A Beta's Half-Blood

Chapter 4: Not Understanding A No

-Harper-

The sun was just about to rise when I finally returned home. I hadn’t gotten much work done today, but I had slept for two hours, yet my dreams were haunted by that stupid, stupid person who I will not name!

I sighed as I got into my car, taking a moment to just close my eyes and lean my forehead against the wheel. I was so exhausted. Why couldn’t I just get over this?! But I knew why: the mate bond. But I was a half-blood. The wonderful thing about that was that I had a choice! I could decide who I loved and who I wanted to be with, and I chose to love this life! To love my life, and no one was going to ruin that.

I took in a deep breath and turned on the car before finally driving back to my apartment, but as I parked the car and got out, I saw someone sitting on the stairs leading inside.

“You have got to be kidding me!” I sneered.

Ryan looked up at me, giving me a small smile as he stood up and brushed his hands over his pants a few times.

“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?!” I questioned.

“Please, Harper.”

I tried walking past him, but he grabbed my arm again. It wasn’t hard. It hadn’t been in the hospital either, but I preferred not to be touched very much.

“Let go!” I demanded.

“Can’t we talk?”

“Talk?! I don’t want to talk!” I shouted right into his face.

I was a few steps up on the stairs and was at eye level with him now.

“Why won’t you get that?” I inquired.

“Just listen.”

“Why?! Why should I?”

“I told you why. I want us to get to know each other. I want another chance to make things better,” he said.

“Better?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Mom is dead.”

Wow, I was really a jerk, I thought, as I saw the pain in his eyes. It was like I had hit him, but I didn’t stop.

“And she isn’t coming back,” I said darkly. “And where were you?”

“I know I failed you and her in the end,” he whispered.

“No, it started looong before that,” I accused and pulled my arm to me. “And here are the consequences of it. I will tell you one more time.”

I held up a finger and squared my shoulders, and all this time, he just looked at me, not saying anything, not trying to interrupt me or push me. No, he let me be cruel to him. To make up for the past? Perhaps, or maybe he just knew that now was not the time to push.

“I don’t want to get to know you. I don’t want you in my life! I am never giving you a chance!” I yelled. “I don’t want you anywhere near me again! You hear me?!”

He nodded a little. “I hear you.”

“Good,” I said and turned around.

I walked up the last steps but froze as he spoke again, “But it doesn’t mean I won’t try.”

I slowly turned around and looked at him, confused. “What?”

“You heard me. I should have pushed earlier. I should have tried harder. You needed your father to fight for you and show you he wanted to be in your life. You should have felt me trying. My words weren’t enough for you, and I realized that too late. I decided to give you what you wanted. I respected your wishes, in hopes that you would eventually forgive me and come home to me, but I realize now that that was not what you needed. You need to see me fight, so I will, Harper. I want my daughter back, and I am not giving up,” he declared.

I stared at him for… I had no idea for how long. I just stood with my hand holding the keys in the air, my mouth halfway open, and my eyes wide, and that was when a small smile suddenly spread on his lips.

“I will see you soon,” he informed me.

“N-No!” I called after him, but he wasn’t listening. “I don’t want you to! Don’t fight! Ryan! Do not fight! That is not what I want! Ryan!”

But he never turned around or acknowledged me, and it made me want to pull my hair or do something! Why did people not understand a no?! It was a two-letter word: N.O. But noooo, they didn’t listen. No one ever listened to me!

I growled and cursed as I walked inside and up the stairs until I reached my apartment. I angrily opened the door and slammed it, making the picture of me and my mother on the wall shake, but luckily, it didn’t crash down on the ground.

I threw my stuff on the couch, and then went on an angry stomping trip through my entire apartment before I finally stopped in the kitchen, took a deep breath, and just let it all out in one long exhale.

“Calm yourself,” I whispered. “You will just have to make your point even clearer. He will have to listen in the end.”

I was kidding myself. I knew that, but I just… I couldn’t deal with my father suddenly wanting to be a part of my life. I had shut that door between us, but now suddenly he was trying to kick it open, and I hated that.

I ran a hand through my dark-blond hair, that I had gotten from my mother, and pulled myself together. I couldn’t let my father’s visits suddenly shake the ground beneath my feet. I never let anything shake me anymore, and neither would he. So, I straightened myself and walked to the bathroom to shower and just forget it all.

-Archer-

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one coming to visit Harper this early in the morning. I watched as her and her father argued in front of her apartment. Clearly, she wanted him to go to hell, while he was just trying to be a part of her life again. Elijah had pretty much taken over by now. Ryan was only there to guide him a little and be of assistance whenever he needed, but it seemed like Ryan was putting his new time off to good use… or not.

It annoyed me a little that Ryan was now trying so hard to become part of Harper’s life. I had plans for her after all. It had actually been my intention to wait inside for her, but then I had seen her father on the stairs, sitting there like a guard dog, just waiting for her to come back. So, instead, I waited in the shadows, I watched them fight. I heard them yell. Or I heard Harper yell. Her father just stood there taking it all, and then he made such a stupid promise that just didn’t fit into my plans.

He was going to make it hard for me, but not impossible. That was why, when Harper turned around after seeing that her father wasn’t going to listen to her and stormed inside, I didn’t follow her. I had to be patient, even if my wolf wasn’t.

Want her!

“We both do,” I said.

Now!

“Soon,” I promised.

In a way, he was doing worse than me. Claiming her was his deepest and strongest need, and her walking around unclaimed was pissing both of us off. She wouldn’t be for long, though. No, she would be begging to be marked. I was going to make sure of it.