Chapter 30 I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO
Manhattan didn’t wait for anyone.
The 6 train was late, the air smelled like hot pavement and trash, and the diner on 42nd still charged five dollars for coffee that tasted like it had been sitting since yesterday.
Mia stood in line like she’d never left.
Like Rome, the bond, the curse, the Alpha, hadn’t happened.
It had.
Her hands knew it. They still reached for a presence that wasn’t there. The bond was frayed to a thread now. Faint. Like a song playing in another room. She could ignore it if she tried hard enough.
Most of the time.
“Mia!”
Her boss, Rosa, was at the register, arms crossed, face already set in that expression she got when someone had been late without an explanation.
“You’re back,” Rosa said. “Finally.”
Mia forced a smile. “Hey Rosa.”
Rosa didn’t smile back.
“Three weeks. No call. No email. Nothing,” Rosa said. “Do you have any idea how close I was to filing this as job abandonment?”
Mia set her bag down. “Family emergency. I’m sorry. I know it wasn’t professional.”
“Family emergency,” Rosa repeated. “That’s what you said in the one text you sent. Mia, you’ve worked here for three years. You don’t just disappear for three weeks over a family emergency and come back acting like nothing happened.”
Mia nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Rosa studied her for a long moment.
“You look different,” Rosa said.
Mia laughed, but it sounded off even to her. “Lack of sleep will do that.”
“Try again,” Rosa said.
Mia sighed. “I needed to get away. Things got complicated. I’m back now. I’m not going anywhere.”
Rosa wasn’t satisfied, but she let it drop. For now.
“Back on the floor in ten,” Rosa said. “We’re short staffed and I’m not covering your tables again.”
Mia nodded and headed to the back room.
She changed into her uniform on autopilot. The motions were familiar. Comforting. Human.
No bond humming in her head.
No pack politics.
No Ivan.
No Alex.
Just tables and tips and the smell of old coffee.
She made it through the morning shift without incident.
Then the men came.
Two of them. Suits too clean for a place like this. Eyes too sharp. They walked in at 1:47 PM, right after the lunch rush cleared out.
Rosa intercepted them at the door.
“Can I help you?” Rosa asked.
“We’re looking for Mia Calloway,” the taller one said.
Mia froze behind the counter.
Rosa glanced over at her. “She’s here. But I don’t know what this is about.”
“It’s personal,” the man said.
Mia set her tray down and walked out before Rosa could say anything else.
“What do you want?” Mia asked. Voice even.
The man smiled. Not friendly.
“Ms. Caruso,” he said. “We just need to ask you a few questions. It won’t take long.”
“I don’t know you,” Mia said.
“You will,” the other man said.
Mia stepped back. “If you don’t leave now, I’m calling the police.”
The men exchanged a look.
“He will be disappointed,” the taller one said.
Then they left.
Just like that.
Mia stood there until the door swung shut behind them.
Rosa was behind her now.
“Who the hell was that?” Rosa asked.
“Nobody,” Mia said too quickly.
Rosa crossed her arms. “Nobody doesn’t send two guys in suits to ask for you by name. Mia, are you in trouble?”
Mia shook her head. “No. I swear. I don’t know them.”
Rosa didn’t look convinced.
“Because if you’re in some kind of fight with bad people, I need to know,” Rosa said. “I can’t have my staff and customers getting caught up in it.”
“I’m not,” Mia said. “I promise. It’s a misunderstanding. They have the wrong person.”
Rosa studied her for a long time.
“Fine,” Rosa said. “But if they come back, you’re calling the cops. And me. Got it?”
Mia nodded. “Got it.”
Rosa walked away, muttering about crazy people.
Mia’s hands were shaking.
Ivan.
It had to be Ivan.
He’d found her.
Mia left work early. She said she had a migraine.
Rosa didn’t argue.
Mia took the long way home. Through the alleys off 9th Ave, through the crowded streets of Midtown, checking over her shoulder every thirty seconds.
Her apartment was empty when she got there.
She locked the door. Double checked the lock.
Sat on the edge of the bed.
The bond was louder now. Anxious.
Alex felt it too.
She picked up her phone before she could stop herself.
No new messages.
She hadn’t heard from him since that one call.
