FOUR
LIZZY
My wolf was absolutely obsessedwith this guy.
Okay, I knew his name.
Elliot.
Obviously I liked the name, because it was kind of similar to the one I’d given my own son.
But names meant nothing, and I definitely wouldn’t be as obsessed with him as my wolf was.
I’d done the obsessive mate thing. It had been fun for five minutes. Then I’d taken the physical beating, and ended up an outcast among the damn werewolves. In most packs, a female wolf who rejected her mate would take priority and stay with the pack and whatnot—but that was not at all what had happened with mine.
He'd attacked me, and my wolf had rejected him. Then the pack rejected me, and picked him.
And then I was homeless and futureless, since becoming both pregnant and a werewolf had been the end of my career.
Sabrina didn’t know everything that had happened with SD, though. She didn’t know how badly he had hurt me, and she would never find out. Evan wouldn’t, either. No one needed to find out that their birth father had done that to a woman, regardless of his age or anything else.
I was getting really bored of watching Elliot on his phone, texting his buddies—like any good alpha would, of course. SD had been a “good alpha” too, which was why none of his friends believed that he’d hurt me so badly that my wolf would reject him.
There was a knock on the front door, and my wolf perked up. Given her recent behavior, I was sure she wanted to growl at whoever or whatever was there.
“It’s just Ford, my pack’s beta, bringing us food,” Elliot murmured to my wolf, scratching her.
Feeding her and scratching her was pretty much all it would take for the bastard to win her over, unfortunately. And taking care of Evan, but Ev would make his life hell if he didn’t do that, so he probably wouldn’t have a choice.
Elliot was definitely about to have a rude awakening when the morning came around, though. Probably in the middle of the night, too. Sabby didn’t know that he drank at least a whole damn bottle of chocolate milk in the middle of the night every night, sometimes two, because I knew she’d realize just how much of the shit I was having to buy every week if she found out.
She had already done enough for me; she didn’t need to start buying chocolate milk for me too.
Evan knew where I kept his pediatric shakes though, and he’d hunt those bottles of chocolate milk himself if you didn’t give them to him fast enough. He’d scream his little lungs out while he did it, too, because waking up hungry was a bitch, and a little belly could only hold so much before getting too sloshy to stay awake.
Elliot slipped out the door, making space for my wolf to follow him out. She remained at his heels. I think he was worried about leaving Evan sleeping alone in my room, but I usually showered and ate and did online surveys for the extra cash in the living room until I went to bed. Ev pretty much always slept like a rock up until he woke up hungry at 2 AM.
Every damn night?
Yup.
Like clockwork.
Char answered the door and greeted the couple at the doorstep with a grin. “Hey, Ford. It’s been a minute. You must be his mate?” she checked, looking at the woman beside him.
“Ebony,” the woman agreed, holding her hand out with a smile. My wolf didn’t look at either of the newcomers long enough for me to get a good look at them; she was too focused on trying to make sure Elliot didn’t get too close to anyone.
“Thanks, guys,” Elliot said. My wolf didn’t look back to see if he was smiling. If I’d been in human form, I’d have groaned.
The whole situation was such a damned mess.
I had been happy with my life. It wasn’t easy, but that was alright. The best things in life weren’t easy.
But now…
Now, everything was going to change.
“Do you want us to bring you clothes or anything else?” Ebony checked.