Chapter 49

Jasper Hartford’s POV
Michael was quickly becoming the bane of my very existence. He was refusing to allow Lizzy and I any time alone together, yesterday morning he even managed to come crashing into our room while we were having sex. Lizzy was about five seconds away from reaching her climax when Michael broke the lock on our door and tumbled into our room. Lizzy screamed in frustration and threw the covers around us so he wouldn’t be able to see anything but she was incredibly pissed off with him. If she hadn’t been naked then I am sure she would have strangled him right there and then.
Later that day, once I had managed to calm Lizzy down somewhat, I confronted him about it. He claimed that he had heard screaming and thought that I was hurting her. It was a clear lie, he was trying to do anything in his power to annoy us so that we would retaliate. I hated how close he was to getting what he wanted almost as much as I hated him.
In contrast, my parents seemed to be completely enamoured with him and I didn’t understand why. Over breakfast this morning they had even invited him to spend the day with us. My parents never did things with us as a family, they were always too busy working to spend much time with me. Part of me knew that they were just trying to make a good impression for the visiting alpha but it still stung a little bit.
“Can we just go to training instead of this stupid hike thing?” Lizzy complained.
“You hate training, what have you done with the real Lizzy?” I asked. I pulled her into my arms and started kissing cheek.
“Literally anything is better than spending the day with Michael.” She complained, while leaning into my embrace.
Just at that moment there was a knock on our bedroom door. Without waiting for a reply Michael opened the door and walked into the room. His characteristic smirk spread across his face as he noticed Lizzy’s anxious expression.
‘Do you think he heard what I said about him?’ She asked me over mindlink. I shook my head, I was sure that he wouldn’t have let an opportunity like that go. If he had heard what she said then he would have probably used it as an excuse to tease her and make her panic some more.
“We should probably get going. I wouldn’t want to keep the in-laws waiting.” Michael held out his hand towards Lizzy as he spoke. Lizzy glanced at his hand disdainfully then walked straight past him and out of our room. Michael responded by shrugging his shoulders, without dropping his signature smirk.
“It’s only a matter of time.” He told me before following Lizzy out of the room.
My wolf grumbled in my mind. I had been struggling to keep him subdued ever since Michael showed up. It was going to be a huge relief once we finally got out of this pack in a couple of days' time. Nico had been doing a good job making sure that everything was ready for our escape. He was going to make a good beta for Lizzy once we managed to set up a pack of our own.
By the time that I had reluctantly made my way downstairs my whole family had already congregated outside. Lawrence had even come all the way from the outskirts of the pack to join us. He must have only been here for a few minutes but my mother was already pestering him about moving back in with us.
“They have completed their bond now. There is no danger anymore.” She told him, hugging him so tightly that I would be surprised if he was still able to breathe.
“I know that but I like it in the cottage with gran.” He replied.
That was no surprise. The cottage was peaceful and gran loved to spoil us. When we were younger we used to go there all the time, until my father realised that we were starting to put on quite a bit of weight. After that he cut down our visits and put us all on a diet.
“You can’t possibly like it more than your own home.” My mother objected, pouting slightly.
“Stop trying to guilt trip the boy.” My father replied, rolling his eyes at her.
My mother glanced in his direction, giving him a look that told everyone that he was going to be in trouble later. Normally I would laugh when she gave him that look but since I recognised Lizzy as my mate, I had worked out how it felt to be on the receiving end of such looks. It really wasn’t a laughing matter. So instead I wrapped my arms tightly around my mate and waited for one of the omegas to bring us our supplies.
We weren’t waiting for long, a few minutes later she came out of the house clutching a backpack for each of us. She came out of the servants exit, keeping her head down as she walked swiftly towards us. I could smell the fear coming off her from the moment she walked out of the house. Her response was puzzling until Michael laid eyes on her. The smile dropped from his face and he started shouting at her.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” He screamed, causing the omega to stop in her tracks. She dropped the backpacks that she was carrying and her hands wrapped around her waist in a defensive manner. She had her face angled downwards but I could still see the tears forming in her eyes.
“This is my pack, I work here,” She whispered. Michael took a couple of steps towards the terrified omega. He had his fists clenched to his side and his anger was causing the veins on his neck to stand up.
“I told you to stay the fuck away from me. I don’t want your filth anywhere near me, is that clear?” He shouted, his face only a few inches away from hers. She let out a deep sigh as she took a step backwards away from him.
“I never planned on seeing you again, I have spent the last few days trying to avoid you.” She spoke quietly but clearly and with a confidence that omegas didn’t usually have when talking to an alpha.
“How dare you talk to me like that.” Michael growled. The omega took a couple of steps backwards before tripping over a rough patch of ground and tumbling backwards. Lawrence noticed her misstep and ran to her aid, just barely managing to catch her before she hit the floor.
Michael growled loudly as Lawrence’s hand touched the omega’s arm. His anger was now solely focused on my brother, he tried to reach out to grab the omega’s other arm but she pulled away from both of them.
Michael saw this opening and stepped in between my brother and the omega as though he was trying to shield her from him. As though he wasn’t the one who had caused the threat to her in the first place.
“You dare to touch my mate. Are you trying to challenge me pup?” Michael growled.
Lawrence shook his head and held up his hands to show he meant no offence. While he needlessly apologised for his behaviour the omega was slowly backing away from us. She kept glancing backwards towards the open door to our house as she tried to put some distance between us and her.
“Everyone stays away from her.” Michael growled.
He glared at each of us before turning around in search of his supposed mate. She was only a short distance from the door when he saw her. She seemed to be frozen in fear until he started moving towards her. His sudden movement caused her to squeal and run into the house, Michael seemed shocked by her reaction but it didn’t stop him from following her.
“Well that was unexpected.” My father said before picking up the backpacks and handing one to each of us.
Unexpected was one word for it but it wasn’t the word that I would use. I didn’t like the way Michael treated a member of our pack. Part of me wanted to chase after him and tell him to leave our pack and never come back. The only thing stopping me was the knowledge that we would be leaving in a few days. We didn’t need to bring more attention to ourselves just before we tried to make our escape.
His rejected mate being here could even be a good thing for us. There was no doubt that her being here would be a distraction for him. Whether he wanted to take back his rejection or not, it would be difficult for him to ignore her now that he knew she was so close by.
That would help us to get everything organised and maybe we would even be able to take her and some of the other omegas with us when we left. With us things might be more difficult than in an established pack but at least we could give them a better way of life and more opportunities in the long run.