Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Sadie had never been so nervous while driving, not even when she took her driver’s test and hadn’t mastered parallel parking. But leaving Ironwood with only the bag her mom had packed for her, her driver’s license, and a handful of cash her mom had saved was the most nerve-wracking thing she’d ever done.
Only when she crossed the Michigan state border into Wisconsin without anyone on her tail did she relax fractionally. She’d left her phone behind in case Alpha Holloway planned to track her down. So the only directions she had were ones her mom had written down and took her the long way around Lake Michigan.
The trip had taken nearly fourteen hours after a few stops to eat and stretch her legs, but she’d been careful to stop only in touristy areas with lots of people around so she didn’t make herself a target.
The whole time she’d been traveling, she wondered if anyone even cared that she had left besides her mom. If Alpha Holloway had planned to imprison her or put her under house arrest during his brother’s visit, he would probably be happy that she left the pack. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that he might come for her anyway just to punish her for leaving. He considered her a curse to the pack but never suggested she leave.
Maybe because she was a good scapegoat for anything bad that happened. She got blamed for every freaking thing that went wrong, and the pack just went along with it. No one besides her mom had ever stood up for her.
She was scared to pieces to be on her own going to a strange place, but she knew her mom had her best interest at heart and wouldn’t send her somewhere dangerous. At least she had her mom’s friend to help her out.
Alli.
A fallen angel.
Who her mom had never talked about one time in Sadie’s entire life, but who she trusted enough to send her only living relative to.
Sadie parked in front of an apartment complex and stared out the windshield. The morning sunlight highlighted the gray building with the red awning over the front door. She was exhausted from head to toe and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and put the whole world on hold while she tried to catch up on sleep. But first she needed to meet this fallen angel friend of her mom’s.
Turning off the engine, Sadie grabbed her purse from the front seat and got out, reaching into the backseat to pick up her bag. She walked up to the front door and was scanning the list of names to find Alli’s when the front door opened.
“Hell’s bells, honey, you look just like your mom.”
Sadie turned and found herself staring at a youthful looking female with bright blue eyes and golden blond hair.
“You’re Alli?”
“The one and only,” she said, tilting her head with a smile. “You must be Sadie. Come on in. How was the trip? You look like you’re about to drop.”
“It was long,” she said, following the female into the foyer. Alli took her to a bank of elevators and pressed a button. As the elevator whirred to life and the faint dinging of a bell as it ascended could be heard, Sadie started to cry.
“Oh, honey,” Alli said, putting her arms around her and hugging her tightly. “It’ll be okay.”
“I don’t know why I’m crying,” she said between sobs.
“I can guess that you’re exhausted and overwhelmed. When your mom called me, she was so panicked that you would be hurt by the alpha. I know she hated sending you away but she did it to keep you safe. And you’ll be safe here. No asshole alpha with a god complex who thinks unique shifters should be hidden and treated like shit is going to come looking for you on my watch. And if he does show up?” Alli pushed Sadie gently to arm’s length. “I’m very handy with a sword.”
Sadie half-laughed and half-sobbed. “Thanks.”
“You bet. I’ll have you know that I don’t offer to slaughter people for just anyone, but your mom and I were good friends years ago. Even though we didn’t keep in close contact aside from occasionally over the years, I told her I’d help her if she needed it, no questions asked. So here you are.”
The elevator opened on the second floor and Alli held it while Sadie walked into the hall. Brushing the tears from her cheeks, she blew out a breath and sighed. “Everything happened so fast.”
“It sounds like it.”
Alli faced her as the doors slid shut. “You can stay with me as long as you like. This is a safe building with lots of supernatural people living here.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Alli’s apartment was a spacious two bedroom. After setting her bag and purse in the spare bedroom, Alli fixed breakfast for them while Sadie showered and changed into fresh clothes. As they sat at a small table in the kitchen to eat, Alli shared how she and Sadie’s mom had met.
“Must’ve been sixty or seventy years ago,” Alli said as she cut chocolate chip waffles into bite size pieces. “I was taking classes at a college in Michigan, and I met this really shy but very sweet female named Evelyn.”
“My mom went to college? She never told me.”
Sadie took a bite of waffle and washed it down with a sip of cold milk.
“She didn’t finish her degree. Her alpha let her take some classes but she got involved with a shifters’ rights group.”
She frowned. “What?”
