~~

Carter

~~

"Dude, you can't be serious?" My best friend Bentley was laughing at me as I explained to him what my situation was. His big round face glinted in the light, making the creamy, light brown color if his skin stand out even more. His short brown hair was a mess from him running his hand through it as he laughed. And his hazel eyes were filled with mirth as he took pure joy and happiness from my pain and sorrow. He could really be a jerk sometimes. A damn good friend, but also a major jerk and a pain in my ass.

"I don't see what's so funny." I growled at him before I took another swig of my beer.

"Carter, your mate is from an enemy pack. That would be fine normally. But you said that she's the daughter of the Alpha. And not just any Alpha, Bryce. That man is an asshole and a psychopath. If he knew you mated with his daughter after spying on his pack he'd kill you." Bentley was still laughing so hard it looked like he was going to cry.

"I know what I said, you jackass, but what I don't get is what you find so funny."

"I'm just wondering what I am going to wear to your funeral, man. That's all." He was smirking as he said this.

"You know what, I don't even know why I hang out with you anymore." I snapped before finishing the rest of what was left in the can of beer I had been nursing slowly for the last ten minutes.

"Because I tell you things with no sugar coating and I share my liquor with you."

"I could just go to a bar." I informed him.

"Then you'd have to drive home and get the third degree from your parents. Plus, your fake ID sucks and since you're not twenty-one you can't go to a bar." I bowed my head in shame. I had gotten that fake ID when I was fifteen, of course it sucked, but I was almost twenty-one now anyway so there was no need to worry for much longer.

I sighed and hung my head as I thought about it all. I knew he was just yanking my chain. Giving me a hard time to help me to stop being so damn depressed about it all. I just hoped it would help.

"What do you plan to do about all of this?" Bentley asked me with a serious look on his face.

"Is there really anything that I can do? I mean, like you said, he would kill me if he found out that I spied on him."

"So leave this pack and join his. Then you can mate with his daughter with no issues."

"It's not that simple, Bent. I can't leave this pack, not yet anyway."

"Why not?" He seemed genuinely confused about this. "If she's your mate it shouldn't even been an issue, you would have done it without a second thought."

"If I didn't have reasons tying me to this pack, then you'd be right. But I need to stay here, at least for now."

"Dude, are you fucking serious? Why the hell are you not running to her right now?"

"Because I can't leave Trinity. Not yet."

"She's just your cousin man." He scoffed at my answer. Bentley was a good guy, and my best friend, but he wasn't as family oriented as I was and we hadn't had much time to hang out since we turned eighteen.

"You don't know what you're talking about." I snapped at him and I watched as his eyes went wide.

"What the fuck?" He seemed shocked that I had gotten so angry. "What's the matter man?"

"Trinity isn't just my cousin, you know that. She's like my little sister. And now she's been taken to the Alpha's house and is being forced to mate with him. I can't leave her like that in good conscience. This is my duty as her family, as her pseudo big brother. This isn't just what I need to do, Bentley, it's what I want to do."

"Carter, not only does she have her new mate, the Alpha, she also has her guards, your brother, and the elders all watching over her. And there is the Beta too. She's got plenty of people to help her."

"Noah's loyalty is questionable. He might choose Reece over Trinity. And I don't trust that Beta at all, something is off about him. Then there's the fact that they already had to replace two of her guards for some mysterious reasons."

"Mysterious reasons?" Bentley seemed skeptical as he asked the question.

"Yeah, they didn't tell me why, but right after she was marked, two of the guards she had were reassigned and replaced with the Asher twins."

"The Ashers are good guys, I remember them. They were older than us by a few years but they were cool."

"Shane was anyway. Shawn was always a prude." I joked, remembering the times we had all hung out around bonfires when we were younger. "But that's not the point." I shook my head as I pulled myself back on track. "What I'm trying to say is that Trinity, my little sister, is in danger and I can't leave her here alone."

"She's got the rest of your family."

"But I was the only one that was there for her. I was the rock she relied on, I was the one that got her through it all, and I am not going to stop now. Not until she's safe. Not until she's ready."

"That's some loyalty you have there, Carter."

"If you knew what she had sacrificed growing up, what she missed out on, just because of our Grandfather and her mother and the bastard that caused all this."

"What bastard?" Bentley looked confused.

"The asshole bastard that took my aunt away for a weekend and knocked her up. Whoever he was, he left a child behind and a scared teenage girl. If it wasn't for him Trinity would have lived a normal life."

"But that's not on you Carter. You deserve your own happiness too, man." Bentley was my friend, someone who had been there with me through thick and thin when we were kids, but he didn't know what my family was like. He didn't know why I couldn't leave my cousin to fend for herself.

"Trinity deserves happiness too. She deserves it more than I do. And I am the only one who ever saw that while we were growing up. But someday, someday soon, everyone else will see that she deserves to be happy. That's she's special."

"You are insane, man." Bentley was laughing at me.

"No, people just don't see things the way I do. You'll see. You'll all see."

"But you need to remember Carter, that you are the one that just found your mate. That you turned tail and ran from that mate. You're the one hurting here. Your mate might be hurting too."

"She's not." I told him firmly, my conviction with that was solid. "She didn't notice me at all. I got away before she saw me or smelled me. It would just kill me inside if she thought I left her, that I didn't want her."

"Do you want her?" Bentley asked me with a serious expression.

"Like life itself. I don't just want her, I need her. But I have to wait. I need to wait until the time is right."

Once that part of the conversation came to an end we decided to change the subject. It was New Year's Eve after all and I just wanted to get shit faced and forget all of my problems for the current time.

We talked about the good old days. The stupid antics that we had gotten up to when we were in our teens. We talked about the future, our prospects, dreams, and what our dream women looked like. We talked for hours, all while drinking.

I remember the first fifth of vodka, but not the second. I remember the first and second fifth of Jack, but not the third or fourth. I didn't even remember the tequila, but the six empty bottles that were strewn across the floor in the morning clearly indicated that we had gotten that out as well.

The night had become nothing more than a big blur. I stopped remembering what I said, what I did, where I went. All I know is I woke up the next morning with the worst hangover of my life and a strong, intense desire that this year would be a lot better than last year.

But, so far, I couldn't figure out how that would happen. Ever.

This situation, this depression of mine, would last for a long time. But I was strong, and as long as I was certain it didn't affect anyone but me I could handle it. I could hang in there. Hang in there until there was a solution in sight or I died of loneliness, whichever came first.