I hated the looks I was getting as I stood beside Maverick as he announced the news that he had found his mate. He looked to me adoringly and I hated every minute of the attention I got from everyone else but him.

I was not comfortable in this situation. When it was just the two of us it was much easier.

No matter what he had said about acceptance, I could see them judging me. I was an outsider, someone they didn’t know. Could I blame them? No. If they knew about my past they wouldn’t accept me at all.

If Maverick knew about my past I doubted he would be standing here declaring that I was his.

His hand held mine. He was strong, when I wavered. He was confident in us. I only felt sure in us when we were together but I feared I waver when he wasn’t around.

My doubts and cynicism would smother what I felt for him.

His hand tightened its hold on mine as if he sensed my internal struggle and I took a steady breath. It was a reminder that I wasn’t alone, he was in this with me.

We barely knew each other, but he seemed to know when I needed reassurance. I wondered if it had something to do with our connection or something else entirely.

“Our mating ceremony will take place in two days, on our next full moon.”

Is that why he had chosen that day for it? Did it have to coincide with the moon?

There was a murmur from the crowd. There was no mistaking the disapproval I saw in some pack members eyes.

The Victoria, before I met Maverick, would have stared them down, not giving a damn. But I did care and I did want to make it work with Maverick.

The way I felt when I was with him was addictive. But the cautionary side of me reminded me it was never a good move to need anyone. People had let me down my whole life. It had been another blow to discover I was a werewolf and had been unaware of it all this time. It was all kinds of fucked up, the inevitable story of my life.

After the announcement Maverick introduced me to his sister. She was beautiful and I could see the similar features that tied them together as siblings. I couldn’t imagine having a brother or sister who would have lived the same childhood I had.

“It’s nice to meet you Victoria.” She hugged me. I was taken aback, momentarily at her warmth.

Awkwardly, I tried to return her hug but it wasn’t something I was used to. Affection wasn’t something I had grown up with and felt foreign and out of place. Looking to Maverick, he shrugged. “She’s a hugger.”

“I’m sorry,” Lark apologized, releasing me.

“Sorry, it’s just not something I’m used to.” I didn’t want to have to go into an explanation of why.

“So we’re going shopping?” she raised an eyebrow at me, successfully changing the subject.

“Apparently,” I murmured.

Maverick handed his sister a credit card. “Get whatever she needs.”

Lark nodded. “Sure thing Mav.”

“And don’t over do it on the shoes?”

Lark smiled and winked. “Shoes are a necessity.”

He smiled and shook his head. There was so much affection between them that it made me a little jealous that I had never had a sibling.

Maybe I would have been different person, if I hadn’t grown up alone but there was no pointing wasting time on something that couldn’t be changed.

To see them interact was very strange. I had always been alone so to see two people who had grown up together and knew things about each other that no one else knew felt foreign to me. No one knew me. No one knew my quirks and obsessions. I swallowed the unexpected emotion it brought out in me.

“Come on,” Lark said, grabbing my hand to lead me out of the house at to the front of the house where there were numerous cars.

She got in the driver’s side of an expensive one and I got in with her.

“We are going to have fun today and it will give us a chance to get to know each other.”

I didn’t want to open up, I wasn’t ready to get to know anyone. All I wanted to do was get some clothes. That was it.

Lark was very open and friendly. The complete opposite to me. I could already tell she was one of those people that always saw the good in people when I could see the bad without having to look beneath the surface. It was a survival instinct I had developed.

“I can’t believe I’m finally going to see my brother settle down,” she happily chatted away as she drove the short distance into town, passing the bar I had first set eyes on Maverick.

I nodded. This was all so new, a lot to take in. Lark’s excitement and chatter was a lot.

She parked the car. “You are going to love the stuff they have here.”

She linked her arm through mine and we entered the store. I scanned the store, it was habit. When you lived on the wrong side of the law like I had for the last year, you made sure you took in your surroundings and made sure you knew the quickest way out.

I made a note of where the exit door was at the back if I needed a fast escape.

Lark held up a shirt from a nearby rack. “This would look so good on you.”

I shrugged. Money had always been short, I was used to shoplifting everything I owned. The urge to roll up the shirt and shove it under my shirt was hard to resist.

For once, there wasn’t a necessity to steal and I was so uncomfortable. Relying on someone else to buy my stuff didn’t sit well with me. There was no logic to the feeling. Stealing wasn’t exactly supporting myself, it was taking from someone without their knowledge. I had a serious screwed up sense of what was acceptable.

I spent the next hour uncomfortably trying whatever Lark shoved in my direction. Most of the stuff wasn’t something I ever would have worn. Usually I wore revealing, the tighter the better. I used what I had to get what I wanted. It wasn’t something I could change overnight.

Finally, I had selected enough clothes and shoes to get me by for the time being. The truth was I was tired and I didn’t want to shop anymore. I was used to being on my own and the constant chatter of Lark had given me a headache.

“You don’t know how glad I am that Amy wasn’t his mate. That girl is seriously obnoxious.”

I smiled. We had something in common. “Right?”

“She has been after Maverick for so long.” Lark rolled her eyes. “That girl reeks of desperation.”

“I take it she hasn’t found her mate?” I wasn’t sure about how it worked but wasn’t there someone for everyone. Wasn’t that how it work?

“Sometimes there are cases where you never do.”

I wouldn’t have known any different. I would have continued to drift from one place to the next, never knowing there was someone I was destined to be with.

“Where’s your mate?” I asked as we paid for the clothes.

She stilled suddenly. “I haven’t met him.”

I studied her as she pushed open the store door to leave. It wasn’t what she said, it was how she said it. She was lying, I had no doubt about it. But what I couldn’t figure out was, why? Why would she lie about something like that. It peaked my curiosity.

As we got to the car we put the bags in the trunk. I scanned the surrounding area, it was a habit I did without evening thinking.

That’s when I saw him. I recognized him straight away. He was dressed in jeans and a black top. He had messy brown hair and light stubble but dark glasses hid his eyes. He was walking past but luckily hadn’t seen me yet. I turned my back to him, trying to hide my face.

What was he doing here?

Lark slammed the trunk closed. “And we’re done.”

I nodded, but my attention was on the guy who walked by without noticing me.

There was no way this was a coincidence. I didn’t know why he was following me. But whatever the reason, it couldn’t be good.