Beauty and The Beta (Bailey)

3

Chapter 3 – Bailey

Three Years Later

I drove the long road down to pack. I hated this drive. It was like returning to hell for me. Lotus Shadow Pack. My very own version of hell. Though, three years away, studying had been truly amazing. Transforming myself into the woman I should always have been. Confident. Self-assured. Brave. Just me. And now a fully qualified teacher.

As a she-wolf, you spend so many years of your life being told your focus is finding your fated mate. Settling down with them and creating a strong matebond. A love. A family. Well, once I had come to accept that my naïve, teenage dreams would never surface, thanks to the moon goddess pairing me with a mate so incapable of loving anyone other than himself, I decided that my focus would be my career. My education had always been something I took great pride in. I loved to learn, and I had decided that I wanted to pass that gift along. I no longer cared what others thought of me. And, while at university, it felt so wonderful to be surrounded by others who felt the same way. I finally felt like I fit in somewhere.

And, I believe that is what allowed me to become the person I was meant to be. However, now, I had to return to my pack, at their orders. The agreement was, once I had completed my degree, I would return home. Unless, of course, I had found my fated mate. But, I knew within my heart, that was never to happen. For, my fated mate sat at home. Lording it over our pack. Acting like he was the best thing since sliced bread. Sleeping with any she-wolf that came near him, from what I heard, having rejected me.

I pulled up at our guarded pack gates. Harley, one of our pack warriors, currently on guard duty, stepped forward to my car window. “ID” he ordered.

I frowned at him. I do not think I have been asked for ID before when returning home, even in all the times I have visited home, though in all fairness, those visits have been few and far between. My visits were only when they were required of me. I had grown to loathe this place, and coming back had become less of a priority for me over the time I was away…

me. Bailey.” I explained, trying not to smile at his

“Sh it. Sorry Bailey, didn’t really recognize you there. You changed your hair. And you aren’t wearing your glasses. You look good.” He says with a shrug, quickly looking away, clearly embarrassed by his

had worn for reading had been long gone. Having got

problem. You still need

know who you are. Nice to see you.” he nods at me in acknowledgment as the gate opens for me. “Maybe catch you around while you are back.” He adds as I begin to drive

like I had a fated mate to wait for any longer. And it wasn’t like Miles was making a point of staying single. Every time I had

I moved my car down the route to my family home. No doubt my Mum would be there waiting for me, perhaps my Dad, if he was in from work by now. My brother and sister, I was unsure. They still both lived at home with my parents, but were back and forth to friends’ homes and my brother

out, now my fated mate had rejected me. Not that anyone other than Miles and I

think of it. He had allowed me to go away to do my degree. Doing the final bit of convincing when my Uncle, the current Alpha, and Miles’s father, along with my parents were on the fence. Or, so he said. How true that was, I would never likely know the truth, but it had been for that reason,

from pack. To allow me to be just me, not the daughter of the pack

ever to find work, as I heard my Mum’s voice. “Bailey!” she greeted me from the porch steps, a big smile upon her face.

to see Miles leaving the house next