Sera’s words had cut deeper than I let on, and since Kieran’s Beta so eloquently explained the dynamics of our rocky relationship, I couldn’t deny that I’d deserved them.
“She’s fine,” I said instinctively.
She exhaled. “So you’ve seen her? Things are better between you two?”
My mother was too fragile to handle the brutal truth-which was that Sera loathed me. And
I wasn’t going to admit that someone half my weight threw me across the room like a ragdoll.
Whoever was training her at OTS must be a fucking legend.
“They’re…” I paused, searching for the right lie. “Better.”
Her relief was palpable. “Good. That’s good.” A pause. Then, gentler: “I baked her those cinnamon raspberry scones she used to like. Will you come pick them up and take them to her?”
I almost said no.
But the hope in her voice stalled me. I knew she was trying to mend the rift between her and Sera the only way she knew how. Her pride held her back from facing her daughter, and my sister’s new antagonism wasn’t making things easier.
I sighed. “Yeah. I can do that.”
“Thank you, darling.”
I hung up and dropped my phone in the console. I looked up-
And saw her.
A flash of dark hair, honey-toned skin, long legs in combat boots. She was walking down the sidewalk, swinging a tote bag like she didn’t owe the world a damn thing.
Maya.
Her presence hit me like a freight train. Logan surged-alert, feral, wound-up. My chest ached with need.
She was here.
I’d found her again. Finally.
ETHAN’S POV
Nothing else mattered. Not the way I haphazardly parked my car and stumbled out of it like a drunkard. Or the fact that I dived into oncoming traffic and narrowly missed becoming roadkill.
All that mattered was her-right across the road, within reach. My fucking mate.
Startled, she took an instinctive step back as I stepped directly into her path, panting like
I’d run a marathon, not twenty feet.
Her eyes widened, but the surprise was brief, quickly dissolving into a look of amusement and mild intrigue.
She crossed her arms. “Well,” she said, cocking her head, “someone’s an overachiever.”
She’d just sent me on a wild goose chase, had me running around town trying to uncover a name and a damn address. Yet, despite myself, I smiled. “Do I get bonus points for turning in my homework early, Maya Cartridge?”
Her lips twitched. “We’ll see.”
I took a step closer to her, my eyes zeroing in on the pulse beating wildly in her neck. She could feign nonchalance and indifference all she wanted, but I knew she felt the pull between us. It thrummed between us like a live wire-dangerous, deliberate, and impossible to ignore.
“Congratulations,” she said, her voice like velvet caressing my skin. “You passed the first challenge with flying colors.”
I blinked. “First?”
Her smile was slow, scheming. Dangerous. “Next: beat me in combat.”
I raised a brow. “Is there a final level where I have to fight a dragon and retrieve a magical stone, too?”
“Oh, honey.” She reached a hand out, and my breath hitched when she ran a finger down my torso and smirked. “I am the dragon.”
My eyebrows arched. She had to be the craziest fucking woman I’d ever met, and gods help me, I was head over heels already.
“I’ll fight you,” I said, stepping into her space. Not touching-but close enough that the energy between us crackled, undeniable. “And I’ll win.”
She looked up at me through her lashes, that familiar challenge flashing in her eyes. “Looks like your ego is as big as you are handsome. It’ll be a shame if you’re all talk, though.”
“Trust me, I’m not.”
She shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.”
She started to walk away, but I caught her wrist and pulled her flush against me. Her breath hitched, and Logan surged beneath my skin, restless, growling.
Her scent was a heady combination that momentarily scrambled my thoughts.
“You know,” I murmured, leaning in slightly. Our lips were so close I could kiss her. Fuck, I wanted to kiss her so badly. “I’m an Alpha. We don’t like being led in circles.”
She cocked her head. “Then you’re welcome to bow out.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m trying to respect your terms, Maya Cartridge.” I hooked her chin with my finger and thumb, tilting her face up. “But if you keep testing my patience, I’ll simply take you to bed and mark you.”
Logan yipped even as my heart raced at the image of Maya naked in my bed, writhing under me, our bodies slick with sweat. Heat surged underneath my skin.
Her eyes darkened, lust simmering underneath the challenge. But she stubbornly held on to her composure, and her smirk deepened.
“You want to take me to bed, Alpha?” She leaned in, close enough that I could feel her breath against my lips. She was testing every restraint I had, and she fucking knew it.
“Then beat me first. If you can.”
“When?” My voice was rough, my throat dry.
“Your choice. I’m always ready.”
‘Now, Logan roared. ‘Right fucking now.’
But before I could answer, a memory surged-my mother’s voice, hopeful, fragile: ‘Will you come pick them up and take them to her?’
Stupid fucking pastries.
“I have somewhere to be first, I said tightly. “An errand to run.”
“Cute,” Maya replied. “I didn’t know Alphas ran errands.”
“This one does. For family.” I paused. “After that, I’ll be ready.”
I reached around her, unable to hide my smirk as she stiffened when my hand slipped into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. I held it up to her face and unlocked it with
Face ID.
I typed my number into her phone and held it out to her without saving it. She hadn’t asked for my name and I’d be damned if I volunteered it when she’d made hers so difficult to uncover. “Text me the venue, and I’ll be there as soon as I’m done.”
She took the device from me, eyes gleaming. “Can’t wait.”
Fuck, neither could I.
***
Sera opened the door with a face like stone.
“I brought pastries,” I said, holding up the bag like the peace offering it was.
She didn’t move. “What the hell for?”
“They’re from Mom,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. “She asked me to bring them.”
She folded her arms. “Again-what the hell for?”
I blinked. “She’s your mother, and she baked you pastries, isn’t that reason enough? They’re your favorite, too, cinnamon raspberry, right?”
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