Choosing the Beta (Betas in Waiting Book 5) Read online

  Jess became an archer after a meeting on an aircraft. Now she has to wonder what she was matched with. The centaur at her door is a shock.

  Jess has been a faithful ward of the minotaur herd until the day she is out of her mind with heat, and her dream man walks up to her door and brings her flowers. She grabs him, throws him to the floor, and has her way with him until he calls a halt and tells her he’s only willing to go all the way if he can show her the rest of him. Intriguing. Things get complicated, but she gets to home base with her centaur and is interrupted again by friends and family.

  Time passes, and they reunite under stressful circumstances but eventually agree on a union, another partner, and a future.

  Stihl has been pretending that everything will be fine, but with no job prospects, she is drifting from couch to couch until an urgent request from the book club puts her back in action as a chef. The wedding leads to her meeting up with her one-night stand, and he still is waiting for an omega.

  She has no choice but to run home, beg for help, and submit to her grandmother’s plans for her. It is the last thing she wants, but the only thing she can think of to save herself and her children. If their father doesn’t want them, she will find a path of her own, back through high society with an arranged marriage, just like her grandmother wanted.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Choosing the Beta

  Copyright © 2022 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-990635-07-6

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com and other e-book sellers.

  Choosing the Beta

  Betas in Waiting, Book 6

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  The order caught Jess by surprise. “What?”

  “Can you get Minnie down? She’s flying above the shielded range,” Luna asked Jess quietly.

  “Get her down? You mean shoot her? Get her down but keep her safe?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Jess nodded and looked around to see her brother, Kane. “Can you launch me into that tree?”

  He looked down at his burger, shrugged, and set it aside. With a smile, he held out his cupped hands, and she put her right foot into it. She straightened, and he launched her up into the tree with a flick of his hands.

  The wind whistled past her face as she flew upward, and then, she grabbed the top of the tree before she would have gone past it. The leaves and branch bit into her hand, but she found a branch sturdy enough for her and settled in. She whistled sharply, and Minnie turned toward her. When she was within two hundred yards, she focused and drew back her bowstring, letting an arrow take form on it before letting it fly. It arched toward Minnie, and Jess climbed down the tree. When she heard a scream and felt tension on her bow, she jumped. She crashed through the branches and landed on the ground near the trunk with her arm over her head.

  There was a thump from the other side of the tree. “Pull the wings in, Minnie.”

  There was a pause in the struggling. “Fine. They are in.”

  Jess crept under the tree and touched the glowing net that had snagged her friend out of mid-air, and she caught Minnie by letting her drop on her.

  “Ow.”

  “You could have asked me to come down.” Minnie was sitting on her.

  She grunted. “Luna asked me to shoot you down, so I did.”

  Minnie got up and helped Jess to her feet. “Why did she want me down?”

  “She said you were too high, which is stupid in retrospect as I think she just wanted to see me use a non-lethal arrow.”

  Minnie snorted. “Well, she is the bride. I guess that she can call the shots at her shower.”

  “You know her better than I do. I am just here for the food.”

  Minnie laughed and hugged her with one arm as they walked back to the table. “You going to keep that bow?”

  She flicked her fingers, and the bow disappeared. “What bow?”

  They giggled and headed back to the buffet.

  * * * *

  Luna put her camera down and sent an email to two people. She hoped that she had assessed them correctly. These things were never exact, but Millie and Jess were not making it easy. They were just refusing to even consider mates, and their receptive cycles were growing frequent and more violent.

  Their PMS was going to kill someone, and Luna didn’t want it to be them. None of the transformed betas had gone beyond two years without having sex with something. These ladies’ standards were just too high.

  * * * *

  Caber Vines came out of the bathroom, towelling off and drying his hair. His phone was flashing, and he picked it up. There was an unknown email address and an intriguing subject line. Is this how you described your perfect woman?

  He watched, and a woman in a sundress ran to what appeared to be a minotaur, asked him something, and he then threw her through the air. Caber held his breath as she soared upward and caught the top of a tree, swinging into position effortlessly. When she manifested a bow and arrow and took aim at a distant figure, his legs dropped out from under him, and he sat on his ass. She shot the arrow, and it turned into a net that spun through the air and caught the woman with grey wings.

  The woman whose skirt was up past her thighs jumped out of the tree and landed with the bow in her hand. The force of her jumping pulled the flier to the tree, and then, after some conversation, the woman walked under the lady in the net and a touch dissolved the net. They made up and walked away, smiling, arms around each other.

  He rewound the image of the woman at the top of the tree, the wind pushing her skirt up her thighs and the blazing arrow and bow in her hands.

  He sent a message back, and it just said, Where is she?

  * * * *

  Jess soaked in a cold bath with rose petals on the surface to make it festive. She heard a knock on her door and checked her watch and then her phone.

