My Possessive Alpha Mate

Chapter 1

So I did what any smart desperate girl would do, I moved. I sold everything that we didn't need and left. I honestly didn't even know where we were going but I knew we had to make a fresh start for ourselves away from the shadow of the past. 

I buckled my niece in, got in the car and drove. I stopped driving when I was tired or needed gas or when Alexa became hungry. Occasionally, I stopped just to walk around with her and give her attention. Eventually three states and four days later, I was done. We drove through a town and I felt like this was it. This was the place we could start over and make our future our own. 

It was clearly a smaller town but everything looked clean and well maintained. I was so exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I had to remind myself to be responsible and quickly ran through a list of things I had to do before I could sleep. Fill up my near empty gas tank (in case we needed to make a quick getaway for whatever reason), get water bottles for the hotel room (in case there weren't any), and ask the gas station clerk for a restaurant and hotel recommendation.

Walking into the gas station, I subconsciously began to feel like something was a little off. Brushing it off as exhaustion, I picked up a pack of gum and two bottles of water before heading to the cash register.  

"You ready to check out miss?" Asked the acne-scarred kid behind the counter without looking up at me. 

"Yes, I am." I replied, flicking my long blonde hair off my shoulder. Suddenly his head snapped back up to look at me in shock and then his eyes widened even bigger when he noticed I had a baby on my hip. I just smiled at him, I'd probably see him at school once I enrolled and didn't want to make the wrong impression. 

"Y-y-you have a... a b-baby?" He stumbled, looking like he was going to faint right there. I laughed. 

"She's my niece but yes, she's kind of mine since her parents died." I looked down at the sleeping face of the little angel on my shoulder. Alexa had my brother's looks and blue eyes but somehow ended up with blonde hair, strange when both of her parents had dark brown hair. 

The teenage boy in front of me let out a relieved sigh but didn't say anything else. He just stood there in a kind of dazed, awkward fashion. "So, are you going to check me out?" I reminded him, giving him an encouraging smile. He blushed and nodded his head faster than a bobble head.  

"Right. Oh. Right. Okay." He kept saying. Weird, but I wrote it off thinking maybe he just had anxiety about talking to girls. Perhaps it was a smaller town than it appeared and it was clear that I was a stranger? I certainly hoped I'd be received well here if that were the case.

"So, do you guys have a town map?" I asked curiously, this way I could find a hotel and the high school and day care and stuff. The boy just nodded and reached under the counter to grab one when suddenly a large man walked in. My back was to him and the door but I could tell by his shadow.

"How are you doing sir?" The boy asked, suddenly more confident as he focused his attention on the man behind me. I found it kind of unprofessional, but I didn't mind. In fact, I thought it was cute, quaint small town manners.

Then I heard, the absolute sexiest voice I think I'd ever heard before. It struck me deep in my stomach and I felt it all the way to my toes. "I'm perfectly fine, Malcolm. Please continue to assist her." 

The way the voice said her, referring to me, affected me in the most unusual way. I had never felt this way, certainly as the result of hearing a man's voice. Part of me wished he was ugly and very old so my feelings could be smashed. I found it unlikely that a younger man could have such a confident and authoritative voice. I casually glanced behind me out of curiosity.