The Luna’s Second Chance Mate

Kaden’s POV

I stood in the corner of the playroom, my eyes narrowed and alert as I watched Amaya squat beside Declan and pinch his cheeks lightly. It had been four days since I first let her see him, and she had been here every single day since then, but I still had not gotten used to seeing her by his side. Every time she touched him, I had the overwhelming urge to jump across the room and take him away from her. But my legs stayed rooted to the floor.

I continued to watch as she tried to make conversation with Declan, offering him the gift box she had brought along with her today. When Declan showed no interest in even touching the box, she took it upon herself to unwrap it. As expected, it was filled with toys. I watched with bated breath as Declan turned his attention back to the box.

“You like toys, don’t you, Deccy?”

I nearly rolled my eyes at her nickname for him. Declan nodded, but made no move to pick any of them up. Instead he moved away and sat in one of his tiny plastic chairs, fumbling with an empty jar on the table. I relaxed. To him, she was just a stranger. In the real sense, Declan was supposed to be drawn to Amaya through the cub-to-shewolf bond, but it did not seem to be apparent. I suspected that was because he never had the chance to even fully form the bond.

Amaya sucked in a deep breath. I could tell she was frustrated at Declan’s little participation. I watched as she sighed and scooted over to him, a smile on her face. “You like jars, Deccy? Tell me what you want, anything at all.”

She could not mask the desperation in her voice, and I secretly felt an evil streak in me. That should teach her. Maybe she thought taking care of a child was nothing but a walk in the park. There was so much more to it. Learning their mannerisms, their likes and dislikes, their method of communication…it wasn’t just something that came naturally after three years of absence. It was good she was learning. And knowing her, she would probably take off again when she saw how difficult it was.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if she suddenly stopped showing up. She had always been a coward. It was the exact reason why I didn’t even want her close to Declan at all. And I was beyond glad that Declan showed no signs of warming up to her.

“Deccy?” Amaya repeated, ruffling his hair. Big mistake. He hated getting his hair touched. He let out a loud yelp and backed away from her.

“Daddy!” He called out.

Feeling triumphant albeit protective of him, I brushed past Amaya and picked him up, kissing his forehead gently until he relaxed. Slowly, I walked around the playroom and bounced him gently until he relaxed. Once he was quiet again, I put him back in his chair and let him play with his jars. A smile made its way to my face as I watched him play. I was reminded of how much I loved my son whenever I looked at him, and would damn well protect him against any harm. Maybe that was why I was so on edge about Amaya being around him. I did not want him to get hurt.

“Wow. How did you do that?”

I turned at the sound of Amaya’s voice to see her hovering behind me, her eyes wide as she stared at Declan who was calm once again. “He barely even looked at me for more than two seconds, and when I tried to touch him, he literally yelled.” She shook her head as though in awe. “He’s a little piece of work, huh?”

I paused at her words. “A piece of work? Is that why you left the first time?”

“I…no, that’s not–”

“Save your explanations for someone dumb enough to believe it. I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, but if you truly believe for one second that I’d ever leave Declan in the care of someone who uses phrases like ‘piece of work’ to address a child, then you’re even dumber than I made you out to be. Go home, Amaya.”

For a while she was silent, which was new because ever since she materialised back into my life, she always had something to run her mouth about. We watched Declan play in complete silence, and then she scooted a little closer to me.

“I’ve always been hopeless when it comes to things like this,” she said. “But just like the others, it will pass. It always does.”

I felt no response was necessary so I did not give one.

“Remember when I nearly burned the house down trying to cook?” She suddenly began to laugh. “It was a week after our wedding and I was still trying to impress you. If you hadn’t sensed it and come to save me, there probably wouldn’t even be a mansion right now. Do you remember that?”

My jaw clenched at her question. I hated that I remembered, even though I had willed myself to wipe out every memory of her. I hated that I could not just wipe her off in one swipe. But there was no point bringing it up again, I reasoned. The past was in the past.

“That was years ago,” I finally grunted in response. “What does that have to do with anything?”

I saw her cock an eyebrow before she walked even closer to me. Her eyes slowly ran over my face, down to my arms and then my legs. “I’ve also never known you to be so uptight, Kaden,” she whispered, running her fingertips over my bare arm. “That tramp obviously doesn’t know how to take care of you.”

I gripped her wrist tighter than necessary, pulling her hand off mine. “Don’t you ever refer to my wife like that.”

“Your wife?”

When my grip on her wrist didn’t loosen, she finally nodded painfully. “Okay, okay, I won’t.”

