Sarah, a forbidden hybrid whose parents are a werewolf and a warlock, has lived her whole life in exile with her mother. On her eighteenth birthday, she meets her grandfather for the first time when he invites them to return to the pack. She also meets her mate, the pack’s beta. But when she joins the pack, Sarah quickly learns of secrets about her grandparents, her parents, and herself—secrets that could cost her life and the lives of others.
Age Rating: 18+ (Assault, Rape)
Sarah, a forbidden hybrid whose parents are a werewolf and a warlock, has lived her whole life in exile with her mother. On her eighteenth birthday, she meets her grandfather for the first time when he invites them to return to the pack. She also meets her mate, the pack’s beta. But when she joins the pack, Sarah quickly learns of secrets about her grandparents, her parents, and herself—secrets that could cost her life and the lives of others.
Age Rating: 18+ (Assault, Rape)
SARAH
“Sarah, come down immediately!” Mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
“Why?!”
“Because I said so!” Moms… What is it with this woman? I stood up from my desk and went downstairs to the kitchen, where Mom was sitting with a worried grimace.
“What is it, Mom?” I asked nervously.
“Oh, nothing you should concern yourself with.” This was the story of my life. My mom worried all the time, but she wanted to protect me from all of it. And I didn’t get it.
Eighteen years ago, almost nineteen now, my mom had fallen in love with this handsome warlock. They’d run away together, and before they knew it, they were expecting.
But Mom’s pack had found out she’d run away with a warlock, so she’d been banished from her pack.
The warlock, my father, if that’s what you could call him, had abandoned her when he’d found out that her parents had cut her off.
Apparently, he’d been after the pack’s money and had lied about it all to my mom.
He’d spelled her with some love potion, which explained why my mom had run away, but her parents had thought it was just an excuse to come back home.
They hadn’t believed it, and she’d been left on her own, pregnant. My mom had been heartbroken, but she hadn’t let it hold her back from having me, and I was proud to call her my mom.
You could ask yourself why this warlock had been after the money. Well, my grandfather was the pack’s alpha then and had a sparkling business in global marketing.
They were the richest people in the entire town…
And they had no idea that I existed. Awesome, right?
Because of the forbidden love then and now because of her forbidden child, my mom had had to keep me hidden, or she could have been sentenced to death.
I carried my mom’s last name, and it would have been too obvious who my family was, so she’d homeschooled me. She’d done everything she could, but the result was I didn’t know anybody.
I was very closed off, but on the other hand, my mom was my best friend, and I saw now that something was wrong with her.
“Mom, just tell me already. I’m eighteen. You should trust me, already, and before you say anything, I know the rules. I won’t go outside or get angry.”
My mom gasped. “First of all, you’re seventeen, but you’re right, honey.” She sighed.
“It’s my dad.”
My eyes widened. “What now?” Mom had told me about them, but never in detail. It just hurt too much—you could see it in her eyes when she tried to talk to me about them.
Mom stood up and walked toward me.
My mom, Olivia, was a beautiful lady. She had curly long brown hair with a couple of gray strips in it. She was about five feet, eleven inches tall and had curves to die for.
I’d inherited those curves from her, and I was proud of them. She had piercing blue eyes.
I, on the other hand, had black curly hair and brown eyes. Other than that, Mom and I could have been twins, not that anyone could ever know, but I was proud of it.
“Your grandfather is coming in an hour.”
For a moment I couldn’t think. What on earth is happening?
“Sarah? Honey?” Mom asked, worried.
“Sarah Julia Black!” Mom yelled.
“Sorry, Mom. I guess I heard you wrong. I thought you said Granddad is coming.” I laughed while putting my hands up.
“You heard me right, sweetie,” Mom said. I quickly sat down, and I probably looked white as snow. Mom took my hands.
“But why?”
Mom crouched down and looked right at me.
“Apparently, something happened at the pack house, and they need my help.”
I couldn’t believe it. Why, just why?
“Why now? After nineteen years? What does this mean, Mom? Do we need to be scared?” I was scared and Mom saw, but she shook her head.
“No, sweetie. My mom isn’t alive anymore. She was the reason my dad cut all ties with me. So I just think he wants to reconcile,” Mom explained, but she didn’t look happy about it. She looked worried.
I couldn’t help thinking, Why would he come now? Grandma has been dead for over five years. Why now? This just doesn’t feel right.
“Sarah,” Mom said to bring my attention back to the conversation.
Before I could answer, she said, “We need to get the house ready. He should be here any moment.” I nodded and started to erase evidence of myself from everything.
Whenever somebody came over, we had to take away all the pictures I was in. So we replaced all the photos with ones of Mom all by herself. I knew what this meant. I had to go to my room and be quiet.
Before I knew it, the doorbell rang. “Shoot upstairs and be quiet,” Mom whispered. I went upstairs quickly, but instead of going to my room, I hid behind the wall, where nobody could see me.
