Six: Mason Crescent

Six

Mason Crescent

            "---and you know, Mia's daughter is just the cutest. Harper? She's three, but she's already super smart for her age." Rachel Conner had been rambling since she started her first day. The woman was nice enough. Mason remembered that about her. But he hadn't remembered how chatty she was. The last thing he wanted to deal with was her talking all day, especially about Mia.

            Since he had decided not to be with Mia, he had been losing his strength that came with being a werewolf. He also couldn't shift anymore. But his werewolf was still there, just tired and unable to be the fearsome thing that he once was when he still had the title of Alpha.

            "Rachel, that's all very interesting, but I do actually have a meeting that I have to get to."

            "Oh," said Rachel, "that's fine. Actually---" her cell phone rang, and Mason winced. "Oh, hi, Mia. Yeah, the job is going great. I'm actually here with Mason right now. Do you want to say hi? You should say hi!"

            He tried gesturing to her to stop and Rachel didn't seem to get the hint as she shoved her phone into Masons hands.

            "Um, hi," he said.

            There was a long pause. "Uh. Hi," she said, "sorry about that. Aunt Rachel is under the impression everyone is their friend."

            Mason smiled politely, even though she wasn't there. "That's okay. Rachels great. She's got a personality all of her own."

            "Yeah, she does," said Mia, "how…how are you? I heard you weren't working for your family's company anymore."

            He coughed. "Yeah, um, there were some circumstances that arose that made them decide I wasn't the best fit to be in charge. But it's all worked out. I enjoy working with Brooklyn. She's good at what she does."

            "That's good," said Mia.

            There was another long pause. "Uh…so Rachel mentioned something about you having a kid?"

            Mia took a sharp breath. "Yeah. Harper. She's three. She's great."

            "Who's the father?" He knew who the father was, obviously. But he was curious to see if she would say anything to him. If Mia told him the truth, then he could be involved in Harpers life without having anything look weird. He could find a way to be there for his daughter and not draw attention to her at the same time.

            "Ah, just a one-night stand," said Mia, "I don't even remember who, actually. It happened that weekend in Vegas for Meredith's bridal shower."

            "Right. Right," said Mason, "well, you should call Brooklyn. I know she was always sad the two of you lost touch. Um…great talking to you." It hadn't been great talking to her. It had been like a punch to the gut.

            "Yeah, great talking to you too. Bye."

            "Bye."

            The call ended, and he handed Rachel the phone back. To his surprise, his secretary was glaring at him.

            "You are an absolute moron," she hissed.

            Mason blinked, taken aback by her bluntness. "Excuse me?"

            "I've seen the way you two interacted with each other from the beginning. I know you are Harpers father. Now explain to me why the two of you aren't together?"

            Mason sighed. "Brooklyn told you who our family is, right?"

            Rachel nodded. "I don't see what being a werewolf has to do with anything. Unless you are worried you might scare her off with bad breath. Do you have bad breath?"

            He ran a hand through his hair. "No, Rachel, I don't have bad breath. But I do have enemies. People that would want to hurt Mia and Harper the moment they knew either of them existed. And I can't let that happen. It's better for us both not to be together."

            Rachel huffed. "You mean the Carinas?"

            Mason stared at her. "How do you know about them?"

            "Because, Mia came home the other day and talked about running into one of them. Sullivan. They were friends in college around the same time Mia was there with Brooklyn. He's going to show her how to use social media to help out with her bakery. And if you ask me, he wasn't just looking to help her."

            Mason clenched his jaw. "You're sure about this?"

            The older woman nodded. "Mia had a crush on him too. I remember, she was always wishing that he'd ask her out but he never did. He always gave her some line about family responsibility but she could never figure out what that meant. So, the two of them never got together. Now, I figure since he's a werewolf, he probably had a mate. But since I found out about this whole werewolf thing, I've had a theory that Mia is supposed to be yours."

            "Why are you so certain?" Mason said. "When I knew Mia, the two of us did nothing but bicker with each other."

            "Because you wanted to be together. What I never understood is why you never went for it with her. When she told me she was pregnant, I suspected that you were the father but she never said anything and you never did anything and I knew that there was no way that if you knew Mia was pregnant you wouldn't let her do everything alone. And yet----you did. I don't understand that."

            "I was trying to keep her safe," I insisted.

            "Well, she's going to move on if you don't do something about it. So, unless you want Sullivan Carina to be Harpers Step Father, I suggest that you go to Mia and try to win her back. What do you think?"

            I sighed. "I think it’s too late."

            "What do you mean, it’s too late?"

            "I never acted on the mate bond, and I'm no longer an Alpha. Besides…in another three months, I'll probably be dead."

            Rachel looked at me like I had announced that I was the devil. "You idiot boy. You've no idea what you've done."