Beyond Fate

Family dinner

(Alisha’s pov)

The door opened wide revealing the tall male stood in the doorway. My heart was hammering in my chest as I saw it was only Colton the pack Gamma. I heaved forward relieved, putting my hands on my knees trying to steady my racing heart. I really thought that it would have been Nathan and I really wasn’t ready for that right now, not after just having a standoff with the unknown male wolf. I knew I’d over stepped answering both him and Kelly back earlier and I was certain I hadn’t heard the last of it yet.

Thankfully Colton stepped into the room taking in the scene, within seconds he rushed over to me putting his hand on my back.

“Alisha you ok?” He had a look of concern on his face, his dark curly hair coming just over his forehead, golden tan and boyish good looks always made me picture him as the fourth Jonas brother. I’d always found him cute but nothing beyond that even before he found out Katie was his fated mate. Coltan was like Heather who hadn’t strayed with the rest of the pack in their single minded opinions of me he was still always kind to me when he could be but he’d never disobey Nathan. Nathan acted like some kind of god in this s**t show of a pack and everyone seemed sucked in by it.

When I didn’t answer Colton’s question, he sat me down on one of the little chairs in the nursery, crouching down in front of me. Colton looked back to Heather for an explanation. But she didn’t appear to say anything which I appreciated.

“What happened?” He asked her glaring as she shifted uncomfortably on her feet, looking everywhere but Colton.

“It’s nothing…” I started when Heather didn’t seem to be able to form words, but then to my surprise she spoke over me.

“Gamma there was an unknown male in the nursery” she stated with a sudden air of confidence about her. Like she had something to be proud of.

“ What?” Colton looked at me in shock.

“ I came into the room and the male was about to attack her” Heather carried on and I just dipped my head wishing she’d shut up.

Colton rubbed my arms, I glanced at Heather who was retreating out of the room with an apologetic look on her face. Had Colton told her to leave? Or was she just now realising she’d gone full rouge on me.

“ It’s ok Alisha, I’ll make sure the warriors are on the lookout for this guy”Colton whispered, awkwardly hugging me to his side, I felt slightly uncomfortable under his gase. I’d always known Colton had admired me from afar, he used to try and hang out with Johnny and the guys to get close to me but his constant questions about me had irritated Johnny to no end. Colton was a nice guy but we’d never been more than friends.

When Colton had found out Katie was his mate I expected his interest in me to die. However even though I knew from Heather he was happy with Katie it hadn’t seemed to deter his interest in me. Hopefully once they were marked it would.

Instead of pushing so he didn’t make a fuss. I decided just to smile at him. I was grateful there were still pockets of people in the pack that were nice to me. Though I had to admit, I didn't like the thought of Colton with his arms around me when he was about to be mated. I was probably reading too much into it but If I was a happily mated woman I wouldn’t like my man consoling another female in such a way and even though we weren’t friends any more I felt guilty for Katie.

Shuffling out of Colton’s embrace I got up from the chair smiling awkwardly at him still kneeling on the ground.

“ Thank you Gamma Colton, I am concerned that an unknown male was able to get into the nursery so easily” I said trying to sound as professional as possible, that was the truth it wasn’t about me.

Ok so the guy had been fine till he found out I was the Beta’s daughter but that was for me to discuss with my dad, I didn’t want pack members knowing his business. Apart from anything I didn’t trust any of the pack anymore not that Colton was untrustworthy but he was loyal to the chain of command and wouldn’t think twice about telling Nathan my dad's business. If a possible old enemy was surfacing then it was for dad to inform the new Beta.

I was more concerned now that Heather was right about the male being here for Mina and I’d just been a distraction from the real reason for him sneaking in.

“ Don’t worry I’ll have warriors stationed at the door tonight and put out an alert in case he comes back.” I smiled grateful to him. At least he was doing something. If Nathan had come he’d have probably told me I was overreacting and made out I was just trying to get his attention. Besides the male wouldn’t be stupid to come back after that ,he’d know I’d of reported him by now.

After giving Colton a description of the male he mind linked several pack warriors informing them of the situation. I’d told him not to mention me, just that an unknown male was found in the pack house nursery. I knew then the situation would be taken seriously. If ever he had been here because of Mina I’d never have forgiven myself if something happened. Not long after Luna Jamie mindlinked me to say they were leaving.

