“Slade.” He heard the warning tone from his father, who knew he was ticked off, in a rage himself, “We have an agreement, son.”
“We do.” He grated out, but punched that little shit for good measure, right in the chest with all he and Hail had and watched him go flying backwards, stalked his way over to him laying on the ground, a couple of meters away. “Insult your sister once more, and see what you get.” He and Hail snarled down at him, put a foot right on that boy’s chest, where he’d punched him and pressed down on it, heard the ribs crack and saw the boys eyes go wide “you might be the Beta now, but you lack discipline and respect. I’ll enjoy…” He found hands on him, hauling him off the boy, didn’t care, roared anyway. “teaching you, beating it into you good and proper, how I expect my Beta to behave.”
He was hauled away by the current Alpha unit with three sets of hands on him, his eyes moved down past the stairs to Ori. She was still stalking away, was way off down the hill now and, had he knew punched Palmer right in the face, the man had a bloodied nose as he was coming back this way. She didn’t want a bar of the Gamma touching her.
He looked at Palmer an unspoken question and knew the man would understand what he needed to know ‘Rage, unchecked rage.’ Palmer muttered down the mind-link.
‘What else?’ He asked. He knew there was more to it, he had seen those eyes of hers for a moment before the rage.
‘That’s all I’m getting, there is nothing else, that’s not the problem.’
‘What is?’ He asked as he was hauled to the Alpha’s office.
‘Dad thought bloodlust, it didn’t evolve though. What did you say to her? She was angry at you before she got out of the car. I was already feeling for her, warned I’d better be on my game by my own father.’
He cut the link as he was shoved into a chair and found Anders glaring right at him now. He hadn’t liked him beating his son, it seemed. But the boy bloody needed it for all that disrespect, and he thought Ori was irresponsible, but it was Hayden who was the irresponsible and disrespectful one. And right now that boy had just shown all of them he was not ready to be a Beta.
“You were worried about Ori being irresponsible.” He grated out “that little shit is 10 times more irresponsible, has no respect, gloated out there ‘I’ve moved into your suite’ what the fuck is that, does he not understand respect at all?” He shoved himself up from the chair.
“That bastard son of yours, you want to know why I wouldn’t agree to this before, had to have my hands forced, because he’s a smug little asshole, with no respect for anyone or anything, and he just proved how he’s not suitable to be my Beta in less than 15 seconds of me getting home.”
“We need him as the Beta,” Anders grated.
“You might think that, but I don’t. Never bloody will, he’ll pull his head-in Anders, or I’ll roll my aura at him every day I have to have him as my Beta. I don’t like him, he’s an asshole to his sister. And you raised him to be like that.” He grated himself.
He could see the anger in the man, he didn’t really care right this minute. He turned away from Anders and looked right at his father. “You all fucked this up so badly. I told you I would tell her when I found the right time and I would have.”
“Son, I know you’re angry, but we really needed to just rip the band-aid off here. Dragging it out is much worse. It’s better this way, now that she’s not your Beta.”
“Better?” He looked around the room. “really! My unit is pissed off, ambushed, I imagine, just like Ori was. What did your Gamma feel?” He grated out. “Palmer.” He snapped.
“Bloodlust, but she didn’t lose control, managed to not let it consume her.”
“What!” It was Anders shocked by those words.
“Yes, you all are done where she’s concerned, bloodlust from a pure-blooded Beta on a full rampage. If she’d lost control, she could have just killed half the pack, likely bloody lucky she has good self-control. Do you really think, now, this was the best way to announce it? While she’s not here, then move her out of the Beta suite while she’s not here? And just let that shit so smugly tell her he’s already gotten all that was rightfully hers.”
“Son.”
“He’s lucky I didn’t kill him,” Slade snarled, “and he will bloody bow down and apologise to his sister for that utter disrespect, and he’ll fucking mean it, or I’ll hold that bastard down till he does. I’m his Alpha now, and he’ll learn. I liked my Beta. Respected my Beta and wanted my Beta. This is not my choice. In my heart of hearts, that will always be his sister. So, he’d better learn to shut the hell up, or I’ll do it for him each and every time.”
His eyes moved right to Hayden, and the boy’s eyes fell away. “Stay the hell away from me Beta.” He grated out as he headed out of the office.
“Son.”
“All of you had better stay the hell away from me right now. I can’t fix this.” He snarled, and he couldn’t ‘don’t you dare’ had come out of her, and he knew the full sentence was ‘don’t you dare say it’ that’s what she’d been going to say. His father couldn’t wait one bloody day, one freaking day inside his pack was all he’d wanted, one day with his unit, the unit he wanted for himself, before it fell apart around him.
He banged into his suite and just stood there. She hated him right this minute, she’d known it was coming, why she cut herself off from Palmer and Yuri himself even. But for him to choose Hayden. That, she had not expected, he’d always told her she was his choice, and now he’d chosen her brother over her.
He’d betrayed her, their friendship even, because he had not told her, he’d known for days and not told her. That was what was hurting her the most. His father had screwed everything up, and he didn’t know how to fix it now. An apology wasn’t going to do it, no matter how heartfelt. She was too angry to care right this minute.
He got a mind-link to go to his parents’ suite, and he told his father to shove it and cut the link, knew it was disrespectful and didn’t really care right this minute. He’d never seen Ori that mad before, didn’t know what to do about it and needed a moment to think about it himself, before he tried to approach her.
He turned as his suite door opened and a part of him thought it would be Ori, wanted it to be her. It was Palmer and Yuri. He turned away from them. “What the hell happened?” Yuri asked him outright.
“My hands were tied.” He muttered “I had to take Hayden. I don’t want that spoiled little shit as my Beta.”
“Oh, we got that.” Palmer sighed, “that whiney baby, is crying about you punching him one, right now, down there in your father’s office, apparently he doesn’t understand why you would punch your own Beta.”
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