MAYA POV
Maya's phone buzzes while she's in the middle of kneading dough.
She doesn't check it immediately. She's got her hands deep in flour and butter and the smell of fresh bread is the only thing keeping her calm. The kitchen is her safe place. The one place where nothing can touch her.
Sophie sticks her head through the doorway. Her coffee shop is right next door. They share a wall and most of their mornings.
"Did you see the news?" Sophie asks. She's holding her own phone like it's a bomb.
"Not yet," Maya says. She doesn't want to know what the news is. She has a feeling it's going to ruin everything.
"Four packs are coming to Crescent Bay next month," Sophie says. "Official territorial summit. They're gathering to negotiate borders. It's going to be huge. Hotels are already booking out."
Maya's hands go still in the dough.
"Which packs?" she asks. She already knows the answer but she needs to hear it from Sophie. She needs to be sure she's not imagining the worst-case scenario.
Sophie scrolls through her phone. "Blackwood Pack from the mountains. Coastal packs obviously. Some pack from the south. And northern alliance. Major summit. They're saying it could reshape everything."
Maya's stomach drops.
Blackwood Pack.
Connor.
The flour under her fingers suddenly feels heavy. She pulls her hands out and washes them while her mind races through scenarios. All of them end badly. All of them end with Connor walking through her door.
"You okay?" Sophie asks. She knows something is wrong. She always knows.
"Fine," Maya says automatically. "Just surprised."
Sophie doesn't look convinced but she doesn't push. That's what makes her a good friend. She knows when to ask questions and when to let Maya have her secrets.
After Sophie leaves, Maya stands in her empty bakery and lets the panic set in.
Connor is coming. To her town. To this place she's built. This life she's constructed away from him.
He could find Riley. He could demand custody. He could take her daughter back to that cold fortress and trap Maya there forever.
Or worse. He could see Riley and not care. He could see their daughter and feel nothing because she's a complication. Because she ties him to a past he wanted to forget.
Maya walks to the back of the bakery where Riley naps in her crib. Her daughter is sleeping peacefully. Two years old. Completely innocent. She has no idea her entire world is about to get complicated.
Riley's hand is curled around her stuffed rabbit. She's sucking her thumb. She looks exactly like Connor. The green eyes. The stubborn jaw. Everything about her screams Blackwood bloodline to anyone who knows what to look for.
Maya touches her daughter's forehead gently and whispers, "I'm going to protect you. I promise."
That night, she lies in bed and considers running.
She could do it. Pack up Riley and the car. Leave in the middle of the night. Find another town. Another identity. Another bakery.
But the thought exhausts her. She's been running for two years. She's built something real here. Riley has friends. Riley goes to a little music class with other kids. Riley has a life.
And Maya has built a bakery that matters. She has regular customers who depend on her. She has Sophie. She has community.
She can't run anymore. She's too tired.
So she decides to hide in plain sight instead.
She's going to act like she has nothing to hide. Like Connor is just another visiting alpha. Like Riley is just her daughter and not his. Like her heart isn't breaking every single second of every single day.
The next morning, she calls Marcus.
"I need you to know something," Maya says. She's standing in her apartment while Riley plays with toys in the living room. "Connor is coming to the summit. And if he finds out about Riley, I want you to be ready to help me keep her safe."
Marcus is quiet for a long moment.
"Does Riley know who her father is?" Marcus asks.
"No," Maya says. "She just knows he's someone important who isn't here. I tell her he was a good man who had to work far away."
It's not the truth but it's close enough. Connor was good once. Before he became the Alpha. Before he chose the pack over everything.
"When he sees her, he'll know immediately," Marcus says. "You understand that?"
"Yes," Maya says. "I'm hoping he doesn't look hard enough to notice."
Marcus laughs but it's sad. "He'll notice, Maya. The second he sees those eyes, he'll know."
Maya doesn't say anything because Marcus is right and she knows it.
The summit starts in three days.
Maya spends the first day baking. She makes bread and croissants and pastries and anything else that keeps her hands busy. She decorates cakes. She ices cookies. She does everything except let herself think about what's coming.
Sophie notices her working too hard.
"You're spiraling," Sophie says. She's sitting at a table in the bakery with a coffee Maya made. "What happened? What are you not telling me?"
"Nothing," Maya says too quickly.
"Maya," Sophie says. She uses the voice that means she's not going to accept lies. "We've been friends for two years. I've watched you build this life from nothing. I've helped you be strong. You can tell me what's wrong."
Maya wants to tell her. She wants to sit down and explain that the man she escaped is coming to her town and she's terrified. That she's hiding his daughter from him. That everything she's built is about to collapse.
