Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
But, I didn’t want my family to see it, not yet.
I was glad that Mom had taken Katie to visit family and they wouldn’t be home until this afternoon. And that Jordan wasn’t often home since he, too, had found his mate. It was just going to be me, the staff, and Daddy.
Oh, that was even worse. I had to hide the mark as best as I could. After my shower I left my hair down, blow drying it so that it would lay properly on my shoulders. Then I wore a sleeveless turtleneck sweater in a soft shade of pink. I did everything I could to make sure Daddy didn’t know what I did last night.
I may be mated, but I was still his little girl and I didn’t want him to get mad at Carter. I would let Daddy think that we waited until we were married, that would be the best option for us all.
When I went down to breakfast I saw that my dad was already sitting at the table, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper.
“Good morning Daddy.” I said as I skipped into the room. I kissed him on the top of his head as I passed and then sat in my seat.
“Morning.” His voice was gruff and he was looking at me sternly. “Where’s Carter?” He didn’t sound happy.
“I don’t know, I haven’t seen him since we got home last night. Why?” I turned my head and looked at him curiously.
“Just wondering.” He definitely sounded mad and his eyes were boring into me like x-rays or something.
“Is something wrong Daddy?” I asked him, making my voice sound extra innocent.
“Nope. Not a thing.” He said as he folded his newspaper in half and left the room. I didn’t like how that was going.
I had just sat there and watched on worriedly as my dad rose to his feet and left the room without another word. I just hoped he didn’t know what I had done last night. I would die of embarrassment if he did.
****
Carter
****
I had gotten the important things last night but I had to come back to get the tent, air mattress, and other odds and ends that I had left in the tent from the date. I had set my alarm to go off extra early so I could accomplish this before breakfast.
There was a spring in my step as I walked happily up the path to the tent. I even seemed to be whistling as I worked. This was the best I had ever felt in my entire life.
I worked efficiently but I still wasn’t done in time for breakfast. I think it was the fact that I kept smelling Emmalee’s scent and stopping to take long deep breaths, remembering the night before and grinning happily. That had delayed me quite a bit.
Once I was certain that there were no traces of the campsite left behind I headed back to the Jeep and started off back toward the pack house. I drove calmly, leisurely, and with the memories still dancing in my mind.
When I pulled up in front of the house I saw Bryce leaning against the porch, glaring at the Jeep as I got out.
“Carter?” He called out to me, his voice gruff and there was a deep line running between his brows.
“Yeah?” I called out, wondering what he needed.
“I need to talk to you.” He stalked down the steps. For a moment I thought he knew about what had happened last night, but I knew Emmalee would never tell him. She had understood when I told her why we had to head home.
“Is something wrong?” I asked him, curious about his behavior.
“It’s sensitive information, come with me.” He tilted his head toward the trees, indicating that he wanted me to follow him out there.
“Alright.” I agreed as I followed behind him.
We had walked for at least ten minutes before the silence got to me. Bryce, a stoic look on his face and a stern set to his eyes hadn’t made a move to talk at all.
“What’s going on?” I asked him again.
“How’re things, Carter? Enjoying yourself?”
“I’ve got no complaints.” I answered him, perplexed by the question.
“Enjoying your time here in my pack?”
“Of course. Things have been great.” I didn’t understand what he was getting at.
“Hmm.” He seemed to hum, as if he was agreeing with me. Life truly was great in his pack, they didn’t have to worry about everything that my pack had to worry about.
We walked a little further, Bryce in the lead. Finally, we came to a large stream that was running across the path where the two of us stood side by side. It wasn’t something that would hold us up, we could have jumped it given the determination, or we could have just walked through it as the water would only come to our knees, maybe a little higher.
We stared out at the stream for a moment before Bryce started to turn. I thought that he was going to say something, that he was going to start talking again.
I did not expect that Bryce was going to swing around with his fist lashing out at me. By the time I realized what he was doing his fist had slammed into the side of my face so hard that it sent me sprawling, right into the stream.
I felt the water rush across my body and my face and into my nose. I rose to my knees quickly, coughing and spluttering.
“What the hell Dad?” I asked him, pissed and confused.
