Chapter 93
Amie
inlay was extra fussy and protective as we got ready to head home. IF should probably put a stop to it, but I needed it just as much as he did to settle my nerves. Yesterday had been too close for my liking and it was why I didn’t object to his fussing or the fact that we were heading home after just two and a half days at the alpha meeting.
“Ready to go?” he asked as he grabbed our bags.
“Ready,” I confirmed. He opened the door and then put his free arm around me. I put my arm around him as well, it allowed me to be close to him.
“I texted Elder and he will be waiting in the lobby to say goodbye,”
Finlay told me.
“Thank you,” I said and kissed his jaw. In the lobby it wasn’t just Elder who waited for us. James, Jonas and Beatrice were also there.
“Beatrice! How are you doing?” I asked and took a step forward to give her a hug. She smiled back at me.
“I’m fine. I don’t have any lasting symptoms. How about you?” she asked.
“I’m fine as well.” We took a moment to say goodbye to everyone. I was happy the last tension between James and Finlay was gone. James had changed for the better after his mating. I could see the young version of him come through, and he looked relaxed. He even laughed. I was happy he was happy. Elder gave me a long hug.
“Please just stay in your house and keep any urges of doing brave things at bay. If you keep scaring me like this I will start going grey. Becky will hate you,” he told me. I laughed.
“I will do my best. And silver foxes are sexy,” I said and ruffled his hair.
He chuckled and tried to ruffle my hair. Years of practice made it easy for me to avoid his hand.
“I will make sure she doesn't get any bright ideas. I plan on giving her all the paperwork that needs to be done. I may have fallen a little bit behind,”
Finlay said. Everyone laughed. It was a little sad to say goodbye to our friends. We had a good group of allies. I was still happy to get into the car with Finlay. The first hour we sat in silence mostly, each of us occupied with our own thoughts. As always it was a comfortable silence and Finlay was holding my hand. He let go of it and pulled out a bread roll from his pocket.
“Hungry?” he asked. I looked at the bread and started laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my face and I had a problem catching my breath. He looked at me with worry.
“Like a food magician,” I wheezed. He chuckled and pulled the car over so he could face me.
“Are you okay?” he asked and wiped a tear from my face.
“I’m fine, I really am. I needed a good laugh. Thanks, love,” I told him and leaned over to kiss him. He looked happy as we drew apart.
“So, is that a yes or a no on the bread roll?” he asked.
“A yes,” I said and snatched it from him. He laughed happily and we continued on our way.
When we crossed onto the pack land I smiled and felt almost giddy.
Finlay must have felt it through our bond as he looked at me and smiled. I mindlinked Matilda and I could feel how relieved and happy he was. The top tier and Matilda stood waiting outside our house. As soon as I got out of the car, Matilda, Medow and Shelly were hugging me.
“It’s good to have the both of you home again,” Matilda said as she gave Finlay a hug.
“It’s good to be home,” Finlay told her.
“You two should get some rest,” Matilda said. I looked at Finlay. We had talked during the drive and our nerves had calmed down. We were ready to deal with reality.
“I think it’s better that the three of us have a talk,” I said, hooking my arm with hers.
“Yes, come inside and we will have a family meeting,” Finlay agreed.
The others understood, they knew we would make time to talk to them and the pack later. Matilda and I sat down on the couch and Finlay sat on the coffee table, facing us. He took out two apples from his pocket and handed one to me and held the other out for Matilda. “An apple?” he asked. The look on her face made me giggle.
“He has taken on the role of my personal snack dispenser. He always has fruit or a tasty snack in his pocket,” I told her. She smiled but turned the apple down.
“Did you get a hold of Tamara?” I asked Matilda, and then took a bite out of the apple.
“I did. From what she told me the pack didn’t take the news of what happened at the Alpha meeting well. Apparently, the council warriors arrived the same day everything went down. She didn’t say, but I think it saved the few women left. She and Sarah, Ryder’s mate, have been detained for now to answer questions about his plans. Tamara swears she had no idea about what he was planning. I believe her,” Matilda said. I nodded and took her hand in mine.
“Does she know what happened? Everything?” Finlay asked.
“She does,” Matilda told him. He nodded and looked down at his hands. I put the half eaten apple down and placed my freehand on top of his.
“What did she say?” he hesitantly asked.
“Ryder was her son, she is heartbroken,” Matilda told him. He nodded, but I knew that wasn’t what he had asked about. I squeezed Matilda’s hand and she looked at me. I nodded. “She is upset we ended up where she has fought so many years not to end up. With one of her sons killing the other.
All of this pack business and the animosity in the family started because she tried to avoid this.”
“She is angry,” he said. He was breaking my heart and I wished he wouldn’t care what his mother thought or felt, but I also knew that parental approval was deeply rooted. I let go of Matilda’s hand and stood up next to Finlay. I cradled his head with one arm, forcing him to lean it against my stomach.
