Arrange Marriage With Cruel Alpha

15 years later

Flashback: -

Their soft giggles filled the night's calm, quiet air.

"Damon!" Allen reprimanded in a whisper, but it fell short due to the blissed-out smile on her lips: "Damon, stop it, you big goof." She swatted at Damon's hands, but those two colossal she loved so much just kept teasing her overly sensitive skin.

The Omega always got ticklish after a particularly good orgasm, which Damon always loved to indulge in. And Damon had successfully drawn three out of her. Which was a new record for them.

And the Alpha was damn proud of himself.

"How are you feeling?" Damon finally stopped sickling and laid one of his hands flat on Allen's side, stroking her still clammy skin. "Any regrets?"

Allen's smile softened as she recognized her Alpha shift in mood as self-doubt. She laid her own palm on Damon's cheek. "I feel fine, no regrets," she promised. "It was perfect; you were perfect."

Up until that night, Allen and Damon had yet to go all the way, but then Allen got her heat after a long time, and neither could hold back any longer.

"It was." Damon agreed, his hand landing on Allen's hip, then pulling the smaller omega closer, wrapping her up in his arms, "my perfect omega."

As Damon leaned in closer, Allen smiled and whispered against his lips, "My perfect Alpha." Then Damon was kissing her, soft and tender and, oh, so slow.

"I wish we could stay here forever." Damon confessed, and Allen could feel the gloominess that seeped into his tone: "Just you and me."

"I know." Allen agreed, but they both knew they couldn't.

"We should run away from all this responsibility." Damon suggested suddenly, looking at Allen seriously, then quickly went on when the Omega frowned, "Yes, Allen, we should just run away, you and me."

"Damon," Allen whispered, "God, I wish it were that easy."

"We could get out of this primitive town and get our own little apartment in another city." Damon had a wistful look in his eyes. It wasn't their first time exchanging such fantasies. "You could open your own flower shop... because you love flowers too much," Damon teased her.

Allen hummed thoughtfully, a pleased smile on her face because, damn her, Alpha knew her so well. "And you could open your own firm," she suggested as she snuggled into Damon's chest. "You could be the local hero; help save the small people."

This time Damon hummed, "Yeah, but I would actually train more for that. You know, after we complete our bonding, we will plan children, so in the future, when they grow up, I can retire and train pack pups." It has been his dream ever since he started training pack pups. But Damon had so many duties as an Alpha that it's not possible for him now. Damon loves kids, and it's like his dream to train each and every kid inside his pack.

The difference was that in his dream, he didn't want to train only his pack pups; he wanted to train every defenseless pup who needed someone to fight for them, but they didn't have anyone. Specially Omega, it's not like Damon ever told her about all this, but Allen knows; she doesn't know how. But she knows.

Allen chuckled, "I wish we could just run away. So, you can train everyone, and I sell flowers to others." She sighed heavily, then on a lighter note, "But I'm pretty sure our sister's will haunt us down, then lock us up with a ball and chain to that fancy ass Alpha seat waiting for you."

Damon chuckled and tightened his hold on the Omega, kissing the top of her head.

Yeah, Allen could definitely be there, in Damon's arms, forever.

Flashback Over: -

"Mum!"

Large, strong arms pull Allen out of her daze, causing her to yell in surprise, then shake her head to try and focus back on the here and now. When she registers the smell of something burning, horror builds in the pit of her stomach, and she starts to panic.

"It's okay," a soft voice whispers into her ear as the strong arms keep holding her securely. "Nothing happened; you just... burned the pancakes... again."

Damn it.

"I'm so sorry, Alex." Allen sighs heavily, rubbing her face. "I guess I just... nodded off."

"You need to get more sleep; you're working way too hard." Allen smiles warmly at his almost 15-year-old son, who's already loved her, even protected her sometimes, and matured way beyond his years. Sometimes he makes Allen feel like their roles are reversed.

