Page 16 of Beta and the Beast (Beastverse #2)

Sarah

T he shower spray is not doing anything to keep my mind off the hot alpha who's ruining my life.

Okay, maybe it was stupid to think I could get in the shower and turn the warm water on and not think about Henry and his stupidly soft-looking sweaters and how his glasses are always a little crooked.

His dark hair all pulled back into his messy little bun.

He isn't what I expected when I first met him, and he's continued to surprise me since.

He's still an alpha. That much is abundantly clear in the possessive way he looks at me sometimes, in the mannerisms that slip out before he can stop himself, in the way his smell continues to coat the inside of my apartment and make me feel safer than I ever have before.

Alphas behaving poorly is something I'm used to.

One listening to me, trying to ensure he doesn't invade my workspace or make me uncomfortable?

I'm not used to that at all, and I don't know what to do with the flicker of attraction I feel toward him that has turned into a full-blown raging inferno of need.

I've been ignoring it, well, as much as I can, considering his sweet pepperminty smell has a straight line to my clit. I've pavloved myself. That has to be it. Anytime I smell him, I think about the many, many orgasms I've had trying to sate my desire for him. It's become a problem.

Even at dinner, I had to keep myself from rubbing my legs together because of how much his scent surrounded me. I've never smelled an alpha so distinctly in my life, and the fact that it's Henry of all alphas makes me wonder if there's something more going on.

Oh, who am I kidding? It doesn't mean anything.

It can't. He's working with Sam, and nothing good comes from mixing a relationship with my brother's business partner, even if it's purely physical.

Oh, and there's the fact that he's an alpha with a beast who probably has an omega out there.

He'll fall in love with them, knot them, and live happily ever after.

I close my eyes and duck my head under the spray.

I'm not thinking about his knot or how sometimes I can see the outline of his massive erection in his khakis.

Definitely not thinking about how he smells like peppermints and happiness and home.

And one hundred percent not reading anything into how I don't mind his smell or his erection or the idea of him having a knot as much as I should.

I let the spray hit me right in the face and remind myself how many customers I had this morning. Zero. That helps to quell the lust simmering up inside me and instead fills me with dread.

I swallow down the lump in my throat and try to stop the burning behind my eyes. Okay, maybe fantasizing about Henry is the preferable choice to this.

I don't want to think about how my livelihood is about to disappear.

The bakery isn't even open yet, and I've lost all my customers.

I'm going to have to pivot, and that means taking Lucas up on his offer of figuring out safety measures for nondynamic-specific spaces.

It's just a coffee shop, so no one should be causing issues, but with alphas, it doesn't take much for them to get upset.

I turn the water off so I can stop sulking.

I didn't have a single customer all day when I closed the store earlier.

I stay open for regular hours, even though no one is coming in.

I don't want anyone to think I won't be reliable in my times just because things are hard.

I might make myself cry, but I don't give up.

And I won't. Not until I'm certain this is all over.

"Okay, no more sad thoughts," I tell myself as I look in the mirror at my reflection. "No more crying. We're going to text Lucas and come up with a game plan. And no more thinking about Henry, you traitorous beta."

I snort out a huff of laughter at my dramatics. When my smile stays on my lips for a second longer, I wonder how screwed I am if I'm falling for an alpha.

***

I don't know what surprises me more: the fact that Henry and Lucas's apartment is only a couple of blocks away from the coffee shop or that Henry has pretty much abandoned living in such a great apartment to camp out in the one across the hall from me.

Hazel whistles when we walk into the lobby. It's gorgeous and extravagant, and so out of my price range that it makes my heart freak out a bit. I knew Henry and Lucas came from money, but I didn't realize how much.

Lucas is standing in the lobby, looking at his phone when we enter. He told us he'd meet us so we wouldn't have to go through the staff at the front and get someone to let us in the elevator. Did Hazel and I think he was joking when he sent that text? Yeah, we did. Turns out it wasn't a joke.

