Page 2 of Gavin

Everything bad that happened was blamed on Sadie, from crops not coming in to a bad hunt to someone in the pack getting injured.

But Sadie tried not to think about that.

She tried to remain upbeat no matter how defeated she actually felt inside, because she knew it hurt her mom to see her unhappy. Sadie should have left ages ago. She’d asked her mom once to leave the pack with her, but she hadn’t wanted to. The idea of being away from the pack was too scary for her mom to contemplate, so Sadie had stuck it out, borne the brunt of the Alpha’s blame for every bad thing that happened, so she could stay with her mom.

Stopping behind a truck at a stop sign, she saw the couple in the vehicle lean over to kiss and she smiled.

Would that ever be her?

Probably not as long as she stayed in Ironwood. Alpha Holloway had made it clear that he wouldn’t approve of her mating any of the pack males, and that was okay because she didn’t want to mate any of them anyway. No one wanted to risk having a child with her in case she passed along her freakish fur color.

So she held out hope that she’d meet her truemate at some point.

Maybe he’d wander into the library looking for a history book and she’d know just what he was looking for and they’d share a passionate kiss among the shelves.

Snorting as she pulled ahead to the stop sign and shook her head at herself, she pushed away the romantic thoughts and focused on the drive home. Maybe someday she’d meet her truemate and he wouldn’t care what color her fur was. But in the meantime, she had to keep her head out of the clouds.

It wasn’t any use thinking about a future she didn’t know if she’d ever have.

“Honey, is that you?”

“Yeah, Mom,” Sadie said as she walked into the house. She set her bag next to the door and toed off her shoes.

She found her mom in the kitchen.

Her mom looked…weird.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Um, honey, Alpha Holloway wants to see you.”

“Why? Did someone’s houseplant die?”

“Honey,” her mom chided. “I know it’s not easy for you, but you can’t be so glib. What if he heard you make that kind of comment?”

“How could he treat me any worse?”

“It could get worse, honey, you know it could.”

Sadie dropped her chin to her chest. “Okay. When does he want to see me?”

“He hasn’t called for you yet, but he’s going to. I heard some of the high ranked males talking when I was picking strawberries for a pie.”

“Talking about me?”

“Yes. I think he’s going to send some of his males to bring you to him later tonight. I think…” Her mom’s gaze dropped to the table.

“You think what?”

Her mom paused long enough that a knot formed in Sadie’s gut.

“A pack is coming for a visit. Alpha Holloway’s brother is the alpha and there’s going to be a big party this weekend with a huge hunt on Saturday during the full moon.”

“Why would he want to see me about that?”

Her mom finally lifted her head, and there was so much genuine worry on her face that Sadie wanted to cry. She hadn’t cried about the alpha and his traditional, anti-albino-fur feelings in a long time.

“Mom?”

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