The Beta's Blood: Rewritten

Chapter Six

Chaos dragged her out of sleep. Not the gentle rousing of morning light, not the slow stretch of warm sheets and lingering mate-scent, but violence.

A savage growl split the air, raw and animal. Then came crashing. Wood splintering, furniture toppling, something heavy slamming into the wall. The lake house, once quiet and golden, now echoed like a battlefield.

‘Go to the balcony now, Ace!’ Aaron’s voice slammed through the mind link, hard and sharp, her brother for once not teasing, not gentle, but commanding.

She gasped, instincts taking over. The sheet tangled around her bare body as she scrambled upright, heart hammering. She clutched the fabric to her chest and turned, then froze. Across the room, in the dim amber light, Jameson had Felix by the throat. Again.

Jameson’s muscles were corded with fury, his eyes glowing. Felix’s back was pinned to the wall, one of the broken dressers knocked aside, drawers spilled. Blood streaked Felix’s chest in angry crimson lines. Defensive wounds, clawed in struggle. Jameson’s wolf was riding too close to the surface, his control slipping, every line of him screaming.

“Jameson!” Ace’s voice broke on his name. But before she could move, Max was there, broad-shouldered, face grim, coming up behind them. In one swift, practiced motion, he drove a needle into Jameson’s arm.

Jameson roared. “f**k!” he snarled, staggering back, hand flying to his bicep. Ace’s stomach dropped. “No…” Her first word was a breath, stunned and soft. Then louder, her voice cracking with terror, “Please don’t hurt him! It’s not his fault!”

At the sound of her, Jameson faltered. His glow dimmed, gaze searching for her like she was the only thing that mattered in the room. Felix dropped to the floor, coughing, one hand pressed to his throat as blood ran from the corner of his mouth. Jameson swayed where he stood, chest heaving, fighting the wolfsbane burning through his veins.

He took a step toward her. And that was all it took for her to move. Ace rushed forward, sheet still clutched to her, and caught him just as his legs buckled. He was heavy, hot, trembling, his heartbeat a frantic thunder against her palms. She lowered him to the floor beside the bed, cradling his head, her own tears threatening.

“How could you do this to your Alpha?” she whispered hoarsely, looking up at Max, betrayal and confusion clouding her emerald eyes. Max’s expression softened, but only a little. “It was the only way to get you out before Alpha Kaine finds out,” he said, voice low but firm. “Don’t worry, Ace it’s just enough wolfsbane to subdue him. He won’t be seriously injured.”

Just enough. Not enough to kill an Alpha. Enough to stop this. Ace’s vision blurred. She cupped Jameson’s face, pressing her forehead to his. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed, voice cracking. “I never wanted this. I wish… I wish everything were different.”

His hand, shaking, heavy, lifted and cupped her cheek. Even half-sedated, half-shifted, he still reached for her. His thumb brushed away a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen. “Please,” he rasped, his voice thick with more than poison. “Don’t leave me.”

And she saw it. Not the commanding future Alpha. Not the son of a cruel leader. Not the wolf ready to tear the world apart for her. Just Jameson.

The man who had just held her in the lake house under the stars. The mate who had looked at her like she was the Goddess’s own gift. The one who had whispered you’re mine not in dominance, but in wonder. Her heart cracked.

“It wasn’t easy for me either,” she whispered, fingers trembling as she brushed sweaty hair back from his forehead. “Every day I wanted to come back to you. Every night I felt you calling to me. But I couldn’t… not when it meant losing the people I love.”

His jaw clenched. Even numbed by wolfsbane, he felt that. The choice. The rejection. “I love my family, Jameson,” she choked out. “I couldn’t risk them… I can’t risk them. This can’t be.” Something in his eyes shattered.

Before she could say more, hands gripped her shoulders. Firm, familiar. “Let’s go, Ace,” Aaron said. His voice was flat, controlled. Too controlled.

She turned. Max was hauling Felix up now. Felix’s throat was red and swelling, his torso bruised and bleeding, but he was on his feet. Of course he was, standing protectively near the Alpha who had nearly crushed his windpipe. Loyalty like that was stitched into their bones.

“Now,” Aaron snapped, steel in his tone this time. Ace looked back one last time. Jameson lay there on the floor, too powerful to be so vulnerable, too fierce to be brought down like this. While his best friend and his Beta stood over him, battered but loyal. Her heart tore in two.

Then Aaron was pulling her toward the balcony. The glass doors were already open, night air rushing in, carrying pine and the faint scent of lake water. A ladder waited, already dropped, hidden by the darkness hugging the outside wall.

Ace stepped onto it, still barefoot, still wrapped in nothing but the sheet and Jameson’s scent and the ghost of his touch. The wood was rough beneath her feet. The warmth of the night slapped her awake as she descended.

No one spoke. Aaron led her straight to the car, opening the passenger door and practically pushing her inside before circling to the driver’s side. The engine growled to life. For a few precious seconds, there was only the sound of tires on gravel and the sweep of headlights against trees.

Then Aaron’s voice came... quiet, but sharper than any shout. “Do you even realize what you’ve done?” It wasn’t the anger that broke her. It was the disappointment.

