The Alpha Beast's Rebel Wolf

Ch. 03

BETA ANTHONY CARTER (CARTER) POV

I sat in my office at home while Lindy was downstairs doing her workout. I enjoyed watching her do her yoga the most.

A smile spread across my face at just the thought of going down and joining her with some downward dog stretches.

Felix, my wolf, agreed hungrily.

“Soon, buddy,” I said with a chuckle, trying to calm the horny wolf within.

We had to finish up the paperwork for the day before we allowed ourselves to become distracted by our lust-inducing girlfriend.

She is not a girlfriend; she is our mate! Felix growled in disagreement.

I couldn't agree more. Lindy was everything we had ever wanted in a mate, and if it wasn't for her lack of a wolf, I was certain we would have been true mates. The connection, the bond, was unbelievably strong. She made me want to be a better man—a better wolf.

She pushed me to see the errors in my misguided ways. I made many mistakes, but slowly, with Lindy's guidance, I made the changes to fix them.

The most important one was with Carissa. Carissa may have been a bastard pup, born through my soon-to-be ex-wife's betrayal, but she was a good girl. I cared a lot for Carissa, but hurt forced those feelings aside, leaving us to grow distant. I didn't want that for her anymore. She needed a home where she felt safe and wanted, and that was precisely what I planned to do. I knew it was late in the game to start being a father now, but it was better late than never. I needed to give her a real home, even if she left the pack in a few more months. Lindy and I had been talking in private about following. We could find a new pack for the three of us or live within the human city. Maybe we would buy a small acreage with forest access. Something where my wolf and Carissa's can bond and run together while Lindy watches over us from the porch or on Felix’s back. The thought of the prospective future brought a smile to my face. I was going to fix all of my mistakes with Carissa.

I signed the last adoption paperwork for Carissa to be officially under my name. Our pack didn't realize until only a few years back that under the father at the birth registry, Carissa had none listed. For most of her life, I refused to be legally associated with her.

All that changed through Lindy's guidance. It took me all this time to realize that Carissa wasn’t my enemy and that she needed a father; I wanted to be that male for her. Lindy would make an incredible stepmother to her; she already filled the role without the ring and title.

All that would change as well.

I opened the drawer of my desk and pulled out the engagement ring.

The light sparkled over the diamonds, forcing a big smile on my typically serious face.

Once the adoption paperwork went through, Alpha Kane, in his final act as Alpha, swore to help me get custody of Carissa and bless my marriage to Lindy. Lindy had already proclaimed that her future stepdaughter would be her maid of honour. The only witness that either of us cared to attend the happy union. Lindy didn’t know how soon that would become more than them talking about the future and become their reality.

It wasn't lost on me that there was a bit of harsh energy. Many of the pack members expected Lindy to be a fling and for me to return to my cheating, title-hungry, gold-digging wife. It wasn't going to happen, however. I had already written her out of my will. I left everything to Lindy and Carissa.

Finally, everything was coming together, and no one, not even my soon-to-be ex-wife, Kim, would get in the way.

I took out my cell phone and called my long-time friend and Alpha to confirm that the plan was still a go. I wanted to surprise Carissa as soon as possible.

She was a newly graduated young lady starting her summer break from school. This would be her final summer of internship with Alpha Kane. I honestly didn’t know how Kane was going to handle it. It was a challenge to work under, and Carissa was the best admin he’d ever had.

Because of this, we planned a large celebration to let the world know that she would proudly bear the name Carter.

"Hey, man. You all set?" Kane asked right away. I smirked. He knew precisely why I was calling.

"You bet. I will grab Lindy; we'll head to the house and see Carissa before stopping there. Sound good?"

"I'll be here. See ya soon, buddy."

The call disconnects, and after a good stretch, I leave my office with the finished documents.

I will serve Kim with her divorce documents and give Kane the adoption and custody papers to push through. It was time for me to take my life by the reins and choose my own happiness.

"Hey, baby. It's time to get going." I called out as I walked down to the small home gym.

There, finishing her cool-down stretches, was the love of my life, Lindy.

"Looks like I missed all the naughty positions," I teased, pulling her into my arms. She was covered in sweat, which drove Felix and me into an even greater frenzy. Her scent was ripe, and we wanted to roll in it.

"You sure did, Beta sexy!" she cooed, stretching on her toes to plant a teasing kiss on my lips before ducking around me to run to the shower.

Chase! Felix sparked with excitement at the thrill of the hunt.

I did just that. I lunged after my little minx, close on her heels as she laughed once she reached our private en-suite washroom.

"Are you going to help me reach my back, Beta sexy?" she purred as she slowly peeled out of her workout gear. The scent from her workout was strong; her arousal was stronger.

"I'm going to help you reach more than that, baby." Followed her lead by stripping naked before her.

