A Beta's Regret: Beta's Choice

By Beth Jackson

Jake is Midnight Forest Pack's Beta, incredibly popular and handsome, always surrounded by friends, and is successful in business and as his role in pack as Beta. Yet part of his life feels incomplete. Seeing all of his friends settled down with their mates and now having children, Jake can't help but wonder where he went wrong or think if he will forever be alone. Avoidance seems to be the best tactic, and Jake pushes himself harder into work, where an unexpected encounter at a business meeting gets his heart racing and turns his life upside down. Rose, this seemingly perfect, beautiful fated mate of his, has somewhat of an unusual reaction to meeting her mate. Are you meant to be doing your best to avoid your new mate? Or be keeping secrets from him? Not to mention Rose comes from the other side of the world and plans to head home as soon as she can, with promises of keeping in touch, and working things out with time and space. Jake is just happy to finally have his mate, and willing to do all he can to have her by his side. Would Jake be willing to leave all he knows for fate? Or could it be the moon goddess made a mistake, and Jake is better off alone? Or is there a better match out there for him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: supernovel
• Release date: Dec 4, 2023

Book preview

CHAPTER 53 – Jake

I had not even got far from the house when Ruby had mind linked me. Asking if everything was ok. I had meant to message her or mind link, but because of all the drama it had slipped my mind. I am such a dick. I cannot keep forgetting her because of my own shit going on.

So, instead of going for a run with Jaxx I asked if she was free. She said she had just been helping in the packhouse and was walking back home, so I went to meet her. We were walking back to her house. The moment I saw her my heart was racing and I instantly felt my mood pick up.

Hey you She grinned.

Hey. I said, dreading telling her that Rose had turned up.

I know the moment she hears that what her reaction will be and what she will be telling me to do.

You ok Guapo? she stretches to ruffle my hair.

It always makes me smile when she does this. With her being smaller, she can barely reach even on her tiptoes. Lola and Esme are the same with their mates. I think it is quite cute and endearing, to be fair, though I know it drives them crazy!

You want me to get you a ladder? I teased, before continuing. And no, I am stressed as always. I smile.

Aww no. she smiles back at me sadly. Do I want to know?

I don’t know that you do, Rubes. You know I got called away? I look to her and see her watching me intently.

I love her big brown eyes, her long lashes… so beautiful. I could get lost looking into them. I realised she was nodding at me, waiting for an answer.

Just as I am about to answer. I heard footsteps marching across the footpath near us. I am just about to move out of their way so they can get past when I hear a familiar voice. One I had initially thought was sexy as hell. Now it goes right through me…

Distrubing something am I Jake?! Rose says, venom in every word.

Oh shit. This won’t look good.

‘As I was about to say Rubes. I got called away because Rose turned up. And yet again, here she is.’ I mind linked Ruby quickly before turning to Rose.

I said I wouldn’t be long, Rose, I was just going to go for a run. I tell Rose.

I see Rose looking Ruby up and down, almost a snarl on her face.

Oh really? Doesn’t look much to me like you were on a run. This your little dirty piece on the side is she? Rose says sharply glaring at Ruby as she does.

Ruby raises her eyebrows in shock. Piece on the side? I ain’t nobody's piece on the side Chica. I’d watch your mouth if I were you.

No? So that was why you have been sniffing around another woman’s mate, desperate for some attention. What happened your own mate had enough of you and fucked off, did he? Can’t say I blame him. Rose looked down at Ruby with disdain.

I hear Ruby gasp at her words.

Rose! I yell. You shut up now. I will not have you speak to Ruby like that. She has done nothing wrong. She lost her mate, not that it is any of your god damn business. But do not be so fucking disrespectful. I am not your man, and I am not your mate yet, you made that perfectly clear numerous times. Stop acting so fucking high and mighty and wind your neck in.

Rose is glaring at me now. Oh so you will jump to the little princesses defense, but not your own mate’s?

You do not need defending from what I can see as Ruby has done nothing but be respectful and told you to watch your mouth, when considering the way you have spoken to her was more than warranted. I say bluntly, before looking to Ruby. Are you ok?

Ruby looks pissed off, understandably so with the insults Rose is throwing her way. Other than being insulted by someone who seems to think she is the queen of fucking England here, oh yeah wonderful. Is great being made out to be some sort of whore for falling for your friend without meaning to.

Wait, you love him? Rose’s voice booms.

Oh crap.

That is irrelevant, Rose. I tell her. You know what happened. I explained. Though part of me is giddy at the thought Ruby has just admitted she was falling for me.

So if she has been falling for you, does that mean that you have been falling for her? Rose is suddenly in front of me, poking her long, sharp painted fingernails into my chest.

