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Not “Are you okay?” or “What happened?” Her first worry was always whether I’d exposed what I was.

“No, Mom,” I said quickly.

The tension in her shoulders eased slightly. She reached out, gently turning my arm in her hands. The skin was unmarked now, but she knew. Somehow, she always knew.

“You partial-Shifted,” she whispered. It wasn’t a question.

I nodded, looking down. “No one saw. I did it in the bathroom.”

Her face tightened. “Mrs. Halloway, Desire, told me when I was cleaning her house. The whole Pack’s talking about it. She said you were caught stealing.”

“I wasn’t stealing!” I protested. “I was just hunting in the wrong place. I didn’t realize I’d crossed into Alpha territory.”

Mom led me to the table, where we both sat down. “You can’t be this careless, Annabella. The Pack tolerates us, but they’re looking for an excuse to banish us or worse. We can’t give them any reason.”

“I know, Mom. But we need food.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I’ll ask if I can get an advance on some of next week’s pay.”

I swallowed hard, pushing away the hunger. “It’s okay. I’m not hungry.”

She touched my cheek gently. “You’re a terrible liar, Annabella.”

“Mom,” I said, the words I’d been holding in all day finally coming out. “We could leave. Go somewhere else. Anywhere would be better than here. Even humans might be nicer.”

She shook her head slowly. “It’s not that simple.”

“Why not? We could go to Three Rivers. Aunt Jo and Uncle Fred are there with Sofia and Jase. We have family there.”

“No.” The word was sharp, final.

“Why?” I asked.

Mom sighed, running a hand through her hair.

“Your aunt and uncle might be okay with us, but the rest of their Pack wouldn’t be.

Their Alpha, Oliver, he isn’t nice to people who are different.

You have to understand. This is our best chance at staying safe.

When I was a teenager, I was accepted into this Pack.

We have the Pack bonds. The Pack might not like us, but they have to protect us, to protect you.

With things being so bad for witches because of what Simon…

what Webster did, this is the safest place for you. ”

“But this isn’t safe, Mom.”

I wanted to stop wondering when my next meal might be, or who the next hit would come from. I wanted to stop feeling scared all the time. I wanted that so badly.

“No other Pack that would accept a half-witch,” Mom said gently. “It’s this, or we go rogue, and there’s no safety in being rogues. Life is tough here, but at least the Pack will protect us.”

“Protect us?” I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t see how miserable I was. “Lucas broke my arm today, Mom. The Pack doesn’t protect us. They hate us.”

“Not all of them,” she insisted. “Desire and Manny allow us to stay.”

“Because you do work no one else will do,” I said. “And get paid almost nothing for it.”

Mom looked away. “It’s complicated, Annabella.”

“We could go and find my dad?” I said, frustration making me brave.

“Your father—” Mom started, then stopped herself.

Mom never talked about my father. Never.

“Yes?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter now.”

“It matters to me!” I said, feeling magic tingle at my fingertips. “I deserve to know something about him. Anything! Was he a powerful witch? Is that why I have the silver streak? Is that why my magic is so hard to control?”

“Annabella, enough! Your father is gone. It’s just us now. And we have to be careful, both of us. You must control your wolf and your magic.”

I squeezed my fists under the table. “How can I control either when I’m not allowed to use them? How am I supposed to learn? That’s like telling someone to learn to swim without going in the water. ‘Just figure it out, but, hey, you have to stay dry while you do!’”

“You can’t use magic,” Mom said, her voice suddenly hard as stone. She grabbed my wrist, her fingers digging in. “Listen to me, Annabella. You use magic on anyone—anyone—and they will kill you. Not punish. Not exile. Kill. They won’t even wait for the Alpha’s permission.”

Her grip tightened, and I saw real terror in her eyes.

“The day after the Wolf Council banned witches, three families in this territory alone were torn apart. Children, Annabella. They killed children for being witches.” Her voice shook.

“You think what Lucas did was bad? That’s nothing compared to what they’d do if they saw you use magic. Nothing.”

The raw fear in her voice made my anger fade.

“I can’t hide forever,” I whispered. “I won’t. There has to be somewhere we could go. Somewhere both sides of me would be okay.”

Mom reached across the table and took my hand. “I wish that place existed, Annabella. I really do.”

“So, what? This is it for the rest of my life? Getting beat up every day and then cleaning houses for the Pack like you? That’s what I have to look forward to?”

Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away quickly. “Annabella, it will get better. It will.”

“How?”

Mom shook her head and looked away. “I don’t know, sweetie. But it will. I have to believe that.”

She might believe it, but I sure didn’t.