"Alex, I'm fine, I promise." Allen tries to sound as authoritative as she can; the last thing she wants is to make her son feel like he needs to take care of her and not the other way around.

Alex looks unconvinced, but fortunately doesn't push any further. "Here, let me finish up the pancakes," he suggests instead, then takes the spatula out of his mother's hand, leaving no room for arguments. As for a normal human 15-year-old boy, it's impossible for him to do all this, but he is a wolf and an Alpha boy.

When they sit down to eat, Allen eyes her son suspiciously when she notices how he's fidgeting with his fork. Alex sneaks a few glances at her as he bites his lower lip, a small frown between his eyebrows.

Allen recognizes that look; it's the one he gets when he needs to tell or ask Allen something but is afraid to do so.

It's also a carbon copy of his father's expression.

Allen clears her throat and shakes her head in an attempt to get that thought out and away. "What is it, Alex?" She finally asks, an amused smirk on her face.

Alex struggles with himself for a short moment longer, then opens and closes his mouth a few times before he finally spills out. "We umm have this project in school," he says cautiously, and Allen already has a bad feeling about this: "We need to write a project about our genealogy, and I was wondering if there's anything about my father's family you could supply me with."

The world around Allen spins as she grapples with herself to get her head straight enough to respond to her son.

This was far from the first time Alex has asked about his father, and so far, Allen has managed to get away with as vague a response as she could. She wanted to ward off any pain and protect her son from feeling the same abandonment that she did.

So she lied.

But the older Alex got, the more he wanted to know, the more he could understand way beyond just what Allen was telling him.

"I'm sorry; I already told you; I have no idea what happened to them." Allen manages, in an even voice, "I could speak to your teachers; explain the..."

"Stop hiding!" Alex snaps, cutting her off, causing his mother to jolt, "I'm not a child anymore, or stupid."

"Alex, I didn't." Allen tries, but her son won't hear it.

"I know you're lying to me." Alex hisses.

Allen swallows hard, watching her son with a painful gaze. "Son, I wish..." Allen clears her throat and takes a deep breath when her voice wavers ever so slightly: "I'm so sorry. I wish I could give you the answers you need, but I... I just can't."

Alex stares at him for a long moment before his features soften, and he stands up and hugs Allen. "Sorry, Mum, I didn't mean to upset you." He murmurs softly.

And damn it, Allen despises the fact that she made him miserable. But she did somehow raise a good boy.

After Alex leaves to catch the school bus, Allen heads back into her room to get ready for work. But she stops at the threshold and stares long and hard at her bed, almost burning a hole through it.

Every so often, memories of their times together would haunt her; they would just blind her suddenly in flashes. As the years went by, it happened less and less, but when it did, it was always so painful.

Allen never wanted to be that stereotypical, pitiful Omega that was branded and defined by being rejected. She fought tooth and nail against it to not get sucked into it.

But it was part of her biology, and her inner Omega would mourn. Sometimes less and sometimes more, and for the most part, she got it under control. Yet it was still always there, just under the surface.

There are days like today where it just won't leave her. Especially with Alex bringing it up.

Taking a deep breath, which does nothing to calm her, Allen takes hesitant steps towards her bed and slowly lowers herself to sit on her knees. Then she reaches under the bed to pull out a small suitcase, and she retrieves from inside it a beautiful mahogany box with carvings of a wolf on it.

Holding it with trembling hands, Allen gets up and sits on the bed. For a long moment, she just stares at the box and at the beautiful wolf carved on top of it, with his large, majestic wings spread out to his sides.

This box was the first gift she'd ever received.

Every so often, when the mood would strike, she would open it. There were days when all she could do was stare. And on days where she had to go through every single item in the box, she spent a significant amount of time holding and examining every one of them.

It has been quite a while since she last opened it, and when she finally does so now, a small whimper escapes her lips before she can stop it.

Allen is so caught up in the contents of the box that she doesn't notice the wide, black eyes watching her through the gap left open by the door.

