The Alpha Bond She Ran From

The Man from her past

POV: Maya

The alarm went off at four thirty in the morning like it always did.

I reached over and hit it quietly before it could wake Theo up.

I laid there for a minute and just watched my baby boy sleep. Every where was still dark, the sun wasn’t out yet.

This was my favorite time of the day.

When everywhere was quiet and Theo was warm beside me.

Then I had to get up. I slipped out of bed as I could. Theo turned but didn’t wake up. He just pulled the blanket up to his chin and rolled to the warm side of the bed.

I got dressed in the bathroom with the light off so it would not shine through the door and wake him up.

I knew my uniform by now. It was a pair of black pants, gray shirt and an apron.

I brushed my teeth and pulled my hair back to pack it with my black hair tie.

At five o, clock I woke Theo up.

He was always hard to wake up in the morning.

“Theo,” I whispered. “Time to get up.”

He made a grumpy sound like he wanted to sleep in forever.

“I have to go to work. Come on.”

He peeked out from under the blanket. “Five more minutes.”

I laughed and took him out of the bed.

He was so heavy to carry but he wrapped his arms around my neck and put his head on my shoulder and I carried him to the kitchen anyway.

I made him a bowl of cereal. He ate it with his eyes barely open with milk dripping down his chin.

I wiped it off and started packing his bags with extra clothes, his favorite crayons, a snack and the little wolf stuffed animal he slept with every night.

By five thirty we were out the door and the sun was starting to come up.

The sky was getting a bit brighter to and the streets were filled with pine trees planted everywhere. That’s why they names the town pine ridge.

I only decided to move here because it was far from everything I knew.

Far from the packs and the territories and the rules they made everyone follow.

I walked Theo to Mrs. Alverez house that was three blocks away.

She was an older woman who watched kids while their parents worked.

I now Theo was supposed to be in school like chilren his age but I just couldn’t risk it.

I mean it’s better for Mrs. Alverez to find out our secret than a whole pre-school.

We got took to her house and she took Theo inside and gave him a hug and told me to have a good day.

Theo waved at me from the doorway.

“Bye mama.”

“Bye baby. Be good.”

“I am always good.”

Mrs. Alverez laughed. “That is true. He is an angel.”

I kissed the top of his head and walked away. I looked back to see my baby boy again and he was already pulling out his crayons.

This was the hardest part of every day. Walking away from my baby.

The Rustic spoon diner where I worked was on Main Street right next to the hardware store. It was the kind of diner that had been there forever.

The sign was old and the paint was peeling already.

I pushed through the back door at five fifty five, that was five minutes early. Like always.

The kitchen was already loud with pans banging, the grill smoking and frank the cook yelling at the workers.

Maggie was at the counter counting the napkins.

She was sixty two years old and had worked here since she was sixteen and she acted like she owned the place.

Her husband had opened it fifty years ago and now it was hers.

“Morning,” I said. I grabbed my apron and tied it around my waist.

“You look tired,” Maggie said.

“I am tired.”

“You’re always tired.”

“That’s because I’m actually always tired.”

She looked up at me. “Are you eating enough?”

“Yes. I am fine.”

“You need to take care of yourself. That boy needs you.”

“I know.” I nodded.

I started my morning shift. I wiped down the counter, filled the ketchup bottles, made sure the creamers were full.

The morning rush came and went.

I poured coffee, took orders and smiled when I needed to.

I was good at this and it was starting to feel like a normal life.

But something was wrong.

I felt this strange feeling after my first shift at nine.

A prickling feeling at the back of my neck, a tightness in my chest.

Like something was coming, a feeling like something is about to happen.

I looked at the door three times but there was nothing.

I looked at the window, everything looked fine but the feeling would not go away.

My wolf stirred after five years of keeping her buried.

She stirred and knew something is coming.

I gripped the counter and forced myself to breathe.

“What is wrong with you?” Maggie asked from behind me.

“Nothing.”

“You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“I just need a minute.”

She gave me a look but didn’t push.

I stood at the counter and tried to calm down. I told myself it was nothing that I was just being crazy.

The bell above the door rang, I looked up and my whole world stopped.

He walked in slow like he had all the time in the world. Like it was somewhere he owned.

He was tall, really taller than I remembered with broad shoulders in a black coat that looked expensive. With short dark hair but it was his eyes that got me. It was silver gray and it scanned the room like a predator searching for its prey.

Every person in the diner felt his presence.

They all watched him walk in because he just had that effect.

Alphas always did because he was not just any alpha he was THE Alpha.

He walked to the counter and sat on the stool directly in front of me.

My hands gripped the counter hard.

He looked at me and for a second his face changed like something moved behind his eyes, something hungry, something desperate.

Then it was gone.

“Coffee,” he said with a low voice.

My hands were shaking even though it didn’t want them to shake.

I grabbed the pot and poured the coffee into the cup.

He looked up at me again but this time he didn’t notice break eye contact.

He looked fiercely at me and spoke again with his voice now thicker.

“Where is my son?”

The words didn’t make sense.

They hit my ears but my brain could not put them together.

I tried to open my mouth to lie, to scream, but I couldn’t.

The door to the kitchen swung open. The door that Theo sometimes came through when Mrs. Alverez drops him off.

Theo ran out with a crayon drawing in his hand. He wasn’t supposed to be here, Atleast not now.

“Mama! Look at what I drew!”

He stopped right next to me and looked up at Kael with his hands still holding up the drawing.

Kael turned his head slow, his eyes met Theo’s and in that moment, everything changed.