Chapter 13 - Beth

"Where is Devon?" Beth searched for his face at the dinner table.

Everyone else was there, and bags of carryouts, far more than they could ever eat, were spread out in front of them. She paused in the doorway. Walking into a room full of White Winter wolves had never stopped feeling like walking into the enemy's lair, and with their eyes all turned toward her, she felt like a deer caught in the open. Jonah pulled out the chair beside him and patted the seat.

"He's out today. Just us, I'm afraid," he said.

She sat down beside him and folded her hands in her lap to keep them from shaking. Emma was watching her closely.

"Oh," Beth replied, reaching for a container of fries. "what is he doing?"

Emma cut in from across the table. "Don"t you know? I thought he'd share everything with his beloved mate. His luna. The savior of our pack."

She held her hand to the sky dramatically, and the rest of the pack tittered.

Jonah nudged Beth with his knee beneath the table. "Don't even listen to her, she's just trying to get a rise out of you."

It was working. They were a pack of schoolyard bullies but with the genuine threat of violence behind them. What she wouldn't give to have Adria at her side just then.

"And does she get a rise out of you, Jo?" Emma teased, her grin wicked. She dropped her eyes down to Jonah's lap pointedly.

"You're disgusting," Beth said, shoving her plate of fries away, appetite gone.

She should have known better than to try to have a meal without Devon around. The White Winters were not civilized enough to restrain themselves in her presence. They still saw her as a Rosewood, not as one of them. Maybe they never would.

"That's your luna you're talking about. Have some respect," Jonah said, jaw tight.

"So you've never thought about it? I bet every man here has. I mean, look at her. If you're into that whole innocent virginal thing, that is. It's a shame it doesn't seem to affect our alpha. Maybe you're just not his type?" Emma popped a fry into her mouth, head tilted to the side like a hawk catching sight of its prey.

Beth wanted to run. She wanted to push back her chair and flee from the room, from Emma's needling and the stares of all the men. Caleb shifted, uncomfortable, but did nothing to stop Emma. Then she remembered what she had told Devon that day when Emma had shoved her into the wall. She could fight her own battles.

"What happens between me and Devon is none of your business. Don't you think you're a little too invested in your own brother's sex life?" Beth pasted a bland smile on her face and hoped it didn't look more like a grimace.

But she didn't get the reaction she'd been hoping for. Emma's eyes sparkled in delight. She wasn't the hawk. No, she was the cat, enjoying the game of batting at a mouse that thought it could get away.

"It is my business, though. If our alpha doesn't mate with our luna, well, what good is she? We need you two to breed, and the sooner, the better. That's what you're here for, my dear, sweet Rosewood. Not for your charming presence. For your womb."

Beth flinched back, scarcely believing Emma could talk to another woman in that way. It helped to remember that Emma was more wolf than woman, and seemed to prefer it that way. Even in her human form, the predatory glint in her eyes gave her away.

There was no point in trying to eat now, Beth's stomach was roiling, and despite what she'd told Devon so adamantly that day, she had no real desire to win this fight. It wasn't a fight at all. It was just Emma trying to tear her down while the others watched.

"I think I'm finished," she said to Jonah, pushing him back down when he tried get up with her. "No, you stay and eat. Really, I'm fine. You listen to a harpy screeching long enough, and eventually, you learn to tune it out."

She wasn't even shaking as she walked out of the room, not visibly, at least. Part of her wanted to go back, turn into a wolf, and tear the fur out of Emma right there at the table. No matter how she tried to avoid it, a confrontation between them was becoming inevitable.

Beth wandered the grand house without hurrying to return to her room. Even the most lovely room felt stifling when it was the only one she got to see, and she took every opportunity to pace through the house when the wolves were away. It had its charm. She'd found her favorite spot, a tucked away nook with a well-worn armchair beside a window, begging for someone to linger over a book.

Tonight, her thoughts were busy enough to make reading a futile endeavor. Instead, she curled onto the chair and rested her chin on the back, looking out at the night sky. An endless sea of stars stretched out over the trees.