Alex tippy toes back to hide in his room and waits for his mom to leave the house before he sneaks back out and makes his way to his mother's bedroom. Normally he would never dare to enter her room without her actually being there, let alone touching her belongings, but Alex was sick of all the mystery and being lied to.

He wasn't stupid; he knew Allen was hiding something from him. Which he could understand, because as far back as he can remember, his mom always had at least a sliver of pain in her eyes. Of course, he was happy; they had a great life together, as difficult and as simple and minimalistic as it was. But even at a young age, Alex could see how haunted and hurt his mother was.

Alex hated that, and he wished there was something he could do. But he also wanted to know the truth.

So,, he rushes to his mother's bed and retrieves the box from inside the small suitcase under the bed. He takes a deep, shaky breath as he braces himself for what he will find inside the box.

He'd never seen it before, but seeing the way his mother reacted to it, Alex just knows that it must hold some answers to all the burning questions he has.

Finally, he opens it, and the first thing that catches his eye is a picture of his mom with a man he had never met before, but he just knows right away.

This is his father.

For the most part, Alex looks like a carbon copy of his mom. All except for his height and his eyes. His deep black eyes, just like his fathers,

The next thing he notices is how young they both look, and then he notices how different his mom looks in the picture. She's wearing a smile Alex has never seen on her before, one that makes her look so much more joyful than he'd ever seen her. And she's also wearing expensive clothes, like some royals. Which Alex has seen in other pictures before but never in real life. At least not that much.

Alex can almost feel his heart crack as he stares at his father's face. At how happy they both look. At how the Alpha is holding the Omega so tightly and protectively. Lovingly.

Taking another deep breath, Alex lays the picture aside on the bed, then starts rummaging through the rest of the content in the box. There were a few other photos in the box, all of his mom and alpha father.

Then there were some letters. Alex notices that his mother wrote a lot of the letters but never actually sent them. Others were clearly still like newlyweds when his father sent them to his mother for something.

There were a few knickknacks, which Alex assumes were gifts from his father. Then there were a few newspaper articles about his father.

And the more he reads through those articles, the more he realizes just how much his mom has been hiding from him and lying to him.

When he's halfway through the second article, his phone rings, and before he even fishes it out of his pocket, he knows who it is.

"Where the hell are you?" Jenny, his best friend, asks questions frantically as soon as he answers, before he can even say hi.

Alex gulps and takes a deep breath, then blurts out, "I think I know who my father is." He's still staring at his father's picture in the newspaper article as he hears Jenny gasp on the other end of the line. His father is standing with a beautiful blonde woman, both smiling widely with their arms around each other.

"How did you find out?" Jenny knows better than anyone just how much he's been trying to figure it out, only to always fall short.

"I'll explain everything later; I'll meet you at seven at our usual spot.'' After a brief confirmation, they hang up, and Alex continues to read.

When he's done, he looks up at the clock; it's only 8 a.m. His mom won't be home until around six, so he has time.

When Allen arrives home later that day, all she wants to do is bury herself under her covers. She's so exhausted that she can barely make it up the four flights of stairs to their apartment.

She's at least lucky that tonight she only had to work at the local diner, Mac-Corn. There are days she has to go straight from there to a shift at the bar, City Live. When Alex was younger, it was much harder, but luckily, she had Maya and John, who could babysit from time to time.

As she finally steps into the tiny apartment she shares with her son, she leans back against the door and sighs heavily, content to finally be back home. The relief, however, is short-lived.

The apartment is tiny enough that she can already see her son sitting at the small kitchen table, huddled over what she assumes is his homework, but after stepping two more steps forward, she halts and freezes in her spot, staring in dread.

"Alex," she manages to choke out, and her son finally looks up at her with a glare she'd never received before from him.

"You lied to me." Alex says in a matter-of-fact tone, and the hints of hurt in both his voice and eyes shatter Allen's heart to pieces. "All this time you told me you didn't know where he was. You knew; you've been lying."

