Page 10 of A Secret Baby By the Alpha

“That’s right. Team Lionel,” Christa told her daughter with a smile.

She still has her maiden name,Orin pointed out.

And Jenny’s never met her father,I added.Why would that be the case? It seemed unlikely that Christa would have fallen in love with a human when she mentioned that Jenny couldn’t shift. There has to be more going on there.

The timeline is suspicious, Orin agreed.

“Well, when you’re here, you don’t have to do any chores,” I told Jenny. “You and your mom are guests here.”

Jenny smiled and relinquished the dish rag.

“Say, Jenny,” I said. “How old are you?”

“I turned nine last month,” she announced proudly.

“Well, that’s perfect, because my neighbor has a daughter who is about your age, and she brought some clothes over for you to borrow,” I told her. “They’re in a bag in the living room.”

Jenny scurried out of the room to look at her clothes while Christa gave me a hard look.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she responded. “I’m going to show Jenny where the bathroom is and grab her a towel so she can get cleaned up.”

I nodded, and Christa left the room. A few minutes later, she returned, and I heard the sound of the shower running from down the hall.

“Find everything you needed?” I asked.

“Yes,” Christa said.

“Great. Now, I have a few questions for you,” I said flatly. I had been waiting for an opportunity to talk to her one-on-one, and now that Jenny was out of the room, I didn’t think I would be able to contain them any longer. Especially since I now knew that Jenny had never met her father before.

“Questions about what?” she asked tersely.

I wasn’t used to this version of Christa. The girl I had known was all light and laughter. Now, when Christa spoke to me, it was all harshness and sharp edges.

“About your life, and about Jenny,” I said. “I didn’t want to overstep in front of her, but I think it’s time you gave me an explanation.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” she replied haughtily. “Least of all, information about my daughter. My life since you ran off without a word is none of your business. If anything, you are the one who owes me an explanation.”

She was getting heated, and I knew I had struck a nerve. Her gray eyes flashed with a hint of blue as she glared at me. I may not be used to her anymore, but I couldn’t deny that I still found her wildly attractive. The way her hair fell across her shoulders and trailed past her collarbones drew my attention downward, toward her slim waist that was punctuated by a firm backside and curvy breasts. The perfect hourglass shape.

Focus, I reminded myself.

“Don’t try to shift the focus away from my questions. Tell me honestly: is Jenny my daughter?” I asked.

My heart was beating out of my chest as I waited with bated breath for her answer. I couldn’t get over the feeling that the girl was mine. The timeline of her birth was just too suspicious for me to believe that Christa had gotten pregnant immediately after me leaving Sparkle Hollow.

“Of course she isn’t,” Christa scoffed. “I already told you, she’s half-human.”

“That’s what you told me, but I don’t believe you,” I said.

“Don’t you think she would be a shifter if she was your daughter?” Christa pointed out.

Although it wasn’t completely unheard of for shifter parents to create a non-shifter child, the chances of that happening were admittedly low.

“Were you cheating on me?” I asked, doing my best to sound nonchalant. In truth, although that scenario made the most sense for the timeline, knowing that she had been unfaithful would crush me. There was nothing in the world I prized more than loyalty, and I thought she’d felt the same.

“Colson Marsden, howdareyou,” she seethed, stepping toward me. “How dare you ask me such an insane question. I was loyal to you. Every moment of what we had together was the truth. Can you really say the same?”

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