I let her go and pulled myself up to walk over to the corner of the room where I leaned against the wall. I shut my eyes, trying to push out all the thoughts. I was tired, in all honesty. I did not give a fuck about Amaya anymore, but I would be lying if I said her presence here did not affect me. It irked me to the core, it disgusted me, it reminded me of my Beta who betrayed me. I just wanted her to leave. I missed Larissa and I missed my son too. They were my real family. Amaya being here was disrupting a lot of things.

I thought long and hard about how to solve this situation. Everyone was uncomfortable. Larissa was, too, but she was trying to avoid it completely. I wondered if Amaya was here for some other reason. Every time I brought up the divorce papers, she always found a way to wave them off. Something told me that she wanted to get Declan first, but we both knew I would die before I ever let that happen. So, what do I do? I needed her to sign the papers and be on her way before this whole thing escalated. No ideas came to mind and so, there and then, I decided that if nothing else worked I would have no other option than to make her sign the papers, forcefully or otherwise.

I checked the time on my watch, reminding myself to tell Larissa about my decision as soon as I saw her. According to the time, Amaya had about thirty minutes left to be here before she would leave. Good. I needed her out. It already seemed like she’d been here forever.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, she appeared immediately in front of me. “Kaden…” she began, placing her arm on top of mine again. I made to fling it off but paused when I saw Declan looking our way. I slowly lowered my arm, not wanting to display any violence in front of him.

“What do you want, Amaya?” I asked under my breath, feeling irritated. “What do you really want? I don’t understand it. Why did you choose this period to show up in my life? Do you get off on ruining people’s lives now? I wouldn’t be surprised.” I tried to keep the venom out of my tone but it was harder than I expected.

“I’m here for my son, Kaden.”

“Cut the bullshit. I’m not an idiot, and you should know that by now. You might have been able to lie and fool your way into my home, but don’t try it again. I thought you were here for Declan too. Hell, I actually believed it at one point. But, anyone would be a fool to believe you would ever show remorse. You say you’re here to see Declan but you don’t even keep to time. And when you do arrive it’s with a face caked with makeup, a tight dress and heels that won’t even let you play with your son. If you were really intentional about getting to know him again you would actually put in the work. Dress appropriately in playroom attire. But no, you just sit there afraid to mess up your manicure, and try to make conversation with me. So I’ll ask you again, what are you doing here?”

She was silent for a few seconds and then I saw her eyes glaze over. “Fine, you’re right. I am here for something else, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care about Declan.”

I did not respond, waiting for her to keep talking.

“I just…I thought I’d be happier when I left,” she started again, her fingers tightening around my arm. “But I wasn’t. Nik was great in bed, but he never made me feel the way you did.”

The mention of my former beta was like a stab to my chest. I did not want to remember that shit anymore.

“Get your hands off, Amaya,” I said as gently as I could. I was trying not to cause a scene in front of Declan, but she was doing a fine job of provoking me. I wasn’t sure if I could help it.

She refused to let go. She pressed herself closer to me until her chest was pressed hard against mine. “I miss you, Kaden. I miss everything; how we fell in love, our wedding, the beautiful times we had together, the laughter, the joy. Remember how crazy we used to be, having sex in every corner of the mansion.” Her lips curved into a smile as she pressed even closer. “You can’t tell me you don’t miss it too, Kaden.”

I stared at her for a few moments, speechless. Was she fucking delusional? So this was the root of everything she had been doing. She had been trying to get back to me. I stared at her desperately trying to expose her cleavage to me, and I did not feel anger. I felt complete and utter disgust. She was the most shameless person I had ever met. After everything she’d done to me she really thought flashing her boobs at me would change a thing. And she was doing this shamelessly in front of Declan.

My chest heaved with anger. “I think you should leave now. You’ve outstayed your welcome.”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

I gripped her arm and began to drag her to the door.

“Kaden..” she begged, forcing her arm out of my grip and flinging it around my neck.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I still love you. I love you so much, baby. I miss your touch, your kisses, I miss everything..”

Before I could comprehend the whole situation, Amaya had flung herself at me. She gripped my collar and crashed her lips on mine in a kiss.

At the same time, the door was pushed open and I saw Larissa walk in. She froze at the sight in front of her, and I pushed Amaya off me at the same time.

My eyes widened at the realization of how this looked. “Larissa, wait!”

But she had already turned away with tear glazed eyes and raced out of the playroom.

Anger surged through me as I grabbed Amaya roughly. “What the hell did you do that for?!” I hissed.

She looked on wordlessly and I shoved her away and rushed after Larissa, my heart pounding. She needed to know this was all a misunderstanding. I needed her to believe me.

I couldn’t afford to lose her. I couldn’t let that happen.