"I'm so sorry; I was just trying to protect you." Allen finally manages, her voice weak and quivering.

"By keeping me from my own father?" Alex snaps back, standing up and stepping closer, holding up one of the articles that are fisted in his hand.

"No, it's more complicated than that." Allen tells him, trying to sound sterner and stand her ground. She is the mother, after all. But it falls flat, because even she knows that she may have been hiding too much.

"Complicated?" Alex mimics, then waves his hand with the newspaper in it, saying, "All this time he's been just an hour away."

"Alex, please, it's not that simple." Allen stresses, daring to step closer with her hands up before herself, "Let's sit down, and I'll try to explain as much as I can."

"Why?" Alex sneers, folding his arms, "so you can lie to me again?"

"Alex, I understand that you're angry, and I'm sorry for lying to you, but I'm still your mother, and you will not speak to me that way." Allen scolds him; the taste of it is foreign on her tongue, and she doesn't like it one bit.

Alex has always been such a good boy, rarely ever stepping out of line. And while she can understand where it's coming from and why he's so angry, she still can't allow him to speak to her like that. Like his father used to speak to her.

After a long moment of loaded silence, Alex dares to ask a burning question, his voice low: "Does he know?"

Allen takes in a sharp breath and bites her bottom lip, turning her head to the side so her son won't see the pained expression on her face.

When she doesn't respond, Alex repeats his question; his voice is a little louder this time: "Does he know?" His mother jolts slightly before turning back to look at him, shaking her head.

"No," she says in a small voice, "he does not." and when her son turns his back with anger vibrating off him in waves, Allen takes a desperate step forward and adds, "But please, please, just sit and listen to me."

But her son won't hear any of it.

"Whatever, I'm going out." Alex says, then heads past Allen, grabs his backpack, and walks to the door.

"You are not going anywhere before we're done talking about this." Allen snaps, grabbing hold of her son's arm, "Let's sit and talk calmly; I will explain it all."

But her son just glares at her, then snatches his arm back roughly out of Allen's hold and walks out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

They had never fought this way before; the closest they've ever come was a few months ago, when Alex stormed off and came back a couple of hours later. But he also texted Allen that he was fine.

This time, though, there was radio silence, and knowing that Alex had plans with Jenny did nothing to calm her nerves. Allen trusts his son to be responsible enough, but they don't exactly live in the best part of town. And no matter how many times he's made it to school and home alone, Allen still worries.

Allen tries to call him or text him, but her son won't answer. She tried to run down the stairs after him when he left, but by the time she got down, Alex was already gone.

It's been half an hour since Alex left, and when Allen finally decides to call Maya, in her panic and rage, she can't think straight enough to realize that her son quite likely might be at his best friend's home.

"Allen, what's wrong?" Of course, her own best friend knows her well enough to already realize that something's wrong.

"Is Alex there?" She asks in a panic, "We had a fight, a bad one, and he stormed out of the house."

"No, he's not here." Maya says apologetically, "But Jenny said something about them going out; I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Okay, okay, thank you." Allen manages to breathe slightly better in relief.

"So, what was the fight about?" Maya asks in her usual best friend-prayer tone, which has Allen chuckling a bit despite her bad mood.

Then she sighs, remembering how bad it got. "He found the box," she says simply, knowing the Maya will understand.

And sure enough, "the box?" she asks with a gasp.

"Yes, the box."

"Oh, damn."

"Yes, damn." Allen spends the next half an hour or so venting about the whole thing; telling her about what bothers her always helps. Although this time, she's still quite bitter because of the fight with her son.

Just as they are about to get off the phone, Jenny walks back into the house, and Allen almost yells Maya ear off by frantically telling her to ask her daughter where her son is. Maya notices right away how guilty her daughter looks. And she just knows that she is hiding something, despite her insistence that she doesn't know, that she met up with him, and he just left to go home just like her.

