Chapter 24

SAMANTHA

It was later in the day when my mom, Cassie, and I were sitting at the kitchen counter, each with a cup of tea.

“I wonder why King Ivar is bothering to come,” Mom mused. “Red Claw is a large pack, but I didn’t think alpha ceremonies were worth his time.”

“Female alphas are rare,” Cassie offered. “Perhaps he’s as curious as the rest of them.”

“Maybe…”

“The pack has been through a lot lately,” Cassie pointed out. “Maybe he’s offering his support?”

“Are we prepared for such a large gathering?” I asked her.

She nodded. “I notified Jonathan and Jackson yesterday. They are on it. From what I understand, the entire security team will be on duty that day, and the two of them will be your personal detail.”

She wagged her eyebrows at me. “Along with Emerick, although I figure he’ll be there more in a personal capacity.”

I shot her a glare, and she looked appropriately apologetic.

“I assume Michael is aware as well? As my beta, I mean,” I clarified, purposefully trying to steer the conversation back toward official business.

“Yes, he’s aware. He’s already briefed the Pack Enforcers who will be lending additional manpower and resources.”

“Great,” I told her. “I look forward to working with him.”

“I think he looks forward to working with you as well, Alpha,” Cassie murmured.

She turned to watch her husband as he entered the house, helping to carry one of my wardrobes. “He doesn’t feel worthy yet, but he’s a good man. He would die for those he cares about.”

“Dammit, Cass! We need new brake pads again!” Michael called out from the foyer. “You drive like a maniac, girl!”

“Well, you’re just so good at changing them,” Cassie said sweetly. She wiggled her fingers at me. “I’ll leave you two to catch up. I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”

Once the moving truck arrived with our things, it quickly became apparent I didn’t own enough stuff to fill such a large house, and Serena suggested Cassie help me decorate.

Along with event planning, she was apparently the pack’s most sought-after interior designer.

“It certainly is lively around here,” Mom said while warming her hands with a cup of tea.

I sighed. “You have no idea.”

“You’ve made friends, I see.”

I scoffed into my cup. “Some enemies as well.” Celeste certainly had it out for me. And Emilia was due to move back into her house, now outfitted to hold her indefinitely, the very next day.

“Well, you’re a powerful she-wolf. Some people will hate you for that no matter what you do. All you can do is lead this pack as best as you can.”

I placed my cup down on the kitchen counter and adjusted it as I found the strength to ask, “Mom, you’ve always known about werewolves? About Dad?”

She touched my fingers, and I met her gaze. “As soon as your father knew he was in love with me, he told me about his wolf.

“He never deliberately planned to keep you in the dark. But his past is complicated.”

I laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, I know. I’ve been dealing with it here, alone.”

“That’s not fair, Sam.” She looked at me sternly. “You told your father to go, so he did. You told him to look after Luke, so he did. If you had asked, he would have been here. And you know that.”

“But—”

She cut off my protest: “He knew you didn’t want him around, so he found other ways to make things as easy for you as he could.

“Why do you think he’s helping all the movers right now? There’s a small army of them, and they are at least half his age, Sam.”

“He wants to be sitting right here, with you, but if he can’t do that, he’ll help you in some other way.”

I looked through the kitchen window. Dad had taken control of managing the unloading and organizing of the furniture.

~Just like him…~

Ayisha paced uneasily in my mind.

“I don’t know if I can get over how far he went to keep me from knowing myself. I mean, to put a curse on his own daughter.”

Mom drew in her eyebrows even more. “It wasn’t just his decision, sweetheart. I agreed. After everything he’d been through, we thought there was no living with the pack. And if you’re not in a pack—”

“You’re a rogue.”

Mom nodded. “Good, you’ve been learning. Rogues don’t last long. We figured your best shot at a normal life was to live as a human. But you can’t be a normal human and shift.”

~“That doesn’t mean it was right,”~ Ayisha said to me. ~“He should have told us. You should have had a choice.”~

~Maybe,~ I thought. ~God…Goddess, this is all so confusing.~

“I take it Kate still doesn’t know anything?”

Mom grimaced and shook her head. “She’s not a wolf like you, Luke, and your dad. This family has enough to deal with right now without adding Kate to our list of issues.”

She patted my shoulder. “If you want to tell her, we can. But now really isn’t the time.”

There was an undeniable truth in her words. As much as I wanted to call Kate to get her take on things, it was barely safe enough for Luke and my parents among the pack.

I needed to get things under control before my fiery, opinionated sister joined the mix.

I rested my head on my mom’s shoulder. A ball of emotion grew in my throat. “I’ve missed you all. It’s been so hard to do this alone.”

“Sammy, you have never been alone,” she said gently. “You’ve had Cassie from the looks of things. My word, she’s quite the force of energy, isn’t she?!”

I chuckled. “You have no idea.”

“And then there’s Emerick.”

I winced a little. “What have you heard?”

“Oh, not much. But he seemed very upset when he told you that you were being challenged. And he’s the one who called us and told us it was safe to come to Red Claw.”

I looked up at her, my eyes going wide. “E—Emerick called you?”

~He called them? He told them to come back to me…~

I couldn’t believe it. I’d been so excited, I hadn’t thought about why they had come now, but I’d figured it was probably Cassie or Michael’s doing.

My mom narrowed her eyes at me as a sneaky smile spread across her face. “Hmm, interesting. Is Emerick…~special~?” she asked suggestively.

