Everleigh
Everleigh was floating along through her morning when her phone rang. She’d never considered herself much of a romantic, but Roman had made her feel things she’d never expected.
She looked at the display. Ugh. It was her brother.
She didn’t answer. He called again. She knew Roman considered Sutton one of his best friends and his brother to boot. It was annoying that they were close because it meant her brother would always be in her life.
She finally answered.
"What the hell, Leigh. Why are you screening my calls?"
"What do you need, Sutton?"
"You need to know the truth about your boyfriend."
An icy dread slithered down her spine. "What’s the truth?"
"He came to Juneau for me. Because I asked him to."
"What do you mean? Tell me."
"Roman owed me a favor. I asked him to get close to you let me know what was going on."
She could not handle it that he was spying on her. And her brother put him up to this?
If he had, she would never speak to her brother again. That would be the end of that relationship for good. There would be no visits for Eliza. She didn't need an uncle who would behave like that.
What if Roman really was complicit? She would never date him again. Mates or not. If he was reporting back to her brother, that would be unforgivable. He knew how she felt about the clan. Why had she not thought to ask why he was here? She’d been so naive.
Suddenly all of it clicked. Her brother had shown up and found her. He'd seen her daughter. And then two weeks later Roman showed up. It obviously was not a coincidence. How could she have been so stupid?
"Why?" she asked. "Why do you care?"
"Because you took one of our clan members away from us. We want your daughter back."
Anger flowed through her veins. She'd been angry before, but she had never felt rage like this.
They had talked to each other, about her and her daughter.
She was done. Oh, she would still allow Eliza to see her father. But only supervised. There would be no vacations for them and no times when she would allow Eliza to go stay with him in Anchorage. For once, being a shifter was on her side.
There were no child support laws and no visitation laws, and there was no court system. Not that they acknowledged as their own. None of them would ever take another shifter to court. It just wouldn't happen. The clans were the ones who made the rules. And she had no Alpha. For this very reason, her clan or his pack would probably try and force her to allow Roman to have visitation.
No. What if he let Sutton see her too? And her clan? Maybe she should leave. She could get over the border into Canada, and she and Eliza could go off grid.
Would her brother try to find her there? She wasn't sure he would ever put that kind of effort into a search, but would Roman? If it were just her, she didn't think so. But now that she had Eliza and he knew he was her father, she thought maybe he would come looking for her.
She had a feeling he might go to the ends of the earth to find Eliza. What if he did find her? He had an entire pack at his beck and call, just waiting on them to command them.
Her stomach churned. Would he get them involved? Would they come after her? The panic overtook her. She had to go. She had to get out of this house.
She already kept her home minimal and her belongings streamlined. Part of that was growing up in a pack where they didn't care much for material belongings. She had gone to the trouble to get a birth certificate and social security card for Eliza because she knew her daughter would be part of the public school system. And, of course, she had to have the same for her career.
She called her coworker Jenny. "Hey. I'm not feeling well. I'm not going to be in today."
Jenny paused. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I may actually go out of town and stay with my aunt for a bit. I'll let you know what's going on. I'm taking my laptop to keep up with my correspondence."