Runt of the Litter Read Free

Her biggest focus had been on runts.
    There hadn’t been any record of a runt making it
through. She saw the fear in all of her family’s faces when they looked at her.
In two years the answer to the question would be complete. She was going to
fight it, work damned hard. There wasn’t a chance of her giving in or dying.
There was so much she wanted to live for.
    “So, how was Paul?” Emma asked.
    “He was cool. Helped me with homework, took me to the
mall, and we just hung out.” They’d done none of those things. He’d helped with
homework, but every spare second had been about her locking into her wolf. She
lay dormant until her eighteenth birthday, but once she turned the right age,
she was supposed to just wake. “How is everything here? You graduated from
school, right, Holly?”
    “Marshall, the
alpha’s son. He’s mated to a human. A charming
little thing, Scarlett.”
    “A human? Really? Wow, I guess I’m not the runt of the
litter anymore.”
    “You’re still way smaller than her,” Tom said, handing
her a can of soda. She took it without question, wrapping her fingers around
the cool metal.
    “I can’t wait to meet her. What about his friend? I
heard he made it through his transition.”
    “Yep, he did. He made it through.” Rachel stopped by
the table frowning. “He came to say hello. Didn’t you see him?”
    “No, I didn’t see him.”
    She’d not seen him since that hot summer’s day when
her life had changed forever. Tori believed she was more accident prone than a
danger to anyone. It wasn’t his fault that he’d let go of her hand or that she
got tangled in the weeds. She’d been too weak to pull herself out. Before she
knew it, she’d panicked underwater, not good .
    Everything else got a little fuzzy until she had woken
up a few hours later. She was shipped off to her Uncle Paul with the family
visiting her. It was too much when her pack was considered too rough to hang
around with.
    She couldn’t hate it too much. Moving in with Uncle
Paul was the best thing that ever happened to her. She was stronger, more
determined, and focused. No one was going to take that away from her, not that
they’d want to.
    “I was really worried that Paul wouldn’t be able to
handle you.”
    “He was fine. Kind of cool. He lives out in the middle of nowhere. We stripped naked during the full moon
and called upon the good wolf spirits to guide me down the path of
righteousness.”
    Silence descended on the room. She looked at each of
them, smirking. “I’m kidding. God, what happened to your sense of humor while I
was away? Anyone would think that you died.”
    She rolled her eyes, taking a bite of the sandwich
that she picked up off the tray. Minutes later her father entered the room.
Something passed between her mother and father, but she didn’t know what.
    “Welcome home, honey.” He kissed her head like he
always did before going around the counter to his woman. She watched the love
passing between her parents. Would she ever have that?
    Her uncle believed she would. She was stronger now
than she’d ever been before. “I’m just going to head up to my room. Unpack.”
    “Okay, honey.”
    She grabbed her cases and walked out of the room.
    “Well, what did the alpha say?” her mother asked.
    “He’s going to look into it, but he doesn’t know if
there’s anything we can do. There are not many runts, and if they are, they
don’t survive in a pack long. It has been a miracle for Tori to have lasted.”
    She kept walking. Her sense of hearing had improved
while she was away. They were talking because they didn’t know she could hear.
Over the last year little senses had started to become more alert. Uncle Paul
had started dropping things around her for her to catch. The action had
improved her reflexes, and she barely allowed anything to drop close to her.
    “Dad, she can’t die. She’s one of us,” Rachel said.
    “We’re going to do everything we can, but we may