Chapter 10.

They had dinner together. All of them at the table. Lori, Grace and Mr Gabriel. Lori didn't dare ask where the cousin she had seen earlier was. But she did see Grace taking food out for him before they started eating.

Dinner was pasta, like Grace had mentioned earlier, Mr Gabriel was oddly quiet, he seemed to have a lot on his mind.

Lori was quiet throughout the entire meal and she finished her meal fast enough to leave the table.

Gabriel watched her leave the table after she was done. He knew she just arrived, but she didnt seem too fond of him.

They also didn't talk much either, all their conversation were centered around the baby, nothing more.

Gabriel wished he could have a normal conversation with her, at least once but he didn't know how to approach her.

"It'll take time."

Grace said as she pulled him out of his thoughts.

"What?"

Gabriel said as he jerked a little, surprised by her voice. He had actually forgot that she was on the table with them. Grace always ate her meals with them.

And she could sense his impulses. She was just like him, a wolf. All his staff was, they were hand picked from his own pack.

"How did you know?"

He sighed and Grace shrugged.

"I'm not that naive. Perhaps when you're older you just sense things like this, it's like a sixth sense."

Gabriel nodded. True, Grace could be considered an elder with her age. It wasn't totally impossible for her to have found out that the two of them were mates.

"I don't understand why though. There's not many werewolves with human mates. In fact, given my position, I should reject her."

Grace nodded.

"You're right. It is rare. But the moon goddess works in mysterious ways."

"I don't know what to do yet. About her being my mate."

Grace nodded.

"My lips are sealed Alpha. You can take as much time as you want to figure things out."

Gabriel nodded.

He knew he could always count on her loyalty. in fact, all of them, he could always count on their loyalty, they had taken the blood oath.

"It will take time though..."

Grace said as she looked to the direction of the stairs where Lori had gone up to.

"She's a very broken girl. And her wounds run deep. Loving her, would be a challenge."

Grace said and Gabriel shook his head.

Whether or not he was willing to take that challenge, he didn't know.

Some people forfeited their mates, alphas who believed their mate was weak or of a poor background rejected their mates and lived a life with no mate while they married werewolves whom they believed was benefitting of the Luna status.

It was rare, but it happened. Often times, the severance in connection when done too late could mean drastic effects on both parties. Like a wound in their heart.

If Gabriel was going to reject Lori, he had to do it early. As early as he could.


Emilia was growing on Lori. In a good way. In a very good way. Taking care of her was good for her, it gave her life a purpose. It gave her life a meaning.

It didn't mean she had forgotten about her son though. No it didn't, occasionally she would look at her phone and think about dialing the Fullers, begging them again for one more chance. But it didn't seem like they would budge.

At least not yet. They were grieving too, just like she was grieving, apparently they didn't seem to believe she was capable of grieving too.

Lori sighed as she watched Emilia sleep, she knew that she shouldn't let her sleep because she was going to be awake all night but she let her sleep anyways.

How could she refuse her, it was barely a week with her and the little girl had Lori wrapped all around her thumb, just like she was with everyone else.

Her mind wandered back to her past as she backed away from the crib and sat down on the couch.

Asher was the worst thing to have ever happened to her. And Jared. Jared was the one who brought him to her life.

Asher was the leader of the gang Jared had joined. They mostly sold drugs to the local junkies, committed minor crimes, they were generally a menace. Timothy had warned her Jared was looking for her, she thought running could save her.

Unfortunately, she didn't run very far at all, that was her first mistake.

Jared had showed up at the furniture shop she worked, with Asher. And Asher had declared at that very moment that he wanted her. Which didn't bode well for Lori.

Apparently Jared had been stalking her ever since he found out she was missing, to make things even more worse, Mrs Wyatt had told him she stole her money.

Which was kind of true, Lori had stole Mrs Wyatt's money to get away, but she didn't expect that Mrs Wyatt would tell Jared. It was only two hundred and fifty dollars and she took it to escape.

Jared, for some messed up reason started looking for her, if Timothy had not timely warned her like he did, Jared would have caught up with her much earlier.

Asher had a different idea in his head. A much different idea. He wanted Lori and he wanted her all for himself, at least that was what he convinced Jared.

Lori wished she had fought harder, she wished she had run away or something but she didn't, she accepted her fate.

They took her with them, back to her former Berkeley, California where they lived and she first ran away from. They took her with her.

Asher lived in a dingy apartment in the slums, a stone throw away from the Wyatt house and Lori was forced to live with him. She cooked and cleaned, while Asher forced himself on her every night, occasionally, he would hit her if she tried to refuse, his men were always around so she was always heavily guarded.

Even if she wanted to leave, she was so broken and depressed that she didn't think it possible to leave.

This went on for four months before Lori decided she had had enough. Besides, Asher was already starting to lose interest in her, he had his eyes on another girl and he had made security around her lax, thinking she wouldn't leave.

Well, she did leave and she stole from him.

She stole enough to take a plane from California to Colorado while escaping from the backdoor.

She didn't find out that she was pregnant until three months later when she was settled in Denver, Colorado, working at Jay's diner.

And Asher didn't find her again until four months later.

When he did, the only reason he spared her life was because of her bulging belly, he was confused, confused on what to do about her being pregnant. The only reason he didn't hurt her was because she was pregnant.

He couldn't take her back with him either because that would mean he was responsible for the pregnancy and the baby, so he left.

Unfortunately Jared was not confused and he knew exactly what to do with her. Besides, Jared was pissed, some sick part of his brain blamed his fallout with Asher on Lori and he decided to punish her.

He came back barely a month after Asher's visit, after learning from Asher that she was in Colorado.

It took him at least a week to track her down and a few hours to find out where she lived and he sought her out and they got into a huge argument.

So huge he had pushed her down the stairs of her apartment building while she was on her way to her shift.

When he saw what he had done and how she was in pains, he ran away, fearing Asher's anger and the repercussions of his actions.

Lori could vaguely remember being at the bottom of the stairs, moaning in pain. A woman had passed by and saw her lying on the floor and shrieked.

That was how she landed in the hospital and went into premature labour and ultimately, lost her son.