Good.
That was what she wanted.
Right?
Mia set the phone down and pressed her forehead to her knees.
She was safe here.
She was human here.
She didn’t have to be Luna.
She didn’t have to be Alex’s mate.
She didn’t have to deal with Ivan or the Council or the guilt in Alex’s eyes.
So why did it feel like she was suffocating?
Three days later
They came back.
This time they didn’t bother with the front door.
Mia was closing up the diner when two more men stepped out of the alley beside the building on 42nd.
“Mia Caruso” one of them said.
Mia backed up against the door.
“I told you, I don’t know you,” Mia said.
“You know Ivan,” the man said.
Mia’s blood went cold.
“What do you want?” Mia asked.
“Ivan wants you to come back,” the man said. “The Alpha title is his now. He wants his Luna at his side.”
“I’m not his Luna,” Mia said. “I’m not anyone’s Luna.”
The man stepped forward.
“You were chosen,” the man said. “You can’t just walk away from that.”
Mia’s wolf stirred. Just for a second. Angry. Defensive.
“Watch me,” Mia said.
She slammed the door and locked it.
The men didn’t follow.
But they didn’t leave either.
They stood outside. Waiting.
Mia called Rosa.
“Rosa, don’t open tomorrow,” Mia said. “Tell everyone to stay home. Tell them there’s a gas leak or something.”
“Mia, what’s going on?” Rosa asked.
“Just do it,” Mia said. “Please.”
Rosa hesitated, then said, “Fine. But you’re telling me everything tomorrow.”
Mia hung up.
She didn’t sleep that night.
She sat by the window with the lights off, watching the two men sit in a black SUV across the street.
They were waiting for her to break.
She wouldn’t.
If Ivan wanted her, he’d have to come get her himself.
Mia left the apartment through the fire escape.
She didn’t go to work.
She went to the one place she knew she’d find him.
Alex was sitting at a table in the back corner, a laptop open in front of him. He hadn’t shaved in days. His eyes were red.
He looked up when she sat down across from him.
“You came back,” Alex said.
Mia sat down.
“They found me,” Mia said.
Alex nodded. “I know. Ivan sent them.”
Mia stared at him.
“You knew?” Mia asked.
“I’ve been watching,” Alex said. “Not closely. Not through the bond. But I knew he wouldn’t let you go that easily.”
Mia looked around. The library was quiet. Safe.
“Why didn’t you stop them?” Mia asked.
“Because I can’t,” Alex said. “I’m not Alpha anymore. I have no power here. No authority.”
Mia leaned forward.
“Then why are you here?” Mia asked.
“Because I told you,” Alex said. “If you ever wanted to come back, I’d be here.”
Mia shook her head.
“I don’t want to come back,” Mia said.
Alex nodded. “Okay.”
Mia waited for him to argue. He didn’t.
“Then why are you still following me?” Mia asked.
“Because I can’t stop,” Alex said. “Even without the bond. Even without the title. You’re it for me, Mia. I made a mess of it. I know that. But I’m not going to pretend I don’t feel it anymore.”
Mia looked away.
“They said you wanted me to come back as your Luna,” Mia said.
Alex frowned. “I didn’t send them.”
“I know,” Mia said. “Ivan did. But it doesn’t change the fact that you still want it.”
Alex was quiet for a long time.
“I want you,” Alex said. “However you’ll have me. Luna. Mate. Mia from Manhattan who hates my guts. I don’t care.”
Mia laughed. It was bitter.
“You don’t get to decide that for me,” Mia said.
“I know,” Alex said.
Mia stood up.
“I’m not going back,” Mia said.
Alex stood up too.
“Okay,” Alex said.
Mia walked to the door.
“Alex,” Mia said without turning around.
“Yeah?” Alex said.
“Thank you for not following me,” Mia said.
Then she left.
That night
Mia’s apartment was quiet.
The men were gone.
For now.
Mia sat on the floor, her back against the bed, the locket in her hands.
Her father’s picture stared up at her.
“I don’t know what to do,” Mia said out loud.
The bond was quiet.
But not gone.
Mia closed her eyes.
Tomorrow, she’d figure it out.
Tomorrow, she’d decide if being human was enough.