"You found it," Lucas says with a smile, looking up from his phone. "I'm Lucas." He holds out his hand to Hazel, who shakes it.

"Hazel," she says, using the sweet voice she does with alphas. I already told her Lucas was off-limits. I might not know what I want with Henry, but I do know Hazel sleeping with his brother isn't a good idea.

Thankfully, Lucas feels the same way I do.

"I'm not for you."

He's polite about it, but when Hazel pouts teasingly, his eyes flash gold for just a moment, and the atmosphere in the lobby changes instantly.

When Fenrir commands entire rooms of other alphas and omegas, it's always because he's extra angry.

Lucas just gives control to Remus, and every alpha in the lobby is looking at the ground.

Hazel's lips pull back in a bright smile when Lucas's eyes return to their dark brown shade. "No, you're definitely too much for me."

"I'm sure plenty of other alphas are willing to keep you company." Lucas chuckles as he leads us toward the elevator. "Gabe, maybe?"

It's my turn to snort and watch as my best friend's face turns scarlet. It takes a lot to embarrass Hazel, especially when it comes to her attraction to alphas. I've asked her if she's reached out to Gabe, too, and she hasn't told me anything about it. Pretty rude if you ask me.

"Your cousin isn't interested," Hazel says, keeping her chin up as she says it.

That kills all the fun I'm having laughing at her. I thought he was at least interested in having fun with her based on how he looked like he wanted to eat her. Even Lucas looks down at her like he's not sure he believes her.

"That's not what I heard," he says cautiously.

"Then you heard wrong." Hazel stares at him. She's never been scared of alphas, and it's something that's gotten her in trouble plenty of times. Lucas is safe, though. He has even better control over his beast than Henry does over Romulus.

The elevator dings when we reach Lucas's floor. He doesn't break eye contact first, though, so I stick my hand in the door to keep them open and wait for this dick-measuring contest to end.

"Can we please talk about my coffee shop instead of doing whatever this is?" I groan when the doors try to close for a third time.

As much as it kills Hazel to lose, she faces me first. Lucas's eyes shimmer with victory, but he doesn't say anything about winning, even though it was just a stupid staring contest.

"I'm surprised an alpha hasn't already tried to lock you down," Lucas says as he leads us down the hall to a door at the end. "Not all of them can appreciate someone so stubborn, but plenty would like seeing if they could make you purr."

I roll my eyes and mouth the word 'ew' to Hazel, who does the same to me. Lucas notices over his shoulder as he pushes the door open.

"I've seen you around my brother. Don't start pretending now, Sarah."

I glare daggers at him. I have never once purred for anyone. Not only is it not something I can physically do, but I also know, if anything, I'm extra prickly and stubborn around Henry because he's trying to get me to submit to him.

Do I maybe think about how nice it might feel to let him take control in the bedroom? Sure, but that's something I fantasize about with betas, too. Most of them just suck at balancing being dominant in bed without acting like a piece of shit.

"Coffee shop talk," I tell him, pushing past him and into the entrance hall of his apartment. His massive, vaulted-ceilinged, walls-made-of-windows apartment. "Oh my."

"Are you sure you don't want a beta for a little while?" Hazel asks as she looks over the spacious apartment.

Marble floors, plush dark rugs, and the windows. I already mentioned them, but they're massive, floor-to-ceiling windows. We're so high up there's no reason for curtains, and it looks out onto the city.

"Not even a little bit of a beta chaser." Lucas laughs, following us as we explore the open areas of the apartment. I want to go searching for Henry's room, but Hazel and Lucas are waiting for me to try so they can say something about it.

"Pity just your brother is," Hazel says, her forehead pressed to the glass window as she tries to look down.

I frown at her words and realize I've never thought about whether Henry frequently seeks out betas. He doesn't seem like the type and hasn't pursued me like beta chasers usually do, but that doesn't mean he's not interested in me purely because of my designation.

"He's not," Lucas says, his tone harsh and almost angry.

