chapter 7

"Shift! Please, Everly. I can’t watch you suffer in the rain. Please,” my mother begs through the window, sucking in a deep breath. You can do this, Everly, I whisper to myself. It isn’t how I imagined shifting, but I need to put my big girl panties on and do what’s required. I tell myself it doesn't matter that nobody will be celebrating for me anyway—not anymore—before stripping my saturated shirt off. I hang it over a railing along the far wall before removing the pajama pants. It's late at night, so I'm pretty sure no one will see me. Even if they did, they wouldn't pay any attention to the Alpha’s disgraced daughter. My mother taps on the window and I look in; my son is drinking his bottle in her arms, gazing up at her, nice and warm. His eyes get heavier and heavier the longer he feeds on his bottle. “Thank you,” I whisper to her. She smiles sadly while nodding her head. “I’m right here. You don’t have to be alone for your first shift,” my mother says, and I nod. Others —when the