Page 20 of Mating Mia (The Alphas’ Perfect Prey #2)

eleven

. . .

Mia

I hold up a tiny blue onesie decorated with cartoon wolves, my fingers tracing the embroidered paw prints while my mind is a thousand miles away.

The department store around us bustles with weekend shoppers, but I barely register them, too consumed by thoughts of a dark-haired woman giving birth alone on the side of a road, of her hazel eyes—my eyes—wide with terror as she handed her newborn to a stranger.

My son kicks inside me, as if sensing my distraction, and I place the onesie in our already overflowing cart with mechanical movements.

“What do you think about this one?” I ask Kane, holding up a miniature plaid shirt that would make our son look like a lumberjack in training.

It’s adorable, but I’m asking more to break the heavy silence of our thoughts than to get his actual opinion.

Kane examines it with the same intense focus he applies to everything, from hunting threats to selecting baby clothes.

“Good quality,” he determines after rubbing the fabric between his fingers. “Practical for autumn.”

I add it to our growing collection, my hands moving on autopilot while my thoughts remain tangled in Larissa’s revelations. I select a pack of tiny socks, each pair patterned with different animal prints, and toss them into the cart.

“What do you think about Larissa’s story?” I finally ask, unable to contain the questions that have been swirling in my mind since we left her house. “About my mother, I mean.”

Kane’s hand settles on the small of my back, warm and steady.

“I think she was running from something serious,” he says, his voice low enough that only I can hear him. “No woman gives birth on the side of a road unless she’s desperate.”

“She must have been terrified,” I murmur, picking up a stuffed wolf that makes me think of my alphas in their shifted forms. Our son will have that ability too—the thought still amazes me daily. “To be alone, pregnant, hunted...”

“There must be a reason why your mother was outside and giving birth instead of in a hospital or at home,” Kane says, his brow furrowing. “Something or someone forced her into that situation.”

The pieces click together in my mind, my father’s fragmented stories aligning with what we learned from Larissa.

“My dad told me that was the night that Orion’s pack raided their home,” I say, my voice catching. “The night that my other fathers died trying to protect my mom.”

I stop in the middle of the baby section, one hand gripping a tiny pair of booties so tightly my knuckles turn white. The reality of what my family endured crashes over me with new clarity.

“She was running for her life,” I continue, tears threatening to spill over. “Pregnant, just hours from giving birth, and she had to watch her mates die defending her. She probably ran into the woods, went into labor from the stress and trauma, and ended up delivering me on the side of some road.”

My voice breaks on the last word, and suddenly Jace is there, pulling me into his arms right between the diaper display and the baby monitors. I bury my face against his chest, inhaling his comforting rain-scent as tears spill down my cheeks.

“It’s okay, princess,” he murmurs into my hair, one hand rubbing soothing circles on my back. “Let it out.”

“She lost everything in one night,” I sob, my words muffled against his shirt. “Her mates, her home, and then she had to give me up, too. She’s been alone all this time, Jace. All this time.”

Jace holds me tighter, seemingly unconcerned about the curious glances from other shoppers who were probably wondering why a pregnant woman was crying while holding baby clothes.

“But she survived,” he reminds me gently. “She’s still out there. And we’re going to find her. Liam is sure she’s alive.”

I pull back slightly, wiping my tears with the back of my hand.

“ If she’s still alive,” I say, the doubt I’ve been fighting finally voicing itself. “If Orion didn’t find her after all these years.”

“I think she is,” Finn says, appearing beside us with an armful of diapers that he adds to our cart.

His green eyes are unusually soft as they meet mine.

“Think about it—Orion was looking for both of you. If he’d found and killed her, why keep searching?

Why keep your father prisoner all those years, demanding information about where she went? ”

His logic penetrates my emotional fog, offering a ray of hope I hadn’t considered.

“You’re right,” I admit, sniffling. “If she were dead, Liam would have known somehow. Through the mate bond breaking, maybe.”

“It would be so amazing if you actually met your mother,” Finn continues, his typically stoic expression warmed by the hint of a smile. “To have both your parents in your life.”