Hazel's head snaps in his direction before something like understanding settles over her. She looks at me, her features softening.

"No, of course, he's not," Hazel says, giving me a small smile that makes me feel childish for being so easy to read. "But we're still pretending like Sarah isn't interested in him, so no ruining that."

"Hazel," I whine, and it comes out more pathetic than it should. "I'm not interested in him." I turn to Lucas, pointing my finger at him. "He's infatuated because he found a new toy. He'll get over it when he finds an omega to give his attention to."

Lucas's brows draw tight together, and he opens his mouth to argue with me. I hold up my hand, silencing him, which earns me a flash of golden eyes.

"I came here for help with my business. If that's not happening, I think I should leave."

Remus stays out for a moment longer, his jaw working back and forth as he tightens how his arms are crossed over his chest. I don't know why he's so butthurt over what I said.

Henry's an alpha. One who might treat me like he wants me, like he wants to pursue something with me, but he still needs an omega, and I'll never be that.

Lucas retakes control of the body, but doesn't look happy. "Come on. I got everything pulled up in the office."

Hazel follows us, chewing on her lip like she has something to say to me, too.

A part of me wants to tell her to spit it out already, but another part knows it'll be something about Henry.

That kind of talk can wait until we're not in his apartment with his brother in earshot.

She must come to the same conclusion because she's asking where the bathroom is as soon as Lucas shows us into his office.

"Our father owned an entertainment company of sorts," Lucas tells me as he slides a laptop across his desk to face the side I'm sitting on.

He moves around the desk, plopping into the seat beside me and unlocking the laptop.

"His ventures were more of an adult nature than your coffee shop, but I think I can still be useful. "

His words are a little concerning because I don't know which adult-type businesses he's talking about and how ethical they were.

Sure, he said he and Henry sold off the business when their father passed, but there's a difference between safe environments for alphas and omegas to work through some of the trickier parts of their dynamics and the cesspools that sometimes pop up where the omegas are treated as subhuman and the alphas are given free rein to do whatever they want to whoever they want.

"The companies took good care of their omegas," Lucas says as he types away on the laptop, pulling up a few pages and some spreadsheets. "I wouldn't be telling you to use the same security we did if I didn't think they did a good job."

"Why didn't you and Henry keep the family business?" I ask, unable to stop myself and curious to know more about Henry. Just because I want to know about him doesn't mean anything will happen between us.

"Henry was finally calming down after running wild in college, and I was more interested in fighting than dealing with the business.

We told the board we wanted to sell our shares, and they found better people to run things than two idiot twenty-three-year-olds.

" He shrugs, his lips curling at the sides. "Left us loaded, though."

"What did Henry do that was so wild?" I hate myself as soon as the question is out because that's not something someone asks if they don't care about someone. "Not that I care."

Smooth, real smooth.

Lucas doesn't even look at me as he types something else before pushing the laptop further on the desk. Then he's shifting his whole body to face me.

"Henry and Romulus enjoyed partying, and my father saw no issue with it because money solved all of his issues.

I didn't like Henry acting like an idiot all the time, so I kicked his ass a few times and then signed him up for some role models thing with an alpha club, kind of like the one your brother runs.

Turns out it was the best dick move I've ever pulled.

" Lucas shakes his head at the end. "He wasn't a bad alpha even when he was partying.

Romulus doesn't fight. He's lazy in that way.

But he liked being the center of attention and made bad decisions with people who only wanted to use him. "

I sit back in my chair and mull over the words. It's hard to imagine the sweater-clad, crooked-glasses-wearing alpha as anything other than a little bit of a dork. An adorable dork, but still.

"Huh, I never would've guessed."

"Most people wouldn't, but who of us is still the same person they were in college?" Lucas asks, pulling the laptop back over to us. "You ready to go over this, or do you want to ask more questions about my brother, who you're obviously not interested in?"

I let my head fall back and groan. "Let's do the business stuff."

Lucas is kind enough not to laugh at me. "I'll show you his room later, don't worry."