Page 32 of The Careless Alpha

"Rent's four hundred a month, but like I said, we'll work something out with your wages until you get established," Rita said. "You start at six tomorrow morning. Wear comfortable shoes and be ready to work."

After she left, I sat on the bed and looked around my new home. It wasn't much, but it was mine. For the first time since Marshall had rejected me, I felt like I could breathe properly.

We did it,Sapphire said with quiet satisfaction.We found safety.

"We found a chance," I corrected. "Now we have to prove we can take care of ourselves."

That night, I lay in my bed listening to the sound of waves against the harbor walls and seagulls calling to each other in the darkness. The ocean was alien and wild, nothing like the quiet forests of home, but there was something peaceful about its constant rhythm.

Somewhere far away, in a pack territory I would never see again, Marshall was probably sleeping peacefully in his bed, convinced he'd made the right choice. He'd probably already forgotten about the pregnant girl he'd thrown away, moved on to more important matters of pack leadership.

I wondered who was keeping his bed warm tonight. Scarlett, most likely. Her vicious words from months ago echoed in my mind, a prophecy fulfilled. She had told me he was just waiting, biding his time until he could discard me without scandal. Hadit all been a lie? Was my rejection not a moment of irrational anger, but a cold, calculated plan he’d had all along? Had he already taken Scarlett as his chosen mate? Was she sleeping in his bed right now, the rightful Luna in the place I was only ever borrowing? The thought was a fresh wave of agony, worse than the rejection itself. It wasn't just that he hadn't wanted me; it was the possibility that he had never intended to keep me at all.

Fine. If I was never truly his, then he had no claim on my future. And he had absolutely no claim on our son. My son.

Here in Maine, I was building something new. Something that belonged to me and my child, something that no one could take away.

Tomorrow we start over,Sapphire said as sleep finally began to claim me.

"Tomorrow we prove we don't need him," I whispered back.

The bus ticket had been right, in a way. It was the end of everything I'd been before.

But it was also the beginning of everything I was going to become.

Chapter 12

Marshall - Age 23

Two weeks without her, and I finally understood what I'd thrown away.

I sat in my office staring at the same patrol reports I'd been pretending to read for the past hour. The words blurred together, meaningless marks on paper that couldn't hold my attention. Nothing could, not when Ranger was a constant snarl of fury in my mind and the scent of my pup still lingered in my memory.

You smelled him,Ranger said for the hundredth time, his voice raw with pain and rage.You smelled our son, and you threw them both away like garbage.

"I know," I whispered to the empty room.

I tried to tell you. I tried to break through, but you blocked me out while you destroyed everything that mattered.

The memory of that moment was burned into my brain. The instant Annalise had said she was pregnant, Ranger had surged forward with recognition and joy.Our pup. Our heir.But I'd slammed every barrier I had into place, refusing to listen to my wolf's desperate attempts to reach me.

By the time Jackson had forced the truth on me two weeks ago, it was too late. Annalise was gone, taking my child with her, and I had no one to blame but myself.

You've been treating her badly since the beginning,Ranger continued his relentless accusations.I never wanted those other females. I wanted our mate. But you ignored me, ignored her, ignored everything that should have mattered.

Do you remember Scarlett's birthday party when she was sixteen?Ranger's voice grew sharper.Veronica poured wine on her dress, and you just laughed it off as girls being girls. You didn't even notice how humiliated she looked.

The memory hit me like a physical blow. Annalise stood there in her ruined dress, trying not to cry while the other she-wolves giggled. I'd been so focused on Veronica's flirtations that I hadn't even cared about my mate's obvious distress.

Or when Tiffany 'accidentally' locked her out of the dining hall during the autumn feast,Ranger continued mercilessly.She missed the entire meal, and you never even noticed she was gone.

Another memory surfaced—coming home to find Annalise sitting alone in the kitchen, eating cold leftovers. I'd been annoyed that she hadn’t been with me in the dining hall, never thinking to ask why she'd missed dinner.

They've been torturing her for years,Ranger said with devastating clarity.And you gave them permission by treating her like she didn't matter.

He was right. God help me, he was right about all of it.

A knock on my door interrupted my self-flagellation. "Come in."