Beta's Heart: A Daughters of Elysium Novella by S.M. Shadow

Author:S.M. Shadow [Shadow, S.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seclusion Publishing
Published: 2021-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

12

GARETH

I wasn’t surprised that we’d attracted a crowd, but I was irritated by it. Every dominant tendency I’d repressed had boiled up beneath the surface while I’d listened to people speculate and murmur. It had been a relief when Rand had said what he did, because a direct insult like that could be acted upon.

So I’d acted. Kiera had let the bastard off too easy, let them all off too easy. But forcing him to apologize had soothed the wolf’s insistence that we make everyone understand that she wouldn’t be treated as she had been going forward. That she was precious. That she was ours.

And when she’d taken my hand, when she’d made it clear that the affection wasn’t all on my side, that she was claiming me in return…that had been everything.

We reached Anya’s, and when the server led us to an outdoor table, I slid Kiera’s chair out for her. The way she looked at me, like that simple act was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her—it made me want to go beat the shit out of everyone who’d ever made her feel cheap. Because this was how she ought to be treated.

I never got a chance to sit down. A male server appeared and said, “Anya would like to see you.”

“I’m on a date,” I told him.

“She’d like to see you,” he replied without missing a beat.

Kiera reached up and squeezed my hand. “It’s okay. Tell her I say hi.”

So I followed the server inside, to the office tucked away beside the kitchen where brown-haired Anya was looking out a one-way window that just let her see all the outdoor tables without letting anyone see her.

“Anya. I had no idea your tastes ran voyeuristic.”

She snorted. “I like to make sure my people aren’t being harassed. And I do tend to see interesting things.” She stared out the window at Kiera, her fingers drumming idly on her desk. With Anya, it was best to let her get to the point on her own time rather than trying to nudge her toward it. Otherwise, everything took twice as long.

“I didn’t peg you as the type,” she said finally.

That bristling anger I’d done such a good job of holding in check my entire life came roaring back to the surface. “And what type would that be?”

“The type to treat a woman as disposable.”

My anger didn’t dim, but it did switch targets from Anya back to everyone else. “Kiera isn’t disposable, she’s mine. And I don’t throw people away.”

Anya’s cool gray eyes assessed me. “And where were you in all the intervening years when people were doing nothing but throwing her away?”

“Right beside her whenever she’d let me be,” I snapped back. “She didn’t want me then. She had different priorities.”

“She still should have different priorities. She needs a strong wolf, Gareth.”

The implication that I wasn’t one stung more than I cared to admit. I’d long ago gotten used to the pack’s ribbing me, but I’d always liked Anya.

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