Chapter Five

Three Years Later:

Sera’s POV:

The box of plates landed solid on the shelf and I stepped back to admire the neat arrangement, feeling that small burst of satisfaction that came from finishing a task well.

"Look at you, making my stockroom look like something out of a magazine." Mrs. Judith's sister appeared in the doorway with a warm smile. "There's a blueberry danish waiting for you on the counter, fresh out of the oven."

"You spoil me." I grabbed the pastry and took a bite, the buttery sweetness melting on my tongue. Three years of these mornings and I still wasn't used to how good her baking was.

"Someone has to, and lord knows you won't spoil yourself." She poured coffee into a to-go cup. "You drive out to Ridgemont yesterday?"

"Yeah, just wanted to enjoy the fresh air." The lie came easy after three years of practice. I'd driven two hours south yesterday just to mail Mom's birthday card from a different town, with no return address and a postmark that would lead them nowhere close to where I was. I'd done that for my family for the past three years just to make them know I'm fine.

"That's a long drive for errands." She handed me the coffee with that look she got sometimes, like she knew I was hiding something but was too kind to push. 

"You know, when you first got here you were so jumpy. Remember that time in my sister's diner when you thought you saw someone from your home?"

My stomach twisted at the memory. I'd been so sure it was Cade standing in the aisle three years ago, that I'd nearly had a panic attack right there beside Mrs Judith. "Turned out to be nobody. Just my imagination."

"You were shaking so hard we worried you'd fall over." She squeezed my shoulder. "But look at you now. Happy. Settled. That's all we wanted for you."

"Thank you for everything you and Mrs. Judith have done for me." My throat went tight because they'd given me a home when I had nowhere else to go, asked no questions, demanded no explanations.

"That's what family does, honey."

The morning rush was already going when I pushed through the back door. Mrs. Judith stood at the grill and Maya, my best friend here, was pouring coffee for the loggers who came in every morning like clockwork.

"There she is." Maya grinned when she saw me. "Thought you overslept."

"Never." I tied my apron. "What's the damage?"

"Table four wants his bacon burned to ash, table six is arguing about the election, and your boyfriend's been waiting for you."

I glanced over at Donald in his corner booth and couldn't help smiling. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Not for lack of trying on his part." Maya bumped my hip with hers. "Come on, it's been three years. The man is persistent."

"The man is stubborn."

"So are you, which is why you're perfect for each other." She grabbed the coffee pot. "Go take his order before he dies of old age."

Donald looked up when I approached and his whole face lit up in that way that always made something warm bloom in my chest. "There's my favorite waitress."

"I'm your only waitress."

"Still my favorite." He leaned back in the booth. "So there's a county fair next weekend and I need someone to tell me I'm wasting money on rigged carnival games."

"Donald..."

"Just as friends, I swear. No pressure. Just corn dogs and bad country music and judging people's prize-winning pigs."

The thing about Donald was he made it easy to breathe, easy to laugh, easy to forget that I'd spent the first eighteen years of my life waiting for a mate who didn't want me. "Let me think about it."

"That's not a no." His grin got wider. "I'll take it."

I was still smiling when I went to put in his order, feeling lighter than I had in days because this was my life now and it was good, it was enough, it was mine.

Lunch rush hit hard and fast, the diner filling with the usual crowd plus some travelers passing through. Maya and I worked in sync, her taking the chatty tables while I handled the quiet ones, both of us moving through the chaos like we'd been doing this dance forever.

"Table eight needs a refill," Maya called over the noise. "And table twelve just sat down."

I grabbed the coffee pot and made my rounds, laughing at some customer’s jokes, falling into the comfortable rhythm that had become my life.

"Ser." Maya's voice cut through the noise with an edge that made me look up. "You have got to see table twelve."

She grabbed my arm and turned me toward the window booth where a man sat alone, and something in my chest went cold and tight.

He was attractive in that dangerous way that made people stare, dark hair and sharp features and a presence that felt too big for the small diner. But it wasn't his looks that made my hands start shaking.

It was the power rolling off him in waves. The unmistakable presence of an Alpha werewolf.

"That is the finest thing I've seen walk through that door in three years," Maya said, fanning herself. "And he's been watching you since he sat down."

I couldn't breathe. Three years. Three years of peace and safety and normal, and now there was a werewolf twenty feet away who could sense exactly what I was.

"You okay?" Maya's hand touched my arm. "You went pale."

"I need you to take that table."

"What? But you're up in the rotation."

"Please." My voice came out wrong, too high and tight. "I'll cover all your difficult tables for a week, I just... please take table twelve."

She studied my face and whatever she saw there made her nod. "Yeah, okay. Go splash some water on your face or something, you look like you're going to pass out."

I made it to the bathroom and locked myself in a stall, my whole body shaking because this couldn't be happening, not here, not in my safe place where I'd finally learned how to breathe again.

He could sense me. I knew it the same way I'd known Cade was my mate, that bone-deep certainty that came with being a werewolf even if my wolf had never emerged. And if he could sense me then he'd be curious, would ask questions, might even recognize my scent if he'd ever been near my old pack.

I splashed cold water on my face and tried to pull myself together because falling apart in the bathroom wasn't going to change anything.

When I came out Maya was at the register and the man was gone, a fifty dollar bill sitting on table twelve next to an empty coffee cup.

"He asked about you," Maya said without looking up.

My heart stopped. "What did you tell him?"

"That you were fine, just had a long day." She glanced at me. "He seemed concerned. Asked if you were feeling alright, said you looked upset when you saw him." Her eyes narrowed. "Ser, what's going on? You looked terrified."

"I wasn't terrified, I just..." The lie stuck in my throat. "I thought I recognized him from somewhere but I was wrong."

"You sure? Because you're still shaking."

"I'm sure." I forced a smile. "Just tired from the drive yesterday. I think I'm going to head home early if that's okay."

Mrs. Judith came out from the kitchen. "You do look peaked, honey. Go on, we can handle the dinner rush."

I was out the door before either of them could ask more questions, practically running the three blocks to my apartment. Inside I locked the door and leaned against it, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat.

It was just one time. He was passing through. Tomorrow everything would go back to normal.

But even as I thought it, I knew I was lying to myself.