Her Brother, Her Mate

Elena POV

It was finally happening! I’m elated knowing I can finally call myself Carli’s mom. That’s all I’ve ever wanted since I met that broken, lonely little 3-year-old girl at my first Little Tykes class all those years ago. Tom was not able to tell me, but I knew. She had the same scent as my mate, and the way he watched her, and his disdain for her parents, I knew. I knew she was his child.

At our wedding not long after that, I met Tom’s brother and parents for the first time in Canada, and they were able to tell me everything, even the fact that that b***h Mary commanded him to keep Carli’s paternity a secret. She was such a f*****g moron. You could tell by Carli’s scent alone she wasn’t the alpha’s. She tried to pretend all this time that Carli was his, completely ignorant to the fact that everyone knew she wasn’t. Thanks to her treatment of Carli, no one thought Carli was hers either.

I’ve been out shopping all morning, buying things for Carli she will need when we all move up to Blue Cliff Pack. She bought some jeans and long sleeve shirts, but she will need coats, boots, beanies, scarfs, gloves, snow pants, and so much more. I’ve had to run all over Miami to specialty shops and thrift stores just to find these things. They are not needed much in the year-long balmy heat of Florida.

I was carrying several large bags into the packhouse, making my way up to the third floor when the b***h herself called out for me.

“Elena! Elena, wait,” Mary called up, running up the steps after me. “Can I have a word?”

“About what? I’m a little busy at the moment.”

She scoffs, “I know we have never been on friendly terms, but I’m still your luna.”

“You like reminding me,” I sighed, “My hands really are full. You can follow me up or I’ll come back down if you can give me 5 minutes.”

She stomps on the stairs a bit, showing her exasperation, “Fine. I will just follow you up. I would like to get this over with.”

“As you wish,” I answered in a monotone voice. This b***h. After today, Carli will be mine and I won’t have to put up with kissing up to this b***h anymore.

She follows me up, complaining the whole time about my use of the stairs and not the elevator. I’m sure she is the only one who uses it. We’re werewolves for f**k’s sake. I know she grew up in human foster care, but come on.

“Luna Mary, what is it you want to talk to me about? I really have a lot to prepare for,” I interrupted her current rant about how the carpet is too plush for her heels in my living room.

“What is it you have to prepare for? What are all those bags? Is that a coat?” She peeks into one of the bags I set on the coffee table while she sits in my favorite recliner. Guess I’ll sit on the couch.

“A coat for Carli,” I told her in a flat voice.

She scoffs, “You’re buying my daughter clothes now? Why on earth does she need a coat?”

“Are you serious?” I said with a perplexed face. “It’s cold in Canada. She didn’t have the proper clothes.”

“She’s not going to Canada anymore,” she turned her nose up at the down jacket, stuffing it back in the bag, “Jared took back the transfer. She can’t go anymore.”

I rolled my eyes, causing her eyes to tighten. Carli has made it very clear she wants out from under this woman’s control. I don’t want to argue now, but Tom and I talked and we still plan on taking Carli and moving up north, away from these noxious people. Nathan got his alpha to approve a rogue admittance. All three of us can renounce this pack and move without any issues if Carli still wishes to go.

“Well, she may need them sometime,” I dismissed her concerns, “What do you want, Mary?”

Her eyes tighten further at my informal way of addressing her and she squirms uncomfortably in the seat. “I wanted to talk to you about Carli,” she smooths her designer pants mindlessly, “I wanted to remind you that even though you may now legally be her mother, I am still her mom.”

Now I scoff, folding my arms across my chest and working my mouth in annoyance and disbelief. “You really want to pull that s**t right now?” I lean back, glaring at this maddening woman, “You lost the right to call yourself her mother when she turned 10 and you not only forgot her birthday, again, you hit her for the first time. You have never been a mom to that little girl. I don’t know what is up with you and your mate now, but now that we have her legally, I plan on showering her with all the affection she has missed out on for the last 18 years.”