“Hi, Father,” I heard my mom say.
“Olivia,” the older man said. I’d once seen a picture of him in an advertisement, but he looked very different. He was a somewhat older man with silky brown, curly hair and the same eyes my mom had.
“I’m your dad. You should call me that, then.”
Mom started laughing hysterically.
“I haven’t heard from you in nineteen years, and you want me to call you Dad? Don’t make me laugh.” Mom was getting very angry.
Granddad looked like he could spit fire. His cheeks and eyes turned red, and before I knew it, the sound of a smack filled the room. The bastard hit her!
“Olivia, don’t you dare talk to me like that.”
Mom was fuming. “No, Dad,” she spit. “How dare you come into ~my~ home and slap me! I can call you whatever I want.
“You haven’t even called me before today, and you want to be my dad again? How dare you!” she spit out, and all I could do was stand there with pride. My mom was such a strong woman.
“Olivia, you know it was your mom who forbade me to call you, visit you, or even to give you money.”
Mom laughed at that.
“Valerie died, like, five years ago, Father. So don’t use that as a reason for abandoning your own daughter.”
Mom was saying this with a lot of hand gestures, and I knew what that meant. Stay away or get out.
Apparently I wasn’t alone, because he shrieked at hearing about his wife in such a tone from his own daughter. But he looked like he was very embarrassed.
“What do you want, Father? Or should I even call you that? Maybe I should call you David instead.” Mom was really mad.
Doesn’t he know her at all? Stop arguing. You’re not going to win this one…
“No, no. Father is fine. You’re right, Olivia. I just didn’t know how to contact you after your mom died. I hadn’t heard anything or seen anything.”
Mom laughed at that.
“I’ve been in this house, my home, for over eighteen years. I’ve been in my hometown all these years. So, for example, you could’ve just asked someone about me or come to my job.
“You know, the nursing home I’ve been working at since I was eighteen. So no, you don’t have any reason for this bullshit. You left me, and that’s it.” Mom was very angry.
I’d never seen her this way, not even when I’d run out of the house once when I was little. Well, I’d seen it, but not with this volume and all these hand gestures. It was scaring the shit out of me.
“What do you want, Father? And don’t make me ask it again.”
Granddad huffed. “I want you home. You can work back in the pack clinic. But most of all, we caught that warlock you were spelled by, and he told us about how he spelled you.”
Mom’s eyes began to water. “Now you believe me?”
He nodded.
“Thanks for that, but I can’t go home,” she answered, looking away from him. He looked at her with a questioning look.
No, Mom deserves happiness. She deserves a better life than this. I’m not going to be the reason she can’t go home. I refuse to be the reason she can’t have her dream.
I ran to the stairs and yelled, “Yes, you can, Mom. Go!”
Mom looked shocked, and Granddad looked furious.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked.
Sarah Julia Black; that’s who I am.
Granddad watched me with piercing eyes. I came downstairs took my mom’s hands.
“What are you doing?” she asked me.
“Letting you have your dream. Go! I’ll be fine,” I reassured her, but she shook her head. Her eyes were watering.
“No, you’re my dream. I’m not going anywhere without you. Why are you doing this?” I knew this was a problem for her, so instead of pushing her to go, I just nodded.
“Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?” he asked angrily. He looked at me and then again at Mom.
He was trying to make a connection, something logical, but whatever he was thinking, we had to lie. I had to lie…
“It doesn’t concern you, sir.” He shook his head. It hurt that I had to lie to my own granddad about who I was, but I knew that he would never take Mom back to the pack if he knew.
Her happiness meant more to me. It was the least I could do after everything she’d sacrificed.
“I’m sorry, but I just want what’s best for her,” I said, pointing to Mom. He looked at me, confused.
But before he could say anything, I said, “Look, I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong.” They both looked at me, my Mom waiting for what I was going to say.
But I didn’t want my mom to die or to lose me. It would kill her and me as well if we were without each other, so I had to choose my words carefully.
“Hi,” I said, holding my hand out. He took my hand and shook it. “Sarah Julia Black; that’s who I am.”
He looked shocked and confused. “WHAT?!” He was turning red, gripping my hand so tightly it hurt. I looked at his other hand. It went up, ready to hit me, but my mom pushed me behind her.
“No!” she yelled. “You get your hands off my daughter!”
“Daughter? A disgrace, you mean! Are you mated? Is there a man in this house? How could you!”
Now I was the one that was fuming. I came from behind my mom and started pointing at him.
“How dare you call me a disgrace and my mom a whore? I thought you would listen to her instead of yelling and jumping to the wrong conclusions. How old-fashioned can you be?”
Mom looked worried while I said this, and she mouthed, What are you doing?
I just nodded. “Trust me.”
“Just tell me, already. I’m not a man of patience.”
I laughed. “Believe me, I know.” He looked weirdly at me.
“Don’t worry. Mom told me about everything.”