Snatching her naked body and pulling her flush to mine, I walked us to the shower, turning on the faucet but not focusing on the cleaning. No, my focus was on making her dirty.

After our frantic, intimate claiming and cleansing within the shower, we dressed and headed out to run the errands needed for the day.

I chuckled as I watched Lindy, rattled with nerves, the entire drive to the old Beta house. She wasn't worried about how Kim would receive the divorce paperwork. Kim was aware that these papers were coming; the farce of a marriage needed to come to an end, but Lindy was nervous about how Carissa would handle the idea of being adopted officially and her becoming a stepmother to her.

The thoughts ranged from tears of happiness to bitterness because she would be considered inadequate as a parent.

Lindy couldn't have her children, but she loved spending time with Carissa. They were like kindred spirits. Both were looked down on through no fault of their own, and this understanding bonded them quickly.

She just hoped that Carissa saw it that way and that it wasn't just for the show to catch a Beta male. She adored Carissa and thought of her as a friend and family.

"It's going to be fine, baby. Carissa loves you. I promise everything is going to be fine." I raised her hand and gently kissed her knuckles, attempting to calm her as we pulled into the driveway of my old house. I call it a house, as it wasn’t until finding Lindy that I realized it was never a home.

I looked up at the big house. I remember when I first saw it, my mind filled with happiness and the dreams of the future that it would symbolize. It was once one of the most prestigious houses in the pack. It was a house of image and status.

Kim and I weren't true mates; we were high school sweethearts. We started dating in the tenth grade, and it was clear to everyone that we were the perfect match.

Our pack was confident that we would be discovered to be true mates, but when the time came and Kim got her wolf, we realized that we weren't. I was worried that that would happen. When I got my wolf, Felix, the year prior, he didn't feel any different towards Kim, but I kept it to myself in hopes that we both needed their wolves to know. But, ultimately, we weren't anything but place fillers for our true mates.

Kim's parents were elite warriors and still pushed the young pair together, but my parents, like Kane's Alpha parents, always believed in the balance of true mates. They wanted me to step back and wait for my true mate.

As much as it hurt, that was my plan. I ended it with Kim and told her that although I loved her, I would wait for my true mate, as it would strengthen the pack if ranked members accepted only our real mates.

Kim didn't take it very well. She made my life miserable for the following month. Nothing worked, however. It was not until that day that she showed up at my parents' house, with her irate parents demanding that we marry because she was carrying my pup.

Everything changed that afternoon.

I remembered dropping to one knee right there before them all and proposing. No pup of mine would suffer the absence of a father over a stupid tradition.

My parents were disappointed with me for not waiting to confirm that the pup was mine, but they stopped their pushback and fell in love with the idea of grand pups.

When my father stepped down and handed me the title, I took my tuition savings and put them all towards a down payment on a family home instead. I would be the pack's Beta; I would be a father. I didn't need to focus on things like a business degree. My pup needed a yard to play in, and my chosen mate required a home to call her own.

Looking at it now, I can't help but laugh at the naive young man I was. I was such a fool. If I had been smarter, I would have noticed that Kim's betrayal started much earlier and that Brittany, our first-born pup, was not mine either. But that was information I was storing away for ammunition if I needed to force her hand in this divorce later on.

Brittany was a tool to trap me. It worked. I married her the moment I found out and pushed aside my own happiness.

Then Matthew came, and although he was my biological pup, there was no paternal bond. The boy was as cowardly and rotten to the core as his mother. Kim’s influence was too strong within Matthew. It left me fearful of how he would lead as a Beta, but with Brittany gunning for Luna with Ryan and Carissa pack-wide known not to be mine, there was no one else to challenge him for the title.

"You okay?" Lindy walked around the truck and wrapped her arms around my waist to pull me from my nightmare of a past.

"Yeah. I'm just thinking about the years I spent naive and blindly following the current when it only led to a suckhole of misery," I chuckled, planting a gentle kiss on the crown of her head.

My eyes caught red dust on Matthew's SUV.

We didn't have red dirt in the pack lands. That was miles away in Rogue territory.

Lindy must have followed my gaze as I noticed she had furrowed her brows just the same.

I walked over, running my finger along the red dust in curious suspicion. I went around the SUV and laid my open palm on the hood. It was still warm.

I exchanged a curious glance with Lindy, gauging if she picked up the same suspicious questioning. There was a flash of curiosity across her face. She was with me every step of the way. She would have made an incredible Beta female if this pack hadn’t thought so backward.

"That's odd. It's not something you see on a pack-registered vehicle," Lindy said, stating what we were both thinking.

"No. It's not. I don't know what he is into, but let's keep this to ourselves for now. If he gets himself in trouble, it's not our problem. Let's focus on Carissa and our happy ever after, baby."

Lindy smiled warmly at my words, and we headed to the front door after linking our hands.