Page 52 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

I freeze at the innocent excitement in the voices of the children.

Is that what Mia wants? A father?

“If your uncle becomes my dad, then he has to come to all my games, right?” my daughter asks eagerly. “Like all the other dads?”

“Yep. He always comes to my games. I’m not very good, though. I like cooking more than soccer. I can help your mom with cooking. Uncle Marcus only knows how to make steak. It’s so boring.”

“Then it’s settled.” My daughter sounds gleeful. “We have to make this a date for them. And they have to kiss because I saw on TV that if two people kiss, they fall in love and get married.”

I quietly step back into my room, wanting to be amused but unable to muster up the emotion. Closing the door, I lean against it.

Mia has never expressed any desire for a father figure. After Derek left, she never asked about him. I thought she was happy with just me. But that’s not fair. Here her own father, who doesn’t know she’s his, is doting on her. And I want to take that away from her?

I run my fingers through my hair, digging my nails in my scalp.

What do I do?

If I just draw boundaries, I can let Mia be around her father, and I can have a pleasant, civil relationship with him. I haven’t been with another man since that night. I don’t need a man. And I won’t let myself be charmed by the one who humiliated me. But I also don’t want Mia to be without her father, especially when I see how good he is to her, and that’s without him knowing who she is.

“Mom?” I hear Mia’s voice before the knock comes, impatient. “Mom, we have to go! Come on!”

“I’m coming.” I hope she doesn’t hear the weariness in my voice. I quickly pull on some clothes and head out to the living room where the others are waiting for me. Mia is showing Marcus her sketchbook, and Bella is asking eager questions. And Marcus—His expression makes me still. He’s listening so attentively as if she’s not telling him who the people in her sketch are but sharing state secrets with him.

He looks up as I enter, and my traitorous heart skips a beat when I see Mia wind her arm around his neck in a familiar manner, the two of them wearing identical grins. My breath catches. If someone else was watching, they would see the similarities between the two right now. It’s their smile, that mischievous sparkle in the eye, the crooked tilt to the lips.

Fear fills me, so heavy and dark that my knees nearly buckle.

He can take her from me.

He can take my baby from me.

“Mama?” Mia’s smile wavers, and she hurries towards me. “Are you okay?”

The closer she gets, the easier it is to breathe. Marcus doesn’t move, studying me, that same look in his eyes from his office that puts me on edge.

“Fine,” I whisper hoarsely. “Just a little lightheaded.”

Marcus approaches us, and his hand wraps around my arm, steadying me. “Some fresh air will do you good.”

I don’t argue.

His car is downstairs, and we pile inside. The ride isn’t quiet. The girls can’t contain their excitement, and I’m lost in my thoughts.

The place is enormous, way past what I pictured, swings and games on one end, food stalls smoking down the middle, a merry-go-round throwing colored light, carnival rides spinning above the whole churning crowd.

Ahead of us, the girls have gone feral, Bella pointing at everything that lights up, Mia reading the ride names off the banners under her breath and memorizing the names of the ones she wants to go on. Bella wants the spinning swings. Mia wants the one that drops you from a height I refuse to look at directly. They settle nothing because a wristband’s coming that solves every argument at once.

Mia’s hand slips out of mine, towed loose by Bella toward the first bank of lights. Marc keeps pace at my shoulder, one hand in his pocket, one arm looped around mine. “Don’t,” I mutter, trying to pull free. He gives me an innocent look.

“I just don’t want to get lost.”

“Wishes can come true.” I try to tug my arm away again, and he just pulls me closer, his voice whisper-soft against my ear. “Just enjoy, Jessa. Not everything has to be a battle.”

My breath hisses out at his words, but before I can retort, Marcus murmurs, “Look at them.”

My eyes follow his gaze, and I watch Bella and Mia, hand in hand, laughing as they walk. Then they turn their heads to look at us, and Mia calls out, “Hurry up, slowpokes!”

Bella giggles, and the girls run to the closest ride.