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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 hade to


    ept that my na?ve, 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 be the person I was meant to be. However, now, I


    had to return to my pack, at their orders. The agreement was, once I hadpleted 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.Têxt belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    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 ce, anding back


    had be less of a priority for me over the time I was away…


    “Harley, it is me. Bailey.” I exined, trying not to smile at his mistake.


    Harley looked at me closer. “Sh it. Sorry Bailey, didn’t really recognize you there. You changed your


    hair. And you aren’t wearing your sses. You look good.” He says with a shrug, quickly looking


    away, clearly embarrassed by his faux-pas.


    I smirk at his response. 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 sses I had worn for reading had been


    long gone. Having got my eyes fixed withser eye surgery whilst away. Plus, I now wore a little


    simple make-up to entuate my features. Nice to know somebody has noticed a difference…


    “No problem. You still need ID?” I asked him.


    He grins at me. “I think I 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


    away.


    I smiled in response, I guess 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 quite a joke in my eyes.


    I set off along the quiet, familiar roads of our sweet old pack. The evening sun was settling in the


    sky as 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


    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 me was at the top of their priority list…


    I pulled my car up on the street in front of my familiar family home. I could not believe I was home.


    Stuck back here. The dread within my stomach churned heavily 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 decided he would be considered weak if


    others knew an Alpha had gone against the powerful Moon Goddess’s choice. So, this was our


    secret. Or he would make me pay in ways I did not want to imagine, apparently.


    And, in all honesty, I did not want to 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, and that alone I had chosen to do as he had asked.


    If he had done the things he said, then he had allowed me to fulfill my dream of gaining my degree


    of teaching away from 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 was likely stuck here.


    I stepped from the 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


    sweetheart.”


    I smiled back at her, as I moved 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 any worse?


    His eyes met mine, giving me a dark stare before looking at my Mum. “Hi Aunt Brianna. You didn’t


    say she was home today.”


    Mum smiled at Miles like she thought the world of him, though most of the time she generally did.


    “Ah, I think it slipped my mind. Bailey is home for good now, Miles. How wonderful is that?”


    Once more, Miles gave me a dark stare. “Hmmm. Truly wonderful.” he said with some serious


    contempt in his voice.


    ‘You stay out of my way unless I say otherwise, you understand?’ Miles mindlinks me, as he moves


    toward his car.


    “Are you not going to speak to him Bai?” Mum tries. “He will be Alpha this time next year, you


    know?”


    “Oh it doesn’t matter, Aunt Brianna. Bailey will be excused this time. I am sure she is tired from her


    drive back home. But no doubt I will be seeing her around. And yes, she will have to get used to me


    as her senior. Her Alpha.” He says with a sneer, and at his words my stomach twists into knots. I


    don’t think I can stay here… I not only need to find work, I need to find work away from my pack, so


    I can move away to get away from my psychotic Alpha and ex-mate!