Chapter 3

**LUCIEN**

A whole damn month and I am slowly starting to enjoy this little town. I still drink. But not nearly as much as I used to. But still enough to smell it on me. 

The job I was given was in a butcher shop. Like here I am this huge, alpha blooded werewolf, chopping up meat for a living. Ridiculous. But it's nice when I can take some home. I have found my favorite thing to do is sit out on my deck where it overhangs with no roof, watch the stars, and listen to the wind dancing through the trees at night, downing a couple of beers. Sometimes I feel like I hear laughter or an angelic and melodious voice but then other times I feel like I'm going crazy. 

There is a hint of vanilla and caramel in the air. The sweet aroma always makes my whole body tingle and go crazy, like in overdrive. But I just ignore it. I feel like this is all side effects of me becoming sober again. I don’t even know why I am doing that to be honest. I don’t want to be the Chosen One’s Beta. I just want to be me. Lucien. That is all. Just live my life. Find me a she-wolf who doesn’t care about money or rank, or even a human woman and just settle down. Raise a few babies together. Sh.it I may even stay in this town if that happens. Why would I need to go back home for that? I could just visit my mom. I don’t want my father poisoning my children’s minds against me. 

‘Thinking of pups. Is that something you think you want?’ Ragnar asks me. He wants pups, a mate, our mate. He wants everything I want. But like I said he is wise. 

‘I do. Obviously, I am in no condition now, but eventually I definitely want to be a dad, and a husband. When the time is right.. We will just have to find the right girl to be with. Someone who will want just us. Not my brother the Alpha, or someone else who can offer them more. '

‘Well, if you don’t get your ass out of this bed this morning and go to work there will be no way you can provide for a family.’ Ragnar says with a chuckle while I groan. I stare at the two bottles sitting on my nightstand. Both are completely full. Not one drop is missing. But they are a reminder of why I am here. I haven't touched liqour since I got here, just beer. It's definitely harder to quit cold turkey.

I jump in the shower to get ready for my day. Working at the butcher shop wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I have become an expert butcher. I can tell you which meat is which without labeling. Whether they are supplemented, grass-fed, or fed steroids and hormones for bigger production. I have turned so many sources of bad meat away that the werewolves running the place had no idea they were bad. 

I ended up taking over the management position and the customers we have been getting are starting to double. I am on the front line with my crew everyday, working the counter, giving orders. It feels good to be in charge. And everyone that works for me respects me, just as I do them.

I make it to the shop and I get out of my truck to see the parking lot full of customers already. When I reach the door to unlock it and let everyone in, I notice something. 

It’s mostly women here. Why? 

‘I think they came all this way to see the hot Alpha Male boss in the butcher shop.’ Ragnar snorted in laughter.

‘Nahhh, that’s probably not it. They just need meat to feed their families.’ I say trying to shrug it off. But now that he has said something I start to look around and I notice all eyes lingering on me. 

‘They need meat alright.’ Ragnar is rolling around in my head having a whole ass laughing fit at my expense. 

‘Keep laughing Ragnar and I won’t let you out to run for a month.’ I said with a chuckle of my own, and he quieted down. 

‘At least you have a whole sea of women to choose your future wife from. We probably don’t have a second chance mate, since our first one is a psychotic, power hungry bi.tch. So might as well choose.’ Ragnar said, wagging his tail. 

‘You are just horny.’ He’s out of line, but he’s right. There are plenty of beautiful women here to choose from, I could easily choose one and boom be married in a week. No questions asked. But that’s not what I want. I want one woman to know me fully. Inside and out, and accept me. Fight for me. Support me in ways I never thought I would need. Not just some easy lay. 

I begin taking orders. Another couple of my employees start to walk in the door. It’s going to be a good day. Everyone is one time. Everyone is working together. Unlike normal when there are stupid arguments and mishaps. Things are going great. 

Just as I am looking around the butcher shop I see a woman with two small children walking down the street. I don’t see the woman’s face but her hair is the most beautiful chestnut brown hair I’ve ever seen just falling in waves past her shoulders. The children with her are the cutest too. One is a small boy who has light golden brown hair and the girl has dark brown hair like her mother.

“C’mon, just turn my way. Let me see your face.” I whisper to myself, low enough no one can hear me. She doesn’t turn to where I can see her face, but she looks skittish. Scared. Her whole body language is oozing fear and she’s looking over her left shoulder and is hurrying her babies along. 

‘Who is that woman? And why is just the outline of her causing me to stare at her.’ I asked Ragnar. 

‘Maybe you are so desperate to find a mate that just about any pretty woman will do.’ Ragnar laughs in my head. 

‘Whatever mutt. I’m not that desperate. And wasn’t it you that said these women were lining up for me. I could just go through them quickly and see if I can choose.’ I say, having the last laugh.

He just growls.

Strangely, I feel like I won’t be able to forget that hair. 

I feel the vibrate of my phone. I slide my gloves off and into the trash and look to see who its from and there are four. 