Was Devon out there? She wanted him there, with her. The sentiment surprised her. She felt safer when he was there, that was all. He alone could control those wolves. It had nothing to do with the cautious smiles he gave her, or the feel of his strong arms around her.

She must have fallen asleep there, dreaming of Devon. When she woke, a band of moonlight illuminated her chair, and she was not alone.

"Jonah?" She sat up, blinking, trying to rub the sleep clear from her eyes.

It wasn't Jonah. One of the other men, one she didn't know well, his face shadowed as he hung back out of the light.

"What is it? Is Devon back?" She asked, getting to her feet, backs of her legs pressed against the chair.

"You don't need to worry about him. He won't interrupt us." The man reached out for her face.

Beth's sleep-filled mind struggled to make sense of his words, but her body read the threat. She slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me. And move out of my way," she said, looking to the dark, empty hallway behind him. How had he found her there? Was it nothing more than bad luck?

His face contorted in anger. He pushed her back, knees buckling when they hit the chair, and she fell onto it.

"Devon might allow that kind of talk from his bitch, but I won't. Shut your pretty mouth and be a good girl about this, I'm only giving you what you need." He loomed over her, holding the arms of the chair so she was enveloped by him.

There was something all of those White Winters had to learn—just because she chose not to solve everything with violence, didn't mean she wasn't capable of it. Beth drove her knee upward into the man's crotch and shoved him to the side when he doubled over, gasping.

Ignoring his yelp of pain that turned to a snarl, she started to run down the hall. She expected to hear the pound of his footsteps behind her at any moment. Part of her hoped for it. Part of her wanted to do far more to him than a swift hit to his balls.

She realized she wasn't running to her own room, as the now familiar halls began to register in her adrenaline-flooded brain, but to Devon's. Rather than overthink it, she stopped at his door and knocked, looking over her shoulder in case the man caught up.

He answered the door after the first knock, hair rumpled like he'd been in bed despite his quick response.

"Beth? What's going on?"

She didn't answer straight away, pushing past him into the room. His bed was made, but the comforter was creased, and a book was lying facedown on top of it. He shut the door and came to her, taking her in his arms.

"You're shaking," he said, chafing his hands up and down over her skin. "What's wrong?"

"One of your wolves, he—" she shook her head, cutting the words off before they came out of her mouth.

Devon's eyes darkened, his hands tightening on her arms. "What did he do? Who was it? Caleb?"

"No! Not Caleb. I don't know his name, he had blond hair, I think, it was dark and he…" she swallowed.

"Did he touch you?" Devon's voice had gone cold and flat.

Beth bit her lip. The man had barely touched her, yet his intent had felt so sinister, it was hard to describe in words. But Devon did not need convincing. She had never seen him so angry, he was practically vibrating with it.

"Just to push me. It was what he was saying, the things he wanted to do." Beth's voice caught in her throat.

She was so tired of that place. So tired of feeling vulnerable, of feeling hunted. No sooner had she begun to let her guard down than someone came along and reminded her why she could never, ever do that among the White Winters.

Devon wrapped his arms around her and guided her down onto the edge of the bed. He was warm and solid against her. She leaned into him, clutching him, searching for safety in the pit of vipers.

"What do you need?" He asked her, kissing her hair, voice muffled. "Anything. It's yours."

His unexpected concern loosened the last hold she'd had on her emotions. Tears flooded silently down her cheeks. She pressed her head against him and let them out while he held her without comment. If he was judging her for her weakness, her softness, he didn't show it.

When the tears began to slow, she guided him to lie down on the bed and laid her head on his chest. He stroked her, down her back, and up again, over and over.

"I'm all yours, Beth. Whatever you need from me."

She looked up at him from beneath her wet lashes.

"I want him dismembered, I think. Or maybe off with his head."

He laughed, caught by surprise.