“You have no clue what I did to protect her,” she sneers.

“You mean keeping her real father away from her? You are so selfish, it’s unbelievable. If protecting her means beating her and making her feel alone and abandoned for 18 years, great job. You have Parker, and you have been a great mother to him, but Carli has always been mine. It takes more than giving birth to someone to be their mother.”

“I had to treat her harshly for her own good! If Jared found out-”

“HE KNEW!” I yelled, throwing my hands in the air, “Everyone f*****g knew, you t**t. How incredibly stupid can you be? Why do you think the former Alpha and Luna never approved of you?! They moved to f*****g Fort Lauderdale to get away from you,” she winces at my words, “They knew what you did to my mate was wrong, and they also knew the way you were trying to hide the truth from your mate was wrong. Everyone knew. I don’t know how you still don’t see it.”

“How do you know what they think?” she glared at me.

“They called me this morning to congratulate me. I’m good friends with Luna Grace. We have lunch at least once a month,” I smirked, knowing I had struck a nerve. She tries so hard to be a good luna because Luna Grace was so against Jared bringing her home. It’s taboo to break up a family the way she and Jared did. Mary and Tom should have marked each other when she found out she was pregnant, according to our customs, and raised Carli together. She was seeing Jared behind Tom’s and Rose’s backs, even when Rose was alive. Knowing Jared, I’m sure it was more him just being a prick after learning his fated mate was dating his gamma. He told Tom he was committed to Rose and told Tom he didn’t mind as long as Mary was happy, then he sought Mary out repeatedly. Trash. They are both trash.

They are the reason everything got so f****d up and Luna Grace saw that. Jared was already alpha, and there was little she could do to reprimand her son, so she and her mate moved. That was probably for the best. The pack would have erupted in chaos if their transgressions were known. Luna Grace is a fighter. She wouldn’t have let this b***h treat Carli the way she did, and she would have raised a fuss that Mary was denying Tom the right to be a father. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Jared had forced his parents to move and keep their mouths shut with a command. He was always too devoted to letting Mary continue on with her little scheme.

“I’m so glad to hear that,” Mary growled, “It’s great to hear everyone knows how much of a disappointment I am. That changes nothing, though. Carli is my daughter, and now that the secret about her father is out, I can finally act like her mom.”

“Good luck,” I offered her a smug look, “I bet you haven’t even talked to her yet. I know she didn’t hear about the adoption until this morning when Tommy told her. Would you like her number?”

She scoffs, then stands to her feet. One more week and Carli will be completely free from this woman. “I’ll see myself out,” she says, then leaves.

I know all about abusive, toxic parents. I’ll be damned if I let my daughter, because Carli is every bit my daughter as she is Tommy’s, be subjected to any more of her real mother’s poisonous influence.

Mary POV

Everything has become so messed up. Everything! I thought it was bad enough when Parker informed me he was going to claim Carli. Then they showed up together, practically naked and reeking of arousal. I knew I was going to have to come clean to Jared, but I didn’t expect that he already knew.

I paced around the great hall for hours last night, dreading the talk I was going to have to have with my mate. It was a great shock when I finally came upstairs at nearly midnight and he wanted to have the same talk with me.

He knew. He had always known, and let me continue on with my deception just to please me. It’s sweet in a way, but because he allowed me to keep pushing Carli away to prevent him from finding out, I pushed her to the point where I fear our relationship will never be repairable.

Of course I knew my daughter’s number, I thought to myself, recalling Elena’s smart remark. I tried calling and texting her this morning, but all my calls went to voicemail and she has yet to read my messages.

Parker is going to claim her. They are fated mates. If I had stayed with Thomas, it wouldn’t be an issue with my daughter being the next luna. It feels like my whole life, I have been trying my hardest to do the right thing, and it always ends up backfiring back in my face. I just wanted to be with my mate. I just wanted to finally have a family that loved me unconditionally. Now, everything is breaking apart.