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Yellow eyes slit "You care for hi Jude couldn’t see her face right them "What I feel for him is not your business"

But her mother saw too much Always had

After aback her hair, she said, "You’ve grown up hard"

Yeah, because being abandoned by her rowl built in Erin’s throat

Jude’s hands came down on her shoulders Squeezed

She stiffened He shouldn’t touch her No Don’t do that Don’t show her any weakness

Too late Herer?" She shter"

"I a tiirl, her ass This wasn’t so

Red lights danced before Erin’s eyes "Then get out"

Jude pulled her back against his chest "Easy" Breathed in her ear

But she didn’t want to be easy She wanted to screao

The yellow eyes dropped "Been looking for you," Theresa said, lifting her hand to rub the back of her neck "You disappeared on o You knehere I was" She hadn’t moved until her dad died "Not like I was real hard to find" Theresa had never co at the floor, her mother said, "Not then I…watched you then Had to stay far back You would have caught my scent"

It wouldn’t have hurt ht then

"Lost you…a few months back"

What? All that time? All that damn time, her mother had been close by--and she’d never contacted her Why?

Theresa glanced up HerErin alive because she said, "You didn’t fit in my world"

Like Erin didn’t know that

"I didn’t fit in yours" Another shrug of Theresa’s shoulders But this time, the move seemed…tired Sad "But I still…wanted to make sure you were okay I-I needed to see you"

Erin shook her head Jude felt solid behind her Strong and steady--just what she needed then "You threw me away" A whisper, one she hadn’t meant to voice

That stare bored into her "Had to You couldn’t shift--"

She flinched

"--and the pack would have torn you apart No ere you strong enough to handle what they would have thrown at you" Theresa’s shoulders set "I did what I had to do in order to protect you"

Erin stared at her mother At the tense expression on her face The steady hands And she said, simply, "Bullshit"

Theresa’s jaw dropped

"You didn’t leave me on that doorstep because you wanted to protect htened "You did it because you were asha of her mother’s eyes

"You think I didn’t know?" Erin asked, stomach knotted "You think I didn’t see the way you looked ather into the shadoay froht see her

"You were supposed to be like me!" A scream of fury and pain that broke fast and hard froht-- just like me!"

"But I wasn’t just like you" Sadness there "I was like my dad"

Theresa’s head jerked "I should have been ether, but then I screwed everything up and--"

"And had rim nod

Honesty, at least

"You had h for the pack--or for you" This hurt

"I wanted to be with him," a stark whisper "I loved him"

Erin knew the him hadn’t been her father

"He saw me," Theresa said, voice soft "Such dark, dark eyes that saw into ed "He didn’t look at me the same way after he learned about your father"

And what? That was Erin’s fault? Her father’s? Erin bit back the snarl that rose within her

"When I got pregnant," her mother said, "he kneasn’t his mate Knew that somewhere out there, another woman waited…only a matter of time" A tear trickled down her cheek "I lost you"

Not real hard to lose so when you threw it away

"But first, I lost him" She swiped away the tear with the back of her hand "He left the pack before you were born I-I kept thinking he’d come back, but he…turned his back on everyone On me"

Just like Erin’sto be getting any syravelly voice

Her ht her scent at Mort’s I wanted to…talk to her"

"And what? Make up for lost time?" he demanded "Or just jerk her around some more?"

Theresa’s hands fisted "I wanted to make certain she was happy and safe I didn’t knohat you were to her, I was afraid--" She exhaled "Shifters go after the weak"

Weak Was that how her lanced down at her hands Her claere gone

But they could come back in a second’s time

"Other hybrids were in the pack," her , "but you were the only one who couldn’t change You were in danger, you were--"

"When I was fourteen," Erin said softly, cutting through her words, "the girls in the pack juht I eak, too" They’d taunted Teased Then attacked her with claws and teeth

But, luckily, they’d been in human form

So she’d wiped the floor with their asses