Page 7 of Alpha's Secret Baby Girl
It was that truth that had made him stop. He had instead turned to changing himself. He didn’t want to be the sort of man who casually flung her aside in the face of the pack, even if he had thought it was for her protection at the time. No, he had to grow up. So he had. He’d stopped hiding in his father’s shadow. Stopped letting Randall bully him. When his father yelled, he yelled back. And this startup he’d made, the improvements he’d done to the town, it wasn’t entirely selfless.
He wanted to prove to Gwen, if she ever came back, that he had changed. That he was better.
“It’s beautiful,” Gwen said as she admired the line of statues he’d installed along that side of the road. They were all locally made, and he’d chosen the artists from all walks of life to give them a leg up in their goals.
Hearing her voice made a primal feeling roar through him. His lungs caught, and his wolf growled. He had to fight himself not to march across the street and pull her into his arms.She wouldn’t like it, but the word rang in his mind. Mate. She was his true mate, and heneededher.
“This one is my favorite,” the woman with Gwen gushed. It took Rafael a moment to realize it was Kira. Not because she was unrecognizable, but because his attention was so focused on Gwen.
They moved around one of the statues to face his side of the street. And Rafael, reverting to the shy kid who had kept his crush secret for years before admitting his feelings for Gwen, actuallyhid. He dodged into a nearby store and peered through the glass, obstructed by the large, golden letters that were decaled on the wall.
“Alpha,” the clerk behind the desk chirped brightly. “Can I help you?”
Rafael turned. He had come into a bookstore, one he frequented often. Forcing a smile onto his face, he collected a few books from the window display. “Do you have any of these elsewhere?”
The clerk’s eyes widened at his selections, but he nodded. “In the back. I’ll get them for you.”
As the clerk scurried off, Rafael turned back to watch Gwen and Kira. The wind picked up, blowing a curl into Gwen’s eyes. She pulled it away with the same impatience he knew too well. A small smile played about his lips.
The wealth he had accumulated wasn’t just for the good of the pack. While he dedicated plenty of it to worthy causes, he wasn’t reckless. It provided him with resources and freedom for himself as well. If it ever came to it, he could make a life anywhere he wanted. But money wasn’t everything. It bought him security, but it couldn’t make him happy.
“It’s beautiful,” Gwen’s voice came, clear despite the distance between them. “This place has changed so much.”
Kira nodded. “We are doing very well. All those old tenement buildings were torn down and replaced by new apartments. The Alpha has done a lot of good work here.”
Rafael noted that she didn’t use his name. Even the word ‘Alpha’ was spoken with a slight hesitation, a caution, like she wasn’t sure how Gwen would take the praise. He found himself holding his breath, as silly as it was. He wanted her to be proud of him. He wanted her to see the work he’d done and for her to realize this place wasn’t the same town as the one she had fled from.
“He really has,” Gwen murmured. She put her arms around herself and turned to Kira. “And… you said that he hasn’t taken a mate?”
Was that a note of hope in her voice?
The clerk cleared his throat behind Rafael. He turned, fighting back the urge to snap. The clerk held out a bag of books, and Rafael took it. He paid with a handful of bills, probably too much, but didn’t wait for his change. Instead, as Gwen and Kira were heading down Main Street, he stepped from the store. Maybe Gwen didn’t want anything to do with him. But she was here. He was Alpha.
He jogged across the street, his gaze locked on her. He wasn’t going to let her leave without talking to him. Not again.
Chapter 3 - Gwen
This place was so different than what it had been when she left seven years ago. Gwen felt like a bobble-head toy, her neck constantly moving as she tried to absorb everything around her. When Kira invited her to spend a little time on the island, she had expected to see a few coats of paint at best. But this… this was a complete transformation. It was nothing like the island she knew when she was younger. Not only did everything look brighter and cleaner, but people seemed a lot happier as well. Many of them smiled at her and Kira in that ‘I acknowledge your presence and don’t want to make you uncomfortable’ way.
“This is… amazing,” Gwen said. She tugged at her sleeves, fidgeting as a strange wish welled in her chest.
If Rafael were on the island right now, maybe she could talk to him. See if he had changed as dramatically as the rest of the island had. She felt bad for leaving Lianne with Chelsey instead of bringing her into town with them. She hadn’t wanted people staring at her daughter, and certainly didn’t want word getting back to Rafael that she was running around with a six-year-old child. Lianne looked like her, not Rafael, but he wasn’t stupid. He’d be able to put two and two together.
“It’s better than that,” Kira told her. “Rafael has made serious social changes as well. All of us, witch descendants and other outcasts, are protected members of the pack. He has cracked down hard on anyone who tries to shun or bully us, and a strict policy is in place that doesn’t allow businesses to turn us away. Things aren’t changing overnight, but they are changing.”
Gwen’s traitorous heart fluttered. Over the last few years, as her contact with Kira and Chelsey dwindled to near extinction, she had put in a strict ‘no-pack’ rule on what theytalked about. So hearing that Rafael was the Alpha had caught her off guard.
The fact that he stepped up so much still sent her pulse racing. Could it be that he wasn’t the bastard she’d been telling herself he was for the past seven years? Maybe there was a reason for him to reject her in front of the entire pack. Maybe… maybe it wouldn’t have been such a terrible thing for him to know he’d fathered a child.
The thought made her hands grow cold. If he really wasn’t as bad as she’d convinced herself, she had done something unforgivable by keeping him away from Lianne.
But I don’t know enough for that yet. He rejected me. He acted like I was nothing. I don’t know why he has done all this.And if he had known about Lianne and he’d decided to take custody… he would have gotten it, especially in those early years when she barely had a job and struggled to make ends meet.
She shook those thoughts from her head. No use in worrying over the past when it was already gone.
Kira led her into Main Street, showing off the various statues that had been erected there. Kira cooed and gushed over many of them, but Gwen was so distracted by all the changes that she hardly heard her friend.
Finally, she wrenched her focus back to Kira. “It’s beautiful. This place has changed so much.”
