Page 14 of Alpha's Secret Baby Girl
Trying to distract herself, she took a good look around the kitchen. It was clearly well-used, with a good array of frying pans hanging on the wall in a decorative pattern. The cupboards were the sort with glass fronts, and Gwen shuddered to think of cleaning them. Inside, the dishes were an eclectic mix, the sort you’d expect from building your collection from second-hand stores. A vase of daisies sat over the sink, which was in front of a window that overlooked the sea.
“Do I have a wolf, too?” Lianne asked suddenly.
“Hmm?” Gwen frowned at her. She’d never asked that before.
“Do I have a wolf?” Lianne repeated, speaking a little slower this time.
Rafael ruffled her head. “Probably, since your mother and father are both wolves.”
Gwen stiffened.
“My father?” Lianne wrinkled her nose.
Rafael’s glance stole toward Gwen. Her heart hammered. Was he going to spill the beans? She should have known that he’d take the first opportunity to deliberate barge across the one thing she had asked him not to do!
“You must have a father,” Rafael said with a shrug. “Hey, are you in school yet?”
Lianne heaved a sigh, suitable distracted. “Noooo. Mommy says that since I was four last year, I have to wait until this year.”
Gwen slowly relaxed again. He wasn’t going to tell Lianne that secret, it seemed. “That was last year, sweetheart. You went to kindergarten this year.
Lianne gave her a scathing look. “Kint-a-garden isn’t school. School is where you read and write, and we didn’t do any of that stuff. I want to go to school!” She sighed dramatically, then straightened again. “Mommy is teaching me how to write. I can spell my name. It’s L-I-A-N-N-E. But I don’t know how to spell my last name.”
“Knowing how to spell your name is a good start. You’ll get your last name soon enough if you keep working at it.” Rafael turned to Gwen. “And what do you do for a living?”
Oh, great! So he was going to start that, was he? She swallowed her food. “I’m a waitress.”
Rafael’s eyebrows rose. “You didn’t go back to school?”
Lianne giggled. “School is for kids, silly!”
“Adults can go to school, too,” Rafael answered, his eyes never leaving Gwen.
She shook her head once. “No.”
Rafael was quiet for a moment, then said, “If you want, I can get you a job here. Kelsie at the diner is always looking for wait staff. It’s not glamorous, but the menu hasn’t changed in the last seven years, so I’m sure you’ll be able to adjust. Or we could look into an online college or university.”
“I’ll take my CV out myself, thanks.” She grabbed her glass of orange juice and pretended to drink, not looking at Rafael.
Lianne kicked her feet under the table, her toes brushing against Gwen’s knee. “Why do you need a job? You have a job.”
Gwen really did drink then. She emptied her glass and winced. “Lianne… we’re going to live here for a while. Rafael said we can have those rooms we slept in last night. Our stuff is being brought here today.”
Lianne’s eyes widened. Her tiny fist clenched around her fork, and she pushed her plate away. “No, thank you. I want to go back home. Maybe Raf-el can visit.”
Gwen winced. She would have liked to make Rafael figure this one out, to explain to Lianne why they weren’t allowed to go home. But who knew what he might say? He might even tell her the truth! No, it was best if she took care of it.
“I know, sweetheart. I don’t want to move, either, but we need to live here for a while. But the great thing is that you can start school right away. That will be fun, won’t it?” Gwen urged.
Lianne’s shoulders slumped. “I guess. But why did we have to move?”
“We just had to,” Gwen told her.
She didn’t look at Rafael as they continued to eat in silence. Lianne wasn’t interested in her pancakes anymore, and Gwen viciously hoped Rafael knew this was his fault. It wasn’t just her life he’d unrooted in his controlling behavior.
After they were done eating, Rafael cleared his throat. “I’d like to take you both to see my parents.”
Gwen’s heart squeezed. Randall wasn’t on the island anymore, was he? And if he wasn’t there, that meant it was safe to stay for a while. Besides, he couldn’t hurt her. She had deliberately left the pack and wasn’t reliant on him or them anymore. She could stand on her own two feet and tell him to go to hell if he tried anything. The shy, terrified girl she had been when she lived here had grown up, grown stronger, and realized she was worth more than they let her believe.
