Page 20 of Beta and the Beast (Beastverse #2)

Henry

W e're fine. He won't hurt his sister.

I'd like to think Romulus is right, but he still hasn't given me back control of our body, which means he also believes there's a chance we're about to have to fight. We haven't gotten into a fight since we were twenty-three, and I'm too grown to be getting in one now.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah asks Fenrir.

She's standing with her hands on her hips, her cheeks still flushed from our time together, and her scent lingering in the air. It's not as potent as an omega's, but we did our best to turn her on.

Romulus and I fought the whole way over to her apartment about how he couldn't just pin her down and bite her neck. I guess neither of us realized how angry we sounded to our sweet little beta.

She called us, terrified that a rabid alpha was outside her door.

Hearing her say her alpha was on his way back was music to my ears because I'm a rational man and knew she was talking about us.

Romulus wanted to throw more of a fit because he thought there was another alpha Sarah was entertaining.

As if our girl, who barely wants to admit that she might have a thing for us, would ever willingly go and find a second alpha to pursue her.

Her scent was intoxicating when she opened the door, and her embarrassment was evident on her red-stained cheeks.

I told Romulus to be gentle with her and reminded him that she was still a beta and might not be interested in how he likes to play.

My warnings weren't needed. No, it turns out our beta wants someone who will growl at her, demand her submission, and say filthy, supportive things to her while she's chasing her pleasure.

Yes, me, she wants me.

I huff in our shared mind, trying to stay focused on what's happening because Romulus is inching closer to Sarah's backside as discreetly as he can so he can press our cock into the slope of her ass.

It won't help the situation if all he can think about is doing more with Sarah.

Then again, he's only like half a beast, a lover more than anything else.

"Pretty sure I'm a fully grown woman, Fen," Sarah responds to something Fenrir said, but we're too busy staring down at her, admiring the pretty slope of her neck, the over plushness of her bottom lip, the way her shirt is low cut enough that Romulus is making us look like a creep.

"If you try to dictate what or who I do, it's going to ruin our relationship."

Okay, that catches our attention because if we're talking about Sarah doing anyone, it's going to be Romulus or me.

It's going to be me. Romulus laughs at me as he says it because he's not wrong that it will be him for as long as she allows it to be. He's insatiable in that way, but he'll let me out once he's decided she's never going to forget who owns her pussy.

"Hey, I need to talk to Fen for a bit." Sarah turns around, her body so close that her breasts are pressed against us, and it snaps our attention fully to the present. "Would you mind going to your apartment? Don't do anything stupid, okay?"

" I'm a smart beast, " Romulus purrs at her. " Even smarter if it gives me more time with you. "

I roll my eyes so hard I'm surprised it's not happening to our body. Romulus just talked her through an orgasm while he made her ride his hand, and now he's over here acting all sweet.

It's working on Sarah, though. Her eyes sparkle, and she leans into us a bit more. I want to wrap our arms around her, hold her tight, and never let her go, even though she's just going to talk to her brother. Still, I've decided she's mine—

Ours.

—now, which means I never want her out of my sight.

Romulus looks toward the door where Fenrir is breathing hard while his lips are pulled back.

He wants to fight. He's looking for one but won't find it from us.

Nope. Not even a little bit. I don't even know what has him so pissed since he seemed fine with Romulus and me pursuing Sarah last night.

At least Scott was okay with it. Fenrir's looking at us like we're public enemy number one.

Romulus lets me take over our body, our eyes switching to my dark ones as I give Fenrir a soft nod, hoping to tell him I'm not just using his sister. Sure, I might be in her house right now, looking a little disheveled and smelling like her climax, but I want more with her than just fun.

I know how it looks. Most alphas who mess around with betas are doing just that.

Some might promise forever with them, but there's rarely ever a mate mark that ends up on the beta's neck.

No, I've seen them used and discarded too many times to count.

That isn't our intention with our beta. Oh no, this isn't some game or some weird fetish where we're just wanting to see how much tighter she is.

Well, I do want to feel that. Romulus says, and our brains turn to straight porn at that thought. I'm going to have her beg for my knot. Look at her. She'll want to take it. She'll want to be a good girl for us, and good girls want to take their alpha's knot.

Does it matter that we both know she won't be able to? Not in the least, because there's something so tempting about this beautiful beta writhing on top of us as we try to stretch her to her limits. Romulus won't hurt her. He likes her too much to hurt her with our knot.

"I'd like to take you out." I clear my throat so I can speak without lust dripping from my voice. "Romulus and I want to take you out. We have something we want to talk to you about."

I don't tell her we want to talk about how soon she'll allow us to bite her neck hard enough to break skin and leave her scarred and marked as ours. Something tells me now isn't the time for that. Probably the angry beast still huffing and puffing on the porch.

Sarah sniffs before standing a bit taller. "There's no need. I already know I'm not an omega. I don't expect anything from you, and we don't need to make this weird for everyone by making a big deal about it."

I don't know which of us growls louder, Romulus and me or Fenrir and Scott. At least now I understand why Fenrir's mad at us. There's no mark on his sister proving we've claimed her, and here she is, acting like she's not ours. He one hundred percent thinks I'm using Sarah.

I lean down, grabbing her chin between my thumb and forefinger.

Fenrir doesn't like me touching her, but doesn't launch himself at me.

"You're right, you're not an omega, but you're still mine.

This is a big deal, Sarah, and I'll make things as weird and uncomfortable as possible until you admit that. "

Sarah's lips part, and her tongue glides over her bottom lip before she sucks it into her mouth to bite down.

I want to be the one biting down on her lip, but the chances of that happening today are slim to none, considering I don't think she'll relent that easily.

