The Missing Beta

Chapter 9

~Katarina~

“Mmm.” I turn my head toward the warmth next to me. I snuggle my head, but it isn't on anything soft. It's on a hard surface, but it smells so good. I blink my eyes open and am looking at a red polo shirt. I let my eyes travel up and am met by the soft brown eyes of King.

“Hey, baby. How are you feeling?” I close my eyes again and let out a sigh.

“What happened?”

“You were in the garden with Tatiana, and you passed out. She told you some news.” My eyes pop open, and I turn my head to look at King. There's nothing but love and kindness in his eyes.

“She told me that Aston is back.” King nods, and my heart clenches.

“How do you feel about that?”

“I don't know. I mean, I liked him in school. I liked him a lot and the day he disappeared, we were supposed to go out.”

“You were friends too, right?” I feel a smile grow on my face at the memories of Aston and me when we were younger.

“We were. I loved our friendship.”

“My dad told us that he's back, but he doens't remember anything.” I sit up and lean against the headboard.

“What do you mean?”

“I guess he has some type of amnesia. He doesn't remember his past at all. He doesn't even know that he has a wolf.” My mind is reeling with this information. It's one thing to have disappeared for years, but to lose your memories… that's a special torture. My heart breaks for him and his parents. I can't believe what they have to go through.

“That's so horrible. I feel for his parents. Are they taking visitors?”

“No. Dad said they are trying to ease him in so we should keep our distance for now. He said we don't want to overwhelm him.” I guess that makes sense. I know I will be happy to put eyes on him. I want to see him for myself, see that he is truly back.

“I know we talked about it before, but Aston liked you too. I… I would understand if you want to explore that. If you want to explore your feelings for him.” King is always so thoughtful and sweet. He doesn't let a lot of people see this side of him, but I love it. He always says he has an image to maintain as a future Alpha.

I turn to King and place a hand on his cheek, letting my thumb graze his smooth skin. “I love you. Whatever might have been between Aston and I died long ago. I'm all in this with you.” King smiles and pulls me in for a kiss. His lips are soft at first before running his tongue along my bottom lip. I moan into his kiss, opening my mouth. King wastes no time in pushing his tongue in my mouth. My body heats up at the feel of his tongue painting the inside of my mouth.

King's hands roam my body before landing on my chest. He uses his thumb to graze my n**ples through my clothing. My core is on fire, and my mind is getting foggy. I quickly pull back, breathing heavily. “I'm sorry. I got a bit carried away.” I smile and peck King on the cheek before pulling back again.

King fingers the chain of the locket that's around my neck. “You know, I was thinking that after we join together, we can put a picture of us in that locket.” The white gold locket was a gift from King when we first started to go out. He put a picture of himself in it, saying that I should always be able to look at him. I thought he was way too arrogant at first, but it didn't take long for me to see his sweetness.

“Maybe a picture right after we take our vows? I think it will nice. When we have kids, we can put a family picture on the other side.” King smiles and leans in for a gentle kiss.

“I like that. I have to go back to work. Are you sure you're okay?” I nod.

“I'll be fine, I promise.” King kisses me again before getting off the bed and leaving the room. I settle back against the headboard and close my eyes. I can't believe Aston is back after being gone so long. I know I will run into him eventually. I guess all I can do is be ready for that day.

~Eddison~

I have to say, Aston took everything pretty well. We spent the day filling him in on his life, more specifically, how the werewolf world goes. He had a lot of questions, which we had no trouble answering.

Aston spent some time with Sable as well. He was as comfortable with her as he was with Jett. To be honest, we just won half the battle right there. Aston's acceptance of our wolves was a major stepping stone, and I feel we can go nowhere but up from here.

Shawna walks into the kitchen and sits across from me at the table. “How is he?”

“Exhausted, I'm sure. He went to lay down.” I nod and take a sip of my lemonade. “Do you think we did the right thing, telling him everything.”

“I think that as the only way to go. There's no good way to let someone know about our world. Our options were limited so this was probably best.” Shawna hums in agreement, but I know she's still bothered. “What's wrong?”

“Where has he been all this time? What happened to our boy?” Shawna's voice cracks and I reach across the table to grab her hand. I've pondered these questions since I saw him in the diner. Someone did this to my son, and I'm sick about it.

“I don't know, love. Maybe we need to get a witch to check him out. We have to figure out what happened to him.”

“You think a witch did this to him?”

“At this point, anything is possible. We should explore all avenues to be on the safe side.” Shawna nods and rubs the back of my hand. I know she's going to need me as much as Aston right now. I need to be strong for my family so we can get back to some sort of normal.