The Beta's Redemption?

4. Turning it around

Bianca

I had to separate him from Clay before things escalated. I knew well how fast things could blow out of proportion when it came to some men and their big egos. Clay was like that and from what I heard, Tyler wasn’t very different. 

I heard about him, of course. Someone with this strength and speed working as an omega couldn’t be anyone other than the infamous former Beta of the Black Forest Pack: the man who betrayed his Alpha and so-called best friend and tried to kill the Alpha’s fated mate and Luna to be. 

Dawn whined in my mind, realising who truly was our fate mate. Oh, Goddess, why? I wanted to smack my head against the wall, but I didn't have time for that. 

“You,” I told him, looking intently at his eyes as I grabbed his arm and added,  ”come with me,”. 

I tried to ignore the delicious tingles and focus on what I had to do, the hard talk I knew we were about to have. Once I found an empty office, I closed the door behind me and looked intently at his anxious eyes, trying to keep my shock at bay.

“Who was that man and what does he want to do with you?” he asked, to my surprise. His voice had a hint of worry, and his eyes were gleaming slightly, showing that his wolf was on the surface. 

“Excuse me?” My eyes narrowed with indignation. Was he out of his mind? He had no right to ask me anything like that, it wasn’t his business. 

“Maybe he has good intentions and he is trying to protect us,” Dawn interjected, making a sheepish face inside my mind. 

“We don’t need his protection, Dawn! And you know that very well.” 

“I do, but maybe he doesn’t,” she argued in my mind. I could feel her sadness. I was quite sad and disappointed too, that was why I had to act fast, to be able to focus on my real goals, which is what I came here for: my training. 

“Tyler, isn’t it?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure he was the former beta turned into omega. 

He nodded, lowering his gaze and swallowing hard. At least he had the dignity to feel ashamed. 

“I’ve heard about you and what you did. Everybody across the Realm knows it, and you might be my mate, but it doesn’t mean...” 

I was abruptly interrupted by him. “Bianca, I…” he started and now it was my turn to cut him off, I took a few steps forward inadvertently, only then realising that I was too close to him, I could feel the warmth of his breathing and that was the last thing I wanted and needed, to fall into the mate bond’s pull and its traps. 

“How do you know my name?” He couldn’t possibly know it, he didn’t overhear it from Clay, he called me Bea as he always did. 

He exhaled sharply and looked away for a moment before his eyes met mine once again, “I’ve found out about our bond a few days ago and I couldn’t stop thinking about you, so I watched you around and heard your name,” he explained. 

I was fuming, and cursing my luck. I’ve gotten the worst mate possible.

“Alpha Asshat was worse than that,” Dawn almost sang in my mind. What was she trying to say with that? Alpha Asshat was bad news, but at least he wasn’t my fated mate. 

“So, you decided to stalk me like a psycho?” I furrowed my brow at him. When I thought things couldn’t get worse than having someone with his kind of past as my fated mate, I found out that nope, there is always way worse: he was also a creepy stalker. The last thing I needed was another one of those, especially after what happened between me and Alpha Asshat. 

“No… not like that, I didn’t want to overcrowd your space. I didn’t want you to know about me and what I am, an omega. But I couldn’t bring myself to stay away. I don’t want to stalk you, or be a burden to you, Bianca. I didn’t want to have to do that, but you shouldn’t be with an omega, you deserve better, so I release you from our bond.” he said nervously, but firmly. 

“You, what? Are you rejecting me?” my eyes almost popped out of their sockets at his words. 

I couldn’t believe my ears, I walked around the desk, trying both to stay away from him and think straight. 

“I don’t want you either, dude! Though it’s not because you are an omega— I couldn’t care less about that—but because of what you did. You betrayed your family, and that makes you the lowest being in nature, a cheater! Cheaters ain’t mate material, the Goddess mismatched us. You will live with this stain forever and you deserve it!” I shook my head in indignation.

He was turning it around, rejecting me before I had the chance to do it? So, that was his game? Knowing that if I was the one to be rejected my wolf and I would bear all the excruciating pain of being rejected and not the other way around? I shouldn’t expect better from him. My blood was burning with anger, he was simply unbelievable! 

He took a few steps closer to me and after inhaling deeply he started, “I know that we can’t be together, Bianca. I, Tyler… reject you…”  His eyes were fixed on mine as he showed no hesitation. 

“No! How rude! Stop there! Hell, you will reject me. I will be the one to reject you!” I cut him off, this was turning out insane. 

To my surprise, Tyler seemed utterly relieved to hear my words. I took a deep breath to continue simply because the fact remained— and it didn't matter who was your mate, how shitty they could be— it was very hard to reject them, it goes against nature and our wolves’ nature. 

“ I, Bianca Pallas...”  I tried, but before I could say all the words and break the bond my wolf Dawn took over and didn’t let me say anything. The words got stuck in my throat and all that I could let out was a strangled cough. 

“Really?” I asked Dawn. We always agreed on almost everything. And she wanted to be pushy about that? About this man? 

“I know he is far from okay-ish but he is our mate, and if the Goddess paired us with him she had her reasons, Bea. Have some faith. Trust me on this one, last time you didn’t follow my amazing instincts you didn’t get it good with Alpha Asshate.”  Dawn tried to convince me. She was indeed right about the alpha, when she tried to talk me into not dating him in the first place. But it didn’t mean she was right now, she was letting the bond decide it for her. And I decided that we must be stronger than this connection, than the attraction, his amazing scent, his handsome face and the way everything in him called out to me. I shook my head, I had to be stronger than all of that. 

“We have to do it, you know very well what he did.” It was time for Dawn and me to be rational and rise above this call. If we were to have a mate, we needed a partner, someone decent, good, and honest, not a man that even after working as an omega seemed to be a snob.

“I know but he is my mate, our mate. We should give him a chance, just a single chance, Bea. The Goddess wouldn’t pair us to him if he had nothing good in him. Come on, we are a catch!” she blinked her eyes in my mind, giving me a puppy dog look, which normally worked. Dawn might be a fearless warrior but she was cute and gorgeous in her unique red-coated fur. 

“Males like him—cheaters, traitors, abusers, killers—deserve no chance.” That was what I knew for sure, things that I’ve learned at home, my father was a decent and a good man who raised me to be the same and not accept someone like Tyler as my mate, fated bond or not. 

If he were anyone else, an omega for the matter but a loyal and decent one, I would accept him. But what he did, I couldn’t accept. 

“I agree with you but he is our mate and he never did anything against us. Just a little tiny chance is all I ask, Bea, come on!”

“No!”, I replied to Dawn, I was certain in my conviction and nothing would make me change my mind. I didn’t like to argue with Dawn, we were stronger together and I loved my wolf, but now she wasn’t giving me any choice. I pushed her to the bottom of my mind and regained complete control. 

“I, Bianca Pallas…” I tried another time, but my wolf launched to the front of my mind fast like thunder and took control again, making my next word come out as a bark. It was just brilliant! 

I sighed deeply, giving up and letting Dawn win, for now. “I don’t want you either, but I won’t submit my wolf to the pain of rejection. I will just forget that you exist, because that’s how insignificant you are, Tyler.” I told him, before leaving the office. 

I was determined to live up to my words, but I was only starting to know how strong the fated bond was.