“She isn’t angry. She is just sad and upset,” Matilda said, giving me an approving smile. Then there was a pause.
“There is more,” I said. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. When the council releases Tamara and Sarah, they don’t have anywhere to go. Tamara wanted to come here,” Matilda said.
“No.” Finlay was trying his best to shake his head as I held it.
“Finn,” I gently said.
“No. I don’t trust them. I almost lost you both a couple of days ago and I’m not planning on going through that again,” he said.
“Do we know when they will be released?” I asked.
“Probably later today,” Matilda said.
“That doesn't give us much time to arrange for something else. Especially with the alphas still in the alpha meeting,” I said.
“Fine. They can stay but only for a week. It will take them a day to get here and then they can stay a week while we arrange for a permanent placement,” Finlay said.
“Are you sure? We can always book a hotel room in the closest city for them,” I suggested. He sighed, put his arms around me, and relaxed against me.
“I’m sure. I don’t trust them, but for a week I can deal with it.” I hoped the week would give him a chance to resolve some of the lingering issues with his mother. Maybe now that his brother was gone, they could create some bond or relationship. Or maybe just talk it through to give them both closure.
“Okay, let’s do that then,” I agreed and kissed the top of his head. It was a rare treat for me to be taller than him.
“I will arrange it,” Matilda told us and got up.
“Get Jake to help with booking the travel and arrange for someone to pick them up from the airport,” Finlay said. Matilda hummed, gave Finlay a kiss on his head and me an awkward hug as Finlay was already embracing me, and left. “What’s next?” Finlay asked. He was still leaning on me and I didn’t mind. I ran my fingers through his hair.
“We can take a break and do nothing,” I said. He chuckled.
“Your mom is a liar,” he told my belly. “She has never been able to do nothing.” I laughed. It was mostly true. The only time I was content with just doing nothing and enjoying the moment was when Finlay and I took time for ourselves.
“Well, if you insist we do something, it might be a good time to ask the ones we have taken in to have a talk. They have some decisions they need
to make,” I told him. He kissed my bump and stood up.
“Good idea,” he said.
We met with the families in the pack house living room, everyone else had been asked to give us some privacy.
“You have heard what has happened. The Ocean Shore pack no longer exists and my brother is dead. You don’t have the option to go back. I’m sorry, I know this is hard, and the old pack land and how it used to be will always be a part of us,” Finlay told them. It was sober faces who nodded at his words.
“You need a new pack,” I said. “We would be more than happy to have you in our pack. Most of you have ties to us and we have enjoyed having you these months. If you feel like this isn’t the right pack for you, we will help you find another. All our allies are open to taking you into their packs,”
I told them.
“We are not asking you to decide today. But it would be best for everyone if you did make a decision in the coming weeks. Mine and Amie’s door is always open if you have questions or need to talk to us,” Finlay said. We talked with them and answered questions they had. Then we let them go on their way to discuss what to do. Martin's family lingered and I smiled at Bridget.
“Alpha, Luna, we have been talking for weeks about this and we would like to become permanent members of this pack,” Kyle said.
“We have felt so welcome here and it reminds all of us how it used to be in the old pack. We feel safe here,” Bridget said.
“It’s almost as if Martin is watching over us here, it’s comforting,”
Martin’s mother said and his sister nodded.
“We are happy to take the money we will get from the selling of the pack land and buy the house we live in,” Kyle told us.
“We would be happy to have you. You fit into our pack and we would love to make it permanent,” I said.
“And the house is yours. As Martin’s closest family it should fall to you.
No money is needed to exchange hands. The money can be used for other things,” Finlay said.
“I have always wanted to open a flower shop,” Bridget told us.
“Oh, we don’t have one of those in the village!” I was excited about the idea, maybe I could talk to her and see if she was interested in expanding
her idea into something like a garden centre. Then I didn’t need to go all the way into the closest human town to get things for my garden.
“I will become your first and most loyal customer. Amie has a thing for flowers,” Finlay told her. The family thanked us and we told them Medow would be in touch with them to plan the bloodening. We headed for the meeting room where the rest of the top tier waited for us. As we sat down, Finlay fished an energy bar out of his pocket and handed it to me. I smiled and accepted it. We talked with the group for a long while. It was a mix of sadness and relief in the air. Medow and I were the only two who had never been a part of the Ocean Shore pack. All the others had been born and raised in the pack and needed to grieve its destruction. At the same time, we were all happy not to have what had happened in the pack in the last year hanging over us. Grieving was the first step in moving on.
It was nice to get into our bed, in our house, at the end of the day. I let Finlay pull me into him.
“Do you feel better?” I asked. He chuckled and kissed me.
“I should be asking you, but yes. I feel a lot better. I’m starting to come to terms with killing him. I don’t feel any remorse about it and I’m getting to terms with my lack of guilt as well,” he told me. I let my fingers trace his face.
“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.