But when Alex doesn't arrive home in the span of time that it would normally take him after meeting up with his best friend, Allen rushes out of the house and makes her way over to Maya and Jenny.

Fortunately, they live just around the block, and with her rush to get there as quickly as possible, Allen arrives at their house in half the time and completely out of breath.

She is so out of shape. But that's the last of her worries right now.

"Where is he?" she wheezes in between heavy, hard breaths.

Jenny takes an instinctive step back, a worried look in her eyes as she shakes her head. "I don't," she tries to insist, but her mother quickly cuts her off.

"Jenny, right now, this is a very serious matter, so you better not lie to us." Maya reprimands with a pointed finger, "Now, tell us where Alex is."

After a short hesitation, Jenny finally spills the beans. "He's on the way to the upper east side, Moonlight Pack," she confesses in a small voice, hunching her shoulders under their blazing glares, "to see his father."

For the umpteenth time that day, the world around Allen spins.

Flashback:-

A few more relatively blissful weeks passed by, and Allen tried to soak in every moment and enjoy every second because she just didn't know how much time they would have left. They had plans to go to the USA together again to get far enough away from all this for some time so they could be together in peace.

But Rose her Alpha ex-girlfriend had other plans for them, and none of them included a poor Omega from the worst problem inside the Moonlight Pack. But Damon refused to break his bond with Allen, no matter how many times Rose tried to separate them. He insisted that it wouldn't get in the way of their plans to be together.

So, Allen didn't doubt him.

At night, the Omega kept sneaking out of her house and into their bedroom, where they would spend the night together.

Until one night, a couple of weeks before they were supposed to go off to meet together, when Damon waited for her in the garden, right by the tree she normally climbed up on to.

Allen smiled broadly at first, thinking her Alpha was there to greet her, but when she sprinted forward to jump into his arms, Damon stepped back and out of her reach, causing Allen to stumble slightly.

Damon reached out to stabilize her, but then stepped out of her reach again. "I'm so sorry, Allen," he began in an apologetic tone, a grimace on his face, "but I need you to stop all this."

The Omega whimpered and stared in shock. "What?" she finally managed to choke out.

"I'm going to marry Rose; I present her as my Luna inside the meeting room." Damon said, his whole demeanor painfully distant.

"But I am your ma -" Allen tried, but Damon shook his head and cut her off.

"There is no you, Allen; I was fooling myself into believing that there would be my love for Rose will never allow this." Damon told her in a harsh tone, "I can't fight against my love, my falling; I need a strong Luna like Allen, not like you."

Allen tried to step closer again; this time Damon allowed her as she clutched onto Damon's shirt, fisting the fabric in both hands. "Please, we can find a way," she pleaded, but she knew that Damon never liked her; he was always in love with Rose, and neither of them could do anything about it. Allen had gotten to accept this and maybe move on with her life; Damon never wanted her in the first place; all those sweet moments are nothing; he is just using Allen to get ride-felling towards Rose, and now Rose is back. "Or I can come with you."

"Allen, no." Damon cut her off again. "She wants me to take care of her and her whole pack; she wants me to give her the respect and position she deserves." Allen hated the way Damon averted his eye, avoiding Allen gaze as he hesitated. "I am going to marry her. and I will make her my official Luna."

Another heartbroken, gut-wrenching whimper escaped Allen's lips as she let go of Damon and stepped back, shaking her head. "No!" she yelled in a broken voice, then covered her mouth with both hands. "No, please no."

The Omega was trembling, tears streaming down her cheeks as the Alpha stepped closer and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. "I'm so sorry, Allen." He apologized in a soft whisper, clearly holding back his own tears: "But I love her. I also love you, but I love her more."

"You can; we can, please." Allen pleaded, clutching onto Damon's shirt again, "I promise I never complain; I don't even want Luna's position; I want nothing, Damon. Please don't leave me; stay with me. You promise me, Damon, please."

