~~
Carter
~~
I ran for hours. I didn't go back to my apartment that I had in Bryce's territory. I just ran and ran. I needed to only run at night and hide during the day since I was in my wolf form, and that meant that I didn't have any clothes.
I didn't mind the prolonged time in my wolf state. It gave me time to get my frustrations out. I just needed to destroy a few cave walls during the day, or knock down a few trees. It didn't help all that much but it was still better than wallowing in my human mind all the time.
My wolf had whined incessantly since I had run away from my mate. After this trip back home was over I was going to have to avoid being in my wolf form for a very long time.
It took me two and a half days in all to get back home, being limited as I was with travel time. I went straight to my family's house in the compound, I needed a shower and some sleep. And when I woke up in the morning, I would have to go straight to see the alpha.
I'm certain that Reece wouldn't be happy with me for leaving Bryce's pack so soon, but there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't be found out and I was the one who sacrificed the most during this mission.
I'm just glad that my mate didn't see or smell me. I couldn't bear it if she had noticed me and was suffering like I am. To know that I was causing her this kind of pain and sorrow, that would tear me apart.
I shifted back and climbed through my bedroom window, glad that I had my own private bathroom. I didn't want to see or talk to my parents right now. I didn't need to hear any 'it'll all work out' babble. Right now all I wanted to do was take a hot shower, crawl into bed, and cry myself to sleep, which I hadn't done since I was a little kid.
The water was scalding hot. Too hot to stand really. I had hoped that it would numb me and burn away my ability to ever feel again. But it didn't and soon I left standing in water that was slowly turning cold.
I crawled out of the shower and barely dried off before I crawled, naked, into my bed. I couldn't get comfortable at all. I tossed, turned, and hugged my pillow for hours before I finally drifted into an uneasy sleep.
I had very bad dreams when I did finally sleep.
I dreamt that my mate found someone else. I dreamt that once I settled this stuff with Trinity and I was finally able to try and work things out I was too late. I dreamt that I had to watch from afar as the only woman there was for me grew old loving another man, raising his kids, and I just wasted away into nothingness.
"Carter?" I woke to the sound of someone pounding on my door. "Carter!?" Mom was yelling at me from the otherside. "Carter answer me if you don't want your mother seeing how much you've grown." I groaned as I shook my head, shaking the sleep from my eyes and my mouth. Mom knew I always slept naked, ever since she walked in on me when I was fifteen and was able to last assess my development, I didn't want a repeat of that now.
"What?" I yelled at the door.
"Don't you what me in that tone boy." She reprimanded my angry tone of voice.
"I was sleeping, Ma."
"I know that. And I also know you're supposed to be on a mission right now, so why the heck are you home?"
"I needed to get out of there. Don't worry, I am planning on seeing Reece today and explaining what happened."
"You had better, if you bring any trouble to your cousin with all that's happened lately, so help me boy I will whoop you."
"You realize I'm too big for that, don't you mom?"
"Shut it! You're never too big for me to bend over my knee, boy, do you hear me." My mom really was scary sometimes.
"I'm not going to cause trouble Mom, I swear."
I groaned again as I rolled out of bed. I felt too tired to even move, but I had to force myself. I needed another shower. A cold one this time so that it could wake me up. I shuffled my feet until I got to the bathroom and took a shower with the water as cold as I could stand it.
Once I was dressed and forced myself to eat something for breakfast, or was it lunch time now, it was time for me to head to the Alpha's estate. I didn't want to rush this meeting into happening sooner than it had to so I decided to walk, slowly, to the house. Walking, slowly, up that long, winding driveway through the woods.
But, sooner than I wanted, or was ready for, I was at the front door. I could smell a lot of familiar scents. My brother Noah's, he was Reece's best friend and assistant, my cousin, should be sister, Trinity who was mated to Reece, and of course Reece, who just always succeeded in annoying me and pissing me off since he had stolen half my family away from me.
I was never a big fan of the Alpha, but seeing how terrified Trinity was when she was forced to live with him just made me want to beat his face in. Then, add in the fact that Trinity was attacked the day she moved in here, yeah, ok, Reece rescued her, big whoop. What happened when they went to Azure River? She was kidnapped and given a massive concussion.
Oh, and it didn't stop there either. She was attacked at her school, and attacked here, on these very grounds. I looked around me, looking for some sort of danger in the distance just to be safe. Was there another attack coming for her?
How could this Alpha of ours be any good if his mate has been attacked so many times? Alright I get it, there seems to be so many threats coming from so many different places that we don't even know where to look for them. That's why I've been sent scouting after all.
"What are you doing?" Noah's voice cut through my thoughts. I nearly jumped when I heard him, nearly, meaning I didn't quite get that far.
"Thinking."
