Part A: Chapter 12

***Carter’s POV***

It had been two days since we left home to camp out here in the dark disgusting part of the forest and each day that passed, I could see how restless Aidan was getting. The first day I tried talking him into going back after he told me he had left Jemila a fucking letter instead of talking to her.

I had been pissed off on my part because she wouldn’t be here. Just how pathetic does one have to get in order to stoop so low as to do that to the person they so wholeheartedly claimed they loved. Sometimes Aidan pissed me off so much all I wanted to do was beat some sense into him but I had to watch my mouth when we were in public. Damn those stupid rules preventing me from clocking my best friend when he acted like a complete dick.

“Would you stop doing that,” I snapped at Aidan and he glared at me. Thankfully we were alone and the other men had either gone to take watch or were out hunting for our supper. “If you knew you were going to turn into a complete bitch when we got here then you should have just stayed back with Jemila like I told you too.”

Aidan sighed and stopped bouncing his leg. “That’s not why I’m stressed,” he said with a straight face but I could see the lie in his eyes and even he knew he wasn’t going to fool me.

Aidan and I had been best friends since we were kids and we were inseparable, but that’s not why we were friends. I was the only one who should stand his bullshit and call him out for out when all the other kids were scared of what Gerald would do to them or their parents when he found out. But I didn’t care about that, especially when my parents were killed by the rogues and Gerald decided to take me in. Not only were we best friends, we were brothers and seeing my brother go through so much pain hurt me too.

“You can be really stubborn at times,” I said as I tossed a log into the fire, making sure it wouldn’t go out before the ones who went looking for food came back. “Why do you still insist on being stubborn about something that is clearly bothering you? Are you afraid of what that will mean for you?”

“I’m not afraid of anything,” Aidan snapped.

I rolled my eyes, “tell that to someone who didn’t grow up with you moron. I know you better than anyone does.”

“Whatever, you don’t know anything,” he replied and tossed another log into the fire then picked up the flask next to him and gulped its contents. “Can you just not bring it up again?”

“Not if that means you continue running away from the truth.”

“What truth?”

“Do you really want me to spell it out for you? Or are you just being ignorant as always when the truth is too hard to swallow?”

There was silence as Aidan stared into the fire, his eyes changing colour from light green to dark then black and back. I could practically see the cogs turning in his head, trying to process what I was saying and I hoped it got through to him because the first time it didn’t.

“I guess you might be right,” he finally responded and then looked at me with sadness in his eyes. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Gerald wasn’t really the best model to follow and I always wonder just why he’s still alive after what he put mum through.”

A wave of sadness washed over me because Aidan’s mum had been like a mum to me when she was still alive even though she hardly had any say in pack matters because Gerald wouldn’t let her. At one point when we were kids, Aidan had told me he wanted to kill his father so that his mum would finally be happy but I didn’t think much of it back then. However, now it didn’t seem like such a bad thing. Gerald didn’t care about anyone but himself and it took me the longest to realise that because I always wanted him to see me more than just the orphaned kid I was. I wanted him to see me as a warrior, someone he could entrust to protect the pack when he wasn’t around but in doing so, I was losing myself and my best friend.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn,” I finally said. “Look at Yuri and his mate, they are happy. You could learn a few things from him.”

Aidan scoffed at that, “what is that deadbeat supposed to teach me? He doesn’t even have the guts to show up when his pack needs him.”

“Because he knows his priorities, something that you clearly don’t.”

That earned me a death glare from him but I just shrugged it off. He knew I was right.

“You haven’t shown up for work and Quinn keeps calling me asking me when you’ll be in and what she should do with all your appointments,” I continued. “I had to show up and make excuses for you. Just what kind of CEO leaves his company in the hands of his secretary and the fucking board?”

“I have more important matters to attend too than placating the board meeting and entertaining their every whim,” he replied harshly.

I rolled my eyes. If I continued to roll my eyes like this, the Goddess only knew what was going to happen to them. “Bullshit, you have always loved your work. But after that incident, I don’t know, you just haven’t seemed like yourself. What did they do to you?”

Aidan flinched at my words and looked away from me which sparked my curiosity even more. Just what had they done to him?

“Aidan, what did those bloody cowards do to you?” I asked again, but this time loudly and a whole lot pissed.

“Forget about it, they couldn’t succeed even if they tried,” he replied and gulped down the contents of the flask with such ferocity that I was afraid for anyone who pissed him off later. “I’m still here ain’t I?”

I tagged my hair getting pissed off with how he was dismissing all my questions. I got up from the log I had been sitting on and pulled him to his feet by his collar. “Stop acting like everything is okay, whatever they did to you is still haunting you and as you best friend, I need you to tell me but as your Beta, I will make you tell me what happened,” I snarled.

Some of the men started coming back and I let go of him but still remained standing close, glaring at him. “Tell me dammit, do you want me to beat it out of you?” I whisper-yelled.

Aidan shrugged and sat back down. “I told you already, they tried to kill me but failed, end of the story. There’s nothing more to tell.”

I stared down at him, feeling my wolf wanted to make its way out and fight him but I knew better than to challenge the Alpha in front of his pack. So instead, I turned around and walked into the darkness of the woods, away from him and everyone. I needed to think about everything he wasn’t saying but needed to say. I needed to think about my future and the possibility that I might never find my own mate.

I loved my job at the Carmichael Enterprise and being Beta, it came with so many perks and some seriously gorgeous women who would always show up when I called, but that life was getting old. After Aidan brought back Jemila to the estate, I saw a massive change in him because he finally started caring about someone other than himself and that made me envious because he was finally settling down.

Being alone and playing around no longer seemed fun and it wasn’t like I was doing it as much anymore because there was so much that needed to be done. So much work went into protecting the rest of the pack and putting their safety above my own.

Maybe I ought to start looking for my own mate before they mate with someone else and my wolf and I are left alone and cold, devoid of ever feeling whole.

But I knew Aidan was hiding something, something so big it might break all of us and whatever it was, I was going to find out even it if killed me.