“ I need to go, Luna and Alpha are ready to leave, I need to get Mina” I said.

Colton frowned at that, I didn’t have time to assess how weird it was that he was still so taken with me after finding his mate, besides I only had to think about my own mate to realise how confusing and screwed up the bond was. Not everyone has a happily ever after.

Right now I just wanted to get my munchkin and go home for a family dinner.

As we left the nursery I took out my keys making sure I locked the door again. Colton was still standing there when I turned around, he looked at me thoughtfully, he tilted his head studying me.

I was still shaken up by what had happened but I didn’t want him to make any more of a fuss than he already had.

“ Are you sure you're ok? I can come with you to get Mina” he said in a voice so gentle I couldn’t help but smile at how thoughtful he was.

“ No it’s fine I’m taking her to my parents for dinner anyway” Colton placed his hand on my shoulder gently squeezing it.

We both heard a loud growl coming from down the hallway. Both of us turned our heads in the direction the noise had come from. I was half expecting it to be the man from earlier but to my equal dismay it was none other than Nathan.

His eyes one of anger looking at where Colton had his hand on my shoulder. I scooted back out of Colton’s reach, wrapping my arms around myself, not for Nathan’s sake but I didn’t want Colton to get the brunt of Nathan’s anger. He could be a real d**k when other males were around me, not that it happened often but still he would always find ways to make them suffer later even if they didn’t know why.

High rank male wolves like Alpha’s, Beta’s and Gamma’s, were incredibly possessive when it came to their mates. It was in their biology, Nathan couldn’t help his wolf's reaction.

“ What's going on here” Nathan bellowed like he was lord of the manor. Colton didn’t seem to notice his reaction. Though I was sure for a moment I saw a scowl on his face.

“ Nate, there was an attack on Alisha earlier today, the assailant escaped but I have men searching the territory, we believe there’s a possibility the Alpha pup could have been the target.” Colton's voice morphed into a professional tone and he stood straighter.

“ Bring them all back now and it’s Beta if you don’t mind” Nathan stood tall scowling at Colton. Then Nathan’s gaze trailed over to me.

“ The omega doesn't seem to be harmed, probably just attention seeking, we all know how she likes to tell lies don’t we” he smirked at me, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“ But nate..” Colton protested, but Nathan held his hand up without taking his eyes off me.

“ I told you to call me Beta and I believe I just gave you orders so get to it” Nathan nodded his head signaling Colton was dismissed.

“ Yes. Beta” he gritted through his teeth, you could tell he was angry but he didn’t say anything other than to give me a weak smile before heading down the corridor. I was so distracted watching his retreating back that I didn’t feel Nathan come up to me.

He grabbed my waist and pulled me round the corner, the other end of the corridor. He shoved me harshly against the wood, my back hitting the wooden edge of the raised skirting board,making me squint in pain, his mouth descended on mine before I could even gasp from the harshness of his rough treatment. His tongue forced its way into my mouth,I wanted nothing more than to push him away in disgust but instead I found myself reacting to his harsh kiss. I leaned into his body wrapping my arms around his neck. I moaned into his mouth feeling sparks going up my body as Nathan’s hands roamed freely. My wolf purred, coming to life. She lived for these stolen moments immediately giving in to the bond like the furry little slut she was.

Nathan pushes back against me, his extremely excited state rubbing against my thigh. I feel heat rushing to my core. I’m suddenly desperate to feel all of him, I know Nathan can sense it too when a satisfied growl leaves his mouth and he bites down on my lip. The harsh sting seems to snap me out of it long enough to realise what I’m doing. With all the willpower I have I push Nathan away so quickly it causes him to stumble. He has the nerve to look put out by my sudden hostility and it makes me even more angry.

“ What the hell do you think you're doing?” I shot at him, my fists clenched at my sides. I ignored the whines of my wolf that was telling me to jump on him.

Jump his bones

Shut up slut. I scalded her and immediately blocked her out. I was so frustrated with her. She did this every time Nathan pulled this s**t with us. when she was gonna get that he was just using us.

Speak of the devil he was looking at me with an arrogant f*****g smirk on his face that I just wanted to punch.

“ I thought that was obvious, after all isn’t this what you wanted making up stories and flirting with Colton to make me jealous” I laughed in his face, he couldn’t possibly be this arrogant had he thought I had made up stories to get his attention.

