“Good. I’m not sorry he is gone either. I’m happy you are here, that our pup is here and that we all are home.” I knew it might cause issues when Finlay’s mother and his brother’s mate came. But I was ready to kick them out of the pack the second they tried to make Finlay feel bad about what he did. He had been protecting me and our pup and I would happily return the favour.
Late afternoon the next day, Finlay and I got a mindlink from the guard at the gate. Finlay’s mother and Sarah had just entered the pack land.
“We better go and greet them,” I said, holding out my hand towards him. He took it and followed me as he mindlinked his aunt. The three of us watched as the car with our two warriors and the two women drove into the village and up to the pack house. Tamara looked older and tired. It wasn’t hard to see the past year had been hard on her. The other woman who stepped out of the car, Sarah, looked terrified. In a way I could understand her. She was an Omega who had mated the worst kind of Alpha. She had to leave her own pack and had been stranded in the Ocean Shore pack ever since. I didn’t know what she had been through during her time in that pack, but I guessed it wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Now she was forced to another pack, one where the Alpha had killed her mate. Again, I knew nothing about her relationship with Ryder. If she had loved him, meeting the man who killed him must be hard. For the first time, I questioned why she hadn’t gone back to her original pack, now when she could.
“Tamara, welcome,” I said and smiled at my mother-in-mating.
“Amie, thank you. You look absolutely radiating,” Tamara told me and a tired smile came across her face. She reached out to hug me but Finlay pulled me in behind him as he took a step to place himself between me and our guests.
“No touching,” he told them. Matilda gave me a look and then walked up and gave her sister a hug. I knew what the look meant; deal with him while I distract the guests.
‘Finn, I know you are on edge, but she isn’t going to squeeze me to death,’ I mindlinked him.
‘Stranger things have happened,’ he answered.
‘I will be careful,’ I promised. I walked around him and stopped by his side again. When he didn’t react and Matilda had hugged her sister, I walked up to Tamara and gave her a quick hug and then returned to Finlay’s side. He put his arm around my shoulders.
“This is Sarah,” Tamara said. We all nodded towards her and she visibly shrank when our focus was on her. Tamara placed her hand on the young woman’s back.
“Welcome. We have arranged two rooms for you in the pack house,” I told them. Sarah looked terrified by the mere suggestion. I wondered how she would survive a week with us.
“Would it be too much trouble for us to share a room?” Tamara asked.
“Not at all,” I said, thinking it would be the best thing. I mindlinked a pack member to ask them to put a new room in order and then tell Matilda which one.
“We thought it would be nice with a family dinner tonight. It has been too long since last time. Amie and Finlay will cook for us,” Matilda said. She skipped the part where both Finlay and I were hesitant to have the two women amongst the pack. We wanted to make an evaluation of them first. Family dinner was a nice excuse.
“Sounds lovely,” Tamara agreed. Matilda took the guests to show them the pack house and get them settled in. I took Finlay home to make sure he calmed down before he needed to use sharp objects to cook.
Chapter 94
Finlay
Imade sure Amie was seated between me and my aunt as we sat down to have dinner. The tension was clear and Sarah looked at me like I was a monster. Amie, my aunt and mother tried their best to keep a conversation going. They stayed away from anything that had to do with my brother, with Amie being pregnant and with the council, which didn’t leave much. Sarah and I mostly stayed silent. She seemed afraid. As for me, I was trying to deal with my emotions that were popping up like pimples on a teenager. It was clear how close my mother was with Sarah. She protected her and was constantly checking on her. Apparently I wasn’t as over the favouritism of my brother, and in extension, his mate, as I had thought. Because it rubbed me the wrong way how close my mother was with Sarah, and she hadn’t even taken time to congratulate me and Amie on having a pup. Or bothered to reach out to Amie to talk at all in the year we had been mated. The next thing that irritated me to no end was how we were expected to ignore the fact Amie was pregnant. No one had mentioned it. Not even in passing. It made me feel like the life Amie and I had created was no big deal. In reality, it wasone of the biggest miracles and gifts I had ever received. When I felt myself almost reaching the boiling point, Amie smiled at me and leaned in and kissed my cheek. I couldn’t help myself but to smile back. I felt my anger diminish to a simmering stew.
“Amie this fish is amazing,” my mother said and plated some more of it to Sarah.
“Thank you, but Finn deserves the praise. He caught it in the river while fishing with Jake and Mari, then cooked it,” Amie said.
“You know how to cook?” my mother asked me, unable to hide her surprise.
“When I mated it seemed like a reasonable skill to learn. Amie and I always wanted a family and I knew I had to do my part. I can’t just expect Amie to cook all the time. It has already come in handy. There are days when the little one takes more of Amie’s energy than usual,” I said, placing my hand on Amie’s bump. I wasn’t going to play by their rules. “It’s nice to be able to spend those afternoons at home. I can make sure she takes a nap while I make us dinner.”
“He is spoiling me,” Amie told them. “He even asked my mom to teach him to make some of my favourite childhood dishes.” I just kissed her hair. Spoiling Amie was my favourite pastime. My mother looked at me like she didn’t know who I was. In a way she didn’t. Sarah looked at me with big eyes. After that, the conversation flowed a little better. I had an easier time to keep my emotions under control. I could feel Amie was holding something back, I just didn’t know if it was for my sake or because of something else. It was a big relief when the dinner was over and my aunt took my mother and Sarah back to the pack house. I pulled Amie into my arms and kissed her. After the kiss she let go of her feelings and to my astonishment, it was anger she had been holding back. White hot blazing anger. I just stared at her for a long time.
“Red?” I asked.
“I don’t like it, okay?” she said.
“Okay. What is it you don’t like, sweetheart?”
“I don’t like how she makes you feel. I know how you struggled at the beginning of the evening and it makes me furious! And I don’t like how they pretend we’re not having a pup. How your mother ignored her grand pup and I hate how upset it’s making you,” she explained and I felt her anger build as she spoke. If I could have claimed her as my mate a second time, I would have done it in that second. Instead, I drew her in for a heated kiss and I kept kissing her until we both needed air.
“It’s one week,” I said after we both caught our breath.
“Right. We can keep from killing them for one week,” she agreed. I had to laugh.
“I think your pregnancy hormones are acting up again, Red. Do I need to mindlink Shelly to come over and work her magic?” I asked. Shelly had been named the pregnant wolf whisperer of the pack. After having three pups of her own, which was a lot for a werewolf, she was familiar with what hormones and feelings could do when mixed. More than once was she the only thing standing in between a pregnant wolf and the destruction of the world. Amie giggled.