"I'll string him up by his toes from the railing outside your bedroom so you can hear his screams. I'll cut his fingers off and put them in a pickle jar on your shelf," he offered.

"Devon!" She said, slapping him lightly on the shoulder. "That's disgusting."

He bent to kiss her forehead. "You started it. I was just obliging my bloody Queen Mary."

Draping her legs around him, she cuddled in closer. "Mary would have been driven to new heights of violent desires by your pack."

The encounter in the hallway was becoming more distant, the longer she spent in Devon's arms, but she could still the man"s eyes on her, his hungry gaze. They didn't respect her. She'd known that much. But she hadn't guessed how far they would go, disobeying their alpha's wishes right under his nose. It never would have happened in the Rosewood pack.

They held each other in silence, listening to the wind shuffle the leaves outside the window. It was hard to resist imagining that those moments were the real ones, tucked away from the rest of the world, when Devon was more than the alpha and the enemy.

"I know what I want," she said at last, catching his hand and twining their fingers together.

"Anything," he repeated, his voice sleepy now, his breathing steady under her cheek.

"Let's go away somewhere. Just the two of us. Somewhere, we don't have to worry about all of this." She waved her hand in the darkness, encompassing the whole of the White Winter house.

It wasn't what he'd been expecting, she could read that from his face. In some ways, it might have been easier if she'd asked for him to thrash the man who had accosted her to within an inch of his life. His pack was tattered; would he leave them just to take her away for a moment's peace?

"That will be difficult. They need me right now, need me to be strong. Who knows what they"ll do if I'm not here to keep them in line. We could get back and find Emma running the place. We could come back and find this house burned to the ground, and it wouldn't surprise me."

Beth ran her hand up Devon's side. "Trust Jonah to take care of things. Just for a weekend? You promised me anything."

She knew she was playing on his emotions, knew his weakness in his desire to appease her. He was mulling it over, weighing the risks of leaving the pack alone.

"Okay," he said at last. "Just for a weekend. We have a cabin out in the woods, for just the two of us. I'll leave Jonah and Emma in charge until we're back and make sure they know to keep everyone in line. No hunts without me there. It's too risky right now, the tensions with the Rosewoods are high, and they've been out patrolling more and more often."

"Searching for me," she said, looking up at him. "I wonder if Adria is out there."

"Adria?" He tilted her chin up and stole a kiss, tender, the softest brush against her lips.

"My best friend. She's mated with the alpha now. They have a baby. I've never seen her happier, but now, she must be so worried for me."

She couldn't imagine if the situation were reversed. She would be out of her mind looking for Adria, spending every minute wondering if she was safe. A strong wind blew through the window, and Beth tucked herself even closer to Devon, stealing his heat. He was always so much warmer than she was, something she very selfishly enjoyed.

"We could send her a message? Let her know that you're alive and well." Devon pulled a blanket up over the top of them, a patterned quilt that looked homemade. She wondered if his mother had made it.

"And tell her where I am? If we confirm that the White Winters took me, I'm afraid the Rosewoods will act. They might come here in force and try to break me out. I can't imagine the fight." Beth would do anything to stop more bloodshed.

As much as she wanted to speak to Adria, to let her know she was safe, it was too risky. If the Rosewoods suspected her location but weren't positive, they were less likely to try and get her back. The more time they spent preparing to rescue her, the more time Beth had to convince Devon to propose a truce that would prevent all the fighting entirely. She just needed more time.

This time away with Devon was key. She could spend it convincing him of the merits of her plan, and they could set up a time to meet the Rosewoods. Still, it was risky. The Rosewoods might come prepared for a fight, and the White Winters would be only too happy to provide one. She had to ensure that only she and Devon were at the meeting, but would he risk that? If the Rosewoods brought more, he would feel threatened.

"Whatever you think is best. I hope I get to meet her one day if she's that important to you. You've already gotten to meet my best friend."

