The moment that Sara was inside the door and waved her friend off, she knew that something was up. Now don't get her wrong, she wasn't paranoid. Nor did she have any idea of what had given her the idea of what was up. No consciously anyways.

Subconsciously however- that was a different story.

Setting her tea and food down on her kitchen counter, she narrowed her turquoise colored eyes a little bit and scanned the living room just off of her kitchen and almost immediately spotted what it was that was bothering her.

Her paintings...they had been straightened on the tacks where they hung. Each one carefully balanced so that they weren't leaning off to one side or another anymore. Curious to see them up close just to make sure, she slipped the damned heels off of her feet and tossed them in the trash where they belonged. Where she would toss the stupid slutty dress that she had been stuffed into while she had been unconscious.

Unzipping herself as she walked over to the nearest picture, she ignored the discomfort in her toes, heels, ankles and calves and paused right in front of the watercolor painting of the red tulips and lavender and reached out for the nearest light switch and flicked it on.

Sure enough, the picture had been tampered with. Which sort of begged the question, What else of hers had been touched? She wondered as she chewed on her bottom lips nervously and began the slow but thorough sweep of her home. Making sure to check everything form her medicine cabinet in the bathroom, to the jewelry box where she kept some of her less expensive stuff with the exception of her great, great grandma's pearl necklace and matching earrings.

She checked her clothing, her shoes, her old nick-knacks, her collectable dishware, and even her fridge and cabinets. And so far the only thing that hadn't been touched was her panty drawer.

Which had started her weird little mental tirade that fell along the lines of, 'What sort of weirdo breaks into a single woman's home, goes through everything- yet leaves her panties alone?' I mean seriously, why was everything else worth touching but her panties weren't? Did no one appreciate Victoria Secret anymore? She seriously had close to a three hundred dollars worth of sheer, lacy panty and bra combo's.

Really nice ones too.

Then again, maybe the weirdo was gay? It was either that or he jacked off in her drawer without touching anything. She would have to toss everything in her washer later and clean them just to be safe. But right now, she just wanted to eat a little something, wash her face, and then crawl into bed and sleep a while.

Walking back towards her kitchen, she stripped off the gaudy dress and finally tossed it into the trash can too. Leaving her in nothing but the panty and bra set that she had worn yesterday.

She hadn't been sure if it had been changed or not and had been a little bit worried to bother looking, which was why she was so relieved that her dad and brother hadn't crossed that particular line. Still what they had done to her was beyond creepy and sadistic and cruel, and she was glad that their sorry asses were in jail right now.

She hope that her mom let them go to prison for once.

Especially given how pissed she was at them both for trying to pimp her out like she were a fucking whore instead of treating her like a person.

Sitting down at the small island in her kitchen after she grabbed a spoon, she picked up one of the yogurts and began eating it. She felt so damned hungry that it barely took her two minutes to eat the damn thing before there was nothing left of it.

Setting the plastic container aside, she grabbed another yogurt and wolfed it down too before quickly following it with two in a half muffins- pumpkin spice, raspberry, lemon poppy, and banana nut- she had two pumpkin spice muffin's, and a nice warm part of banana nut.

That was promptly followed by chugging some milk straight from the jug after which she put the milk back in the fridge and then staggered off down the hall to her room to catch up on her sleep.


By the time ten pm rolled around, Rick had checked out of his hotel, and was currently sitting outside of Sara's home prepping the sedative that he would be using while trying to talk on the phone with his Beta, who was quite literally losing his shit because another of the pack was pissed off at him and had been stalking him to freak him out like he had the last time he'd gotten pissed.

Mainly because he knew that Rick's Beta would freak out and blow up his phone with his distress calls. So finally once he had calmed Glen down, he mentioned calling one of the pack females to keep him company and snorted as Glen practically shouted, "Why can't you just send Shane over? He's a more appropriate meat shield!"

Earning a half growl, half choked laugh of amusement from him before he went on to tell Glen that if he referred to Shane as a meat shield again, Shane would likely take up stalking him too. And there was no way in hell that he was going to let the crazy Korean near his home for a good long time if he brought shit with him.

As much as he didn't mind the occasional fight between his pack mates- he didn't want that shit anywhere near Sara or the pup.

After all, all it would take is one mistake. One, and he could lose not only Sara but the pup or even both. And that was unacceptable to him. Especially since he had planned to mate Sara, if she found them compatible enough.

After all, it would be her choice. Which was more than most, more traditional Alpha's would give her if she were carrying their pup.

If he were anyone else, he would have dragged her into an alleyway the first night that he'd found her and raped and mated her against her will.

But he didn't do that, because he wasn't that kind of person. He didn't want to be that kind of person.

The kind that could so easily force a mating on an innocent young human female and think it was his right to do so despite the fact that she would always be terrified of him whenever he tried to go near her afterwards.

As it was he may have to place a claim mark on her. It was different from a full on mating because there was only a little bit of intimacy involved. Usually only as much as the female wanted or could stand.

The claiming was like a pre-engagement thing. In human terms, a part of a courtship ritual that either ended in mating or didn't.

However he would give her a choice with that too and even tell her how it could and would help protect her and their pup. Especially if he gained her permission to lay his mark on her instead of forcing it.

His kind could always smell a forced mating and claim. Mainly because the rancid smell of terror never faded from the female's being no matter how much time passed. Whereas a mutually agreed upon mating and claiming smelled more natural.

It didn't alter the female's normal scent. If anything it made it somewhat sweeter. More mouthwatering and difficult to resist to the one who placed the mark.

In truth Rick wasn't one hundred percent sure how he would react to Sara's scent once he placed a claiming mark on her. But he was pretty sure that every hour he spent close to her, he'd feel as if he were drunk on her scent.

Flicking his phone shut after sending a quick text to another of his pack mates, his neon blue eyes flickering to Sara's home for a moment. Taking note of the fact that all of her lights were out.

Meaning that she was likely asleep.

Glancing around the neighborhood, he took note of how many people in the homes closest to her were still awake and was somewhat relieved to find that only one person was. Now was the time to go.