“No… Yes… Maybe. I…” I pinched my lips together and shook my head.

“Ah, I see.” She sat on the stool next to me. “He did sound oddly somber on the phone while delivering such cheerful news.”

I nodded and stared into my teacup, refusing to meet her probing gaze.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked after a moment.

“I’m just confused, Mom,” I confessed. “Emerick has been one of the few good things about all this. I’ve given up my entire identity, but he…feels like home.”

I shut my eyes tightly. “With all this talk of other alphas wanting to use me for my power, he became a different person. Can you believe he proposed?”

Mom didn’t look as shocked by this as I’d expected. “And you said no, I presume?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, honey,” she began, “that would be hard for anyone to hear. Have you tried talking to him about what the future looks like for the two of you?

“Perhaps if he can picture a life with you that doesn’t involve mating immediately, it’ll help him to understand.”

“Sort of,” I admitted.

Mom sighed.

After a moment, I said, “He can be so controlling. And when we fought, he yelled at me. Travis would have never yelled at me like that.”

“Oh, Sam. Don’t do that.”

“What?” I asked.

“You can’t compare him to Travis.” She held up a hand when I tried to protest. “No man can compare to Travis because you put him on a pedestal the moment he passed away.

“I’m not saying he wasn’t a great man. But he wasn’t perfect, Sammy. Do you remember how it used to drive you crazy when he would give you the silent treatment rather than talk things out?”

She must have read the confusion on my face. Once more, she softened her tone and took my hand in hers. “Just don’t measure Emerick against someone he doesn’t stand a chance at besting.”

I took in what she said. Travis and I had a wonderful marriage, but every marriage has its hiccups. Maybe I did remember my life with him through rose-colored glasses.

“What should I do, Mom? I care for him. I want to see where this goes. But I need to do it at my own pace. I’m not used to all this werewolf stuff.”

“The same thing you would do in any relationship. Have a rational conversation about it and go from there.”

Before I could respond, I looked over Mom’s shoulder to see Dad waiting quietly in the kitchen entrance.

“Er, sorry, Sam, I didn’t want to interrupt.”

I wiped the tears off my cheeks. “No, it’s okay.”

“Just wanted to let you know that we’re all finished up. I can come back and help you move things around once you know where you want everything.”

“Thanks, Dad.” My voice was nearly breaking.

He stepped back into the hall and called up the stairs, “Hey! Luke! Get your stuff out of the car, man.”

I took a few settling breaths while Luke’s thunderous steps echoed through the house before he came shooting down the stairs.

“Dude, this place is lit,” he stated without preamble. “I could throw the sickest parties.”

“Lucas Ryan,” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m not sure who you think you’re talking to, but you are not throwing parties in this house. And I am not your ‘dude.’”

“I had to tell someone and I’m not allowed to talk to my friends,” he muttered.

I caught the first hint of sadness, or maybe regret, in his voice.

“Besides, I just meant like ~dinner~ parties or whatever you alphas are into.”

He was trying to mask his unease with humor, the way he’d done since he was small. With his grandparents around, I doubted he was ready to do a deep dive into his feelings.

I decided to play along and made a mental note to talk to him about it at a later time. “Uh-huh, sure. Go and get your bags.”

He shrugged and lumbered out the door.

“That dang kid,” my dad grumbled as he came back into the kitchen. “Wearing me out.”

I offered him a genuine smile. “Thanks for taking care of my boy.”

“Always, Sammy.” He let out an exasperated sigh. “Although, if he leaves the milk out one more time, I’m going to lose my shit. I mean, my God, that kid would lose his head if it wasn’t attached.”

I laughed. “Yeah, Dad, that sounds about right.”

For a brief moment, I remembered what it felt like before I was the alpha. I looked up and saw the man I’d always known, not the wolf who’d betrayed me.

He caught me looking in his direction and swallowed before nodding toward my mom.

“Come on, hon,” he said, “let’s get a move on. Luke has picked his room and probably wants to get settled and catch up with his mom.”

Mom arched her brow. “What do you mean we’re leaving? We’re finally back together. And isn’t this the Alpha’s Residence? You told me this is where the current alpha’s family lives?”

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose. “C’mon, Deb, we talked about this. We can’t stay here; Sam needs her space. I asked William to find us a place on the outskirts of the pack’s territory.”

He looked at me. “We’ll keep well out of the way. But if you need us, we can be here in a flash.”

“Elias, don’t be ridiculous,” my mom protested. “Sam needs support, and this house is big enough for all of us. Although, between you and me, I had my eye on that nice little cottage out back.”

It was nice to be surrounded by family again. I was enjoying getting to know my new council, but everything had been all business, and I felt under pressure to carry myself a certain way.

With my parents and Luke back in my life, I felt safe. I felt like I could be me.

But when I looked at my dad, I hesitated. Even now, I couldn’t help but think about the life and secrets he’d kept from me.

Ayisha let out a soft growl in my mind.

~“He’s my dad,”~ I told her quietly.

“~He cursed us.”~

Although I knew she was right, my heart sank a little.

I gave my mom a sad smile. “I’m sure William found a great place for the two of you. Besides, Dad wouldn’t want to be this close to pack life.”

As she stared back at me, I could tell there was a lot Mom wanted to say. Instead, she nodded tightly before letting my dad lead her out the front door.