I sat with the information while my mother made us both a cup of tea, gently setting mine in front of me.
“Do you really think this Clover wants to harm your pack?” she asked.
I ran a hand through my hair. “No, I don’t,” I admitted. It was true—Clover had shown me time and again that she wasn’t interested in us for our money.
“Then why the contract?” my mother asked.
“I thought that’s how things were done. When I think about the kind of pack I want in the future—the kind of woman I want our pack to have—I want someone who can handle our world. Someone like you. Clover is almost an invasive species. She won’t fit the way someone from society would. You don’t meddle in Dads’ businesses. You focus on the family.”
“I don’tmeddlein their businesses?” my mother asked, raising her brows. The look on her face warned me I was on dangerous ground.
“You know what I mean,” I said quickly. “Your place was never in the boardroom. It was here, with the family, and that worked. You and the dads balanced each other out. The contract would simply stop Clover from overstepping.”
“Parker Ashcroft,” my mother said sharply. “What do you consider overstepping? Do you truly have no idea how much I impacted your fathers’ businesses?”
“You never really had anything to do with them,” I said, picking at an imaginary piece of lint on my shirt. “And it worked so well. We were all happy growing up.”
My mother stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing—again—a full, unrestrained laugh that brought tears to her eyes.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, bristling.
“Oh, Parker, my dearest boy,” she said, catching her breath. “For someone so smart, you can be impossibly dense at times.”
“I’m not dense,” I said petulantly.
She rounded the table, placing her hands on my upper arms. Though she was a good foot shorter than me, her gaze locked on mine with steel-like focus.
“Listen to me,” she said. “Your fathers would’ve been eaten alive in the business world without me. I had a gigantic part in your fathers’ businesses. Do you remember when you were a teenager and your fathers were negotiating that deal with a charter company for six months?”
I nodded. I remembered it well—those months were stressful, but the deal had paid off spectacularly. From what I understood, it was one of the best acquisitions they’d ever made. I was pretty sure that deal had bought us several vacation homes.
“That wasmydeal,” my mother said pointedly. “I brought it to the table, I negotiated it, and your fathers supported me every step of the way.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again, struggling to find the right words.
“But…you never took part in their business dealings,” I said weakly.
“I can assure you I did.”
“How were you always around for us?”
“Exceptional planning. It was easier once you and Magnolia were in school during the day. Your fathers handle the day to day, but I was present for every important meeting to ensure they weren’t taken advantage of. And you can ask your fathers—they’ll back me up. If you were looking for an omega like me, I’m afraid you have a very misguided view of who I am and how we operated as a family. If you think you need a calm omega who only concerns herself with being at home, there’s nothing wrong with that, but is that what you truly want? Is that whatCloverwants? Have you even spoken to her about this, or did you decide what was best for everyone without a discussion?”
Blinking, I must have looked foolish, opening and closing my mouth like a fish.
“I didn’t…”
“Think?” My mother chuckled, shaking her head before patting me gently on the arm. “Our lawyers are like sharks. It’s cruel to set them on someone. That’s not how you build a life together. For better or for worse, this woman is going to be in your life now—you need to treat her with the same respect you would treat any of your family. You can’t try to control her. You’d hate it if someone tried that with you, so you have to think about it from her perspective, though I know it’s not one of your strengths. If you all like her, there’s a good chance you may choose to bond one day.” She must have seen my facial expression change. “What is it?”
“I didn’t know this before I had the contracts written up,” I prefaced. “But Logan and Clover were a little reckless and accidentally bonded before she left for Seattle. Regardless of who the biological father of Clover’s child is, it’s a pack baby.”
My mother’s hand whipped up to her mouth, hardly concealing her shock. “Your pack has a bond mate, and you didn’t lead with that? Parker!”
“It didn’t seem relevant at the time!”
My mother pinched the bridge of her nose, an exasperated sigh escaping her. “We don’t have enough time for me to tell you all the ways you’re wrong. I think, for now, you need to go make things right with your pack—and that includes your omega.”
“What if she doesn’t forgive me?” The fear of that reality sank into my bones. What if I’d ruined everything for my pack?