One from the nurse at the hospital. Saying my mothers vitals are good, and it seems like she is finally starting to recover internally. I text her a quick thank you. 

Thank the Goddess for that. I think as I head to the back to not be unprofessional in the front of the store.

 Second one is from Ezekial. Saying that things are good in the pack, and that he has been training for days and that the she-bi.tch herself keeps asking about me. And he is asking how I am doing. I tell him not to tell her a damn thing. And that I am actually enjoying it here, I invite him to come hangout with me this weekend. 

I check the next two messages and when I see who they are from. My blood boils slightly, I am still a bit bitter that he kicked me out of the pack.. I decide to open my brother's message and I believe that was a big mistake. 

‘She’s pregnant. And she told me everything, Lucc. Please come home this weekend so we can talk.’ That's what his message said. 

‘WHY WOULD SHE FU.CKING DO THAT!!!! HE ISN’T GOING TO KEEP HER AS LUNA JUST BECAUSE SHE IS PREGNANT. WHY WOULD SHE BRING ME INTO IT? TO HURT HIM? DRIVE AN EVEN BIGGER WEDGE BETWEEN US? THIS BI.TCH. GGGRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!’ I lost my sh.it in my head to Ragnar. He is one of my only real friends. 

‘Lucien, you have to calm down. Text Leon back and tell him you’ll see him this weekend, and don’t say another word. You have made a good reputation here for yourself. Don’t let her ruin it. We have allowed her to ruin enough for us, okay?’ He said calmly. I reeled in my aura and took a deep breath. I need to finish my shift today and tell the owners I have to go out of town this weekend for some pack business.

Not the sh.it a recovering, rejected Alpha needed to hear during his banishment. But when have I ever won in my life?

**UNKNOWN FEMALE**

I finally am free. I am rid of him for good, hopefully.. He doesn’t know where I went. He doesn’t know how I got away. All he needs to know is me and the kids are gone and there is no way in hell I will let him find us and drag us back to that prison. 

My kids smile now, and laugh uncontrollably. They talk more about things they like. I feel like they have opened up in just the few weeks we have been in this small town. They are no longer in fear of what would happen to them if they stepped out of line.

Lincoln calls it the city of magic. He says there are powers in the trees like in his movies. Which I let him believe. He needs something a kid likes to believe in. He needs to be a kid, and so does his other mom, his older sister Angelina. She is always trying to take care of everything and I hate that she feels that way. 

This is my job. Her only job is to be a kid and learn her own life lessons. Her job is to enjoy every single day, and let me handle everything. She shouldn't have to worry about what comes next or what do we need to do next. 

But thankfully she smiles and laughs more too. She enjoys the sunshine and the parks. She loves to read just like me. Mostly crime documentary stories. But she still loves reading them. She likes ot investigate, and listen to the podcasts. Even when I try to turn them off for being too gruesome, she is in love with them. And at 8... 

We just finished some grocery shopping and now I am taking the kids to the park. 

I feel this wave of nausea run over me. Like someone is watching me with sinister eyes. Eyes that shouldn’t be on me. Like someone is following me. And that worries me. I have done everything I know to do. I changed our last names. I threw away every legal paper tying us to our old names. I tossed our phones. I basically put us in our very own witness protection program.

I see out of the corner of my eyes a man in a butcher shop looking at me studying my hair. Looking between myself and my kids. Thankfully I can’t see his face or I may have nightmares for a week thinking he is the one sent to take me back. I can feel his eyes on me but they aren’t bothering me. They are actually calming me. Sort of soothing my anxiety. Which is pretty weird. Maybe I need a nap, or to at least get away from all of these people in the time square.. 

“One hour at the park and then we are going to go home. Okay?” I tell my babies. They look up at me with the biggest smiles and nods. 

“Momma, you take good care of us. You deserve a nap. I’ll make sure Lincoln has no energy left by the time we get home so we can all nap together, okay?” I just smile, I can feel my tears welling up in my eyes at her thoughtfulness and nod. A stray tear rolling down my cheek. I don’t deserve these sweet babies. 

I hear a ding from my untraceable phone. And I have some security cameras that can’t be hacked set up at my home. Everytime there is a movement, it dings for me to check on it. And thankfully it is just animals. The house is a small little 1 bedroom studio type of place. But having my babies near me when I sleep helps. One day I will be able to give them something bigger and better.

I send my divorce and custody papers off tomorrow. With no way for him to trace me back to this town. Just for him to sign and deliver them to my attorney and to leave us alone for good. And I hope he just accepts this defeat, and let's us be. But if I know him, he won't. And I'm worried.

I’ll die next time before he hurts them. That is a vow I will never break. 

“Mommy, come push us.” Lincoln screams at the top of his lungs. The biggest smile on both of their faces just sends a jolt of pure happiness through my veins.

This is how our lives were supposed to go. Day trips to the park in the sunshine, chuckling at silliness and having the times of our lives. 

Never again will they go back to how they lived before. And neither will I.

NEVER. AGAIN.