Page 52 of Rejected Beta

Chapter Sixteen

Moira

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IHAVE TO STILL BEsick, possibly hospitalized, and this is a fever dream brought on by illness and anxiety and whatever meds they're giving me. This cannot be real life. There's no way. I refuse to believe it's possible.

"What the hell is going on?" I take a wary step back, my arms coming up to wrap around my center.

Brad beams at me, pride radiating from him. “Surprise!"

"Explain. Now." I punch the words past gritted teeth, letting rage overtake me to drown out the shocked pain.

Seeing Jareth again has long been a dream of mine, something I’ve wanted more than almost anything.

But not like this.

Not with them.

Nicole leers at me and winks lewdly at Jareth. ”Damn. That was almost an alpha bark. I bet you liked that, didn't you, Jareth? Looks like you've learned some new tricks since you disappeared on us."

I'd forgotten how much of a dick she could be, how snide and cruel, all while pretending to joke around.

Deciding to ignore the alphas, I focus on Jareth, even though it makes my stomach recoil. "How did this happen?"

He opens his mouth, presumably to explain, but Brad cuts him off. "We thought it would be a fun surprise for you. Jareth here showed up on the Fureign Exchange back home, and we remembered you talking about him and recognized him from the old photos you had of him. We wanted to prove how serious we are about having you in the pack, so we courted him and explained we were looking for you and trying to reunite. He agreed to join our pack as long as we found you."

Bile burns my throat.

"When was this?" I ask.

I don’t know what to think, what to believe. Although some things are starting to make sense.

Awful, horrible sense.

"A couple months ago,” Brad says.

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