"Don't strain yourself there Einstein, and be careful. It looks like your head's about to catch fire from the effort."
"Fuck you, Noah, you asshat." I snapped at him. "I just have a lot on my mind."
"Like what?"
"None of your business."
"Geez, you annoying little brat, I was just trying to help."
"Who are you calling little?" I stepped forward, a little closer to where he stood on the steps near the door, a little closer so that I could prove my height and physical presence to him.
"Maybe I was talking about your brain and not your muscles, genius." He just laughed. "Are you here to see Trinity?"
"I'm going to see her, but I need to see Reece first." Noah raised an eyebrow at that.
"Why do you need to see him?"
"Who's the genius now?" I laughed at him. "I need to give him a report on my latest mission."
"Speaking of." He eyed me suspiciously. "Aren't you supposed to be there still?"
"Supposed to, yeah. So what."
"Why did you come back so early?"
"Well, dumbass, maybe that's what I'm here to tell him. Did you ever think of that?"
"Just shut up and go. He's in his office. You know where that is don't you?"
"Oh no, Noah, I can't find my way. Will you hold my hand and show me how to get there?"
"Fuck you." Noah stormed off and didn't look back.
"Asshole." I snapped at the empty space where he had been standing. My mood was not good, at all.
Two minutes later I was knocking on Reece's office door. I could smell Trinity's scent close to the area, she had been in his office a few times at least. He better not be mistreating her.
"Come in." He ordered as soon as my fist hit the door. I opened the door and saw him leaning over the documents spread out on his desk. No matter what kind of Alpha he was, he was still a businessman too, and a good one.
"Hello Alpha." I was speaking formally to him.
"What is it Carter? I'm kind of busy today." He hadn't even looked up yet, but then I saw his brows crease. "Aren't you supposed to be at the canyons still?" He looked confused.
"That's why I am here."
"Did something happen? Are they behind the attacks?" He had hope in his eyes, like he thought he had finally found a solution to the problem.
"No, I don't think they are." I was shaking my head. "They never acted like they wanted to do anything except keep others out of their land. If they were behind the attacks, then they would be planning more of them, not tightening their borders."
"You're right, that's what I would do if I were behind them." He deflated for a moment. "Then why did you leave so soon?"
"I found my mate there." I slumped my shoulders and hung my head.
"Are you thinking about fighting the bond?" He didn't sound like he was telling me not to, he was just asking. I shook my head.
"No, I want to be with her."
"What does she want?"
"I don't know, I've never spoken to her."
"What?" He sounded confused, and when I lifted my head to look at him, I saw that he looked just as confused as he sounded. "How could you have not met her?"
"Well, I ran away when I saw her."
"Was she that ugly?" He laughed cause we both knew it was a joke.
"No." I was shaking my head and I felt tears gathering again. "It's because of who she is."
"And who is she?" He looked very curious now, all he needed was a man with a yellow hat standing next to him and you could call him George.
"Bryce's daughter."
"Oh." That was all he said. He knew exactly what I was getting at.
After a few minutes Reece got to his feet and walked over to me. This was the kindest and most understanding I had ever seen him look.
"It's hard right now, but if Bryce's pack really isn't behind the attacks, then there will be nothing stopping you from being with her. We can explain to them what happened, why you were there and why you left."
"They'll know I lied, they'll know that I am a spy."
"And they'll know it's what we do. They have Upsilons too, we're far from the only pack that has that rank."
"If Bryce ever finds out I lied to him, he would kill me before he would let me be with his daughter. It's over Reece, I'm never going to have a mate."
"I'll figure something out for you."
"I don't want to hear it." I snapped at him. "I'm just going to work as a warrior for the rest of my life and help take care of my cousin. That's all I have left." I was having a hard time keeping the emotions off my face and out of my voice.
"Why don't you go see Trinity. She's wrapping Christmas presents right now, I know she would love to see you." Reece was actually trying to make both me and Trinity feel better.
"Yeah, I think I will." I nodded a little as he walked me to the door.
"Do you want to give her some good news while you're there? She's going to be happy to hear it and she will probably love hearing it from you."
"What's the news?"
"Tell her I managed to get her exams figured out and they're scheduled for Saturday."
"Will that be safe?" I wondered.
"I've taken plenty of precautions. I will make sure it's safe." I nodded to him, deciding to trust him, there was nothing else I could do. Reece then proceeded to explain his plan to me.
I went up to the fourth floor and down to the room where my cousin was living. I was both happy and confused about the fact that Trinity and Reece had different rooms. Tossing the thought away I knocked on her door and called her name.
"Trinity?" I heard her gasp and run across the room.
"Carter! Oh Goddess, I missed you. Where have you been?" She squealed and threw her arms around me. I really did miss her.
