Page 38 of Rejected Beta

I snarl. “It's bullshit though. They never once reached out."

He nods. “They can easily bullshit their way through that. I believe you though. We need to find out why now. And also how. If you've been running and you changed your name, how did they end up finding you?"

I frown. “I don't think they'll tell me the truth."

He scribbles a note on one of the papers on his desk. “I’ll make some calls. I've got plenty of connections who can run some background checks and find out something."

"Thank you."

He stills, his head raising to meet my eyes, expression solemn. “You don't have to thank me for anything. I know you and Aurora have grown close and I'm a beta too. I know what it's like to deal with alphas thinking we're here as their servants or playthings. We're going to figure this out."

I rub at my face. “Yeah, it's bullshit. When he rejected us, I was devastated, but it was the best thing he could've done. And now that we're finally settling in, they want to show up and ruin it. I don't understand."

Enzo huffs in agreement. “I know. I don't either, but we will. Do you have anything in your background they know that they can use against you?"

"No. I'm a packless orphan who was in art school when I met them. They made a bunch of promises and swept me off my feet and I believed everything was great until I told them I was pregnant. So I made him sign a paper giving up rights and I left."

Enzo takes more notes. ”How much time passed between you telling him about the pregnancy and then him signing the paper?"

"Two weeks. It took time to find a lawyer I could trust. And then time to convince him to meet me at the lawyer's."

I’m glad I didn’t just run away nursing my hurt feelings. I almost did, but a friend at the time gave me the best advice of my life.

"Do you still have their contact info?"

“Yes." I dig through my bag to find it.

"Get it to me. I want to talk to them and get them to back up your claims."

I find the bent and faded card and hand it over. “Are they going to get access to my daughter?"

He sighs. “In a perfect world, no, but I'm not going to lie to you. You don't have a family or pack and they do, including an omega. They're offering to bring both of you into the pack, so depending on the judge, they could decide what's best for Lexie is pack life. You know our society pushes pack above all. And alphas can get away with murder."

Hopelessness tries to drown me. ”Fuck. Should I run?"

"Not yet. If you run and get caught, you'll lose her completely. Let's try this first and if it's not looking good, we'll help you get the hell out of the country before any bonds can be made if that's what you decide you want."

I close my eyes for a moment, breathing in and out, trying not to scream. “We're just starting to build a life here. A good one. I don't want her to lose that."

"And we'll use that in the custody battle. We'll show the life you've provided her."

"Will it hurt that we've moved all over the place before this?"

Enzo shakes his head. “They'll try, but I can spin that easily. Let me give you the good news. The whole thing will happen here in Neverwhere, and typically our justice system doesn't favor alphas like the rest of the country. You have a better chance of a fair hearing here than anywhere else."

"If I was part of a pack, I wouldn't even have to worry, would I?"

He grimaces. “Probably not. Especially if you had an alpha or two in it. The majority of our pack was built because of omegas in need of protection and freedom. It ended up being the best thing for all of us and we're happy as hell with the family we've built, but it's still utter bullshit that it ended up being necessary."

Aurora had mentioned their pack had a rather unconventional beginning. Three omegas in one pack is certainly unconventional too. Sometimes messy and weird works out.

"I don't really have the same option at the moment. Or the time."

I’ve been getting closer to Ryder and Hendrix, but we’re nowhere near pack status. I haven’t even kissed either of them yet. I’ve been enjoying the slow burn.

"Let's just take this one step at a time. You bought yourself some breathing room by pretending to believe their bullshit. I'll work on getting some background information on them and building the case. We'll make sure we're well prepared before the law needs to get involved."

"So I should just keep drawing it out?"

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