She is so kind. Whenever I feel her presence, it seems I calm down immediately. “I am hungry too,” I admit.
“Is there anything Faye doesn’t eat?” she asks me.
“I am not sure. We ate pretty simple stuff,” I admit. “But so far she hasn’t been a fussy eater.”
“We have plenty of food prepared,” Flora says. “If she doesn’t like anything, she doesn’t need to pretend.”
She hurries off to talk to one of the maids. Meanwhile, Elden approaches me. “Gwen,” he says quietly. “There is something we need to discuss.”
I nod, dread settling inside me.
“It’s about your living situation here. Felix mentioned beforehand that Marina’s situation is special, but that Faye likes to be with her.”
The dread I just felt makes way for relief. He is not telling us to leave.
“She loves her,” I tell him. “To her, she is her mom, although Marina never reacts to her.”
“Yes,” Elden says, a hint of worry in his eyes. “I am not sure this is going to be healthy for Faye long term.”
“I know,” I say quietly. “I’ve been worried about this ever since they returned to the pack. My old pack, I mean.”
Elden gazes at Faye, who is currently holding Marina’s hand and talking to her. Aurelia and Arden are with them now, both of them looking thoughtful. “Do you know what happened? She wasn’t always like this, was she?”
“She was like any other wolf before she left,” I mutter. “I don’t know what went down with her mate.”
“She has a mate?”
“I think so, but I don’t know any details.”
“Did your former alpha – Alpha Jacob wasn’t it – did he ever say anything?”
“No, I tried to push for answers, but to no avail,” I admit.
Elden frowns. A sudden aura of anger surrounds him that makes it difficult to breathe for a moment. He controls himself immediately, though. “We’ll need to get to the bottom of this.”
“Really?” I exclaim, not able to hide my surprise. “I… I already gave up hope of ever finding out what happened and finding help for Marina.”
“Don’t worry, I will not let this rest,” Elden promises me, looking up when he sees Aurelia approaching us.
“Faye is a sweet girl,” she says, before looking at her father, her eyes glossing over. She must be mind-linking him. “Gwen,” she continues. “What do you think if we tried to push the motherly bond between Marina and Faye?”
“Faye clearly wants to be close to her,” Elden agrees.
“Mom and Arden prepared a cottage for Felix and you,” Aurelia continues. “It’s right behind the packhouse. There aren’t any other houses there.”
“It belonged to my mother,” Elden adds. “I never had the heart to let it go and use it for the pack, but I think it would be perfect for both of you. It has a garden and a smaller additional building you could use as a shed for the pets.”
“Right,” Aurelia says. “The original plan was to have Faye and Marina move either in with you or to a smaller cottage close to you. But what do you think if we moved them to an apartment in the packhouse? They would still be very close but be surrounded by other lycans in case of an emergency. We’d also have a maid and nurse with them.”
“We have an elderly omega here; she was our cook before she retired a year ago. She is good friends with Flora and has always loved Felix and Dario in particular. I’ve talked to her, and she would be over the moon to help out,” Elden explains. “I would pay her for her work, of course. She would be taking turns with another maid.”
“And we’d have a nurse checking in on them daily,” Aurelia adds.
There is a tension in my shoulders that I wasn’t aware of until now. “Is this… is this really okay?” I ask. “I can’t possibly… this is too much.”
“You absolutely can,” Elden says earnestly. “As Felix’s mate, you are part of the family now, and we take pride in looking after our family.”
There is the old guilt I feel whenever I think of asking someone else for help with Faye and Marina. It feels like I am failing them, like I should be stronger. But I am so tired, so fucking tired. “I would love to try,” I say. “Thank you so much. I have no words. I…” Tears fill my eyes.
