Her Brother, Her Mate

When I get up to the alpha quarters on the top floor, I find dad in his office. His main office is on the first floor, along with the Beta’s and Gamma’s, but he had one of the bedrooms up here converted to an office too, so he could work from home when he wanted to. He said he didn’t want mom to have to go down to find him when she wanted him. I used to think it was sweet. Now I think he was just lazy, using mom as an excuse to skip some of the more menial alpha duties.

He has never helped with warrior training, at least as far as I can remember. He leaves that entirely to Gamma Tommy and Beta Anthony to figure out. He deals with the pack’s businesses and diplomatic relations with other packs, but the lesser day-to-day stuff he takes a hands off approach.

I knock on his open office door and wait until he looks up to walk in.

Dad looks a lot like me. Tall and blonde. He keeps his hair short because mom likes it neat and clean cut, but I’m sure if he grew it out it would be wavy like mine.

He smiles at me, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Hey son. What can I do for you?”

“Dad,” I nodded, taking the seat across from him, “I have a favor to ask.”

He studies me curiously. I rarely ask him for anything. Mom is always more than happy to help me with anything I might need. If I go to him instead of her, he knows it’s either pack related or serious.

“What’s that?”

I rub my bare knees nervously, then start picking nonexistent lint from my shorts. I don’t know how to broach the subject of Carli’s paternity without offending him and upsetting mom, so I decide to hold off on asking him for now.

“Can you cancel Carli’s transfer?” I asked him, looking him square in the eye.

Dad looks confused. “Why would I do that? Your mother wants her to go, and she doesn’t seem reluctant. It will be good for her to…go somewhere else now that she’s an adult.”

My mouth drops at the coldness of his answer. He had no idea that Carli didn’t want to go. He doesn’t seem to care. It’s what mom wanted, so he’s just following along with what she wants, not taking Carli’s feelings into consideration at all.

“She doesn’t want to go. She never wanted to go. She loves her pack. She loves Florida. Canada is a completely different world.”

Dad leans back in his chair, studying me. “Did she ask you to talk to me?”

“Well, no. But..”

“Sounds like you’re poking your nose into something that’s none of your business. It’s not like you guys are close. It will be better after she moves. Better for her and better for us.”

“How can you say that?” I gawked at his atrocious statement. “She’s your…she’s your daughter. Don’t you care in the least what she wants?”

“Parker..,” dad runs a hand down his face, looking exasperated with the way this conversation is going, “There are things you know nothing about. I just want your mom to be happy. She says sending Carli to Blue Cliff is for the best, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Are the things I know nothing about relating to the fact Carli isn’t biologically yours?” I know I wasn’t going to ask, but the way things are, Dad will move up her departure date just to be done with this issue sooner.

Dad’s eyes tightened, looking almost threatening as he regarded me. “Who told you that?”

I shrugged, “There are plenty of rumors about you and mom. I always disregarded them, but…something happened and I figured it out.” I don’t want dad pulling the Meyers family in here, disciplining them for gossiping about his luna. They may have been gossiping, but it ended up being true. I might still have had reservations about what the right thing to do was if Matt hadn’t told me about mom.

“What happened? I thought you wanted Carli gone too. Until you barged in here, making accusations against your mother.”

“She’s not my real mother,” I scoffed, “and you aren’t Carli’s dad. That means we share no b***d. Our DNA is completely different.”

“All the more reason for you to let her go. Why risk your mother’s reputation for someone who isn’t really your family?”

“She is my family,” I sneered, “Carli is my mate.”

Dad is completely dumbstruck, freezing in his chair and staring at me with shock.

“Your sister is your mate?”

“No,” I shook my head, “Carli is my mate. She is not my sister.”

“Parker,” dad sighs, running his hand down his face again, “Do you know how much s**t this is going to start?”

“Do you know how much s**t I’m going to start if you force my mate to leave me? Forget mom’s reputation. I’ll ruin both of you if that’s what it takes. She’s my mate. I’m not going to throw away the most perfect person the moon goddess could have given me just because you want to keep mom happy.”

“I get it,” he grumbles in agitation, “You’re a pain in the a*s. I hope you know that. I’ll take care of it. Just don’t tell anyone what you learned about Carli. I’ve worked hard letting your mom have this secret, and I don’t want you making her feel bad. Does she already know Carli is your mate? Is that why she let you transfer to an out-of-state college?”

“She’s known almost as long as I have,” I stated.

Dad nods, “That explains why she was so insistent on her moving out and then transferring,” he runs his hand down his face for the third time, “f**k, this is going to be complicated. Go away. You’ve pissed me off enough. I’ll cancel her transfer and figure out what to do about…everything else.”

I felt so disgusted with my dad at that moment. Not only did he know Carli wasn’t his, he didn’t care for her in the least. He tolerated her existence for mom, and let mom abuse and neglect her her whole life. I resolved myself at that moment to never let myself be as shitty of an alpha, mate and father as he is.

Jared POV

I thought we were nearing the end of this ordeal. For 18 years I’ve been hiding from my mate I knew I wasn’t Carli’s father. Mary was so earnest in her endeavor to keep it a secret, and I was desperate to make her happy; desperate to do whatever to make up for my rejection 22 years ago. I had no right to walk back in her life, especially after giving Tommy my blessing to take her as a chosen mate.

I just wanted her to be happy, and knew Tommy was a good guy. Then Rose died, and everything changed for me. I had the opportunity to claim my fated mate again. I could right the wrong I had done to her, and to myself.

Her citrus scent was off when I went to meet her for lunch when she finally agreed to talk to me, and it wasn’t until she agreed to accept me again that I realized her scent was off because she was pregnant with Tommy’s child. I was just so happy she agreed to leave Tommy for me. I didn’t want to chance that by letting her know the child she carried wasn’t mine. If she knew, she would probably do the same thing I had done; choose her baby’s father over her fated mate.

It would have been my own karma if she had done that, but by some miracle she insisted the child was mine. I remained ignorant in her eyes, and went along in her schemes to cover up the girl’s paternity. There would be no issues with Parker’s right to the alpha title as long as the child was a girl. Her DNA didn’t matter to me. The child didn’t matter to me. I just wanted my mate.

Tommy knew the child was his, and because of that, and the fact I went back on my word, our relationship became strained. I couldn’t justly replace or get rid of him, but I soon learned I didn’t have to worry. Mary stayed away from him, and even ordered him to keep their relationship and her daughter’s paternity a secret. Everything was going great for years, and we were finally nearing the end of this thorn in our side.

I guess this is me getting my karma now. I couldn’t allow my son to publically claim his sister as his mate. I have to do something so there are no legal ties between them, claiming they’re brother and sister. This is going to be hard to explain to Mary, but if she already knows they are mates, then she will understand this is for the best. I will even keep going along with her scheme to try and keep me in the dark about not being her father. If she feels better thinking I believe that, so be it. As long as she is happy.

I internally g*****d, not wanting to confront Tommy Childes about this at all. I avoid him like the plague, but this has to be done.

I mind linked him, telling him to meet me downstairs in my office. I need to work fast to have him adopt the child before she turns 18. I need to work fast to hide the truth before it hurts my mate’s reputation.