i

. Three times? Four? Maybe more. Each time she sighed and shook her head,

Always th

light was too bright. The poor woman at the front desk had told me gently to come back in two weeks fo

ayed in my mind

, but I forced them down, biting my lip hard en

his would happen, I never would've gone to the Alpha Summit in the first place.

th, and I'd already brought disgrace to the woman who took me in. If she fo

I was adopted. How was I supposed to care for another life now? And the father, if I found him and told him I was pregnant, h

would want a

per, if there's nothing you can do about the situation, I'

ght be terrified, confused, and completely unprepared, bu

ll over the place. I cou

to keep standing th

ense, my spine snapping st

ossed, staring at me with open disgust. His upper

as a daughter? And then letting me take you to the hospital? Ridiculous. You're just

as the point? Nobody respected me in the pack. Nobody thought I deserved re

m without a word. I pulled open the passenger

frustration that I hadn't reacted the way he wanted. I ignored

e long, stone driveway toward the mansion. The driver slammed the brake

opened my own door

me the same way they always did, lik

t her, a

sn't belo

. Calder adopt someone like her? Disgusting, di

t walking, staring straight ahead. If I let myself react,

om. She was speaking to someone, though I couldn't see who. The moment she turned and spotted me, h

o hold my shoulders. She looked at me with the concern of a real mo

I-I'm okay, Mrs. Calder. I

oney. How many times must I tell you to call me

ecome something I only read about in books. No one touched me gently. No on

asn't a burden, like I wasn't a stain. She would neve

kindness, and I was

keep my pregnanc

face brightening. "Alpha Dominic, your brother,

fro

a Dom

ke a warning. They called him a demon, a monster, a man who did whatever he

ept me? What if he hated me the way everyone else did? What if he decid

she took my hand with that warm smile of hers a

Piper! Do

was te

corner, and I

one. Sitting in the living room, calm, powerful, leaning

The stranger I'd slept wit

d went i

. But those eyes, that sharp jaw, that presen

Mrs. Cal

my new

ware of the devastation

Dominic. Domini

curling into a mocking, lazy smirk

again, lit