Filed To Story: Chasing the Rejected Luna's Heart (Clara & Liam) Book PDF Free
That pissed me off more than anything. At least the others were consistent. They had washed their hands of me, and that was that. Yeah, they did it a lot more easily and coldly than I had ever imagined, but I could deal with it. It was the fact that he seemed to think he had any right to know how I was doing, or to assuage his guilt by throwing money at the problem–like I was just some common whore who could be bought off–that added insult to injury.
My thumb hovered over the reply box for a split second before I thought better of it. For one thing, I didn’t have the time and I wasn’t going to be late to my first day at work. Especially not on his account.
For another, I didn’t trust myself to talk to him. Not even through text. I was already vulnerable, and my emotions somehow hadn’t gotten the memo that Liam was the last person I should find comforting. Still, I had to find a way to get the money back to him.
I tucked the money back into the zippered pocket and shoved it under the bed since this place was not exactly secure, but I didn’t feel safe carrying it on me either. It would have to wait for later.
I didn’t have any clothes that matched what I assumed was more or less the uniform of the Coyote Den, based on what Sam had been wearing yesterday, so I had to do with a snug light wash pair of jeans and a black spaghetti-strap top. I glanced in the mirror at my appearance and couldn’t get my father’s voice out of my head.
I would usually only wear this kind of shirt underneath another top, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had shown this much skin outside of a pool party or something. It was hard to untangle what was me actually feeling uncomfortable from what was just conditioning to keep as much of my body under wraps as possible, since it had never really belonged to me. Not in any true sense of the word.
From the time I had been old enough to realize the guys in the pack and more than a few of their fathers had started looking at me differently, I had been taught that my body was mine only to safeguard until I was handed over to my mates one day.
Well, that was all over and done with now. Time to get used to showing a little skin, if only because it seemed like the surest way to make decent enough tips to survive on.
I still had to figure out someplace to live long-term. As much as I hated living in an apartment Dad had paid for, even if it was only to spit in my face, I figured I should probably at least wait until I got my first paycheck before I threw it back in his.
The active bar was so quiet when I arrived that I almost wasn’t sure it was open. The inside wasn’t quite as dark as I expected, even though the lights were still dim and the only music that was playing was soft rock streaming from invisible speakers somewhere at a much more tolerable volume than last night.
All the chairs were stacked on top of the tables, and I looked around but saw no sign of Sam, or anyone else, for that matter. I ventured a little closer to the bar and could hear something rattling around in the back, in what I assumed was the kitchen.”Oh, son of a bitch!” Sam’s voice came from the back, laced with a growl of frustration.
I hesitated a second before rounding the bar and walking through the swinging doors that led into a surprisingly clean and spacious kitchen area. She was staring down at the pile of metal gadgets and pans that had fallen out of the cupboard over her head onto the industrial stainless steel countertop below.
She looked up when she saw me, huffing a laugh. “Good timing. Now you can see what happens when I ask my brother to put something away.””Here,” I said, reaching to help gather some of the fallen equipment into a more organized stack.”Thanks,” she sighed, hoisting a huge cast-iron pot up onto the top shelf. It seemed like a strange thing to keep in a bar, but this place could definitely use some organizing. She glanced over at me. “You have any siblings?””No,” I answered, depositing the fallen ladles and other long silverware into the organizer on the counter. “I’m an only child.””Lucky,” she mumbled, but I could tell from her tone it was sarcasm.”You two run this place together?” I asked.”That’s the idea,” she snorted. “Our dad left it to us a few years back. Cole had other plans, so his heart’s never really been in it.””What about you?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t presuming too much. She didn’t really seem like the type to get bent out of shape about personal questions, though. The opposite, if anything.
Sam shrugged. “It has its days. But I couldn’t bear to sell it, so, here I am.””It’s a nice place,” I said. “Where does the name come from?”
She cast a glance over her shoulder like she wasn’t sure if I was joking. She smiled again. “It’s pretty literal.”
My face grew warm. “Right. Should have figured.””Don’t worry. The whole interspecies rivalry thing gets put on hold in no-man’s-land. For the most part.””I’ve been wondering how that works,” I admitted. Shifters and vampires in the same place…
Sam shrugged. Common interest goes a long way. Namely, not exposing ourselves to the humans.”
I nodded. “I guess I can see why. They’re…””A lot?” she offered knowingly. “Yeah, they can be. But they’re easy enough to keep in line. You just gotta show ’em who’s boss. Shouldn’t be too hard for a wolf.””I’m not sure I’m really a testament to the species,” I said dryly. I decided not to admit I wasn’t even sure I was a wolf. Certainly not a full-fledged one. Something told me the city shifters, worldly as they were, wouldn’t take too kindly to a complete unknown.
My grandmother’s words still rang sharply in my mind.”A wolf’s pride is her blood. No matter how bitter the history is between our packs, you always have more in common with another wolf than anything else.”
That was what she had told me when I had once asked her why I wasn’t allowed to venture outside the pack gates. She and Dad were a lot alike in that way. Then again, guess he had to get the sentiment from somewhere.
I could only imagine what the curt older woman would’ve said if she had known her granddaughter was a halfbreed. Something told me it would’ve been colorful and filled with the kind of words she used to whip me for saying.”They really didn’t let you out much, did they?” Sam asked, tilting her head.”No,” I admitted. “Never. Not until they threw me out, anyway.”