The Mute Luna

Chapter 4: Accepting What We Deserve

'I don't want to go!' Carter wrote frantically to her father as Joey helped carry her suitcase down to the front door. She knew it was pointless to beg but she was ready to get on her knees and hang on to her father's legs if it meant not having to go to the stupid ball. It was just some stupid dance. Why did she have to go? Who needed a mate anyway?

Outside, a long line of cars were filing outside. Every teen was getting in the cars, saying goodbye to friends and family and waving to people. Every word that Carter could hear was goodbye. She didn't want to hear any goodbyes in this. Why did she have to go? Anger was boiling inside of her along with hurt and sadness. Joey, who stood next to her, looked at her with a worried look, maybe he was nervous too. 

“Carter, we've talked about this.” The Alpha sighed, shaking his head. “You have to go. I want you to find your mate and live happily with a future husband. You can't just live like a single teenager for the rest of your life. Trust me, when you meet your mate, he is all you can think about. He will be all you will ever want.”

The anger was getting worse. Carter couldn't contain it. 'Yeah, like when you found mom?' She wrote. She showed it to him and hurt flashed across his face. She glared with tears in her eyes and stormed out into the yard. Joey followed her.

Her father did not. 

"Will you be okay?'' Joey asked as he sat next to her. Both of them had already gotten into one of the many black limos lined up in the yard. It had been a long time since Carter had left home, to go somewhere farther than the mall. She didn't like to leave the one place she felt as if she belonged because she felt safer there. Now, she was leaving to go far away. And as she had gotten in, Carter had gotten many stares and whispers. 

“Will she find a mate?”

“But she doesn't talk!”

“Her dad let her go?”

“Poor thing.”

“Why her?”

“Mute freak.”

The comments people said were making her nervous and she was happy to duck into the small limo and be away from the stares of her fellow pack members. Joey noticed and shielded her with his body, blocking people's view of her, which she was grateful for.

Carter nodded. 'It's fine. They can say what they want but it doesn't matter. We'll come back and I'll still be mateless and happy.' She gave a weak smile as he read the message, then looked at her with worried eyes. He had been giving her that look for the past few days now. She wondered what he was thinking, if he had noticed how much this ball was bothering her. 

“Cart, you've been saying that for a long time now but you shouldn't.” He said softly. He broke her away from her thoughts. “Carter, you're beautiful. So why do you say you aren't? Any boy would be beyond lucky to have you. A part of me actually wishes you were my mate just so I could know, you would have someone who deserves you, someone who would care for you in every way. It makes me nervous to know your mate may not be what you deserve and the fact that you think you deserve no one doesn't help.”

She blinked, not understanding. She was not beautiful, so why would he lie to her? It made her heartache and tears well in her eyes. It also made her feel a little special, though, that Joey was worried for her and wanted her to get everything she deserved in life. A rush of color rushed to her cheeks when she realized her best friend had said he would have liked to be her mate. She had never thought of Joey as a mate because they would have known a long time ago and they were too close in a brother-sister way. 

'I don't deserve a mate, though.' Carter wrote back on her white board. She didn't look at him but she knew Joey was smiling at her. He took her hand and she looked at him. He took the white board and sat it on the seat next to her. Joey put a finger under her chin and she looked into his eyes. Her best friend grinned at her. 

“We accept the love we think we deserve.” He smiled. “And you deserve the best, Cart.” He gave her a large hug and the limo pulled away from the pack house, following the others out of the thick woodsy area and away from Carter's home. If only she knew she wouldn't see it again.