Chapter 4

Charlotte

My mother is waiting for me on the porch of our run-down home. I push by her, not caring to hear what she has to say, but she isn’t going to let me get by that easily.

“What did you do?”

The screeching of her voice echoes in my head, but I don’t answer her. I don’t owe anyone in this pack an explanation for my actions, especially not her. I pull my suitcase out from under my bed and begin packing.

I can feel her watching me from the doorway. “I asked you a question.”

I glance over my shoulder while I rifle through my dresser. My eyes flicker to the envelope I pulled off the front door. I never bothered to open it. Grabbing it, I shove it into my bag before answering my mother. “What had to be done.”

For the first time since my father died, she looks worried. “You could have stayed.”

Slamming my suitcase shut, I turn on her. “No, I couldn’t. He humiliated me. It made the rejection a public show and called me an Omega. Everyone in this pack has forgotten the sacrifices Daddy made, and I won’t live here another moment longer.”

I bump her with my shoulder as I walk by, and a soft sob leaves her lips. “I can’t protect you out there.”

Dropping my suitcase to the ground, I throw my arms into the air. “Is that what you have been doing? Protecting me? I wasn’t aware that keeping me safe meant going out and fucking every man you meet.”

“When you lose your mate, you will understand.” Her voice is barely a whisper.

I scoff loudly. “I just lost my mate because of YOUR actions. Not only did you ruin your reputation in this pack, you ruined mine. Now I will never have the chance to have a fated mate. Thanks.”

“Lotte,” she calls me the name my father always did.

I raise my hand to silence her. “You don’t get to call me that. Not now, not ever.”

She drops to her knees, and tears stream down her face. If, for a moment, I believed they were real, I might have taken pity on her. I would have marched back to the pack house and demanded that Alpha Ronan let me stay. But these tears aren’t real. Or at least they aren’t for me.”

“What will I do without you?” She begs the question.

I shrug my shoulders. “Whatever you want. That is what you are best at.”

She climbs to her feet and attempts to growl in my direction. Tala chuckles in my mind at the attempt. I have long suspected that my mother’s wolf is sleeping, and that answers my question. She couldn’t shift if she tried.

“You can’t take the car,” she shouts at me. “It was your father’s.”

The ride to Frank’s Diner is silent, and the driver only speaks when I open the door to exit. “Are you running from something?”

He pouts. The man just looked at me and pouted. What is going on? “I want to.”

Once again, I look him over. He looks harmless, but looks can be deceiving. “Are you a serial killer?”

He throws his head back and laughs. “Of course not. I am an Uber driver.”

I wrinkle my nose as I consider my options. “An Uber driver that lures young women into a false sense of security and then murders them?”

He reaches over his seat to offer me his hand. “My name is Jake.”

I look at his hand like he is offering me a foul piece of meat, but I do the polite thing and shake it. When our skin touches, a zap of electricity burns beneath my skin, and I rip my hand away. Tala whimpers in my mind, but all I can do is stare at the man looking back at me.

I don’t give him time to speak. I am afraid that if I do, I will reveal something stupid about myself. I bolt out of the car, not caring about my suitcase in the trunk. He can keep it.

Just as I am about to open the diner’s door, he calls out of the window. “I will just wait here for you.”

My mouth drops open, and I look back at him. He has a stupid grin on his face, and I hate it. He might not be a serial killer, but I get the feeling he will be the death of me.