"He still seems so out of place here. So unlike the rest of the pack, like a gentleman lost in a pirate crew or something." Beth marveled that anyone could stay as gentle as Jonah had, surrounded as he was by cruelties. Then again, he must participate in some degree in those brutalities, or he wouldn't be part of the pack. She hadn't been able to reconcile those facts.

She got up on her elbow to look at Devon. His eyes were closed, but he opened them when he sensed her watching him, smiling when he saw her face. He brushed the hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"What is it?" He asked. "You look worried. Is it about leaving?"

"Why leave Emma in charge? Jonah and Caleb, maybe, but Emma? She'll have the pack ripping out the throats of the townsfolk while we're gone. It might only be a weekend, but we both know she's capable of that."

Of all the White Winters, Emma seemed the lost cause. There was nothing redeemable in her, nothing to save. She was cruel all the way down.

"Think about it," Devon said, crossing his arms behind his head, his muscles flexing in a way that pulled Beth's gaze and sent heat spooling in her stomach. "She's my Gamma. She's a leader in her own right. If I put Caleb in charge before her, it will only make her angrier. I have to trust Jonah to keep her in line, and trust her to listen to my commands while I'm gone."

Trusting Emma seemed like the last thing anyone should be doing, but Beth held back from telling him that. He did need to build a base of trust in the pack. It was vital to a healthy pack, the levels of command and the trust in your fellow pack mates. She'd taken it for granted among the Rosewoods, but in this fractured pack, it was something that needed to be nursed.

"You're right, of course. It's part of the pack growing and changing. I just wish…"

"That Emma wasn't part of it?" He asked with a rueful smile.

She nodded. Without Emma, all of this would have been so much easier. She wouldn't be challenged every step of the way. And that was just since she'd arrived. Devon had been dealing with her underhanded plots for the entirety of his reign.

"I promise, there's more to her than meets the eye. Don't give up on her, okay? She's messed up, but we all are, and you're the one who told us we're worth saving." Devon gazed up at the ceiling. He was baring his heart to her then, showing her his hopes and fears.

She bent to kiss his chest, his collarbone, the space beneath his jaw. "You're right. We won't give up on any of them. I'm sure it will be fine, and we won't be gone for long."

Beth tried to push her fears aside as she nestled in against him and closed her eyes.

"But, Beth, once I find out what wolf it was that cornered you, he's gone."

His voice was as hard as flint. There was no room for argument, she knew that pleading for mercy here would get her nowhere. And to be honest, she wanted him gone. Even her soft heart could only go so far, and she'd never feel safe with that man around, even if Devon were there. She knew what he was capable of, and their new pack had no place for that.

"You won't kill him?" She kept her eyes closed, afraid to see the look on his face.

He clucked his tongue. "It's what he deserves."

"Devon, please. Exile him, but don't kill him. I can't have that on my conscience."

"Is that really what you want, my Queen Mary?"

"It really, really is. We need to start as we intend to go on. We need to put those things in the past."

Devon sighed, a long, slow exhale. She could imagine him trying to breathe the anger out, his body tense beside her. He wanted to throttle that man, but he'd hold back for her sake, and for the sake of the pack.

"Very well, exile it is. Now, get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

She curled into him, and he held her close. Cocooned in his strong arms, she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

***

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Devon said from the doorway, nudging it open with his foot, carrying two cups of coffee. "Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

Beth sat up, blinking. It was early, and she could tell from the fuzzy grey light seeping in the window; it was barely dawn if she had to guess. "Why are we up so early?"

He kicked the door closed and set her coffee down on the nightstand. Unlike her, he looked fully awake and, dare she say, chipper. There was a glint in his eyes that she hadn't seen before, a boyishness in his smile.

"It's a long hike out to the cabin, so we should get an early start. Here, the coffee will help, and maybe you'll forgive me once you see the cabin. I promise it's worth it."

Beth groaned and flipped over, pulling the pillow over her head. "Can't we get a late start and just hike in the dark? We're wolves, for god's sake."

"No, no, no," Devon protested, pulling the pillow off of her head. "We have to walk on foot. Human form. It's tradition, and you need the real experience."

