All Chapters of The Beta's False Mate: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

“Carter!” A cheery voice shouted.I looked over to see Luna Grace leaving a room in the packhouse and she immediately started closing the distance between them, but stopped when she noticed me.“Oh! Dear me, are you in a meeting? Did I interrupt?” She glanced at Carter and me curiously, however something about her gaze seemed a little… “Not at all Grace, just spending some time with my mate.” Carter flashed a beaming smile, one that would send any woman to their knees however after spending a little time with the real Carter, I easily recognized his false polite mask. It was a good one, I’ll give him that, but the real question was- why was Carter Lockwood, the second lead of the book series giving his supposed best friend and cousin’s mate a polite smile mask? Weren’t they closer than that?“Oh. Oh! That’s right! You found your mate!” Luna Grace looked between me and Carter as if seeing us together was the cutest thing. She closed the distance between us and held out her hand for me

The room was filled with laughter. There were joyous alphas and beta males spitting out their alcohol, and embarrassed lunas and beta females who’d all glance at each other knowingly and roll their eyes. The room was packed with high rankers from four different packs not including our own. We were all cozied up at a long banquet table in the cabin-styled dining room, with patterned high backed cushioned chairs and an antler chandelier. Alpha Damien sat at the head, to his right was Luna Grace, looking even more angelic than usual.I wonder if it was the lighting.To the left of the alpha sat Carter, and I sat to the left of him. A luna of a pack I was unfamiliar with sat on my other side but we both must have been socially awkward because all we managed to do was politely smile at one another and nod and that was the end of our interactions. Another bout of deep throated laughter shook me from my thoughts. “If George really needs something to brace him, he might want to grab the hea

“Now then-” Alpha Cunningham turned back to the rest of the table, “Any more questions?” He smirked.And like a beautiful dance, I witnessed Carter and the rest of the high rankers navigate through a minefield of tense negotiations.Wolf politics were interesting, if only for the fact that words had to be carefully crafted in every sentence so as not to offend any of the highly emotional and dangerous wolves. However, if a wolf needed to show their strength, they purposely tried to make the other uncomfortable.For instance, as questions were fielded about the legitimacy of the claims of wolf children being taken, Alpha Cunningham got swept up in a stare-off with the alpha who skeptically denied the validity of them earlier. The two refused to look away as it showed weakness and it took each of their luna’s to pull them away from nearly turning to a wolf at the dinner table and challenging each other. “How can you expect us to believe that they’re taken?” The same skeptical alpha gro

Carter parked the car along the side of the road. When it came to a stop, there was a clear hesitancy in both of us. Ultimately, Carter kept his seat belt buckled and looked at me with a strained smile. “Have a wonderful night, Paisley. And thank you again for accompanying me to the dinner.”“Of course.” I brushed my hair behind my hair. With a smile, I thought back to the dinner. “I hope it was less boring this time, for better or worse.”“Having you there made it better, no matter the circumstances.” Carter smiled, a hint of sadness in his gaze. “We made quite the team, you and I.”“We did, didn’t we?” I bumped my shoulder with his before opening the door. Carter's wrist caught mine before I could let go of my grip on the car door. “Don’t be a stranger, alright?” He looked seriously at me. I smiled tensely. “We’re friends, remember?” He gave me a sad smile. I tried to nod but felt a little too guilty. Was it bad of me that I wanted him to walk me to my door again? To hold me in h

Then Time passed by at work. The kids were a little extra rambunctious today, but still such sweethearts. We were all currently outside enjoying some sunshine on the playground behind the pack house. Gloria was currently helping kids get themselves across the monkey bars because heaven forbid they try to attempt it themselves without a teacher there to support them. I was put on the field with some of the bigger kids, all kicking a soccer ball back and forth- attempting to explain the rules of soccer without any of the kids understanding at all the definition of the word ‘team’. That's when I heard a scream. I quickly scanned the kids and noticed the screaming came from a young girl next to the fence. “What happened?” I huffed when I ran over to her. She was on the ground, holding her leg which had blood dripping profusely from it. Little Lucy stood next to the girl looking up at me blank faced. “Smoke come and hurt her.” She stared at the bleeding leg. “A what?” Another kid- a