The Alpha Kept Me Hidden

I work the night window at a mountain impound lot. I count towed cars and keep my head down. My ex Vernon says I owe him. My mother says I owe her. They both know I have nowhere else to go. Then Alpha Axton Slade walks in with a cold stare and a ruined truck. He looks at me like I’m a problem. When Vernon grabs my wrist, Axton steps between us and tells him to let go. For one breath, I feel safe. But Axton knows why my pulse jumps when he is near. He calls the pull between us a mistake. He says the pack can never know. My ex is watching. My family is lying. And the night I see something impossible in the tow yard, I learn my fear is not crazy. Axton protects me. He hides me. He names me under his protection, then refuses to call me his mate. I want to believe him when he touches me. I want to stop being afraid. But what am I to him—a secret he protects, or a shame he hides? If my family shaped my whole life with a power I never knew, I need the truth. What am I really?