Page 2

Wrong answer.

"I'll have no more of this. You aren't a child, but you do live under my roof and off what I give you. You don't work. You don't study. You don't help out. You dropped out of college–"

"You know why I did that." Anger whirled inside her like a tornado.

"Yes." Her mother nodded. "We all grieve the loss of your father. But you no longer have time to be a selfish child. You yourself will be a parent in only five short months. How do you plan on taking care of a child? Provide for it? It's obvious the father will not step up. Not that I would expect him to."

"Don't say that about Derek. He'll come around, he just–"

"No." Her mother shook her head. "He's had time. Three months’ worth of time. As have you. But what do you do? Go out clubbing all night with friends. Sleep all day. It's enough. I will not have a grandchild of mine raised like this."

"And what about Colt? Did you give him this same talk when he knocked up Gianna? I don't see him running off to do his duty."

Colt took a step forward. "I wanted to marry Gia. She is the one who said no."

Her mother held up her hand. "This isn't about Colt. It's about you. And I am done allowing you to sully your father's good name, and his pack, by acting like the spoiled—" Her mother sucked in a sharp breath. “Your time is up. You have not made any right decisions since finding out you were with child, and I will no longer allow you to continue down this destructive path. It's finished.”

Her mother rose from her chair and rang the bell on the coffee table. A set of heavy footsteps sounded on the granite floor moving toward the front of the house.

“What… what's going on?” Makayla tried to keep the fear from her voice.

“You are being sent away,” her mother replied.

Mark, her father's right-hand man, walked into the hallway carrying Makayla's two largest suitcases.

A chill raced up Makayla's spine. "You can't do this."

"Can't?" her mother asked. "I most certainly can. This is my house, my money, my pack. I make the rules. If you don't like them you are welcome to leave your cellphone, credit cards, and car and walk out."

Makayla's mind whirled. She was being sent away. All because she was pregnant and had no mate.

"Where are you sending me?" her voice came out barely a whisper.

Her mother nodded to Mark, and he walked out the front door.

"You are going home."

"This is my home."

Her mother shook her head. "No. This is where we live. You're going home. To rejoin our pack in Wolf River."

"You're sending me to backwoods Idaho?" A shrill tenor tinged her voice, and panic raced over her skin.

"Jeremiah has spoken to the men of the pack. One of his sons has agreed to take you and your child in. To care for you and make you his family."

"Whoa! Wait a second. Make me his family? You mean… marry me?"

Her mother's blank stare told Makayla that's exactly what she meant.

"An arranged marriage?" Makayla cried. "To some back hills country bumpkin?"

Her mother was across the room in a blur of movement. "You father was from Wolf River. My family is from Wolf River. You would do better to show some respect."

Anger rippled off her mother and forced Makayla to step back. The commanding presence of an Alpha wasn’t something she could ignore, no matter how much she wished she could.

“But… marriage? You want me to mate someone I don’t even know. Someone that I’ll be with… forever. You always told me mating was something I was supposed to take very seriously. That mating wasn’t something I could take back. And now you are just selling me off like a prize mare?”

“We did always tell you that mating was a serious commitment. But you are twenty-five, and you have yet to show up at our door with even one male suitable for the only daughter of Alphas. You’ve rejected every male we have introduced you to. And now with this latest development of yours, there is no one from our pack who will want you. Petty, I know, but there it is. You know Jeremiah, and you know his boys. They are good men. Griffin is already mated, and his mate is expecting their own first child. So, you will already have someone with something in common to talk to. Both Logan and Caleb are successful and good boys. You are fortunate to have one of them as your mate. And as a father to your child.”