He looked shocked. Yes, I knew how he disciplined his omegas, his daughter, and even his own freaking wife, but I was still committed to give him a chance. He just stood there, waiting for me to go on.
“Okay. Can you please get out of the doorway and come sit in the living room?” I asked.
He looked around him and chuckled. “Okay.”
We went to the living room. It was just a small room with some pictures and paintings, but it was really plain, and we loved it like that.
“Why don’t I see you in any of these pictures?” he asked me.
“Because we knew you wouldn’t understand.” Mom looked down, ashamed for believing the worst.
“Please tell me, Sarah, who are you, and why are you calling my Olivia Mom?”
I sighed. “Because she is my mom,” I explained. He looked furious, but before he could explode, I pointed at him and smiled.
“I was adopted.” They both looked at me with this confused look. Confused wasn’t the correct word; it was more oblivious, shocked, not wanting to believe that this was happening.
“What?” I asked like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“You never thought of werewolves giving up their kids? Unexpected pregnancies are a thing in both worlds, sir.” He looked at me, still confused, but he stayed quiet.
I took the silence as my cue to continue.
“I was about six months old when I came here, or more precisely, was left here. Somebody left me on her doorstep, but when she picked me up, she smelled that I was not just a human. I’m a werewolf.
“So she didn’t want to call social services. What do you think would’ve happened to a werewolf girl in the foster system?
“What would’ve happened if I lost control of my wolf and shifted in front of everybody?” I laughed, and they both smiled at me.
Wolves would know exactly what I meant. Shifting uncontrollably was very dangerous—definitely for humans near that shifting wolf. They could die.
“My mom knew that it would be bad. The werewolf society had to be protected, and she also wanted to protect me. Look, I don’t know who my birth parents are, and I don’t care.
“I carry the name Black with pride, just as I’m proud to call her my mom. Just because nobody knows about this doesn’t mean you have to expect the worst.”
He looked at his daughter. I was waiting for him to say something. I didn’t care what he said, just something, anything…
I looked at Mom, but she just smiled. We knew that with this story, she couldn’t get sued or prosecuted, and it was a believable story.
“Okay. What if I said that I believe you? I’m not saying that I do,” he said, putting his hands on his thighs.
“But how would we do this in the pack house? It’s almost unknown, giving your pup up for adoption willingly.” He was flustered, and I started to panic.
I didn’t know how to explain this, because I’d never been in a pack house, and it was all a lie…
Mom sighed. “Look, Father. She’s telling the truth. This was the main reason I kept her hidden, but there’s one thing she doesn’t know.” Mom looked at me and smiled.
I didn’t know what she was doing, but I trusted her.
So I nodded, indicating she could go on. For my granddad, it would have looked like I was telling her that I was ready to hear my entire story.
“I know who left her at my doorstep.”
Granddad looked at her, signing for her to continue while sitting back and putting his head up, giving Mom his full attention while crossing his legs.
“It was a young wolf, I guess around fifteen, and she needed help. She told me about her situation. She was raped by her neighbor and ran away when she found out about the pregnancy.
“You know how people think about having a pup with somebody other than your mate.” He nodded, and it explained to me why he’d reacted the way he had earlier.
Way to make it dramatic,~ I thought, but it was very believable. Rape was just as punishable in the werewolf community as in the human world, and severe sentences had been passed.~
“Look, I love her, and I’m not giving her up. I’m her mom. She’s a Black, and that’s that.
“It doesn’t matter where she comes from, but if you really want to explain, just tell the old-school wolves what happened, and they’ll understand.
“Hell, they’ll be proud to call me your daughter, the former alpha’s daughter.”
He nodded.
“So…,” he started.
“Sarah, how old are you, my dear?” I looked at the clock; it was just midnight. Mom looked at it too.
“Happy birthday, sweetie,” she said and hugged me. My birthday was always a big day for us.
We would celebrate it as much as we could with just the two of us. Just because we didn’t go outside didn’t mean we didn’t celebrate.
“I’m eighteen, sir, since, like, now.” I smiled while pointing at the clock.
“Happy birthday, and please call me Granddad.” I smiled at him. Just when I wanted to hug my granddad for the first time, someone knocked on the door.
Mom and I were a little bit scared, because who could it have been at this hour?
“Who’s there?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s my beta’s son, the current beta. He’s here to pick me up. I didn’t think… Well, I didn’t foresee this…”
Mom grimaced at that.
I stood up to welcome our guest when she opened the door.
I was shocked because there he was, a handsome, muscular man. I guessed he was around twenty-four. He had brown hair and these gray-bluish eyes that could make you melt.
I felt myself getting aroused for a moment, and it felt weird. I’d never had that feeling, but Goddess, I didn’t mind it because he was beautiful.
He looked directly at me. My wolf started going nuts in my head
“What are you doing, Diana?” I asked, but she just answered, ~“Mate.”~
He smiled at me. “Mine!”