Page 101 of Chosen Beta

It’s unusual for someone not to care about that kind of information.

Yet, despite her constant refrain that she trusts her staff, she brushed it off as nothing.

That makes me curious.

Pete isn’t in the habit of telling people about that part of his past.

So, why doesn’t she want to know?

She looks up at me, her gaze steady. “I already know he used a fake name in the guest book, and it took all of thirty seconds to know he’d been in prison.”

Okay, my Beta definitely made an impression on her.

Her voice has a defensive edge to it, despite who she’s talking to.

I’m his Alpha. I know him, and I know the information in that file makes Pete sound like a petty criminal, when he was nothing more than a victim of circumstance.

She doesn’t know that, but she believes in him.

It’s a good sign for their fated bond.

“He uses a fake name because our clients don’t usually like to have an ex-con working for them, and it would be easy for them to find out about his background if he used his real name. He does it to protect my business. Because people make snap judgements when you’ve spent time in prison.”

“I get that,” she admits. “It’s easy to discriminate, but nothing’s ever as simple as it seems.”

“He got locked up for eighteen months for aggravated assault and battery.”

“So that’s what his file shows?” she asks, her tone curious.

I nod. “It’s what’s in there, but it’s complicated. It’ll show that he got out in nine months for good behavior, which is true. He ended up in prison because he saw three men, three Alphas, forcing an Omega into a car, and he stopped them. Knocked two of them out cold and slammed the other’s hand in a door so hard the guy lost a finger.”

Talking about it makes my blood boil, but she should know.

It’s a part of our pack’s history.

We never would have met Pete if it hadn’t been for that terrible incident.

“What? He went to prison for stopping a kidnapping?”

“He did. That’s how fucked up our justice system is. Being a working-class Beta who happens to be a good fighter, he saved Shadow from a horrific fate, but he went to prison for smacking three rich, well-connected Alphas around. They called it an “unprovoked and brutal attack”.”

She sits there, staring at me, wide-eyed. “But how … I don’t … How does that even happen?”

“We didn’t report the kidnapping attempt. Shadow was drugged and out of it when Pete got him away from those men. My Omega snuck out of our apartment window in the middle of the night because that’s the kind of thing he does. Pete tookhim to a hospital, and they contacted us once he was awake. Unfortunately, Pete lost his wallet during the fight, which is how those assholes were able to give the cops his name.”

“So, he saved Shadow’s life that night,” she says.

“And he was rewarded for that by being arrested the next night.”

“Wouldn’t the hospital’s medical records have shown Shadow was drugged by someone that night?” Lana asks.

“He asked for his records, but all they showed was that he had drugs in his system. The guys that took him were careful not to injure him. He hadn’t been hurt. So, it was our word against theirs, and when the cops involved are on the take, the rich guys always win.”

Too bad I hadn’t realized those fucking detectives were being paid to railroad Pete at the time.

It was a goddamned nightmare of a situation that brought our third mate into our lives, made all the worse by the extended stretch of time that we had to wait to claim him as ours.

Pete was tough. There was no question of that after seeing what he did to the men who tried to kidnap Shadow. He was strong enough to get through a stint in prison, and it felt like he needed some time to accept us as his pack, but that never should have happened.

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