Page 6 of Fated Secret Baby

Ugh. I don’t even want to go to dinner at her house tonight. I’ve been going every week since I moved out, a bargain that I struck so that she’d stop crying about me moving out.

It’s not like I get any time alone. Between work and my mother, I am constantly busy.

“And maybe we can talk about some of the nice young ladies in town,” she adds before I’m able to reply.

Double fuck. She knows that I won’t say no, because I don’t want her to cry. “I’ll see you tonight,” I say instead.

“Okay. Love you, Orion.”

“Love you, too.”

I quickly shut the phone off and grip the steering wheel. I have to be careful. Last month, I had to replace the stupid thing, because on a phone call just like this one, I got frustrated and snapped it apart.

She wants to talk about mates. Again.

Fuck me.

I know I’m not getting any younger. That thirtieth birthday looms closer than ever, but honestly? I don’t care.

The one woman who I wanted to be my mate left. She lives in Florida. Haven’t heard from her since the day she disappeared.

I have zero interest in anyone else.

The pain of Calista leaving doesn’t even feel like an old wound. It’s as fresh and terrible now as it was when she left years ago. Probably because we never talked about it. I just woke up, and poof, she was gone.

Hell, I didn’t even wake up. Calista was supposed to come back from shopping with Amara and Ember, but my mom showed up instead. She harangued me about Calista, she tried to dismiss how I felt about her, and she started telling me about someone else in the pack she wanted me to mate instead. In no uncertain terms, I told her no.

Then Calista was gone.

To this day, I’m not sure why. All I know is that she never showed up that night and never contacted me again.

It’s not like I could tell my mom about how hurt I was, either. The look of triumph on her face after she figured it out was awful.

Her diatribe was even worse.

I told you. She’s not a nice girl. She’s from Florida. People from Florida can’t be trusted.

How my mother arrived at that conclusion? No fucking clue.

Sadly, she might have been right.

It’s been nearly five years, and I still can’t get over Calista. I’ve been to a therapist to talk about it, and they taught me a lot of great strategies for dealing with the pain. Acceptance, mostly. Learning to accept what’s in the past is the past.

I’ve accepted Calista’s gone.

Would I do anything just to have more time with her? Hell yes. Absolutely. Whatever it is I did, or she did, I want to just let it go. I want her back, still.

However, there’s no point in wishing for that. If she ever came back, I’d want to see her again. I’d spend whatever time I could with her.

But she’s not here.

All I have is my job, the pack, and dinner with my mother.

Sighing, I turn on the truck and pull onto the road. I live downtown, where there are still some humans who live in Oakwood, despite the increasing presence of shifters. My mother’s cabin is back in the woods a little, where she has zero neighbors to bother her, or so she thinks.

I chose that spot for her so that she wouldn’t bother anyone else.

My mother is… difficult. She always has been. Ever since my father left, she’s been a little more than just overbearing. She’s always in my business, always trying to make decisions or do things that she thinks I need, even if I don’t. It’s like she can’t let go of the pup that I was and accept the man that I am.

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