The Beta and His Runaway Werefox / ✔️

Harvey crossed his arms, running his fingers through his hair in frustration after exiting the bathroom and closing the door. After the long instruction on how to use a shower and then trying to calm her down after turning the said shower on, he did not know what else to do. In fact, he was surprised he had gotten this far after trying to get her out of her hiding hole for four months.

“Dude, you actually got her in there?” Jesse questioned, his grey eyes frowning in amazement as Harvey exited the room and found himself surrounded in the hallway. “How in the hell?”

“It was the mate bond, dumbass!” Grace spoke, flicking his head, causing him to flinch. “You can barely be away from me no longer than five minutes before the mate bond forces your clingy ass to me.”

“I am not clingy!”

Grace huffed. “Sure, not clingy.”

Sherry sighed, holding her hands to her hips while Byron casually sat on the floor and stared up at the ceiling lights as if he was bored out of his mind. “How is she?”

“She did not know what a shower was.” Harvey groaned. “How am I supposed to teach her everything in the span of a few weeks before her heat takes over?”

“Should that not have already happened?” Byron questioned randomly.

“We had never actually made contact with each other,” Harvey stated, leaning against the wall with a frown on his face. “The first time I had got to touch her or see her yesterday was by pure accident.”

They all stood and sat in silence. His frustration was getting worse by the minute as all he wanted to do was turn back around and go back into that bathroom. Knowing that she was so vulnerable was what stopped him from marking and claiming her as his, and he felt like a complete dick for wanting to jump her so badly.

He was always told he was just like his mother, but he was not aware of how much until now.

“What does she know exactly?” Grace questioned after winning the argument with her mate. “She must know some things, right?”

Harvey shook his head. He tried not to think about what her apparent father neglected to talk about. The fact alone that she is so terrified of people was already driving him mad with rage. “She does not know a thing. I had to give her a brief explanation about Packs and about us. She was terrified of me and questioned why she felt the way she did until I told her about mates. I do not know what she is thinking, but all I know is that I need to keep her away from that abandoned area. It is a death trap, and that building that she was living in is about to crumble! She could be in there when it goes down and-”

“Hey! Do not think like that!” Sherry scolded. “Bella is safe, and she is now properly protected. I do not think I could go another night sleeping in the stupid forest. I miss my bed.”

“And I miss being in your bed,” Byron commented with a smirk, Sherry scowling in response before she looked away from him. Everyone knew that they were mates, but only Sherry would not accept it. It was as if she was not ready or that she did not want Byron to be the person she was meant to be with, but either way, she still allowed him to mark her and mate with her hence why the entire group was confused with their relationship.

“So, we all know about this, but what about Liam?” Jesse questioned. “He will be back from his trip soon.”

“Has he said anything about that, by the way?” Grace questioned next. “He has spent months trying to find his mate. I am starting to think that she might be human or something.”

Harvey shook his head, his sympathy towards his older brother kicking into his chest. The longer Liam has gone without his mate, the lack of motivation to live and function was slowly but surely kicking in. All he wants is his mate with no luck, but knowing that Harvey has found his own would crush him, and Harvey did not want to witness his brother taking another blow like that. “Nothing. He has mentioned that he will be visiting the humans next. This was the last Pack in the country.”

“Poor boy needs to catch a-”

“Harvey, what is this?”

Harvey jumped, turning around to face the open door to Bella’s room with his eyes wide in horror. Her small frame was only standing in a towel while she held up a bra. “That is... uh... ”

“That is a bra.” Grace laughed as she moved her shirt to show Bella her own. “You are supposed to wear one for your boobs.”

Bella widened her silver eyes, her face turning red in embarrassment while she stood and stared down at it. “Oh, okay.” She muttered before she turned and left the group again to get changed.

The hall was completely silent once she left. Harvey’s heart was pounding in his chest from seeing her in that state, but what made it worse was the fact that she was so beautiful. Her face and skin were no longer covered in dirt and grit, and he could finally see the small freckles that lay around her small nose and cheeks. Her hair was wet and falling to her hips, but he could still see how silver it was despite it being wet. Her innocence was so breathtaking that he had to take a step back and stare in amazement. How he had gotten paired with someone so breathtaking was beyond him.

“She is that type of innocent.” Byron chuckled, a smirk forming while he eyed Harvey with the wiggle of his eyebrows. “You get to do a virgin!”

“Ew, shut the fuck up!” Sherry screamed, her eyes blazing at his pervertedness. “Harvey, you should go back in there.”

He just nodded, having no energy to fight with the pervert, knowing that Sherry will do it for him. Both Byron and Jesse were pervs, but that was all because they had been with their mates where Harvey had not. He was taught to wait for his mate just like his parents did, and he liked that idea for the most part.

He made sure to cover his eyes while he came in, hearing her on the bed before he spoke. “Is it safe to look?”

Bella giggled, her soft voice sending his wolf mad with desire. “Yes, all dressed just like you said.”

He removed his hand, his eyes landing on her in his mother’s old clothes as Xenia was the only one in the Pack that had small enough items to fit Bella, but the clothes were still baggy. “How do you feel?”

Bella sat, playing with the sheets while she tucked her legs up to her chest, which he figured was for comfort. “Clean. Is this what feeling clean is like? I always wash in the river, but I must be clothed. Papa said that you never know who could be lurking... I do not know what he meant by that.”

Harvey came closer to her, picking up the hairbrush to brush her hair for her. A habit that he has picked up because of Kyra. “Let me brush your hair, and I will answer more of your questions.”

Her eyes bulged slightly, wanting to ask what he was going to do before she stopped herself. This habit he was starting to pick up on, but he wanted her to ask. He wanted all her questions just to hear her voice. Her questions were the reason why she was willing to come here, and he needed more. He needed her to trust him so that he could finally be with her. “Why would he tell me to be careful in the river?”

Harvey sat down behind her, taking strands of her hair as he began to work from bottom to top. “There are dangerous people out there. These people are called Rogues, and they will do anything to hurt vulnerable people.”

“But why?” She asked. “He told me all people were bad, but you are not bad. The people that keep looking through that gap in the door are not bad.”

Harvey paused, looking up just as he saw Grace duck from the window and rolled his eyes. “Rogues are different from people that live in Packs. Not all Rogues are bad people, but most are. Being a viscous Rogue is how you survive without a Pack. Your father just wanted to protect you as best as he could.”

“Oh.” She mumbled. “I do not like Rogues.”

Harvey chuckled, taking all her hair and picking up a hair tie that was on the table before tying it up. “Do you have any more questions?”

Bella nodded, tucking a few strands of loose hair behind her ear as she reached around him to grab the TV remote. “What is this?”

“That is a TV remote.” He answered, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her towards him, his legs wrapping around her so that she would be leaning against his chest. “See that big black square on the wall, that is a TV, and this remote turns it on.”

Bella was too distracted by the remote to notice their position. His heart kicked up again as he slowly relaxed from being tense. “But how does it work?”

Instead of answering, he pushed the button to turn it on, the TV screen lit up, and trout swimming in the water came on, causing her to jump in fright, but her eyes stayed glued to the screen as fascination was written all over her face while he just watched her.

He was going to protect this innocent angel, even if it killed him. He knew that more than anything else in this world.