But Damon shakes his head; he's already given up, already submitted to his heart's will. "I'm sorry, Allen." He whispered, gently pushing Allen away from him, "But I can't; I love her only, and when I know about her being all fine, I can't help but think about my future with her."

Then he was walking away, taking Allen's heart with him.

The Omega whimpered and whined as she watched helplessly as her Alpha walked away from her, then disappeared behind the front door of Pack House.

A wave of nausea hit her, and Ashly quickly ran to the bushes and fell to her knees, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the ground.

All it took Alex was a quick Google search on his phone, and a whole array of pages, all starring his Alpha father, appeared on his small screen. After scanning through them for just a few moments, he quickly found the address to his father's.

It was well past 8 p.m. when he finally reached the train station, and it is luckily a fairly quiet evening, so it doesn't take too long before he arrives at the upper east side. The whole way there, his knee jumped, his heart pounded, and his mind raced.

He had no idea what he would find, if at all. It was late. God only knows if his father's even going to be at the office. And if he wasn't, he had no idea what he would do because there was no way of finding his private home address. And he can't just enter the Moonlight Pack without permission.

He could always just camp out and wait for him there all night. Yeah, that's what he can do.

When he arrives, however, he discovers that his father is very much a workaholic because he's still there at 9 p.m.

Somehow, Alex manages to sneak in, past the doorman and the lobby clerk, and into the elevator, making his way to the tenth floor. When he steps tentatively out of the elevator and onto the floor, he notices the names displayed on the wall in gold-plated letters.

Damon Will..

Alex takes a shaky breath as he stares at the names, that's the name of his father, he knows as much from the newspaper articles and the further searches he did on google.

This whole time, his Alpha father has lived just about an hour away; he had a whole other family. And his father didn't even know about him. If he had, would they have been able to have a relationship?

There is just so much he missed out on-so many years of yearning for a father, just like all the other kids. Years of being teased and feeling rejected and unwanted. All this time and pain could have been avoided.

And his mom, the woman he loved and cherished more than anything, hid it from him; she kept his own father from him. This was all Allen's fault.

"Hey, kid," a deep, calm voice calls from behind him as Alex continues to stare at his father's name. "Are you okay there? Are you lost?"

He doesn't know why or how, but even before he actually turns, Alex just knows.

After taking a deep breath, which does nothing to calm his nerves, Alex turns ever so slowly, excitement and pure terror bubbling under his skin.

Then he is face-to-face with his alpha father, whose expression turns from concern and confusion to absolutely stunned. Did the man recognize him?

His father is tall, even taller than him. He's wearing pantsuits, a button-up with folded sleeves, a couple of buttons undone, and a loose tie around his neck. But he still looks put together, which is very important.

He looks powerful and strong.

They both stare dumbly at each other for a long moment, and the more time passes, the more the man is watching Alex like he is seeing a ghost. Finally, the man breaks the tense silence. "Who are you?" he asks with a frown, probably already suspecting.

He did look just like his mother, after all.

Alex lifts his right hand slowly, then points and stammers dumbly, "You're Damon Will." He wants to face-palm himself almost as soon as the words escape his lips. But it seems to amuse the man, as his expression softens a bit, and he smiles.

"Yes, I am," he confirms, then gestures with his head towards Alex, "and who are you?"

Once again, Alex hesitates, fumbles with the rings on his fingers, and cowers a bit as he feels his father's eyes burning holes in him. When he finally looks up again, Damon is watching his fingers with a mixture of the same look from before, like he's seen a ghost, and now also... fondness? Nostalgia?

"My umm... my name is Alex... Alex Allen," he manages in a small voice, slightly trembling, "my mother is Allen."

Many people got confused because of his surname; he even tried to know why his mother gave him this surname, but she never answered.

As soon as the boy turned to face him, Damon felt a wave of recognition hit him. There was no mistaking that boy. His suspicions were confirmed when he started to fidget with his rings, but even so, when they are confirmed, it still hits him like a ton of bricks.