Alli smiled. “Yeah, it was called the Unity Alliance.” She leaned back in the chair and her eyes got a faraway look. “In the fifties, shifters were pretty isolated. The Unity Alliance was created by a group of different shifters who were students at the college, and they wanted to challenge people’s perceptions of shifters and help integrate them into society while also keeping their traditions. They held protests and seminars and lobbied the state and federal governments about shifter issues. They believed shifters should have the right to choose their own paths, even if it meant leaving their groups and living among humans or mating humans or other types of supernatural people.”
“Wow. Really? That…doesn’t seem like something my mom would do. I can’t imagine her protesting, even peacefully.” Her mom was the most straight-laced person she’d ever known and always followed whatever the alpha said. “So what happened?”
“Well, word got back to her alpha that she was spending a lot of time with a human male. I’m pretty sure there were spies in the organization who were reporting to the shifter groups. I told her to leave the pack and be with him, but she got scared. Your alpha saw the group as a threat to the traditions of the pack and wasn’t interested in any sort of progress. He considered it a challenge to his authority and worried that Evelyn would influence other pack members. He came to one of the meetings and told her to drop out of college and cut ties with the organization or she’d face the consequences.”
“So she left?”
“Yep. I offered her a place to live and hell, she and the human were really close and I know he wanted her to stick around. Then the human, whose name was Mickey, was attacked on the way to his apartment from an evening class and your mom knew it was a warning. So she left, but before she did I told her she could reach out to me anytime. I did hear from her occasionally, we wrote to each other by snail mail and when emails were a thing, we communicated here and there. After you were born, I didn’t hear from her again until yesterday when she asked for help for you.”
“It’s like she was a whole different person back then,” Sadie said.
“Yeah, love will do that.”
“I wonder if he’s still alive.”
“I don’t know. If he is, he’s no spring chicken anymore. I doubt she would have stayed with him anyway, even if she loved him. Imagine aging slowly while the guy you love ages like a human. It would be hard to watch.”
“Yeah, it would. Have you ever dated a human?”
“Hell no. I’m immortal and I can’t turn anyone immortal. So generally I stick to dating other immortals like vampires or fallen angels. Occasionally I’ve dated shifters and fae over the years, I’ve been around for a few hundred of them you know. But even with your shifter long-life, it still means they’re aging and I’m not.”
They talked a while longer about the past, a glimpse into Sadie’s mom’s history that she never knew, and then they talked about Sadie’s own history.
When the dishes were finished and they’d settled on the couch, Alli said, “The full moon is tomorrow. There are woods a short drive from here that some of the shifters who live here use for hunting. But I could also take you to meet the alpha of the wolf pack. His name is Adam and he’s a great guy. His mate Cinder is a special kind of wolfy witch called a lygisa . The pack is large and welcoming, and I know they’d let you hang out with them. No pressure.”
She hadn’t thought any farther than getting to Cleveland.
“I… don’t like people to see my shift.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m an albino wolf.”
“Yeah, you’re rare. I think that’s pretty cool.”
“Well, my pack doesn’t.”
Alli leaned forward, her eyes blazing. “Your pack can go to hell, minus your mom of course. Differences should be celebrated not discriminated against. Cinder’s fur is gold. Hell, Adam’s sister Angie has two vampires for mates and she’s an immortal beloved mate. So I promise you that the Thorn Hollow Pack could not care less that your fur is white. But it’s up to you. You can hang out here with me or with Adam and Cinder’s pack.”
Sadie toyed with the fringe on a throw over the back of the couch. Ever since she shifted that first time, she’d only ever wanted to be accepted. It seemed like a crazy dream.
Her mom had feared for her safety so she’d sent her to Cleveland to an old friend she hadn’t seen in decades. And now, maybe Sadie could actually shift and run with a pack that wouldn’t see her as something to fear and shun?
It seemed too good to be true.
But the truth was, Sadie felt like she was supposed to be in Northern Ohio. And how strange was that? To actually feel like she belonged somewhere she’d never been in her life?
“I think I’d like to lay down for a bit if that’s okay?”
“You bet. Make yourself at home. Mi casa es su casa. Did you want me to reach out to Adam and Cinder?”
Sadie rose to her feet and looked down at the fallen angel. It was hard to believe she was talking to someone who at one time had walked among the saints in the heavens. “Yeah. I think I’d like to see how they feel about me. If they don’t mind that I’m albino, then I’d like to run with them. I think…it would be good for me.”
“You got it.”
Sadie’s eyes closed the moment she stretched out on the comfortable bed in the spare bedroom. She thought she’d have trouble shutting down her brain to rest, but she was so tired from the long drive and occasional bouts of panic that had followed her from Michigan that she fell right to sleep, the full moon on her mind.