Page 14 of Fat Betrayed Mate
"Fine! Glad we understand each other," I say coldly, stepping around him and walking away, resisting the urge to look back and see if he's watching me go.
The day passes in a blur of anxiety and preparations. I pick Maisie up from school, listening to her chatter about the leaf collection they're making, trying to focus on her words instead of the storm in my mind.
That night, after reading her three bedtime stories and singing her favorite lullaby, I tuck the quilt around her smallshoulders and kiss her forehead. It's warmer than it should be, a feverish heat that makes my stomach clench with worry.
"Night, Mama," she murmurs, already half-asleep.
"Goodnight, Sweet Pea," I whisper, smoothing her curls back from her face.
I've just turned out the light when her small voice stops me at the door.
"Mama? I don't feel good."
I'm back at her side in an instant, my hand on her forehead. Her skin burns against my palm, her eyes glassy in the dim light from the hallway.
"What hurts, baby?"
"Everything's too hot," she whimpers, kicking off the quilt. "And itchy. Like I'm wearing the wrong skin."
My heart stutters. Wrong skin. Her first shift keeps coming closer, no matter how hard I try to put it off.
"It's okay," I soothe, though panic rises in my throat. "Just a little fever. Let me get you some water."
But when I return with the cool glass, Maisie is curled into a tight ball, shivering despite the heat radiating from her small body. When she looks up at me, her eyes flash amber in the darkness—not just flecks anymore, but a full wolfish glow.
"Mama," she says, her voice trembling. "What's happening to me?"
I gather her into my arms, her burning skin against mine. "Your wolf is waking up, baby. Earlier than we expected."
Fear and wonder battle in her expression. "Is that bad?"
"No, Sweet Pea. It's just... unusual." I stroke her hair, mind racing.
"Will I change? Like in the stories you tell?"
"Not yet," I promise, praying it's true. "This is just the beginning. Your wolf is stretching, getting ready. The full shift won't come for years."
Wishful thinking. It’s all I seem to do these days.
Maisie snuggles closer, her small hand fisting in my nightshirt. "Will you stay with me? I'm scared."
"Of course I will," I whisper, settling beside her on the narrow bed. "I'll always be right here."
She drifts back to sleep eventually, her burning skin gradually cooling as the episode that had gripped her passes. But I lie awake, holding my daughter—our daughter—while my mind spins with impossible choices and mounting fears.
If Maisie's shifter traits continue developing at this rate, concealing her parentage will become impossible. Thomas will see himself in her eyes, in her mannerisms, in the very nature of her emerging wolf. And when he does...
I press my lips to her dark curls, breathing in her sweet scent, trying to memorize this moment of peace before the storm that's surely coming.
"I won't let him take you from me," I whisper against her hair, the promise fierce and desperate in the quiet room. "Not now, not ever."
Chapter 4 - Thomas
"I know what you've been doing with my daughter."
The voice stops me cold, my hand frozen on the doorknob. I turn slowly to face Edward Wright, his expensive suit incongruous against the wild backdrop of pine and spruce. The setting sun casts his shadow long across my porch, a darkness stretching toward me.
As a human who once married one of our pack—though she’s long dead now—he’s always been welcome in our territory. But he hasn’t been here for a long time. I’d almost forgotten what he looks like. He shares his daughter’s dark hair, but not her eyes.
