lipped smiles when I catch her eyes, she’s as stone faced as my alphas. “Are we going to spend the whole night making me regret coming?” Every eye shoots to me and I level them all with a look, “It might not be the most masculine thing, but I enjoy going out with all of you. Especially when you’re dressed in something other than jeans or tactical gear. I was looking forward to showing all of you off, especially to Gia and Thorn. I know that there’s probably some official circulating that we need to do, but I hope at least one of you can manage to put aside your misery long enough to dance with me.”

I grew up alongside Gia and Thorn, and I’d call them friends if we were friendly; but we’re too competitive to be friendly. Gia has tried on more than one occasion to wriggle her toxic ass into my pack, and Thorn has done everything in his power to make me look and feel like I’m too weak to be in a pack like mine. Both were sent away with their pride in shambles, but I take every opportunity to make sure they both know that my pack chooses me over them and everyone else.

Devon is the first to speak. “We love going out with you, Jasper. We love that you want to dress us up, and undress us. You know that. It’s just different,” he glances at Talia in her seat by the window, “This time. And you know that we’ll dance you around that floor until you’re dizzy. We’ll make sure you have a good time.”

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