After the hospital, Charity stopped by her friend Alice’s house. She had never mentioned Alice to any of her family members before this, so Honor wouldn’t have a clue as to where to look to find her. Alice was kind enough to let her and Hope both stay until they could figure out their next move. Charity had explained what was going on, and Alice was more than sympathetic.

A couple days after their arrival, Charity returned to the house with a bunch of groceries just as Alice was leaving. Alice caught her arm, expression serious as she gazed at Charity.

“Hey. So, before you go in there, I have to say . . . Don’t kill your sister.”

Charity’s brows rose. “What?”

“Don’t kill her. Although if you have to, there is bleach in the bathroom and an old carpet in the garage I don’t want to keep.” Alice squeezed her arm. “See you when I get home.”

She trotted away. Charity watched her leave, uncertain of how to take that. Alice could be a real kidder at times, but she had seemed pretty serious there . . . What had Hope done? Still frowning, Charity rushed into the house. She put the groceries in the kitchen and went in search of Hope. She found her sister sitting in the living room. She was on the couch, legs tucked up underneath her.

Guilt was plain to see all over Hope’s face. She had a strand her long golden-brown hair in her fingers, twisting it into a rope, the way she always did when she was nervous. Charity’s heart jumped into her throat just looking at her sister. Somehow, she already knew what had happened. She needed to hear it from Hope herself, though.

“What did you do?” The question came out harsh and accusatory. Hope flinched away from her, gaze dropping. Charity sat on the couch next to her. “Hope! What did you do?”

“I knew they’d be worried.”

Charity groaned and threw herself backward. “You called Mom and Dad?”

“I just told them that we were with one of your friends. I didn’t say where we are. And they haven’t heard from Honor since we left, so they’re worried about all three of us.” Hope dropped her gaze to the floor, shoulders hunching as she blinked back tears. “And I called my husband. His secretary answered. It was our home phone and she sounded out of breath. I knew he was cheating on me. He doesn’t even care that I’m—”

She cut herself off. Charity struggled to remain calm as she sat where she was. One thing was certain: Hope did what she thought was best. And she had gotten terrible news herself. She needed kindness and comfort right now . . . Even though that was the last thing that Charity wanted to give her. Her hands trembled as she stood.

“You didn’t tell Mom and Dad where we are.”

Hope shook her head.

“Okay. Okay. I can’t talk right now. I’m too angry and I will say things that I don’t mean. I am going to go calm down, and then we can talk about your husband. I’m sorry,” she added, her tone becoming gentler. “I know that you’re in pain and you need to talk. I just need to calm down first, okay?”

“Mom and Dad want you to call them.” Hope wiped her eyes. “You should call them.”

“I’m not talking with them—”

“They said that they want to help you.” Hope stood. Her hands clenched and she took a deep breath. “I am going for a walk. Mom and Dad want to help you out, and they’re sorry for how they were acting. So just talk to them, okay? I can’t deal with all of them right now.”

Charity watched her walk away, surprised at how she reacted. Perhaps finding out her husband had been cheating was a relief . . .  Goodness knew that Charity hoped that it would make Hope leave him. He was always a selfish jerk, and this only cemented that thought in Charity’s mind.

Hope had left her phone, so Charity picked it up. She turned it over in her hands. Did she dare talk to her parents about this? She had a feeling that she already knew what they were going to say. They’d yell at her for being an idiot, maybe even pull out that ‘shifter babies kill their mothers’ crap that people liked to throw at her. But Hope said that they wanted to help her.

While she wasn’t certain she would want their attitudes anywhere near her baby, the least she could do was hear what they had to say. Maybe this was what they needed to get their heads out of their asses and start to see shifters as the people they were. Maybe they saw Honor’s reaction and regretted their behavior . . . 

In the end, there was nothing to for it except call them. Charity’s stomach churned and her fingers felt cold as she called. When there was an answer, she almost hung up right there. But she wasn’t the type of girl who hid her feelings from her parents anymore. No. She was going to face them head-on.

“Hello, Mom,” she greeted her mother. “It’s Charity.”

“Oh, darling.” Her mother’s voice was full of relief. “Hope said that you were okay, but I needed to hear your voice for myself. Are you okay? I need to get your father. Oh, please tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m okay, Mom.” Charity’s tense muscles started to relax. An unexpected surge of emotion rushed through her. Her eyes started to burn and a lump grew in her throat. Even though she tried to swallow it down, there was a distinctive wobble in her voice when she spoke again. This was her mom, after all. She’d sung her bedtime stories, kissed her scrapes, taught her how to sew and had stood up to the principal when he suggested that Charity was to be blamed for the bullying she endured in High School. “I’m fine.”