I am not getting into that right now. We need to go home, Rose. Speak properly about what is going to be the best thing for us going forward. Because I honestly do not know. I tell her.

Oh. You asked me to come here and be with you. I do as you ask after all that begging and pestering, and when I arrive you act like me being here is one big inconvenience and like having me here is the worst thing in the world. Not to mention, it turns out you have some slapper on the side! Do you know how degrading that is?! And as for you she turns herself to glare at Ruby. If you had a mate, you should know how the mate bond is, how precious it is, and should not be going against it, or encouraging a man to betray his fated mate bond. That is just disgusting. Just because you may have lost your mate, does not make it okay to try to destroy other people’s mate bonds, to benefit yourself you evil bitch.

I see Ruby’s eyes flash black. Her wolf is close to the surface. I need to calm down this situation and quickly. Though what Rose said was unforgivable.

Right Rose, shut the fuck up. That is enough. That is just plain evil. That is not what happened at all. You have no clue. So be quiet. I am sorry Ruby. If you head home, I will call by later to check you are ok, I am going to go sort this stuff out with Rose ok? I say, desperately wanting to go and be with Ruby, make sure she is ok. The things Rose had just said had to have upset her.

But I needed to deal with Rose. I can’t let her do things like this.

Oh, so I am something to sort out, am I? Rose says, standing with her hands on her hips, her eyes too flashing dark.

Goddess help me!

I said shut up Rose. We will talk when we get home. You can yell at me all you like then, ok? We will work all this out then. I tell her.

Don’t let her yell at you Jake, you have done nothing wrong, she has treated you like crap since you met. I will see you in a little bit ok? Ruby says as she turns and begins to walk along the footpath.

I fell back to stand next to Rose again, ready to walk home with her. Dreading what will await me. When I hear a growl from next to me, fuck no…

CHAPTER 54 – Jake

The deep, angry growl from next to me was a clear signal that Rose was not present any longer, her wolf had taken over. Perhaps triggered by the whole situation or by Ruby’s words, or a combination of it all. But as I looked back from watching Ruby walk away I saw a blur as the tall, slim figure of Rose with her long Auburn hair twisted and realigned into the form of a deep brown wolf.

NO.. This cannot be happening. She was heading for Ruby.

Ruby! I yell to warn her.

I pushed Jaxx forward. Knowing we have to help her. She may not have a chance to shift in time before she realises and by the time Rose’s wolf is there attacking. Jaxx amazingly does as I ask him too, and I am shifted in no time, by bones adjusting into his strong Beta wolf form in no time at all, and I am behind Rose’s wolf quickly. Thankfully, being a Beta wolf, and regularly training it takes no time.

I am now seeing everything through Jaxx’s eyes. The panic in my heart is horrendous. It feels like everything is in slow motion. Ruby has turned and seen what happened. She too shifting. But not before I saw the look of horror and fear on her face. a look I don't think I will ever forget. Ruby is one of the sweetest, most caring people I know, definitely not one for fighting or being aggressive, so I know that shifting and fighting was not something she did unless absolutely necessary. This was her idea of a nightmare. This is my idea of a nightmare. This is my fault.

Rose’s wolf is already there, she is going for Ruby as she shifts. Her mouth is ready to attack as she moves towards her. She is wasting no time. Why is she doing this? What is possessing her? All because of what happened between us?

I can’t even communicate with Rose to reason with her. Why is she doing this?! I feel my heart pounding in my chest in panic. I need her to stop. I do not want either of them to get hurt. Especially Ruby, she does not deserve this.

Jaxx bites down on the flank of Rose’s wolf just enough to distract her and pull her away from Ruby’s wolf. She is in shock and now whimpering. A typical distraction technique, I didn't think he would intentionally hurt his mate badly. And he hadn't. Just enough to pull her away from Ruby's wolf, Neve. Rose's wolf is growling, snarling at Jaxx now. So much for loving her mate! Though I guess her mate had just bitten her...

‘Run rubes.’ I link, noticing how distracted Rose's wolf was by Jaxx right now.

Her wolf, Neve, begins to run. But no sooner has Jaxx let go of his mate, she is off following Neve once more, determined to get a hold of her prey. Destroy the woman who she feels is a threat to her mate bond. I cannot let her do this. I cannot let her hurt Ruby or her wolf. They do not deserve that for being my friend. For being close to me.

I cannot let any harm come to Ruby.

‘Jaxx, we can’t let her hurt Ruby’ I urge him.

‘No Jake. But is mate.’ Jaxx replies.

I know he will be as careful as he can to not hurt his mate. He wanted his mate more than anything else. He would be happy to have met her wolf, though he would rather it had been under different circumstances. The way he has been while she has not been around shows how badly he wanted his mate, so I know he will not hurt her badly, just enough to keep Ruby safe and get her home ok. Enough to get her away from Rose, so I can discipline Rose for this. Let Knox discipline her too. So she knows she cannot act like this in our pack.