I release Sarah's chin and turn my attention back to Fenrir.

His omega is beside him, her arm curled in his, and I don't know how I missed her earlier unless she was hiding behind Fenrir in case things got ugly.

Sarah's cheeks turn bright pink as she sees her brother still snarling and Lilah beaming at us and giving her a little thumbs up. Even if we didn't admit that something happened here, the other two already know. As dull as Sarah's smell is, she tried her damnedest to coat me in it.

"I'll be right next door when you're done," I tell her. "We want to take you out." I poke my head out the door to look up at the sky. It's just starting to darken. "Tonight? Have you eaten?"

Sarah opens her mouth like she's about to argue with me, and for some reason, my lips are pulling up in a smile.

I like that she's still trying to fight this.

That she thinks there's a chance we'll ever let her get away from us.

Oh no, we're all in, one hundred percent obsessed.

She just needs to accept that she'll be bitten and claimed sooner or later.

Sarah leans in closer, her brows tugging together as she whispers to me. "I'm still not an omega. I'll never be an omega."

My smile falls, my head shaking. I want to tell her that I know she's not an omega, that I couldn't care less about that. They make toys to wrap around a knot if I ever need it to keep me from dropping into a rut, but what I don't need is anyone else but Sarah. She's it for me.

I don't get a chance to say it, though, because she's not ready to hear it. She thinks she's just some fun for me, and maybe that's all I am to her for now. I can win her over, though. I can prove to her that not all alphas are selfish assholes.

Oh, we're selfish, alright. I want her all to myself forever. All mine. Sometimes ours. Never yours.

I close my eyes as I try to figure out how to respond to Romulus being ridiculous.

When I open my eyes again, Sarah is punching her brother in the arm.

He doesn't even flinch. He stares me down as he steps to the side, enough to let me pass.

Romulus howls inside me not to let anyone inside Sarah's apartment and taint the scent of it, but I'm not about to tell Sarah that her brother's not allowed in her apartment. I want to, but I'm not that ridiculous.

"Tonight, as soon as you're done talking," I tell Sarah, not waiting for a response from her as I walk the few feet to the other side of the porch and unlock my apartment.

"You live here?" Lilah asks, shock and something that almost sounds like adoration in her voice.

I cock a brow at Sarah because if she didn't tell her family I was across the hall all this time, then I think that means she didn't want me to die.

Based on how Fenrir's fist is tightening, I do not doubt that he doesn't like me being so close.

"I do," I tell Lilah with a genuine smile.

Sarah seems flustered about them learning about it, making me want to say even more.

I want them to know that Sarah has kept me being her neighbor a secret because there's only one reason she would.

She likes me. I already know this, but I need her to admit that she might be as interested in making this work as I am.

"Well, that's so nice," Lilah says, turning to face her mate. "See, you and Sam don't have to worry about her so much. Her alpha's watching over her."

My lips kick up higher, and Romulus starts to purr in appreciation at everyone knowing who Sarah's alpha is.

When she throws her head back and lets out a pitiful little sound of distress, I can't help but watch her force her brother and Lilah into her apartment before they say anything else she might not want me to hear.

Before her door closes, she narrows her eyes on me, looking like she wants to argue again. My stubborn beta is already back.

Five minutes with me. I can soften her.

And as much as I want Romulus to do just that, I know she'll have to come to us at some point.

He hates that he missed his opportunity to bite her, but it's soothed with the knowledge that she called us her alpha, that she called us when she thought she was in danger, that she was more than eager to call him alpha while getting herself off with our hand.

She's playing it safe, thinking of protecting herself because she still thinks there's no way we want her forever. And as much as I want to hate that, I want our girl to protect herself first, always.

"Nowhere fancy," Sarah says, and it takes me a second to realize she's agreeing to go out tonight. "I don't want to have to get all dressed up."

"Nowhere fancy," I agree, clenching the doorknob tighter because Romulus is chomping at the bit to be let out to ask her if we do takeout, if she'll dress down to nothing. Thankfully, Sarah closes the door as soon as I agree, so she doesn't see my eyes shifting from gold to dark.

I stare at her apartment door for too long, but it's hard to talk myself out of the idea of going and pressing my ear up to it to see if I can hear them talking about me. That has to be what they're doing, and Romulus and I are more than a little curious. But we manage to restrain ourselves.

It isn't until I close the apartment door behind us that I remember the relief I didn't find when Sarah found hers earlier.

Romulus is out in an instant, taking us to the bathroom, replaying thoughts of Sarah on the edge of her climax, how she whimpered 'alpha' like she knew what it did to us, and how her teeth bit down against our chest as she tried to muffle her sounds of pleasure.

I groan in ecstasy when I reach the peak of my need.

After cleaning up, I rub my temples, and the scent of my mate's arousal tickles my senses again.

Romulus purrs up a storm as he thinks about our smells together and how she's bathed in our scent in her apartment.

The only thing that will be better is living with her, being near her.

I think about the bed I sleep in that doesn't smell like her, and I want it to more than anything.

We need to get her home, in our nest. Mmm, imagine how she'll coat our bed. We'll need to make her come so many times to get even a fraction of an omega's scent.

Fuck, that's not a problem.

It's the opposite of a problem.

I rub my hand over my face, trying to pull my mind out of the gutter.

Romulus doesn't make it easy, so I sit on the couch and text Lucas to tell him I'm not coming home tonight.

I've sent him the exact text every night since I moved into the apartment, but I still don't want him to wait up or worry.

When that's done, I settle in and hope that whatever Fenrir, Lilah, and Sarah are talking about doesn't last much longer. I want to take Sarah out, and I want her to believe me when I tell her we are endgame. Her, me, and Romulus for as long as she lets us call her ours.