chapter 4

ALPHA RYAN

It had been a week and I still hadn't found my mate. I wasn't looking as the witch instructed me to do but there was still no sign of my mate. I decided to wait it out a little while before I continued the search of my mate, till then I would put all my energy and time into improving the restaurant and franchising it and of course the pack.

"Willie," I called him into my office. We had just opened a couple of hours ago and I was in my office filling out some paperwork and paying the bills.

"Yes." He came and sat in a chair in front of me. "What can I do for you?"

"Have you heard from that owner across town yet?"

"No, not yet. I left her a message and I'm waiting for her to get back to me."

I smirked. "The human girls has you scared." It was a question but it came out as a statement.

"I'm not even sure that she is human, not with an attitude like that."

I shook my head. "Send me the address I going to go have a little chat with her."

"Okay Alpha, but she's going to be hard to convince." He warned. "Maybe we should look into other locations." He suggested.

"You look into that I'm still gonna go check this place out." I grabbed my keys. I was sat on this place because it was the perfect location but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't curious on the human that had Willie shaking in his boots. What surprised me the most is that Willie was mated to a she-wolf and there was no way a human could scare you more than a she-wolf could.

Before going to Mel's Diner I had to go to Lily school to have a meeting with her teacher. Earlier today I had gotten a call from one of Lily's teacher saying I needed to come down for a meeting and since my parent were still out of town I had to go. I couldn't understand why I needed to attend this meeting especially since school was out, and summer break had just started, but I had no other choice.

"Good afternoon Mr. Steward. I glad you were able to make it." Ms. Margo who was one of the few human teachers at this school said.

"Mind telling me why I'm here." From the look on her face, you could tell that she was shocked by how I said it. But I didn't care I was really busy and didn't have time for small talk.

She nodded, "Recently Lily have been having quite a few issues both academically and with her behavior. She failed every test this year, and I've given her the opportunity to be tutor but she's decline. On top of everything she's even late or decides to skip my class."

"How come I just now hearing about this?"

"It been very hard getting into contact with you. I leave messages, voice messages, and emails and I've never gotten a callback. It wasn't until recently that I learn that you own The Red Café and I was able to get in touch with you that way."

Being a wolf I never really carried around a phone, if I need to speak with someone they were most likely in the pack and we could just mind link each other. "Okay I understand, but what can we do about this, considering it summer break."

"Unfortunately, Lily will have to go to summer school. It's only for one month in the summer."

"Fine." I agreed.

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I met Lily in the parking lot after the meeting with her teacher. "I know I haven't been doing the best in Pre-cal, but let's face it that shit is hard." She said as I pulled off.

"Lily," I warned.

I wasn't in the mood for her excuses, she knew I expected for her to be good in school and be a great example for the younger wolves and the fact that I had to take time off my day to come down here really pissed me off.

"Fine I will try to do better next year." She promised.

"You will do better." I corrected her. "Staring with mandatory summer school."

"Ryan." She whined.

"I'm not playing. Now get out I have work to do." I dropped her off in front of our house. She rolled her eyes and slammed the door behind her. I pulled off and headed to the opposite side of town.

I pulled up at Mel's Diner. It was quite outdated and rusty. If the owner decides to sell we would have to do lots of renovation. From what I heard I know Mel's Diner have been around for almost two decades, I've never been to it personally, with it being literally across town but it has good reviews.

"Welcome to Mel's Diner pick up or will you be dining in." A short brown haired girl that was about Lily's age asked me.

"Dinning." She gestured for me to follow her, she lead me to a booth and place a menu in front of me. "Can I start you off with a drink?"

"I'll just take a water."

"Would you like a lemon?" She said it as if lemons was the most exciting thing in the world.

"No thank you." She smiled before going to get my water. When she came back she places my water in front of me.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked.

"No thank you I'm actually here just to talk to the owner."

"Oh, she actually not here right now, she's usually gone around this time. But I can tell her you stopped by."

"When will she be back?" I asked.

"Tomorrow morning, about 7 a.m."

"Thank you." I paid for the water and gave a tip and headed to the bar. With the stress of the restaurant, Lily failing and my mate I was in need of a drink, immediately.

Luna Alex

This morning when I woke up I had to go downtown to sign some papers and pay my admission fee to Blue Ash Community College. There I would be pursuing a degree in business.

Once I was finished I headed back home to change into something more casual. As I was finishing Liz showed up at the door with her twin sons Tom and Jerry -yes they were named after the cartoon- and her daughter Olivia. Honestly, I was surprised to see her, we hadn't talked at all since our argument. I was hoping that some of what I said stuck but from the looks of it, it went in one ear and out the other.

"What do you want?" I asked annoyed.

"You say it like I'm always asking you for things." She opened the door wider walking in with her kids. "Today's Olivia birthday and we were wondering if you would like to come to the zoo with us."

At that moment, I realize that Olivia had a tiara on her head. "Happy birthday," I said with forced enthusiasm. I turned back to Liz, "But no thank you. I have to work." I went to grabbed my keys and phone from my bedroom

She followed me. "Oh come on, you're her cousin and you never spend time with them. Plus I think it's will be a good idea for you to do something other than work, and she only turn 5 once."

She was right, I never even spent more than an hour with them, that time never being alone. But I couldn't help but think this was another one her little tricks she had to try and get me to babysit it hadn't been the first time that she pulled something like this.

"Are you trying to trick me?" I asked suspiciously.

"No, I swear I'm not gonna ditch you." She promised. "And everything you said was true, and I promised that I will start getting my life together." She hugged me. "Thanks for being honest, that was something you dad could never do."

She pulled away. "Fine." I agreed. "I'll go change."