Chapter 4 – Still Waiting

My first job for the day was nearly over, working as a small-time shop assistant in the market. The market was crowded with bodies and different scents.

I kept checking my watch to be sure I wasn’t overstepping into the time I was meant to meet Aiden at the cemetery. There was a small opening in between my jobs and I was positive.

My eyes caught a thin, tired-looking woman holding a small girl at her hip.

I saw fear in her eyes as she stood waiting for someone else. I didn’t know what to do but watch the scene unfold.

Then a man with multiple tattoos and a frame twice her size approached. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her roughly against himself.

He began dragging her out of the main market roads.

“You think you can just leave?” he gritted. “You still belong with me! You owe me.”

The child whimpered and hid her face behind her mother’s nape.

I moved before I even thought about it. Kira didn’t need to growl first.

I walked briskly through the market, sidestepping until I could get between them. I broke the contact between them.

“Let her go,” I said flatly.

The man blinked, thrown off. He looked me up and down—old jeans, tired blouse, apron.

He mistook me for a weak omega. A very bad mistake.

“This is between me and my mate,” he said, voice rising.

“From what I can smell, she’s not your mate,” I said coldly. “She’s more like your prey.”

He flushed red. “Who the hell are you to come into our private affair?!” he barked, reaching out to shove me.

I caught his wrist mid-air, firmly. Not hard—just enough so he’d know I wasn’t a pushover. He froze, feeling the pressure, the strength, and how my eyes begged him to go further so I could unleash my violence.

Kira stirred and stretched, hoping for a chance to do what she did best.

Fight.

I leaned in, voice calm and low. “You’re used to pushing people around because they’re scared of you,” I said. “I’m not scared.”

His arm trembled as I applied more pressure. His eyes flicked to the scrawny woman behind me.

I didn’t move. Didn’t raise my voice.

Slowly, he broke. He yanked his arm free and stumbled back.

“She’s not even worth it,” he muttered, shooting her a glance. “Good riddance to bad rubbish. Make sure I never see your face in my territory again. Take your little bastard with you.” Then he scrambled away and disappeared into the alleyway.

The woman’s shoulders sagged in relief. She clutched her daughter tighter. Tears began to fall.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “No one else helped us. We were running out of town to a neighboring pack.”

I nodded once, still watching the spot he’d gone through.

“He won’t bother you anytime soon. Maybe you should be gone before he tries again,” I said.

Then I turned away, chest tightening as I glanced once more at the girl whose eyes were wide with wonder.

Her look was proof I hadn’t completely lost everything about myself.

I quickly closed up the stall. It was almost time to meet Aiden.

It was a good day. I’d saved a woman and her child, and Aiden was trying to mend our relationship.

If he wasn’t going to, he wouldn’t have suggested we meet in front of her grave.

“He’s not trying to mend anything, and you know it,” Kira said. “He’s going to disappoint you again and make me worse.”

“He’s going to come. I didn’t suggest this—he did. That should count for something. You’re just too pessimistic, Kira!” I snapped.

“If you say so. Soon enough I’ll fade into the background where I won’t have an opinion,” Kira said.

She snarled softly and lay back down weakly.

“He won’t disappoint us. I’m sure of it. He’s trying his best. Maybe the moon goddess’s pull messed with his head, but he’s not seeing her anymore. Maybe that’s why he’s trying to mend what’s broken between us,” I said, optimistic about Aiden’s sudden interest.

Kira didn’t answer.

I hurried, trying to make it on time. It was windy and I hadn’t planned for that.

Aiden wasn’t there. I wasn’t late.

I stood in the wind for over an hour. I cleaned the headstone myself, sweeping away dry leaves and debris. People came to pay respects. Children placed flowers on a parent’s headstone.

I stared down at the small plaque in the grass. I hadn’t even put up a name. I hadn’t really named her Lunette—I just called her that for fun. Now I wish I had. Her plaque looked too plain.

Just a date.

I waited some more, as people left the cemetery. I looked at my banged up wristwatch, my shift at the diner, where I worked five times a week, was almost about to begin. I had been here for almost two hours and he hadn’t shown up.

The cold bench was suddenly uncomfortable.

My phone buzzed.

Aiden: Something urgent came up. Sorry I’ll go with you next time.

I stared at the message for what felt like a long time.

I didn’t feel the tears fall down my face.

“You knew he wouldn’t come.” Kira stirred, weak.

“I thought he would.” I murmured.

“Why do you weaken me like this? You’re not made for this, we were born to be warriors.”

As I lived in pain and constant stress, Kira took the brunt of it. She was constantly weak and fading, we used to be one but deviating from our purpose, never shifting and constantly being in pain was killing her.

But I couldn’t help how my life had turned out.

I turned from the grave and dried my eyes. I’d cried enough for all my future lifelines.

“What happened to us?”

I didn’t reply, my feet kept walking in the cold.

As I entered the diner through the back door, the scent of fried oil and coffee hit me. I took off my jacket, revealing the uniform that now clung to me. My coworker Mika sighted me and immediately crossed over to me.

“Mara, maybe you should stay in the back today,” she said.

I blinked. “Why? I’m handling the registers today. That’s what it says on the board.”

She hesitated.

“I know I’m late but I got caught up, you know I work hard, I’ll handle it.”

I heard voices raised from the dining floor. It sounded heated.

“What’s happening?”

“Someone’s causing a scene. I think you should stay…”

She was too late. I stepped out from the kitchen heading towards the registers.

I saw Talia immediately, her voice was sharp and accusing and I saw Jamie, one of our senior staff squaring her shoulders like she was ready for a fight. I couldn’t understand what was happening.

“I’m not going to serve her, she doesn’t get to come in here and act like we don’t know what she is.” Jamie snapped.

Talia’s sweet voice had a shriek to it as she screamed. “I didn’t do anything, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

And then I heard him before I noticed him seated.

“Can we not turn this into a circus? We’re just trying to get a meal. That’s all.”

Aiden stood up now, his jaw clenched, his hand hovered near her elbow like he was going to protect her from Jamie if anything happened.

The sight knocked the breath from my lungs. I could have fainted and Kira wasn’t taking it lightly.

“He was supposed to be at the grave but here he is. Mara, this is what he’s about.”

It was really him, I wasn’t dreaming, this was the man that had looked me dead in the eye and said he had cut off all contact with Talia. Completely. Yet here he was, ready to run headfirst into an older veteran like Jamie because of her.

He saw me.

“I don’t give a shit what you both want to order, I’m not serving her. You can take your business elsewhere.” Jamie said, so locked in on the fight. She didn’t notice I had seen him already.

“Is this how you conduct business? You just act out on customers?” Talia retorted.

Aiden had his eyes on me but they didn’t hold regret or shame. They mirrored… his disgust.

He was disgusted by me, why?

I wasn’t the one sneaking around with Talia when I had promised to be at my daughter’s gravestone that afternoon, or was it all his plan?

That I’d be stuck grieving our daughter at the cemetery and he could move around with Talia, unseen with no consequences.

His expression was unreadable now.

“Talia, it’s fine. Let’s leave.” He said to her, she picked up her purse and followed.

Jamie scoffed at them.

I acted shamelessly, like a woman who had nothing left. I ran out the back door so I could meet Aiden out front before he disappeared.

“Don’t do it. Stop this, you’re only hurting yourself and me… let it go.” Kira growled faintly.

I had to.

I had given too much to our marriage. There was nothing left in me to start over, I couldn’t lose him.