He's dreamt of that name and the woman itself almost every night since he last saw her, but he hasn't heard it out loud for 15 years.

And God, how he missed it.

But then it dawns on him... Allen has a child; she has a whole new family. And it doesn't matter that he has one too; it makes his Alpha want to growl.

Damon then frowns. "Did something happen to her?" He asks, dreading the answer, "Is she okay?"

"Oh, yeah, she's, um, she's fine." Alex is quick to respond, clearly noticing Damon's sudden distress. "It's just, um, I think..." Alex takes a deep breath, then blurts out, "I think, well, no, I know I'm your son."

The world around Damon spins yet again as the words start to sink in. He had suspicions when the boy first turned to face him, especially when he confirmed that he was, in fact, an Allen child.

He may be a mirror image of Allen, but the boy has his eyes; there's no question about that.

Damon struggles to make sense of this. He watches the boy, who really takes him in from head to toe, as his lungs burn for air and his head struggles to string a word, let alone a sentence.

He has a son. Allen and he have a son together. A teenage son.

A few syllables escape his lips as he opens and closes his mouth, a million questions racing through his mind all at once, yet he manages to voice none of them.

"I'm so sorry." Alex finally manages, and Damon quickly looks up at his sorrow-filled eyes and says, "I should have never... I shouldn't have. I'm sorry." then the boy is turning to leave, which causes Damon to finally get a semblance of a grip and move into action.

"No, please," he calls out frantically, stepping closer. "Please, stay."

Alex bites his bottom lip and fumbles with his rings again as he looks from Damon to the elevator and back again. When he remains silent and hesitant, Damon adds, "Let's go sit in my office and talk a bit, okay?"

The boy just nods, but it requires further power to actually start walking away from the elevators. When they finally arrive at Damon's office, which feels like an eternity later, Damon finally manages to ask one of the many burning questions he has: "How old are you?"

Alex lingers by the door before finally stepping forward. "14," he responds shortly, looking around at the large office while Damon keeps his eyes on him.

14... That means he was conceived on the night of Allen Heat. But how come she never told him about Alex? Why did she hide it from him all these years?

"Wow." Damon stumbles through. "And do you?" but a phone call ends his sentence. Alex quickly fumbles to get his phone out of his pocket.

Once again, Damon's breath gets caught in his throat when he manages to catch a glimpse of the screen.

The name "Mum" flashes at the top of the screen, while the whole screen is showing a picture of Allen and Alex, who look a few years younger. Damon can't help but stare at the screen as Alex silences the phone without actually cutting the call.

Allen is still as beautiful as ever, but she looks so different. A little older. She has barely any makeup on.

Alec finally looks back up at him and notices him staring. "Is she... is she... does she know you're here?" Damon stammers.

"No." Alex shakes his head, clearly not wanting to elaborate any further.

"How is she?" He manages to ask; there is so much more he wants to know, so much he feels like he missed out on.

Alex looks down again as the phone rings for the second time. "She, umm..." Alex silences it again, then looks back up at Damon, and it seems like he's contemplating his response. He opens his mouth again to say the words he finally decided on, but then his eyes land on the framed picture on Damon's desk, and his answer dies out on his lips.

Damon looks down at the picture and then back at Alex, who has a sad expression on his face, which has Damon's gut wrenching and his heart constricting.

"Those are my two boys," Damon supplies before he can stop himself, rubbing the back of his neck. "Seb and Tian; they're 10 and 7."

"Oh," is all Alex says as he averts his gaze back to his fingers, which are yet again playing with the rings.

Damon feels completely out of sorts and way out of his element.

He'd barely come to terms that he would never see Allen again, and now this-he isn't prepared for this.

The silence in the office is tense, grave, and loaded, and Damon has no idea what he is supposed to say or do, even though he's an adult.