  There was another knock, and she grunted and pushed herself out of the tub. She grabbed her robe and tied the sash then headed for the door.

  The knock sounded for the third time, and she opened the door. “Hello?”

  She stared at the mountain of a man on her porch holding a bouquet of wildflowers. He looked at her with dark blue eyes that took in the beads of water running down her body. “Jessamine Yarrow?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Do I know you?”

  A scent was teasing her. Horse and hay. Male and musk. Threads of sex wove their way into the mix. Her breathing picked up, and she dug her nails into the doorjamb.

  “We have never met, but I believe you are my other half.”

  He held out the flowers, and she whimpered when she took them and the smell came from the sweat on his hand mixed with the flowers.

  “Thank you.” Jess inhaled deeply, but it was his scent she was chasing. She swallowed and whispered, “What makes you say that?”

  He lifted up his hand, and there was a picture from Luna’s bridal shower. Jess looked at herself in the sundress on the top of the tree with the arrow.

  “Who sent you that?” Her voice was thick, and she hoped he couldn’t catch her scent.

  “I have no idea, but I am looki
ng for you to see if you can tell me if that was you with that bow and arrow.”

  She looked up at him, sandy brown hair, huge shoulders, denim blue eyes, tanned skin, and creases around the eyes. He looked like he could lift a truck and the groceries at the same time.

  She licked her lips, and he stared. “It’s embarrassing, but it’s me. Now, how do my bow and arrow fit with you?”

  She wanted to fit with him, wanted to see how far around him her legs would go.

  His nostrils flared. “Are you... in heat?”

  “Betas don’t go into heat.” She stepped back into her house and started to close the door. A huge hand caught it and pushed it open.

  “Bullshit. At least let me explain.” He pushed into her doorway, and she was shaking. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She gritted her teeth, and she grimaced. “That is cute, but I am trying very hard not to maul you.”

  “Maul away. You are a bit of a thing, and whoa—”

  She grabbed him, spun, and slammed him to the floor, straddling him as she inhaled his scent and rubbed herself on him, whimpering and twisting as she sought more.

  His hand moved between them, and her robe parted. He hissed when he touched her, but his fingers moved in a wonderful way. She cried out when her first orgasm hit, and then, she inhaled his scent as his hands helped her find relief over and over again.

  Jess clutched her coffee and apologized for the fifth time. “I am so sorry I jumped you like that.”

  Caber smiled. “It’s fine. I haven’t been flipped like that since junior high. Judo?”

  He was overwhelming her couch. She could hear it creaking.

  “I don’t know. The martial arts came with the bow. I am sorry. It’s been getting a lot worse lately, closer together. It’s weird and desperately uncomfortable.”

  He chuckled. “We didn’t do anything that teens wouldn’t have done. Well, if I had done that as a teen, my ego wouldn’t have been able to contain itself.”

  She focused on her coffee. She looked at him and muttered, “At least you are good with your hands.”

  He laughed.

  “So, what kind of alpha are you? Yes, I know that there are different kinds. My brother is a minotaur.”

  He smiled. “I think that it is a show-don’t-tell situation. I would like to invite you out to my place for a little demonstration.”

  She swallowed. “How far is it?”

  “About forty minutes.”

  “Can you give me the address or GPS coordinates?”

  He cocked his head. “You’ll come?” There was a lot of excitement that wasn’t well hidden.

  “Well, you seemed to have cooled my jets, so to speak. I think I can manage a visit. I am off work for a few days because of reasons.”

  “Because you are so horny you can’t see straight.”

  She grimaced. “That’s it.”

  “I might be able to help with that.” Caber grinned.

  She blushed and covered her face with one hand and her coffee cup. “This is mortifying.”

  He sighed. “You betas are so uptight.”

  She stiffened her back. “And you alphas are arrogant assholes. I bet you played some kind of sports for a living.”

  “Offensive lineman. How did you guess?”

  “You are built like a brick wall that is blocking another, bigger brick wall.”

  He grinned. “You are going to be a bit surprised.”

  She snorted. “I am sure. So, can I get that address?”

  He nodded. “Give me your phone.”

  She looked around, set her coffee down, and got up to find her phone. She had to find her purse, and then, she unlocked her phone.

  She held it, and she bit her lip. “Can you show me the original email? I would feel better about this if I knew who had tipped you off.”

  “Tipped me off? You have been hiding?” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the email, handing it to her.

  She looked at the email, and then, she did a speed flip through his photos. She saw a familiar picture and quickly went back to the email. “Right. I know who sent it. My acquaintance wants to stop having to send me supplies during this phase.”

  “Supplies?”

  She blushed and muttered. “Never mind.”

  “No, I am intensely interested in what you would need for this situation. Phone please.” He held out his hand, and she put his phone back in his palm, and then, he held it out again for hers.