“ You're an asshole, I didn’t lie there was someone in the nursery” I said folding my arms over my chest as if it would stop the sound of my accelerated heart rate.

“ Whatever, you don’t have to pull s**t like that if you want my attention you know, I’ve told you before where you can come if you want to get off” he winked at me with a smile I hated the fact that it had an affect on me I could have melted like a puddle but I held strong and stood my ground.

“ Over my dead body you arrogant prick” I spat raging. I didn't need this s**t I was already having the worst day in a long time.

I knew exactly what he was offering, he’d offered it to me every time he had me cornered like this. After I’d moved back home he’d come to me, giving me the key to his old bedroom downstairs. He and Kelly now shared the Beta suite just a few doors down from where we were currently standing. I don’t think I need to tell you what he was offering. Keeping his chosen mate in his master suite and his side mate in his old dorm style room.

Once a wolf turns eighteen they are allowed to move into the pack house if they wish, it was really just a chance for them to branch out on their own and explore living independently from their families. I suppose in a way it was like when humans went off to university, something we had to get permission for from alpha felix but the request was rarely ever granted. We had a local college within the territory but it was limited with resources because the alpha wanted us to have little interaction with humans. Only in extreme circumstances was a wolf granted permission to attend school outside the pack, mostly if it was for a specific carrier that was going to benefit the pack in some way like the doctors at the pack hospital or our pack accountant Denis, his son Joe was currently at university training to take over from his father once he was qualified.

Most of the pack members who moved into the pack house just used it as a chance to party and fool around, Nathan had been no different he’d moved into the pack house and treated the place like his own dorm.

To state the obvious I had thrown the key back in his face the first time he’d tried to give it to me. However, he hadn't given up there; he'd left it on my doorstep not three days later with a note saying to think about it. I’m afraid to say that over the years I had, more times than I’d like to admit to myself.

“We’ll see slut, something tells me you’ll come begging soon enough” he sneered and I glared back at him.

“ I’d rather beg a stranger for s*x than beg you” not that I’d need to because the hot new guy Lucas that had saved me earlier had been giving me serious f**k me eyes today.

“ Yea ok this another made up guy babe” Nathan mocked me.

“ No, actually a guy saved me from some pack members earlier, he was nice and hot too, so he’s already one up on you” ok so I wasn’t going to sleep with some random guy I just hated the fact Nathan seemed so sure I was going to go back to being his side piece.

“Ok babe” Nathan said again in a mocking tone like he wasn’t convinced at all. “ Until then stop pulling s**t with lying about intruders to get my attention” he smiled smugly strolling down the corridor out of sight. I sighed saging into the wall. I hated to admit Nathan’s arrogant attitude was justified. I hadn't exactly been consistent with pushing him away. Sometimes the bond was too hard to fight and my wolf never seemed to help the situation. I hated it, I hated that he always had this control over my body at least. Even after everything he’d done to us already, sometimes I still couldn’t say no to him. It made me hate myself. One of the reasons I’d never told anyone about my situation with Nathan was because I was just too ashamed.

After my run in with Nathan I headed downstairs to collect Mina. We stood on the drive waving Luna Jamie and Alpha Felix off. Nathan and Kelly came out to say goodbye too. I avoided his gaze at all cost. I was relieved when the alpha’s car pulled away. Mina and I left immediately after, not wanting to be around either Nathan or Kelly one second longer than I needed to be.

A few minutes later Mina and I walked into my parents house, the smell of spaghetti Bolognese filling my nostrils instantly made my stomach growl in approval.

“ Nanna Kat” Mina sang running down the hallway kicking off her shoes, then shrugging out of her coat and dropping it where It fell before disappearing down the hallway into the kitchen. I shook my head with a smile picking up the coat and shoes, popping them in the cupboard under the stairs. Taking off my own coat I could hear my mom squealing from the kitchen. I smiled to myself picturing her scouping Mina up in her arms.

I walked into the kitchen to see mom running around dad who was trying to help but was really just in the way. Mom never seemed to mind though, to be honest I think she was so used to dad hovering, she wouldn’t know what to do if he wasn’t standing in the middle of the kitchen spinning round like a headless chicken.

Johnny was sitting at the table reading through some paperwork.