She stared at her lap, fingers tightening on the sheet. Shame burned through her hotter than Jameson’s touch, harsher than her father’s discipline ever could be.

“I...” Her voice cracked. “I tried to run.” “I told you to get to the balcony,” Aaron said, jaw tight. “You didn’t. You stayed. With him.” Of course she had. Because love and instinct didn’t take orders.

“Do you understand,” Aaron continued, eyes fixed on the road, “that if Alpha Kaine finds out his son broke rank for you not once but twice, he won’t just kill you? He’ll come for Mom. For Dad. For me. For Felix. Hell, maybe even for Max for helping.”

Ace swallowed a sob. She had hurt everyone. Felix, who had bled for her. Jameson, who had begged for her. Max, who had betrayed his Alpha for her. Her brother, who was now driving her to Goddess knows where, and Her parents, who were none the wiser.

We can never be together. Not while his father breathes. And yet… I still want him... I still want him... I’m so weak.

The car sliced through the darkness, leaving the trees and lake behind. The deeper they drove into human territory, the more the scent of there home faded, replaced by asphalt, exhaust, neon, and the anonymous safety of human life.

When the car finally slowed and pulled into a small parking lot, Ace blinked against the streetlights. A diner. A cheap hotel. A town no wolf would bother with.

Aaron put the car into park and rested his hands on the wheel for a moment, head bowed. When he looked at her, she saw it... rage, yes, but also grief.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You have to leave, Ace,” Aaron said, voice rough. “At least until Jameson and Emily have marked and mated. Once that happens, the threat level drops. But right now? If Alpha Kaine hears what went down tonight, he won’t just end you. He’ll erase us.” Tears burned her eyes. “I know but where can I go...”

“Grandma Jean had one of her old pack friends book you a room,” Aaron continued, shifting into older-brother mode. Practical and protective. “You’ll stay here tonight. Tomorrow, you go straight to her. Don’t stop. Don’t call anyone. Don’t go home.”

Ace glanced down at herself. Still in a sheet. “Goddess.” Aaron cursed under his breath, he reached into the back seat, and pulled out a black cotton dress and a pair of flats. “Here. We packed some stuff. Documents, cash, toiletries. Felix and I emptied our accounts. There’s sixty-five hundred in there. It’s not a lot, but it should get you to Grandma’s and keep you afloat for a bit.”

Her throat closed. “Felix…?” Aaron nodded once, jaw working. “You hurt him tonight, Ace.” His voice didn’t accuse; it mourned. “And he still made sure you had money.” That broke her. She didn’t mean for any of it to happen, yet here she was.

“I love you,” Aaron said suddenly, pulling her into a fierce hug across the seat. His voice cracked. “I’m sorry I yelled. I just... I can’t lose you. And I can’t watch Mom and Dad lose you.”

She clung to him, sobbing quietly. He smelled like home. Like pack. Like the childhood before mate bonds and alpha politics and hard choices. “You’ll be okay,” he murmured into her hair. “We’ll see each other again. I promise.”

She nodded against him, even though part of her didn’t believe it. Exile was exile. Distance killed things. Futures changed. He pulled back, eyes red. “You don’t have your cell, right?” “No. It’s still at the lake house.” “Good.” He exhaled. “Best it stays that way. Buy a new one later with a new number. Don’t let anyone track you.”

Her hand found the door handle. “Ace,” Aaron said again, softer this time. “I love you.” She turned, eyes swimming. “I love you too.” Then she stepped out of the car. The night air was warmer here, tinged with fried food from the diner, the hum of human life. No wolves. No pack. No mate. Just silence.

The sheet was still draped over her arm, faintly scented with Jameson... pine, lake and wolf. She stared at it for a moment before folding it neatly and placing it beneath a lone tree at the edge of the parking lot. I can’t bring him with me. Not even his scent.

She squared her shoulders and walked toward the hotel. Inside, the lobby was washed in fluorescent light, sterile and humming. A bored receptionist looked up, eyes flicking over Ace in her simple black dress and bare, tear-streaked face.

“Checking in?” the woman asked. “Room… Under Jean Hurtzel?” Ace managed. The woman nodded, then slid her the key. “Third floor. Elevator’s to your left.” The key was small. Ordinary. And yet it felt like the heaviest thing Ace had ever held.

Upstairs, the room was neat, impersonal. A double bed. A small TV. A window overlooking the parking lot. No traces of pack life. No pack scent. No protection. She shut the door behind her and locked it.

For a moment, she just stood there, suitcase by her side, heart pounding, the echo of Jameson’s don’t leave me still ringing in her head. Then her knees gave out. She crawled onto the bed and curled into herself, knees to her chest, fingers pressed to her lips like she could hold back the sobs. But they came anyway.

She cried for Jameson... beautiful, broken, desperate.

For Felix... bleeding and still loyal.

For Max... who had betrayed his Alpha to save her.

For Aaron... who had to choose duty over his sister’s happiness.

For her parents... who would wake up to find their daughter gone.

For herself... torn between love and survival.

She cried because she had been loved fiercely… and it still wasn’t enough to change the world they lived in. And somewhere, not so far away, an Alpha heir would wake on a lake house floor, wolfsbane burning through his veins, the scent of his mate already fading and he would know. She’d run.