Page 4 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“Let’s get our bags inside, then we can go to the grocery store. We need to get the pantry and fridge stocked up, anyway. We can do that while we wait for the water guy to get here.”

Ashton took his two suitcases and backpack to his room, then helped me with my things. In the hurry to escape, it had felt like we were taking too much. Now that we were here, it really looked like we were refugees running from something bad and only taking the clothes on our backs. It depressed the hell out of me.

We didn’t bother unpacking and headed straight to the store after unloading the car. Ashton spent the drive inspecting the town. I was delighted to see a new park had been built in my absence. It had a playground, a small baseball field, and, to Ashton’s excitement, four basketball courts.

“I can walk here,” Ashton said. “It’s only like a mile from the house. Would that be okay?”

Harbor Mills was a small and safe town, at least it had been when I was younger. Nothing I saw told me much had changed in that aspect.

“That’s probably fine. Do you want to go shoot hoops later?”

He shrugged noncommittally. A basic response from a teenager. I took it to mean, “Maybe I will, and maybe I won’t. I don’t want you to think I’m too excited because that wouldn’t be cool.”

The grocery store was near the center of town. Though small, it would have everything we’d need. Once inside, Ashton grabbed a cart and began loading it with bags of chips, boxes of cookies, and other junk food.

“You know we have to buy some fruit and vegetables, too, right?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

We rounded the corner to go down the canned food aisle, and that was when my day really turned to shit. A woman stood in front of me, her eyes widening with comical shock and surprise.

“Avery?”

“Hello, Farrah,” I said in a dry monotone.

Ashton frowned, glancing at me, then back at the woman. He was confused. No reason he shouldn’t be. This was his aunt. An aunt he’d never met or even heard about his entire life. Cole’s sister was not someone I’deverwanted to see again.

When I found out I was pregnant after Cole left, I’d gone to her, desperate for her help to get in contact with him. The woman had never liked me, had always thought her brother could do better. When I told her I was expecting Cole’s child, she’d acted cold and disinterested. In vague terms, she’d basically accusedme of screwing around and said she didn’t believe it was Cole’s baby.

Even then, I’dbeggedher to get word to Cole. I’d thought if he knew he had a child on the way, he might come back to me, pack drama be damned. When Farrah came to me three days later and told me Cole wanted nothing to do with me or the baby, a piece of my heart broke off. She said he wanted me to leave his family alone, and that I should never try to contact him again.

Farrah had left me there, a sobbing, heartbroken mess. Less than three months later, my grandmother, the only family I had, suddenly passed away. It was the worst year of my entire life. Without her, I’d fled Harbor Mills before Ashton was born and had never looked back.

Farrah looked at Ashton, her eyes going even wider. Any genetics I’d contributed must have been locked away somewhere deep inside him because he looked exactly like his father, and Farrah was seeing it now.

Rage filled my chest at the look on her face. Had shetrulynever believed that I was pregnant with Cole’s child? I supposed Cole hadn’t believed it, either. If he had, surely he would have contacted me at some point over the last fifteen years.

My anger was only tempered by how spooked Farrah looked. Like she’d seen a ghost.

“Wh… what are you doing here?” she finally stammered after tearing her eyes away from Ashton.

Her eyes flicked to the mark on my cheek where Perry had hit me. Sudden and intense shame filled me, but the old anger quickly wiped it away.

“I came home,” I said, then glanced at Ashton. No reason to hide the other reason I’d returned. “This is Ashton. He’s, uh, well, he’s starting puberty. He needs a pack to help guide him. I hoped that, maybe, your father might?—”

“I don’t see that happening,” Farrah said, her eyes flicking back to Ashton every few seconds.

Weariness, heavy and nearly debilitating, settled over me. After everything that had happened the last few days, I was beginning to think nothing in life would be easy again. Ever. Still, I had to try. I’d do whatever it took to help Ashton. Even if I had to grovel at the feet of the Harbor Mills alpha.

“Look, Farrah, can you just tell me if you’ve spoken or seen Cole lately? Maybe he could talk to your father.”

Farrah’s face grew even more tense and pensive at the mention of her brother.

Ashton’s head jerked up. I hadn’t kept everything from him. He knew his father’s name. From the look in his eyes, I had the feeling he was beginning to put the pieces together on who this woman was.

Finally, Farrah said, “Cole washed his hands of this place, same as I did, same way as Ithoughtyou did. I don’t…” she trailed off, glancing at Ashton’s face again, then continued, “I don’t think anything has changed since you left as far as my family is concerned.”

I hadn’t seen this woman in fifteen years, and within three minutes, I already wanted to slap her. I wasn’t in this town for her, or even for myself. I’d returned to get my son the help he needed, help I couldn’t provide.

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