Rose’s wolf continues to pace after Neve, who is running fast toward the forest. I know Ruby regularly goes running with her wolf, as a way of escape, much like I do with Jaxx, or used to until recently. So her wolf is speedy. Small but speedy. A little like Ruby I guess.

We have now run off the streets of the pack into one of the wooded areas of the pack that we often use for pack runs. Lots of trees to dodge around. Hopefully, Ruby could use that to her advantage. She knew the forest well, so hopefully she would be able to use that to help her get away from Rose and her wolf. I needed her to be ok, to get away from this psycho of a mate of mine and her wolf. I truly do not know what is going on, and if I am honest now, I do not know what she is actually capable of. The fact she is here chasing, hunting down Ruby terrifies me. Because my gut instinct tells me she may even be out to kill her. I cannot let that happen. I need to stop this situation. I cannot take my eyes off the two of them.

Oh no, Rose’s wolf has gained on her. I urged Jaxx forward again. ‘Stop her Jaxx, please. Don’t let her hurt Ruby’

I get no response from Jaxx. He seems to be in hunter mode almost, I can sense his concentration. Watching the two of them. He is prowling. Rose’s wolf is about to go for Ruby’s wolf. No… She is going for her neck. NO!

'Jaxx please!' I urge.

We have no choice. I know we don’t. Jaxx lunges forward. I feel his jaws tighten. Clamped down on the neck of his mate. The taste of blood filling his mouth…

CHAPTER 55 – Ruby

Hearing Jake call my name, I quickly turned. I see the wolf of who I can only assume is Rose coming for me, I had no choice but to shift. There would be no option but to shift. To fight. I hate to fight, to hurt people. But here I have no choice. I need to defend myself. That is why Jake made me aware she was coming. I allow for my wolf, Neve to push forward, to feel her body mingle with mine, to become as one. My bones are readjusting to make her body. But I am not fast enough. The wolf of Rose is already here.

She is already upon me, or for my wolf Neve at least.Half me, half Neve right now, I need to push the shift. I don’t know why she decided to come and attack me. Obviously, she saw me as a threat to her mate bond. Little did she know I was telling Jake to go and be with her. I had told him to pick her over me. To pick the fated mate bond. Now I wish I had not. The things she said had been so nasty. And to bring my Seb into it too…

I saw another wolf, a familiar one, Jaxx, he was here to help. He pulled the wolf away, letting me fully shift, giving me the chance to move. I need that. Hopefully, then I can get away. I need to get away. I hate to fight. I hate to know that I can hurt someone. Crazy when, as werewolves, we are all more than capable of death, but that is one thing I do not want to be responsible for.

I ran, but she had hunted me down, ran us into the wooded area. I am certain this is where we have our pack runs. I tried to dodge her, but dodging trees seemed to slow me down, and she caught me. I waited for the inevitable. I could see through Neve’s eyes her coming for my neck this time. I waited for the teeth around my neck. Just as they began to touch, Jake’s wolf was back.

Jaxx had come to help again. But this time, he was going full force. Shouldn’t he be helping his mate? He had helped once to let me run away, which I appreciated so much! But this time it was different, his mouth was around her neck! I moved away again, ready to run, assuming he was holding her down to allow me to escape once more.

I glance back and see Jaxx has only just let go, but the wolf is not moving. There is blood dripping from the teeth and mouth of Jake’s wolf. Did he bite her hard enough to puncture her badly? No surely not. To her neck though… that would kill her.

My brain was piecing this together. But, she wasn’t moving. Jaxx was whimpering. He had his head down. I think he may have killed his mate to save me. Or had Jake made him? Either way, the thought of it is making me feel sick. I honestly think she may be dead. And it is because of me.

I am certain she was determined to kill me though. So I know whichever one of them it was they had saved my life.

I pushed Neve back and myself forward, feeling my bones twist and crack, again, to stand myself up, not caring I would be naked. I need to see if they were ok. I knew there would be clothes in some of the trees on the border edges I could find before heading home.

As I walk toward him, Jaxx’s form suddenly begins to alter, the fur retracting back into his skin, his body adjusting to the human shape of Jake. He quickly covers himself up to save us any embarrassment, no doubt.

Are you ok? He quickly asks.

Are you?! I need to know. That was your mate.

I couldn’t let her kill you Ruby. He says. Jaxx wouldn’t let that happen either.

Jaxx looked broken Jake. Tell me you did not make him kill his mate for me. I urged.

He shakes his head. "I said I couldn’t let her hurt you