  She unlocked it again and handed it over. He put his number in with the rubber tip on a pen. He also put his name in as Caber the Bold.

  She chuckled and then swallowed when he sent himself a message to get her number.

  From there, he used the stylus and sent her the coordinates and the address and instructions on how to get there.

  “If you like, I can wait, and you can follow me.”

  She thought about it. “First, I have to ask Luna for all the information on you, then I have to look you up, so I will be about fifteen minutes behind you if you go straight home.”

  “Meet me there in an hour? I promise this is just for a reveal. I am not comfortable shifting off my own property.”

  “Oh. Okay. I also want to let folks know where I am in case you are some kind of psycho.”

  “Fair. So, see you there in an hour?”

  She nodded. “See you there in an hour.”

  He got up, nodded, and then he said. “Kiss for luck?”

  Jess stepped toward him, and his hand covered her entire back as he lifted her up to kiss her with enough pressure and persuasion that her body woke up and hummed softly. He set her down and smiled. “There. A little incentive.”

  She grimaced. “I would have come regardless. I just need to know a little bit about you.”

  “I didn’t want your fear to outweigh your need, so I just started it up again. I will be only too happy to undo a bit of what I just did.” He stroked her cheek with his fingers.

  Jess sighed. “Is a sundress appropriate, or would jeans be better?”

  “Jeans would be more practical, but wear whatever is most comfortable. And I have horses, so watch out for deposits.”

  She nodded. “Okay. You are taking some of my hour. Out.”

  He grinned and took his huge self out the door and into a truck that looked like it consumed smaller trucks. He buckled up and left her driveway while shoulder-checking. She did enjoy a safe driver.

  She headed upstairs while dialling Luna. She got some basic information, and while they were talking, she got dressed and followed up with a little cyberstalking. She investigated his public love life, and she found a lot of hot blondes on his social media. She looked at her normal features, medium brown hair, slightly gold skin, and hazel eyes. She was the type of woman that men looked past each and every day. It was the reason she had been so successful as the receptionist for her brother’s gym.

  By the time she was dressed with a change of clothing in a bag, she had used her twenty minutes, and time was up. She hated being late, and she wasn’t really in a state to drive.

  She got in her car, pulled up her driving mix, and started driving. Forty minutes seemed like forever and a flicker of time.

  * * * *

  Caber pulled into the ranch, shot past his parents’ place, and drove to his house. His mom had been out in the garden, so while he was shoving laundry into his washer and setting off the robot vacuum, he wasn’t surprised when she came in.

  “Caber, honey? What is going on, baby? You look... excited.”

  He paused. “I have a girl coming over, and she suits me. She really suits me, and probably the other me, so I am going to try and make a good impression.”

  “A girl. You are bringing a girl here? When?”

  “She said she would be here in about twenty minutes.”

  Thea Vines smiled at her son. “You are sure she is a suitable girl? You have been looking f
or a while.”

  He looked at his mother and nodded slowly. “Yeah, she’s the one, for both of us. I have to make a good impression, so I am trying to do a speed clean.”

  “What is her scent like?”

  “Wildflowers, hay, and sex.” He muttered it as he loaded the dishwasher and grabbed his takeout boxes, throwing them out back into the burn yard.

  His mother was smiling. “What’s her name?”

  “Jessamine Yarrow.”

  “Isn’t that the name of the gym in town?”

  “Her brother, Kane, runs the gym.”

  “But... he’s a minotaur.”

  He chuckled and went to make his bed. “Yes, but it isn’t an inherited trait. It’s random. Like mine.”

  “She knows what you are?”

  “She does.”

  “She knows who you are?” His mother had a wary tone.

  “She does. Mom, she’s not after money.” He brought the image up on his screen. “Someone sent me this.”

  His mom looked at it while he stripped the sheets and replaced them.

  She smiled at him. “You plan on using that?”

  “I am hoping. Really, really hoping. Look at the picture.”

  “Holy... she’s an archer?”

  “She is.” He smiled and fluffed the pillows.

  “Dad doesn’t know?” His mother was focused on the image

  “No. I wanted to meet her first before I introduced him. Having met her, I can safely say that she is a very suitable woman.”

  “Did she fawn all over you when she saw you?” Thea grinned.

  He chuckled. “Not quite. She’s receptive right now, so she flipped me to my back and jumped me.”

  “She... flipped you?”

  “Her whole house shook. She’s quick.”

  “She’s not your normal type. Not an inflated set of breasts or bleached hair to be seen. This one looks like she works for a living. Great legs, though.” His mother was zooming in. “Wait, I know her. Jess. She volunteers for the kids’ after-school sports programs. She supervises a few times a week. When the ladies’ auxiliary wanted the gym a day earlier for a tea event, she went in there and shut us right down. Said it would be good for us to move a little faster on the next day.” She snickered. “Boy, is she going to be surprised.”