Second-Chance Mate:The Alpha Who Took What My Mate Threw Away

Chapter 26 – Human Ties

By the time Elara left the clinic, my head felt like someone had rearranged furniture in the dark and then turned off the lights again.

I walked out into the yard on autopilot, blinking against the thin sun. Voices floated from the training ring, from the kitchens, from kids chasing each other between buildings. Life, carrying on, oblivious to the fact that a Council‑approved healer had just confirmed I was, technically, a walking crime scene.

Nyra was oddly calm. Better to see the chains, she said. Easier to break.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

For a second, that felt more surreal than anything Elara had said. I’d turned the ringer off when I left the human town. I hadn’t expected it to still… work.

Jake – 4 missed calls

Rosa – 2 new messages

Guilt hit me square in the chest.

I ducked around the side of the house, putting a wall between me and everyone else, and slid down to sit on the back step where damp wood cooled my overheated skin.

First: Rosa.

Her latest text read:

WHERE ARE YOU??

You better not be dead, I still need someone to eat the day‑old pastries.

Call me, niña.

The one before that was older. Just: You working late again? I make extra pan de queso.

My throat tightened. I hit call before I could talk myself out of it.

She picked up on the second ring. “¡Por fin! Tell me you are not in a ditch.”

“Hi, Rosa,” I managed.

Her exhale hissed down the line. “You disappear for two days, you don’t answer, and you ‘hi, Rosa’ me? Where are you?”

“With… family,” I said. The word felt strange and not entirely wrong. “Out of town. I dropped everything fast. I should’ve texted.”

“Yes, you should have,” she said, but the edge softened. “They are okay? You are okay?”

“I’m…” I looked at my scraped knuckles, at the faint gold that still wanted to cling to the edges of my vision. “Not dead. Just… dealing with old stuff. From before I moved here.”

There was a pause. I’d told her as little as possible about “before.” Just enough to explain the nightmares and the occasional disappearing act.

“Old family trouble?” she asked, gentler now.

“Yeah,” I said. “The kind that doesn’t stay buried like it’s supposed to.”

She made a small, sympathetic noise. “You stay as long as you need. I save your corner table. Jake keeps the shop from burning down. You send me a text every day so I don’t imagine you kidn*pped by cult.”

A short, startled laugh escaped me. “No cult. I promise.”

“Bueno. When you come back, you tell me everything you can, and I feed you until you forget the rest.”

“Deal,” I said, voice rough.

We hung up. I didn’t let myself sit with the ache that left behind. I scrolled to Jake and hit call.

He answered with, “If this is a spam bot, at least tell me what extended warranty my soul came with.”

“It’s your spine,” I said. “Lifetime warranty, questionable use.”

He went so quiet, so fast, it scared me more than his usual noise. “Maia?”

“Yeah. Sorry. Reception’s been spotty.”

“No kidding. You vanish, Council cars up and down the street last night, Rosa pacing a trench in my shop floor—”

“Council what?” I sat up straighter.

“Guys in suits,” he said. “Bad vibes. Said they were ‘inspecting local businesses.’ Asked if you lived above the garage. I said you were on a much‑deserved vacation and took their card so they’d stop breathing on my torque wrench.”

Cold slid down my spine. “You gave them my full name?”

“I’m not an i***t,” he said, offended. “I said ‘boss.’ That’s it. I don’t even know your middle name, you gremlin.”

Relief loosened my jaw a fraction. “Good.”

“Maia. Seriously.” His voice dropped. “Are you in trouble? Like, the real kind?”

I stared out at the tree line, where sentries moved like shadows. “Nothing that’s going to roll into town and eat you,” I said. “I promise.”

“That is not as comforting as you think it is.”

“I know.” I picked at a splinter in the step. “Look, some stuff from my… old life came back. I had to leave fast. I’m somewhere… safer. But it might be a while before I’m back full‑time.”

“How long is ‘a while’?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet.”

He was quiet for a moment. “You coming back at all?”

The question punched air out of my lungs harder than any hit Rowan had landed.

“Yeah,” I said, forcing the word out. “I am. The garage is mine. I’m not giving up my name on that door.”

Nyra made a pleased sound at that.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “Okay. Then I keep the lights on. I tell the regulars you’re taking care of family, not running off to join a biker gang.”

“I mean, biker gang has a certain appeal,” I said.

“You’d hate the leather,” he said. “Too squeaky.”

Despite everything, I smiled. “You good there? No disasters?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he said. “Changed Mrs. Park’s oil, told Dave his check engine light is not a government conspiracy, chased off cult guys in suits. You know. Tuesday.”

“Wednesday,” I corrected automatically.

“Time is fake without you complaining about it,” he shot back. Then, softer, “You sure you’re okay?”

No.

“I’m… with people who know what they’re doing,” I said. “I’m not alone this time.”

The silence on his end warmed, somehow. “Good,” he said. “You don’t do great alone, Maia. You just pretend you do.”

“Rude,” I said. “True, but rude.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Text me when you can. If you need anything from the human world—parts, paperwork, illegal fireworks—you say the word.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.

We hung up. I sat on the step for a long moment, phone still in my hand.

Two worlds, Nyra murmured. Human. Pack.

“Yeah,” I said. “I suck at picking just one.”

Maybe you don’t have to, she said.

Footsteps scuffed behind me. I didn’t jump this time; I was getting used to the rhythm of this house.

Caleb lowered himself onto the step beside me, careful to leave a handspan of space. “Everything all right?” he asked.

“Council visited my street,” I said. “Asked about me. Jake told them nothing and insulted their vibes.”

“Smart man,” Caleb said.

“Rosa told me to text so she doesn’t imagine me kidn*pped by a cult,” I added.

“Technically,” he said, “we howl at the moon and have a charismatic leader. Could be worse cults.”

I snorted. “You’re not that charismatic.”

He let that slide. “You told them you’re safe?”

“I told them I’m not alone,” I said. The words tasted strange. Right. “I didn’t lie.”

He watched my profile for a second, like he was cataloguing that.

“Thank you,” he said.

“For what? Not outing your secret wolf commune to my human friends?”

“For having friends,” he said simply. “For letting us see that part of you. It matters. More than you think.”

Nyra thumped her tail once. We are more than their experiment, she said. We are more than his project.

“I’m not staying forever,” I said, because I had to put something sharp back on the table. “I have a lease. A sign. A life.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“And I’m not…” I gestured vaguely at the house. “Moving into this permanently. Luna of the auto bay doesn’t have the same ring.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “Trial basis,” he said. “For everything.”

The Council’s cars still sat in the clearing. Their clock was still ticking.

But on this small back step, with my phone warm in my palm and the smell of coffee drifting from inside, the line between my human world and this one didn’t feel like a cliff anymore.

It felt like a bridge I was, very slowly, very stubbornly, learning how to walk both ways.