A loud sniff answered her. “I know that this is hard for you, baby. But don’t worry. We’re going to be here for you. Your father and I have already been looking into everything you need to know to deal with . . . it.”

It was like a glass of ice-water had been dumped on her.

Scratch that. It was like she was thrown into an ice-cold lake. The zap of warmth leaving her body at hearing her mother’s words was far more than one small glass. She couldn’t speak for a long moment, uncertain of how to process what she had just heard.

“Darling? Are you still there?”

“I’m here.” Her voice was raspy. “Mom, I’m not going to terminate my pregnancy.”

“What? No, of course not. I would never suggest that you do something like that.”

A bit of the feeling came back to her extremities. Before Charity could continue to ask exactly what she meant about taking care of ‘it,’ though, her mother continued.

“But you’re not going to want to saddle yourself with a child. Certainly not a shifter baby. Your father and I have found a few nice adoption agencies. One of them specializes in shifter babies, you know. There are so many of them born out of wedlock to parents who don’t want them. We’ll help you find a nice family to raise that baby right and—”

“Mom.”

“You’ll want to sign all the adoption papers before you get too hormonal.”

“Mom!”

“Pregnancy makes women do strange things. It makes you stupid. Your father used to say that I was—”

“Mom!” Charity nearly shouted. “Mom, I’m not—”

“Darling, it’s Charity.” There was brief noise on the other side of the line, then her father’s voice came through.

“Charity? Are you okay?”

Charity sighed. She wondered if they’d even notice if she didn’t answer. “Yes.”

The sound took on a tinny quality that spoke to the phone being put on speaker. Her father continued. “Hope said that you two were with one of your friends. Where are you? We’ll come pick you up right away. Is Honor with you? Please tell me Honor is with you and that shifter didn’t get her, too.”

“What are you talking about? Honor wants to hurt me.”

“Is that what he told you? She’d never hurt a fly.” Her father’s voice rose. Well, that was the reaction she had been expecting. She could almost imagine how red his face was getting. “But that shifter, he’s dead. I’m going to kill him. Hurting my little girl like this? I’ll kill him.”

Charity tried to remain calm. “Devin didn’t hurt me.”

“You don’t have to be afraid of him, darling. The police are already looking for him,” her mother said. “He took off around the same time you ran away from him. I know that you’re afraid he’s going to find you—”

“I’m not afraid of Devin!”

“As soon as he’s caught by the police, they’ll keep him far away from you. You’ll have to testify against him, but everybody knows that those shifters have insatiable appetites for human women.”

They simply refused to believe her. No matter what she said. They’d already decided what had happened. Fury churned in her chest and she had to resist the urge to just scream profanities at them. She should never have called. Never should have hoped for anything other them being bigots. Tears burned her eyes as she choked on everything she wanted to say to them.

“Mom, Dad, I want you to listen very carefully to what I am going to say.”

“Of course, darling,” her mother said. “We’re here for you, whatever you need.”

“What I need is for you to call the cops and tell them that you were mistaken. Devin is not a danger to me or anybody else.”

Her father spoke “Charity, I know that you must feel ashamed—”

“No.” Her rage slipped into her voice this time. “Ashamed? Anything but ashamed. Actually, no. I am ashamed. I’m ashamed that I have two hard-headed and judgmental hypocrites for parents. I’m ashamed that you hate anybody who isn’t exactly like you so much that you’d assume that a kind, intelligent young man who only wants to make the world a better place – a young man I love – is a rapist. I’m ashamed to call you my parents.”

There was a brief pause. “Now, listen here, young lady,” her father shouted. “I will not be spoken to like that!”

“You’re a judgmental hypocrite!” Charity shouted back. “I love Devin and we are going to raise our child together to love others and to be kind and unselfish. Everything you aren’t!”

She hung up and, to stop them from calling her back, took the battery out of the phone. Then she collapsed onto the couch, sobbing. That was it. The only person she had left was Hope. And her baby. And, if he would have her, Devin. Her hands clenched as her chest tightened so much that she could hardly breathe.

Devin . . . I need you. I need you right now.