Prologue (pt 2)
Claire
Present day...
"Go back to where you came from, whore!" a voice yelled from one of the cars streaming past. Claire's eyes immediately locked on the candy apple red Camaro and its passengers before it started to become a dot on the horizon.
A low rumble escaped from her mouth. Just ignore it, Claire thought. She tried desperately to sooth her inner wolf, at least enough to where she didn't want to chase after them and rip them to shreds.
After a few moments, she managed to unclench her fists. Claire hated this. Hated that she had to constantly calm down the beast inside her because people found it amusing to make fun of her. While her human half had moved past it, barely caring what people said anymore, her wolf half loathed the fact that people would dare try and cross her.
But there was nothing she could do about it.
Claire walked along the side of the road towards home. It was a little over a mile to get from her house to school and vice versa. Not a really long walk when she could transform into a fast-running, stamina-crazy beast, but at least in her human form, the walk went by a little slower.
The cluster of trees that started a few feet down from the embankment accompanied her on her trek home. Trees were everywhere here in their little town. On every street corner, in every front yard. There were more signs of nature here than people.
Claire didn't mind. In fact, she loved nature. It was a part of her, part of her home. She loved the way the birds sang early in the morning. The way nature never slept—always making beautiful sounds, forming wondrous melodies even in the darkness of night.
What she loved most of all, though, was the ground itself. The way the dirt came up slightly under her paws when she ran and played. How the twigs snapped and cracked when she stepped on them. And even in the morning, she adored the coolness of the ground before the sun had a chance to rise and heat it up.
"Care!" Charlie, her six-year-old brother, yelled as she walked through their front door. As he'd grown up, Charlie had had a problem pronouncing her name right. It'd been so long now, the nickname had stuck. She actually sort of loved it.
He launched himself at her with all the force a tiny, not-yet-shifted werewolf could. Luckily, like every day when she came home from school, she was ready. Catching him easily, Claire grinned at her adopted brother.
"Care, you missed it! Jackie and I painted and then we played with playdoh!" Charlie proclaimed, bursting with excitement.
"Is that right?" Claire asked him softly, clicking on the tiny living room lights before leading Charlie into the kitchen. "Well, were you sure to tell her 'thank you?'"
Charlie's lips turned into a small round 'O.'
She chuckled. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
Upon entering the kitchen, Claire gently nudged him in the direction of Jackie, his nanny, who was currently washing some dishes in their rusting sink.
Charlie rushed over and wrapped his arms around Jackie. With his smaller Omega size, he barely came up to her waist. "Thank you, Jackie."
The older woman peered down at Charlie with a forced smile on her face. "Of course, Charlie."
The air in the kitchen picked up weight and tension. Claire could practically feel how much trouble Jackie had holding herself together. "Charlie, can you do me a favor and give Claire and I a second to talk?" Jackie asked.
Claire gave her brother a confirming nod. Reluctantly Charlie agreed and slowly headed up to his room, dragging his feet the whole way. Jackie and Claire didn't start talking until they heard the click of Charlie's bedroom door.
Jackie dried her hands with a frustration and anger Claire had never seen from her before. Granted, the graying-haired woman wasn't often sunshine and rainbows, but she wasn't a terror either. An elder of the pack, she had been watching Charlie for their family for quite a while now. Never had Claire thought there'd be a serious problem.
"Is everything okay?" Claire's eyebrows scrunched together in concern.
"No. No, it's not." Jackie ran a hand over her face, "I can't do it. I can't do it anymore. I've been holding everything in, hoping the next day would be better, but it only ends up worse. I'm done."
Claire's stomach dropped. "Surely you're not talking about quitting."
"That's exactly what I'm talking about. I can't take this anymore!"
"But Jackie, Charlie's a great kid, and I know sometimes he might be a little troublesome—"
"It's not about Charlie. It's about you and your parents." Jackie was absolutely livid now. "I cannot sit around all day watching that child. I am supposed to be the help, not his parent."
"But—"
"I am the babysitter." She stabbed a thumb at her chest. "I watch Charlie for a few hours, I clean the house, I get paid, I go home. It is that simple. Somehow you and your parents do not understand that. Services aren't free around here, Claire."
When was the last time Jackie had been paid? Cole said— "Jackie, if you'd just let me talk to Cole and Marie, I'm sure I can make sure that something like this never happens again—"
"It won't happen again because I won't be here to see it. I quit." She huffed and snatched up her purse and keys on the table. With determined steps, she began heading to the door.
"Jackie, wait!" Claire followed her to the door. "Can't we just work this out? Please?"
"Not a chance."
"Please, Jackie?" Claire's tone turned desperate. "You're our last chance here."
Jackie swung open the door and took one step into the outside world before turning around. "You Omega's aren't good enough for this pack anyway. It shows in the way Charlie acts. None of you listen to orders well and you don't ever give money to help the pack. I hope my quitting teaches you all a lesson: you can't take advantage of a pack member." Without hesitation, Jackie stepped down the crumbling porch steps and to her shiny Volvo.
Claire shut the door carefully, wincing as it creaked. She listened to Jackie's car rumble as it drove down the street. Resting her forehead on the door, eyes closed, she let out a quivering sigh. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Even if she wanted to, she didn't have any money to pay Jackie for helping out. Could it get any worse?
"Care?" Charlie's small voice asked. His tone wavered, like he was fighting back tears himself. "Care, I'm sorry."
Claire took in her little brother as he came down the stairs, her eyes locking on his shaking bottom lip. She wasted no time at all in picking the boy up and holding him close, inhaling his warm and calming scent. "It's not your fault, Charlie. Jackie just wasn't the right babysitter for us, is all."
"Mommy's gonna be so mad at me." Clear tears started to drip down the boy's face.
Claire hushed the child, cooing sweet words into his ear. "It is not your fault, Charlie. Do you hear me? This is not your fault. This one's on me, Cole, and Marie."
Little Charlie's eyes were red as he sobbed in Claire's arms. The sounds of his sniffles pierced Claire's heart and made her hold him to her chest tighter.
The two siblings sat by the front door for a while. Claire waited patiently while Charlie cried. No matter how many times she told him that none of this was his fault, he still sobbed. Claire knew she couldn't quiet him either. It was something only time or his mother could do. She understood. She was exactly the same.
Except Charlie's mother wasn't going to be home for still quite a while, so she had to step up and rise to the challenge.
Claire ran a hand over Charlie's blond curls. "It'll be okay, Charlie. This just means you'll get to see more of me from now on. We're going to be buddies."
Charlie rubbed at his cheeks. "You promise you won't leave me?"
Without hesitation, Claire replied, "I will never leave you, Charlie."
And that would be a promise she would keep even until her last breath. Because Charlie was the closest thing to family she'd ever had, and she would never ditch family.