The Beta's Justice

Chapter 27

Audrey's POV

I woke up to light gleaming through my window. Yawning, I rolled over, picked up my phone and started checking messages. So far, everything appears to be going according to plan. Slowly, I pushed myself up and swung my feet over the side of the bed. I must have worked harder than I remembered because every muscle in my body cried as I made my way to the shower dropping my clothes on the floor as I walked. I had just closed the bathroom door when there was a knock at my bedroom door. Groaning, I debated whether or not to even make it known I had heard them.

Finally, I decided I could yell that I was busy. I opened the door slightly, but before I could say anything, I saw him standing in the doorway with his jaw dropped open. Then I realized, the bathroom door was a little more open than I naturally would want it. I let out a scream and slammed it shut.

I leaned with my back against the door, trying to calm my beating heart. Glancing down, I worried about what he had seen. Did I have the door open that wide? My hands were shaking. “Audrey, I'm so sorry. I thought you were still sleeping,” Darren's voice came through the door.

He waited for a few moments, but when I didn't respond, he continued. “Please I didn't see anything. I promise,” he pleaded for me to believe him. I didn't. I saw his eyes.

“You saw me naked,” I whimpered.

“I didn't mean to. I mean, I tried not to,” he was struggling to try and make me feel better.

I let out a sigh. I was so embarrassed. This was not how he was supposed to see me, all of me. The mood was supposed to be romantic and intentional. Not accidental. “Please Audrey, I'm so sorry.” I knew he was genuinely sorry, but still, I felt mortified.

“I'm going to take a shower,” I finally responded.

“Okay, I'll meet you downstairs,” he told me. He was trying to sound normal, but I could hear hurt in his voice.

“Okay.” I turned on the shower and waited for a few moments for it to heat up. Then I got in. I wanted to wash away the embarrassment, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw his face. His eyes. Where he was looking. What he saw. He must have seen everything. Suddenly, the shower felt too hot and the room felt too small. I tried to take a deep breath, but I couldn't fill my lungs.

I turned off the shower and opened the door, trying to cool myself down. It was still too hot. The room was spinning and I didn't feel so well. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around myself. Quickly, I opened the bathroom door, trying to make the space bigger. He saw me. I thought I was okay with him seeing me like that, but I wasn't, not yet. I want to rewind the clock. I want that moment to be erased.

“Audrey, Darren told me that you were up and getting ready. I thought maybe we could get ready together,” I heard Ruby's voice come through the door from the hallway.

“Sure,” I managed to force out the words.

She opened the door and quickly closed it when she saw me standing in a towel. “Why aren't you dressed?”

“I...” I couldn't keep it together. I slid to the floor with tears in my eyes. This shouldn't be hitting me so hard.

“What happened?” she asked as she rushed to my side.

I shook my head. I couldn't tell her. It was embarrassing. “Please tell me what happened. Did Darren do something?” she asked with worry lacing her voice.

“No, of course not,” I managed to push the words out. I couldn't have her thinking badly of him. He was a good man. She needed to keep that in mind and not think otherwise.

“Then what happened?” she pushed, trying to get me to tell her. I wanted to, but at the same time, I didn't. If I talked about it, then it would make it real.

I sighed, trying to pull the towel more closely around myself. “I was in the bathroom. There was a knock at my bedroom door and when I opened it to tell them to wait, Darren was standing inside my room,” I explained in a hushed tone as though others were outside listening to our conversation even though they weren't.

“That doesn't sound so...” her voice trailed off as though she were reading my facial expression. “Oh, you weren't wearing anything, were you?”

“Nothing,” I muttered.

“Oh...” she responded.

“Ya.”

“It's not that bad. You are mates. He'll see you that way more than once in the future,” she tried to comfort.

I nodded. She was right, yet it was bad. Or at least it felt that way. “I know, but it's... it's not how it was supposed to happen,” I finally said, letting myself confide in her.

