She had no say in anything, and food was just dropped off. Bulk canned everything and freezer meals crap. She had no access to her money or—they just expected her to sit there and watch TV basically. No internet access. Nothing.
Then four months of that and trying to figure out how to escape or get some sort of message to her former coworkers and she was evicted. Cops show up saying she hasn’t paid her HOA fees and fines—nor utilities—and she was out. They’d claimed the whole place in court and to live like she was dead or she would be.
They dumped her at the bus station with a ticket into the city and the info for the shelter near the station that would take her… But didn’t even let her get her ID or any of it.
And the shelter had no room and told her to fuck off. She’d been living on the streets since and panicked what to do. She’d had nothing besides the clothes stuffed in that bag and—it hadn’t been going well. Her last hope had been to go to the church she’d used to years ago and pray that maybe someone remembered her.
Plus, they could hide her from whatever was going on. Give her a way to stay alive but not bring more attention to herself.
Which now we knew a way to find the others. Quietly for now. There was still too much we were unpacking and handling, so we couldn’t do this loudly.
Dr. Sloan wanted to be safe and keep her overnight at the hospital, so I got one of the college kids from the pack to stay with her in the double room she had to herself. Her parents weren’t thrilled that I was asking this of her for FBI business, but I promised them that this was personal and not how we normally handled it.
I smiled at the young woman who was close with Ashley and I knew fairly well. “She was good to me when I was a kid and tried to keep me safe. I’m just returning the favor. She’s scared, and her whole world has been fucked over. We know needing extra care and help being happy. That’s it. You’ll feel how she’s doing and you’re a good kid.”
“I can hang with a friend of yours anytime, Alpha,” she promised and walked right in and introduced herself. “You can eat ice cream, right? I’ve got Alpha Sera’s delivery app info, and there’s this awesome ice cream place I’ve been dying to try, but my parents are weirdos and don’t like anything that Instagram thinks is cool like that makes them cool.”
It was hard not to laugh, but that was exactly why I had picked her. She was just a good person and knew how to help.
“I would love a nice sundae after some more real food and if the doctor says I can,” Marie agreed. She glanced at me. “I hate to be a bother, but—could I borrow a laptop? Luckily, David didn’t know about my stocks and other—I never told Hank that I invested. He thought it was all stupid Wall Street drivel and I wasn’t competent enough to handle that. So I kept it separate.”
I swallowed loudly and finally said what I’d wanted to for so many years. “I’m sorry he abused you. You never deserved that. You’re a good person and deserved better.”
“We both did.”
“I’ve found it now, and I hope you do as well. I’ll get someone over here with a laptop.”
“I’ve got mine, Alpha,” my wolf told me. “She’s more than welcome to use it.” She glanced at Marie. “Could you maybe explain to me about investing? I’ve got an econ class next semester and honestly it’s all terrifying and I don’t want to be the stupid wolf people think licks herself because the stock market sounds like a scam when people talk about it.”
“Sometimes it is a scam but sure, we can talk about that.”
I smiled as I left. All Marie had ever wanted was to be motherly and take people under her wing, protect them, and—she had never hidden how devastated she’d been when she’d found out she couldn’t have children. That was why she’d stopped going to church.
She’d told me that if god couldn’t support her in the one thing she’d ever wanted, she couldn’t support him. Also, that meeting me might have changed her mind, and maybe she understood that god wanted her to be a mother another way for kids who needed her most. That was all she ever wanted.
Unfortunately, she’d gotten married to an asshole who ruined everything for her.
From what I knew, I was the only kid she’d ever fostered. Still, I’d cared for her, and she’d been good at it.
“The world really is too small,” I whispered as I walked out of the hospital.
“What do you mean?” Sander asked quietly, rubbing my shoulder.
“I haven’t thought about Marie in so many years, but I just used…” I stopped and faced him. “She was one of the last homes I was placed at, and by then—my file was a mess and they were warned. Her husband didn’t give a shit and his kid was a fucking demon. She realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought and worried for me.
“David used to chase me around and pick fights, throw things at me—all of it, and Hank wouldn’t allow a lock on my door. Not when I wasn’t his kid and another mouth to feed in his house. Marie was the one who came up with the idea to climb one of the trees in the backyard to get a time-out when I needed it. I just gave that same advice to Felix’s daughter and thought of her.”
He nodded as I spoke. “I don’t think it was coincidence. Sometimes I think the gods give us an idea or thought that pushes us to see or do something that puts us on the path we need. I wasn’t one to ever think about change. I like—it wasn’t in my head or on my radar to leave Apollo or the council. Then there was some conflict with the leader of the team I was on.
“Nothing even big, but it was kind of the last straw for me, and I asked to switch teams. I didn’t like the attitude and vibe of that team. Apollo didn’t like to switch up the teams, but I think he saw the meshing wasn’t there either even after so many years of my being with them. That was a year before we moved here. It kinda all fell into place, and I’ve never been happier.”
I smiled at him, liking that there could be little pushes like that. Not being puppeted but sort of how we corrected Topher now when he toddled around.
Or basically made sure he didn’t crash and burn or hit his head on the coffee table should he go down. That was a much gentler and prettier picture painting of the power upstairs instead of the punishment and judgment I’d grown up learning while living with different families.
I thanked him and headed home, ready to jump into this new information… Instead, there was someone I’d never met before waiting in my apartment.
“Granddaughter, I apologize for breaking your rules about strangers in your safe space, but this is my youngest, Mauro,” Eva explained. “And I didn’t know he would come so quickly or was arriving already. Given what—”
