Page 43 of The Careless Alpha

We have to find her,Ranger said with desperate longing.We have to make it right.

"What if she doesn't want to see me?"

We try.

Three days later, I was reviewing pack business when my phone rang. Corbin Pierce's name flashed on the screen.

"Tell me," I said without preamble.

"I found her."

The world stopped. After weeks of searching, of following false leads and dead ends, he'd found her.

"Where?"

"Crescent Bay, Maine. Small coastal town, maybe fifteen hundred people. She's working at a diner called Rita's, living in a small apartment upstairs."

Relief and terror warred in my chest. "Is she... how is she?"

"Looks healthy from what I could observe. The locals seem very protective of her. They think she's running from an abusive ex-boyfriend."

They're not wrong,Ranger said bitterly.We were abusive. We hurt her in every way that mattered.

"What's her situation?"

"Stable, from what I can tell. She has a job, a place to live, and what appears to be a strong support system. This isn't a desperate situation, Alpha Kane. She's building a life away from your pack."

The words should have been comforting, but they felt like a death sentence. If Annalise had found stability, friends, a placewhere she felt safe, why would she want to return to the Alpha who had rejected her, to the pack that had bullied her?

"I need to see her," I said.

"Alpha Kane, I have to advise extreme caution here. This girl has been through trauma. Showing up unannounced could undo all the progress she's made."

"She's my mate. That's my heir she's carrying."

"Legally, you have no claim to either of them. And if she's as settled as she appears, disrupting her life could be seen as harassment."

The reminder of my legal position stung, but I pushed it aside. "Send me everything you have. Address, workplace, whatever you've learned about her life there."

"Alpha Kane—"

"Send it. I'm going to Maine."

After I hung up, I sat in my office staring at the wall map that had consumed my life for six weeks. All those red pins, all those false leads, and she'd been in Maine the whole time. Building a new life, growing my child, creating the stability I'd ripped away from her.

We go to her,Ranger said with fierce determination.We find our family and we bring them home.

"What if she doesn't want to come home?"

She will when we prove we're worthy of her. However long it takes.

I called Jackson to my office and told him what Pierce had found. My Beta listened in silence, his expression growing more concerned with each detail.

"So what's the plan?" he asked when I finished.

"I go to Maine. I find her. I bring her home."

"Marshall," Jackson said carefully, "you're talking about this like she's going to be happy to see you. Like she's been waiting for you to come rescue her."