“Oh, you wanted a more magical moment. Not an accidental viewing from the bathroom door,” she whispered as she grabbed my hand, trying to show me that she was there for me.

“Yes, exactly,” I agreed.

“Don't worry. I'm sure now he will make the moment extra special when it is the right time,” she tried to console me.

I took in a few calming breaths. “You're right,” I finally felt like the room stopped shrinking and I could breathe more freely.

“Of course I am,” she grinned. “Now, you need to get ready. I'm sure you are more stressed than usual and the sudden shock this morning just tipped you over,” she smiled as she stood up and reached out her hand for me to take.

I took her hand and stood up. “Let me choose something for you to wear,” she offered as she skipped off to the closet without waiting for my response.

Slowly I made my way to the walk-in closet. I stood just inside with the towel wrapped around my body as she began looking through my clothes. "Are you planning to change before your performance?" She asked as she looked over a black dress with a ring of jewels around the waist that trickled down the skirt of the dress like falling rain.

I nodded. "Okay, then I will pick out a dress for you to wear while you are walking around and another outfit for your performance. Unless you already have one prepared." I shook my head. "Two outfits it is." She cheerfully continued to shuffle through my dresses.

Nearly five minutes later, she pulled a lavender knee-length dress from the wrack and brought it over to me. "Put it on," she instructed as she handed it to me and then turned on her heels to go to my shoe rack.

I went over to my dresser and pulled open a drawer. Taking out my underwear, I let my towel drop to the floor as I pulled everything on. The lavender knee-length dress had a sweetheart neckline with off-the-shoulder straps. Maya came over, placed black heels next to the makeup mirror and then handed me a simple single-diamond necklace. "Let's try this with the dress," she said as she pulled my hair away from my neck. She then took the necklace from my hand and fastened it around my neck. "Perfect. Now I'll do your hair and makeup. Go sit," she ordered.

I still felt a bit numb emotionally from what had happened with Darren so letting her boss me around was easier than being upset over her tone and language toward someone older. I sat down in front of the mirror and she got to work. Within minutes she had completed my makeup, giving me a more natural look and then she moved on to my hair. She pulled it up into a high ponytail and tied a lavender ribbon around my hair. "Just give me a minute and I'll pull something for you to wear for your performance and then you'll be all ready to go." She was so cheerful, more than usual. I assumed it was her way of trying to offset my otherwise gloomy demeanour.

She threw a few different outfit choices into one of my cute gym bags and then came over to me. "Axel is waiting downstairs for us," she informed me with a smile.

"Okay," I finally responded.

I stood and we both left my room and headed downstairs. Axel was seated at the table with a plate already filled with food. It appeared he had just started eating. We sat down at the table with him and instantly two Omegas came out of the kitchen with plates filled with food. They set them down in front of us and then were gone in an instant. "Are you ready?" Axel questioned as he shovelled scrambled eggs into his mouth.

I did my best to finally pull myself together so I could answer him and try to make sure today and tomorrow would go perfectly. "As ready as I can be," I responded.

"You've been so busy lately, we've hardly seen you," he commented nonchalantly. I knew he didn't mean anything by his words, but still, I felt my heart tighten. Hunter and I have been very busy and we have hardly had time for family. Maya and Axel are still young enough to need parents or at least their older siblings.

"I'm sorry about that," I told him genuinely.

"Oh, I'm not made. Just making an observation," he said brushing my apology aside.

"Either way, we should plan some family time," I offered.

"With the twins as well. They are our half-siblings after all," Maya added.

I nodded. "Yes, with the twins, too." This was nice. All we needed now was for Hunter to randomly show up.

As though his ears were burning or the Moon Goddess heard my silent wish, Hunter came into the dining room. "Hunter!" We all chorus excitedly and then burst out laughing.

"Everyone seems to be in a great mood today," he smiled as he pulled out a chair and took a seat. Just as with Maya and I, an Omega came rushing out from the kitchen with a plate of food in hand.

"We are," I smiled. The feeling of embarrassment washed away.

