only a few scenarios and a look or two in the mirror. Only a stupid girl would think that Alpha Grant is taking me back to his pack to reject me, there is no point in that

e and love with no doubt. They would be so happy, telling everyone with a prou

t of. I drop my bag to the grass first, watching with a racing heart as it hits the ground with an uncomfortable thu

d me and rush around back to swipe up my bag. In a

ll come back and apologize to my mother for disappearing. All I have to do tonight is hold up for a day, staying hidden, and wait for my mate to give u

usional,

four glasses

fect children and romance, aging and learning together. The more I think about it, the more my inner self yearns for it, so I numb myself from suc

I've made it into the forest, denser than at the center of the pack. If my usele

. The moon is there, sneaking through the trees like a predator ready to pounce. It's the Goddess gazing

ping up pebbles and tossing them to the side, a bored child. In

of the night all to avoid her newly discovered Alpha Mate. A sour girl who is judgmental and cold, jealous by those who have what she could never grasp. This will only make me worse, being mated to an

self dragging my bag along as I walk back to

d never let that happen to her favorite childr

. My mother should be up any second now. She will be coming into my room, getting me up as well.

onely girls things. I don't care what she puts in. I lay back and take deep breaths, calming my raging nerves, my racing heart, an

ve me, wanting to feel it all again right now. A part of me misses dizzy and reckless Rae, so maybe she doesn't have to go. Maybe she can stay. If I am going to be Alpha Grant's embarrassment of a Mate—somethin

ith him for

rd about this. If Mates keep each other strong because of the

t before, so I lazily shove the bags down the steps, watching as they slide and fumble down each one before anticlimactically landing on the floor. My

ach the bottom and pick

what I am walking into. He doesn't know how sad my

om me and I don't stop him, might as well take advantage of this pam

baby bird falling, about to be touched by humans and rejected. I smile, though. Something too happy to be real, and she knows this. I wan

s to do. I don't bother watching my house shrink, or watching the trees swim by, I just close my eyes and lay back. Hopi

was off to the borders. My mother stayed home while he was a guard for our Alpha and as I was a child learning about the cre

think my father did, though. He would be the one to doubt th

that's why he would remember my face. Not my face now, but that child's face, the big eyes flooded with

sad memory of him at our doorstep with a new one—but he never came. Alpha Grant must not have told him, and I know that I repeatedly tell myself that I don't care, that I expect

e awake. Having to remember where I am, I peer around the car an

he appears with my bags in hand. "I'm supposed t

and landing unsteadily on the ground. I shut the car door behind me and walk near t

he Al

ts as if I am his annoying, younger sister,

use, my thoughts babbling on and on about how I am leaving he

nt of, and I know this is supposedly my room. He waits for me to open it, so I reach forward and swing the door open, pretending not to care when I am actua

seeps fr