Alpha's Vow (Shifter Ops 2)

Rafe storms out of our place when he sees me. “Shift,” he commands.

My human form feels even worse than my wolf form. Ragged and worn. Barely hanging on.

Rafe punches me in the nose, and I go down on my bare ass in the snow. “You selfish fucking bastard,” he snarls.

Blood spurts from my broken nose.

“I didn’t fucking know if you were going to live or die out there.”

I drag myself to my feet and snort, sending droplets of blood flying. “Right. Because Fate knows I’m not capable of surviving on my own.”

Rafe’s mouth turns down and his shoulders sag. “Fuck, Lance.” He pulls me into a rough hug.

I don’t hug him back.

I’m capable of anything but standing on my feet and filling my lungs with air.

“She’ll come around,” he tells me.

I pull away and give my head a shake. “Will she? I really don’t know.”

And then suddenly, as I’m standing there, it all becomes clear. What I need to do to get my mate back.

Leave Rafe. Leave my pack. Leave this life that she objects to.

I can’t have both—Charlie made that clear. She doesn’t want to raise a child with a mercenary for a father. She wants plain and boring and safe.

She doesn’t think I can be that, but I can. I will.

“I’m out,” I say.

“What?” Rafe’s brows lower. Deke and Channing come out to stand behind him on the wooden porch.

“Charlie isn’t down with this.” I circle my finger at our property. “And I need to take care of my family. I have my own pack now.”

Rafe’s expression flickers between confusion and grief. “Fuck.”

“Fuck,” Channing echoes.

“Lance,” Deke says, but doesn’t follow up with anything.

I walk up the steps, pushing past them. “I’ve gotta go. I’m not your responsibility anymore. I’m not letting Charlie have that baby on her own.”

“You’re right.” Rafe’s voice behind me makes me stop. I turn. “Of course you’re right. Fuck.”

“I’m sorry.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to let you guys down, but they have to come first.”

“They do,” Deke says in a deep rumble.

“Definitely,” Channing agrees.

I walk to my room to get in the shower. I need to clean up, eat some food, and pack.

I’m moving to Arizona.

Chapter 16

Charlie

“Charlie, hon, I think I should take you to the doctor. All this puking can’t be good for the baby,” my mom says, her hand on my upper back as I bend over the toilet and dry heave.

If Lance were here he would’ve made sure I’d eaten enough before I got to this point.

That thought sends me into a spiral of fresh grief.

I thought that being with my family would somehow make everything magically better. Or at least make sense. I guess I associated having children with my own family, but now that I’m here with my parents in Green Valley, I feel lonelier than ever. Or maybe it’s the ache in my heart that won’t go away.

I applied for a job with the postal service here and in Tucson, but there aren’t any openings at the moment. I’ve spent the last week helping my mom with her gardening, crying, and throwing up.

So yeah, it’s been fun. Heartbroken, pregnant, living with my parents again. Oh, and puking a lot. One star, do not recommend.

“I’m okay. I just need to force some food down. Are there any more crackers?”

“I’ll check and see, hon.”

I sigh and wash my face in the sink.

When I come out, my mom has poured a sleeve of crackers into a Tupperware bowl, which she sets on the table. I plunk down on a chair and pick one up. She sits across from me.

“Have you talked to him?”

I shake my head. “No.”

Frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t contacted me. But then, I saw the hurt on his face when I broke up with him. What had I said? I can’t even remember—I was so raw with emotion and hormones.

Just thinking of him makes me cry again. I miss having him close. His easy-going grin. The safety I feel in his strong arms. The way he makes me smile, relaxes me, takes care of me.

The cracker is dry on my tongue. “I think I made a mistake, Mom.”

“With Lance?”

I nod. “With leaving. I thought being near you and Dad would be the best place to raise a child, but now…”

“A child needs their father,” my mom says.

I slump in my chair. “I didn’t have a father half the time. And half the time, I didn’t have a mother,” I say. “It was terrifying growing up worrying one of you might never come back.”

“Oh, Charlie.” My mom’s eyes glitter with tears. “I’m sorry you suffered. We suffered too. You think it didn’t kill us every time to ship out and leave the most precious thing known to us behind? I mean, I knew your father would take good care of you, but would he do the things I would for you? And then I had to miss all those months of you growing up. Time I’ll never ever get back.”