She patted Willow’s shoulder again, and Willow reached up and took her hand. “We’re not the same person, despite what Trevor or Kelsey would tell you. But we do have some things in common. I think I felt that way too, most of my life.”
But had her own mom ever noticed?
Soon it was time to leave. When they arrived, wolves and mates already filled the alpha’s front yard. Willow didn’t see Nathan’s parents Nicole and Patrick, didn’t see Lucy and her pups. The rest of the pack was here.
When Ezra spotted her, he opened one arm in invitation, and Willow went to him and put an arm around his waist. He drew her close with a motion that seemed tense. Odd, given how easy he usually was around his pack.
“Okay?” she said.
“Yeah, there’s just a lot of stress in the air right now. Everybody’s scents are pretty thick with it.”
“Oh.” The whole pack was under stress. Because of her. She tucked herself more tightly against his side.
“Hey,” Ezra said quietly. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Try to be smaller. You don’t have to, Wil. You’re welcome here as my mate, no matter what.”
Willow tried to believe him. She straightened her posture and looked around the yard, and several wolves met her eyes and nodded acknowledgement, even Rhett, whom she’d barely spoken to so far. Trevor smiled, and Nathan waved.
In a minute Nicole and Patrick joined the group. From the edge of the group, closer to the cabin, Malachi stepped onto the lowest step of the porch, which combined with his height gave him all the boost he needed to be seen by those at the fringe of the little crowd. The quietly murmured conversations all trailed off to silence, so that a single mockingbird, singing in a tree behind Willow, became loud. The pack widened the ring around him and came in close, probably so none of the humans would strain to hear.
“Lucy won’t be here?” Malachi said to Jeremy.
“She woke up with a cold, and Callie’s got it too. And we figured she should stay home with the pups anyway, in case this is sensitive info.”
Malachi nodded, then addressed the pack. “Most of you have heard by now why this council is needed. Last night three officers from the Harmony Ridge Police Department came to the Lane.”
Low growls responded from many of the wolves, and a shiver slid up Willow’s back. The pack wasn’t only under stress. They were angry.
“Specifically,” Malachi said, “they came to Ezra’s home. They’d been told by Willow’s parents that Ezra had kidnapped her, brought her here against her will.”
The vocalizations of the wolves rose again, this time harsher as a few of them unleashed snarls of indignation. Willow couldn’t help it; she did try to shrink, to hide behind Ezra. Not because she feared the pack’s anger, but because she had caused the need for it, for this very council. Tears rose in her eyes.
“Mal,” Ezra said over the growling of the others, “please, I need to say something.”
Malachi nodded to him, and Ezra swept Willow into his arms. Someday she would no longer be surprised when he did this. The whole pack turned toward them, and she latched her arms around his neck and hid her face in a sudden attack of shame and…something like stage fright. She longed to ask that they not look at her, but her voice was paralyzed.
But she didn’t need to speak. Ezra did, his voice strong and firm while he cradled her against his chest.
“This woman in my arms is my precious mate,” he said. “Regardless of anything her folks have done, Willow is mine. I know the pack accepts this; I know you don’t blame her. But she can’t smell it on y’all, and I think this whole pack’s too riled up to remember that. So I’m asking you to do right by her. You wolves can smell how she feels about what her folks did to me, to all of us. Now, as her wolf, I’m asking you to let her know how the pack feels toward her.”
A growl rolled from Malachi as he nodded approval to Ezra. His voice gained volume so that Willow couldn’t miss the welcome in it. For her. Then the entire pack was receiving her unmistakably, their chorus of growls and howls punctuated by a few enthusiastic yips and barks from Trevor and a round of applause from all the mates. Her tears overflowed. She looked up from her wolf’s shoulder and let the pack see her face.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Ezra nodded to them all, and the vocalizing and applause grew quiet. “Thanks,” he said to Malachi, “for giving me the floor for a second.”
“It was needed,” Malachi said.
Beside Ezra and Willow, Robert and Ann were both nodding. Ann reached out to pat Willow’s arm.
Willow looked up at her wolf. “Thanks, Ez. You can put me down now.”
With a grumbling growl, he set her on her feet. She tucked an arm around his waist again, not to hide but to enjoy his nearness and her belonging to him. Whatever was said at this council, whatever actions the pack chose to take against her father, she would stand in support. They had chosen to embrace her. She would choose them too.
Twenty-Four