Then his own phone is ringing, and Damon looks down at it; it's lying face down on his desk, so he can't see the caller ID.

But somehow, he just knows.

So, he slowly lifts the phone and looks at the screen, which is flashing an unknown caller ID. He lost all his contacts a few years ago, so this number isn't saved in his phone, but somehow, yet again, he just knows.

He looks up at Alex, who also seems to know, and his eyes are pleading, "Please, don't answer it." He says in a small voice, "She lied to us both; she doesn't."

"I know." Damon cuts him off, suddenly realizing that he needs to be a responsible adult. "And I'm sorry, but I can't; I have to answer."

Alex goes to protest again, but Damon just shakes his head and holds it to his ear. "This is Damon Will."

And nothing in the world could have prepared him for the voice that sounds at the other end of the call, panicked and out of breath: "Alex."

****

"Would you please stop?" Maya snaps from her spot on the couch while her best friend paces furiously in the small space in front of her.

Allen comes to a screeching halt, turning to glare at her with a pointed finger and matching look. "Stop? My 15-year-ol son is off somewhere all alone, searching for my..." Allen trails off, having no idea how to even end that sentence, then waves her phone in her other hand and says, "And he's not answering my calls."

"I already told you what I think." Maya replies just as calmly as ever, "You need to..."

"don't! " Allen snaps again quickly, cutting her off. "I won't call him; I can't."

Maya smiles sadly at her, then stands and walks over to her, cupping both Allen hands in hers and looking her straight in the eyes. "Allen, I'm sorry, but if you want to find your son, I'm not sure if there's much of a choice here."

Allen glares at her friend, angry at her for being the messenger but knowing deep down that she's right. Eventually she sighs heavily in defeat, her glaring eyes softening. "I know, I know..." she mutters, "but I'm just... I'm really scared, and not even close to being ready for this; I can't."

Maya pulls her into a strong, comforting hug. "I know," she says softly, "but I'll be here with you; we'll do this together."

When they eventually pull back, Allen fishes through her contacts with trembling fingers, releasing a shaky breath once she lands on the one, she's looking for.

Damon.

She could never bring herself to delete him from her phone. It was the last and only link she still had to him. Every so often, she finds herself blindly reaching for her phone and scrolling down, just to stare at his name.

Her thumb would linger over it as her mind entertained the thought of actually making the call.

But she never did.

Allen takes another deep breath, which does absolutely nothing to calm her nerves, while Maya places a comforting hand on her shoulder. She gives her a light squeeze. "I'm right here," she promises when Allen looks over at her.

"Thank you," she whispers, then, with a determined nod, she looks back down at the phone, presses the call button, and lifts the phone to her ear.

"This is Damon Will." His voice fills Allen's ear, and her whole world stops for a moment, her breath hitching in her throat. Everything around her spins, and when she feels coherent enough to actually think, she finds herself wondering if Damon deleted her from his phone.

Like he deleted you from his life. Her mind supplies unhelpfully.

The thought of him deleting her number stings more than she would like to admit. It's not very surprising; if you think about it logically, it has been almost 15 years after all, but it still hurts.

She must have been silent for a while, because Maya suddenly nudges her, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Damon," she finally breathes out, then remembers her son and starts stammering, "Is he... my son, Alex, is he?"

"He's here." Damon tells her, then, after a short pause, he adds, "I'll bring him home soon."

Damon sounds like a businessman. It's the best way Allen can think of to describe the way the man is talking. Like they're talking business, like they mean nothing to each other.

Well, they don't really mean much to each other anymore. 15 years is a very long time; neither of them is anything like they used to be, probably.

"Thank you." Allen chokes out, almost literally feeling the world move off its arches. "Thank you so much."

"Yeah, you're welcome." Then, just as quickly as it started, Damon was saying goodbye and hanging up just as quickly, probably wanting to speak to Allen as little as possible.

Of course, he doesn't want to talk to Allen; why would he?