Beauty and The Beta (Bailey)

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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…

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

Yes, my hair is somewhat tamer than it used to be. The curls straightened out, and my hair now neat and sleek down my back. My glasses I had worn for reading had been long gone. Having got my eyes fixed with laser eye surgery whilst away. Plus, I now wore a little simple make-up to

still need ID?”

in acknowledgment as the gate opens for me. “Maybe catch you around while you are back.”

there would be nothing to stop me catching up with any guy I wanted to now. Not that I was really bothered right now… but it was not 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 returned home, he had had a different she-wolf on his arm. Parading them through pack like a prized possession, only to have traded her in by the time I returned on my next visit. He was turning into quite the lothario. And

I was unsure. They still both lived at home with my parents, but were back and forth to friends’ homes and my brother was looking to move into the Beta suite in the packhouse soon enough, in preparation for taking on the role from my father when the time came. Either way, they rarely bothered to rush home to see me when they knew I was returning. I don’t think seeing

at the prospect of many years stuck here. Miserable and unhappy, with no way out, now my fated mate had rejected me. Not that anyone other than Miles and I knew of that. No. He had

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

pack. To allow me to be just me, not the daughter of the pack Beta. And I have thrived because of it. But, now, I had to return. Back to where I belonged. And, while I may have gained my degree, I had no real future prospects. I

car, determined more than 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. “You look beautiful

toward the front door. Only to see Miles leaving the house next door to ours. The Alpha home. Could I have timed my arrival home