Beth grabbed for the pillow but he pulled it out of reach. She tugged the blanket up over her head instead.

"What if I don't want the real experience? What if I want to get there on four feet instead of two? We could sleep until noon and then run there in half the time. That sounds like the better plan."

Devon yanked the blanket off, too quick for Beth to grab it. She squeaked in protest, then grabbed his pillow and hurled it at him. It caught him in the face. Surprised, she laughed. She had expected him to block it.

He growled and picked the pillow up off the floor. "Did you just start something I'm going to have to finish?"

He tossed the pillow back at her, and she caught it, his throw soft and easy.

"Thanks for that," she said, putting it over her eyes and lying back down.

The bed shifted as he climbed on it. She felt him straddle her and gulped, her body reacting in an instant to his nearness. He grabbed the pillow and pulled it from her hands, flinging it across the room where she couldn't reach it.

"Beth," he said, bending down to kiss each of her closed eyelids in turn. Then he worked his way over her cheek, to her jawline, then up to her ear. "Do I need to throw you over my shoulder?"

She arched up, exposing her neck for him, wanting more of his hot mouth on her skin, wanting it much, much lower.

"We're trying to evolve you past the point of caveman, remember?" She said, breathless.

He obliged her, kissing down her neck and over the bare skin of her chest, just above her breasts. She twined her arm around his back and held him to her, trying to guide him lower.

"Not yet, my darling," he said, laughing against her. "But perhaps if you're a good girl and get out of this bed, you'll be rewarded at the cabin."

He sat up and pulled her onto his lap. She wrapped herself around him, head on his shoulder, and felt his hardness against her. He wanted it as badly as she did. She felt better about that, knowing he was as tormented as she was at that moment.

"Fine," she said, petulant. "Give me that coffee."

"So I take it you're not a morning person," he said, stretching to grab their coffees from the table.

She took a long sip of coffee and shifted on his lap, smirking at the way he hissed in a breath when she brushed against his cock. "No, I'm not. But I see that you are."

He grabbed her hip to keep her still, eyes dark as the coffee. "Behave yourself, we don't have time for that now."

Beth pouted, knowing he loved the way it made her bottom lip heavier. His eyes were glued to it.

"Would you really rather be hiking right now?" She asked, leaning forward to nibble on his ear.

He groaned and put his coffee down so he could lift her off of his lap. He set her down on the bed and got to his feet, pants tented. "You're a brat when you want to be, aren't you? You wanted to get out of here, but we're getting out of here. But it's on my terms."

Beth rolled her eyes, staring hungrily at his body. "You've got authority issues, you know that? A real power trip for you."

"I am the alpha, after all. It's not an authority issue, I am the authority." He puffed up his chest.

"Uh-huh, whatever you want to tell yourself, sir." She gave him a mock salute and finished her coffee. It hadn't made a dent in the fog in her mind. She still felt half asleep.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I could get used to that. Come on, up out of bed, and get dressed. I've already packed everything we need for the trip."

"God, you're like a kid on Christmas morning. Alright, alright. I'm getting up." Beth sighed dramatically and climbed out of bed. There wasn't much point in staying in it without pillows or blankets. Still, she groaned when her feet hit the ground. It was cold, and early, and she hadn't had enough coffee to deal with any of it.

"Now run off and get dressed," he said, kissing her cheek, "and I'll bring you another coffee."

"Now you're speaking my love language," she poked his side, opened the door, and froze in the doorway. She glanced up and down the hallway.

Devon came up behind her, moving her hair to the side and bending to kiss her neck. "He's gone, Beth. There's nothing to fear."

Gone. Beth wondered if she shouldn't inquire too deeply into that, but she couldn't help herself.

"Gone?"

"Exiled," he replied. "That's all. But you'll never have to see him again. He knows that it will be something far worse than a banishment if he comes back."

Beth swallowed and breathed out the tension she'd been holding. "Thank you, Devon."

"Anything for you. Anything."