"How are the preparations coming along? Everything is set in place for today, I presume," he said as he began to eat.

"I saw to it last night myself," I responded feeling pride well up inside me.

"Very good. I can't wait to attend," he told me and then turned his attention to Maya and Axel. "You will both be in attendance." It was an order, however, his tone was soft and inviting. They nodded in response. "Good. The pack needs to see the Beta family is still strong and very much intact."

"We are looking forward to the demonstration," Maya said excitedly, almost bouncing out of her chair from anticipation.

"As am I. I know Audrey has planned something amazing for it," he said as he gave me a look of pride. Lately, that's the only look he has been giving me. It still feels foreign to me. He used to look at me with distrust or disdain, but this expression I preferred.

"I have. It took a lot of work, but everyone has planned something amazing and all performances have been approved by me," I assured him.

"Very good." He was all business recently, but it didn't appear to be on purpose. It was more like he wasn't sure when to turn it off or hadn't found a balance yet. "Maya and Axel, how has school been this week?" He turned his attention again to our younger siblings.

"School is school," Axel responded with a shrug as he continued to stuff his face.

"Well, I think it's nice to get back to some kind of normalcy. Everyone at school is talking about the special wolves and wondering when they will be starting," she informed us as she took more civilized bites in comparison to Axel.

"We are hoping the pack will warm up to the special wolves over the weekends' festivities. If all goes well, they will be enrolled by next week at the earliest," he told her. Maya squealed happily, but I heard the uncertainty in Hunter's voice. There was a lot riding on this weekend. I knew that much, but there was something else. Something they hadn't told me about. Something big. I would have to find out later. Now was not the time.

Glancing down at my phone, I saw the time. "I should get going. There are always a few last-minute things to work out," I told everyone as I stood. "I'll see you at the festival."

They all wished me good luck in case they didn't have a chance to before my performance and then I was out the door. I turned the corner at the end of the driveway and almost walked into Darren. "Oh, hi," I whispered with my eyes staring at our feet.

"Hi," he responded. He was nervous. I could hear it.

"Hi," I said again and instantly felt like an i***t. Were we going to just go in a loop?

"Are you ready for your performance?" He asked. I let out an internal sigh of relief. We could talk about this morning another time. We walked and talked the whole way to the training facility s***h special wolves' living quarters. We were back in our groove and that's exactly what I needed to help calm my nerves.

Alpha James' POV

"A festival?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Alpha," the Gamma confirmed.

"How trustworthy is this information?" I inquired. I couldn't have bad intel. I needed to get everything prepared just right in order to get the other packs on my side.

"Very. I confirmed it myself. Due to their change in leadership and loss of wolves, infiltrating their pack was child's play," he smiled slightly.

"You may leave," I ordered. They knew my commands came out as suggestions, but there was never an option.

He bowed and then left my office. Glancing down at my desk, I smiled at the picture of Helen and myself. "I'm going to be bringing your baby home very soon," I promised as I reached out and touched her face. "If only I had gotten to you soon enough. I could have protected you too." This was all my fault. I should never have let her leave with that sorry excuse for a Beta. He was the one who got her killed and orphaned the poor pup.

I raised my gaze to the door as I heard someone knock. "Come in," I responded coolly.

"Alpha, I've prepared the warriors as per your request. They will gather within the hour," the she-wolf informed me as she stood nervously at my doorway biting her lip. She appeared to be debating on whether to say something more or keep it to herself.

"Speak," I sighed. I disliked insecure she-wolves, but I couldn't go around making them rogues according to my Beta.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Questioning me. She knew better. "Very sure and if you want to press the matter, I'll be adding your mate to the group," I threatened.

"But he's not a warrior. He doesn't know how to fight," she panicked.

"Then do not question my judgment any further," I warned her. She nodded and then shrank away, closing the door behind herself.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I leaned back in my chair. "Helen, if you had remained, she-wolves like her would know their place." My world would also be a better place. I wouldn't have to go to such lengths to make things right.