Chapter 02

CARRISA POV

Our pack eventually noticed that their Beta was now spending every evening at his new apartment and not at home. That was when our pack discovered the truth.

They also discovered, thanks to Brittany and her pursuit to salvage her own image, that I was a bastard affair offspring; my birth father was unknown. That information was something our mother wasn't telling anyone else, not even my father or Alpha Kane.

Our pack also discovered that their Beta had not only moved out months ago but was also actively living with his girlfriend, Lindy Monroe. She was a transfer. She came from the human city and had her own catering company.

To be honest, I liked Lindy. She was nicer than my mother, and I often wondered if my father and Lindy were actually true mates. I have never seen my father as happy as he was with Lindy. Lindy Monroe was the exact opposite of Kim Miller-Carter.

What surprised me most about Lindy and my father was that he accepted that Lindy was born wolf-less. I wouldn't have thought the great Beta Anthony Carter would accept a defect. Runts and the wolf-less were considered defective by many packs. They tend to mate with humans or other shifters because of how judgmental wolf packs are. Most wolves will never claim the defects, and without a wolf, you’d never feel the intense mate bond, only a simple attraction pull.

Beta Anthony Carter, a man ruled by the book, suddenly seemed not to care. He was putting his happiness above the image he thought he had to maintain as Beta.

I respected him more for following his own wants and not what was okay with our pack.

It also made me realize that my parents hadn't been in love with one another. They used the fact that they had pups together as a reason to stay together. Keep the Beta image strong.

My mother's stepping out of their marriage gave my father the leverage he needed to finally follow his own desire and not the path laid out for him by someone else.

As for Lindy, I got along with her more than anyone else in my family.

When Ginny passed away, I was left all alone. Ginny always cared for me, so no one needed to remember to check on me. All seventeen of my birthdays were spent with just Ginny and a few of the kinder staff. The gifts weren't fancy ones like my siblings would get, but I appreciated everything gifted to me. It was done out of genuine care and love.

After she died, my heart was broken, and I thought I would have no more pleasant memories within the pack, but Lindy didn't hesitate to fill that role.

I imagined it was because Lindy understood what it was like to be unwanted or looked down on. Lindy quickly stepped into the maternal role, teaching me all the girly things like makeup, hair and picking the right dress for my figure and complexion.

Suddenly, my father invited me to dinner with him and Lindy. I knew Lindy had requested it, but it was still a bridge my father and I could use to get to know each other better.

I learned that my father was funny when he was not arguing with his mate.

Imagine that. I had spent years hiding away, alone in my room, thinking my father was this big, angry guy, but it turned out that he wasn't. He was just hurt.

I wondered if we were more alike than we realized. We were both trapped in a life we didn't want or ask for.

It was like swimming against the current, but you didn't know how to swim.

That's what my life always felt like, and she now wondered if that was how the great Beta Carter always felt: bobbing in the water, hoping to swim.

None of that matters now, however.

We have gotten a lot closer and are repairing the fragmented bond we had.

I continued to watch outside the window while my brother drove the SUV to the secret location of the event for their father. My mother, Kim, was in the front seat, and I sat alone in the back, watching the trees go by.

"Why isn't Brittany coming with us?" It was a little odd that our sister wasn't with us since it involved her biological father.

"She is coming with Ryan in a separate car."

Ryan Davis, future heir of our pack and top-tier douche-bag. He was your typical golden boy image bully with an even larger ego than his six-foot stature.

They had been dating for just over a year, and despite their heated argument, which terrorized our pack at times, they stuck it out. They were toxic together; everyone saw it, but they always went back to each other, no matter what. It was a terrifying tale of what lay ahead for the pack's future if they became the power couple leading.

Trinity Falls pack was considered on the smaller side for wolf packs in the country, with member counts of around three hundred, and roughly two hundred were warriors trained to protect those within the pack. Trinity Falls was once a proud and welcoming pack. Still, with Alpha Kane Davis stepping down soon, he has been giving more responsibility to his son, Ryan, who wasn't the most studious or kindest of people. This also meant that my equally douche-bag of a brother, Matthew, has been walking the line of tyranny alongside him as his Beta.

None of that matters, however. I will leave for school after the summer break, and then I could petition to join a new pack if things get bad or go into lone wolf status. I have good standing and a clean record, so I knew I wouldn't be turned to rogue status.

I had been interning as a junior assistant with Alpha Kane for the last year after school; despite my bastard status, I was in an excellent place for the future. I could adapt and handle most of the financial reports and the Luna workload that Alpha Kane took over after Luna's passing years ago. He still refused to take another Luna, but rumours were that he was a bit of a horn-dog with some married females—strictly rumours, as I hadn't seen anything around the office. I worked hard with the plan to apply that knowledge to my applications for joining a new pack later in life. Treasurers don't hold powerful titles but are invaluable to packs; that was the goal after graduating from University.

I felt the SUV begin to slow down and come to a stop.

"Okay, we're here. Let's get a move on." Matthew turned the engine off and jumped out of the vehicle before I could even grasp that we had arrived.