lphas Second Choice novel Chapter 45

Four years later, the next time I saw Jaxon was at the entrance of my daughter’s kindergarten.

I had just picked up Hope, and as we were about to leave, another mom leaned closer to me.

“Paige, look across the street! Doesn’t that guy look like that singer? What’s his name again…”

I followed the direction of her finger and froze.

It was HIM.

“Jaxon!” she exclaimed, smacking her forehead. “Right, Alpha Jaxon!”

I looked away calmly. “Never heard of him.”

She blinked in surprise.

“Seriously? You don’t listen to music? He’s the Jaxon! The biggest singer–songwriter these past few years, and he won a ton of awards! And he’s the heir of the Bloodmoon Pack, too.”

Then she squinted at me, studying my face.

“Though now that I look closer, he kind of looks like you. Same dark hair, same gray–green eyes…”

I smiled faintly and shook my head, taking Hope’s hand. “Come on, sweetie.”

“Paige.” A voice cut through the air behind me.

Lignored it and kept walking.

“Paige Rivera!”

Hope looked up at me, curious.

“Mom, is that man calling you? Why did he say your name like that?”

I smiled again, shaking my head. “He must’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

But when I reached the parking lot and pulled the car door open, a hand suddenly grabbed my arm.

I whirled around. He was there, breathless.

“Paige… you’re alive?”

His words, sharp and cutting as ever, still carried that same disbelief.

Maybe he’d run too fast, because his eyes were rimmed faintly red.

I dropped Hope off next door with our neighbor.

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When I came back down, Jaxon was waiting by the driveway, hands shoved in his pockets.

“You live here? In this dump? Where’s your real place? I’ll give you a ride.”

I shook my head. “That won’t be necessary.”

Four years ago, he was the one who said his only sister was Skyla.

He was the one who told me that calling each other siblings made him sick.

When I was exiled from the Bloodmoon Pack by Cassian, and rejected by Lucien, I had nowhere to

1. go.

A blizzard raged, and I stood outside Jaxon’s house all night, until the cold leeched the feeling from my body.

But in the morning, he looked me in the eye and said his greatest wish was that I had never been

born.

“If you hadn’t been born, Skyla wouldn’t have been switched at birth. She wouldn’t have suffered

for you.

“Sister? What a pathetic joke. The pack disowned you. You’re nothing to us now. You really think I’d ever acknowledge someone like you as family?”

That was when I finally understood, no matter how much I’d cared for him, he would always hate

me because of Skyla.

Now, standing in front of me, he still wore that same look of judgment.

“That kid of yours,” he asked coldly, “she’s Lucien’s, isn’t she? Is that why you ran away,

birth to his child?”

I was silent for a moment. “She’s mine. Just mine.”

He sneered.

to give

“Come on, Paige. The kid looks exactly like him. You think I’m blind? You really believe having his child in secret would make him love you again? That’s pathetic–naïve-”

“I told you,” I cut him off, my voice firm. “She’s my child, no one else’s.

“I never planned to return to the pack, and I never planned to use my daughter to compete with. your sister for Lucien’s affection. You can relax. You don’t need to act like I’m a threat.

“Just like you said years ago, we’re nothing but strangers who happen to share some blood. I have no interest in your life anymore, and I’d appreciate it if you stayed out of mine.”

He froze, speechless.

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“If that’s all,” I said softly, turning away, “you should leave.”

“Wait.”

His hand shot out again, gripping my wrist. His lips parted, then closed.

“You… you…”

I frowned. “What?”

“Why did you leave back then?” His voice cracked slightly.

I looked at him quietly.

“You were the Alpha’s pampered daughter. You had everything. And you ran away over a few cruel words? What, you thought pulling a ‘runaway with a baby‘ stunt would solve anything?

“If I hadn’t found you, were you really planning to live like this forever? And these past four

years…”

He hesitated.

“How the hell did you even survive?”

Chapter 2