“ Did you move today?” I smirked when he lifted his head frowning at me. Johnny had been assigned to the warrior barracks after his trials.

Alpha Felix had originally offered him the position of gamma but Johnny had turned it down much to dad's dismay but I understood my brother's reasons. He hadn’t wanted to work under a man whose position was rightfully his. He also felt it was a slap in the face from Alpha Felix; he'd wanted my brother high in the chain of command so the pack could still take advantage of my brother's skill set. It was Johnny’s way of saying ‘f**k you’ to the higher ranks without actually saying so. He knew he’d end up holding the fort and doing Nathan’s job without the honour of official rank as Beta. Even after all these years Alpha felix still tried his luck by asking my brother to attend all the official pack meetings but Johnny always told me he would sit at the back and stay silent, he wasn’t going to be manipulated by the Alpha.

I often wondered why Nathan had won the title of Beta over Johnny. My brother was an exceptional warrior. Strong, brave, a born soldier but he was also incredibly smart, like our dad. Nathan beat Johnny one time in the trials hand to hand combat and was rewarded with a Beta rank.

Despite his misfortunes, Johnny actually loved being a warrior; he had quickly rose through the ranks to become head warrior. Now he trains them all, even more senior warriors. He was frowning at his paperwork, I watched him rub his hand through his hair a couple of times.

“ Are you ok?” Johnny looked up, shaking his head.

“ Assignments” he waved the top folder at me. I frowned.

“ Since when do you handle assignments?” I asked instantly knowing the answer was going to irritate me, I heard dad growl from the kitchen island and Johnny looked uneasy.

“ Nathan thought it was a good idea for the head warrior to handle all warrior related business” Johnny grinned before rolling his eyes, his words dripping with disdain.

“Lazy arshole” I heard dad mutter and glared at him in case Mina heard.

“ He’s calling it delligating” Johnny chuckled dryly, shaking his head.

“ I call it being a good for nothing..”

“ DAD!!” I scolded, glaring at him, mom came up behind him smacking the back of his head.

“ Language Adam, little ears!!” Mom glared at him as he rubbed the back of his head. Johnny and I looked at each other smirking.

My attention was caught by something out of the corner of my eye to the left of Johnny. I saw a tiny hand pop up from under the table swiping his half eaten biscuit. I chuckled to myself quickly covering it with a cough just as Johnny looked at me frowning suspiciously.

“ What tickled you?” He asked, reaching for the now empty spot on the table whilst studying me, when he didn’t find the biscuit he looked around moving his folders and paperwork, it just made me chuckle more.

“Alisha can you set the table please” mom said to me looking flustered while she drained the pasta. Dad had been chopping bread that he was now eating instead, he was flicking through a book or something on the counter.

I went over to the drawer collecting the cutlery, mom turned smiling at me, she was so beautiful her dark hair was scraped back in a messy bun wearing her lounge clothes, she was always a bit of a Tomboy, I suppose it came from years of fighting and training. For work she always wore workout clothes so her wardrobe consisted mostly of yoga pants and sports tops. On the odd occasion like now she would put one of my dad's jumpers over the top, it was drowning her tiny figure but she still looked so beautiful like she was a runway model. She tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. It caused my breath to hitch as flashbacks from earlier popped into my mind from when the mystery guy had done the same right before he’d moved in to what I thought was to kiss me but I guess I’d been wrong.

I tried to mask my discomfort but my mom spotted it. “ You ok baby?” She asked, still touching my hair.

I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want to lie but I knew what their reaction would be if I told them the truth. I nodded, giving her my best fake smile, I’d gotten pretty good at it over the years. Mom seemed to buy it and carried on. I heard a squeal and then a giggle. I turned back to the table to see Johnny pulling Mina out from under it.

“ Thief!” He cried dramatically, sitting her in his lap and tickling her, Mina giggled hysterically. Dad was still absently reading whilst eating the bread he’d abandoned, I snatched up a piece of bread as I went past him heading to set the table.

“ I saw that” I turned back to him, his eyes glanced towards me with a smirk before going back. My dad was a strange kind of guy most of the time he had his head in the clouds rarely engaged with things around him but anything to do with pack business and he was like a hunter ready to pounce on his prey.

“ How do you do that?” I asked.

“ Genetics baba we Clayton's are born with eyes in the back of our heads” he smirked not looking up from his reading, but I knew his attention was completely on me. I glanced down at what he was reading to see it was similar to the many files johnny had on the desk.

