"Hey, what was that for?" I asked, rubbing my arm. I couldn't understand why my sister was upset with me. "I'm an alpha of a pack of werewolves. There isn't a lot out there I'm scared of."
"After what has been happening since you left, you should be," Cade said as he entered the room, and Scarlett turned to face her mate when Cade came to a stop behind her. They made a striking couple, both with midnight black hair. Cade's eyes were blue and Scarlett had the same gray eyes I did.
I frowned as my eyes studied his. He looked dead serious, and I had a foreboding feeling ignite in the pit of my stomach. Cade was no sissy. He was a powerful alpha whom, despite some disagreements through the years, I respected.
"Is someone going to tell me what the hell has been going on?" I asked, finally losing my cool.
Deep down inside, I knew whatever they were going to tell me wasn't going to be good.
Crystal
"You can't stay here forever," Claire told me in a resigned voice.
My eyes flickered to her and I studied her for a few moments before I pulled my gaze completely from the slit in the curtain. Her light brown eyes held my deep green ones. Her long hair had once been a dark chestnut brown but now it was gray, the color a reminder of her aging.
The small cottage was surrounded by thick forest. Other than the occasional sound of a forest animal, it was silent. For the moment I was safe but she was right. It was only a matter of time before I was found.
The only reason I had been able to hide up to now was because Kyle and the pack weren't looking for me on their territory. Claire lived on the edge of the territory away from the main compound.
The vials filled with wolfsbane I had taken from the medical center before I had left Keri's pack had also helped to mask my scent. It was almost impossible for them to find me as long as I kept injecting myself with small doses of it.
I gnawed on my bottom lip as I tried to contemplate my options.
"I wish you didn't have to go," Claire added and I left my lookout by the window to take the few steps to put me in front of her so I could hug her close. Her body was old and frail in my embrace. I held her tight, never wanting to let go. A deep breath in and then I exhaled it sharply, trying to build up the courage to do what I needed to. The back of my neck throbbed with a familiar heat as I held her.
When I pulled away from Claire, she brushed my cheek and looked at me with glistening eyes. Once I stepped away from her the throbbing at the back of my neck eased.
"Maybe there's a way you can stay," she said, her voice hoarse with emotion. The lines in her face deepened and I felt a pang of guilt for putting her through this. I shook my head. I wanted to stay but we both knew that was impossible. I didn't have a lot of wolfsbane left and once I ran out of it Kyle would pick up my scent. He would find me and I couldn't let that happen. The sooner I left, the better for everyone.
"I can't. We both know that," I reminded her, and she nodded.
"You'll be safer here," she said but I was shaking my head at her.
"I'm not safe anywhere," I said, saying out loud what we both knew deep down inside. It was hard to admit that it didn't matter where I went, I would always be looking over my shoulder and expecting the worst. From the day I had entered the world, my path had been guaranteed. There was no changing it.
"Your parents loved you," she murmured softly and I felt her words pull at my heart. "They wouldn't have wanted this life for you."
I swallowed my emotion down. I didn't blame them. I had been told I had been an unexpected pregnancy my mother refused to end. Their story had been a forbidden love story without a happy ending. They had both been killed shortly after I was born.
"It's not their fault," I said. I had no bad feelings for the parents who had brought me into the world. When I thought of them they were faceless. Claire had no pictures to show me. She had often described what my mother had looked like but it was hard to keep those features she described in my mind. I had inherited my fiery red hair and green eyes from my mother. Claire had cared deeply for her and had been a good friend to her. Their friendship had ensured Claire had watched out for me through the years and we had formed our own close friendship out of it.
"Liv and Robert have been so worried about you," she told me. I felt a pang of guilt at the mention of my adoptive parents. I loved them like they were my true blood parents but the truth was they weren't. They had raised me from a baby but the blood that flowed in my veins wasn't theirs. They were good people and they didn't deserve what I had put them through but there had been no choice. By leaving, I had kept them safe. No one was safe around me.
"There's no way I can tell them the truth," I said even though we both already knew it. Knowing my secret was too dangerous.
I had started to notice slight changes after my sixteenth birthday. Strength I couldn't explain as well as the sensitive circular mark on the back of my skin. Granted I had been expecting some changes but these had been unexpected. Frightened and unsure, I had confided in Claire.
Finally realizing it was time to come clean, she had told me the story of my parents and my birth. That day would be engrained in my memory. It was the day I had discovered why I was different, which had only increased my fear. Only Claire and my real parents knew the truth. If the wrong person discovered my secret, it would be dangerous.
For a moment she stared off into the distance before pulling her gaze back to mine. I knew she missed my mother dearly. She had lost her close friend and I had lost any chance to know my parents.
Claire had done what my parents had instructed to dissipate any suspicion by pretending I was an abandoned baby in need of a home. She had told the pack she had found me abandoned outside her front door.
Inside the pack I had been given to Olivia and Robert to raise and they had done their best to give me a loving home. They had loved me like I was their own. Up to my sixteenth birthday I had lived a normal life within the pack. After discovering the truth from Claire, I made the decision to leave to keep them safe. Discovering my existence risked the lives of the people who loved me. I had been scared but there had been no choice.
Claire and my parents loved me and they would have done anything to protect me. And if Kyle had discovered I was his mate, it would have put his life in danger as well. I was his to protect.
Even now, over a year later, I was in the same situation I had run from before. I had to get away before I was discovered. But I had nowhere to go and there was no one who could help me. There was no plan of action, just a need to get as far away as possible.