"Around. I had some errands to run. I missed you too Trin."
"Jeez Carter, I leave to become Luna and you ignore your favorite cousin." Her joking voice made me smile.
"Favorite?" I put my hand on my chin as if contemplating.
"I'm your only cousin."
"So, you win by default, but isn't that just as bad as a loss."
"Absolutely not, a win is a win, it doesn't matter how you got it unless you cheated. If you cheated, then it's a loss and you suck." I laughed at her playful words.
"How are you feeling? I heard you were in bad shape." I tried to assess her with my eyes, worry written on my face.
"I'm fine, no worries."
I followed her over to the table she was working on as she answered. There were a lot of presents there.
"You got a lot of gifts here Trin. Why do you have baby and kid toys here?"
"For Vincent's kids of course."
"Who all did you get gifts for?"
"Well, there's the family of course, then friends, guards, and staff. Not to mention Reece and his Mom. I also bought for Heather, Conner, Renea, and Faith, Vincent's family because I know them and consider Vincent such a good friend."
"Your guard is your friend?" This shocked me, she was probably the only Luna to make friends with her guards.
"Is that so wrong? Why is it so weird that I am friends with him? He is a nice person. And his mate is a wonderful, caring woman. And they named their baby Faith, whether that was after me or not I don't care, she's special."
"Just because her name is your middle name?" I laughed loudly.
"Shut up Carter." She snapped, I heard the ring of authority in her voice, the command in it since she was embarrassed.
"Damn, that Luna stuff is powerful." I growled, sounding serious.
"Oops." She was laughing now out of embarrassment.
"Don't oops me. You can't give me a command like that and then laugh at me."
"That was actually hilarious." We continued to laugh at each other for a minute while she quickly wrapped another present.
"So, I have something to tell you."
"What's that?" She looked curious.
"Well two things really. First, the Alpha has managed to get you approved to sit your exams, but only if you do them on Saturday." I grinned at her.
"OH MY GODDESS! REALLY?" She screamed and jumped to her feet. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am so glad I won't have to fail all four classes." She was jumping up and down.
"You're going to be taking them all consecutively. It will be you and a test proctor in the room. There will be a dozen guards, minimum, stationed around the building. One guard at each entrance, and the others scattered to look like casual bystanders."
"Wow, so serious." She said jokingly.
"Don't joke about this Trinity!" I snapped. "You were attacked last time you were there, and you've nearly died twice. This is no laughing matter. And in each of those attacks you were the one they were after. The Alpha still doesn't know how they plan to use you against him, but he knows they want to either hurt, kidnap, or kill you. Don't take your situation so lightly."
"I know Carter, I'm just so happy right now that nothing is going to sound like I am taking it seriously." She really did look happy.
"I'm just so glad that I will get to start new classes next semester."
"Yes, but not the way you think."
"What?" She seemed to have popped out of her happy bubble.
"You can take classes next semester, but you have to take them remotely for right now."
"NO!" She screamed.
"It's not up to me Trinity, those are orders from the Alpha himself. He says he will get this situation cleared up as fast as he can, but to please work remotely for this one semester until he knows that everything is safe."
"Why did I have to go and mate with him?" She roared. "My life has been turned upside-down and it will never go back. I want my life back Carter."
"I'm sorry Trin."
"So, was that the second thing you had to tell me?" She asked halfheartedly.
"No, the second thing had nothing to do with you or your little problems." I looked at her uncomfortably.
"What's wrong Carter?"
"I found my mate." I smiled, but I didn't really feel it.
"That's wonderful news Carter." She smiled.
"No, it's not. She's in the enemy pack I was sent to scout." I told her the truth right away. "I can't go anywhere near her. I can't tell her who I really am, where I'm really from, or anything. If I did, they would know that Reece sent me to spy on them all." I was still smiling but I felt like crying.
"Carter." She cried as if my pain was hers, this was one reason why I loved her so much, she was so empathetic. "We will work something out. Maybe we can convince her to leave that pack and join us." She tried to sooth me.
"I don't think she will, she's the Alpha's daughter." She gasped at my words.
"Carter." She sighed.
I could tell she wanted to talk but I was spent, I had to leave.
"Wait, Carter." She called out. "Take these." She handed me a bag full of gifts.
"Don't you want to deliver them yourself?"
"I can't go anywhere, not until the exams that is."
"You really haven't left the house in a month?" That shocked me to hear.
"Nope, except for going up into the mountains and forest, and I can't do that anymore."
"We will find whoever is responsible for all of this Trin, we will get your life back to normal." I declared firmly.
"That ship has sailed, Carter, it will never be normal again."
"You're probably right." I agreed.
After that I left and hurried home. I felt the need to sulk again, to be alone with my broken heart.