Page 40 of The Careless Alpha

But this new life, this unexpected path, was teaching me things I'd never learned in all my years of Luna training. Independence. Self-worth that didn't depend on someone else's approval. The difference between being wanted and being valued.

Marshall had wanted me as an obligation, a position to be filled, a duty to be endured. These people—Rita, Tom, Jimmy—they valued me for who I was, not what I was supposed to represent.

We are learning to be who we want to be,Sapphire observed.

"We are," I agreed.

I walked back to my small apartment as darkness fell, climbing the stairs to my studio with its view of the harbor. It wasn't the Alpha house with its grand rooms and ancient traditions. It wasn't the life I'd dreamed of since childhood.

But it was mine. Every choice, every decision, every moment of joy or struggle—it all belonged to me now.

I made myself a simple dinner and settled into my favorite chair with one of the books Mrs. Walker had brought me. Outside, the waves continued their eternal rhythm against the shore, a sound that had become as comforting as a lullaby.

Eighteen years old. Four months pregnant. Three thousand miles from the life I'd once thought was my destiny.

And for the first time since Marshall had claimed me at thirteen, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Happy birthday to us,Sapphire said contentedly.

"Happy birthday to us," I echoed, placing my hand on my belly where our son continued his gentle movements.

Tomorrow would bring new challenges, new questions about the future. But tonight, I was content.

It was the best birthday I'd had in years.

Chapter 14

Marshall

Finding her became my obsession. Every lead, every possibility, every chance she might be safe.

I stared at the map covering my office wall, red pins marking every location where the investigators had found traces of Annalise's journey after I banished her. Bus stations, small towns, dead ends that led nowhere. Six weeks of searching, and I was no closer to finding her than the day I'd finally started looking.

Today was her eighteenth birthday. Somewhere out there, Annalise was turning eighteen alone, carrying my child, believing I'd thrown her away because she wasn't worth fighting for.

She is worth everything,Ranger said with quiet intensity.Our mate, our pup, our future. Find them.

"I'm trying," I said aloud to my empty office.

The door opened without a knock, and Jackson entered carrying a stack of reports. My Beta looked as exhausted as I felt, with dark circles under his eyes from the long nights we'd both been pulling. Once I'd finally started the search, he'd thrownhimself into helping with the same desperate energy that drove me.

"Anything?" I asked, though his expression already told me the answer.

"Three more dead ends," he said, dropping the files on my desk. "The sighting in Denver was a false lead—wrong girl entirely. The bus driver in Salt Lake City thinks he remembers her, but it was two months ago, and he sees hundreds of passengers every day."

I rubbed my face, feeling the weight of failure pressing down on me. Every day that passed was another day my pregnant mate was alone in the world, another day my son grew without knowing his father existed.

"There's something else," Jackson said carefully. "Corbin Pierce called. He wants to meet with you."

Corbin Pierce was the best private investigator money could buy, a wolf shifter and former FBI agent who specialized in finding people, human or supernatural, who didn't want to be found. I'd hired him the day after my conversation with my mother, giving him unlimited resources and every piece of information Jackson and I could provide about Annalise.

"When?"

"He's waiting downstairs."

I was on my feet before Jackson finished speaking, hope and dread warring in my chest. A meeting meant news, but whether that news was good or bad remained to be seen.

Pierce was exactly what I'd expected from his reputation—mid-fifties, silver hair, sharp eyes that missed nothing. He carried himself with the quiet confidence of a man who'd spent decades tracking down truth in a world full of lies.