Chapter 6

“What have you got on her so far?” I asked once again, recalling that my question wasn’t answered the first time due to a distraction.

“Well, nothing much.” Marcus muttered, scrolling through his tablet. “She’s the average person. A rankles she-wolf, even.”

“Any past criminal record?”

“No sir,” he stopped scrolling and raised his head but didn’t look at me in the eye. “She is clean, lives in the centre of London, 3425 Stone Street, Apt 2A, third floor, flat 5. A building we acquired and are currently buying the lease from the tenants and paying them off. We are giving them six months maximum to move out before we begin demolition and reconstruction.”

“Oh…” I let out, surprised and speechless. “Anything else?”

“She’s a member of Black Crow pack and a mother of a daughter. She is freelance writer who is obviously struggling to make ends meet and take care of her child.” he went on as if he was a news reporter on TV.

“She’s married?” I asked feeling unexplainably disappointed. Heck I didn’t even know her.

“No, she isn’t. She is a single mother.”

“Oh,” escaped my lips once again and the car fell silent.

I looked out through the tinted glass window to my right, wondering why I was expecting her this much.

It felt uncanny.

But then what do I care?

“Turn left," the feminine voice from Google map instructed and Marcus looked up all of a sudden like he had remembered something again.

“Alpha Connor?” he called.

“What, Marcus?” I answered, feeling slightly irritated. I was actually enjoying the silence.

“The Luna, your mother is worried about you. She says you should come to the pack house so the royal Physician can check up on you properly.” he informed me, deep lines appearing in his forehead.

“What are my schedules for today?” I asked, ignoring his message from my mother. Perhaps the woman from Google Map should shut up too, so that Marcus would stop remembering my mother and what she said.

“I didn’t arrange any schedules for the next one week, Alpha. I postponed all the meetings you were meant to attend. I thought you wouldn’t come out this soon. I’m sorry, your grace.”

I let it go and once again the car was silent while I contemplated on the information shoved at me few minutes ago. The woman I was accusing of having an ulterior motive for saving me probably didn’t even know who I was.

She was simply being human. An exceptionally humane human. She reminded me of someone… someone I owed so much apology.

I had always been the unapologetic Alpha and wealthiest young man in the whole of England. But I owed one person oceans of apology.

“We’re here, Alpha” announced the driver in an over enthusiastic voice, disrupting my reverie. “Dior’s Diner.”

It irked me.

Although it shouldn't.

The driver rushed down after his zealous announcement to open up my door. I stepped out from the car and turned to observe the place the woman I should be calling my savior at this point, preferred to meet me.

Firstly, the street was so busy and filled with people. A sort of place someone like me shouldn’t be found. Paparazzi’s who were always on my trail were for sure going to have a field day today.

The core reason I was baffled and at the same time grateful that the issue of my accident hadn’t flooded the headlines last week. It could have stayed as a hot topic on the dailies for months.

That was how concerned the world was with my business. They had no idea what position their prying into my life put me in, hell, they don’t even give a fuck.

Marcus hurried up to my side, leading me into a tiny entrance which led to another door. It led us to a room with unnecessarily bright lights.

The room had a tall counter with a young red-haired woman standing behind it. She of course couldn’t hide the shock in her face as soon as she saw me. Her jaws parted and she gaped at me like she just saw God, or BTS.

Here I was hoping I would at least not be recognized in this part of London. If wishes were horses.

Marcus moved briskly before of me, standing closer to the counter to somehow block the shocked girl’s view of me.

“Excuse me,” he said politely, “Do you have a VIP section?" He snapped his fingers midair at the lady as if trying to jolt her awake from a distant dream. "For privacy?”

The girl seemed to have lost her voice for few seconds. Then she cleared her throat. “Oh, uhmm… sorry. We don’t.”

I wasn’t expecting a VIP section in a place as tiny as this either way, so no surprises there.

“Can we rent the place for three hours?"

The girl said without thinking, "Sure." Then she added. "I'll just put up the closed sign in the door and you can stay as long as you want. Hold up a sec,” she said. “Please take a sit.”

The seats and tables were just as tiny as the place but were arranged in a neat row so people eating wouldn’t have to see the other person close by. I wondered what sort of meal they would serve here. Certainly not something I could let into my stomach.

I chose the extreme of the place where the eyes of the person on the counter couldn’t reach. I don’t know about the Blurry Faced Woman, but I needed all the privacy I could get.

Wait a minute. I knew almost everything about her but not her name. How did that slip my mind? I wondered, wincing mentally.

“In less than twenty minutes time, we’ll be expecting a woman in her late twenties, please direct her to us. Thanks.” Marcus informed the counter girl.

“Sure. The waiter would attend to you when you take your seats.” she commented, beaming at Marcus.

I strode to the extreme end, noting the fresh smell of lavender with Marcus behind me. I could feel the woman’s eyes on our backs until we took our seats.

The seats were tight and extremely uncomfortable. But I was in it already, all we had to do was deal with it till the Blurry Faced woman came.

“You told me everything aside her name, Marcus.” I accused him as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“Sorry, Alpha.” he said, turning on the tablet on his hand and scrolling through. “Grace Jones. That's her name.”

Oh, I thought. Not familiar.

After minutes that seemed like forever, the door opened up and I saw the counter girl directing a woman to where we were.

Marcus and I stood up as she approached. I recognized the dark wavy hair, and her striking china-blue eyes that looked like they could see through a person.

But as she got closer, a blow of recognition hit me so hard, I dug my toes into my shoes to stop myself from faltering. I blinked rapidly, telling myself I was daydreaming.

But once again she was standing next to me and those eyes gazed right through me like they did seven years ago.

It was her.

The first woman I fell in love with.

Something stirred from my insides. My heartbeat accelerated.

“Ms. Budweiser?” I blurted out impulsively, my shocked eyes as wide as saucers.