T h e F o r g o t t e n

C h a p t e r T w e n t y

© Amber Kalkes 2015

Song: "Rise" By Eddie Vedder

C h a p t e r T w e n t y >

Casey has always thought of herself as fearless. It’s why the fact that she’s nearly having a panic attack right now so surreal to her. She wasn’t even this nervous when she told her parents that she was pregnant at sixteen.

Now at twenty-four she’s the first to admit she’s lived a hard life, one few would choose to live but one she wouldn’t change at all. Her son means more to her than she could have ever imagined. She thought she was fulfilled, just having him. That was before she saw Richie though and now she feels completely off kilter.

“Casey what—“

“Come on.” She nearly whispers to Richie and grabs his hand. She feels tingles move across her skin, giving her goosebumps at the feel of his skin against hers. “We have stuff to talk about.”

She can feel all eyes on her as she leaves the room. Looking over her shoulder she gives a little reassuring smile to her son, which he returns in his way. The smile is bittersweet for her, it reminds her of his father, a man she told herself she would never think of again.

Unlike Robin’s relationship with Luke, Casey’s relationship with Ezra’s father was long term and heartbreaking. Casey though she was in love and despite her wolf’s dislike for him Casey thought Clay was the one. When she became pregnant though things changed and Clay, who was older than her, broke things off.

After telling her parents she was pregnant they too left her on her own and at sixteen Casey was left to survive on her own. She became strong and hard to get close to even after meeting Robin. She wanted to protect herself as well as Ezra from any hurt from the outside world.

But Richie is changing everything.

Moving through the house they exit out the back door to stand on the back porch. Casey lets go of Richie’s hand reluctantly and wipes the sweat off the palms on her cut off shorts. She isn’t ready for this but with the hunters in town and she doesn’t have much of a choice if she’s going to keep him safe.

Her wolf growls in her head at the idea of their newfound mate being hurt. The only thing that could eclipse the protectiveness her wolf feels for Richie would be her love for Ezra. If it came down to it she would always choose Ezra, just like she always has.

“Casey what’s going on?”

“I…I have a lot of things to explain to you.”

Richie furrows his dark eyebrows, “What do you mean?”

Casey’s hands twitch with the urge to smooth out his frown. His scent is driving her wolf into a frenzy in her head as a light breeze carries it straight to her. His rich pine smell makes her want to groan or worse, attack. She wants to touch him, kiss him, mark him and never let him go. It’s overwhelming and when he takes a step towards her she stumbles back one.

“Casey, what’s wrong?”

Holding a shaky hand to her forehead she exhales slowly. “I’m sorry. I just…I need a minute to collect myself.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

She huffs out a little laugh, “Not really but I think I’ll survive. Richie, how much do you know about me?”

“Uh…” He trails off with another adorable frown. “Not much I’m afraid. Other than what people say in town about you, all I know is that your Robin’s friend and neighbor.”