Page 3 of Beta and the Beast (Beastverse #2)

"I'm not letting some stranger into my apartment with or without my brothers there. And that goes double for alphas trying to suffocate me with their pheromones." Sarah's irritated expression doesn't have the effect she wants it to. If anything, it only has Romulus swooning inside our head.

"Fair enough," I tell her, holding my hands up to show her I'm not a threat.

"I'll show you what information I need from the system, and you can text it to me.

" I furrow my brows and then shake my head.

"Or to Sam, and he can send it to me." That's better.

Nothing good comes from me having her phone number.

Sarah's eyes stay narrowed on me, but she gives me a nod and shows me to a small closet tucked away behind the counter.

"Ignore the mess. We use this for storage," she tells me over her shoulder as she pushes boxes of to-go cups and coffee filters across the floor to make a small walkway to the back of the closet.

I stand back to avoid blocking the doorway and watch her work. It isn't until she's cleared a path to the back of the closet, which is only a few feet away, that she turns and notices I'm not behind her. She tilts her head to the side and fails to hide her smile this time.

"Come on, alpha, I know you won't hurt me."

Oh, fuck.

" Call me alpha again, " Romulus purrs the words like a caress, but doesn't move closer to her. That's good. At least he's not crowding her as soon as he was let loose. He's behaving really well, considering when we find omegas to be with, he all but mauls them.

She's a beta. We have to convince her.

I groan inwardly because it's not like it's going to escape my lips any time soon. What we're not about to do is convince a woman to be with us. We're better than that.

Bad choice of words. I'll seduce her. Make her ask for it. There, is that better for you?

Stop talking to me.

"Let Henry out." Sarah's voice is hard and cracks through our inner conversation. "Now."

Romulus snarls at her. There's not much that upsets him.

He's a lazy beast in that way. Getting physical with an omega, he's out as fast as can be.

Fighting someone else? He'd rather not. It's why he's seen as well-behaved, but Sarah doesn't know him.

She doesn't know he's a lazy, harmless beast. No, she sees us as a threat, and she's pinned to the back of the closet.

Romulus growls at her, one short, unhappy sound before giving me back control of our body.

I stay on the other side of the closet door, leaving enough space for Sarah to escape if she wants.

Instead, she gives me a bewildered look and opens her mouth a few times to speak.

I wish she'd spit it out, but I'm not sure she knows what she wants to say.

"Romulus listens to me, and he'll listen to you," I tell her. I hope that answers enough of her questions or calms her fears.

She opens her mouth again, and this time, actual words form. "Do you want to come look at this?" She points behind her to the filtration system. "You'll have to show me what to look for when I check the one in my apartment."

"You want me to—?" I motion in front of me, making sure she's asking me to crowd her in the closet.

Romulus is all but chanting at me to get as close to her as possible, to pin her against the air filtration system, and grind our cock against her. Maybe see if she wouldn't be interested in letting us kiss her, and then perhaps more.

"You're in control of your beast, and I don't think you'll take advantage of me in the closet. Not when we have dinner with my family tonight," Sarah says, putting her hands on her hips and adding. "Hurry up, I need to air out the place when you leave."

I don't need more prompting than that. I shuffle through the boxes and try not to bump into too much. Considering my size, I do a pretty good job. It isn't until I'm less than a foot from Sarah that I pause. She smirks at me before giving me her back and taps on the air filtration system's screen.

"What am I looking for?" she asks, peeking over her shoulder at me and fluttering those pretty lashes over her big brown eyes.

I step closer, close enough that I can feel her body heat. I don't touch her. I keep some distance between us, mainly because if I get any closer, she'll feel my interest in her really well.

"So you want this information right here." I point at the size of the system, the amount of duct space, and the volume that the air filtration system can filter through at a time. I pull my phone out of my pocket and take note of the information from this unit.

"Is there anything else?" Sarah asks, tilting her head just right so that her hair falls down her back, her neck showing off how soft and unmarked it is.

I lean down a little more and inhale hard. Way harder than is socially appropriate. It's worth it, though. Pine trees and fire and burnt sugar. That's what Sarah smells like, and I want to live the rest of my life with that smell in my nose.

"I need to go." I stumble away from her, fighting to keep myself in control while we're still in this closet. If Romulus comes out again, he'll scare her by looming over her after I just smelled her.

"Wait!" Sarah calls after me as I stumble through the store toward the exit. "Wait!" she calls again, and I hear her jogging to catch me before I make it outside.

I close my eyes, telling Romulus he needs to back down. We can't do anything with Sarah. Not only is she a beta, but she's also Sam's sister, and we're just now being given control of the Young Alpha Center. She is so far off-limits that I'm not even going to let us fantasize about her.

Liar.

I groan but open my eyes. I pull my glasses off and start to clean the lenses. It gives my hands something to do, so I don't reach out for Sarah. I can't see as well with them off either, so her beauty won't tempt me.

"I need your number," Sarah says.

I can hear a soft amusement in her voice, and my purr rumbles up in my chest before I can stop it.

Then it's out, and I don't want to stop.

I'm already struggling with everything else, so the purr stays, filling the air around us along with my pheromones, which aren't showing any sign of slowing down because of how badly I want to coat her in my scent.

Sarah holds her phone out to me, but there's still no smile on her lips. I'd love to see her full smile, hear her laugh at something I've said, and moan my name in pleasure. I'm not helping myself out here.

When I grab her phone, it's already open to a new contact. I type my information in as quickly as I can so I can get out of here and talk some sense into myself. I'm starting to crumble under the need for this beautiful beta.

"Message me that information for your filtration system and anything else you might need from me," I tell her as I return her phone. She pockets her phone and follows me out of the coffee shop.

"You're going to ruin my business," she tells me with no humor, no condemnation. She just states it plainly, like it's a fact.

I turn to face her, but before I can respond, she closes the door behind her and relocks it. When she offers me a smile this time, it's a sad little thing that's more of a consolation prize than anything else.

Fix it.

Fix what, Romulus?

Whatever you did to upset her.