Charlotte Sanguinite POV:
I know better than to mouth off to an Alpha of a prominent shifter pack, but the way he looked at me, as if I were nothing more than a pesky insect, pissed me off.
I didn't know that vampires were no longer allowed to conduct business in shifter territories. I have always tried to stay away from any establishment owned by my former clan, and they had no reason to inform me of such a decision.
I press my fist to my mouth as I look at job postings in the city. The problem is that, even with the map in front of me, the lines between each territory aren't clearly marked. As an exiled vampire, I will not be welcome in any vampire clan territory. And the wolves won't let me work in theirs.
What am I supposed to do? Where do I go?
What if Robert decides to come back this evening and just deal with me once and for all? He probably won't, but I can't help but imagine worst-case scenarios right now.
I could always do the one thing I've never been able to before: sell the apartment and leave. Move elsewhere. But wherever I go, it's either going to be shifter territory or vampire territory. And if Robert has such a problem with me simply working at a job in his territory, what's to say other shifters won't share his feelings?
I bury my head in my hands, feeling lost and overwhelmed. I should have controlled my temper. I shouldn't have snapped at him. Now he's just going to find a way to kick me out. And who knows if he'll even leave me alive and in one piece? It's the idea of finally finding a place where I'm happy and have friends and then being told I don't belong here that has my blood boiling.
"Everything good with you, Charlotte?" Shelby Brown, the woman who works here part-time, asks as she mops the floor. Shelby is a heavyset woman in her late fifties. She has a soft heart and a jovial personality.
"Yeah." I stare at my laptop anxiously.
"Doesn't look like it." She makes her way over to me. "What are you looking at?"
When she sees the job search website, she gives me a confused look. "What are you doing searching for a job? You have already got one."
I wish I could just open my mouth and lay bare my heart, but Shelby is a human, and sharing anything with her would also put her life at risk.
"It's complicated," I finally sigh, resting my cheek on the palm of my hand. "I think I should get a job at some farm in the middle of nowhere."
Shelby pats me on the cheek. "Sweetie, you're too young to have an existential crisis. Go have some cake. There are a few leftover slices in the fridge."
"I'd rather have my existential crisis, thank you." I turned my attention back to the screen.
She leans on the handle of the mop. "Do you really want to leave so badly? Has somebody said something to you?"
"It's—I don't feel very safe…"
As always, Shelby comes to the worst possible conclusion. "Oh, God. "Don't tell me you have loan sharks chasing after you?"
Safe was probably the wrong word to use here.
"Of course n—"
Before I can deny anything, the door opens. It's almost 9:00 p.m. We're about to close in half an hour, and it's very rare to have a customer at this time of night. The moment I look up, my face twists in a grimace.
Robert Montgomery.
Wasn't it bad enough that he ruined my past two days? Why does he keep showing up all the time?
"We're closed," I say tightly.
He looks over his shoulder at the writing on our door, looking amused. "That says you're open."
"Well, our kitchen is closed."
"Charlo—" Shelby begins, knowing I'm lying, but I cut her off abruptly.
"In fact, the coffee machines have also just been unplugged, so it would be better if you just left."
Instead of taking offense and walking out, the Alpha slid into the seat across from me. "Then I'll take you out to get a bite to eat. It'll give us time to talk."
I press my lips together into a thin, hard line. "I have nothing to say to you."
Shelby is slowly inching toward us, wanting to overhear. I looked at her. "Can we have a moment, Shelby?"
Sighing in disappointment, the woman says, "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."
As soon as she is out of earshot, I frown. "Look, I'm already searching for jobs, okay? Once I find one, I'll be out of your territory."
"I didn't come here because of that." Robert Montgomery studies me, his expression calm. Yet, there is something behind his eyes that has me on edge.
"What do you want, then?"
"Your last name, what is it?"
My fingers dig into my palm. Everyone knows about the bad blood between my family and the Montgomery and Wolfguard Packs. Even though I'm no longer part of my clan, I can't escape the whispers and the rumors.
Revealing who I am is going to be nothing short of a death sentence.
"Beaumont," I lie. Although, to be fair, it is my legal name.
"That's your fake name."
"Excuse me?" I stare at him. "It's on my birth certificate."
"Yes." Robert didn't look very impressed as he crossed his arms. "How strange that your parents don't exist, then. I did a deep dive into your background, Charlotte. Your parents do not exist. In fact, there is no record of you, aside from one birth certificate, before the age of fourteen. What I also find intriguing is that neither of the two vampire clans in Portland have any children registered under your name. There is no girl or woman with the first name Charlotte within your age range in either of those clans. So, why don't you think about my question again?"
His words took me by surprise.
If he looked in the registry of my clan, he would have found my first name, along with my birthdate.
All supernatural beings have to register their families. It's a way to keep track of everyone. The information is easily accessible. Removing someone from the register is a long hassle and very rarely done. It's been eight years, but the shock of his revelation leaves me reeling.
They struck me from the registry.
The thought stuns me, and my chest tightens with raw emotion.
I never thought my father would go the extra mile and actually remove me from the family register. To the Nelo Clan, I basically no longer exist, nor did I ever exist.
I feel my eyes burn with tears, and I lower my gaze.
Useless.
That's what my father called me when he dragged me by the arm, my siblings watching and grinning.
"You are a disgrace to this family!"
He threw me outside the clan territory as if I were nothing more than garbage.
He must have really despised me to have wiped my entire existence from the clan.
"Charlotte?"
Robert's voice sounds concerned, and I look up.
"What?" I wiped my eyes furiously. "You just don't give up, do you? You want to know the truth? My family didn't want me, okay? I'm a defect. I'm a defective vampire! If they went and struck me from the family register, they clearly wouldn't have anything to do with me anymore. I don't have a clan. I don't have a family. I don't have anyone. So just—" my voice cracks, "just leave me alone! "I just want to be left alone." I get to my feet, my heart throbbing with a pain that has never really died. "If you want to get rid of me, just kill me. Stop wrecking whatever life I'm trying to build for myself!"
Turning on my heel, I ran toward the back room.
He can catch me easily if he wishes, but he doesn't.
I ran past a startled Shelby, straight into the storage room, and slamming the door shut behind me, I sank to the ground, trying to regulate my breathing. I can feel the panic attack coming; it's hard to think, hard to breathe past the suffocation that is strangling me.
I was never enough.
For my father, for my siblings, for my clan, I was never enough. And no matter how hard I work, how many plans I make for the future, the constant reminder of how unwanted I am never stops looming over my head. My heart feels like it will burst out of my chest, it's beating so painfully hard.
As packs are important to wolf shifters, vampires thrive in their clans. Without a clan, we are nothing. I feel like nothing most of the time. Sometimes, when I look at myself in the mirror, I want to smash the reflection. I want to hate the tired-looking woman staring back at me.
Why does no one want me?
The fourteen-year-old asked that question over and over again as she wandered into the city, shivering, her heart broken. The twenty-two-year-old woman I've become still asks this question.
I've worked in a number of places, but this one, this café, and the shelter I volunteer at, helped me find my footing. This little coffee shop, the people who work here, gave me a place to belong. Maybe for Shelby and Jazz, and even Gina, this place might just be another job, but for me, it's stability. I've never had that before. I've found people I consider friends, something I've always wanted. It's not much, but it gives me some peace. And now… Now, I'm being forced to give it all up again.
I wipe my eyes, and there's a knock on the door.
"Charlotte, sweetie, are you okay?" Shelby sounds upset. "Please open the door."
"I'm fine," I say, trying to breathe through the panic. "Give me a minute."
Silence from the other side, and then Shelby says, "Your boyfriend is gone."