But she can't. Because Sophie is human and Sophie could get hurt if she knows too much. The werewolf world doesn't take kindly to humans who know secrets.
"Just stressed about the summit," Maya says. "Lots of extra customers coming. Lots of work."
Sophie doesn't believe her but she doesn't push.
That night, Maya holds Riley while her daughter sleeps. She whispers promises to a child who can't hear her.
"You're going to be okay," she whispers. "No matter what happens, you're going to be okay. I'm going to make sure of it."
The second day, Maya changes her appearance. She cuts her hair shorter. She stops wearing makeup. She wears plain clothes instead of the nice things Marcus has been buying her. She makes herself small and forgettable.
If Connor walks in, she wants to be invisible.
The third day arrives and everything feels surreal.
The summit officially starts at five PM. Alphas gathering at the new resort on the north side of town. Negotiations about territories and treaties and things that don't matter to Maya anymore.
But it matters that Connor is now in her town.
He's probably at the resort. He's probably in a meeting. He's probably thinking about pack business and politics and everything except the family he rejected two years ago.
Maya closes the bakery at four PM and takes Riley home.
She's just getting her daughter ready for bed when her phone buzzes with a text from Marcus.
"He asked about you. I told him nothing. He's wondering if you're in Crescent Bay. Don't let him find you yet."
Maya reads the message three times.
He's asking about her. That's impossible. That's everything she was afraid of and everything she's been preparing for.
She texts back: "Does he know about Riley?"
The response comes immediately: "Not yet. But he will soon if he starts looking."
Maya puts her phone down and helps Riley into pajamas. She reads her a bedtime story. She sings her a lullaby. She does all the normal things while her mind is screaming.
Riley falls asleep around eight PM.
Maya sits on the edge of her daughter's bed and lets herself cry. Silent tears that don't make noise. She's become very good at suffering quietly.
By nine PM, she's made a decision.
She's going to avoid Connor. She's going to keep Riley away from him. She's going to pretend that she and Riley don't exist in his world.
If the summit lasts thirty days, she can survive thirty days.
She can hide. She can be invisible. She can protect her daughter.
At midnight, there's a knock on her apartment door.
Maya's heart stops. She looks through the peephole and sees Marcus standing there. His expression is serious. He looks like he's been running.
She opens the door.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
"He knows," Marcus says. "I don't know how but he figured it out. He knows you're in Crescent Bay and he knows you've been here for two years. He's asking questions about where you live. Where you work. Maya, he's going to find you tomorrow."
"How is that possible?" Maya asks. "How could he know?"
"I don't know," Marcus says. "But he's determined. He looks like a man on a mission. Like finding you is the only thing that matters."
Maya leans against the doorframe. Her legs feel weak.
"What do I do?" she whispers.
"You could still run," Marcus offers. "I can help you. We can get you and Riley somewhere safe."
But even as he says it, they both know she won't run. She's done running.
"No," Maya says. "I'll face him. If he finds out about Riley tomorrow, at least I'll be the one to tell him on my terms."
Marcus nods like he respects the decision even though it's probably the worst one she could make.
After he leaves, Maya sits in her living room and stares at the window. Outside, Crescent Bay is quiet. The town doesn't know that everything is about to change.
Tomorrow, Connor will find her bakery.
Tomorrow, he'll see Riley playing in the back room.
Tomorrow, everything ends.
At five AM, Maya starts baking. She makes croissants and bread and everything else she can think of. She works until her hands hurt and her mind goes numb.
By eight AM, the bakery is ready. Everything is perfect. Everything is prepared.
The door opens at nine AM sharp.
Connor walks in like he owns the place.
He's older than she remembers. There's grey at his temples. There are lines around his eyes like he hasn't slept in months. He looks broken and dangerous at the same time.
He looks at Maya and recognition floods his face.
For a second, he doesn't move. He just stares at her like he's seeing a ghost.
Then Riley runs out from the back room calling, "Mama, can I have a cookie?"
Riley stops in front of Connor. They stare at each other. Him with his broken desperate face. Her with his exact green eyes.
Connor's face goes white.
"Is she..." he starts.
Maya steps between them.
"Not here," she says coldly. "We're not doing this here."
Connor's eyes never leave Riley.
"Is she mine?" he asks. His voice breaks on the last word.
Riley looks confused. She tugs on Maya's sleeve.
"Who's this man, Mama?" Riley asks.
Maya's heart breaks in half.
She looks at Connor and realizes in that moment that no amount of planning could have prepared her for this.
He knows. He finally knows.
And everything is about to burn.