I don’t like how much he seems to know. It makes me feel like I know too little.
“His brain is broken if he genuinely thinks an alpha would drop to their knees and take a beating without even getting violent. We have to fight when challenged,” Arion groans, disbelieving that we’d take any of this seriously.
“I’m simply saying you were wrong; Violet wasn’t punishing you for your inaction. For whatever reason, she wanted to take that beating,” Talbot states more seriously.
“Yes. We know. She wanted Idun’s focus on her, because she’s bloody infuriating that way, and attracts the worst dangers she can. Like a really potent omega,” Vance grinds out.
Talbot’s eyes flick to his. “Or maybe like an alpha perceived to be weak. Sort of like the one who keeps fighting off mutinies, wouldn’t you think?”
Vance bristles, and Arion’s humored look falls slowly.
“I was wrong as well,” Talbot adds. “She claims she was making a statement. However, Violet didn’t step in there to prove any sort of point. I believe she stepped in there to find out just how fucking tough Idun really is. She was testing Idun to see how close she is to being able to take her.”
Now that’s just insane. Violet isn’t that calculated.
“What else do you think you know?” I ask him, taking him more seriously, remembering the daring glint in Violet’s eyes as she goaded Idun into using what we thought was just a little of her strength.
What if she really is weakened?
That ice is still holding her captive.
“No new omegas have joined Sanctuary, despite Violet’s resilience to that beating. Wouldn’t it be wise to have an impossibly fabulous beta, such as myself, in there when whatever is brewing finally boils over?”
“This pointless incubus is starting to make me paranoid. Idun is not Violet’s problem. She’s genuinely adamant about that,” Vance says as his own wary gaze moves over to Violet again.
“I wouldn’t say I’m pointless, but I am off my game when it comes to Violet Carmine. I’m just telling you the latest rumors circling the girl you all have in common. I live out in the real world where people love to whisper about the alphas. Just remember a Van Helsing, on live TV, told the world that not even an alpha was expected to endure more than two hundred lashings with a Van Helsing flogger.”
He takes a step toward the edge, gesturing at Violet, as she takes her second cup of coffee the future dead wanker is handing her.
“And January Violet Carmine essentially talked shit to every alpha in attendance after every ten licks. Then, along comes Zuela Van Helsing, the cruelest of his kind, to give the girl a gift of apology. A gift never bestowed upon anyone outside the Van Helsing family. Your girlfriend is plotting, and she’s damn good at it. She makes Marta look like a rookie, and Marta Portocale knows it. Start there. I’ll handle your invitation for you, like any good beta would do,” he adds before dropping off the rooftop.
I glance down to see him land in a crouch, and leisurely stroll away with his hands in his pockets.
“He’s the most coveted rogue beta among your people, and has never pledged to a House, since your laws are fucking stupid,” Arion tells me. “I looked into him as well.”
“You’re excellent at playing dumb,” I commend, as I pocket my phone. “And if my laws are so stupid, why do they work so well?”
“They don’t,” Vance and Arion say in unison, as we all just stare at Violet.
“Can we trust him around Violet?” Vance asks me after a moment of silence.
“I don’t even trust the omega wolves around Violet, so hell no we can’t,” Arion deadpans.
“But you trust your beta?” Vance volleys.
“Absolutely not,” he responds with zero hesitation. “Shera’s a damn good beta because she does what I tell her to do, and never oversteps. She’s overstepping now, and she won’t tell me why. Then that codger comes in and yaps about Violet being an alpha, and damn near convinces us there’s validity to it.”
Jerome walks to the loo, and I see Talbot Lane slide into the freshly vacated seat in front of Violet.
Violet looks unsurprised to see him, and Anna pops up behind him to start sniffing him like the daft ghost has a sense of smell.
“I’m officially the beta for Damien Morpheous,” Talbot, the stupid fuck, tells her. “So long as I continue to be useful.”
He shoots a look directly at me, smirks, and glances away.
“I really don’t like all the interest piquing around her,” I tell them.
Anna makes a thrusting motion behind his head, and Violet just ignores her, keeping her attention on Talbot.
“Now you can start doing the work, Mr. Lane,” she says with a cute little smile that boasts more arrogance than she actually has.
“Still no hints as to what the work is?”
She shrugs a shoulder. “You’ve become his beta. Now you have to prove you’re a damn good beta. It’s simple like that.”
“She’s toying with him,” Arion says as though he’s amused.
“I’m quite a catch, Ms. Carmine. You’re wasting precious resources,” he assures her, knowing we’re listening in.
“She’s empathic. Does that mean she senses a reason not to trust him? How empathic is she now?” Arion goes on. “Has she been hiding that much growth from us?”