“ Does Johnny know you have that?” I asked, smirking loud enough for johnny to hear. Dad's eyes shot to me narrowing, I smiled sweetly knowing he’d probably swiped it while Johnny wasn’t looking.

“ Have what?” Johnny took his attention off Mina for a moment to look at me and dad, his eyes went wide as soon as he saw the file on the counter by dad.

“ Dad come on, you know I could get in trouble” Johnny groaned. Mina who was now tracing the patterns of his tattoos on his arm peered up at Johnny’s distress. She took the biscuit offering it to him johnny smiled down at her lovingly taking a bite.

“ Ah well the little Beta should do his own bloody work then if he doesn’t want anyone else reading it, these documents wouldn’t have left my office in my day” I rolled my eyes in case you hadn’t noticed dad was not a fan of Nathan, for many reasons and none of them had anything to do with me being his mate. I’d never told my family about Nathan being my mate, more than anything the bond made me idiotic and protective of Nathan, I knew if my father knew he wouldn’t still be breathing and my wolf just wouldn’t risk anything like that happening.

No, my dad's dislike of Nathan came from him believing Nathan wasn’t up to handling the pressures of being a Beta. With Nathan palming his work onto others he wasn’t exactly proving dad wrong either.

Johnny’s job didn’t always involve working out and training. Some days it meant being at home going through mountains of paperwork, teaching plans and assignments, usually it was the Beta’s job to handle warrior schedules and assignments but as usual Nathan had palmed it off onto my brother. He'd call it delegating. I call it being a lazy arshole. Sometimes dad's simple words got it just right.

Even though Nathan was giving Johnny more work it also meant more responsibilities which he didn’t mind at all, he preferred to handle the warriors completely without interference from others, plus he had my dad on hand to offer advice and guidance. Which is why on days like today where paperwork took over training Johnny liked being at home instead of his office at the training yard.

Nothing more was said about work when mom brought over food and sat us all down to eat. I cut up mina’s food for her while mom made her a bib out of one of the tea towels, she still managed to get spaghetti everywhere, every time I tried to get her to wipe her face she just smudged more in by the time she had finished eating it was all in her hair too. We all laughed watching her.

“ Little pup, did you get any of that in your mouth.” Dad asked Mina, she just smiled up at him, her folk in one hand shoving another mouthful in half using the folk half using her hand. She always insisted on sitting next to my brother and dad at family dinners, she just adored them. She loved that they had drawn their favourite pictures on their arms. I always found her tracing the patterns on their tattoos, I just dreaded the day she went to Luna Jamie asking for one too. Thankfully the boys never told her it was me that had designed them.

“Someone definitely needs a bath tonight” mom chimed in and we all giggled. We loved our family dinners with Mina. My family had always thought of her as our own.

They had been the same with Rose too, they had loved her from the moment they had met her. It was Rose who had started our family dinners, before that we had always let work and duty takeover. I had known how taxing being a Beta could be and in the beginning I’d been reluctant to tell my family about Nathan because I hadn’t wanted to add to their burdens and I had been convinced I could change Nathan’s mind about accepting me.

Later I hadn’t told them because I was just too ashamed. I mean what parents would want to know that their daughter was letting her mate use them to slake their wolf's lust before going back to his girlfriend's bed. It even made me feel sick.

I couldn't stand the idea of seeing that look of disgust on my parents' faces. Rose insisting on family dinners was her first step in helping me fight against the bond, she knew I was isolating myself which was exactly what Nathan had wanted and Rose had been adamant that I wasn’t going to lose my family.

We had always been close but after my trials things had become strained. I knew things hadn’t been easy for my parents having two children to come out of the trials with anything less than a Beta rank, especially for one to come out of it as an omega, despite my fathers support in my claims of sabotage he had pulled away from me.

Rose being the future Luna hadn’t taken no for an answer and over time we have grown back into our old relationship but it hadn’t been easy, at first dad would bring his work to the table, Johnny was more interested in chasing girls at the time and mom had been an awful cook until Rose had taught her a few dishes. I can still see them running around while dad stood there twiddling his thumbs until Rose gave him an easy task like grating cheese or buttering bread. Keeping the tradition had been important to all of us after Rose passed. It was our way of keeping her alive.