Page 6 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

“Noted.” He raises both hands, backing off a step, and there’s a rueful warmth in it that makes me want to scream. “I’m sorry if I overstepped. That wasn’t my intent.”

“Okay.” I’m already steering him toward the door. “Great. Thank you so much for everything, the ride, the groceries, all of it, you’ve been—”

A click sounds from down the dark hallway. A door. The bathroom latch, the squeak of the handle she never closes quietly.

My whole body goes cold.

I move so fast I’m almost shoving him, both palms at his damp back, propelling him over the threshold and into the hall. “Goodbye. Drive safe. Thank you, really, goodbye.”

“Jessa—”

I shut the door on whatever he was going to say and turn the deadbolt hard, then the chain, then I press my forehead to the wood with my heart slamming while the rain keeps going outside.

Small feet pad up behind me.

“Mommy?” Mia’s voice is fuzzy with sleep. “Who was that?”

I peel myself off the door and turn, pasting on a smile that costs me everything I have left. “Nobody, baby. Just a man who helped me with the car.”

She rubs one eye, hair a wild dark cloud around her face. “Did you get my cereal?”

A laugh cracks out of me, half a sob, all relief. “Yeah. I got your cereal.”

“Did it have the prize?”

“Go back to bed, Mia.” I cross the room and steer her gently toward the hall, both of us stepping over the puddle he tracked in. “I’ll check in the morning. Promise.”

She goes, finally, dragging her blanket. I stand alone in the quiet kitchen with the spilled water, the dented cans, the smell of rain he left behind, my hands trembling.

I sink onto the couch, staring blindly at the wall.

How am I supposed to stay in this town for the next couple of years when Marcus Steele also lives here? What if he runs into Mia? What—?

My fingers dig into my jeans. “No.” My whisper is hoarse. “All these years, he’s never once tried to reach out to me. He wouldn’t want her now.”

The words should give me hope, but instead they fill me with dread.

No.

We can’t stay here.

Not when Mia’s biological father is here.

Chapter Two

Marc

“Jessa Hale.” I feel the name in my mouth, and my lips twitch. “Bad-tempered little thing.”

My wolf, who has been quiet for ten years, stirs at the name.

My lips press together at the reaction.

Why now?

My brother and his mate’s murder broke something fundamental in my animal, a grief that’s kept the animal subdued this past decade. It hasn’t expressed interest in anything so vividly before, so tonight its reaction took me by surprise.

What was it about Jessa Hale that has it so curious?