“I would love that,” I say, smiling through the tears. “To have them both around, even though I hadn’t known them my entire life. For our son to know his grandparents.”

“Wish we knew what was happening with Liam and if he had found her yet,” says Jace in thought.

I straighten up, suddenly decisive with ideas running through my mind.

“I want to go to the hospital,” I announce, grabbing a final set of sleepers and tossing them into the cart. “I want to see the road that my mom might have walked to escape.”

“Mia, you’re about to give birth any day now,” Kane growls, his hand moving to my swollen belly. “You need to take it easy. We can investigate the hospital area tomorrow or next week. It’s not going anywhere.”

“But I am,” I counter, meeting his gaze steadily. “This baby isn’t waiting for us to solve the mystery, Kane. He’s coming whether we find my mother or not. I need to do this now, while I still can. Before I’m too busy with a newborn to continue looking.”

Kane opens his mouth to argue further, but Finn places a hand on his shoulder.

“She’s right,” he says quietly. “We don’t know how much time we have before the baby arrives. And she won’t be climbing mountains—just looking around the hospital grounds.”

“Fine,” Kane concedes, his voice gruff with concern. “But you stay with us every second. No wandering off and no overexerting yourself. And the moment you feel tired or uncomfortable, we leave. Immediately.”

“Deal,” I agree, relief washing through me. I lean up to press a quick kiss to his cheek, then turn the cart toward the checkout lanes. “Let’s hurry, then. I want to have plenty of daylight to look around.”

The checkout process is a blur of beeping scanners and mounting totals that make my eyes widen.

Baby supplies are expensive, but none of my alphas even blink at the cost. Money has never been an issue for them, even though I’ve struggled all my life, especially working in a cafe to make ends meet for years, paying rent for my dead ex-boyfriend.

Soon, we’re loading bags into the trunk of our rental SUV, the back filling with tiny clothes, diapers, bottles, and all the other essential supplies for a newborn. Jace insists on helping me into the passenger seat, treating me like I’m made of glass as he buckles my seatbelt around my belly.

“I’m pregnant, not invalid,” I grumble, though secretly I appreciate the care.

“Just making sure our precious cargo is secure,” he says with a wink, patting my stomach before closing my door.

Kane slides into the driver’s seat, inputting the hospital address into the GPS with precise movements. The route shows it’s only about twenty minutes away, and anticipation flutters in my chest like a caged bird.

The drive passes in tense silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Finn studies maps on his phone in the backseat, likely plotting possible escape routes my mother might have taken. Jace’s usual cheerful chatter is subdued, his hand occasionally squeezing my shoulder in silent support.

When the hospital finally comes into view, it’s both more and less impressive than I imagined—a sprawling complex of modern buildings and older wings, its windows gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. The parking lot is crowded with visitors and staff, with people going about their everyday lives.

Kane finds a spot near the edge of the lot, closest to the wooded area that surrounds much of the hospital grounds.

As I step out of the car, I’m struck by how normal everything looks. I don’t know what I was expecting.

“This way,” Finn says, gesturing toward a path that leads into the trees. “If she were trying to escape without being seen, she would have gone through the woods rather than across the open parking lot.”

We stand at the edge of the forest, the four of us in a line like we’re about to enter another world. The woods are dense but not impenetrable, dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves to create shifting patterns on the ground.

“Ready?” Kane asks, his hand finding mine, fingers intertwining with reassuring strength.

I take a deep breath, feeling my son shift inside me as if he, too, is preparing for this journey.

“Ready,” I confirm, squeezing his hand. “Let’s find out where she went.”

I take the first step onto the path, drawn by some invisible thread that feels like destiny. Somewhere in these woods, my mother once ran for her life, leaving the hospital. Now I’m returning, carrying my own child, hoping to complete the circle that was broken so violently all those years ago.

“Stay close,” Kane murmurs, his arm sliding around my waist as we venture into the trees. “We’ll take it slow.”

I place one hand on my belly and the other in Kane’s grip, drawing strength from both connections as we move deeper into the woods, searching for traces of a path taken twenty-three years ago by a terrified young woman who gave up everything to keep her child safe.