All Chapters of Too Late To Claim Me: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The room emptied slowly. Selene was the first to leave, she never looked at me again.One moment she stood in the doorway, tears streaming down her face. The next, she turned and disappeared into the hallway.My mother followed immediately, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as though Selene was the victim here as though I was the one who had done something unforgivable.My father lingered only long enough to look at me, the disgust in his eyes hurt more than the slap, then he left too.The door closed, silence settled over the room and for a moment, I simply sat there.The blanket clenched in my fists, my cheek still burning and my heart still trying to convince itself this wasn’t real that I would wake up and that none of this had happened.But Remus was still there, standing beside the window, a living reminder that it had.Neither of us spoke, the silence stretched until it became unbearable. Finally, he said,“You should pack.”I laughed.It wasn’t because anything was funny bu

A week after leaving the Beta House, I was walking back from the market carrying a small bag of supplies when I heard footsteps behind me.At first, I ignored them.I had learned that reacting to every stare and every whisper would destroy me but the footsteps continued.My grip tightened around the bag."Are you following me?"Laughter answered.My stomach sank."I heard Alpha Remus got tired of you after one night."I turned.Three wolves stood behind me, I recognized two of them immediately, they had laughed when I passed them before.The third was taller than the others, broad-shouldered with a cruel smile.His gaze swept over me."What do you want?""Nothing."His smile widened. “We were just talking."I stared at him."Well I don’t have that time" I said as I turned to leave."Come back here.” He said as he grabbed my arm.My body reacted before my mind did.I jerked away."Don't touch me."The wolf's expression darkened, for a second, nobody moved then he laughed."You still t

The door wasn’t locked. It never had been, because nobody in this pack ever bothered to visit me.But now Remus was standing on the other side of the door and my body knew it before my mind even caught up. The wolf in me stirred weakly, that pathetic, traitorous part that still recognized him as mine even after he’d made it painfully clear I was nothing to him.Another knock. It's harder this time.“Aria. Open the door.”It's not a request. I know that, because I’d learned to recognize that tone, the one he used when he’d already decided how something would end and just needed everyone else to catch up.I looked at the suitcase that's half-packed on my bed. At my mother’s photograph still lying beside it. And then at my hand, which had somehow found its way to my stomach again since I found out about my pregnancy.I can’t protect him yet, I told the life growing inside me. But you can survive this. You can survive anything.I opened the door.Remus stepped inside without waiting for a

Three weeks since I'd walked away from Crestwood with nothing but a small suitcase, my mother's photograph, and a secret growing beneath my heart. I'd imagined freedom would feel lighter. Instead it was cold, shelter beds, bus stations, mornings I woke before sunrise afraid someone would steal what little I still owned.The fourth shelter wasn't much different from the others. Narrow cots separated by thin curtains that did little to hide the sounds around them. Babies crying somewhere down the row. An old radiator that rattled every few minutes before giving up on producing any real heat. I lay awake most nights with my mother's photograph pressed beneath the pillow, tracing the shape of her smile in the dark until I knew it by feel. I wondered if she'd smiled like that before her own life fell apart too, before whatever had taken her from me had time to reach her."I don't know how to do this," I whispered once, my hand drifting to my stomach without meaning to. No answer came. Someh

Pain swallowed everything.One moment I was standing in my apartment with the pendant still pressed into my palm. The next, a contraction ripped through me hard enough that my knees buckled."Aurora!"Mara caught me before I hit the floor."It's too early," I gasped, fighting for breath. "He's too early.""Look at me." Mara's voice had gone strangely calm, the way people get calm when panic would cost too much. "You're going to breathe. You're going to keep breathing, and we're going to get you to Elena. That's all either of us needs to think about right now."The apartment door burst open before we'd made it two steps. Mae, cheeks red from the cold, took one look at me and went pale under it."Oh, sweetheart…""No time," Mara said. "We move."Between them I made it down the narrow stairwell, each step sending another stab of pain through me. By the time we reached the truck I was shaking too hard to climb in without help. Snow fell harder as we pulled away, the only sounds the engine